For a long time now, I have been making plans to create the ''ultimate'' role-playing game, with complete freedom. Now, I know I am not the only one trying to do this (hello nazrix :p ), but I decided not to choose the fantasy scene, but head for science-fiction instead (again, not the only one, err wav?). Up until now, I used space as my gameworld. Space, with many planets and moon and outposts etc. etc. But, recently, I rediscovered Archimedean Dynasty, and rediscovered a whole new world... What would you guys think about a sci-fi RPG taking place under water, instead of in space or in medieval times?

Sounds coo'' to me.

-Forcas

"Elvis is alive. He is Barney the purple dinosaur. He is the pied piper that leads our children into the wages of sin and eternal damnation."

Excellent idea BUT Disney just trod this particular ground VERY heavily with that stupid Atlantis movie. ph34r th3 l4wy3rz.

Perhaps instead of mer-world, how about a subterranean? This makes a LOT of sense: lunar colonies, airless or toxic mining worlds, irradiated planets, hell even the Matrix made a stab at it. (2 and 3 are supposed to have lots IN Zion proper, right?)

I love the thought of mer-creatures like we haven''t seen since The Abyss, or perhaps bring in some ph34r from Leviathan... but I''m really really worried about the intellectual property claptrap in the US, and how Disney Always Wins.

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-WarMage
...the answer is not to kill all the lawyers, just abolish laws!

Actually, I wasn''t planning to include any mer-folk. The game-plan takes place a few hudnred years into the future, when mankind can no longer live on the surface. They were forced to live underneath the waves (don''t know why yet :p ).

So, instead of creatures swimming around, ye got a submarine around you... A high-tech submarine that is. When you managed to get one that is

Most of the game will take place in the various under-water cities. Some are very high-tech and democratic, hence a safe place to be. Others are just one hell of an anarchy, so keep a gun handy...

And, when not in safe waters, prepare to fend-off pirates and their like... Or join them for your share of the loot!

I think it''s fertile territory for games, especially for RPGs. If you go for it, you should definitely check out the pen&paper RPG Blue Planet for source material, as it includes sub adventures on a world mostly covered by water and adds cyberpunk and hard SF elements.

You''ll prolly get an advantage, too, btw. It''s easier to be more open ended if your scope is more focused. You can concentrate on creating good gameplay within the parameters of a smaller environment, which means your code will have to handle fewer cases. Always a good thing!



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Just waiting for the mothership...

I believe the greatest advantage is that you can limit the player without him/her knowing it.

When playing in space, they will want to explore that neat blue-and-green mud-ball the see in front of them.

When playing on a normal planet, they want to walk around *everywhere* without running into damnable walls.

But I doubt many players would dare to venture outside of an air-lock... And creating large stretches of area underwater is easier then creating them on land... Takes less data

Well, now that Wavinator seems to think it might be a nice plan, I''ll create a full design document for it!

quote: Original post by Ronin_54
But I doubt many players would dare to venture outside of an air-lock... And creating large stretches of area underwater is easier then creating them on land... Takes less data

So are you saying that people won''t be able to travel the world underwater? And technically creating vast stretches of land underwater being easier than land isn''t true, unless you want to make a boring sea floor.... I''d like to populate it with reefs and stuff.

I had another idea, but if this is based on Earth than it won''t work, but if it wasn''t you could make the planet sorta like Naboo from Star Wars, which had deep underground tunnels and caverns that people could explore and be used for certain missions. Anyways I''d love to see any underwater game, Aquanox is looking good, can''t wait to see how that turns out.

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"Need more eeenput..."
- #5, "Short Circuit"
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The ocean floor is usually quite dull

The types of animal life you encounter are quite diverse, indead. But reefs only exist near the surfact.

Also, remember that a sub isn''t too fast. In this game, the fastest, high tech boats might reach 300 kph. Only the very large battleships and trading ships can go fast enough to get from point A to B within a normal time of perhaps a few days.

When the player wants to travel from one group of colonies to another, he would have to use a special transport tube. But you can''t just dive into it, ''cause they are in the hands of private corporations. And, because of the technical difficulties with such devices, you might have to wait a few hours/days to be able to get where you want.

Or you could always try to sneak your ship in a cargo load, and travel for free :p

I know all of this might sound a bit strange and incoherent, but I expect to have a full document ready next week... I''ll post the link then