hehe Kylotan
Well, I have posted quite a lenghty post in "Let magical be magical". And I'd like to reiterate some of my arguments here quickly.

Basically, no, there is nothing really surprising in the conclusion that we are only assigning values to variables.
What is much more important is the way you are going to let the users create spells.

First, do you want beginners to have the same abilities in creation of spells than veterans ??
And if you don't allow some things for beginners, then how do you prevent them from seeing it. As well, I love the idea of veterans passing on their knowledge.

Basically, I wouldn't let beginners be able to do any mess with cretaion of spells, only very advanced users. And the possibilities of creations (and thus the INTERFACE) would increase with the ability of the character.

Well, basically, read my post in "Let magical be magical"

youpla :-P

(sorry for the double post, thought I had cancelled it ...)

Edited by - ahw on August 25, 2000 12:35:08 PM

Time to jump in on a long topic without reading the whole post... I don''t have that much time right now to read 3 pages.

1) I think a system like this is a good idea, and it could be translated to other genres and styles besides just fantasy RPGs. Not only would it allow for easy updates and additions to the game, by both the company and fans, but it would also probably make the game flow easier, and could work in an easy spell creation system in-game.

2) Have you ever played Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall? I''m not very far into it, and I don''t have access to the spellmaker in any of the guilds yet, but I think Bethesda already had something of this style. (BTW, if you haven''t already played it, look around--I got a copy for $21.99. Its graphics are kind of weak, but it''s the most addictive game I''ve played.)

I also see something else that was in Daggerfall: linking magical items to the user''s mana pool. If I remember right, Daggerfall items can be enchanted with things like "casts ice storm on strike", but in order to cast it, you must have enough mana, and mana is deducted. That''s a good control mechanism, so someone can''t get a weapon that casts >>Ultimate Big Damage Spell<< on contact.

Spell difficulty could be determined according to the CommittedMP variable--the more MP, generally, the harder the spell. In your example of spell times, however, I think summoning a pillar of flame is exaggerated--unless a wizard is in a castle under siege and really has 3 days to cast a spell, it would be useless. Only major spells like golem creation and demon summoning should really take that long.

One more comment: On your "Glowing Halo" spell, Intent(Neutral) kind of makes the spell pointless. There isn''t any other variable or effect or whatever in there to say it gives off light, so basically the caster has spent 15 MP for nothing.

However, I do think it''s a good idea--there are a few kinks to be worked out of it, but that''s normal with any new, original system.

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All hail the Technoweenie!