RPG (Something a little fresh?)

So I've had the chance to start a fresh in some areas, just whipping up some concepts and as always I like feedback..

Objective: (Fallen Spirit RPG) It's still an RPG, the core of the premise is still about (there is no good side) you're stuck in between a grey area on both sides. You're not rich or famous, anyone particularly special. Your homeworld is already gone, so there's no getting that back or a fight to save humanity.

The premise is you've been dealt a hand you can't escape, you'll explore the good and ugly sides of all the races you're stuck with and try and choose the lesser of all evils.!

There's a lot of meaty details, quest lines that may strike a chord. Some suspense moments etc. I can't really detail too much and some twists and turns of course. But the objective is simple, play out a plot than can go awry any time.

Mechanics and art:

As of the moment, you can choose between TPS and FPS. Some modes (FPS) won't work on some enemies, some hand to hand combat mechanics in TPS.

Thing is the plot works irrelevant of artwork, so it can be set in any era @ any time and as long as it has a third person mode in it were all good.

Artwork is turning out like COD AW2 at the moment, although I'm not sure that's the route I want to go down. Some tweaking to make it more "SCI-FI" should be in the works. Is there such a thing where realistic is boring?

I suppose it's a little bit of a "mass effect" style game, would you steer towards shiny or realistic?

In summary, has this really been done to death by now? Sure it's not a survival game, but still I keep thinking something needs "mixing up".

Any thoughts, additions or questions let me know ..

 

Well if the choices are star trek corridors or alien(s) corridors, I can't say I care one way or the other. I suppose the main issue is what do you actually need out of the setting? So long as you don't intend to do anything with the setting, then there won't be any real right answer.

Instead of taking a world and coating it in sci-fi paint, you might want to make the structure of the world itself the thing that is sci-fi. You could have people living in pueblo houses cut into a cliff-side, Mesa Verde style. Once you explain how the cliff is clearly the work of terraformers who bailed on the project, you now have sci-fi. Look at the visual style of the anime/manga knights of cydonia (probably going to be spelled sidonia, but F*** it no ones gonna take me aliiiiiive....). The city part of it is basically Mediterranean architecture, barring the pipes everywhere and the fact that it's very vertical; it just happens to be built into the main support structure of a giant colony ship though.

Probably worth giving it a think, unless you're going cyberpunk (at which point I don't think you would have this issue). Just don't think sci-fi is an art style.

 

What drives the player (not the PC) to action? What's the motivation?

I agree with @RockoDyne - choose an art style that reinforces or enhances the story experience.

 

You could think along the lines of The Culture by Iain Banks, especially Consider Phlebus, or The Player of Games. There are a lot of interesting concepts in those books, or even reducing the scope of the RPG and build it around a mercenary unit such as the White Company run by John Hawkwood but based in the distant future.

 

You start off as a scavenger, the war is lost and you're caught in the aftermath.. I suppose a little like Battlestar Galactica, you get caught in the wrath of a battle whilst scavenging a research facility.. Then get held up by the enemy, but you realise things aren't quite what they seem..

Well yeah, but it's a little easier said than done without it all looking samey and overdone.. I recon the Infiltrator Demo / mass effect style would probably suit best..

 

Not to belabor the point, but what's the hook? What makes the player initially interested in doing this? You're competing with 200 other unplayed games in the player's Steam library; what makes him want to start playing yours more than the others?

Is it the challenge of starting in the middle of a losing battle and trying to escape alive? A novel gameplay mechanic? A compelling narrator? A really awesome-looking avatar?

 

Well so much for not trying to give too much away? This is all in the upcoming demo anyway.!

Well the hook will be super shiny graphics and some expensive trailers, but that's not the merit of the game.. It's promotion..

The game needs to stand on it's own merits, it is a complete moral grey.. A gritty futuristic RPG story, choice of multiple combat mechanics (TPS, FPS, Hand to hand), a true RPG levelling experience.

Most of this doesn't sound new and it probably isn't (really), but the goal all along was to do a Bioware / CD Projekt sort of game and that's the goal no matter how long it takes, or how hard it is. (No fetch quests help).. Which is RARE, what else is there? Mass Effect (Not quite the same), Deus Ex?

For example, one of the missions.! You get an anonymous tip off, there's a lack of general food and water but an abundance of meat. You investigate and find out the meat on the ship is coming from the evil people locked away in the holds, so as a matter of morality you'll confront the person in charge. Then you're left with a moral dilemma, allow these people to run free and do more damage or let the starving humans on the ship die.

So another example of choice and gritty story..!

 

Sounds like my kind of game!

 

So basically Snowpiercer meets Soylent Green? Hell, you could make an entire game with that story... Actually, that has kind of got me wondering just how disconnected these quests are? Moral dilemmas are good but they really shouldn't be far removed from the central conflict of the story (especially for indies), because chances are it's not going to get the setup it needs to pay off.

At this point, I'm starting to get kind of skittish about quests (more so in wRPG's), since quests are seeming like a shorthand for S*** to keep me busy that has no actual relevancy to the plot or worldbuilding.

 

Erm kinda, more like Battlestar Galactica (2004) meets Mass effect..? The moral dilemma's and history is quite central to the over-arching plot. So there's not a lot of meandering, the game should take 15 hours to complete from beginning to end so it's not massive and a lot of the fat has been cut.

There's no point being involved in an Epic adventure, stopping along the way to save Miss Thompson's cat. Or fetch Mr. Thompson his long lost pants, I mean nothing screws the atmosphere more than them kind of quests.

 

Looking forward to seeing the demo. Is that anytime soon or still months off?

 

Six to eight months hopefully. At least this time, we have everything we need and a clear direction.. Were not fighting technology, but actually making a game .

 

Oruh? I don't think I understand. Do tell.
Gigi

 

Well for long range and standard enemies, you can use first person mode (standard shooter type). After some upgrades (new armour / laser sword) you can flip into a third person mode where you use batman like mechanics and look like a proper badass!.. (well that's the plan anyway)..

In general combat you can mix and match, for bosses it's restricted to third person. Because Energy weapons don't have any effect.

Generally if you see someone from the spirit race, you're best to just RUN anyway.! They will kick your bottom.

 

Are there popular games which demonstrate the mechanic? I appreciate the explanation and after considering it, I'm not sure I've seen that very often. That can be good (novelty), and it can be bad (confused users).

Gigi

 

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Actually the idea was off a video game TV series, so no.. I don't think I do have an example. Controls are pretty simple and there is a walkthough tutorial for it..

 

Are you testing? Much as people grumble that they want new things, actual players are skiddish of new ideas. They don't like learning completely new concepts, and given that switching perspectives this way is rarely done ... I'd have to wonder if there aren't good reasons. If I was investing significantly in a new idea like this, I'd test the HECK out of it with actual players. LOTS of players.

Gigi

 

With the last "demo" we made, it went through Alpha and Beta testing. Got general feedback on it, this will go through the same measure Alpha testing from a few companies we know (for technical and gameplay review).. Anyone is able to join the Beta as long as they agree to an NDA and finally a Demo will be released to the general public for feedback.

By the time the actual game gets released I'd of expected a hell of a lot of feedback.

 

A (kind of) reverse example of this control/view concept was one of the worst parts of God of War 3 with the (locked into) first person mode when finishing off Poseidon.

Giving players the choice between 1st and 3rd person control/view and then removing that control choice may be a touchy point with potential players.

 

Hmmm I suppose I could just make the weapons in FPS less effective, if nothing more it'd up the challenge.

 

Or another alternative is making FPS weapons less accurate by not coding in the helpers usually required/demanded of by most FPS fans.
Only knowledge comes from reading several postmortems, but I recall a lot of games go through iterative cycles to get FPS controls "friendly" enough for play.
Most described were coded in to assist with aiming assists, leading in direction AI and other players are moving in, helpful head shot aiming, slow leading in and out of zooms, etc.
Without any of these friendly helpers coded into the FPS controls - I bet it would make using the FPS view less appealing.

 

Can you remove the CHOICE? This kind of choice is unexpected, will not feel familiar to players, and may invoke negative consequences related to the Paradox of Choice. You may consider taking that decision away as the game designer by planning in advance when to make the change and just do it for them! This has the additional benefit that since you know which mode will be active, you can add special features and mechanics for individual battles. Further, you won't have to worry that that awesome top-down gun mechanic you made especially for this boss battle, gets missed by someone who's trying to dodge in first person, and completely misses it! The player got confused, was frustrated, and didn't have fun, plus they missed your awesome XYZ thing. In that way, the different modes could add fun, intensity, and challenge.

PS - My feedback - the decision to swap modes is risky with minimal return on investment, even if brilliantly implemented.

Gigi

 

So basically turn it into an N64 game (excluding golden eye and perfect dark)? The description of the modes though was giving me flashbacks of Jet Force Gemini, so maybe it's not far off.

It sounds pretty modal though, which makes me pretty cautious. If it's just a matter of preference, sort of like how Ratchet and Clank games handled it, then it may not be so bad (barring the fact that you'll be dividing development time between the modes and multiplying QA time to test them separately). Maybe if it's automatic, like the camera/perspective is just dependent on what is equipped, which should make it feel natural.