It sounds alright to me, at least broadly. I might shuffle the part about Harvey deciding to be a teacher ahead of bringing Lily there. If he promised to never lose her, it seems odd to ditch her at the boarding school and head off to do something else, especially since his love specifically charged Harvey with Lily's care.
If the player controls Harvey, then I personally would need some reason to look for the Moon Key, not just a statement that Harvey is doing it so I should come along. You can still have mystery about it, but the player shouldn't be arbitrarily given an objective in a stroy driven game.
As for weakening the player, a key factor to consider is how it will change gameplay. Will it reduce the things a player can do in battle, and if so, will it be fun to be continuously restricted throughout the game? Will the same enemies keep popping up, or different enemies that are all roughly the same strength? Will new tactics be available in battle to compensate for growing weakness, or will battles just become longer and more unfair?
Will this new rpg work?
My opinion on the weakening-player thingie: I wouldnt like it. It sounds like "Woah, congratulationa, you beat that ultra-hard level 78 boss! As a reward.. Your health will be reduced by 200 and you will deal 30 less damage! Aint that great? Muhahaha!!". Kinda reminds me of hunting commando (austrian military) where you get to do sit-ups as a "reward" for doing something well. Some might enjoy it, but keep in mind you will target a very small audience. Not the best thing to do, especially for indie game devs who get most famous by targeting niches (what you do indeed) that many people enjoy(what you obviousl don't do). A great story might make up for it, but you can't be sure..reminds me of cursed mountain: a horror game set in tibet. Pretty new settings, good story, great atmosphere, but a hige lack of gameplay. Was neigther sucessful nor to enjoyable.
However, dont get disappointed. If you want to make it, make it. Just keep this things in mind and don't expext to please too many people..
However, dont get disappointed. If you want to make it, make it. Just keep this things in mind and don't expext to please too many people..
I'm having a difficult time in distinguishing a significant difference between De-Leveling (score decrement) and Leveling (score increment), if decreasing a Score Value rewards the player. You still end up with Lower Level Player in Combat with Higher Level Mobs as your primary mechanism of challenge. Previous statements suggest that the `Challenge` is the reward and I think there could be some confusion in this area for Players.
Games have always been about Scoring Points. As the developer you set the Score, the Reward for achieving it, and how its all presented to player. Arcade Games had simple Scoring Systems, achieve 10000 points for a 1UP, achieve the Highest Score to have your Initials eternally burned in the CRT display for all to wonder. Today games simply have more Scores and more rewards (ie Character Attributes, Skills, Levels, Weapons, etc) and means to convey this to the player.
So I have two suggestions to cool down frustrated RPG Players:
Games have always been about Scoring Points. As the developer you set the Score, the Reward for achieving it, and how its all presented to player. Arcade Games had simple Scoring Systems, achieve 10000 points for a 1UP, achieve the Highest Score to have your Initials eternally burned in the CRT display for all to wonder. Today games simply have more Scores and more rewards (ie Character Attributes, Skills, Levels, Weapons, etc) and means to convey this to the player.
So I have two suggestions to cool down frustrated RPG Players:
- Add more Scores and rewards.
- Add more customization and building systems.
The only game i remember having something like this was Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. During the undead campaign you start with Arthas in level 10 (the highest), but because of the story he loses levels, stats and habilities as you advance the missions until he's only level 1.
While I don't think that your idea is a bad one, I do not like the way you spin it. Weakening the player throughout the game sounds fine to me, and could lead to heightened drama in the game too (your storyline could use that). There was one game (I forget the name, sorry) where your character progressively got weaker as the story advanced - it worked, but the game was not really an RPG, at least not in the sense of levels and skills, etc. It worked there but if you took any "Standard" RPG and just reversed it, you would end up with a plain and simple bad game.
Leveling up is core of the fun in many RPGs, and the more difficult that process, the more rewarding it can be. Games need to be a little frustrating or challenging in order to be rewarding too - you cannot have one without the other. Now, your game sounds like it could be great in that department, except that comments like this one: "Would you waste your time leveling up to 95 to beat a very hard boss?" make me extremely skeptical. Why? Because almost all the fun in games is in overcoming challenges - regardless of the genre.
In a nutshell, what I'm saying is that your idea has potential - but only in the right context and for the right reasons.
Leveling up is core of the fun in many RPGs, and the more difficult that process, the more rewarding it can be. Games need to be a little frustrating or challenging in order to be rewarding too - you cannot have one without the other. Now, your game sounds like it could be great in that department, except that comments like this one: "Would you waste your time leveling up to 95 to beat a very hard boss?" make me extremely skeptical. Why? Because almost all the fun in games is in overcoming challenges - regardless of the genre.
In a nutshell, what I'm saying is that your idea has potential - but only in the right context and for the right reasons.
The story you provided made me go O__o?
I understand that it may be a derived part of something bigger, but the whole thing didn't suck me in. And the whole "serpent in magic school" thing made me painfully recall Harry Potter, a series that started great as a child/adult magic story and crash landed in the bloody dark thriller wanna-be section.
And still, you did not explain how the story justifies deleveing. What, Harvey will become WEAKER just to protect the girl? Or what? In those kinds of stories, taking away power is frustrating. If, somehow, I got attached to an NPC, I wouldn't appreciate taking away the means to protect him/her. That is especially true with children or siblings -- Bioshock 2 did a tremendously great job at catching the essence of being the Big Daddy, "a lumbering hulk aside a delicate flower" (Miracle of Sound -- "Little Sister" lyrics quote).
I understand that it may be a derived part of something bigger, but the whole thing didn't suck me in. And the whole "serpent in magic school" thing made me painfully recall Harry Potter, a series that started great as a child/adult magic story and crash landed in the bloody dark thriller wanna-be section.
And still, you did not explain how the story justifies deleveing. What, Harvey will become WEAKER just to protect the girl? Or what? In those kinds of stories, taking away power is frustrating. If, somehow, I got attached to an NPC, I wouldn't appreciate taking away the means to protect him/her. That is especially true with children or siblings -- Bioshock 2 did a tremendously great job at catching the essence of being the Big Daddy, "a lumbering hulk aside a delicate flower" (Miracle of Sound -- "Little Sister" lyrics quote).
Weakening the player might be a good mechanic if the point of the game is "can you win before you die?" rather than the more common "can you beat everyone? Including optional quests?".
I think reducing player capabilities (e.g. damage output) could feel frustrating no matter how well the story justifies it.
On the other hand, making the player more vulnerable (less hit points, easier to hit, etc.) while increasing his power (new and better spells, acquired power sources, etc.) would increase difficulty (matching the expected improvement of player skill) and suggest that, in-game, the stakes are increasing.
I think reducing player capabilities (e.g. damage output) could feel frustrating no matter how well the story justifies it.
On the other hand, making the player more vulnerable (less hit points, easier to hit, etc.) while increasing his power (new and better spells, acquired power sources, etc.) would increase difficulty (matching the expected improvement of player skill) and suggest that, in-game, the stakes are increasing.
It only feels similar, there are crucial differences:
The only game i remember having something like this was Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. During the undead campaign you start with Arthas in level 10 (the highest), but because of the story he loses levels, stats and habilities as you advance the missions until he's only level 1.
- the character was wekened, not the player (it's strategy, not RPG, you lead an army, one hero's power is not that important)
- the weakening was done via story line, not via player actions. There never was "Oh no! If I kill the unit on the left corner of the map I will fall 1 level" dilemma. You were completing missions, after each mission one of your units got weaker, not a big deal.
I think they did it very skillfully. They introduced the interesting "reverse progress" mood while in reality you were still progressing and felt no frustration at all.
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The story you provided made me go O__o?
I understand that it may be a derived part of something bigger, but the whole thing didn't suck me in. And the whole "serpent in magic school" thing made me painfully recall Harry Potter, a series that started great as a child/adult magic story and crash landed in the bloody dark thriller wanna-be section.
And still, you did not explain how the story justifies deleveing. What, Harvey will become WEAKER just to protect the girl? Or what? In those kinds of stories, taking away power is frustrating. If, somehow, I got attached to an NPC, I wouldn't appreciate taking away the means to protect him/her. That is especially true with children or siblings -- Bioshock 2 did a tremendously great job at catching the essence of being the Big Daddy, "a lumbering hulk aside a delicate flower" (Miracle of Sound -- "Little Sister" lyrics quote).
Oh sorry I didn't mentioned that part. Once Harvey finds out about the black book, he attempts to read each page in order to cure curses that only the black book knows. But reading the book will age Harvey meaning that his body will slightly change bit by bit thus explaining why Harvey gets deleveled because these spells in the book are the only antidotes that remove serpents curses which is why serpent made a spell on the book so if any wizard reads it will die periodically.
And serpent is a magic knight by the way. And this whole game is based on medival magic you know like smurfs.
Why can't I write a good story?
Isn't this how RPGs already work?
Monsters get tougher to beat farther along in the game. You are just showing this by decreasing the player stats instead of increasing the monster stats.
Overall it is exactly the same thing though.
Monsters get tougher to beat farther along in the game. You are just showing this by decreasing the player stats instead of increasing the monster stats.
Overall it is exactly the same thing though.
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