Right now I’m working on a RTS game with some friends and we are trying to decide what races we should have in the game. There are 2 options we have come up with and we thought that it would be best to ask around and see what people think is best. Idea 1: - humans, elves and dwarves (all combined) - undead - chaos Idea 2: - robots - mechas - maybe another type of robots The game play is going to be similar to that of TA, so all units have ranged attacks; there will be no hand-to-hand combat. For idea 1, all the units would be wizards of some sort and the resources in the game would be some form of manna and reagents. For idea 2, all units would have ranged attacks and resources being metal and energy, like in TA. ----------------------------------------------- Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe. [edited by - TheDarkening on October 1, 2003 12:49:57 PM]

Robots are the coolest!! I will kill anyone that doesn''t agree!

Why not have them both? I mean, other than the additional models/sprites/whatever you're using for each team and stuff, why not? I know that metal and mana don't exactly overlap or go together, but you would have more variety for battles and even twice the storylines. I love RTS games with many tribes and weapons, but that's just me. Depending on the storyline(s), if they apply, this might not be a choice, but if it is I think it would be cool.

It is coming...10 years in the making and It is finally coming

-Beavt8r...


[edited by - beavt8r on October 1, 2003 3:25:17 PM]

Why not have both?

You could have technomancy(raising the dead through technological means) think of armies of decaying zombies equiped with cybernetic parts and firing powerful energy cannons. While at the same time being controled by the small but powerful ruling wizard class. Who don''t engage in the grunt work of combat instead they have powerful spells to aid in battle such as electical storms that disable all technological devices within a certain radius, or illusion making all nearby units appear to be on the opposite side.

-----------------------------------------------------
Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document

have both, that would be excellent.

Have some old-school medeval (sp) technology vs the machines. You could have magic that does things to the robots - rust/electrical storms/etc. And the robots would just kick the shite out of the men. If you could pull it off, it''d be a good game.

quote: Original post by TechnoGoth
think of armies of decaying zombies equiped with cybernetic parts and firing powerful energy cannons.

<3 !!!

These are the things that you should decide yourself . This is the "fun part" of the whole business. But enough of mothery preach.

Think about how they differ from each other; being in a battle with a robot, and being there with a wizard. The situation should feel very different.

So instead of making up a set of rules, and then deciding what kind of sprites the characters should be, think of a situation, the setting, and build the rules on them. The player should be able to know what kind of a warrior she is controlling, even without the fancy graphics.

There are already a load of games where units with varying speeds approach each other, and when they are in range, they shoot. Orcs, elves, giant robots, snipers and demons all behave like that! Let''s do some cool sprites!

quote:
These are the things that you should decide yourself . This is the "fun part" of the whole business. But enough of mothery preach.

well we have cool ideas for each of them, we just need to make a decision and stick with it.

quote:
Think about how they differ from each other; being in a battle with a robot, and being there with a wizard. The situation should feel very different.

yes, they are very very different and we are almost at the point in our engine were we will have to pick which way to go.

quote:
Why not have both?

wow... never thought about that... I will have to talk about that to the rest of the team and see if we can come up with some ideas. The units could be like warhammer 40k units with a little more 'robotness' to them.

Anyway, i'd still like to hear more thoughts and thanks to the people who have posted.

[edited by - TheDarkening on October 1, 2003 4:20:42 PM]

What about Wizbots and Robards?

Seriously though, I think an Arcanum style steampunk setting might be quite cool for an RTS. Or perhaps a fantasy/cyberpunk setting like Shadowrun.

Its not totally outlandish to do both. Though, you''d probably have to pay more respect to the robot side of things. What you would do is construct a world that TRIES to be fantasy, but a lot of things are more futuristic behind the scenes. The Dwarfs are really just shorter robots that decorate themselves to be non-threatening to humans. Humans routinely replace aging body parts with mechanics, but dress like peasants for fun, and the "Undead" would be biomechanics that are still active, even after the host has died.