I've posted a game design outline here before, but since I've been updating so infrequently, I'm posting this as essentially a clean, fresh document. Feel free to read some or all of it, and post your comments accordingly. Introduction What I am hoping to achieve here is to create a fun, playable RPG. I'm not trying to break new ground, or create the latest 3D masterpiece, I just want to make something somewhat different, at my level of ability. That being said, I have quite a bit of programming experience, some graphics experience - but mostly tied towards processing, not generating new art. I have no sound experience, which will clearly show should something solid and complete ever come out of this. The Game Title: The Last Magi (working title) Genre: RPG Sub-genre: 2D menu-based random-encounter-driven RPG Synopsis Im basing the style of this game on the classic squaresoft console titles of the mid-90s. These were the games that defined me as a gamer, and I think I can bring something to the table for this dying genre. Classic elements include tile-based movement, encounter-driven combat (leading to a battle screen, as opposed to action RPG combat in newer titles), and menu-selected actions. Inspiration for the game comes from a variety of sources. Most notable, would be the Final Fantasy games between 4 and 6. And important, and obscure, source also comes from Destiny of an Emperor - a fun, but poorly made, game for the NES. Art style I had a brief encounter with 3D art and animation, but since my low-budget studio includes me, myself, and I (none of whom are animators), I've decided to stick with traditional 2D artwork. What I would like to do, however, is move away from pixel-based artwork towards vector-based. I have yet to find a suitable C++ library for including vector art in gaming however. If one knows of a graphics engine that includes it, I would be interested in the details. If not, then I suppose I'll make do with pixel sprites. Game World The game takes place in a world that has been ravaged by a dark apocalypse. Nothing survived in that world, however a tiny parallel universe, tentatively known as the House of Dreams remained free of the evil. The character will be brought here by Mythos Rexius, the ruler of the Mythos spirits. The player's goal is to restore the real world to undestructed wholeness, which they will achieve piece by piece. Throughout the game, the character will move between the real world and this dream land - which will grow with the real world (although slower), slowly restoring more and more of the real world from the inevitable destruction that consumed it. Characters The player begins with the character known as The Last Magi (hence the title). It was the magi, infused with the power of captured Mythos spirits, that led to the destruction of the world. As more of the world is restored, the player will encounter other magi, and be able to add them to their team, and eventually form parties of up to 5 at a time. My goal is to include about 300 different magi in the game. Advancement will be simultaneously recruitment-based and character-based. New characters might possess better abilities or equipment than old, but you may also improve your existing characters through experience as well. Each of the magi is somewhat unique. The uniqueness comes from four separate pieces: - Classes: Magi come in a variety of classes. Some classes are quite common, others are rare or even unique to a specific character. Classes determine what base abilities and stats a magus might have. - Statistics: Strength, magic power, speed, etc. are varied from character to character. Different magi of the same class may have similar stats, but they will never be exactly the same. - Abilities: Classes define what abilities a magus will always get, but a magi could receive other abilities as well. Thus, all fire mages can cast fire, but one spurious fire mage could know a healing spell as well. - Character Level: Although this is never displayed as an actual number, each character is given a level, with experience points from battle bringing that character to the next level. Level numbers will be kept internally, but will be completely opaque to the player. If you made it all the way to the bottom of this topic, I would like to offer my sincere thanks. I hope this was perhaps an intriguing read, or at the very least not too boring.

I'm bumping this because I have added a thread to the Writing For Games forum that goes into some depth regarding the plot of my game. Thanks!

Last Magi Plot Outline

The way that you describe your game it sounds a lot like the Suikoden series - except in 2d. If you haven't played that game, you really should. The more people you recruit to your side the more the world "grows". Growing in the sense that they start running shops in the city and you of course get more people to fight with. Now, you plan on have 300 of these magi .. and somehow make them different enough to justify getting all of them? Just so that the player can only use 5 at a time? Seems a little cruel to me [smile].

I would suggest a lower number like 12 or 15. That way you can actually explore the backgrounds of these additional characters and grow somewhat of an attachment to them. Plus discovering who they are and what motivates them towards their goals is what really makes finding additional characters enjoyable.

It also seems like you're going with not showing numbers (at least the levels) to the player. Personally, I'm a hardcore number-cruncher and I want to know if a platemail is really better for my character than tough leather armor - the easiest way to do this is with numbers obviously. Similiarly, I like to know this with levels too. What reason do you have to hide the numbers from the player?

What is the reason for using vector graphics rather than bitmapped sprites?

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Original post by Mayan Obsidian The way that you describe your game it sounds a lot like the Suikoden series - except in 2d. If you haven't played that game, you really should. The more people you recruit to your side the more the world "grows". Growing in the sense that they start running shops in the city and you of course get more people to fight with. Now, you plan on have 300 of these magi .. and somehow make them different enough to justify getting all of them? Just so that the player can only use 5 at a time? Seems a little cruel to me [smile]. I would suggest a lower number like 12 or 15. That way you can actually explore the backgrounds of these additional characters and grow somewhat of an attachment to them. Plus discovering who they are and what motivates them towards their goals is what really makes finding additional characters enjoyable. It also seems like you're going with not showing numbers (at least the levels) to the player. Personally, I'm a hardcore number-cruncher and I want to know if a platemail is really better for my character than tough leather armor - the easiest way to do this is with numbers obviously. Similiarly, I like to know this with levels too. What reason do you have to hide the numbers from the player?

I have played Suikoden V, and while I loved the game, its somewhat similar in terms of having a large retinue of characters to be recruited, but I'm not so concerned with matching the characters to the 108 characters from the Outlaws of the Marsh.

For characters, about 10 or 12 are going to be very plot-centric, and development heavy. The rest are added not so much for story, but instead to give an added boost to the gameplay itself. The recruitment mechanic is the way in which new abilities are developed in the game. I understand that 300 (and even if I only go with closer to 200 - a realistic design goal I believe) is a lot of characters, but really they're not meant to be terribly important for the player to dwell on, anymore than players dwell on the intentions of the shopkeeper in other games.

The idea behind keeping level numbers hidden is that its not really a hugely important number. The stats themselves are more or less what matters - and players can evaluate those for themselves. The other reason is that it allows me, as a developer, to be more free with numbers. I don't have to have a level cap of 99 or any other nice, round number - and I don't really intend to do so.

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Original post by Anonymous Poster Quote: Original post by wildhalcyon What I would like to do, however, is move away from pixel-based artwork towards vector-based. I have yet to find a suitable C++ library for including vector art in gaming however. If one knows of a graphics engine that includes it, I would be interested in the details. If not, then I suppose I'll make do with pixel sprites. What's wrong with rasterizing the art you've made in a vector-based format so you can use it in your game?

This might be what I end up having to do, but at the moment, I was hoping that there might be a way to preserve the vector graphics without having the game be too slow.

An interesting thing to try might be a pseudo-3D like Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, where only certain things such as buildings are 3D. It would give your game an interesting look.

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Original post by Stardog An interesting thing to try might be a pseudo-3D like Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, where only certain things such as buildings are 3D. It would give your game an interesting look.

I haven't played those. Is it similar to Ragnarok Online?