I just want to know why everyone (well most) people on this message board want to make RPG''s. Don''t people have any original ideas, instead of trying to make final fantasy or zelda clones why not try and be original and create your own genre of games. Now dont get me wrong i love RPG''s but why does everyone want to make them, what happened to being original. Look at the games around today there all doom clones, if it carries on like this there wont be any other games at all. Please everyone let me know if I''m the only one who feels like this.

Well why don''t you program one then homie?

SPAR1

Well I am and have been for the last two months homie!

Edited by - Chris F on 3/8/00 9:19:32 PM

Well that''s some whack haps dawg... ok, I won''t even try that. I am writing a large online RPG game (writing a DX Class Library right now actually), so I guess I''m guilty too. My motivation was becoming terribly addicted to EverNerf but finally leaving after they kept doing nothing but making it more difficult. Challenge is one thing, 20 hours a week for 4 weeks in the same 2 dungeons, only to gain 5 levels is just plain boring(level 40 - 45).

My game is by no means a cookie-cutter RPG though, it will be different in many ways to EQ, UO, AC, AO, ME... It''s abbreviation will be 3 letters instead of 2, that''s over 50% better. Just kidding, but all games fall under a genre that has already been invented now, except for a very rare few that go in a new direction.

Chris F says: "Don''t people have any original ideas"

Hello?? What do you think RPG stands for? Roleplaying games!
It''s not at all bound to any genre, I can do a space-, fantasy-, simulation-like-, sport- and action RPG''s just as long as there are roleplaying involved. People here seems to think that RPG is Zelda, FF7, Baldur''s Gate type of games, but it''s not.

The RPG game genre is prolly the biggest one of all game genres, so please rephrase your question Chris.

Also, I''d like you to come up with your own idea, and we''ll see how good you really are.

============================
Daniel Netz, Sentinel Design

"I'm not stupid, I'm from Sweden" - Unknown

I''m playing paper RPG.
I''m working for the computer industry, and when I saw the different RPG on the market,... I laugh...
They are everything you want except RPG, called them Computer RPG if you want, but you have no freedom, no very good story (ok, Zelda64 is different), and too many restrictions.

I plan to make a RPG, and when I think about it I''ve many ideas about game.
A story, a world, characters, and some features new to CRPG.

I don''t want to make another FF, nor another Zelda, I building an RPG not copying an existing one...

Just my opinion.

-* Sounds, music and story makes the difference between good and great games *-

Exactly my opinion. People tend to write games they like, like Zelda and FF clones (whatever) but please don''t call them all RPG''s. I''ve never played a game comparable to pen-and-paper RPG''s in my life, so I''ve yet to experience a really good RPG game (although I have to say Daggerfall by Bethesda is pretty close).

Chris F: your question should be more like: "why do some many people make clones?" - not RPG''s.

============================
Daniel Netz, Sentinel Design

"I'm not stupid, I'm from Sweden" - Unknown

Ok guys, round number two

There is nothing wrong with writing RPG''s ( please don''t sue me ) to learn from and to develop strong technique and Ideas, but unless you have a really sound RPG ( with originality and loads of it ) you would be better off selling an original game.

RPG''s are cool yes, but they are one of the most programmed genre''s. Again an RPG with enough Originality and mixed genre''s could do very well.

My two cents

Spiff can you please cool it on the cefine and calm yourself down. Over half the letters i see on this board are about people making RPG''s, and however you look at it an RPG is still a clone of another game, i can make a western FPS but it would still be a Doom clone, you can make whatever type of RPG you want it will still be a clone, unless theres some really revoloutionary ideas in the gameplay. What i was saying is that why don''t people come up with original ideas in the true sense of the word, and i am working on an "original" game just for the record although it shouldn''t matter as that was not the point of my post the point was why do most people want to make an RPG, and not come up with their own inovative ideas. I have played countless RPG''s not just zelda and final fantasy but some of the posts related to RPG''s seem to use those games as adjectives to describe their game, thats the reason i mentioned those particular games. I''m not saying that the only games developers should make should be 100% unique but they should atleast try and be somewhat original. If the same clones keep getting made all the games in the future are going to be RPG''s, RTS''s and FPS''s. My point is the gameplay should be original not the story.

Coming up with a truely original idea is as difficult as moving the sun and as rare as diamonds. I mean, if it were that simple we would all be doing it. Man, how I wish I had thought of Populous, Lemmings... hell, even Tetris. I can program those. I could even program them when the first came out. But I didnt. And I am not rich because of it. I challenge anybody who thinks its that easy to go ahead and do it! The proof is in the pudding (as somebody around here is fond of saying ).

As for RPGs. I have yet to see a proper RPG on the computer, and I seriously doubt I will until -true- AI''s appear. Until then we will just have to content ourselves with the biggest, free-est, most imersive adventure games that we can lay our hands on. The beauty of this genre is that it -isnt- a genre in its own right. As Spiff said, the story can take place in any genre that can be imagined. The real trick to making a -good- adventure game is to provide a felling of space and possibility. This rarely happens. How often have you been playing such a game and yelled at the sreen... "What do you mean, I cant blow the door off its hinges?? Its C4, for crying out loud. It oughta take the building down!", or "Ok, I -know- that I havent found the frigging screwdriver yet, but if I was -allowed- to snap the tip if this knife, I -ought- to be able to unscrew that access panel". Nothing ruins the suspension of disbeliefe more than being railroaded into a single direction, or obvious solutions being ignored by the game designers. I suspect that one of the main reasons why so many people are writting thier own "RPGs" is that they think they can add those missing elements. (Its not the only reason, I know). Admitedly, writing such games are a -HUGE- task, and I doubt more than 5% of these projects ever see the light of day, but if only 1 out of every 1000 ever gets completed, I want to play that game!


--== Rapier ==--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Save the whales, feed the hungry, free the mallocs!