I've been developing my RPG storyline for about 5 years now (since before I started programming), adding bits and parts, changing stuff, etc. And I think I've come up with a solid scenario. I just need help with some minor details (I don't want it to be too cliche). The scenario is somewhat similiar to DragonBall/Z/GT. There are warriors, called the DianWa (Dee-ahn-wah). They're guided by spirits of an element (so far I have Siris Malachi - fire, and Saria Malachi - water, Burwyn Morfuls - earch, Asrion Syrindulh - nature, Valyra Bulsahn - air, Tetaros (darkness, bad guy), ???? (light)) I wasn't really planning on having a linear storyline (I think thats what its called), I had planned more on a Morrowind style. You know what you have to do, and you can do it at anytime; you can run from a battle (return to it later or you could be followed, etc), streaming world map, etc. Ok, so for the summary (parts that are enclosed in brackets [], are the parts that I'm worried about): HERO has been training since his youth, as is the usual of all young boys on PLANET. (You choose some of your stuff during the game, like you trained extra as a child, studied more, etc.) [Days before his 13th birthday, HERO starting having strange dreams, in which he saw a strange light, and then a sudden darkness. He ignored most of them, but the day before his birthday, he heard a voice during the dream:] [INSERT WARNING/THREAT/RIDDLE/ETC]. On his 13th birthday, HERO was sent to the forest to look for wood for a fire and food (the tradition for entering manhood; you gather the wood and hunt for the food). Passing by a cave, he heard a familiar voice: "Come little one, the battle awaits..." With that, HERO fell to the ground. He awoke several hours later, in a small hut. The door to the hut opened, and a shadowed figure appeared: "Rise little one, for we must begin your training!" *Where am I and who are you* speach from HERO. "I am GUARDIAN/TRAINER, I am your guardian and your trainer." So you spend part of the game training, doing chores (mini games), and running errands for your trainer. After that, you get the *its time* speech from him/her, and you're returned back to your realm after what seems to have been 1000s of years, but has only been 142. [Back in your realm, you have nobody left. No family or friends, and nobody knows who you are. GUARDIAN/TRAINER didn't tell you anything but "good luck, and continue to train." So, you head to the nearest town to look for jobs to do.] Later in the game, you gain the ability to "fuse" with your GUARDIAN/TRAINER (actually, you fuse with their essence or whatnot) to grow stronger for a short period of time (and larger). You'll also gain abilities like flying and super speed. There won't be any weapons (maybe for the enemies, I'm not sure yet), you'll use just your fists and feet. Or should I include weapons (so some users could get swords, axes, etc.) I'm really trying to recreate a DragonBall style fighting system, without making a fighting game. Sorry for such a long post, but I really need some help with this. Any pointers/suggestions/cc would be nice. If you need any other info (or if I missed something) just say so. Thanks!!! PS: All of the all caps words will be replaced with names (all but PLANET depend on the character you create.)

Hi Programmer16; one of the many game designs I've considered (and shelved for now) is Dragonball themed (well, flying martial art experts/wizards with lots of explosions), and there's always something about elemental themes that appeals to me (even though they are heavily overused in RPGs).

Which particular aspect of Dragonball are you trying to capture? In my design it was more the magic/energy combat style, but if so there's a series of gameplay problems that you will need to consider, which I'm happy to discuss but since you've posted this in the writing forum I'll assume it's the storyline you want advice on.

So far you've only outlined the creation of the hero part of the storyline, which in my view (as a non-writer) is adequate, if not very original; it's still workable depending on your game. If you're interested in a Dragonball type story though, the lack of family and friends might be a problem; from the story that I know there's a strong element of family and comradeship that ties the heroes together, and it's the loss (threat of or actual) of these friends that motivates the heroes. If your RPG hero is more motivated by power, he'll/she'll be more like the villains of Dragonball.

Also, if you're going to be following the Dragonball/Dragonball Z style, there'll need to be a steady progression of bad guys with quantum leaps in their strength (up to absurd levels in Dragonball Z; I don't know how they could continue that pattern into another series in GT). The story elements are all very similar, at least in Dragonball Z; bad guy threatens planet, heroes train to defeat bad guy, nearly all the heroes lose, last hero wins. I'm not sure if that will fit your RPG plotline, but then again I don't know which part of Dragonball you are interested in.

Sorry if this is a bit vague; maybe if you point me towards a specific aspect of your story at a time I can give more focused advice?

Quote:Which particular aspect of Dragonball are you trying to capture? In my design it was more the magic/energy combat style, but if so there's a series of gameplay problems that you will need to consider, which I'm happy to discuss but since you've posted this in the writing forum I'll assume it's the storyline you want advice on.

I'd love to discuss the gameplay aspects, since I'll have to worry about it at some point.

Quote:Original post by Trapper Zoid
Hi Programmer16; one of the many game designs I've considered (and shelved for now) is Dragonball themed (well, flying martial art experts/wizards with lots of explosions), and there's always something about elemental themes that appeals to me (even though they are heavily overused in RPGs).

So far you've only outlined the creation of the hero part of the storyline, which in my view (as a non-writer) is adequate, if not very original; it's still workable depending on your game. If you're interested in a Dragonball type story though, the lack of family and friends might be a problem; from the story that I know there's a strong element of family and comradeship that ties the heroes together, and it's the loss (threat of or actual) of these friends that motivates the heroes. If your RPG hero is more motivated by power, he'll/she'll be more like the villains of Dragonball.

Also, if you're going to be following the Dragonball/Dragonball Z style, there'll need to be a steady progression of bad guys with quantum leaps in their strength (up to absurd levels in Dragonball Z; I don't know how they could continue that pattern into another series in GT). The story elements are all very similar, at least in Dragonball Z; bad guy threatens planet, heroes train to defeat bad guy, nearly all the heroes lose, last hero wins. I'm not sure if that will fit your RPG plotline, but then again I don't know which part of Dragonball you are interested in.

Sorry if this is a bit vague; maybe if you point me towards a specific aspect of your story at a time I can give more focused advice?

I've been worrying about the family thing. The whole reason I don't like Morrowind is because of the single character. I'd really like to have several characters, but with the fighting system I'm interested in, you wouldn't be able to control more than one character.

The part that I'm worried about most is leading to and exiting from the training. I couldn't come up with any good way to lead into the training and lead into his new life.

Thanks!

Quote:Original post by Programmer16
I'd love to discuss the gameplay aspects, since I'll have to worry about it at some point.

Well admittedly I only got through the "concept design" of my game, so I haven't figured out all the gameplay quirks yet for a Dragonball fighting game (I tend to design the core mechanics in my head, and only once I decide to continue with design do I get to the nitty gritty). But there's a series of issues with that style of combat that will affect the nature of the game.

First of all, since you've mentioned Morrowind as a reference point, I'm assuming you are controlling one character and it will be an action style RPG (i.e. arcade style combat rather than selecting attacks from a menu like Final Fantasy). This makes it tricky to implement Dragonball style martial arts, as a lot of it is quicker than the eye can see. You will have to have some kind of abstraction for the fist fighting for it to be playable by a mortal; I was thinking of having some kind of pattern that needed to be followed with button pressed, similar to Dance Dance Revolution, to do ultra-fast fist fighting.

Then, there's the massive magical energy attacks, which are way over the top in Dragonball Z, at least. I'm not sure of the best way to balance those so that they don't overpower the gameplay dynamics (as I said, I didn't get that far in the design; I think it can be done, however). It will be hard to code, however, as there's a lot of damage that's done to the ground in order to get the effect.

A problem that you will have that my game design would not is that the oversized battles tend to devastate the environment. From my memory of Dragonball Z, most of the fights occurred out in the boonies where no-one is around, and on a massive scale. That's great for a fighting game, but for an RPG that means you'll have to have a vast expanse of nothing for it to work well, and that doesn't tend to go well with the RPG paradigm.

Quote:
I've been worrying about the family thing. The whole reason I don't like Morrowind is because of the single character. I'd really like to have several characters, but with the fighting system I'm interested in, you wouldn't be able to control more than one character.

That's not necessarily a problem; controlling one character is fine. It's just the motivation of that character that will be a problem. If the character doesn't have anything to fight for, then why are they acting the hero?

Quote:
The part that I'm worried about most is leading to and exiting from the training. I couldn't come up with any good way to lead into the training and lead into his new life.

It's the disconnect between the hero and the world that's troubling me; it's a bit too much like Morrowind, there's no real reason to care about anyone. That might be what you want if the hero is meant be a personality-less avatar, but that was what I disliked most about Morrowind. Is there a reason why you make the training period so long, and remove the family and friends?

Another way you could do this if you wanted to keep the family and friends is to spirit away the hero for extra training, but they come back a couple of years older while time stands still for everyone else. That way there would be a disconnect between the hero and their peers (as he/she is now an adult, while his/her friends are still adolescents, for example), but if your backstory/initial training phase (which I like the idea of, by the way) is strong enough there will be enough of a connect for the hero to want to protect their home town from whatever menace you want to throw at it.

A few quick ideas for character motivation:

- A bond with the Guardian. With family and friends gone, the Guardian could become a replacement in some ways. Therefore the Guardian's motivations, and threats to the Guardian, can become important instigators. If you are envisioning the Guardian as a more vague, mysterious or emotionless figure, theres also the possibility of describing the "fusing" mechanic as an emotionally important event, therefore making threats or challanges related to the Guardian emotionally important without necessarily assigning the Guardian itself with emotional significance.

- Family legacy. Despite the fact that the family itself is gone, it can still have emotional significance because of memories or historic retelling of the family's actions. For example, ENEMY decides to take over the world 15 years after HERO is taken for training; FATHER attempts to resist and protect the family, but having no skill is easily defeated by ENEMY. If the player is informed of this by whatever appropriate means (a diary, a newspaper, local legend, etc), they can be lead to have revenge motivation against the enemy, even though the family has already gone.

These lead somewhat into the character's new life.
Leading into the training, on the other hand, may not be so important, if you think about it. The fact that the training was sudden and not forewarned can in itself give more emotional impact to the training and to events in the real world after the character's disappearance, because it gives more significance to the sense of being taken away, and therefore more motivation to find out about it.