Hi Im doing a topdown 2d action rpg with vehicles in large deserts. The player can visit towns for missions, repairs, buying new vehicles and gunners, mine stuff, fight raiders bla bla. Basically freelancer or Eve online mixed with diablo gameplay. I want it to be open and free. At first i though, "no story" other then you are one of many guys seeking fortune and power in a post-apoc world, kinda like in WOW. But i think i need some story... So what could be the thing here? Think a mad max kinda setting, where you go deeper into the lands. I was thinking the goal can be to owerthrow the military rule in the region or something. I dont want emphasis on "hunt the relic" or "revenge your father" but im kinda lost here... Any good suggestions on themes for the main story / goal? Thanks Erik

Checkout the game Mexican Motor Mafia, not quite post-apocalyptic but similar idea.

kinda fun game, and lot of similarities. Mine will be more rpg though and more simulation also. But i liked the style of it.

E

In a post-apoc world, you don't need much of a reason to go on a major quest, because there's never anything worth sticking around for.

Max needed gasoline. The protagonist of Fallout needed a water chip. It could be a hunt for food, water, civilization, weapons, family, etc.

Or if you want something more profound, it could be some hopeful quest to restore the planet's vitality. Or to rebuild civilization by bringing important tools, machinery, and people together.

yeah it might be good to have some kind of large goal like build some gadjet to stop the spread of the desert (enviromentalistic i know!). It can require the player to throughout the game take on both random missions to get cash but also campiagn missions to collect engineers, engine parts and energy for this gadjet.

This can even be made into some kind of minigame where you add and replace parts and staff along the way maybe.

Game start
You and a bunch of technicians go in a convoy to some facility with tools and know-how to construct this thingy. But of course you are ambushed by raiders. You wake up alone but alive. Now you must start from scratch and raise the cash living like a raider yourself, trying to find the others and resources to pull off this most important task! (too much?)

E