Re: Full-Fledged Audio RPG: Seeking Help
Hi all,
I was brainstorming a bit last night, and I want some thoughts on this setup. I don't need you to commit to helping code or playtest in order to get opinions here.
So...what I'm thinking is this:
At the very beginning of the game, you get to pick one of four characters. This will only really change a small percentage of the game at this point, but each character will have slightly different stats and things they're good at. Mostly for flavor; there are two men and two women.
Near the beginning of the game, your main character is alone, and fairly quickly collects three friends; in this way, you will very soon have the entire party of four from which you picked your first adventurer.
Each character's class will be "adventurer" or "novice" early on. They might learn a couple of skills, like scan and flee and stuff, but after level 10 they will immediately stop gaining experience if they're novices.
I don't really
know how else to set this next part up, you see, besides forcing everyone to be level x.
Anyway, you get to a larger area, and you're tasked with finding four fairly well-known figures in the area: the warrior, the trickster, the naturalist and the spiritualist. Each of them, when you talk to them, will agree to teach one, and only one of your characters the tricks of their trade. It's your call who gets which profession. Eventually you'll have one warrior, one trickster, one naturalist and one spiritualist.
Somewhere between level 10 and, say, level 30, you will find four different holy items. Each item has an element, and each element can be infused into the soul of one character of your choice. For instance, your trickster can get the fire element, your naturalist the water element, etc.
At around level 30, you will either find items, go on a quest or otherwise engage in some sort of task that will allow you to pick one of two final classes depending
on your original.
Warrior will be either knight or barbarian.
Trickster will be either assassin or illusionist.
Naturalist will be either hunter or wanderer.
Spiritualist will be either monk or shaman.
Brief outline of each class is below.
Barbarian: Vicious warrior that deals tons of damage and doesn't care much about his safety.
Knight: Tankish, strong and willing to protect his allies. Some light magic (so almost like a paladin).
Assassin: Fast, deadly and sneaky; aims to cripple or blindside foes.
Illusionist: Uses slight of hand and a bit of stage magic for varying effects; not as much damage, but plenty of utility.
Hunter: Similar to an assassin, but has some group-upkeep skills and tends to be a bit more rugged. A bit less sneaky, a bit more perceptive.
Wanderer: Jack-of-all-trades sort of class which can sometimes learn certain enemy skills; not great at anything, but potentially very useful.
Monk: Chains bare
hand physical attacks, uses stances to change his damage type, and can use a little light magic for healing.
Shaman: Uses his connection to the spirit world to enhance himself and his party, or to bring woe to the foe. Probably equivalent to illusionist as far as raw force vs. magical prowess goes.
As such, the number of class archetypes is rather broad. You might have a fire-shaman, a water-hunter, a wind-knight and an earth-illusionist one game, then totally mix it up the next game. Of course, you could never have both an assassin and an illusionist.
I am even toying with the idea of every combination having a specific skill or spell dependent on the magical sphere you chose. For instance, fire-illusionist might learn the spell Eat Fire, while a water-illusionist might learn the skill Shimmering Mirror. I think one skill or spell per class for each magical element would be fair, particularly if it was noteworthy or good. This way, a player who may find one particu lar playthrough hard may be able to restart and try different combinations. Rather than just plugging away with exactly the same attacks, stats, weaknesses and playstyle, you can mix it up a bit.
I want to know what you guys think. Would this be a true coding nightmare? Would this draw you more toward playing the game, or does it sound needlessly complex? Bear in mind, I intend to have a game with dozens of hours of play here, and you aren't going to get to level 30 in your first hour of gameplay. You won't be able to easily overlevel in order to just brute-force the final main story boss to death with your regular attacks and no strategy; I intend to make boss fights, especially, a matter of some strategy, forethought and planning. That's why I'm seeking complexity as far as your character build goes. Please let me know how you guys feel about all this. I welcome your feedback.
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