A unique (hopefully) magic system idea....

Solthar · 2000-08-25T14:33:13

I''ve been thinking about magic in rpg''s lately... to be more exact, masivly multiplayer rpgs. It seems like the mage''s and magicusers don''t have the freedom true "Warriors of the ethreal" should. Basically, my idea is as follows: 1. Mage''s need to learn each element on their own, in their own time. If a mage wants to cast a fire spell, he needs to know the "fire sphere" or if they want to enchant a weapon with, say, fire, they would need both the "fire sphere" and the "enchant sphere" to be succesfull. 2. A sphere of magic takes long enough to master that learning them all would litterally take months, if not years, in real life -- We shouldn''t have a Arch Mage without him/her working their but off for it. 3. A mage will be able to do anything -- he can create a tiny glowing ball of light, or summon a giant pillar of flame that rains destruction on all. All this is possible through a spell scripting system discribed later. 4. Each spell shall take a certian amount of time to cast and learn in game time -- for example, the light spell might take 1 minute to learn, and cast instantaniously while the pillare of fire and destruction might take months to learn, and days to cast. This balances out the warrior and the mage (who''s going to just sit there while a giant pillare of fire is slowly summond by an evil mage). Also - almost anything can disrupt the casting of magics, the ether of magic is a finniky substance. Higher masteries of the sphere(s) used will shorten cast time. 5. Spells should be able to be inscribed on scrolls, given the caster has the required skill to do so. it should take aproximatly 1/4 - 1/2 (skill depending) the time that learning the spell did, and when given to an apprentice, it will lessen their learning time by the same amount. 6. Enchanted weapons will be linked to the users manna pool. This means that the warrior still needs mana in order to use the mage''s ensorcelled weapons. Ok, there''s more but I think I''ll give you an example of the spell scripting system (or s3): // GLOWING HALO Id("Glowing Halo") //Name of spell Sphere(holy); //Using the holy sphere Aspect(light); //Each sphere has it''s aspects. //select light Form(circle); //Uses the circle form Movement(track_target);//It follows the target Target(self); //the target is the caster CommitedMP(15); //the MP that will be drained to cast //spell (some aspects have minumum req). LiveTime(120); //Time in seconds that spell is in effect. //can accept 0 (permanent), requierment //is heavy - varies with sphere/aspect Orientation(0,0,0); //Orientation of halo Origin(above_head); //Spell originates above head of caster Intent(neutral); //Does nothing And you''ve got a halo! the intensity of the aspect is calculated using livetime and commitedmp. Now if you wanted to be artistic, you couldof used the fire sphere, flame aspect, and had a burning, flickering halo! Now I shall show you how to create an ''earth lance'' using this system... //EARTH LANCE: throw a ball of earth which morphs into a lance Id ("Earth Lance"); Sphere(earth); Aspect(stone); Form(Sphere); EndForm(spear); Movement(rightthrow); UserMovement(usrrightthrow); Target(otherliving); CommittedMP(25); LiveTime(5); sOrientation(lance); Origin(throw_right_hand); Intent(harmful); You could even call other spells within your current spell by using a cast(spell_name); There - thats it. Stuff to be worked out: 1. Spell dificulty. how is it determined? (maybe by combination of commitedmp/livetime/intent/sphere/aspect/length of spell script) 2. How long should it take to learn? directly related to dificulty. 3. Need a better spell scripting system (ideas?) 4. A whole lot of other stuff that i''ve forgotten. P.S. you would be able to create undead by using a Target(otherdead);Sphere(Death);Aspect(Raise); Comments? Questions? Anybody willing to attempt the implementation of it? ---------------------- Solthar Rygelsun ICQ: 77657183

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by Solthar August 19, 2000 10:51 PM

61 comments, last by Solthar 23 years, 8 months ago

pax

122

August 22, 2000 12:42 PM

I''ve got a similar idea I''ve been working on (View it here)

One new idea my system has that you may want to consider is variable effects. Specifically, the exact same spell formula will work somewhat differently based on caster, target and environment. This keeps newbies from picking up spells off the internet. They could kill themselves using someone else''s successfull formula. Mind you, this isn''t random, and experienced players will learn how to modify existing spells for their characters over time.

Pax

SantaClaws

144

August 22, 2000 12:45 PM

I personally don''t think that people will want to post their spells... well, some will. But I don''t think the majority will. Most people will probably want to hoard their new-found spells to themselves and friends -- ESPECIALLY if they are very powerful spells or spells that took a good bit of time to discover.

The thing I keep thinking of is the spellbook of some archaic mage ... a veritable treasure chest of knowledge.

It would be a lot like in the DragonLance series and the books of Fistandantilus...

Another cool thing that could come of this magic system is customizable defense systems for peoples'' valuables. Traps and such... a mage could set up a customized spell or set of spells to protect his house. Very neat...

- SantaClaws

Solthar

122

Author

August 22, 2000 12:51 PM

I like the trap idea... Hmmm...

And about darkside - it's idea is almost so close to mine that is is frightning! perhaps we could pool resources, pax? Only true difference is that I make my sytem a bit more complex with the idea that for each sphere (you call it 'atoms') there are an arbitrary amount of aspects, so an air sphere spell can do anything from blow an object to electrocute it

Edited by - Solthar on August 22, 2000 1:55:49 PM

-----------------------------"Beware the programmer with a screwdriver..."

SantaClaws

144

August 22, 2000 01:01 PM

Effect and power of a spell is determined by the player's mastery of the according sphere, correct?

Also, with the traps ... you could have a property for the spell that determines when it is triggered -- immediately, a delayed time, or when something happens to the object it is targeted at.

For instance if you cast the spell on a sword, you could give it an on-equipped trigger, so that when the user equipped the sword, the sword would shock them or something. With some modification you could add some nice item/equipment protection spells ... its discouraging for someone to steal your stuff if they know it might cause their hand to rot away.

- SantaClaws

Edited by - SantaClaws on August 22, 2000 2:04:20 PM

Solthar

122

Author

August 22, 2000 01:57 PM

Effect is determined by player, power by sphere mastery/level. Interesting idea about triggers though - never thought of that...
maybee add something like this...

TRIGGERTYPE contact //radiussmall, radiuslarge, radius, equip, ..
TRIGGERACTION quickexpand // slowexpand, verticalcolumn, shockwave...

Edited by - Solthar on August 22, 2000 3:00:48 PM

-----------------------------"Beware the programmer with a screwdriver..."

Whirlwind

134

August 22, 2000 02:11 PM

Just remember - KISS, anyways, the spell combos will make it to the boards, just checkout planetdiablo and you can see that they are keeping a list of things you can use the horodic cube to make. Also, based on the numerous walkthroughs for games out there on the net you can expect to see recipe lists. Also, remember that if you have too many spell combinations with a spell effect for each resulting combination, plan on targeting a 128-bit 50,000mhz CPU and a 1GB Ultra Ultra video card as your baseline system because your artist will be at making those effects for a while.

SantaClaws

144

August 22, 2000 02:24 PM

When I said spell effect I meant the... um... (taps his brain, "Work, damn you!") ah, size of the effect?? A friend and I were talking about the system and thought that there would have to be some sort of precaution against characters creating enourmous complex effects for a small stupid spell... example:

Bob the Wizard is getting hungry. He pauses, raises his arms, and utters a long string of arcane syllables. Meteors start raining down from the skies, and a giant comet crashes down nearby. When the smoke clears, a giant crater sits in the ground, and in the middle: an apple.

Hehe.

Whirlwind: I would expect that a large amount of the effects could be generated using a particle system implementation in OpenGL or something. That way the users could customize their effects and its no extra work on the part of the artists.

- SantaClaws

Edited by - SantaClaws on August 22, 2000 3:31:21 PM

runemaster

122

August 22, 2000 02:56 PM

I was thinking of using something similar for my sorcerers in my game Runemaster (not in Athalon, though).But here''s an idea I just had :
How about this - when the player creates a spell he must not only research, he also has to find some components for that research.Fors simple spells this would be easy -eg a mandrake root.But for powerful spells he''s have to go on a quest to find, say, some ancient scrolls.These quests could be randomly generated by the PC according to the spell''s power and type.

Runemaster
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runemaster

122

August 22, 2000 02:59 PM

Ah ,another idea.I think not all options hould be available in the beginning."Fall from sky" for example could only be used after you''ve got 400 skill points at magc or something like that.There should also be special rare items like a "Scroll of Channeling" or something that allow you to add special effects to your spell, but only once.Imagine how sought after they''d become...a kind of legend, that would add to atmosphere.

Runemaster
Join the Game Developers SiteRing !

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runemaster

122

August 22, 2000 03:01 PM

Sorry for the typos but my fingers hurt.

Runemaster
Join the Game Developers SiteRing !

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A unique (hopefully) magic system idea....

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