Replacing Major Game Mechanic (Need serious help!)

[Neverward]

I've run into an issue with one of the most vital parts of my game, and it's not really something that I can currently work around and I'm honestly just stumped as can be about it. So if anyone wouldn't mind reading a summary of this game element and why it won't work, and would help me brainstorm on a replacement that might fit the plot I would be very grateful

I'm majorly spoiling some elements of my game right now but I feel like most of it is still being kept secret so its alright. All the same if you want to play my game when it comes out without knowing any secrets beforehand, don't read this haha. If you still plan to keep going, know that EVERYTHING you read is subject to change (especially the names for things), and is being summarized as much as possible so a lot of information is missing. If you feel you need further information to help out just ask! ^^

Warning: I suck at summarizing so don't expect very good/short writing!

Spoiler

We are many thousands of years into the future, in another galaxy and a much different time and universe. Humanity has taken a long time to get there but in the last few centuries there have been no wars, and mankind has finally joined the vast majority of their 'nations'(solar systems grouped together) into a vast Committee of Humanity which more or less runs the galaxy. It was formed originally by a crew of the fastest battleship pilots from various nations who resisted the old Tyrannical government that ran over half of the inhabited planets at the time.

They raced across the galaxy with a secret weapon, to put an end to the biggest galactic war mankind has ever experienced, before a terrible world-ending creation could assault the bulk of their resistance stationed then on mainly one planet. They came in time to see their world destroyed and many of their allies slaughtered, but with this secret weapon(that you don't get to know any more about ;P) they brought judgement down on the enemy forces, and through this effort they were able to end the war over time. These valiant pilots went on to form a peace that has lasted many hundreds of years. The leaders of all the nations and their representatives joined into one Committee of Humanity. 

Over time though, their dream was forgotten and the Committee grew posh, extravagant, and like all men do they became power hungry. The leaders of those old pilot's nations created an Inner Council, so the strongest and most influential nations could change the decisions of the Committee as a whole 'for the greater good of humanity' which would conveniently fall in the favor of their nations most often. A race had been held every 5 years to celebrate the journey of the heroes who had formed this peaceful government, one which took them all the way across the galaxy and over their old trail. (At that point it was something like our Olympics) The Committee used this to create an entirely new 'solution to war' as they called it, and it was an opportunity for your nation to rise to a place of honor and importance in the Inner Council.

They took the Races and made them into much more, a huge Marathon of racing, dueling, and mental and physical challenges. Rules, regulations, and strict guidelines were created. Through these races ever 5 years the voices in the Inner Council, and which Nations are superior, would be determined. Two girls from every nation are chosen to partake on behalf of their country, and undergo rigorous training. (only females can pilot in the race for a reason which I also can't explain now.) Those with the strongest/most cunning pilots, the most cutting edge technology, the fastest race-ships, and the most funding were the most likely to win. All of the competitive nature and the desire for war was channeled into the Games, and their plan for peace prospered while it was in place. The small nations with little to offer had hardly a chance to get into the council. Still every 5 years the hopes and dreams of every nation would be carried once again on the shoulders of their young women with the hope that if they win, their nation will flourish.

I hope you guys managed to get through that, and understand it for the most part xD and I didn't realize how many times I said 'nation' in there until I reread it haha.

The blaring issue here which has me more stumped then anything, is the Racing. Try as I might I just don't know how I'm going to portray an actual dynamic space race against other pilots who are supposedly also the best in the galaxy without it looking dinky and HUGELY under-whelming after all of the hype you'd hear about it in the game. The most I can think to do is make some asteroids event their way down the page with a moving parallax background while you dodge them, but even then it's silly and like a small mini-game. It hardly will do for the main plot-drive of the whole dang story. I could go scripting but seriously, how much can a script do? You can't turn it into an FPS, I'm not going to break the system and go crazy over my first game. I'm already taking on a huge task trying to come up with the other challenges and whatnot.

So basically... I'm trying to come up with maybe an alternate story element if I can. I want it to be something where the technological advancement and the superior power source that mankind is using (which is one of the main plot points) will actually make a drastic difference in the game. Because the Race is supposed to determine which nations are technologically superior. Racing was the only thing I can think of at the moment. I'll take suggestions for racing scripts too haha! I really just want to know how I can make this mechanic work, or if it can't, what else I might do in it's place.

Anyway, feedback of any kind would be appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read this all <3

 

[Cozzer]

Supposing you are using a somehow standard RPG system, you could turn the race into a survival test on a deserted planet full of dangers.

The girls get dropped on the planet (in different points?) with all the high-tech help they can carry, and the first one to reach the "goal" wins.

This way, the race is still about both the girls' skills and the funding/tech of their nations (which give them high-tech tools that help them survive).

Then you can go crazy with the difficulties they have to overcome on their way. Strange creatures, abandoned facilities, maybe unexpected encounters with other space travellers or locals...

You could have girls forming temporary teams, like "we'll team up to overcome this obstacle, then we'll fight each other to decide who gets to go forward"... (The fights could be lethal or non-lethal, depending on the mood you want to set for the story. Maybe a girl gets to retire from the competition in any moment, and if she does she gets instantly rescued from space. Of course most of them won't do it even if their lives are in danger, because HONOR.)

 

[Kes]

It would still run the risk of looking too much like a mini-game, but instead of speed piloting, how about precision piloting?  Because those original pilots needed to be not just fast but also accurate.  Where you would, e.g. have to get through an asteroid belt, or steer between a black hole and a space warp.  Hmm, not very good examples, but perhaps enough to illustrate what I mean?  But if you go this route, it would have to be based on accuracy, not speed of reflexes, because reflexes would knock some of your potential players out based purely on physiology.

 

[cabfe]

Since this is is more of a Marathon than a 100m, maybe you could change the race "speed" factor by a more "strategic" factor, like having to manage fuel load/consumption.

Perhaps add a Repair skill (with resources to manage and/or collect on the way), depending of how stressful for the ships it can be.

How long (hours ?) is it supposed to be ? Is this a relay ?

If you already thought of having different pilots, each one can have special skills related to the above resources.

One could be a reckless pilot with no thought for fuel; only speed matters.

While another could be more of an engineer and manage to get the ship in a good condition throughout the race so it can stay efficient all along.

 

[Alkorri]

Hi there, Neverward I have no scripting knowledge so the only advice I can offer is from the games I've been playing for research the past few weeks.

I like the racing idea and think you should keep it (in case you were thinking of dumping it). In order to make racing epic, I can only think of three examples:

1) make animated first-person cutscenes without or with player input (if that's possible)

2) replace the chibi sprite racer with a cool looking vehicle? In Matseb's Central Impulse game, there was this one section where you had to use your robot sprite to chase after someone while dodging damaging obstacles. It was brief and frustrating at first, but fun and intense. Perhaps you could do something like that?

3) Jihaus' Forced Recall game had a creative segment (Rage) that involved a timed race on the world map with your sprite who had to complete a certain objective before the timer ran out. Perhaps you could represent the other 'competitors' as visible sprites on the map? It was insane crazy fun

There's nothing wrong with mini-games in my book because they introduce variety. That and you can spice up the epic-level by cutting in scenes of your custom art throughout the race. Scenes like close-ups of your character's face (anxiety, determination, pain), shots of your competitors (to gauge at a glance how far or close their bikes are), backgrounds. It's a nice way to help players relate to your character and raises the emotional stakes

Just a suggestion

 

[Neverward]

Spoiler

Supposing you are using a somehow standard RPG system, you could turn the race into a survival test on a deserted planet full of dangers.
The girls get dropped on the planet (in different points?) with all the high-tech help they can carry, and the first one to reach the "goal" wins.

This way, the race is still about both the girls' skills and the funding/tech of their nations (which give them high-tech tools that help them survive).

Then you can go crazy with the difficulties they have to overcome on their way. Strange creatures, abandoned facilities, maybe unexpected encounters with other space travellers or locals...

You could have girls forming temporary teams, like "we'll team up to overcome this obstacle, then we'll fight each other to decide who gets to go forward"... (The fights could be lethal or non-lethal, depending on the mood you want to set for the story. Maybe a girl gets to retire from the competition in any moment, and if she does she gets instantly rescued from space. Of course most of them won't do it even if their lives are in danger, because HONOR.)

This is a really excellent idea except that it simply doesn't follow the attitude which goes with the girls, and also the planned environments. These girls are basically worshiped by their nations, and they decide the fate of all their people, and I don't think they'd want them dropped in the middle of a desert (especially not after what they pay for their long hard training.)

The biggest issue with that though is the opportunity for cheating. These races are well regulated, as are the challenges. That's not to say things aren't liable to totally go haywire or anything, not that I'm going to talk about that and spoil anything else ;P but yeah it's just a bit chancy. That doesn't mean some survival elements would be out of place in the challenges I will take that suggestion into account!

Spoiler

It would still run the risk of looking too much like a mini-game, but instead of speed piloting, how about precision piloting?  Because those original pilots needed to be not just fast but also accurate.  Where you would, e.g. have to get through an asteroid belt, or steer between a black hole and a space warp.  Hmm, not very good examples, but perhaps enough to illustrate what I mean?  But if you go this route, it would have to be based on accuracy, not speed of reflexes, because reflexes would knock some of your potential players out based purely on physiology.

Maybe you could get more specific with what precision piloting is and how it differs from accurate piloting, or how your thinking of it? But I generally get what your saying, I think that the dodging around would be cool... it's the implementing of the ship movement which is the issue though! I can't think of how to make any sort of racing work in the system, precision or no!

Spoiler

Hi there, Neverward I have no scripting knowledge so the only advice I can offer is from the games I've been playing for research the past few weeks.
I like the racing idea and think you should keep it (in case you were thinking of dumping it). In order to make racing epic, I can only think of three examples:

1) make animated first-person cutscenes without or with player input (if that's possible)

2) replace the chibi sprite racer with a cool looking vehicle? In Matseb's Central Impulse game, there was this one section where you had to use your robot sprite to chase after someone while dodging damaging obstacles. It was brief and frustrating at first, but fun and intense. Perhaps you could do something like that?

3) Jihaus' Forced Recall game had a creative segment (Rage) that involved a timed race on the world map with your sprite who had to complete a certain objective before the timer ran out. Perhaps you could represent the other 'competitors' as visible sprites on the map? It was insane crazy fun

There's nothing wrong with mini-games in my book because they introduce variety. That and you can spice up the epic-level by cutting in scenes of your custom art throughout the race. Scenes like close-ups of your character's face (anxiety, determination, pain), shots of your competitors (to gauge at a glance how far or close their bikes are), backgrounds. It's a nice way to help players relate to your character and raises the emotional stakes

Just a suggestion  

Hey thanks for the suggestions!

"1) make animated first-person cutscenes without or with player input (if that's possible)"  not entirely sure what you mean by that, cut-scenes are going to be already a part of the game if that's what your saying, and there will be one for when you get in your ship, is that what you mean?

2.) Don't worry I wasn't planning on having Ralph the magical RTP sprite zooming through space or anything spaceships are a must and in my opinion a given in any space-travel in anything be it a game, story, etc.

3.) It wouldn't be a race without opponents! Maybe a race against the clock, but this is no time-race, it's just a people race! So, if ever a way to make racing happen should appear, there will be enemy vehicles to race as well.

The issue isn't not wanting to do racing, or deciding against it really, it's just a matter of how impossible it is xD if I find a way to do it I'll be extremely happy.

All good suggestions so far thank you guys ^^

 

[Cozzer]

This is a really excellent idea except that it simply doesn't follow the attitude which goes with the girls, and also the planned environments. These girls are basically worshiped by their nations, and they decide the fate of all their people, and I don't think they'd want them dropped in the middle of a desert (especially not after what they pay for their long hard training.)

The biggest issue with that though is the opportunity for cheating. These races are well regulated, as are the challenges. That's not to say things aren't liable to totally go haywire or anything, not that I'm going to talk about that and spoil anything else ;P but yeah it's just a bit chancy. That doesn't mean some survival elements would be out of place in the challenges   I will take that suggestion into account!

Well, you could have the whole thing broadcasted real-time in the whole universe to prevent cheating .

Also, it could be more of a planned journey with artificial challenges and less being dropped in a desert. It could almost never be lethal (except for rare incidents, which are basically required by this kind of plots)

Anyway, my main point is that I believe that your main plot point should be resolved by your main gameplay mechanic.

I'd hate to spend a game fighting traditional RPG battles and then the climatic race which decides the future of the universe is a minigame.

(But if you manage to create an interesting race "minigame", you could make THAT a main gameplay mechanic...)

(As I said, I'm talking on the assumption that the basic gameplay is that of an RPG. If it's not, forget what I said.)

 

[Neverward]

Spoiler

Well, you could have the whole thing broadcasted real-time in the whole universe to prevent cheating .Also, it could be more of a planned journey with artificial challenges and less being dropped in a desert. It could almost never be lethal (except for rare incidents, which are basically required by this kind of plots)

Anyway, my main point is that I believe that your main plot point should be resolved by your main gameplay mechanic.

I'd hate to spend a game fighting traditional RPG battles and then the climatic race which decides the future of the universe is a minigame.

(But if you manage to create an interesting race "minigame", you could make THAT a main gameplay mechanic...)

(As I said, I'm talking on the assumption that the basic gameplay is that of an RPG. If it's not, forget what I said.)

Yeah it's a great idea maybe I'm just feeling like it's a bit Cliche though, drop down a bunch of kids into a deserted place for them to fight? Sound familiar? Hunger Games/Battle Royale anyone? Haha but I think that survivalist elements would be great and your suggestion already had me writing a flurry of notes on how I will change my challenges to incorporate that feeling more.

I dunno, space racing is unique you really don't see it in games often especially not RPGmaker games (Have you ever? I haven't.) So maybe it's just a fools hope that I'll find something as unique to replace it but I will try....

 

[Kes]

Maybe you could get more specific with what precision piloting is and how it differs from accurate piloting, or how your thinking of it?   But I generally get what your saying, I think that the dodging around would be cool... it's the implementing of the ship movement which is the issue though! I can't think of how to make any sort of racing work in the system, precision or no!

I was using accurate and precision interchangeably.  The contrast I was drawing was between that and speed/reflexes.  You can be accurate and slow.

This might tie in nicely with the suggestion cabfe made about strategic managing of resources.

 

[Neverward]

Spoiler

Since this is is more of a Marathon than a 100m, maybe you could change the race "speed" factor by a more "strategic" factor, like having to manage fuel load/consumption.Perhaps add a Repair skill (with resources to manage and/or collect on the way), depending of how stressful for the ships it can be.

How long (hours ?) is it supposed to be ? Is this a relay ?

If you already thought of having different pilots, each one can have special skills related to the above resources.

One could be a reckless pilot with no thought for fuel; only speed matters.

While another could be more of an engineer and manage to get the ship in a good condition throughout the race so it can stay efficient all along.

I thought I replied to you but I guess not haha xD so I will now!

I looooove the idea of the resources being a thing, it's a great suggestion!

It's a several week-long race, which consists of races to different planets, competitions at those planets, and then rinse and repeat over and over until you reach the finish line

Diverse enemy ships would be awesome for sure haha.

____________

These are all awesome suggestions for how racing could be, but does anyone have any suggestions for how a script might be? XD

 

[Cozzer]

Another idea: you could say a spaceship is not something a single person can control.

So, the girls are actually the commanders of the crew, and the game becomes a sort of "resource allocation" one. Like, every day you have to decide who pilots, who checks the engines, who controls fuels and whatevers; when problems happen you have to decide how to deal with them and sometimes the girl/commander has to take matters in her hands (like, leading a party onto a planet to get more resources or securing the area to land the ship if it needs to be repaired).

You'd have to keep a LOT of variables under control, but it could become a "strategic spaceship race" system. (And you wouldn't need any script!)

 

[Kurisu]

Hello! I really like the race idea and I think you should do your best to keep it If you expand it enough, it won't be a "gimmick" minigame anymore but a nice, complex system.

From what I understand, players will get to participate in those races, right? Would it be a one-off event or would player participate in few of them?

Anyway, here's a bunch of ideas, maybe something will help

I imagine this race more like rally, not NASCAR. Let Paris-Dakar rally be your inspiration! The race could be split into three stages

stage 1 is planning phase - depending on the track, conditions, rules and other factors Player needs to choose right parts for his ship (engine, hull, fuel tanks etc.). Having the right setup would be crucial for winning the race. So, you need the right amount of fuel, your ship's mass will have an impact on it's maximum speed, ship's acceleration will depend on thrust of your engines and so on. You could also purchase power-ups like turbo boost, auto-repairing nanobots, radiation shield or so

stage 2 is the race itself. It could perhaps take place on a different, large scale strategic map. You can see the track, planets, objects like space stations and of course other contestants. Player would need to make clever decisions on how much of thrust to use (the more you use the faster you go, but you also burn more fuel), when to use power ups and how to cleverly use other planets gravity fields to speed up (the lower the orbit the more you will speed up but you run the risk of getting too low and entering/burning in the atmosphere), do planetary transfers and so on(think kerbal space program). Player might need to decide when it will be best to refuel, make the most of ship's reserves.

All this It would require some clever eventing but I think it can be done. What would make this stage more interesting is random events like asteroid cloud, gamma rays damaging your ship if you don't have proper protection installed, sabotage (rival countries playing dirty, sending space pirates after you ) or the whole side-missions like one of your rivals has an accident and crash lands on a nearby planet. Their oxygen runs out and player can decide whether to rescue them or leave them be.

stage 3 would be duels. When player's ship gets close to one of the rivals, a duel would occur. I imagine it kinda like a regular battle/mini game. You could have parallax background moving down quickly to give an impression of FTL speeds, two ship sprites flying next to each other and player can do such things like use power ups, try to ram the rival's ship, do evasive maneuvers, taunt the rival etc. The winner gets ahead and receives some boost or fuel as a reward. If you want you can play dirty and destroy the rival's ship completely, but make sure you leave no witnesses

 

[Kyutaru]

There are tons of racing games that promote cheating.  Mario Kart is one of them.  You could turn the race into a battle event with players making power plays against each other to damage or offtrack their vehicles.  Taking a hit could result in losing the lead, for example.  You could easily turn it into a last man standing battle for the finish where most of the vehicles get knocked out of the competition along the way due to foul play.