Gameplay question : equipment

[Nantas]

Hello everyone !

I have a question about my game, High Chivalry. It's more about gameplay, but I know that gameplay must serve the story and the purpose of the game. And my game's purpose is all about an epic story, exploration and monsters hunting.

Since the beginning of my work, I haven't introduced the concept of equipment in my game : neither weapons neither armors to equip for the player, only skills. And now that my demo is not far from it's conception's ending, I am asking myself : is that interesting for the player to access equipment for characters ?

I have considered until now that it was not important, and didn't add that system to my game. And I considered too that adding equipment would be too much for the player to consider.
Because I already have skills in combat, capacities that allow you to access different areas (swimming for example), stat distribution where the player must spend points given at each level to make more powerful the characters, and inventory.
I thought that adding equipment was too much for the player, and somehow too equivalent to all the RPG MAKER games out there.

I mean by equivalent that many many rpg maker games have equipment system and I don't want my game to be a copy of all the other games out there.


What do you feel about it ? Should I add this system ?


I have this question because I want to make the player spend the gold he gets by quests and treasures. I feel that the inventory alone isn't enough to make the player spend his gold.
If you have an idea about how I could make that, please help me !

 

[SwiftSign]

If your game doesn't need it (and you're happy with it not being there) I'd look for a different money-sink, if possible. Collectable relics that get displayed somewhere in the game? Skills that utilise gold? Quests that require x-amount of gold to help rebuild damaged towns or help a citizen (where the prize is something not of monetary worth, such as special skills or something more of a 'yay good guy' reward)?

Or, try and do equipment in a different way. Stay clear of weapon + armor + boots and go for a different arrangement.

 

[Nantas]

Your idea of quests about rebuilding towns and things like that requiring gold is a very good idea ! Thank you very much, because i have an idea of how to implement this in my game As the main character will discover his brother as the king of the world, it can be easily implemented and really interesting in the point of view of the player

Other ideas ?

 

[Frogboy]

If you've designed your game and equipment isn't a part of it, I'd be wary of adding it in now. You might run into a lot of issues with game balance at this point and may have go through and refactor a ton of stuff. If you do decide to add equipment, I'd steer away from using it to apply stats unless those stats were largely superficial. I'd focus more on filling in a potential gap that may still be present in your game design.

So say you have some skill that you're having trouble fitting into any of the character's portfolio or maybe ones that fit into all of their portfolios. These could be purchasable items that grant said skills. If they're more rare then they could be unique items that you find.

Maybe you have some holes that need fill in your mechanics like Target Rate, Critical Rate, Counter Attack, Magic Reflection etc. Equipment could be used to fill these gaps if needed. Bottom line, don't add equipment if they don't serve some purpose.

 

[Nantas]

I think I won't add an equipment system, because as you said it will break my game's battles balance, but I am trying to create some items that are worth buying that help in battle and outside of the battle ( like torches ).

But right now, I feel that the player can collect a large amount of money because he doesn't have many options to spend it. There only are potions (all sort of potions), torches, some little things that help in battle... but other than that, the player won't spend much money on it.

The proposition of @SwiftSign is excellent about town rebuilding and all, because it fits wonderfully my game.
But how did you all implement gold use in your games ?

I don't want to add skills' shops because I have created skills connected to the characters (there are very few characters, 4 in fact, and 1 dies at the beginning some time after the beginning ).

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

One of my old projects doesn't have equipment too. The way the game's lore and systems are built, it doesn't make much sense to add equipment (the game is on just a small island that doesn't really have much so it's quite not logical to have a whole lot of different equipment in there). It was also done that way so that the character progression system will be the focus of the player and it's effects will be emphasized.

So basically if your game was already built with the idea that equipment won't be there, don't add it now that you're near completion. Of course not everyone will be please with not having them but you'll get more problems by adding a feature that doesn't actually jive with your game.

If you only have a few things to buy with gold, then you could just lower the amount of gold that player's gain. In my experience though, other than tactical RPGs that have a set amount of battles only, it's really easy to gain too much money on RPGs even on those games that have so much items to buy..

 

[Tai_MT]

The point of equipment in any RPG is two-fold.
1. It's a progression system to acquiring power for characters/players.
2. It serves as a currency-sink in the game so that players will spend their Spoils Of War.

If you already have a progression system that lets characters acquire power, skills, abilities, whatever... You don't really need equipment. If you already have options to get players to spend their loot, then you also don't really need equipment to serve this end either.

Some players might find it boring that they cannot change out their equipment, but if it's done well, they might not even think about it. In many of the Zelda games, you just get upgrades to your existing equipment. Your new sword simply replaces the old. Your new tunic simply replaces the old. This works because these upgrades are part of the progression system. Part of the story in many cases. You can do this same thing without equipment. Major stat boost after an event, new skill gained during part of the storyline, etcetera.

If you want an easy way to make players spend money on consumables and such... Make a bunch of consumables that cover a wide variety of things. Make sure the monsters never drop them and make sure they drop infrequently from treasure chests. You could eliminate a Dedicated Healer class as well in order to force players into buying consumables and spending their money. But, these are just a few examples of things you could do to incentivize spending that cash.

A game without equipment isn't bad and if you didn't envision that when you made the game, it's okay to not include it. Just make sure the systems you do have in place as replacements, work really well.

 

[Nantas]

Thank you for your answers @Tai_MT and @Engr. Adiktuzmiko !

The idea of upgrading existing equipment is good ! I could add a lot of little runes or whatever that you could collect in order to have better stats or whatever. You would have to pay for them because they would be forged by a blacksmith.

But what do you feel as players when you play an rpg that has a lot of different systems ? Is it possible for a game to have too many features ?

 

[EseQueL]

Potions. Different kinds of potions. They can be a money-sink too. Or have a plant system. You buy crops and you plant them.

 

[BrandedTales]

I have no equipment in my game, but there is likewise no gold... The player has other objectives and rewards to seek.

So that would be the first question i'd ask: Do you need gold at all? Even in real life, in most cases we seek wealth as a means to an end. The same will be true in your game. If money isn't the main motivator and you don't have anything to spend it on, I'd consider cutting it. Thats your fastest (and potentially most elegant) solution to the problem. You can always add it back if your testers are unhappy.

If gold must stay, there are a few ways to go, and I agree with other posters: equipment is not a great idea. You are probably too late in the process to be monkeying with balance at that scale.

First option: Cosmetic
Things that the player wants but has no mechanical effect. Lots of good ideas already mentioned so I won't rehash, but I might also add cosmetic equipment... No mechanic changes, but little graphical updates (could be as simple as color).
Player dwellings are usually well received and can swallow a lot of cash.

Second option: upkeep.
Once again, great ideas listed.. here's a few more.
Toll roads (use gold to fast travel)
Durability on your "equipment"... IE damage/effectiveness degrades until you visit a repair shop.


Good luck!

 

[lianderson]

Tbh, there's little reason to not do equipment. Equipment, or even just an accessory, provides an extra layer to the game´s combat customization. That said, equipment can be time consuming to create, and as a lone developer, you of course gotta pick your battles.

Also, if you´re looking for town building ideas, my game has you manage a town of ghosts as a sidequest activity. It´s done entirely through eventing and updates itself through the passage of time. The link is in my signature. If you want a free version, it´s at the bottom of the page. Hopefully it helps you come up with something.

 

[RPGMaker777]

My policy on equipment in RPGs is that if it also changes the character's appearance, then I feel that much more immersed and connected to the game and the equipment.

I've incorporated this idea in my game, but it's been very draining in terms of all the different visual configurations, and I only have a visual change for the main armour set and weapon, but it does add a lot to the appeal of my game, so I think it's worth it.

If your game focuses on rare items then it's worth giving a good visual reward as well as a good stat or function reward.

As for weapons I like good visual, speed and damage diversity to make for different play styles.

 

[Nantas]

Thanks everyone for your answers !

For all the features I have created in my game, I am actually happy with them all. And I feel that adding too many systems to my game could be too much and drift me far from my game's goal : let the player explore the world and live the story I have created.

I think that I will implement an another view on equipment system : I will play with classes and subclasses (using Yanfly's plugins) in order to make a pair of classes for each character with at the same time the possibility to choose a subclass that is a weapon specialisation.

That way, each character would have different classes, in order to make the player feel that they are different personalities and not copies, and along with these classes, each character would access to different subclasses that will propose a weapon specialisation, offering different skills and stats.

That way, I don't break the balance of my game and I offer a different view on characters, a view that will add some personnality and background for them.


Thank you everyone !

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

But what do you feel as players when you play an rpg that has a lot of different systems ? Is it possible for a game to have too many features ?

Yes, games can have too many features. A lot of games not just here but also some AAA suffer from it. Basically, you should just only add a feature if it adds something to the game and actually works together with the game as a whole. Having too much systems that doesn't work together just makes the game feel weird and wrong and too tiring.

 

[Nantas]

@Engr. Adiktuzmiko Yes I thought that too, so I have decided to keep the features to the minimum possible, but upgrade them so that they become really good features. That way the player understands what he has to do and what he can do, and plays the game more naturally.