note: this is a copy paste from another topic on another website

i have an idea for an rpg in the style of a first person shooter. a simple post apocalyptic setting in st. Louis.
i have ideas for game features but i think i need some constructive criticism before they can be rock-solid.

my first idea is taking time to pick up objects. like if you see something important lying on the ground, instead of it instantly warping to your backpack, you actually kneel down, take off your backpack, pickup the object and put it in your backpack. i think it would make you think, like "if a firefight starts, i cant go around picking stuff up"

another thing is a npc support system, like if you need air support, you can pull up a radio or phone and get a jet that's sitting at your home base to fly over and take out the baddies, or get a squad of your soldiers to meet you in a van or car. with the soldiers being used to help scavenge for supplies and help during firefights. this feature would work well with the story i have.

how about hunger and thirst? you have to scavenge for supplies, water and food included. i would make it to where its necessary but not annoying, like you can go a few days without food or water, but you will feel the negative effect after the first day. and if you consume something it takes a little time, just like picking up objects like i mentioned above.

a base building and crafting system. small scale crafting and large scale crafting, like making small melee weapons to large tents and sandbag walls. need to sleep for the night but nowhere near home? you and your party can board up the windows and door of a store and hold up there. want to make a storage outpost or small operating base? build up some walls, put a command center in the middle, and add other facilities. like a designated storage area, a sleeping tent for the workers, or a makeshift radar station.

my first idea is taking time to pick up objects. like if you see something important lying on the ground, instead of it instantly warping to your backpack, you actually kneel down, take off your backpack, pickup the object and put it in your backpack. i think it would make you think, like "if a firefight starts, i cant go around picking stuff up"

That's pretty much a waste of (player's) time, watching your character do unexciting stuff.

A player may get attacked by a previously not present other player while picking something up as well.

Without this cutscene a player will still lose time picking up an object during a fight, btw, because he still needs to direct his character towards the item.

another thing is a npc support system, like if you need air support, you can pull up a radio or phone and get a jet that's sitting at your home base to fly over and take out the baddies, or get a squad of your soldiers to meet you in a van or car. with the soldiers being used to help scavenge for supplies and help during firefights. this feature would work well with the story i have.

It's not too bad, but it would be realy hard to implement, and it's probably not realy necessary.

how about hunger and thirst? you have to scavenge for supplies, water and food included. i would make it to where its necessary but not annoying, like you can go a few days without food or water, but you will feel the negative effect after the first day. and if you consume something it takes a little time, just like picking up objects like i mentioned above.

Sure, make the player think, plan out where to go/what to take.

There are some post apocalyptic survival games you might wanna check out, i suspect they use a same system.(and else they should)

a base building and crafting system. small scale crafting and large scale crafting, like making small melee weapons to large tents and sandbag walls. need to sleep for the night but nowhere near home? you and your party can board up the windows and door of a store and hold up there. want to make a storage outpost or small operating base? build up some walls, put a command center in the middle, and add other facilities. like a designated storage area, a sleeping tent for the workers, or a makeshift radar station.

Interesting.

Now, i strongly doubt this has a purpose in a first person(i assume the shooter-part is optional) RPG, and again, it would be a lot of work to implement.

But maybe you can design a game around this idea.

That's pretty much a waste of (player's) time, watching your character do unexciting stuff.

A player may get attacked by a previously not present other player while picking something up as well.
Without this cutscene a player will still lose time picking up an object during a fight, btw, because he still needs to direct his character towards the item.

ok, but if i made the pickup swift? a quick pickup and throw into your backpack?

You mean like, not letting it cost time ?

The early Fallout games had it such that picking up an item or using an item during combat would use action points. It seems reasonable enough to make a player consider carefully if picking up a potential weapon is going to help them survive more than doing something else. I think something similar would has the potential to add strategy to a game however I would recommend against a lengthy animation that the player has to endure each time he picks something up. A very short and general animation would be best. Teleporting an item into a backpack would work of course, but if you were thinking of having an animation in the first place, why not a simple one that only takes one or two seconds to play.

I'm generally on the fence about hunger and thirst elements. I kinda like it being an element in a game however sometimes it feels like food and water are so easily obtainable that it renders the feature pointless. Or alternatively, it's so hard to find that you've reached a point of no return rendering anything that you do pointless. And it can be you find yourself in either situation in the same game. I suppose it comes down to what the penalty for ignoring this detail for too long is.

Not sure what to say about the other two things you've mentioned. I generally like building and crafting though I don't much enjoy watching my character sit there doing it such that I can't do anything until he's done. It is nice to have one or more bases that you can come back to and keep your stuff. I think it keeps you orientated and connected to a location.

The effect of having the additional NPCs depends on the game itself and the story you have planned. It can be good to have support for the things you do but you don't want it such that they'll negate the challenge that you want the player to face.

A lot of what you're describing sounds like DayZ / DayZ-mods.

In that, picking something up takes time simply because it requires the use of the stupidly-complicated inventory screens

It actually does work very well, gameplay wise! In quiet times you can scavenge fine, but if in a dangerous situation you will have to avoid performing these simple tasks.

You can get into situations where you've got a magazine in your weapon, but your spare magazines are in your backpack. In order to reload, you'll have to first sprint to a safe place where you've got enough time to open your bag and mess about.

Picking stuff up instantaneously removes the tactical consideration, so grabbing a dead enemy's superior weapon is a no-brainer, and you can loot a room and get out without losing any time. If the inventory system requires an animation to cycle or even just has a progress bar for picking stuff up, you have to think twice, and it could lead to frantic, "Grab only what you need" moments that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

With regard to buildings and teamwork, have you tried Rust? It's not finished yet, but it already has some strong features. The crafting system takes time, requires resources and can require tools and workbenches and such as well. The building construction system is a resource-heavy snap-together interface that allows you to make some pretty imaginative structures over time.

I've always been a big fan of primary and secondary inventories, where a "toolbelt" of items is readily available, but a pack on your back trades accessibility for capacity. I like that you seem to be going that way. Here's a thought: What if it's easier to put stuff in your buddy's backpack than your own? If I'm out hiking, and want my binoculars from my pack, I'm less likely to take the thing off and root around in it and more likely to say, "Hey, man, grab my binocs out of the middle pouch for me, would you?" It might even become convenient to have your partner carry the ammo for your gun, so you can refill your vest pouches from his pack instead of stopping to dig around in yours.

Picking up is an interesting idea, but how about changing how you play the game altogether?

what if you could use an actual gun/sword controller and move around and fight as if you are in the game?

We have developed a new affordable open source, camera-based control system compatible with PC, Android and iOS.

The webcam enables use of a toy controller providing 3D gameplay in a similar way to how people use the Wii and XBOX Kinect.

Here is our short video explaining it;

If you are starting a new game why not go all out and make something really exciting and new?