Thanks for the replies, guys. I'll try to give the best reply.
About this project of mine. The goal is to develop a TRUE RPG. So, the player will really role-play. And since I believe that what defines a role is the game action set it has, so my design is focused on making a strict and efficient game action system (and therefore I'll also have to make a strict and efficient information system and other things).
Quote:Original post by Kest
An application? That's about as minimal as it gets. I would be drawn to any well designed and balanced game, as long as there is some type of representation beyound buttons and text. It's difficult for me to even imagine real time action with buttons and text.
It'll have 2D pictures of the game objects (characters, creatures, weapons, rooms, etc). Hand-drawn. There'll be no animations. That's what I meant by "minimal eye-candy".
Quote:Original post by Kest
To be completely honest, you didn't describe much at all about your project. Most of the features you listed are a part of any role playing game. The sheer number of types of objects and actions is not something that's very important to real gamers. What is the point of the gameplay? To survive? To grow? To conquer? To save? What will the player be doing the most of to accomplish that goal? Fighting? Conversing? Planning strategy?
Well I posted the features just to know what the reactions of people would be when I advertise it :)
Quote:Original post by Kest
Isn't it a little early to decide that? I mean you'll be working on this game for about 4-8 years. The stock market may collapse again before you finish.
Well, I've developed some parts of the game, and my estimation the game will be finished before 2009. I have an early version of it with the early interface (looks really ugly), it can't be played yet (buggy as hell) but it shows what kind of game I'm talking about. If you guys are interested, I'll upload it.
Quote:Original post by RivieraKid
What is it exactly which sets your game apart?
At least these aspects :
1. real-time action system, the actions will have specific STARTUP time, ACTIVE time, and RECOVERY time. Action timing strategy will play a great part here.
2. EVERYTHING you and the AI do will be a full game action, meaning that whatever kind of action it is it would be treated the same. Even the talk and trade actions will have STARTUP, ACTIVE, and RECOVERY time. So for example, there won't be a Morrowind-like talk action which when triggered it'll put the game world to a halt (you can't get hit when the dialog box is open).
3. Classes/roles which forms a solid community/society. You're a warrior and want to get your wounds treated? Go ask the healer. You're a healer and want to get some money? Tell people that you're a healer, wait in your shop (well or you can go wandering around), heal people. You're a knight who command an army of warriors and want to strike the badguys? Call the warriors, tell the healers/mages/others in the city that your army need their services, and strike 'em. You're a humble trader who happens to know that the badguys are going to kill the leader of the nation? Go and tell the royal army commander about it, and then do whatever you can to help 'em (gathering weapons, potions, armors, joining the army, etc). And such.
4. This hasn't been mentioned. There is no leveling system. The purpose of the game really isn't hunting for EXP.
5. Real-time information distribution system. You spread informations using TALK action, you gather information using LISTEN action, you can even read people's mind using spell, or use TELEPATHY action to avoid people using LISTEN action on you (of course not all classes have this action). All those actions are, like I said, full game actions, they have STARTUP, ACTIVE, and RECOVERY time, so for example you can get interrupted before you finish your TALK action. And the informations themselves would be various, it can be about alliance, about who hate who, about where a specific person is, and even about how much that particular item worths, etc.
6. The PC (Player Character) is only one at a time (you choose it from the beginning of the game), but you basically can play as any of the 100+ characters (including the badguys and even the leader of the nation). Each of the characters has a fixed class, meaning that if you want to play as another class then you'll have to switch character. Of course that (one PC at a time) doesn't mean that you'll be somewhat lonely, because you can always ask for help from the NPCs (especially if your class/role is "Nation Leader" :D ).
Quote:Original post by sunandshadow
25 roles/classes seems like an awful lot to develop each in any depth. I'd rather see a game with 4 unique deeply developed classes or races than one with 25 that you can barely tell apart.
Well, it's actually not that hard to develop the classes. The actions in this game can have up to 4 effects. So for example, a mage can have an action which have PHYSICAL ATTACK effect, just like a warrior. But a warrior will have more various attack actions. Warrior can have a quick attack action (low damage but also doesn't require much stamina), a heavy-damaging one, a fake one (has a really quick STARTUP and RECOVERY but zero ACTIVE time), and such. Warrior can also have an action which have not only PHYSICAL ATTACK effect but also PHYSICAL GUARD effect (in this game it'll be called "Warrior's Charge"). Mages won't have that kind of action.
And since there will be more than 70 action effects (some of them are : PHYSICAL ATTACK, ENERGY ATTACK, CAST SPELL, TALK, LISTEN, MEDITATE, REST, READ, GO THROUGH, EXAMINE ROOM, EXAMINE WEAPONS, EXAMINE MENTAL, EXAMINE PHYSIC, HIDE, TRADE, CREATE ALCHEMY), developing 25 classes really isn't that hard :)
Quote:Original post by Hajo The Dreamer
I'm curious what those characteristics are. I hope it's not weight or color, but things like personality and behavior? And if yes, I'd like to see what you have planned for those 100 characters and 30 monster types :)
For the characters, it'll be : clan (allied clan, opposing clan, rival clan, high clan, lower clan, etc), attitude (cowardly, brave, distrust foreigner, greedy, etc), goal in life (opposing government, helping government, neutral/go with the flow, etc), and such. And of course the roles/classes would have significant effect.
For the creatures, it'll be : attitude (tame or not, hard to scare, easy to scare, hate specific creatures, hate specific person, etc), intelligence (stupid, cunning, etc), and such.
