Level (and in-game objects) design. There are many factors that contribute to making games feel ''real'' (ie. like a believable ''parallel universe''), what are the main ones?

---- Warning, long post! ----

Hmm, let''s see. Damage, combat, background story, quests (all from the main one to the fed-ex ones), inventory, NPCs...

--- Oops, I just realized after writing A LOT that this thread was about games in general, I guess, and I assumed it had to do with RPGs, singleplayer RPGs at that. Sorry about that. ---

I''m sure there are more but those are the ones that immediately come to mind. I assume you want a discussion, so here I go!

Generally.
Realism isn''t a need for an RPG to be fun to play. There are a lot of RPGs out there that AREN''T realistic but loads of fun. I do however believe that realism can add a lot to a game, if done VERY carefully, and throughout the whole ruleset and gameplay. For instance, if someone would make a modification for Fallout (a game where you can survive several bullets in the eye) and make the damage system realistic, it simply would COMPLETELY unbalance the game, probably making it unplayable.

Damage.
Benifits of having a realistic damage system:
- It makes surprise attacks actually useful
- The battles don''t consist of "I hit you, then you hit me, then I hit you", etc until one of us dies.
- More tactic involved. It is CRITICAL that YOU fire (or strike) first, else you may be in serious trouble. The game of course needs to support the use of tactics, by features such as: Crouching and proning, reaction time, diving behind cover etc, not to mention REAL-TIME combat.


Combat.
No one can argue against the fact that a real-time combat system done right is of course far more realistic than a turn, round or phase-based (if those are the names).

Please understand that I do think Fallout, which is a turnbased game, is MORE fun and requires MORE tactics than, say, Baldur''s Gate which is Real-Time with pause. This is because in both games combat IS a matter of "I fire, then you, then me", but in Fallout moving around is actually something you want to do. Avernum is an even better example of turnbased, unrealistic damage system with a high level of tactics involved.

I do think that in order to successfully implement a realtime combatsystem (with realistic damages), you need to allow the player to make his character move almost EXACTLY as he wishes him too, something you can do in most FPSs. For instance, the character should be able to move while firing (though at a huge decrease in aiming, of course).

Of course, the game should pause instantly that something important happens (or at the players keypress), and it should also be playable in slowmotion. If you think "why should THAT be possible, that''s not very realistic!", then you have to realize that the player isn''t the same thing as the character. The player NEEDS more time to understand everything that is happening and get enough time to make a tactically correct (limited by the player''s brain ) decision.

A real-time combat system need not be a click-click-click-as-fast-as-you-can system.



Background story.
Lol, to be honest, I think this actually ISN''T that important. It''s GREAT when (or should I say if ) a game has a really great background story (such as Avernum) and not just puts you in the middle of a world, but there are more important things, story-wise. Great dialogues, cool and deep NPCs, a world that you really feel exists and immerses you (Fallout and Avernum are great examples) etc.



Quests/missions.
Yeah, they need to have some sort of credibility. It''s not a problem to come up with someone needing something and asking you to do it (ok, that is something that is kinda strange, how everyone asks YOU, a complete stranger, to do this or that for them).

I think the problem lies in map design, a lot. Often when you walk into a shop, there is the shopkeeper, maybe some shelves and a "bar" behind which he stands. There''s never a storage room, or a bedroom in case the owner would live in his store (which in a lot of settings isn''t THAT hard to imagine), or a toilet, etc... This is basically the same with any buildings you encounter, there are just ONE way to get in and one way to get out, and what I''m coming to is that floor plans are VERY linearly designed, even when it''s a big building that COULD allow interesting ways to get from the entrance to the treasure chamber.

For example in Deus Ex, you could often find two, or even THREE ways to get into a building, and none of them had to be violent!

Oh, and please: if it looks like the character could enter somewhere, allow him to or change the design. It really is redicoulus when you (most notably in an FPS) see some kind of crack in the wall, or opening, but your character is 100 units high when crouching, and in order to pass, you needed to be 95! It''s irritating, because in that case you know that "if I was in my character''s position, I sure as hell could squeeze my way in there!!"



Inventory.
Well, it''s not that important to make this feature very realistic. It depends a lot of what kind of game it is, and most inventory systems with some kind of weight limit are sufficiently realistic.



NPCs
I''ve recently read some old threads where NPC AI was discussed, and people thought that NPCs should be intelligent, have needs, walk around the city, talk to eachother and so on. I''m sorry to say this, but I don''t really think it''s a good idea. If I just completed Bob''s fed-ex-mission he gave me, and I want to find him to get the reward... what the hell am I supposed to do?

Some kind of "Quest Center" where quests are managed in some kind of neat Quest Interface Window isn''t doable, cause sometimes (more often than not )people want you to do stuff they don''t want anyone else to know about.

In a modern-day game, you could have cellphones and through some kind of interface tell an NPC to "Meet me here, now". But even that seems slightly strange...




Well, if you weren''t interested in RPG rambling, you might find something interesting in there anyway. If you WERE, then I sure hope that you found my thoughts interesting.

"Kaka e gott" - Me

Nice long post. Here are some ideas:

Well, I wasn''t thinking of RPGs (at least in the dice rolling sense) rather games which seek to immerse ''immerse'' you in a coherent world.. whether this is modern day reality or a fantasy world.. even a dreamworld (where it can be incoherent in a logical way).

Some thoughts:

Trying to give the impression that the world does not just exist for the player. a) level design, making it seem as if the world extends beyond the player and that things happen without them being there. Half-Life made the player feel as if the world extended beyond them.

Making characters that react to the player realistically ie. they aren''t all asking him to do Quests etc. It is okay for characters to ignore / dislike the player until they prove
themselves.

Mobile phones in games. Yeah, this could be fun in a modern day rpg/management game (Fallout meets The Sims ). Having to check your diary to see when you can book them in .. in between sleuthing and seeing the mayor..

On Combat.. I think that many long-time gamers will sacrifice realism, for health packs and multiple injuries. But on the other hand "realistic" game combat can also be fun.