Quote:Original post by capn_midnight since race is an arbitrary cultural distinction, aren't these more appropriately species?
Semantics... but in a way you're right. However, within the gaming/fictional/scifi worlds, Races have more or less taken over for the meaning. Tauren, Centaurs
In regards to these last couple posts -- Saying they can't be called races is just prescriptivism(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_prescription). Yes, in certain contexts it would be inappropriate to call a collection of wildly different species "races". But in the context of a fantastic world, "races" is a perfectly accurate word. It isn't like anyone saw "races" and said "Huh? What's he talking about?"
Anyways, beyond that. I of course have no idea what the details of this project are, but my first thought was that the two races you have already are what might be considered "iconic" creatures. That is, they (in one form or another), are common enough in fantastic settings that people can recognize them on sight and already have some preconceptions of what they are. This isn't good or bad; you run the risk of making something generic, but if you avoid that you can effectively use their popularity to your benefit.
The reason I mention this is that you should keep in mind the theme and tone of your whole world, along with the more specific details of the way the player interacts with their characters, the history of the races, all that stuff.
My first impression of what you're doing is something sort of whimsical-yet-gritty, which could be completely off base. But with that in mind, along with what I said earlier, I think you should avoid doing anything really "out there". That is, though it can be a lot of fun and very creative to just come up with some completely unique bug-thing that breathes acid, it may strike the wrong tone given what you already have.
I think gargoyles have a lot of potential, though how are you going to work them into the steampunk theme? Also, if there's no magic, what are they?
I was also thinking about golems, both because I'm a general fan and I think they could fit. What if you had clockwork steampunk golems? You could do some very cool things there, certainly. You mentioned that people live short lives, so what if the golems clockwork brains got more and more erratic and eventually they become crazy and weird and you have to "reset" them, essentially killing the individual and creating a newborn at the same time. Plus then you get to have whimsically crazy robots =P
If they can interbreed within the game world they'd be races anyway.
I want to help design a "sandpark" MMO. Optional interactive story with quests and deeply characterized NPCs, plus sandbox elements like player-craftable housing and lots of other crafting. If you are starting a design of this type, please PM me. I also love pet-breeding games.
Actually, you’re dead on. Clockwork is playing a huge part in the game. But, what you might call the “golems” of our game are not really the playable avatars. They are designed with a utilitarian purpose and behave more like the droids in the older Star Wars films. Like you suggested, they develop defects over time (we call them “kwerks”) that can cause them to behave erratically.
As far a character designs, I am purposely sticking with easily recognizable creatures. I think it will make the game more marketable. I’m almost certain that we’re going with the gargoyles. They seem to fit well.
