Plot and Character Feedback

[derekwst3]

This is my general idea: It starts out with a background story where strange beings were thrown out of a portal to a new world. These beings were not human they looked human but they had magic abilities, which only animals can harness. The humans of this world started calling them demons. The "demons" were angry and started trying to destroy the cities. Soon after four other "demons" with magical artifacts stopped the others.(not saying how cause it will be important later). Five of the evil ones got away with a half living corpes of another. it has been found out that if blood of a "demon" gets infected into a humans bloodstream, they gain abilities and appearances simular to the infector, they are called "Vampires"

Shadow (main character) wakes up after his sister Alexandria is yelling to him to take her to the near by town. (so i dont write to much im going to shorten this alot) they travel a little and someone kidnaps Alex, So the quest to find his sister begins, He meets Friends that join him for different reasons, Turns out all the playable characters exept Shadow, and Omaury (vampire after the one who infected him) were the human side of the "demons" (your sister if you saved her is one of them) The main "demon" calls himself Anubis and he looks alot like Shadow (you will find out why).

Each character (not including shadow) can either join you on your quest or have the darkened souls find and becoming there old selfs again. and yes you can screw yourself in having to defeat everyone that could be part of your party and or have a grand army of 14 plus characters.

im considering if you defeat the dark side you can make them a summon for each character, also if you manage to bring the full character list, you can have a secret ending causing the four heroic "demons" to be playable for a final battle to save the planet.

The "demons" came from another world wear humans each had a soul animal that if they were near by the animals death their souls would combine becoming a weapon, tool, or armor that is unique to each person, the first group was trying to over throw a corupt goverment, and were thrown to another dimension. A little after a secound group did overthrow the goverment but in a less destructive way and knew the others were not completely evil so five went to see if any of them wanted to come back. after seeing towns destroyed by the first group they decided to stop them, Lobo betrays them and helps four others escape carrying a fifth Anubis....the four "heroes" had artifacts that stopped the dark ones, unfortually Lobo also had a item that made the others get trapped in there own artifact abilitie

i guess i still wrote alot

 

[Ignotus]

Hello all,

I have an idea for a game and I'm trying to figure out the best way for me to create it. Years ago, I began writing notes for MMORPG ideas and recently have had enough of what I was thinking congeal to the point that I'm looking into actually making the game. Since developing an MMO is hardly a starting point (and in all likelihood it will never even get there), I'm looking to build initial games to improve my coding skills in general & develop game making skills.

First, I'd like to build a single player RPG with a SBABS and perhaps random-generated, Rogue-like adventure areas. Next, I'd like to expand that idea to be playable by multiple players online with each player controling a single character instead of having one player control the whole squad. After that, I'd like to develop a persistant world in which many players could interact. Ultimately, that could expand to MMO.

All of this will be in a setting peopled by intelligent animal-based and elemental-based species, with Bronze Age technology augmented by elemental powers, where the player species are begining to return from dormancy and rise in power as a part of the world's natural cycles, with territory to reclaim from the species who are now in decline. Players choose Species and Caste (race/class) for each character and set out into to explore the lands being reclaimed, fight the enemy species, or rebuild their nation from within.

So that's the optimistic outlook of where I want to go.

At this point, I'm trying to decide what to start with. RPG Maker looks good for that first step, especially using Vlad's ABS. My biggest concern is that most of what I do with RPGM won't be applicable to the next steps.

It sure feels like a LOT to do but I'd love to get even part of my ideas into a playable form.

So here are questions and areas where I'm looking for advice:

Since RPGM can't really handle MO play, is it really a good place to start? (Torque2D and Eclipse have also caught my attention.)

Will learning Ruby be of much use if later projects need Java, C++ / #, or Python?

I know that this is (overly) ambitious but does anyone have other general advice?

 

[Rello]

So here are questions and areas where I'm looking for advice:

Since RPGM can't really handle MO play, is it really a good place to start? (Torque2D and Eclipse have also caught my attention.)

Will learning Ruby be of much use if later projects need Java, C++ / #, or Python?

I know that this is (overly) ambitious but does anyone have other general advice?

From my experience, Ruby (or at least RGSS2) and Python have a very similar syntax. And regardless of what language you begin learning, it will all help your "coding mentality", if you know what I mean.

 

[Ignotus]

"coding mentality"

That's kinda what I was thinking... So I've plunged ahead with a RPGMakerVX tutorial, made a "game" to learn the basics, then I added Vampyr SBABS. That last part took an afternoon but I've heard that getting it up and going is the hardest part. I glanced through the code for it & understood quite a bit. I'll probably find some Ruby lessons in the future. For right now though, there is *so much* already available that I'll likely be a while before I find something I'll really need to script much myself. But that day will come.

Anyways, at this rate, I'll have enough for a decent Project Development post pretty soon!

 

[Mouser]

Since RPGM can't really handle MO play, is it really a good place to start? (Torque2D and Eclipse have also caught my attention.)

Will learning Ruby be of much use if later projects need Java, C++ / #, or Python?

I know that this is (overly) ambitious but does anyone have other general advice?

RM's main plus is the ability to sell your games. If you're planning on sticking "free" for a while, and then move on to multiplayer games (especially if you're looking to 3D eventually), you may want to try different "toolkit" games. NWN 1 is easy to learn, has a thriving community, and more mods than you can imagine already made for it (some of which are very, very good). The most powerful is probably Dragon Age (which in theory evolved from NWN). Both of those use C/C++ style scripting. RM does have a bunch of art assets available to you if stay "free" as well though, and a more user friendly interface than DA for sure.

The "coding mentality" thing is true to a point. Ruby is a pure Object Oriented language, so it will definitely help you a lot if you move to a language like Java. If you move to C++ (which is OO, but built on C, which is procedural) it will still help, but not as much.

No matter what, if you're looking to multiplayer in the future, you're going to need a "stepping stone" or two first. Get a good idea of where you want to go and how you plan to get there, and you'll have a better idea which tools are the best ones at each step.

 

[karacho]

I have some kind of idea for the setup of my game:

As described before i want to have a structure with episodes and seasons, if you know the TV Show "Buffy" you have an idea how i want to use the structure. I want episodes to have some kind of theme to it, or to have possibilities to delve into characters and find out more about them and stuff like that.

Anyway the setup is as follows: The game will begin fairly small. You are some guy in some little village and stumble upon some minor adventure. Maybe your sister or someone else is in danger. You go for the rescue and all of a sudden the plot gets larger. So kind of accidentally you save your home village and are praised as a hero. Then someone from a neighbor village knocks at your door and asks you to help them out to get rid of some bandits or whatever because you already saved your own village. You dont yet accept your role as a hero, but somehow they manage you to save the neighbor town too. Over the course of this some people help you out and become party members. Also without knowing it over the course of your little adventures you saved a family member of the king.

So the king speaks to you and gives you and your men an old empty castle as base of operations and maybe one or two knights and other resources. You never wanted to be a hero, but you are cought in the momentum so to say and all of a sudden you are the go-to guy when there is a problem. Over the course of the game you will recruit other heroes, fight evil, and save the world.

As i said before, think "Buffy", so the heart of the game will be to follow the characters, see them grow, and cheer for them when they fight, or be sad when they die. I am not sure if i explained the "Buffy" aspect well enough, but i hope you still know what i mean.

 

[KILLTHIS]

Alright, the idea behind my current concept:

The game begins with the death of your character, but this isn't the end of the world - well, not literally. Things crumble and change as you find yourself in a new world, where only little of what you've once known remains. New creatures, new races, new phenomenons and wonders await you - as well as new terrors and dangers. But your character isn't what he was before - he's changed physically - and will mentally.

I really don't want to spoil anything or maybe drop everything out before I'm really done with most of it, but I think it's something interesting.

 

[karacho]

@KILLTHIS

sounds interesting, what genre do you intent to be that game? sounds a bit like psychological horror

 

[KILLTHIS]

Hey karacho!

Actually it's a classical RPG, but everything's got a reason. Religion and beliefs will play quite a big role, so even though it's a big hint I still think you know what that means. Thing is: I want to make magics, gods and all this stuff less mythical in this one. Maybe I'll change the plot to something more gruesome, But we'll see about that. I just got way too much ideas and tend to incorporate everything into one big puddle - but even though I dislike it, I have to keep on to a special concept.

 

[Redacted]

V FIVE

​

Five—named so because you play during the Emergence Era (Fifth Era) of it's timeline—is a JRPG built using RPG MAKER VX ACE.

The game will be released through "Chapters", episodic content, pieces to a larger story arc called a "Campaign".

The game world is called TERRA. It's vast.

Three (3) main features make up the Fifth Era (Reign 1337):

• The transfer of the economic system relying upon agriculture, to the economy system relying on manufacturing
  
• The evaporation of the aura that allows magic users to cast magic
  
• The emergence of an established government order
  

Prior to EE, farmers typically own their own land, and settlements are ruled by lords and wardens.

Prior to EE, magic usage is commonplaced. Post-EE, magic is feared and hated.

As instalments (episodes) are released, the game will be patched and retitled accordingly.

Each title is named after the "Chapter" added to the game. Each new game patch also contains all previous chapters.

For example:

• Version 1.0 - Called V™ A
  
• Version 1.1 - Called V™ B
  
• Version 2.0 - Called V™ Magnum of Noches
  
• Version 2.1 - Called V™ The Carpal Dungeon
  
• ...
  
• Version 9.0 - Called V™ Anthology
  
• Version 9.1 - Called V™ Anthology: Director's Cut
  

"Campaigns" feature different party characters,

they will be selected from the title screen of the main game (like Resident Evil 6).

There will only ever be 1 game.exe file.

I plan to create a borderless version of the game as well, where you make your own character.

Prominent game features:

• 77+ hours of gameplay
  
• huge quest system
  
• focus: item collection
  
• focus: dungeoneering
  
• heavy storytelling
  

Little bit more about the lore of the game:

• the game world of Terra was forged by dragons, called Wyrms
  
• the game's main enemy is an evil magician whose ambition is to flood the world
  
• the game's main subplot is the emergence of a corrupt government faction
  
• you play as a young swordsman, an honourable knight, a rogue-ish assassin, and a dragoon warrior
  
• each of the above archetypes also feature three (3) or more complimentary characters making up their party
  
• other sentient races include the high elf, white elf, dark elf, blue elf, dragoon, dwarf, and the orc
  
• other locations of Terra include the southern arid lands of Kazzag
  
• many dungeons are optional, and many of the game's elements are also optional
  

Thoughts?

 

[Atticus Harper]

Prominent game features:

• 77+ hours of gameplay
  
• huge quest system
  
• focus: item collection
  
• focus: dungeoneering
  
• heavy storytelling
  

Those aren't game features. Features should be things that make your game unique, not aspects that almost everybody expects from a game anyway.

77+ hrs of gameplay seems a bit insane, especially for a first project. Wonder how you came up with the number anyways...

Don't know really what else to comment on, because you're only listing the structure of your game(s) and nothing about the plot. The whole game sounds pretty epic and awesome, should you really be able to pull it off. However, the evil magician who wants to destroy the world is so overly clichéd xD Nothing wrong with clichés necessairily, but if the story telling is so "heavy" I would've expected something less...dull.

And what's up with all the optional content? If it's not relevant, then why implement it in the first place? (only so you can add more hours to your total gameplay time?!) I think this will only distract from the main content you want the player to experience if it just seems random and has no real use.

I was gonna write that I would look forward to the project thread you would make for this, but seeing you just copied this post again, makes me believe there is not much substance to these ideas...?!

Well good luck anyways =)

 

[Redacted]

However, the evil magician who wants to destroy the world is so overly clichéd xD Nothing wrong with clichés necessairily, but if the story telling is so "heavy" I would've expected something less...dull.

I realise this is an overused fantasy concept, but it's something that stemmed from my imagination many years ago,

and I'd like to stay true to the concept.

There's a whole government subplot involved along the way.

I was gonna write that I would look forward to the project thread you would make for this, but seeing you just copied this post again, makes me believe there is not much substance to these ideas...?!

I posted this thread originally in the Project Thread, but realised it wouldn't be approved, so I posted it here.

Nessiah approved it, though, so now I've got this and that.

I'll rewrite the other thread as I see fit, with added ideas and plot ideas.

 

[LucidDreamer]

So I've had an idea bubbling around in my head for a while, and now that I decided to pick up RPG Maker I might as well try it out.

The main character of this game has always had weird dreams. Dreams that seem real, dreams that he can always remember perfectly. He writes this off as a personal weirdness, but that all changes when he moves to a new city to live with his half brother. He dreams of a mysterious girl, whom he is surprised to meet later in real life. Curious, he follows his "dream girl" to a place where dreams bleed into reality, or perhaps reality gives way to dreams. Here, he discovers that people have been wandering into these dreams and being attacked by Phantasms (aka Dream monsters).

The main character and his friends discover that they are Archetypes, individuals who gain the powers of a mythological creatures in the dream world. For example, the main character is a Baku, a Dream Eater that can consume weakened Phantasms to gain power, and his initial party consists of a Gremlin, a Crone, and a Golem. Through the course of the game they must explore the dream world, learn its mysteries, and save those unfortunate enough to wander into it.

As for the structure of the game itself, there will be two phases. During the day, the characters go about there regular lives and all that entails, while at night they enter the dream dungeons, of which there are two kinds: "general" dreams which are explored to progress the main story, and "specific" dreams, where they delve into the subconscious of a specific party member to unlock their powers as an Archetype. Unconscious barriers will bar entry to foreign entities, so the main character must earn his party member's trust during the day segments in order to progress in these dungeons.

As can be easily seen, I am drawing a lot of inspiration from the Persona series of games, as well as from a PS3 game called Folklore. Hopefully I can do this without seeming too derivative.

 

[DemonAbyss10]

Guess I will throw my own idea out here to get some opinions.

Some basic info to start it off I suppose.

Genre: RPG (obviously), Fantasy to be specific.

Atmosphere: Dark, bleak. Definitely on the cynical side of Idealism vs Cynicism.

Themes: War, religion, the nature of man, and the nature of magic being the big four among many others.

Inspirations: Xenogears, Xenoblade, Final Fantasy 6, the breath of fire series, and A Song of Ice and Fire. I could also count the fact that the story and world for this project was originally a novel series I was working on, but realized it would work much better as a game or TV series. So I already have a large portion of the story plotted out.

Game system ideas and such:

I will make it using the base RTP at first, but over time as I become more skilled with RPGmaker VX Ace, I plan on implementing it all according to what I want. A big feature (which would also factor into the storyline as well, not sure if it is doable via scripting though.) would be a 'corruption' system of sorts. Branching storylines could be a big possibility, especially in regards to the ending. Side view battle system, custom portraits, sprites etc would also be planned once I get more experience.

Some basic character info. (Not listing everyone, just the starting party. Not to mention just about anyone can die, there is very minimal plot armor)

Orionis

• Age: 26
  
• Birthplace: Valyron
  
• Mercenary in the hire of the Crimson Company.
  Spoiler

  A branch of a not so good religion. Most members don't even know of its affiliation with Zantalanism,
• Personality: A bit of a perv, can be rather bitingly sarcastic at times. Is trying to deal with the ghosts of his past.
  

Vela

• Age: 22
  
• Birthplace: Port Krosis
  
• Daughter of High Captain Duval of the Crimson Company. She is a mage in training.
  Spoiler

  Unknowingly is planned to be a host for Adastraea.
• Personality: She is on the childish side, definitely hiding more than a few secrets. Can be pretty stuck up at times as well
  

Gustav

• Age 30
  
• Birthplace: Morveyn Monastery
  
• Member of the Crimson Company. Bodyguard of the Duval Household. Currently on orders to bodyguard Vela
  Spoiler

  As well as to ensure certain plans come to fruition. Namely involving the orbs of the Zantalan Pantheon.
• He is an extremely reserved man, able to keep his cool in the most high-stress situations.
  

A quick summary of the plot is as follows (not spoiling anything, and not detailing every branch of the storyline. Or I will at least try not to.)

The world is constantly in a state of war and/or fragile peace. An Individual has plans to change that. Meanwhile the group of "Heroes" is ordered to hunt down various relics

Spoiler

Orbs of the Zantalan Pantheon.

. All hell breaks loose due to the relics, not to mention another global war that has begun

Spoiler

Of course caused by the Order of Zalantan.

. After yet more fighting, the group wind up having to deal with something much bigger than they bargained for and they along can determine the outcome of the conflict.

 

[Atticus Harper]

@LucidDreamer:

Well, first of all your username seems to reflect your idea, which I quite like

The general topic of dreams, which combine reality, consciousness and mythology seems very interesting to me.

I think what needs distinction is whether there is some sort of plane or sphere in between reality and dreams or whether dreams are accessible by sleeping at night, because of what you wrote it seems you were thinking of both.

Another aspect I’m interested in is the relation of your main character to his companions. Apparently he is meeting them in the dream world, but then he also knows of their identities in reality. So once you define how one can access someone else’s subconscious and what this entails (as to whether this is also another term/synonym for “dream world” or something different), the questions emerges where he knows those people from and how close they already are. I think it is of importance because should they be strangers it takes a lot to build up a trusting relationship, especially considering that they might not be as excited about fighting Phantasms with the protagonist because they don’t know him. Building a relationship and doing it in a way that does not seem forced and too constructed by the developer, is very hard to do because it takes a lot of time in the life of the characters to get close with each other. Portraying this and making it a fun gaming experience could be very hard, yet very astonishing if executed well.

All in all, I am very much looking forward to seeing some more of this idea. This topic is pretty much my cup of tea and a well thought out concept could turn into a great game. Good luck with your idea =)

@DemonAbyss10:

What to say…there is too little information to give you some feedback on it. You’re using terms of organizations and objects in your spoiler tags that find no explanation anywhere. I understand you don’t want to spoil details of your story. But this is what most people do, not thinking that even though a whole lot of information about their games plot is given, main twists are visible and maybe even an ending is given, the player will most likely forget a lot of it, by the time they are playing the actual game or specific parts of the story. Just because something is known, doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting anymore. You apparently have a lot more to your concept than you are giving here. These sort of teasing and yet not really clear statement, which explain no connections to whatever to nothing, don’t suffice to critique anything

 

[Based MG]

First in a Series

​

History

Spoiler

For years Cavarel has lived under a tense peace afforded by the Five Nations pact, an agreement between the countries of Cavarel that states that the business of the individual countries is their own, not to be intruded upon by outsiders. It was a forced peace, and the citizens of Cavarel could feel it. In the country of Trejin, a land of multiple trades and the land of diplomacy. Every nation had a capital in Trejin, until the Apoch struck. A massive explosion of Arcane energies that seared the northwestern capital, engulfed the island capital, and turned the southern capital into a marshland. Only the western capital was untouched, but Hilcover, the northeastern capital and diplomatic home of the Tohans was blasted beyond revival. Now, the northern edge of the bay around which Trejin circled is a scar; a reminder of the past, and a warning to those who would play with the fabric of Arcana. Regardless, the Tohans still practice their art in their snowbound home. The island capital of Lamir was drowned out, and the bay renamed in its honor. However, the pirates who survived were able to settle a new town on the northernmost border of Trejin, built right into the Toha Mountains. Due to their reputation, they were mistrusted by the nearby Rovish capital of Rawling and as such were on their own in regards to supplies and materials. Though they did not know it yet, the Mekanosians (or their derogatory name, "Meks") had settled next to a literal gold mine of minerals that their new mining operation would soon uncover. Kaiom, the southern capital and diplomatic home of the Khazites was isolated by the tsunami that washed across the bay, flooding out much of the plains and turning it into marsh. The Taelish trading capital of Raesor City made regular trips to Kaiom until the Apoch that flooded the southern lands; Raesor now just drops their goods off in a storage warehouse for the Marshwalkers of Kaiom to retrieve and ship out of port. Hilcover is only a shell of itself, fallen into ruin in the middle of the Dead Lands; the name given to the ash desert that marks the scar of Toha's folly.

That was in the year 213 AA (After Apoch), and now it is 517 AA. Several hundred years have passed, and the countries have continued to grow unsteady in their peace. Mekanos' prosperity at the Toha Mountains (legally property of Toha) has sparked resentment between the two, even though Mekanos remains firmly on the Trejin side of the mountains. Rawling has a secret alliance with Mekanos and as such has grown in prosperity as well, nearly doubling in size and forming a sizable military force. This has caused much suspicion to the other nations, and to the citizens of Raesor, the Taelish (who have been wary of Rawling and the Rovish since before the Apoch), this is on the brink of declaring war; namely because the capitals in Trejin were meant only to be as waypoints for diplomacy, not bases to be armed and militarized. It doesn't take long for war to officially break out, and battle lines are drawn. The Tohans believe Mekanos is on their side due to their mining operation in the Toha Mountains as well as their own ego, and as such several Mekanosians have taken advantage of the situation as double agents. This works to Mekanos' advantage, as the city has been widely known to be a neutral city since they broke away from the Pirates of Lameia.

In the midst of the war, one of Mekanos' Enforcers begins to have doubts about their allegiance with Rawling, and then decides to find the cause of Roval's sudden aggressive turn...

Characters

Spoiler

Heroes

Name: Zephiur Aernheit

Class: Engineer

Age: 25

Bio: Zephiur is a steely, stern fellow who doesn't take crap from anyone. One of Mekanos' toughest Enforcers and twice-nominated for Sheriff, Zephiur has proven time and again that he can handle any situation. He lost his right arm in an engineering accident when he was younger, but thanks to Mekanos' status as the most mechanically advanced city in Cavarel, he was easily able to find someone to build a replacement for him. Over the years, he's fine-tuned this arm and developed a number of attachments that replace his mechanical hand, as well as a Reactor system that lets him convert natural body heat into elemental fire. Recently overcome with doubt about his city's alliance with Rawling (and by extension, Roval), Zephiur takes a trip to Rawling's throne to have a talk with the stand-in king.

Mechanics: Zephiur uses dual pistols for basic attacks, and instead of MP or TP, he uses a Reactor gauge that starts at half and fills up slowly during the fight. Pistol (basic) attacks and Reactor Skills (magic) drain the Reactor meter slightly, with Pistol attacks only draining 1 point per attack and Reactor Skills draining the amount stated in the skill list. Once his Reactor gauge is full, Zephiur can activate an Overdrive that unleashes the auto-turret concealed in his mechanical arm's shoulder, dealing metal and fire damage to all enemies.

Name: Gloren Alphor

Class: Thief

Age: 29

Bio: Gloren is one of the petty thieves who make their living ambushing rich folk in the slums. He's a proud Rovish man, but "it's hard to support a country that makes war its business. It means less money in people's pockets, and more in the government where I can't get my hands on it." He takes life as it comes and rolls with the punches, and even though he's brash and foul-mouthed, he has his (rare) moments of insight, as well as a peculiar knowledge of how Roval works.

Mechanics: Gloren doesn't use any extra resources; all of his skills have limited uses and are more often than not related to trickery and misdirection.

Name: Eliah Halifax

Class: Druid

Age: 24

Bio: Eliah is the daughter of two prestigious Tohan Sorcerors, but her interest doesn't lay in the manipulation of Arcana, but more in its guidance. She feels and guides the ebb and flow of the arcane rather than directing it like a sorceror. As such, she is able to will Arcana to heal her allies and injure her enemies. She is extremely devout, and automatically wary of anyone who shuns Arcana; sadly, not many people other than Tohans seem to accept it, and as such has remained isolated in the wintry village of Sairo.

Mechanics: Eliah works similarly to a D&D magic user in that she can learn a number of healing spells as well as some magic damage attacks, but she can only choose a limited number to use in battles. Out of battle she can change which spells to use, however. She works differently from a Sorceror in that her spells don't use mana to cast, but instead rely on her environment. Depending on the location, she'll gain an elemental aura that changes the effects of some spells and completely enables or disables the use of others. She does, however, build up Aura (translated to a TP bar) that she can use to cast spells she wouldn't normally be able to in the specific environment.

More to come..

Neutral

To be thought of..

Villains

Name: Viktor Zelgios

Title: Emperor

Age: 44

Bio: Viktor is the emperor of Roval, and the instigator of the "war". The reasons for why he started militarizing Rawling are, quoth himself, "Because I know somewhere, those damned Taelish are lurking around, just waiting to blow up another city. I wouldn't put it past them, the mangy magic-users." He has an extreme prejudice against anyone who isn't of Rovish blood, and has a wide paranoid streak. Some joke that he surrounds himself with guards at all times, which is ironically true. There is never not a guard near him. However, he is ruthless in battle, and is the best axefighter in the land.

Countries

Spoiler

Sterling Alliance

Taeland (TAY-lind) - Land of the Taelish

Capital: Torivas; Raesor

Specialty: Trading

Khaz Oden (kaz OH-din) - Land of the Khazites

Capital: Heishi; Kaiom

Specialty: Survival, agriculture

Rovish Legion

Roval (ROH-vahl) - Land of the Rovish

Capital: Koroth; Rawling

Specialty: War

Lameia (luh-MY-uh) - Land of Pirates

Capital: Lameia; Lamir (Sunken)

Specialty: Sailing, travel

Neutral

Mekanos - Independent Mekanosians

Capital: Mekanos

Specialty: Mining, engineering

* Not allied with Toha

* Secret allies with Rawling on a supplicant basis

Toha (TOE-uh) - Land of the Tohans

Capital: Caeloch; Hilcover (Destroyed)

Specialty: Arcana

* Believes Mekanos are allies

* Isolated from war, but may be forced to choose a side

Trejin (TRAY-jin) - Land of Diplomacy

Capital: None

Specialty: No-man's land

*Soon to be warzone if Rawling continues to mobilize

I have at least two sidequests planned. One involves recruiting Toha against Roval, and the other involves cancelling Rawling's military mobilization. Basically the main goal of this game is to keep Caravel from going to full-on war, and your choices as a player will ultimately affect the outcome. The first main part of the game is diplomatic, going to the different main capitals and trying to talk reason, but the second part... well, that's a surprise.

 

[LucidDreamer]

@Zephiur

Seems really interesting. I had a bit of a difficult time wrapping my head around all the different countries' names, so you might want to watch how you hand out the information in game (a bit at a time as it becomes important, rather than one big infodump). That being said, I did sort it out after some careful reading, and even before I did I was intrigued by the general political feel you managed to convey. The characters seem interesting, both in terms of gameplay and story, and the chance to radically alter the history of the entire continent seems like it would be fun. All in all, I'll look forward to this!

@Atticus Harper

Thanks for the honest opinion! In regards to some of your questions/concerns: I was thinking of doing using both methods of entering dungeons (which I am currently calling Dreamscapes, though I am thinking of looking for a more original name). Specifically, I was imagining physically entering the storyline Dreamscapes (since figuring out why they are accessible at all in way is part of the mystery) and through sleep with your party members, but I'm considering using a physical entry point of both. Perhaps a sort of hub where the different party members dreams can be accessed? Storyline Dreamscapes would be scattered throughout the city in either case, to make it more believable that various people from different walks of life could wander into them.

Concerning recruitable Archetypes, I was imagining the general flow of recruiting them as happening something like this: first, meeting them in reality and recognizing their potential (in game this is sort of a sixth sense the Main Character possesses, while on a meta level you can usually tell based on who has a picture when you talk to them). Second, getting to know them well enough that you can overcome their first mental barrier (which is obviously more difficult with some than others). Finally, you would enter their dream at night, make them aware of the situation, and officially ask for their assistance (making sure to meet them the following morning to confirm that no, that wasn't just a really weird dream). Of course, that's just the general outline. It will vary for some, such as the core party members (two of which follow you into a Dreamscape accidentally, and one of which you actually find within a Dreamscape) and some others (the Dragon, for example, has been adventuring in the Dreamscapes for well over a year, and you have to convince him that working together would actually be worth it).

While on the subject of characters, I intend create a rather large group of Archetypes to recruit, either as party members or for non combat roles. I realize that managing a large party of characters isn't everyone's cup of tea, so as an attempted compromise I wanted to make the initial party (that is, those that are made available automatically through the course of the story) as balanced as possible, so that persuing the optional characters is never required. I might post some of the characters I've already thought up for critique later.

 

[Based MG]

@LucidDreamer

Aye, the "introductory" history will be a bit shorter than that, and I'll probably explain the countries and their people a bit more linearly than I did here. I plan on there being many more characters to recruit, I just haven't thought of them all yet. I've asked one of my art friends to do portrait art for the characters, so whenever he finishes with those (not gonna rush him, he's been worn out lately) I'll put them in place of the "mystery" portraits. As for the political quests, the greater storyline revolves around the nature of Arcana (basically magic or mana) and how it adapts to current events in the world. The more aggressive and warlike the world becomes, the more aggressive Arcana becomes. You can probably guess what this entails, but I'll keep it secret for now. The major plot-impact of the story comes in the form of the diplomatic side-quests. If you don't do any of them, then you progress the "normal" path through the story. I plan to make the side-quests rather in-your-face and pressing, as well as branching off of any other side-quests you have or haven't done. For example, if you don't demobilize Rawling's army you'll learn later on that Rawling has launched an assault on Raesor, which opens up a "defend the castle" type side-quest. You can also choose to ignore this sidequest, which then opens up the "Taelish Forward Camp", a group of dedicated Taelish who are planning on re-taking Raesor. As well, if you try to enter Raesor after Roval has taken it over, you'll find that the security measures are much stricter and that the town center has been converted into a slave camp. From here you can opt to lead a slave uprising to try and fight back the Rovish, and if you complete this side-quest, the Taelish Forward Camp will have more civilian refugees, and some that are even taking up arms. If you launch the re-taking of Raesor at this point, you can choose to enter from two ways: the front and the side (as opposed to only the front if you didn't free the slaves). Entering from the side will lead you through the dungeons and will enable you to free more soldiers for the cause, as well as someone who will become a party member later on.

As you can see, the side-quest system is very ambitious, and will make up most of the meat of the gameplay. For those who "just wanna get it over with" you can most certainly not play the side-quests, but you'll get a different path of progression depending on which side-quests you complete. That's not to say that the main storyline is devoid of content, however; it has its fair share of political intrigue and diplomatic elements to it. For the first part of the game your given quest is going to the main capitals of each country, trying to negotiate a peace. Even these are open-ended and may change the outcome of the story; if you go to Lameia and gain their favor, for instance, you'll find it harder to gain Khaz Oden's trust, since the Khazites and Pirates of Lameia have been at odds due to Lameia's constant buccaneer attacks on their trade ships. The entire game will be packed with story and tension, and because of the fact that you as the player have a hand in the outcomes, a sense of responsibility. Zephiur, the main character, is about as neutral as you can get in regards to politics, regardless of his doubts. The party members serve to act as his (and by extension your) moral compass. Gloren may wish to overthrow Roval because of its warmongering, where Eliah may opt to remain neutral because that is Toha's stance on the war. Even more, another party member may join you to try and convince you to fight on Roval's side. The glorious part is that any option you choose can and will be justified. Perhaps you choose to fight alongside Roval and make Mekanos' alliance public. If you do this, then your interactions with the Sterling Alliance will be hostile, and any member of that faction will despise you for siding with their enemy. These alliance choices are optional, but if you merely progress through the main questline you'll find yourself fighting against Roval in some way. Be warned, however, that if you choose a path that conflicts with a party member's views, then they will not hesitate to leave your party for good, and no amount of begging or pestering will bring them back. Hell, some of them might even fight you if you annoy them too much. With this I'm aiming to abolish the typical trend of "Everyone's a good guy and will stick with me 'cause I'm the main character" mentality, and perhaps add another layer of strategy and planning to the player's choices.

It'll be a daunting task, for sure, but I'm confident in my ability to weave a convincing story while keeping the personalities, ethics, and agendas of the characters intact. My only fear is that I won't have the scripting knowledge to carry out the more detailed parts of the game. I'm also a little worried that I'll be too flip-floppy in which scripts/features to implement ("Do I use ATB or ABS?", "Should I put in X system or would that be superfluous?", etc.) and that I'll end up overloading the game with useless features. However, that is a conversation for the "Game Mechanics" discussion thread.

 

[Developous]

Imeria Basis

Now, I am working on a massive rpg dealing with 2 main areas. The spirit realms where you simply gain lost soul energies(seperate mini-rpgs) and the main world of imeria.

The mainworld will be affected by the final 'alignment' of those elemental realms, namely called 'eternals' in the mainland. The idea is that as the eternal's final alignment is determined,

that would drasticly affect the fate of the mainland in relation to such, natually. For example, if lightning is first, and it becomes chaotic netrual, then the reality would be based on a chaotic energy system, and focus towards being technological.

Now... any suggestions on this?

 

[Solistra]

Now... any suggestions on this?

The only suggestion that I can offer is to simplify this as much as you can -- the idea sounds interesting, but technically difficult (and time-consuming) to implement properly.