If you are doing a multiplayer game
-----------------------------------
I think it's important to be able to make very individual characters with lots of different skills to choose from (many skills quarantee possibility to do many different things). Then ofcourse interaction possibilities with other players are also important.
And possibility to affect the world permanently, for example, if one could build a house at some point it would be awesome, but ofcourse it's pretty difficult to implement.

If you're doing a singe player game
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You might still consider the option of allowing multiple players. For example support 4 player multiplayer mode.
I think the story is pretty important in single player RPG. You should have the main plot that goes from the start to the end, and then fill the game with smaller plots that keep players busy. I just had an idea of having the main plot being pretty small (like finding the cure for player's soon to be wife's genital herpes.. just kidding and when player is reaching that goal, the smaller plots could actually be a lot more important, so that player could save the world (maybe couple of times) while he's trying to reach the main goal.. Just an idea though..
Then about rising levels. I don't think it's good to just add some hitpoints and hit probability when player reaches higher level. But if player would for example get more skills that he can creatively use to achieve different goals, it would be pretty cool..
And you should avoid linearity by all means necessary, I hate rpg games that are linear.. You might encounter something in game that you cannot handle right now, and you just have to give it up and come back later when you have tools/skills to solve the problem.

That's pretty much it.. I have a lot of ideas for RPG's since I'm planning to do one myself (one of these days), but I'm too lazy to write all of that down right now

Couple of more things tho (that I just thought of).. Don't make just combat spells, since combat is what fighters are for. Make spells creative and make them for very different purposes (ofcourse this adds complexity to creating the game, but..).

And learn from Half-Life! Use scripted encounters if possible. You could have goblin's escaping with wagons just after they have slaughtered and robbed some innocent (or maybe not so innocent.. make twists to the plot) travellers.. Or you could have a big monster that's way too hard for players to kill, and the solution for problem could be like shotting fireball to a big tree so that it falls on top of the monster, and kills it.. or something.. you get the idea.

I have been thinking of ways to improve our Game Design, based in part by the messages you have placed on the board.

Design Concept:
What about creating a fairly detailed setting environment, (not to say "gaudy" or cluttered) where the user begins the game with so many possesions? The user then can choose to explore the land(s) or stay in the local area and build up supplies, etc.
While the user is figuring out what to do, we could introduce semi-random encouters to add elements of the plot, being also somewhat random in nature. Of course, I feel that it is necessary to incorporate a little linearity in the RPG. Otherwise, you can have no objectives.
My theory is that the player can go through several sub-plot steps, not set in any given order, to find out what his/her objective really is. There will be no set story line persay, only the framework for the user to develop the storyline. This way the User could play the game twice with a different twist than the time before.

For matters of simplicity, I believe we intend it to be single player. In a future project, we may choose to incorporate a multi-player RPG, but right now we need to start more basic.

I would like the game to have a grandiose epic sort of feel, like the game is really a big deal. And that user be drawn in to taking it seriously. We will introduce friends and foes, some will interact with the player and others will simply be static enemies like bog slimes, what have you...
We could add features like the users ability to create a market in town to sell goods for gold or something, or the capacity for the user to start their own kingdom, like in Ultima...

The framework is still in development, and I want to get it narrowed down soon so that we can further develop code for the actual game. So far our progress is mainly isolated to the technical aspects, such as the sound/music and graphics engines.

[This message has been edited by stviemr (edited December 19, 1999).]

Steve-

Lastly, people cheat because they want to cheat. Let them. Don't
bicker over security. This is pointless. Some people just want to
finish the damn game if it drives them nuts or if they do finish it
without cheating, they want to explore the limits of the game by
cheating. Let the players decide if they want to "ruin" the game.
It should not be your decision. And these "cheat utilities" weren't
designed for cheating players in mind, they were designed to let the
developer debug the game! They left them in so the player could
have fun with the game, not ruin it.

DatsIt

I am pushing a more "universally admired" type of game. Believe it or not, I do not regret posting this board topic one bit, and I am sure that it will be a BIG help in designing our game from all points. My colleages are for the more part hard-core, full bore or no bore types, (Programmers, Graphics Arts types) The lead programmers are immersed in building engines, but we are still quite hazy on what the game will be like, and about...
I've sort of taken the task of molding an RPG out of the bits and pieces the group has contributed. We have some good ideas, but they have, until recently been only ideas. Now I am focusing on making the ideas work. I've been careful not to get too attached to elements and ideas culminated this far, as I end up rejecting a good share of them in the sake of producing a solid, money-making game.
I do know that there will be a remarkable degree of freedom for the player. Also, there will be a variety of characters and items. The game itself will have a serious, epic sort of feel (which it seems many recent games are void of, excluding Final Fantasy.) I also like a little humor to lighten things up.
I figure the game events will work something like this:

{
We will create several Static events that are not directly related to the ultimate plot, but may lead the player to a Crucial event.

Like in this example posted by Jeranon, (people in the town are getting sick because of the town river (their water source) and this is because some sort of poisoning or pollution is occurring further upstream and the player finds out it was a battle site and the dead bodies are poisoning the river and then the player finds out that some sinister force is sneaking in to take out the country - Jeranon)

(People sick = Static element) -> (Sinister force = Crucial element; ) etc.
}

I am also opting for shorter average gameplay. (About 40-50hrs tops) as opposed to 60-70hours. I feel that if we keep the pace moving and get the dedicated player some satisfaction in a week or so of play, they will be more pleased with the game, only a select group of gamers are prone to waiting through three months of play for a resolution.

By the time people get sick of this game, we might have a sequel.

Joe, one of the Programmers is more set on moving on to a different genre and subject matter in future projects. I think there is definately validity in sequels, (though I don't want 8 or 9.) Plus a sequel should have come improvements, or at least some enhancements over the original engine. (in my opinion...)

steve

[This message has been edited by stviemr (edited December 22, 1999).]