i am working on an rpg and am working on making an interactive world. i am really considering making the main character generic. like u start off in a random town and ur chosen name. so each time u play, u end up at a different starting place. this way, u have 2 use the environment to get the job done. the NPC will be a little more interactive than just having X amount of info. they will know things(somewhat random) and not know other things, so u have to make relationships etc. there is a plot, but it''s geared towards the world, not the character. ur job is to REALLY use the character to get the job done. there will be a lot of timed things/events like real life. what i want 2 know is if anyone would be interested in this. the gameplay is very non-linear and the world is ALIVE. if u chose one task ove another, the latter may not be available later. f u don''t complete ur objective, the game still goes on. so if u don''t die, u still get 2 play. if ur boss tells u 2 blow up the enemy camp and u don''t, u might get captured, or they might escape with the goods that will be used against u later on. what r ur thoughts? --I don''t judge, I just observe Stuck in the Bush''s, Florida

Here''s a thought about the random character generation. (I''ll now slip in to meandering typing mode, making half sensical suggestions, et cetera)

In an old version of Ultima for the NES, when you started a new game, your character was selected to best fit you. A series of questions was asked, each one (while they didn''t tell you this) was in relation to one of the virtues (ultima is pretty heavily based on virtues, you may have noticed ). Questions like: "You see a beggar being harassed by a city patrol man for theivery that you are certain he did not commit. The beggar begins to run. Do you help the guard find the beggar, or mislead him so that the beggar can be free?" to determine a point for Justice or for Compassion.

Depending on which virtue you scored the highest value on you''d begin in a different place, as a different character and character class, et cetera. You could meet the other characters through the game though, and add them to your party (up to four people).

I would love to see another implementation along these lines. It was probably my favorite character generation technique of all time .

"Finger to spiritual emptiness underlying everything." -- How a C manual referred to a "pointer to void." --Things People Said

http://www.gdarchive.net/druidgames/

daggerfall did that too


Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.
What a plight we who try to make a story-based game have...writers of conventional media have words, we have but binary numbers

I, want 2 make a game like that 2, I think it is posible 2.
I think 2 make this game ur going 2 have 2 stop using the 2 in your sentences... 2...

Seriously, though, if you want to make a game like that, make sure you know EXACTLY what your doing, back to front. Know EXACTLY how your AI is going to work, how your going to do your graphics. I once wanted to do that, but I had to stop because I didn''t realy know how to do some of the parts, but now I do, I am starting again.

With enough work, you could make a game that everyone would enjoyable. I would definatly play it. Just make sure that you arn''t using 2 instead of to

ANDREW RUSSELL STUDIOS
Visit Tiberia: it''s bigger, it''s badder, it''s pouyer...

quote: Original post by Andrew Russell
I think 2 make this game ur going 2 have 2 stop using the 2 in your sentences... 2...

*lol* I was going to make a similar comment.
Dynamite, to some people, using ultra-short form in your messages is highly annoying. I am one of those "some people" that feels chills running down my spine at these "u", "ur" and "2"-littered sentences.

If you''d form your sentences completely (including capitalising the first letter), your posts would appear a lot more mature, and would probably get more and better responses.

That''s just a suggestion though, I obviously can''t force you to change your writing style.




People might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
Mad Keith the V.

I don''t care if it is aging, I have to find myself a copy of Dagger Fall now, heh...

"Finger to spiritual emptiness underlying everything." -- How a C manual referred to a "pointer to void." --Things People Said

http://www.gdarchive.net/druidgames/

First off, sorry about the 22222. I usually don''t write long post, and got carried away!

Now, I was attempting to create a world where the character was thrown in to make a difference. You would still be able to tune your character at the start, but I was trying to avoid repeat performances. I didn''t want you to end up in the same town by answering the same questions the same. idea! Maybe I will use this, just have more than one town for any given set of responses. Like, "If you see a beggar, would you shoot him or put him on welfare? " If you would shoot him, you would end up in a communist country(USSR), or in USA for welfare.

Another question I had was how do you define non-linearity? Is it that you can complete objectives in any order as long as you get them all, or complete what you want/can and still be able to finish the game?



--I don''t judge, I just observe
Stuck in the Bush''s, Florida

I played that Ultima game. It was more fun than a lot of the games on store shelves today.

I like this game idea. I have always thought that the game world should be such an interesting place on its own, that a player can have fun just exploring it.

I think that a good storyline is really important to any RPG. Some people prefer non-linear games. But I don't think that this is because they really prefer to have no story. I think that they are just sick and tired of RPGs that don't offer them any freedom of choice.

I think that the best RPG is one with a great story, as well as a fascinating, interactive game world. One of the things I liked best about that Ultima game, was that I had the freedom to go anywhere I wanted, and do anything I wanted. The virtue system made players responsible for their choices, but there WERE choices. (It was a bad idea, a really, really bad idea to use the Skull of Mondain. But the choice was there if the player wanted it.)

In the end, I think that a great RPG needs a great story, but should still be a great game if the story were taken away.

~Jonathon





Edited by - Jonathon on March 9, 2001 12:32:34 PM

I also have a dream to one day make (or buy the ultimate free-roaming rpg. Daggerfall was a great game, but maybe a little TOO random at times. In my opinion, character development, not generation, is what makes a game great. Thats the part i dream about being totally free. If i train with a long sword, i''ll be good at it, and if i cast a missile spells many times, i''ll become better at using it, and i''ll learn more spells. Ofcourse i can mix it too, so i might learn fireball, while at the same time mastering my sword skills, so i can in the end add fire to my swords, doing extra magic damage... But i''m getting carried away

Main point is, moving freely is great, but developing freely is even better. In games like Final Fantasy and Diablo, you get to start as a class, and you can only learn that many skills. In Advanced Dungeon and Dragons, the old paper game, you start out as a mage or fighter, and stay that way. Its a matter of taste, i like the free version.

The degree of freedom is also an issue. I like the idea made by the main poster here, that you dont get a "game over" if you fail a mission, but rather face the consequences and continue the game from another angle. But that would be very hard to do.. Creating a good AI is very hard, and programming different reactions into NPC''s is hell. Imagine that you put a random NPC somewhere in a random city, giving him random lines, stats, possible answers and quests to give. Its a free world right? So kill his wife for the fun of it (hey, its just fantasy , and suddenly that NPC can become the Ultimate Badguy in the game, hunting you and sending other badguys after you. That degree of freedom could be fun, but i''d say pretty much impossible to implement...

I''d suggest you do it like in the Baldurs Gate series. Dont go for random NPCs.. Endure the pain and plot them all in manually, giving them unique stats and missions. Sure, you could PLACE them randomly, but you probably get my point..

I''ve forgotten what the main topic was about now, and i''ll take that as a sign that i should stop here..

quote: Original post by deffie

The degree of freedom is also an issue. I like the idea made by the main poster here, that you dont get a "game over" if you fail a mission, but rather face the consequences and continue the game from another angle. But that would be very hard to do.. Creating a good AI is very hard, and programming different reactions into NPC''s is hell. Imagine that you put a random NPC somewhere in a random city, giving him random lines, stats, possible answers and quests to give. Its a free world right? So kill his wife for the fun of it (hey, its just fantasy , and suddenly that NPC can become the Ultimate Badguy in the game, hunting you and sending other badguys after you. That degree of freedom could be fun, but i''d say pretty much impossible to implement...

I''d suggest you do it like in the Baldurs Gate series. Dont go for random NPCs.. Endure the pain and plot them all in manually, giving them unique stats and missions. Sure, you could PLACE them randomly, but you probably get my point..

I''ve forgotten what the main topic was about now, and i''ll take that as a sign that i should stop here..

I''m with you here. I was thinking along the lines of NPC''s being placed randomly, but having a list of main objectives(i.e SOME NPC must know about the hidden cave) and placing him/her in a random city(that would be accessible). i''m probably taking this too far, but that was the original idea that brought about this post. i want the character to HAVE to work in the world, no matter how many times it''s replayed.
but would this also deter many because they would have to find certain NPC''s all over again. i would have NPC''s with info on other NPC''s. I would have to carefully script them together, but for the sake of argument, let''s say the scripting works so that the first few NPC''s you need to get in contact with are within a certain distance(i.e in your home state) and they would give way to others. would this be appealing?

oh, deffie, I was actually working on enemies developing over time if they are not killed. I''m leaving the door open for escapes and returns of enemy characters that will grow also. every battle doesn''t have to end in a massacre(?)


--I don''t judge, I just observe
Stuck in the Bush''s, Florida