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My indie RPG project


Tentacruel

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First thing's first, this is not in development right now and is merely a goal, but I've been knocking around ideas and was hoping YCM could give me some input.

 

Core Concept

[spoiler=core]

 

-Japanese-esque RPG

 

I like old-school jrpgs, this is what the game is, however, I'm not going to go out of my way to purposely use jRPG tropes for the sake of it.  The game will not be (assuming it gets that far) advertised as being retro or old-school, as it's not intended to be a gimmick.  Let the game dictate the genre, not the other way around.

 

 

-Completely or partially turn based battles with ~3 characters in battle at a time.

 

In this type of game I think turn based combat is ideal, but an ATB/timer system isn't completely off the table.  More finite details of combat are still up in the air, but I want to avoid the generic attack/defend/magic system, which tends to be fairly dull with nothing interesting backing it up.  A low number of combatants would hopefully keep things tighter and more personal. 

 

 

-Airship

 

Absolutely mandatory.  This is the reason for the game and primary feature.  Early in the game, you will get an airship and the world will open up.  Some areas will be off limits at certain times, but the majority of the game will be non-linear.   The airship will act as a home base.   I'm not sure whether control of the airship will be completely free-form or it will bring up a menu when you want to go somewhere (like in KoToR).

What I'm saying is that I like airships.

 

 

-Abnormal level-up system

 

I don't have any specifics nailed down, but when you have a low number of characters (if there is a low number of characters), a straight-forward level up => learn attacks system can get boring.  I'd like to throw some choice in, so characters aren't always one thing and one thing only.  

[/spoiler]

 

 

Technological Aspect

 

[spoiler=details]

- The game will be programmed in Unity, preferably, because of its portability. 

- The graphics will have to be simple due to it being a no-budget indie game, but I might actually aim for polygonal graphics.  

-  I'm not sure about sound design, but I will compose the music myself

-  No voice acting, obviously.

[/spoiler]

 

 

Although the story is very important in an RPG, in this case the story is coming after the initial design and will have to suit a game where you have an airship and can travel (almost) anywhere.  

 

Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Criticisms?  

 

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I'd be happy to help with the story if you want. I do have some story concepts suitable for games.

I'd be happy to receive your help!  

 

The only thing I have now is:

 

>You're a kid living in a fairly large, fairly well-off city, all is well.

>Catastrophic event happens, city destroyed, world changed.  (But not the kind that makes everything brown and gray.)

>You're now an adult (early twenties) and have to do some stuff or go on some adventures.  A plot would kick in part of the way through.

 

So basically I have nothing. 

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Im seeing this as kind of a Tales of Phantasia thing

 

I think the whole freeflying airship system would be nice. And sprites are fine. In fact for RPGs, its better to have nice quality sprites than low quality polygons.

 

 

So since thefairly large city was destroyed, its citizens that survived now live in an airship? or only you and a few people?

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My first thought was to question what makes this game unique, or if you don't care if it's basically the same as a lot of other indie RPGs and you just want to try making something.

 

My second would be that I'm interested in helping out where I can.

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I'm open to other ideas, but I want to have some level of authorship over the story, if only to keep things simple and not have to worry too much about copyright and credits.  (Although you'd be in the credits for any amount of help of course.)

 

 

I'm thinking technologically advanced, but in more fantastical, magical way.  Like Final Fantasy but not as weird and abstract.  I'd like to use bright colors and an adventurous tone and feel.   The story will have to have breathing room, at least for a lot of the game, so the player can roam around without too much pressure, so no "SAVE THE WORLD NOW OMG," at least not right from the beginning. 

 

Also, I like it when s*** goes down in RPG's, as long as it's not overused to the point of losing its impact.  A major even happening somewhat early on, or half-way through would be cool.  I think it would be cool to have your airship destroyed and the party temporarily scattered at a half-way point.  (You would then have to regroup and you'd build or obtain a bigger and better ship.)  Experiencing defeat can be a good plot mechanic.

 

 

 

Im seeing this as kind of a Tales of Phantasia thing

 

I think the whole freeflying airship system would be nice. And sprites are fine. In fact for RPGs, its better to have nice quality sprites than low quality polygons.

 

 

You sir, are right.  I'd only use polygons if I could get it to look good.  (Simple, but clean)  An example of a game where it would have been better in 2D is Golden Sun Dark Dawn.  

 

 

 

So since thefairly large city was destroyed, its citizens that survived now live in an airship? or only you and a few people?

 

I'm thinking of more of a world-wide event centered on the city.  A lot of people die, but not enough to make the world bleak and dead.  You survive due to luck or some plot-related miracle that gets revealed later in some twist.

 

The airship will belong to the main character and is used to adventure and stuff.  

 

 

 

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Oh ok...so its a small airship?

 

19530170:jpeg_preview_large.jpg?20100328

 

I cant help but think of this

 

 

What classes do you plan to have?

 

Big enough for a small crew of people to comfortably live on but not like a floating city.  It's like a pirate ship but in the sky. 

For classes I'm torn between generic and creating new ones.  I don't want to give a class a weird name for the sake of it if it's essentially just a white mage.

 

I know I want a gunslinger class and a ninja class.  Both of those would be debuff-heavy classes.  I might have each party member have a set class or make it more loose.  A big influence for the game is FFX-2 believe it or not, so I like the idea of setting classes for each character as you see fit, or not having extremely rigid classes at all.

 

One option would be to have a lot of options for abilities and passives and allow the player to create their own classes, but that might not work as well.  

 

My first thought was to question what makes this game unique, or if you don't care if it's basically the same as a lot of other indie RPGs and you just want to try making something.

 

My second would be that I'm interested in helping out where I can.

 

I do want it to be unique, but at the same time I don't want to subvert things that indie RPG's normally have just to be different.

 

I'd say my main goal is to make the game more of an adventure than a linear story.  

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An RPG SHOULD be an adventure XD 

And Im sure I am on the brink of finding out a way to introduce the classes system in such a revolutionary way it will change the face of gaming

 

Just gimme a sec.

 

...
 

...

 

Ok I got nothin.

 

 

I like the idea of class promotions

 

You start off as a villager

 

Then depending on what you do around towns, and stuff, you can get a class.

 

And the more you do relating to that class, the higher rank it gets.

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By the way, I've always wondered: How much programming experience do you need to use Unity?
 
Seeing as I have none and trying to gain some broke my brain.

 
A lot, but not as much as you need to use DirectX.  DirectX f***ing scares me.  Unity is made to be usable by small teams. 
 
Unity gives you a base to work with in and you write scripts.  I'm honestly still trying to get the hang of it myself.  I'll probably try to complete a few small phone-type games before I tackle any large projects.

 

An RPG SHOULD be an adventure XD 
And Im sure I am on the brink of finding out a way to introduce the classes system in such a revolutionary way it will change the face of gaming
 
Just gimme a sec.
 
...
 
...
 
Ok I got nothin.
 
 
I like the idea of class promotions
 
You start off as a villager
 
Then depending on what you do around towns, and stuff, you can get a class.
 
And the more you do relating to that class, the higher rank it gets.

 

 

 

I think I might now what I want to do.  Unique characters with unique classes, but they can equip specializations.  

Or what you said, both sound good.  The only issue with making classes completely based on training that class is that it's harder to make characters unique from each other.

 

Also, because of the premise I think instead of starting as a villager each character would start with one base class. 

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What you could do is have a base class that can develop any way you like, and allow it to promote to any amount of specific classes you like based on what stats you try to improve.

 

The difference between a base class and the promoted class is that the base class allows versatility while the promoted class allows for specialization. With it hard to say that the promoted class character one-to-one are any better than a base class character.

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Cant you just use RPG maker?

 

 

 

And I guess thats true.

 

Maybe set classes for each character

 

BUT

 

the way THEY progress is influenced by what they do.

 

I COULD use RPG maker, but it would be more limited in what I could do.  I'll consider RPGmaker, but I'm not sure.  It's a tough call.  Also, that's a good idea.

 

 

What you could do is have a base class that can develop any way you like, and allow it to promote to any amount of specific classes you like based on what stats you try to improve.

 

The difference between a base class and the promoted class is that the base class allows versatility while the promoted class allows for specialization. With it hard to say that the promoted class character one-to-one are any better than a base class character.

Also a fair point.   I'll have to do some Q&A testing or whatever the pro's call it.  Come up with some mock-ups and examples, run some numbers and all that. 

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