- Joined
- Feb 17, 2016
- Messages
- 125
- Reaction score
- 28
- First Language
- German
- Primarily Uses
- RMMV
I want to get away from the classic "follow a line" or "open world" RPG, and instead make an "mission based" RPG, which is in essence in the middle of the two extremes.
A mission based RPG works as follows:
- The player has a hub world. (Headquarters, etc.) These may change as the story progresses. There, he can craft, buy, talk with characters, etc. No fighting, besides maybe an arena.
- From that hub world, he chooses a selection of missions. What missions are available, and what he does in them, can depend on a lot of factors, though they are devided to "normal" and "story".
- Each mission brings the player to a map. These may be different. And yes, that can also mean that it is just your average resource hunting map (hunting, mining, fighting, etc) with no direct goal. Instead the player leaves through an normal exit, back to the hub world at any time. I use "mission" universally here, it may be named otherwise to the gusto of the developer. ("Quest", etc.)
- If there is a goal, completing it also completes the map. (Victory fanfare, etc.) Enabling the player to leave a mission anytime thorugh the menu. Or not. (Story missions)
What the player sees before taking the mission:
- to show the player where he goes,
- what he should (and can) do there,
- how difficult it is
- how long it will take
- and what his reward is.
While in a mission:
- relativly simple maps (barring story missions, though multi phased story missions (with no normal missions inbetween) can be a thing)
- The player does not get any rewards. Instead, he gets them all at the end of the mission. This includes all exp and similar from fights. The reasoning for that is to keep the flow going and to save time.
This has four primary goals:
- to have much of the freedom of an open world RPG while largely avoiding it's problems with narration and balancing.
- having the dramatic narrative of an JRPG while still having relative freedom.
- to give the player an controlled enviroment.
- relativly quick gameplay (for an RPG).
The first two should be obvious, but i will lay out my third and the fourth reasoning for better understanding.
For the average player, how much time something will take and what he roughly has to do, before doing it, are two important factors.
Ergo, this means no (big) surprises in normal missions. A story mission, which could change a lot of the gameplay, is labeled as such. Other then that, story missions can keep things hidden for the sake of drama, etc. Even then, most story missions should atleast give the player some clues to what he will need. Never forget: He will abuse reloading safes. That's what i mean with "controlled enviroment".
On the other side is the "relativly" quick gameplay. Reason being that most of them don't have hours upon hours to spend. But, a good open world or a good story always has surprises in store. In short, the average player will shy away from such a game. However, if the gameplay is delivered in clearly defined chunks - aka missions - the player can know, without spoiling the experience, how much time it will take.
However, i will not include time restrictions. Yes, i want to give the player an understanding on how long a mission will take, but how much time they invest is completly in their own hands. This includes the "this mission takes two days off your 90 day schedule before the end of the world" time scedule. However, this includes both extremes. They want to finish the mission in 2 hours? I let them. They want to finish the mission in one minute? I let them do that, too.
Do i have everything? I think i do. I may lay out a more detailed plan elsewhere. Now, tell me about what you think about all that.
A mission based RPG works as follows:
- The player has a hub world. (Headquarters, etc.) These may change as the story progresses. There, he can craft, buy, talk with characters, etc. No fighting, besides maybe an arena.
- From that hub world, he chooses a selection of missions. What missions are available, and what he does in them, can depend on a lot of factors, though they are devided to "normal" and "story".
- Each mission brings the player to a map. These may be different. And yes, that can also mean that it is just your average resource hunting map (hunting, mining, fighting, etc) with no direct goal. Instead the player leaves through an normal exit, back to the hub world at any time. I use "mission" universally here, it may be named otherwise to the gusto of the developer. ("Quest", etc.)
- If there is a goal, completing it also completes the map. (Victory fanfare, etc.) Enabling the player to leave a mission anytime thorugh the menu. Or not. (Story missions)
What the player sees before taking the mission:
- to show the player where he goes,
- what he should (and can) do there,
- how difficult it is
- how long it will take
- and what his reward is.
While in a mission:
- relativly simple maps (barring story missions, though multi phased story missions (with no normal missions inbetween) can be a thing)
- The player does not get any rewards. Instead, he gets them all at the end of the mission. This includes all exp and similar from fights. The reasoning for that is to keep the flow going and to save time.
This has four primary goals:
- to have much of the freedom of an open world RPG while largely avoiding it's problems with narration and balancing.
- having the dramatic narrative of an JRPG while still having relative freedom.
- to give the player an controlled enviroment.
- relativly quick gameplay (for an RPG).
The first two should be obvious, but i will lay out my third and the fourth reasoning for better understanding.
For the average player, how much time something will take and what he roughly has to do, before doing it, are two important factors.
Ergo, this means no (big) surprises in normal missions. A story mission, which could change a lot of the gameplay, is labeled as such. Other then that, story missions can keep things hidden for the sake of drama, etc. Even then, most story missions should atleast give the player some clues to what he will need. Never forget: He will abuse reloading safes. That's what i mean with "controlled enviroment".
On the other side is the "relativly" quick gameplay. Reason being that most of them don't have hours upon hours to spend. But, a good open world or a good story always has surprises in store. In short, the average player will shy away from such a game. However, if the gameplay is delivered in clearly defined chunks - aka missions - the player can know, without spoiling the experience, how much time it will take.
However, i will not include time restrictions. Yes, i want to give the player an understanding on how long a mission will take, but how much time they invest is completly in their own hands. This includes the "this mission takes two days off your 90 day schedule before the end of the world" time scedule. However, this includes both extremes. They want to finish the mission in 2 hours? I let them. They want to finish the mission in one minute? I let them do that, too.
Do i have everything? I think i do. I may lay out a more detailed plan elsewhere. Now, tell me about what you think about all that.
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