Ok, I''m just trying to link a few ideas that I like the sound of here, and I was wondering if you all could pick out the flaws for me... 1. Static (or near static) Character ''statistics'' I was reading "What makes campaigns fun? Not levels:" by felonius, and I like the sound of a character which doesn''t go from super weakling to mega death god 60,000 over the course of the game. So character levels are gone, and the character almost never advances stats. Where is the reward for the player now??? [it''s coming...] 2. Pattern based combat A lot of combat in RPGs is simply flailing wildly at your opponent. If you are Role Playing a cool fighter, then you should perhaps learn something of your world''s fighting techniques. To this end, I was thinking that your opponents have access to a bank of pre-defined attack sequences based on multiple hit locations, & timing. The tougher opponents would have access to a wider range of more complex sequences. 3. Player training Here''s where the new reward comes in. Instead of the trainers improving your statistics, they tell you about attack patterns and show them to you, and allow you to practice these techniques with them, and that is where the player gets the rewards from: learning to spot and counter these attacks. Make the player feel like they are actually doing this thing and I think the came could be a lot more immersive. comments? (I have to go now, peak phone rates just kicked in) -Life''s not just beer and skittles. Sometimes there''s karaoke too.

Sounds cool. I think it's a much better reward than simple leveling and upgrading stats. Eg. in Final Fantasy 7, I got my kicks from learning new Limit Breaks and getting new spells, not from gaining levels. The more distinct, or "ungeneric", and rarer the reward, the more rewarding it is.

EDIT: A pitfall with "attack patterns" that you should be aware of, is making them too hard. I've played several games where special moves have been so hard to do that I couldn't ever use them.

-Jussi

"Reward yourself!"

Edited by - Selkrank on November 3, 2000 8:15:46 AM

What this is is the Skill-based system movement. If you''ve never played or seen Cyberpunk 2020, look at it. It uses a totally skill-based system, and has been around for ages. Skill-based systems are becoming widely popular nowadays.

What a skill-based system depends on is programmers to allow people to branch into any skill and the skills have to run DEEP. I can be a specialist mage of fire magic by simply training only that and the few other things i might think i need to survive! Or you can be the jack of all trades.. knowing something of everything, but a master of none.

In my own MMORPG i''m designing with my girlfriend.. i''m combining level and skill-based systems to try to form a hybrid. I can''t give out much info, since we''re still nailing it down, but it should be pretty neat in the end. I like levels because they give you an overall idea where you are, but they don''t nessicarily mean much more than overall experience. This makes a big deal to me for heirarchal reasons. I like people to be able to say "i''ve more experience, which is why i''m in a higher position in our guild than you." Of course.. any lording over people will be made pointless.. hehe. Snerts will abuse anything.. even your system. Just put in some checks and balances for it.. and in no time.. Anyways.. skill-based systems are good, as well.. but i''m trying to offer a different approach, and give reasoning to levels and picking a class, instead of just being classless. Just my ideals

J