RPG Design: Freeform

Pouyakatka · 2002-09-21T11:44:41

Okay, let''s see if we can get some serious RPG-thinking going again ^_^ Introduction I recently lost my position with the programming group I was working with... finished the AI I was supposed to do, and had nothing left there. So now I''m going to return to the holy grail of RPG games: To create a living world, that will automaticly generate quests and events for the player to enjoy, and will in general run as a "real" world would (and yes, I''m hoping to attract Nazrix to this thread as well... I just love his views on annotated objects ^_^ ). Economy Of course, this all sounds easier then it is. It''s not peanuts to create a whole world, and make it seem alive. I''ve psned countless weeks wondering on how to do it... and then I got bored, and player Settlers 2. Bingo. The Settlers is almost a perfect example of a modelled economy in a game. Mines require food, and produce ores. Ores are used to make tools. Tools are used by farmers. Farmers make grain, grain is milled by a Miller, the baker uses the flour to make bread, the miners eat the bread. Cycle complete. All of this would run in the background, probably when the player is Resting or loading a new map. A world without trading is a boring world. Merchants and trade are what make an RPG game tick. It''s often used by Dungeon Masters to base quests on: Caravans that need to be escorted, trade deals that have to be arranged, towns that are cut off from supplied by bandits, mines that are taken over so that there is no more iron, etcetera. This all can''t happen without a sound economy. My current proposal: work with "Factories". A factory can be a Mine (uses Labour, creates Ores (Iron, Gold, Silver) and/or Coal), a Bakery (turns Flour and Water into Bread), a blacksmith (turns Iron and Coal into Weapons and Tools). A Factory requires Labour to be present (ie, a Blacksmith or a Miner), and that the Labour is able to work (has enough food, and is happy and healthy). Each Factory in a city creates something, that is added to the "Town Pool", and requires things, that is added to the "Request Pool". Now, if town A produces Coal and Iron, but has no Blacksmith, and town B has a blacksmith, but no Coal and Iron, they need to trade. But how to do this realistically? Merchants. Each town is assigned a Merchant AI, that can talk with other Merchant AI''s. It can offer goods it has (gold, items that are created in the city), and request other goods. Based on the distance between the towns, a certain price would be added to the Caravan line. As soon as a Coal & Iron line is created to B, the Blacksmith there can produce Tools and Weapons, and town B can trade new things. An example of a quest that could arrise: a Bandit group could randomly appear between town A and B. This means that these two town are incapable of trading. Result: town B no longer gets Iron and Coal. The player enters town B and asks what is going on. The NPC''s tell him "We are not recieving Coal and Iron anymore". Perhaps they can also give the player info on where it is supposed to come from? When the player goes to town A to investigate, he will find the bandits halfway. Kill the bandits, quest solved... Off course, this is just a very basic overview of an Economy system that might work. What I am interested in is, do you think this would work? You don''t think so? How could you make it work then? Or do you think you can add something to this? ^_^ I''m getting a lame typing hand here now... I will soon post the other topics in here I''ve been thinking about as well, mostly AI systems that can control groups, and actually have Avatars in the game: a King, a Knight, a Mayor, a Merchant... and on how I think that, if we implement them to have real power in the game, we can give the player the option to "remove" them and take their place Well, this concludes it for now... I hope I"m not boring everyone ~Maarten

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by Pouyakatka September 19, 2002 11:36 AM

20 comments, last by Pouyakatka 22 years, 3 months ago

Pouyakatka

Author

100

September 21, 2002 05:39 AM

Coderx75, do you happen to have any instant messengers...? ^_^

coderx75

435

September 21, 2002 11:44 AM

Yeah, I''m on AIM as blu3jay. You can also contact me by email: coderx75@hotmail.com

- Jay

There''s an old saying in Tennessee... well, it''s in Texas but probably in Tennessee too. It say''s, "Fool me once, shame on... shame on you... uh... ya fooled meh uh can''t get fooled again."
- George W. Bush

Get Tranced!

Quit screwin' around! - Brock Samson

RPG Design: Freeform

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RPG Design: Freeform

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