Yarpg

YARPG or yet another rpg.

Good morning everyone, I've been lurking around here for months, and it's now time to show you all one of my learning projects.

Warning: wall of text incoming.

I'll try to keep this making sense, but it's really early and coffee didn't kick in yet. =)

What this is all about is making a rpg, I'm gearing all my learning to stuff that can be procedurally generated, considering I'm just one person doing this when I have time.

The game, in my mind, is gonna be about what I find fun in a rpg, dungeoning (kill stuff, get loot), exploration (on the outdoor areas, think TES), last stands (think DOW2) and having a character that you love and think is really cool (but from the moment you start and through out the entire game, not 50 levels in).

I wanted it to have co-op, but that is really out of my league for now, so I'm focusing on a good single player experience. No multiplayer of any kind for now.

The idea is to make somewhat of a action combat system, that rewards tactical decisions (weapon, buff, gear choice), on the fly.
You'll have to chose one weapon and learn to fight with it, I do not intend to penalize the player for trying all the weapons and even changing them when they get bored, but all weapons must behave a little different from one another, so the player finds one (or a set of them) that he or she is really comfortable using.

I'm working on 3 kinds of levels as I pointed above, the dungeons (randomly generated), outdoor exploration areas, and "last stand" challenges. I plan to have the player starting in a hub (like in bastion) and from there deciding what he wants to do.

I intend to have 3 types of gear. Weapons, armor that you can find and wear just to look cool, and the actual gear that gives stats, that does not affect character appearance, or if it does, it's impossible not to make the character look even better, like tattoos (I detest having to make my character ugly for that +1 to head bashing). (the base for this is already in, but I don't have a inventory... yet)
Also of note here is that I intend to let the player chose from a couple of characters, but this will very likely come slowly, as I'm def. not an artist.

I've thought a lot about how to expose information to the player, and going back to my own gaming, I quickly concluded one of the most fun ways I personally found I was exposed to game information was through interesting companions, that's one of the things I'm having more fun writing, and with simple use of triggers and humor can really enhance any experience.

I also decided to go with a storyline that doesn't really makes the player a hero (our only hope, the savior of mankind), call me what you want, but some of my favorite game characters are not heroes, but the other ones, the ones out for themselves, the anti heroes, that rogue that is dragged to situations he really didn't want to be in, the cop that just says F*** it and goes on a killing spree.

What I have to show for now is 2 screenshots, and the reason I'm showing them is for you to see my idea on the art style. I would really like your opinion on this, the goal here is that making everything have a strong outline it will make the game's looks memorable. Right now, most things have no texture, just that shader, and that shader is just a mod of the normal toon shader that comes with Unity. Why use a toon shader for this? Because looking back on the games released last ten years or so, the games that still look good are the ones that do not aim for hyper realism, the games that go for cartoon or stylized aproaches to art style usually still look good, and do not make my eyes bleed. Just ignore every texture in the screenies with a grid, that is not gonna stay.

I know that this probably looks terrible for some of the very talented 3d and texture artists that lurk here, but this is my weak point, and I'm learning a lot, but it's a slow process.

So now I have some questions I would love you guys to gimme feedback on:

-Do you guys think that any kind of texturing should be done to supplement this idea? If so, what kind?
-Is a option to have that art style, but with a bright "background" something you consider would work? (like having a button in the options to change from dark to light)
-Do you think it's gonna be confusing to have something that looks like this when there's several characters on screen moving around?

Some notes to close:

I know this sounds like I'm aiming to high for all of you with games published, and believe me, I do know it's hard work, I do know this is probably never going to sell, I do know I'm aiming very high. I also know I'm in no rush, I'm loving every new thing I learn, I'm humbled by the very impressive stuff some of you do. And I do know some of you think I should start smaller, do something easier, go back to my area, that I'm another ideas guy or some such.
But...
Every time I press play in unity and I realize I coded a ugly model for it to move around I can barely keep in my chair of excitement, so yea, I'm gonna do a rpg. =P

Sorry for the wall of text, here's the (not so) pretty pictures. I'll update the thread as I have more to show. Click on the images to see bigger versions.

 

Niko Bellic? Alex Mercer? I love these guys too. The ones with their own personal agenda that goes beyond save the world from the bad guys. The best characters are the ones that aren't clear black and white, good and evil.

I'm liking the simplistic style. Personally, I'd use it for a more arcade kind of game, but that's just my own taste.

In response to your questions:
-Maybe not additional textures, but a slightly lighter shade of the outline colour as a fill for a character?
-Assuming by "background" you mean everything except the outlines, than yes, that could work. However, black might be the more desirable shade in this case, as some colours, like yellow, won't appear as well against a white background.
-As long as they're not all the same colour it should be fine. Even then I think you'd be able to tell them apart well enough.