PyrZern

- Healing Flame

- several Spears of Flame stabbing up from the ground around the caster.

Apart from what you already, and the one that you can whatever with what ever action points you have, the alternative is this.....

 

Each turn, a Unit gets 3 different Action Points.

1 Action Point for Movement 

1 Action Point for Action (Offensive or Defensive)

1 Action Point for any of the two.

 

This way, each turn, a unit can ...

Attack Attack Move

Move Attack Move

Move Attack Attack

Attack Move Attack

and such.

 

This will somewhat encourage players to utilize terrains and covers and flanking and positioning their soldiers, and not just keep attacking until one is dead.

Also Metal Fatigue. In that game, you make big giant robot mechs, each made up of Torso, Head, Arms, and Legs. When a robot is destroyed, those pieces scatter on the battlefield. Another mech could come and grab the arms and utilize them right away (Laser Sword arm, homing missiles launcher arm, etc.). Other pieces need to be brought back to base, researched, reverse-engineered, then you can use enemy's technology against them. AWESOME game. TRY IT.

If you have played Ragnarok Online (I'm talking about the 1st one. RO2 is coming out soon.)

That game in its Vanilla age, didn't have 'Quest' as we know. The whole game is about exploring and finding out how to best level and find those rares you need. There's no quest that says 'Go out and kill 10 Giant Frogs (appropriate monsters to player' level). Players learn very fast what monsters are good for what level range. 

 

On the other hand, there actually were some form of Quests in RO. They were to unlock access to new map, or new skills, or new class advancement. ie.'You're interested in becoming in a Swordsman ? Prove your self to me, go kill these and these and these and these, then report back to me. If you pass, I will let you join the rank of Knighthood.'

You will want to think ahead, let's say you hold a Closed Beta, and loads of ppl see it. What will grab their attention to give it a short ?

An MORPG. Alright, what next. There will be combat. Good. What kind of combat ? Stupid mindless mobs running around, waiting to be killed ? Are there dungeons ? What 's in the dungeons ? More monsters ? Are they just all over the place ? Are they guarding rooms or treasure chests ? Are they stronger than mobs outside of dungeons ? Or are they just coming at ya in larger number. Are there bosses ? How to actually beat these bosses ? How hard are they ? Can a player solo them ? Can 2 people beat it ? Or do you need 4 ppl + to beat it ? Will there be incentive for players to group up ? Will there be storyline and quests ? What kind of story is it ? Is it the kind that most players will just skip the whole thing and read quest objectives instead ? Will there be exploration ? What do players gain from doing it ? What else are there for 'player interactions'. They group up. Ok, what else. Do they trade ? What kind of stuff do they trade ? What's the point of it ? Do you want some form of economy in the game ? Ok. What about crafting and resource gathering ? How many professions are there in total ? How many professions can a player obtain ? Will players chop down woods, saw it, put together a Hunting Spear ? No ? Think up more details.

 

After all those questions and more, you will want to ask yourself; now, what's endgame content ? What will keep players logging in days after days after days ? What will keep them from quitting ? What do they gain or what do they do at the end ?

Settlers of Catan ?

If your engine allows only 1 texture per object, then what you will need to do is to assign same texture to every piece/mesh of that object. Then each mesh use different part of the texture map. Ta da.

Examples below.

In this texture map, there's only 1 mesh, the head.



In this one, however, is more than just the head. It's the whole body. This is what you will want to do.

Depends on how you want to define your game, I believe.

Usually, when you say ' space empire ' game, what do you think people will think ?
- Start small [1 - 3 planets to start with]
- crappy technology at first
- crappy planet development
- crappy military forces

So then, it's up to the players to decide how they want to advance. Most will agree with me that, fast expansion is usually a pretty good idea in the beginning. Then boost up your Research, develop high quality planets for industry output, then build up those shipyards and make armadas.

Will you cut all these concepts as well ? If you turn it into Tower Defence ?
If so, what's there to keep players to keep replaying the random games over and over ?
Think about that too

Hello Kiet, in the US, when you apply for a job, there is an area to put in any convicted crime or whatever it was. You will want to put it in there. Better be honest about it than they do a background check and find it out later.

Also, glad to hear you are going to U of U for the EAE program there. I graduated from there (not from EAE, they started that degree just right before my graduation " ) Anyway, you will want to talk to the Professor who runs the thing there, Roger/Rahjur Altizer (spelling ?). He can help you with bunch of things to prepare you. Talk with him a lot xD

Firstly, unless you are Sid Meier, Christ Taylor or those well known guys, chances are you don't get to really pitch your game ideas to the guy in suit over coffee. They don't let a nobody coming up with ideas that will determine the direction of a game. Real game companies that make games already have bunches of those guys with ideas, they don't need anything from outsider, (outside of company, and outside of industry).  If you really want to see games made from your ideas, then you have to get a team together yourself.  Kickstarter is one way if you have awesome ideas but no funding.

Last but not least, do not look down on Designer! Designer IS NOT someone who can't code nor make good art assets. Designer is someone who can do anything and everything very very well. Good designer is someone who can finish a game by himself or herself given enough time. Don't go around thinking 'Oh, I can't code and I can't do arts very well, I guess I will call myself the guy with ideas aka the designer instead.'


Hope that answers some of your questions.

Actually, I 'm thinking 3d is gonna save you loads of trouble in the long run. Especially if the artist makes each body component interchangeable. And use same reference for animation.

Both 3d and 2d can make something like this without too much trouble; but 3d can expand on the characters much faster.
http://armoredkangaroo.deviantart.com/art/Ogre-Battle-64-Classes-142235265

3rd Person simply because I like it much more than FPS. (  <---  Refuse to play any HALO game cuz of that.)

Play those mentioned games. You will become a better game designer (since that's the role you are taking right now)
Also, I also recommend the MMORPG called 'the Secret World', it's not great in terms of gameplay, but some of its missions are awesome. The investigating ones really make you look around the place, seeking clues, and piecing the info together to find out what's going on.


Also, is this FPS ? TPS ? Top--down ? Isometric ?
Are there RPG elements; like, inventory (grids or slots ?), classes ?, character advancement ? character progression ? Armors ? Trading / Bartering ? (with AI Merchant or Players on Co-op ?)  ETC ETC ETC

There are more than just Wolves, and Sheeps. Don't forget Hyenas, Zergs, Lions, and many more
Lions are Pvpers who enjoy defeating other Lions, and usually will let Sheeps get away. Hyena will mostly aim for Sheeps, might aim for a Lion if they are pushed for it. Zergs usually aim for ... well, anything. Wolves might aim for Sheeps and Lions, but will usually leave Hyenas and Zergs alone.

Now, if you want to attract more Sheeps, you need more than just Open PvP. You need PvE. You also need to give methods for Sheeps to turn into Zergs if they want to as well.

In terms of Arts and Modular Assets for Isometric games, take a quick look at Ragnarok Online sprite, or Tactics Ogre/Ogre Battle for example.

http://img73.exs.cx/img73/2987/Male_Knight.gif
http://img73.exs.cx/img73/7875/assassin_m_sheet.gif
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p62/picsnsigs/gravheads1311sk0.png
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i15/Angevon/rosprites/weapons/BG/Assassin_Duals_F.png

What you really need are these:
1. Female Heads + Male Heads
2. Female Body + Male Body for each Class (Warrior, Wizard, Archer, etc.)
3. Weapons and Weapon Effects/Trail (This really depends... If only Warriors can wield Sword, it will be easier than if some other classes can use a Sword as well)

Hope this help ya ;)