I had an idea for a game where there is realistic fighting but it is also an RPG so your stats affect your attacks. This is my first post so I'm not really familiar with how I'm supposed to do things around here so bear with me. I have gone to the beginner place but all it talks about is programming so would I have to have some basic knowledge of programming (I do but I'm still learning) or would I have to know C or C++ and such programming languages? Well anyways here is my game idea. Strength: Affects how much damage you do when you attack and if you can successfully knock an opponent backwards. Agility/Dexterity (I'm not sure if this should be two groups): how well you react (dodging, parry, hitting probability) and your recover time if you’re in mid-air (If your opponent successfully knocks you off your feet and into the air) or have been knocked down. Also how fast you can remove equipment from yourself Constitution: How much health you have and gain per level, your resistance to diseases, and your natural healing rate. Intelligence: Your probability of learning a spell, spell damage (not sure if I should have this one), your highest spell level Wisdom: How many spells you can learn per level, how many spells you can memorize, and your resistance to spells. Charisma: How many vassals/pets you can have. Your leadership skills. Density: How resistant you are to being knocked off your feet. Your total weight in equipment goes against their strength and the weight of their weapon. I'm not sure how I'm going to get this to work or if I should just abandon it and do the other things. Magic can do things to people's armor or the surrounding environment. Fire can heat equipment and burn things. Cold can freeze equipment. Thunder can cause damage by hitting metal equipment. How successful these attempts are to heat or cool armor depends on the armors resistance to heat and cold and the spell casters level. Mounts can be obtained by buying them or taming a creature but you have to feed the mount food to replenish its energy which will slowly go down. Magic can be blocked if it is in the form of a bolt but if your shield is wooden for example and gets hit by a fireball there is a better chance of it igniting then a fireball hitting a metal shield but a metal shield is more vulnerable to becoming heated by a fireball if it is hit by that. You can also block magic with your weapon but this is not recommended because of how hard it is to do. The fighting would be basically like die by the sword so you control your weapons movements with the mouse or number pad. I realize that this game would take much skill to play so I was wondering if that would be something to worry about. I was thinking about making this a MMORG but considering how much skills are involved and the high connection speed needed this game would probably need to be single player or over a network for now. This is still an idea being formed so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Well, you do need to know a good deal about programming (preferrably C++), and be familiar with the different APIs, which control stuff like sound and graphical output. If you can find a progammer to do that for you, great. You'd probably need multiple programmers to handle such a large game.

The concept of the game sounds fine, but it sounds like you'd need a team to have any hope of finishing it. This is mostly for the complexity of it, such as the diversity of affecting the environment and so forth.

One word of warning, do not try to make a MMORPG, it is WAY too complex for most anyone. Single player is good enough.

Sounds like this may be your first game, if so, you really, REALLY should look into doing something simpler, like a Pong remake or pacman.

Good luck though!

Could I point out that RPG stands for role playing game, and not a game that boringly tracks things like attributes and skill points?

I know I fight an uphill battle, but please rethink the genre classification.

Your idea does have potential as a "build your own fighter" type of game, but with weapons and armor as part of the mix. You could make it based on money earned by winning, or skill points acquired in fighting and using advanced technique to purchase additional weapons, armor, etc, all while your core character's stats improve from experience in a campaign or world tour type of fighter. But... I can't see a combat system that requires this much attention to attributes and details and skill with the mechanics as integrating well into another genre. As a stand alone game maybe, but not part of an RPG or adventure game where the focus should be on story and character developement more than perfecting a combat style like a competitive fighting game ala Soul Calibur (my favorite game ever - as per my name). Some of these ideas could make for a very interesting campaign mode for a good one on one type of fighting game though.

DrewCaliburClark, you might want to fix the links in your sig. If you leave off http:// it screws them up.

Quote:

Original post by catch Could I point out that RPG stands for role playing game, and not a game that boringly tracks things like attributes and skill points? I know I fight an uphill battle, but please rethink the genre classification.

I see this is a blood-boiling topic for you :) To play devil's advocate, virtually all video games have the player take the 'role' of a character and act as that character in-game, even first-person shooters like Half Life. In all seriousness, though, the importance of story has been diminishing in the world of RPGs, and true roleplayers are beginning to die out. Many of the most popular RPGs of late, such as Golden Sun, have had pitiful stories with bland characterization, and the MMORPGs of today are filled with 'sow plz??' and 'wtb +4 glowing saber dru cle pal 4p 600g'. It's a sad state of affairs.

To the poster of the topic; generally, your design is nothing new, though there are a few things I haven't seen before. I used to write 'bot' programs for IRC to assist roleplayers in various different RPGs, so the issue of realistic combat was always an issue.

[Edited by - zircon_st on July 28, 2004 2:54:33 PM]

I was thinking that would be a good genre mix if you actually add story and character development as part of the game for this fighter genre. I would maybe suggest throwing in an extra twist and make the story really be more alive if you make it also a 2d Platform Fighter genre as well like Final Fight, Streets of Rage, etc.

That way as you progress through the story you can also give side quests and every event point in the story can lead into an actual platform level filled with secrets, exploration, item acquring for boosting stats, and gaining levels if you wish to make the combat system of growth for your stats level based. In essence, this means a mixed platform fighter/2D fighter/RPG. The 2D fighter part can be duels that different opponents in the game throughout the story would challenge you for a personal one on one fight. I think his idea is a good base to definitely start from.

Quote:

Original post by catch Could I point out that RPG stands for role playing game, and not a game that boringly tracks things like attributes and skill points? I know I fight an uphill battle, but please rethink the genre classification.

I believe the better, older term for those games is "Roguelike" - the derivatives Sword of Fargoal, NetHack, Diablo, etc. fall into that category. Games that copy the rules of D&D and not the concept. RPG didn't start getting applied to those games until the Final Fantasy series cought on, and by FF2 they really were RPGs (or at least Adventure games).

That being said, I'd rather see competative games focussed on fixed stat levels rather than levelling up. One of my favourite Quake mods (continued through Q3 and UT) was "Superheroes" where you would use a set of attributes and powers to build a superhero. There was no "levelling up" it was straight DM/CTF. Excellent good fun - it was really nice to be able to run in, go for 3-4 lives, then take your design back to the shop if it wasn't working out or the game had changed.

Oops! Thank you DrEvil

I used to think you were crazy, but now I see your nuts"

Thank you very much.