Games Design and Realisation - Small Recap, Honorary Inpirations
So now that I have outlined a lot of what I am looking for, I will give a very brief recap on systems I plan to use to create the game I want.
This can also include city building aspects, as well as a few RPG aspects, that will keep the game different through various playthroughs. The idea was spurred by my tutor who suggested researching Roguelike games, such as Rimworld, Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, that are principally the same each time through, but what the player encounters and their strategy either willingly chances through how the player wishes to interact with the game, or forcibly changes in situations like Rimworld by changing where the player spawns (Food won't grow in the desert!)
For the RPG side of things, the player can be given various choices throughout their playthrough that will be strictly locked until the end of the game. Whereas some games will allow you to change your choices for a small fee, I feel it would be best for the games longevity to lock the player in their choices.
The idea I have for this is a "Good and Evil" system in all but name. Because of the overuse of the moral choice good vs evil in many RPG games and how it often equates to "Good samaritan vs mass murderer" it would be something more along the lines of Holy vs Unholy, Thieves vs Law, Goblins vs Gnomes, a two (or three) faction system that functions like a good and evil system in many RPGs.
In actual gameplay, this will most likely result in the player either choosing to manufacture for war, which will increase profits but result in many more active situations to keep the player to adapt, and will perhaps focus more on economy over crafting. The other faction, with no name, would choose to manufacture for lifestyle, housing, clothes, furniture, and whilst the profits won't be as extreme as manufacturing for war, it will allow the player to relax more, to be able to partake in adventuring and crafting as their income as opposed to raw trading.
The first choice would be made very early on in the game, to then allow for sub factions to be unlocked. As with the first choice, the player will be locked into these choices and will require certain upkeeps and prohibit the player from doing certain activities. As an example, perhaps you could set up an area for guilds to settle but this will reduce income through inns and the amount of roaming adventurers will be drastically reduced. You could have a thieves guild that allows you to obtain additional items when adventuring but generate a lot of heat and an increase in active situations.
Similar to Recettear, I think a combat mechanic would suit this game rather well, but in keeping with the strategy theme, having an oldschool final fantasy style of turn based combat, or Disgaea where the units can only move so many spaces per turn but use terrain to their advantage.
Lastly, and the area I am most undecided on, is whether or not to include city building as an aspect or if doing too many things at once will overwhelm me. The crafting element will require a lot of work with maths and programming, the combat will be easier to implement, but the two of those combined could easily take me half a year to nail, would I really have time to put city building into the list of things this game does? Furthermore, would that just be making the game too broad or would it help bring in different audiences? It's something I hadn't decided on and was a good idea when I received feedback from my pitch, but it's going to require a lot of thought.
As for implementation, UI/HUD theories and artistic style and asset choices, this isn't the post to discuss those, but they will be talked about in the future.
Without going into too much detail about the game, Rimworld deserves an honorary mention during this period of idea spitballing. Whilst it's not the direction I would want to take my game in, it's a 2D colony simulator that has various events that require the player to adapt and various events that won't be seen on every play through that would give my game the replayability it requires to be successful. Again, 2D cartoony graphics really help me because of the skills I lack in modelling and artistically, if 3D wasn't a part of the curricular then I would have chosen this style. Further to the point, the games relies more heavily on its UI than art, and it is mostly sprite spreadsheets in certain menus. I feel as though the UI could definitely be improved upon, but as it is a field I would aim to work in, it is worth mentioning.
Overview
The player will play a managerial role in a fantasy town on the losing end of a war, faced with severe debt that they X amount of days to pay back or lose the game. I choose town over a small shop because it would allow me to take a Recettear style of management where I can allow the player to forage for items, send adventurers to return with items, and also buy and sell to neighboring towns and give the game its own sense of an economy.This can also include city building aspects, as well as a few RPG aspects, that will keep the game different through various playthroughs. The idea was spurred by my tutor who suggested researching Roguelike games, such as Rimworld, Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, that are principally the same each time through, but what the player encounters and their strategy either willingly chances through how the player wishes to interact with the game, or forcibly changes in situations like Rimworld by changing where the player spawns (Food won't grow in the desert!)
For the RPG side of things, the player can be given various choices throughout their playthrough that will be strictly locked until the end of the game. Whereas some games will allow you to change your choices for a small fee, I feel it would be best for the games longevity to lock the player in their choices.
The idea I have for this is a "Good and Evil" system in all but name. Because of the overuse of the moral choice good vs evil in many RPG games and how it often equates to "Good samaritan vs mass murderer" it would be something more along the lines of Holy vs Unholy, Thieves vs Law, Goblins vs Gnomes, a two (or three) faction system that functions like a good and evil system in many RPGs.
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| I'm looking at you, Deslin. Infamous, 2009 |
In actual gameplay, this will most likely result in the player either choosing to manufacture for war, which will increase profits but result in many more active situations to keep the player to adapt, and will perhaps focus more on economy over crafting. The other faction, with no name, would choose to manufacture for lifestyle, housing, clothes, furniture, and whilst the profits won't be as extreme as manufacturing for war, it will allow the player to relax more, to be able to partake in adventuring and crafting as their income as opposed to raw trading.
The first choice would be made very early on in the game, to then allow for sub factions to be unlocked. As with the first choice, the player will be locked into these choices and will require certain upkeeps and prohibit the player from doing certain activities. As an example, perhaps you could set up an area for guilds to settle but this will reduce income through inns and the amount of roaming adventurers will be drastically reduced. You could have a thieves guild that allows you to obtain additional items when adventuring but generate a lot of heat and an increase in active situations.
Similar to Recettear, I think a combat mechanic would suit this game rather well, but in keeping with the strategy theme, having an oldschool final fantasy style of turn based combat, or Disgaea where the units can only move so many spaces per turn but use terrain to their advantage.
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| So many colours! Disco combat! Disgaea 4, 2011 |
As for implementation, UI/HUD theories and artistic style and asset choices, this isn't the post to discuss those, but they will be talked about in the future.
Honorary Mention: Rimworld (Luden Studios, PC, 2013)
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| Thats a lot of guns! Must be a lot of grizzly bears about. Rimworld, 2013 |
Without going into too much detail about the game, Rimworld deserves an honorary mention during this period of idea spitballing. Whilst it's not the direction I would want to take my game in, it's a 2D colony simulator that has various events that require the player to adapt and various events that won't be seen on every play through that would give my game the replayability it requires to be successful. Again, 2D cartoony graphics really help me because of the skills I lack in modelling and artistically, if 3D wasn't a part of the curricular then I would have chosen this style. Further to the point, the games relies more heavily on its UI than art, and it is mostly sprite spreadsheets in certain menus. I feel as though the UI could definitely be improved upon, but as it is a field I would aim to work in, it is worth mentioning.
Honorary Mention: Realm Grinder (Divine Games, Kongregate, date of release unknown)
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| Don't even get me started on this UI. Realm Grinder. |
Realm Grinder is a great example of a faction system. The game itself is an idle, increment or clicking game (There are a lot of terms used for this style of game.) and wouldn't offer much for a management sim, but the Abdication system is what gives the game replayability. It has 3 good factions, 3 neutral factions, 3 evil factions, and a mercenary unit which allows the player to choose parts of all 9 factions. All of these factions play similarly, yet differently. All the evil factions are designed to ramp up over time and allow the player to check in only frequently instead of having a play style that requires constant attention like the good factions, You can only play one of these factions per Abdication. On top of researches, prestige factions and mercenary factions, this game is always fresh to play.
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