[OC'ing Noob]

So I was sitting on the couch after a long day of work continuing my great endeavor of finishing the 2nd play through Mass Effect saga (that means one and two) with Paragon maxed out this time around, since if BioWare holds true on their intent of making choices actually meaning a damn this time around, my roid-driven Renegade universe will fall to **** when the Reapers come around, and my friends who were trying to get me to play Left 4 Dead 2 expert realism started trash talking it and calling it a trash game. That actually got me thinking; we have all at some point in time, or in my case, multiple times, thoroughly trashed a game's lack of creativity, storyline, battle system, or some other facet like we could do a much better job. Granted that hindsight is 20/20, still with so many people calling out aspects of games consistently, we come to two general conclusions; game developers are nerds with no imaginations and their studios continue to hire the same ilk or we just think we know more and are in fact jealous of these great games and wishing we were earning their annual six-figure income? I wanted to give us whiners, complainers, and self-proclamations a chance to share your dreams or expose yourself as the jealous troll in the closet that you are! So, with this idea in mind, I will take the brave step forward as one of possibly many pioneers!

Setting: Far into the future with a healthy dosage of aliens and galaxies to explore. Let's face it, you can only ride a horse or vehicle so far, until you run into your starting point or an ocean.

General Storyline: You are a vice commander or the military, cult, or gang that watched your entire team and commander get pathetically owned by a single alien and in chasing him for revenge or justice, find out that it belongs to a secret organization hell-bent on ruling the universe. Your goal is up to you and you can also choose to not to anything and simply explore and expand your resources.

Gameplay:
- Character has typical RPG types, but with all the different classes open for you to choose and customize. This means that you are not bounded to any specific way of playing with specific skills, allowing you to create hybrids between classes.
- Behavior psychological choice system that is actually diverse and extensive enough to significantly change the user experience while storylines, meaning while there are a set of linear progressing storylines, your behavior choices can cause you to cross over to different storylines or significantly screw you over.
- Exploration is choice where explorers can reap massive benefits and expand your storylines and couch potatoes can simply follow much more direct storylines where some quests, weapons, or abilities are sealed off.
- In addition to the required unique weapons, have a general line of base weapons where the user can customize it based on a variety of upgrades he can find or purchase which can lead potentially to its own unique weapons that you can patent and sell both in your game and to other users.
- The same goes for vehicles as well where you can either take the time to make and customize your own, buy one online from other users and import it, or buy a pre-inputted one.
- Variable of prices of things you can buy inside the game depending on the producer's economic state, for example if you blow up a major asset of a company Shepard style, that company's product will become significantly more expensive or if the company becomes bankrupt, completely unavailable for future purchase. The opposite will also hold true.
- No level limitations and enemies are around your level, but leveling difficulty increases after each level so you cannot just simply sit there and easily power level.

Races: 7 different unique races meaning more aliens without humanoid forms.
Classes: Assassin, Soldier, Brawler, Engineer, Medic, and Esper each with its own skill tree where your character has access to the skill tree of all aspects and when you finish the game,

Battle System:
- Game would include FPS, RTS, and vehicle fighting
- Specific battle systems have standard levels of difficulties as well as the option to just skip over it and let a simulator decide the results for those who prefer not to play it.
- Customizable weapons, vehicles, abilities, and powers allow you to get an edge in the battle system but you can still play with only default data.

I will come back and edit this as I get more ideas for my dream RPG game and it would be awesome if you guys do the same!

 

[Ecchi-BANZAII!!!]

Make it like FFXIII, that's the easiest way, though also less RPG'ish.

 

[OC'ing Noob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ecchi-BANZAII!!! Make it like FFXIII, that's the easiest way, though also less RPG'ish.

Ordered it so haven't had a chance to play it yet. I heard mixed reviews though...

 

[TestECull]

What I would do, first and foremost, is start with a good first and third person game engine with good physics and some reliability to it. Something like Gamebryo, but with Source's reliability and ease of running.

then, I'd decide on a setting. More than likely I'll set it on Earth. To avoid the little issue of it feeling like a 'small' map, I will make the map 1:1 scale. As in, one mile in game would take a minute to cross at 60MPH. A map that big would require some pretty quick vehicles, and in order to make them fun to drive I'd have some pretty awesome physics. Racing sim quality physics, but at the same time just enough arcade-like handling to make them fun to drive. Some people just plain don't want to drive that far, so I'll also put an auto-travel feature in that simply teleports you to your destination and adjusts the date and time ingame to reflect the trip. The game will support any sort of controller you want. Even steering wheels, joysticks, you name it. It will even allow you to specify controller for vehicles, mouse and KB for on foot action.

Combat is the next thing that I'd attack. Guns. LOTS of guns. Guns on guns. Guns on knives. I don't care how, but if it kills things it's probably in my game. I'll ensure the weapons are all realistic. Bullets will fly straight, and any inaccuracy will stem from the gun wobbling. Swords will generally kill in one good slash or stab, and knifes if you get a vital organ. Bullets will also tend to kill things realistically, as in humans in one or two hits. Even hand-to-hand combat will be good, as you'll be able to do all sorts of spinkicks and the like. Explosive weapons will be able to kill as many humans as you can place in their blast radius, as they tend to do in real life. Oh, and it's first or third person real time. For snipers, the ability to go prone will be there, as is a sprint and duck function. Duck jumping will be possible. Not sure if I want to put in leaning, at least for SP. There will also be a Gore system, with settings in the menus ranging from "Australia safe!" to "HOLY CRAP THIS IS BLOODY". The default will be a more or less realistic setting.

Yes, vehicle crashes will be realistic in damage. You can swap it from visual only and full. Visual only will enable a key or button you can press that instantly repairs it, on full you would have to have your vehicle either towed to a repair facility or replaced outright. If the game contains cars new enough to have airbags, yes you will be able to watch them deploy.

Now that I have a decent combat system, it's time for the visuals. Any half-decent gaming PC will be able to play it. On max settings it's going to make Crysis look like HL2, on minimum settings it will look about like HL2. How good you want it to look depends on how much you're willing to spend and/or tweak

I will also ensure it runs equally well on Windows and *Nix, so I won't be alienating a significant portion of the market. Console gamers? Sorry guys. Controls are too complicated for your little joypads, the physics would make your processors cry for mercy and the visuals would rape your VGA so hard it's against the Geneva Convention.

The characters would all be quite relatable, the story well thought out(Which means I'm not gonna write it

) and in general it will be quite immersive. If it all goes perfectly, you will feel like you are the protagonist, not just some puppetmaster behind him. You'll be able to upgrade anything you want, destroy anything infront of you, and if you blow up a crucial building to the storyline early in the game you will face consequences when you get to that point later on. As for the AI, I will ensure it's not 'stupid'. Your friendly NPCs will, when in combat, actually try to complete the objective with you. They will NOT simply be content to spam bullets at endlessly respawning baddies as in COD.

Speaking of baddies, there's a set number of them in a given place. If you're the type that likes to take it slowly, you won't find yourself being forced to rush and getting killed. The enemy AI will be just as good as your friendly AI, taking cover and trying everything they can to stop you. And your teammates, they won't focus solely on the player. They'll seek cover, fire from behind objects, try to flank you, all sorts of stuff like that. If you snipe one and you have the element of suprize, for example, the rest will scatter like roaches when you turn a light on. They'll start trying to find you, and if they succeed, they will open fire.

Mods are nice to have, I've found, so the game will natively support them. Adding new weapons, guns, cars, whatever is as simple as inputting a model, sound and script. The game would come with an SDK that would contain the various plugins modders would need to export their models, and it would support most major sound formats. I would also put a built-in 'tuner', if you will. Don't like the music? No problem, pull your own in from any source. Mic in, harddrive, internet, doesn't matter. You could literally pipe FM radio in the microphone port and play it back in game, if you wanted. If you wish to modify the existing stuff, simply edit the model or script, or replace the sound as you see fit.

Other odds and ends would include absolutely no DRM(Steam versions using the Steam DRM, but that isn't exactly restrictive), built-in support for the Steam overlay for all retail copies, game configuration stored in easily-edited .ini files, save games stored in the save directory and the ability to recreate any required registry entries upon game launch if they aren't there. The game would have a multiplayer side, said MP focusing on cooperative play. I MIGHT be convinced to put in a free roam PVP mode if the competitive thickies absolutely insist on it, but it won't be the central focus of the multiplayer side. I certainly won't be too worried if they QQ about it and try to boycott the game, as it's not designed to be played competitively in the first place. Dedicated servers for both Windows and *Nix would be provided, and the game will use the scripts the server has. If you have modded your Glock to fire rockets, and join an MP game, your glock will fire whatever the script the server loaded says it will. There will be support for anti-cheat mods, support for VAC, and powerful admin tools already built in. Best part about MP? You don't even have to install it if you don't want to. Uncheck the box during installation and it won't even put the MP code on your drive. Lastly, there will not be a built-in benchmarking utility. This is a game, not a benchmark. I might release a benchmark version if the community clamors for it enough, though, and if I did it would be free.

My game would either be the best RPG ever or the worst.

I'd play it, tho.

 

[OC'ing Noob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TestECull My game would either be the best RPG ever or the worst. I'd play it, tho.

Sink or swim?

 

[enarr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ecchi-BANZAII!!! Make it like FFXIII, that's the easiest way, though also less RPG'ish.

Less RPGish than FFXIII?! So you basically just want a game completely streamlined with nonstop cutscenes. Probably 95% cutscenes and dialog and then a couple of battles without much challenge to ensure you'll get to watch the next scene. Sign me up. I'm ready to preorder it. So I can burn it after I receive this abomination.

 

[OC'ing Noob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by enarr Less RPGish than FFXIII?! So you basically just want a game completely streamlined with nonstop cutscenes. Probably 95% cutscenes and dialog and then a couple of battles without much challenge to ensure you'll get to watch the next scene. Sign me up. I'm ready to preorder it.

LOL so basically an interactive CGI FF movie? Speaking of JRPG's, has any noticed that a girl's usefulness is usually directly proportional to her bust size? Same with the dudes!

 

[TestECull]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OC'ing Noob LOL so basically an interactive CGI FF movie? Speaking of JRPG's, has any noticed that a girl's usefulness is usually directly proportional to her bust size? Same with the dudes!

With dudes it's the size of their sword. With chicks, their tits. Either way...it's wierd. And somewhat dumb.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OC'ing Noob Sink or swim?

Yup, pretty much. Hell, my installer would have more options than some games. Click the advanced button and you can fine tune what gets installed quite a bit. Even preselect the graphics settings you think you want to run and it will only install textures and models for that level + one up and one down. 'Course, if you click the other button, it just installs everything and is no more complicated than installing any other game.

It would either be the most badass RPG ever, or the worst RPG ever.