Need Game Story And Design Ideas

[Senoska]

Just a bit of background; a few years back I was working on a small mmorpg for BG. Sadly, nearing the end of completion, I lost the source code to it due to corruption. Being extremely frustrated at the work I put into a game that I never had the chance to release, I haven't made any games since. I figure, just for fun, I'd take another try at creating a game for BG. However, this time, its going to be a single player RPG. Consider this the preliminary thread for BGRPG2.0:

I'm considering doing a mixture of a UI based game (hp/mp/map/inventory as a UI) with the rest of the game-play elements being an old school type-whatever text rpg. The main reason for this is that I am not very artistically talented, and after posting some information about the last game I was making, I got a ton of flack for using other people's sprite sheets. Not to mention programming cool aspects into the game like this would be pretty easy, since I wouldn't have to focus on effects, gear paper doll, etc.

This will be written, most likely, in C# XNA. So if you want, you'll be able to play this on an xbox360, but with a text based game, I'm not too sure how well that will turn out. If I had decent graphics, it'd obviously be a bit better.

So to get to the point, I'm turning to the BG community for ideas about how this game will go. At the moment, I'm considering using the pathfinder system for classes and with small deviation for spells, items, etc. I have nothing as far as a story goes, although I'd like to make the typical dungeon diving, castle besieging world.

So my specific questions are this:

• What story elements do you like in a game? Do you look for 'saved the captured princess' type stories, something relevant to social norms of the day, or if you have any ideas of the story, setting, plot, or anything else, feel free to answer with that
• What do you think about the text based system? Would you prefer 'borrowed' sprite sheets, more limited gear and item choices, longer development, but much cooler looking with some of that old school video game feel or a simpler screen with less boundaries, faster development time, but a simple text box with the story?
• Do you have any ideas for quests, items, or people from the forums that should appear? If so, what should their role in the game be? Their names don't have to be exact, but I don't mind making a reference.
• Any other ideas?

Help me out.

[solanis]

I don't care unless the various npcs and monsters are named after people on bg

[Dimmauk]

My little pony fighting game!

[Senoska]

I don't care unless the various npcs and monsters are named after people on bg

Who did you have in mind?

[SephYuyX]

Pedophilia.

[Eaglestrike]

I don't care unless the various npcs and monsters are named after people on bg

Who gets to be BGRPG's Cid? Sonomaa?

[Gulkeeva]

Hentai RPG game...!?

[Acturus]

• What story elements do you like in a game? Do you look for 'saved the captured princess' type stories, something relevant to social norms of the day, or if you have any ideas of the story, setting, plot, or anything else, feel free to answer with that
• What do you think about the text based system? Would you prefer 'borrowed' sprite sheets, more limited gear and item choices, longer development, but much cooler looking with some of that old school video game feel or a simpler screen with less boundaries, faster development time, but a simple text box with the story?
• Do you have any ideas for quests, items, or people from the forums that should appear? If so, what should their role in the game be? Their names don't have to be exact, but I don't mind making a reference.
• Any other ideas?

1. I like mystery and plot twists. I don't mind if the protagonist knows more than I do (in books, at least), as long as everything is revealed at the end. Also, I appreciate larger-than-life stories. Epic tales where multipe themes (love, justice, perseverence, etc.) converge.

2. I have no real opinion on text-based interaction. I love the "choose your own adventure" stories from my childhood, so I'd give it a shot. Obviously the ability to differentiate the forms of text is useful. Dialogue in a different font than action text for example, or characters labeled with different colors.

3. I would love to see an entire quest series devoted to one or more of the long-running threads, like the Random Image Thread, with its twenty-odd versions. Or I would like to see aspects of the forums themselves to manifest in the game. For instance, the ability during the fund-raising drive to donate enough money to earn your own custom title could be potentially incorporated into a side-quest or mini-game, or the Mods' policing efforts, however effective or otherwise they end up being could be the subject of character behaviors or environments. An entire block of the game could encompass navigating the subculture of the spam forum (put them in the dungeon of the castle ~.o).

4. Um... I'll have to think about it.

[Byrthnoth]

Set the game in 2019 with substantial political friction between two powerful nations. The protagonist could be a spaceship captain caught in the middle. As the game progresses and the world heads more and more towards outright war and the two nations activate their Zeitgeist Intergalactic Gunmen at their bases and prepare for battle.

At some point during 2020, our hero will be shipping some of these gunmen from one base to another across space when he attacked by a merciless villain from the opposing faction, set up a bomb, and taunted. His only option is to take off all the ZIGs, but he has no chance to survive and must make some time.

[Xno Kappa]

Whatever the plot is title should be "Kuya and Elvis go to Israel."

[Mikus]

I'm a big fan of dark Noir style games and movies. Something of that nature tied in with a BG theme could be cool.

[Not Kuno]

My unique character ideas. Credit me.

Silent protagonist with a dark past and potential for great power
Female assistant who is shy healer that is secretly a descendant from an ancient magical race
A burly, manly sidekick who on the outside tough but really has a heart of gold

[quannum]

for the story, just rip-off a classic piece of literature that's public domain or free to use and just sed out the names.

i suggest hamlet.

[Miroku_Asura]

One thing I never really liked about most MMORPGs is that they never have enough (if any) puzzles- most of them are just grind to cap -> fight hard shit. Puzzles ala zelda or golden sun would be mucho gusta. Or hell, even having some riddles that you have to write out the answer rather than selecting from a list of options.

Isladar needs to be either a boss or some sort of deity, but that should have been kind of obvious

[Zalius]

if you made the rpg & tied it to the actual bg forums (would obv need admin permission) and it was a legit game, you could get a huge boost of life to the forums again+financial traffic+possible for future expansion of the game.

things to consider for the story:
-make it expandable, leave some of the beginning a mystery so that you have room to expand the game.
-if you enjoy the fuck out of the story, other people will too. if you make a common generic story, you will get common generic players.
-make gaming quality of life high as possible while also making specific challenges (bosses, specific dungeons, special items, etc) that are very difficult until practiced or without an effective strategy. This means allowing players to rez in a comfortable place after a boss fight but for the reason that they're probably going to need it.
-make a LOT of items/specs and different ways to deal damage. people get mad bored when there's a damage cap and all of their specs do the exact same thing once they've reached the cap. oh, press button and die? ok, lets see how stupid i am and continue playing this until i realize im bored.

Things to remember about characters -
-people like characters with wings. why? who fucking knows, angels or some shit. make a badass dude with wings and people will be like THIS GUY IS FUCKING DOPE.
-big swords.
-lotta people go the traditional route of female characters showing like 75%+ cleavage right off the bat...gotta give em the shape+face too. all boob all the time isn't dynamic. their tits dont always need to be out to get people to play your game.
-Villians need to do fucked up shit. seriously. who wants to kill a pussy cowardly villian? having some pussycowardvillains is a good thing but most of them need to be the real deal.
-towns with unique music. everybody remembers how badass selbina music was, and that was a small ass little town.

more later

[Zalius]

yea

[Omniyoji]

omg Zal ilub u. This and that post in tyven's thread LoL

edit

lulz

[Zalius]

stalker

[SephYuyX]

[Ddz]

My unique character ideas. Credit me.

Silent protagonist with a dark past and potential for great power
Female assistant who is shy healer that is secretly a descendant from an ancient magical race
A burly, manly sidekick who on the outside tough but really has a heart of gold

FFVII??? lol