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Thoughts on some things.

Name:	Sam Bolton
Date Posted:	Jan 13, 2006
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I have some ideas that i would like to run by you guys. What if I made it so that you could level up your skills with what weapons you used. Like not just leveling up your character, but also leveling up her sword ability and pistol use ability. So that different animations would play at different weapon levels? Think it would keep the player intrigued? Also, I've never really liked the idea of magic being in a game. What do you think about psychic abilities? Let me know your thoughts. Thanks a lot guys.

Recent Blog Posts

List:	02/24/06 - Woot! 01/27/06 - Damn, it's expensive!! 01/23/06 - Really moving! 01/13/06 - Thoughts on some things. 01/12/06 - Thoughts about a story idea? 01/09/06 - Everything's goin' great so far! 01/08/06 - My first 3D game!!

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Philip Mansfield (Jan 13, 2006 at 14:32 GMT)

You know, you could post most of this stuff as forum threads rather than plans...

Aaron Ellis (Jan 13, 2006 at 15:24 GMT)

Sam,

I definitely don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, but I'm with Philip on this one. Most of the developers put out .plans once every two to four weeks. A few people post once a week, but any more than that is probably pushing things. My personal view on .plan entries is that they should reflect on development progress, major successes and setbacks, strategies and, if all goes well, an occasional product announcement. But again, that's just my own opinion. The Garage Games guys probably have different expectations for the .plan section.

Anyway, I'm adding links to some helpful forum areas, where people go to discuss cool ideas, brainstorm, and generally, just look for inspiration.

Good luck,

A.E.

www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.forum.php?qf=24

www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.forum.php?qf=1

David Montgomery-Blake (Jan 13, 2006 at 15:59 GMT)

Props to both Philip and Aaron on .plan management. Perhaps the title change to blog has shifted the mentality a bit, though, since blogging often fits a much more open scheme of posting than the precision of .plans traditionally.

As for the idea, why not. To me, psychic abilities are pretty much "magic" with a wobbly-glass effect. It may not be magic in a traditional RPG sense, but it has become the magic for modern/near-future/future RPG's to replace magic with something focused in the pseudo-Real. When it comes to psychic abilities, I learn to abuse them like I do any other "magic" system in a RPG.

But my take on keeping them interested in a RPG is not that "more animations will keep them interested" but a deeper system that makes them think and change their tactics, interesting characters, and dramatic storyline are more important. Especially the system since it is the part that players actually get to play with the most. As cool as the summons/espers/etc were in FF, I usually wanted to turn them off after the second time I saw them and had to wait. Nifty actions that have little relevance are fun flash, but if I'm fighting a slew of enemies, I really don't care much about that flash. I care about defeating the damn things. FF's are a fun group of games to look at anyway because their storylines and characters are not necessarily that strong, innovative, or new...but they are tight and well presented in a dramatic way that allows the player to feel more immersed in the story. A number of "copy-cat" companies that have developed RPG's in similar stylings have tried to emphasize the technology (pre-rendered movies, for example) rather than paying for high-quality writers to take their crummy stories and make them better.

I like flash, but I want some reason to play a RPG, especially if the story is several hours long and requires me to play the game to get to the end. Now, if the gameplay is short, like say for an action title, I really get into stylish flash. If it is the only substance to a RPG, I usually get sick of it a short time in.

Sam Bolton (Jan 13, 2006 at 19:58 GMT)

Awesomeness. Awesome comments guys. I really appreciate it. Thank you. And I won't be posting this stuff in my .plan anymore. I thought that it was for that, so I'll start using the forums.

Aaron Ellis (Jan 13, 2006 at 20:30 GMT)

As long as we're here, I might as well mention that "science" can be a good replacement for magic as well. I have to use quotes when I say that, though.

If you watch very many Star Trek episodes, you'll discover that there is a field, particle or theory to cover just about every magical effect you can imagine. D&D named spells after famous fictional wizards. Star Trek did the same thing, but used famous fictional scientists to give it a thin layer of believability.

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