I was trying to explain to Deo the differences between a multiplayer and single player game.
In a single player game you can pause the action and leave things turn based, which I am happy with. no hassle to fetch a coffee or go to the loo.
In a multiplayer game you need to deal with people being AFK and logging in/out.
Deo though that other players (human onse) would give quests to you despite the game being single player. That's cool I thought. Eventually we came up with the concept of multilayer instances. That is in your single player game you enter a Pub, the Pub is hosted on a server and lots of other player avatars are there. Thus you can interact wit them brag/give&receive quests/challenge people to a duel/ that sort of thing. Much the same was that Warhammer online deals with scenarios.
This would also require a mail system to handle trade and reward deliveries. While cool this would require as much work as the normal distribution skill checks I think.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
The game that I would like to play: Finally getting started
So yeah, It looks like I may need a blog specifically for this to keep things tidy and sort out an index. But then again I may get bored with it for another few years after I have spell checked my race descriptions and posted that. But in summary:
This post, will tell you why I started to think how I would make a game if I could.
This post, fills in exactly what I was after and where I was coming from.
This post, is a quick plan on the start of the game.
The next thing is fill out some backstory and find somebody else to get started for me as it really is not likely that I will set about to learn how to program TOME, let alone start something from scratch in LINUX, but there you go anyway I have made the thin edge of the wedge.
This post, will tell you why I started to think how I would make a game if I could.
This post, fills in exactly what I was after and where I was coming from.
This post, is a quick plan on the start of the game.
The next thing is fill out some backstory and find somebody else to get started for me as it really is not likely that I will set about to learn how to program TOME, let alone start something from scratch in LINUX, but there you go anyway I have made the thin edge of the wedge.
TGTIWLTP: Bonuses from Items
Bonuses from Items
I think one list of bonuses will be simplest. They can then be applied directly to the character sheet. The different types of bonuses can be unlockable too. So that in version 1 there are no possible bonuses. Later in the game then when your items have enough sentimentality to receive a bonus only the bonuses that have been discovered can be applied.
Damage soak, of each type
Damage resistance of each type
Learning aid; increasing the learning rate of one scalar/proficiency.
Damage bonus fixed or %
Scalar nudge, shift a skill in one direction whilst equipped/held
Reputation bonus for equipment of that race/class/civilization (do I really want this though)
No strike that I have only seen it a few times and it did not add much. On the other hand Set items could be nifty. ie Dressed like a Trinitarian.
Normal disruption, Change the way the skill checks work.
I think one list of bonuses will be simplest. They can then be applied directly to the character sheet. The different types of bonuses can be unlockable too. So that in version 1 there are no possible bonuses. Later in the game then when your items have enough sentimentality to receive a bonus only the bonuses that have been discovered can be applied.
Damage soak, of each type
Damage resistance of each type
Learning aid; increasing the learning rate of one scalar/proficiency.
Damage bonus fixed or %
Scalar nudge, shift a skill in one direction whilst equipped/held
Reputation bonus for equipment of that race/class/civilization (do I really want this though)
No strike that I have only seen it a few times and it did not add much. On the other hand Set items could be nifty. ie Dressed like a Trinitarian.
Normal disruption, Change the way the skill checks work.
TGTIWLTP: Normal distribution
Regarding items & Skill checks
Rather than having players continually searching for new better items like in Borderlands I’d like them to all be like the Angband ego artifacts that level up as they are used, slowly getting more magical and more powerful. The longer the avatar uses a weapon type the sharper and sturdier it becomes because the avatar looks after it. This maintenance is a part of the weapons skill.
Also the avatar becomes used to the weight and feel of the weapon and so grows sentimentally attached to it, after certain time periods they notice new places that magical gems can be placed to give the weapon special abilities, like firebrand.
Instead of every possible damage output being equally likely computers should be powerful enough to calculate a normal distribution for each weapon then randomly select one of the probabilities to calculate how much damage is done. I think this will be more interesting than the regular way.
The likelihood to hit is effected only by the skill with that weapon. The effectiveness of the attack is determined by the weapon. Attacks must penetrate the armor first. Let armor use the soak calculations. So a certain amount of the attack is soaked by the armor.
Likelihood to hit:
6σ - 2σ hurt myself
2 σ – σ not even close
σ - μ near miss (effect may trigger)
μ - σ success
σ - 2σ armor penetration
2σ - 6σ critical success + armor penetration
Standard deviations above and below these only give bonuses to learning the relevant skill. This normal distribution is based off 100% calculations. It is buffed by the skew for the relevant attack skill of the attacker. To hit is debuffed by the skill with that weapon of the defender as well as the defenders generic evasion skill. Thus entities with a really good dodge can get their attackers to hurt themselves.
Effectiveness of action:
Material quality changes the mean and stdev of the item. Speed it effected by the overall weight of all equipped equipment.
Item stats:
Material – effects quality
Weight – effects overall speed
Damage: Mean
Damage: Standard Deviation
Sentimental (increases over time, at milestones gives buffs)
Durability (decreases over time until item breaks)
Rather than having players continually searching for new better items like in Borderlands I’d like them to all be like the Angband ego artifacts that level up as they are used, slowly getting more magical and more powerful. The longer the avatar uses a weapon type the sharper and sturdier it becomes because the avatar looks after it. This maintenance is a part of the weapons skill.
Also the avatar becomes used to the weight and feel of the weapon and so grows sentimentally attached to it, after certain time periods they notice new places that magical gems can be placed to give the weapon special abilities, like firebrand.
Instead of every possible damage output being equally likely computers should be powerful enough to calculate a normal distribution for each weapon then randomly select one of the probabilities to calculate how much damage is done. I think this will be more interesting than the regular way.
The likelihood to hit is effected only by the skill with that weapon. The effectiveness of the attack is determined by the weapon. Attacks must penetrate the armor first. Let armor use the soak calculations. So a certain amount of the attack is soaked by the armor.
Likelihood to hit:
6σ - 2σ hurt myself
2 σ – σ not even close
σ - μ near miss (effect may trigger)
μ - σ success
σ - 2σ armor penetration
2σ - 6σ critical success + armor penetration
Standard deviations above and below these only give bonuses to learning the relevant skill. This normal distribution is based off 100% calculations. It is buffed by the skew for the relevant attack skill of the attacker. To hit is debuffed by the skill with that weapon of the defender as well as the defenders generic evasion skill. Thus entities with a really good dodge can get their attackers to hurt themselves.
Effectiveness of action:
Material quality changes the mean and stdev of the item. Speed it effected by the overall weight of all equipped equipment.
Item stats:
Material – effects quality
Weight – effects overall speed
Damage: Mean
Damage: Standard Deviation
Sentimental (increases over time, at milestones gives buffs)
Durability (decreases over time until item breaks)
TGTIWLTP: Implimentation
It looks like I need to be careful not to add too many complex features that make a game impossible to create. So the main points would be:
Probability functions
dynamic world (aka dwarf fortress)
unlocks (simple to start with, also allows easy upgrade)
information (no need for external theory crafting)
constructive (not exclusively, kill everything that moves)
degenerative health (cannot function at 100% when only 1HP remains)
Polish (simple graphics that move smoothly)
small (can play on older PCs)
free (open source, donations maybe)
single player
no elves, orks, trolls. mostly original classes. (Real animals allowed)
not locked into specific class stereotypes (practice results in progress)
communities (play both sides of the coin)
sentimentality ( to explain where artefacts come from)
realistic death (with consequences to the world)
realistic backpack (not using Judo while carrying 3 sets of plate mail armour)
Rogelike
barter system (some people want gems, some want milk)
scales & proficiency rather than level ups (real life is not digital)
That is all, probably too much actually.
Version 1 should have:
1 class (woodcutter)
1 race (trinitarian)
1 homestead (3 people)
1 skill (axe)
4 items: axe, wood, food, water
1 backpack (things always carried)
1 Loot sack (dropped when performing actions)
0 economy (free items from mum)
0 enemies
0 unlocks (they have not been made yet)
dynamic world (let graves be made for each death)
single map, no over world.
Probability functions (using axe on tree, woodcutting skill)
sentimentality (for axe, full development of this one item)
realistic death (no rez, but most things will leave you for dead rather than kill)
free
single player
Rogelike
Plot (available for thickening)
2 quests (fetch wood for fireplace, do not get eaten by wolves)
This should be sufficient to create a workable platform on which the rest of the game could be built.
After this everything else can be considered unlockable, ie wolves, clothes.
For me version 1 would be the hardest part of making a game. The theory and IP will take the longest and if the game ever starts getting made will probably be ongoing like minecraft. But thinking about what to add is easy "if you can cook a meal with words, I will promise you an ocean of butter" is an Arabic saying that I remember.
Version 2 will not nearly be so hard. I have been able to mod morrowind/puzzle quest/Red Alert #?/Fallout 3/titan quest/AOE1 without many hassles but in these games the framework was already there to develop new quests items, monsters, races, campaigns. From my uni programming days I know that it is a different kettle of fish altogether when you are starting from scratch.
In the meantime as this game is not made I will continue to roll a halfling thief who wields a battleaxe and is too nice to steal. Or maybe I will multiclass a necromancer healer.
I remember one rogelike that I really enjoyed playing except that it really only had 2 quests. I could see that the game went a lot further than that and that there were a lot of race/classes awaiting deployment but not enough to keep me playing. I decided to definitely come back to that variant in a year’s time. But now I have forgotten what it was called. The version one I have described here would probably keep me entertained for half an hour.
So I would probably keep it in alpha until there was an infinite dungeon that generates a new level each time the stairs are used. This will allow any character to play with the scalars and proficiencies without any plot interruptions, nice and simple hack and slash.
As far as enemies goes I suppose there needs to be a bank of unintelligent animals with which to populate the starting world.
I didn’t actually realise how complicated the resistance math was. There are a lot of extra things to consider. Then there are dozens of ways to alter the values. No wonder this iteration of tome (Tome4) had no spell casters in the beginning. The resistance buffs need to take into account a lot of different variables.
Then things need to be tested for balance, since I have a different damage calculation this may be not very easy. I am starting to see why nearly all RPGs use a d20 system.
Each race needs a normal default:
physiology
Preferred class
Preferred skill
Preferred home
Unique active
Passive
Preferred food
Each class needs:
starting location
guild (formal or informal)
pre learned skill
item + clothes
Probability functions
dynamic world (aka dwarf fortress)
unlocks (simple to start with, also allows easy upgrade)
information (no need for external theory crafting)
constructive (not exclusively, kill everything that moves)
degenerative health (cannot function at 100% when only 1HP remains)
Polish (simple graphics that move smoothly)
small (can play on older PCs)
free (open source, donations maybe)
single player
no elves, orks, trolls. mostly original classes. (Real animals allowed)
not locked into specific class stereotypes (practice results in progress)
communities (play both sides of the coin)
sentimentality ( to explain where artefacts come from)
realistic death (with consequences to the world)
realistic backpack (not using Judo while carrying 3 sets of plate mail armour)
Rogelike
barter system (some people want gems, some want milk)
scales & proficiency rather than level ups (real life is not digital)
That is all, probably too much actually.
Version 1 should have:
1 class (woodcutter)
1 race (trinitarian)
1 homestead (3 people)
1 skill (axe)
4 items: axe, wood, food, water
1 backpack (things always carried)
1 Loot sack (dropped when performing actions)
0 economy (free items from mum)
0 enemies
0 unlocks (they have not been made yet)
dynamic world (let graves be made for each death)
single map, no over world.
Probability functions (using axe on tree, woodcutting skill)
sentimentality (for axe, full development of this one item)
realistic death (no rez, but most things will leave you for dead rather than kill)
free
single player
Rogelike
Plot (available for thickening)
2 quests (fetch wood for fireplace, do not get eaten by wolves)
This should be sufficient to create a workable platform on which the rest of the game could be built.
After this everything else can be considered unlockable, ie wolves, clothes.
For me version 1 would be the hardest part of making a game. The theory and IP will take the longest and if the game ever starts getting made will probably be ongoing like minecraft. But thinking about what to add is easy "if you can cook a meal with words, I will promise you an ocean of butter" is an Arabic saying that I remember.
Version 2 will not nearly be so hard. I have been able to mod morrowind/puzzle quest/Red Alert #?/Fallout 3/titan quest/AOE1 without many hassles but in these games the framework was already there to develop new quests items, monsters, races, campaigns. From my uni programming days I know that it is a different kettle of fish altogether when you are starting from scratch.
In the meantime as this game is not made I will continue to roll a halfling thief who wields a battleaxe and is too nice to steal. Or maybe I will multiclass a necromancer healer.
I remember one rogelike that I really enjoyed playing except that it really only had 2 quests. I could see that the game went a lot further than that and that there were a lot of race/classes awaiting deployment but not enough to keep me playing. I decided to definitely come back to that variant in a year’s time. But now I have forgotten what it was called. The version one I have described here would probably keep me entertained for half an hour.
So I would probably keep it in alpha until there was an infinite dungeon that generates a new level each time the stairs are used. This will allow any character to play with the scalars and proficiencies without any plot interruptions, nice and simple hack and slash.
As far as enemies goes I suppose there needs to be a bank of unintelligent animals with which to populate the starting world.
I didn’t actually realise how complicated the resistance math was. There are a lot of extra things to consider. Then there are dozens of ways to alter the values. No wonder this iteration of tome (Tome4) had no spell casters in the beginning. The resistance buffs need to take into account a lot of different variables.
Then things need to be tested for balance, since I have a different damage calculation this may be not very easy. I am starting to see why nearly all RPGs use a d20 system.
Each race needs a normal default:
physiology
Preferred class
Preferred skill
Preferred home
Unique active
Passive
Preferred food
Each class needs:
starting location
guild (formal or informal)
pre learned skill
item + clothes
TGTIWLTP: Background
Background and reason for the game.
For my game I want to have no elves, I liked the Tolkien elves but it seems every fantasy setting has slightly different elves/ vampires / orks. I want my game to have as few preconceptions as possible. I have played too many games where you get to choose between 4 different races.
Humans
Humans with pointy ears.
Short humans
Short Fat humans
But why do games use this format? It is easy to identify with and understand we have a lot of preconceptions that fill in the gaps so a lot less effort is required to explain what they are and how they work.
The other purpose for a human base class is to use it to point out the differences in the stats. for example.
Humans +0 to all stats
Humans with pointy ears. +1 intelligence
Short humans +1 dexterity
Short fat humans +1 constitution
Then to balance the game the vanilla humans require less experience to advance or learn skills faster of have one extra miscellaneous perk.
After I played WAR for a while my ideal game became a MMO, I like the comradery and the teamwork required to complete tasks. It was also a lot easier to compare yourself with others and to learn from their play style. What I did not like about MMO's are the annoying people and the spam and the flippancy with which death is treated.
Then if it was a MMO could it still use top down rougelike graphics? or would it need to look "Pretty"
I like the idea of the massively single player online game, if all the other players interact in a similar world but you cannot directly interact with them then is would still be a single player environment but with some rather erratic NPC's. Possibly they can be used to develop the AI for the real NPCs.
Another thing that has started to annoy me about games is their destructiveness. It kind of made sense when I was a nobody who was searching a dungeon for the Amulet of Yendor but what is left to do once the great evil has been vanquished?
And what about the colony of ogres that you slew on the way. I am sure if there were woman and children ogres too the protagonist would surely be required to kill them too.
How better to breed empathy for these monsters than to roll one? This would also allow me to have a multitude of non human playable races.
What about classes? I really like playing as a thief but I was never interested in the actual thieving skills. Of the typical class archetypes the healer is the only one that would be remotely useful in a civilised peaceful society.
And that’s what I really wanted, a civilised peaceful society that the adventurers can return to an retire in once they have cleared out the dungeon that was threatening the town. Anybody from this society may be driven to protect it or leave on an adventure. and the adventurers may happen upon one of these small communities for trade. Then I thought if I want to play as the evil minion, why not also as the blacksmith who never wants to go on an adventure. But is happy to meet all the adventures that come to buy his stock. In this way players can be given a sandbox minigame with the only goal to produce amazing artefacts that are the envy of kings, or brigands. The minigame could take inspiration from Puzzle Quest, Sudoku or Battleships.
The next step then would be to allow players to give quests to each other, hopefully this would create a self-sustaining world. For example the blacksmith may run out of sapphires to complete the nifty sword and give an adventurer a quest to obtain sapphires. then when the sword is finished it might be stolen and deposited at the bottom of the local mine that has been overrun by monsters. then there will be a quest to retrieve it.
So I want original races in an original world. the world needs to be full or separate communities that can interact with each other. Both to compete and coexist with.
Not really after an angband variant. more of a JRPG but those graphics look complicated and angband was able to fit a lot of detail into very few colours.
Some of the influences:
Morrowind
Skill based levelups
craft your own equipment
Romancing saga 3
Proficiency based weapon skills
Plot
minigames
Breath of fire
ADOM
Graphics (yes I really do like the graphics in ADOM, there are no clipping issues or anything)
Appears simple but is complicated (easy to learn hard to master)
Satiation calculation
Slash'EM
Multitudes of races/classes/enemies
Angband variants (never played actual rouge or angband though)
Simple dungeons
Save the princess quests
Age of empires 1
Tactical battles
The civilisations each have a common identity
Civilisation 4
Civilisations again
Chrono trigger
Plot
The Sims 1
Multiple goals
Fatigue system
Minecraft
Simple design
Continual content addition
Dwarf Fortress
You can make a computer in game
The hitch hikers guide to the galaxy (text adventure)
Humour
Warhammer online: Age of Reckoning
Prestige within your groups of friends
Not power gaming
Eve online
Resource based dynamic world
Puzzle Quest
Different approach to battle
Mini games
Morrowind / Fallout 3
Good modding tools, pity you needed them for the games to run smoothly. I never had the game of the year editions.
Given that list what is it about computer games that I like? Why do I play them?
A sense of achievement.
As opposed to sweeping the floor which only stays clean for maybe an afternoon.
Learning and mastering a new skill.
Note that these skill are rarely exportable to anything other than other games. But yeah a big part of why I play games is the exploration of the skill sets required to complete the goals that the game defines (and finding where the boundaries are).
Playing games is like reading a book.
That is to say all the reasons I had for reading the magician or foundation series of books can also be attributed to why I played Baldur’s gate through more than once. So that would be: exploration, discovery, escapism, moral dilemmas, Learning about how to think; Humour; That sort of thing.
Competition/ comradery.
The whole look how impressive I am and we make a great team thing. “Was it hard? It was hard, FOR THE COMPUTER!”
Under the hood
I have not been doing this much lately but as an example I learnt how to use POV-ray to model light. Then after that I could see on movies why shots were taken from that angle and in game I always wondered where the spawned the “sun orb” Was is a point light source of an array of points? I like math/physics/chemistry and computer games show you all of these. It has been fun to watch the development of AI, some of it is pretty smart (wolves tracking you by scent in Unangband) but some is not (bots in LOL).
Habit
Ben doing it for years, it is easy to get a new game and sit down for a few hours, I have a nice rig that can play most of this years games. Continuing to play computer games just maintains the status quo. If I did something else I don’t know what it would be.
For my game I want to have no elves, I liked the Tolkien elves but it seems every fantasy setting has slightly different elves/ vampires / orks. I want my game to have as few preconceptions as possible. I have played too many games where you get to choose between 4 different races.
Humans
Humans with pointy ears.
Short humans
Short Fat humans
But why do games use this format? It is easy to identify with and understand we have a lot of preconceptions that fill in the gaps so a lot less effort is required to explain what they are and how they work.
The other purpose for a human base class is to use it to point out the differences in the stats. for example.
Humans +0 to all stats
Humans with pointy ears. +1 intelligence
Short humans +1 dexterity
Short fat humans +1 constitution
Then to balance the game the vanilla humans require less experience to advance or learn skills faster of have one extra miscellaneous perk.
After I played WAR for a while my ideal game became a MMO, I like the comradery and the teamwork required to complete tasks. It was also a lot easier to compare yourself with others and to learn from their play style. What I did not like about MMO's are the annoying people and the spam and the flippancy with which death is treated.
Then if it was a MMO could it still use top down rougelike graphics? or would it need to look "Pretty"
I like the idea of the massively single player online game, if all the other players interact in a similar world but you cannot directly interact with them then is would still be a single player environment but with some rather erratic NPC's. Possibly they can be used to develop the AI for the real NPCs.
Another thing that has started to annoy me about games is their destructiveness. It kind of made sense when I was a nobody who was searching a dungeon for the Amulet of Yendor but what is left to do once the great evil has been vanquished?
And what about the colony of ogres that you slew on the way. I am sure if there were woman and children ogres too the protagonist would surely be required to kill them too.
How better to breed empathy for these monsters than to roll one? This would also allow me to have a multitude of non human playable races.
What about classes? I really like playing as a thief but I was never interested in the actual thieving skills. Of the typical class archetypes the healer is the only one that would be remotely useful in a civilised peaceful society.
And that’s what I really wanted, a civilised peaceful society that the adventurers can return to an retire in once they have cleared out the dungeon that was threatening the town. Anybody from this society may be driven to protect it or leave on an adventure. and the adventurers may happen upon one of these small communities for trade. Then I thought if I want to play as the evil minion, why not also as the blacksmith who never wants to go on an adventure. But is happy to meet all the adventures that come to buy his stock. In this way players can be given a sandbox minigame with the only goal to produce amazing artefacts that are the envy of kings, or brigands. The minigame could take inspiration from Puzzle Quest, Sudoku or Battleships.
The next step then would be to allow players to give quests to each other, hopefully this would create a self-sustaining world. For example the blacksmith may run out of sapphires to complete the nifty sword and give an adventurer a quest to obtain sapphires. then when the sword is finished it might be stolen and deposited at the bottom of the local mine that has been overrun by monsters. then there will be a quest to retrieve it.
So I want original races in an original world. the world needs to be full or separate communities that can interact with each other. Both to compete and coexist with.
Not really after an angband variant. more of a JRPG but those graphics look complicated and angband was able to fit a lot of detail into very few colours.
Some of the influences:
Morrowind
Skill based levelups
craft your own equipment
Romancing saga 3
Proficiency based weapon skills
Plot
minigames
Breath of fire
ADOM
Graphics (yes I really do like the graphics in ADOM, there are no clipping issues or anything)
Appears simple but is complicated (easy to learn hard to master)
Satiation calculation
Slash'EM
Multitudes of races/classes/enemies
Angband variants (never played actual rouge or angband though)
Simple dungeons
Save the princess quests
Age of empires 1
Tactical battles
The civilisations each have a common identity
Civilisation 4
Civilisations again
Chrono trigger
Plot
The Sims 1
Multiple goals
Fatigue system
Minecraft
Simple design
Continual content addition
Dwarf Fortress
You can make a computer in game
The hitch hikers guide to the galaxy (text adventure)
Humour
Warhammer online: Age of Reckoning
Prestige within your groups of friends
Not power gaming
Eve online
Resource based dynamic world
Puzzle Quest
Different approach to battle
Mini games
Morrowind / Fallout 3
Good modding tools, pity you needed them for the games to run smoothly. I never had the game of the year editions.
Given that list what is it about computer games that I like? Why do I play them?
A sense of achievement.
As opposed to sweeping the floor which only stays clean for maybe an afternoon.
Learning and mastering a new skill.
Note that these skill are rarely exportable to anything other than other games. But yeah a big part of why I play games is the exploration of the skill sets required to complete the goals that the game defines (and finding where the boundaries are).
Playing games is like reading a book.
That is to say all the reasons I had for reading the magician or foundation series of books can also be attributed to why I played Baldur’s gate through more than once. So that would be: exploration, discovery, escapism, moral dilemmas, Learning about how to think; Humour; That sort of thing.
Competition/ comradery.
The whole look how impressive I am and we make a great team thing. “Was it hard? It was hard, FOR THE COMPUTER!”
Under the hood
I have not been doing this much lately but as an example I learnt how to use POV-ray to model light. Then after that I could see on movies why shots were taken from that angle and in game I always wondered where the spawned the “sun orb” Was is a point light source of an array of points? I like math/physics/chemistry and computer games show you all of these. It has been fun to watch the development of AI, some of it is pretty smart (wolves tracking you by scent in Unangband) but some is not (bots in LOL).
Habit
Ben doing it for years, it is easy to get a new game and sit down for a few hours, I have a nice rig that can play most of this years games. Continuing to play computer games just maintains the status quo. If I did something else I don’t know what it would be.
Classes / Ocupations / Role Profiles
Class archetypes
I do not like to be locked into a class, as often as not I want to use a particular combination of skills and all the rest of a class becomes useless. For example a berzerker that does not use two handed weapons. But if there are no classes then there is very little direction in how a character should progress. For example in mount and blade or vampire masquerade there is no indication of how good you need to be at a skill for it to be useful or whether it will be relevant in 10 levels time, this encourages players to be a jack of all trades and master of none. Either that or to put every point into a skill that they understand, to the exclusion of all else.
I think the way around this is to have players start as an apprentice to a master of the class that they have chosen, this NPC will provide all the resources to aid in levelling up the relevant skills and a few quests to reach milestones in that occupation. One of the quests would be to become better than your master. But not lock in obedience to this master or exclude any skill.
Thus you could pick up the starting equipment then go somewhere else.
Each occupation within the community should have a class associated with it. Furthering the idea that the Player does not need to solely kill things, they have to opportunity to fulfil any role in a community.
As far as building the game (and the first play through) the player would start be within a homestead. Start as a “Jack of all Trades”, with an adventurous spirit and then leave home. The larger settlements and the new classes within them would need to be discovered.
Paladin class is to be the unbalanced one that everybody complains is overpowered. They can buff their learning ability in any skill. They can heal, fight and with self-buffs can excel at any of the other crafts. They are the OP cheaters class. They have the delete spell that can uninstall the game.
Classes sorted by where they can be found, each community contains all the classes of the smaller communities.
Homestead (3NPCs Max)
farmer
miners
hunters
jack of all trades (farmhand)
housekeeper
Settlement
Butcher
baker
carpenter
Travelling merchant
merchant bodyguard
Publican
mage
tech
medic
Town
Armour smith
builder
carpenter
weapon smith
merchant
skinner
clothier
tool smith
undertaker
thief
guard
rumour monger (newspaper)
City
Guild leader
law enforcement
nobility
banker
Capital City
embassy
ruling party
standing army
spy
Adventurer
any other class can be randomly encountered in the wilderness
Paladin, the unbalanced class that can do anything.
I do not like to be locked into a class, as often as not I want to use a particular combination of skills and all the rest of a class becomes useless. For example a berzerker that does not use two handed weapons. But if there are no classes then there is very little direction in how a character should progress. For example in mount and blade or vampire masquerade there is no indication of how good you need to be at a skill for it to be useful or whether it will be relevant in 10 levels time, this encourages players to be a jack of all trades and master of none. Either that or to put every point into a skill that they understand, to the exclusion of all else.
I think the way around this is to have players start as an apprentice to a master of the class that they have chosen, this NPC will provide all the resources to aid in levelling up the relevant skills and a few quests to reach milestones in that occupation. One of the quests would be to become better than your master. But not lock in obedience to this master or exclude any skill.
Thus you could pick up the starting equipment then go somewhere else.
Each occupation within the community should have a class associated with it. Furthering the idea that the Player does not need to solely kill things, they have to opportunity to fulfil any role in a community.
As far as building the game (and the first play through) the player would start be within a homestead. Start as a “Jack of all Trades”, with an adventurous spirit and then leave home. The larger settlements and the new classes within them would need to be discovered.
Paladin class is to be the unbalanced one that everybody complains is overpowered. They can buff their learning ability in any skill. They can heal, fight and with self-buffs can excel at any of the other crafts. They are the OP cheaters class. They have the delete spell that can uninstall the game.
Classes sorted by where they can be found, each community contains all the classes of the smaller communities.
Homestead (3NPCs Max)
farmer
miners
hunters
jack of all trades (farmhand)
housekeeper
Settlement
Butcher
baker
carpenter
Travelling merchant
merchant bodyguard
Publican
mage
tech
medic
Town
Armour smith
builder
carpenter
weapon smith
merchant
skinner
clothier
tool smith
undertaker
thief
guard
rumour monger (newspaper)
City
Guild leader
law enforcement
nobility
banker
Capital City
embassy
ruling party
standing army
spy
Adventurer
any other class can be randomly encountered in the wilderness
Paladin, the unbalanced class that can do anything.
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