Eisenstern : The RPG project

by Aardappel_ on 05/10/2006 01:20, 317 messages, last message: 12/12/2010 14:57, 205227 views, last view: 12/09/2021 06:26, closed on 12/12/2010 15:10

As you all know, we have been silently prototyping the RPG project for a while now, mainly in the form of Levels and design.

Today marks the day of the more official start of the project, with a name, a domain, and something hinting at a game design.

Check out the website: http://eisenstern.com/

Particularly note the design notes linked from that page. If you want to have your say about the direction this RPG is going, or feel that certain features "won't work well", then now is a good time to discuss that, in this thread :)

Just because we have a website doesn't mean that we should start announcing this project everywhere, unlike most people, I don't like advertising thing that I am going to do, I prefer showing what I have done :) But it is good to have a home for the project, because we'll shift a lot of our focus towards it as the FPS is getting more mature.

I will be doing some of the core gamecode for this project soon, so people can start to play around with it.

   Board Index   

#22: ..

by makkE on 05/11/2006 02:57

The way itīs planned, non linear and such, there wonīt need to be a storyline, more like standalone quests. So the quests could be "those orcs block our way to our spring help us" (kill 3 ugly orcs) to "find the three magical artefacts of the holy hammer to restore the kingīs power, wich has been numbed by the magical influence of the dark demon blah blubb buried deep down in dungeon.. find 5 keys first to unlock the mystic shrines of... (insert epic, 10 hour quest here)"

Itīs gonna be up to the mapper(s) or simply people that offer to make up stuff like that I guess.

reply to this message

#23: ..

by shadow,516 on 05/11/2006 04:00

"There are no artificial limits to where you can go, you will be limited only by the fact that you are initially not very powerful or don't posses the right items, meaning going into certain areas just gets you killed (npcs will warn you).
As you become more powerful, more areas will therefore naturally open up to you"

If there's no leveling up, how is that going to work?

reply to this message

#24: Re: ..

by Passa on 05/11/2006 04:07, refers to #23

Maybe a skill system? Not neccesarily levels im guessing, but skill improvements such as a higher skill level with long range weaponry, health capacity, speed etc

reply to this message

#25: Re: ..

by Aardappel_ on 05/11/2006 05:43, refers to #22

I think you're all misinterpreting the "no levelling" thing. We will have no levelling, but the way the gameplay with items works it has almost the same effect. i.e. by progressing you'll collect more and more items that when carried, will have an effect on your stats.

So for example for damage, you will start out with weak weapons that do a certain amount of damage, and migrate to be able to find/afford more powerful versions. In addition to this, you will be able to carry special artifacts that enhance you damage. Some these artifacts can be produced from combining things you collect from the monsters you slay, etc.

The net effect will be similar, except that you are now much more flexible, in that instead of gaining levels by repetition, you now can additionally gain them by stealing/buying/selling/combining items, trying to kill specific monsters out of your league etc. Just more variety, more creative solutions to gameplay progression.

We will have a stats window that displays for every attribute (such as damage), what the current items you own add up to. This functions similar as levels.

Passa: we're doing a LOT of things different than any RPG before us. But you could do worse than look at oblivian/morrowind, or gothic I/II. Though our game will not be like these games, they come the closest, and have lots of good ideas.

Storyline will be more organic/atmospheric than just linear storytelling. Think of being in a world where every character has their own weird things going on, and as you progress, this will form more and more into a "story". In games, YOU should MAKE the story, it should not be TOLD to you.

Yes, maps will be bigger and heavier than the FPS, so you need a higher pc spec. But its still minimal compared to Oblivian :)

shadow: as the text says, you are naturally limited to a small part of the world, because you will get you ass kicked if you venture out too far from the initial area. As you gain power, you naturally can go into more areas. The world will be populated with monsters from weak to super strong to give you something to discover as you grow more powerful, and the quests will take this into account.

reply to this message

#26: Re: ..

by Passa on 05/11/2006 07:41, refers to #25

'you will get you ass kicked if you venture out too far from the initial area.'

Now as the RPG has FPS style gameplay, woulden't that depend on player skill?

Also, will there be cheats/easter eggs? And will edit-mode be useable while playing?

reply to this message

#27: great

by drian@firm05 on 05/11/2006 11:05

Those design notes sound very interesting, I almost feel the addiction ;)

I miss the section 'art' which contains art guidelines/ideas.

reply to this message

#28: ..

by makkE on 05/11/2006 12:08

Yes, a general art direction would be nice. More realistic? Stylized? A human player model? I want to give characters a try.

reply to this message

#29: ..

by Max of S2D [Fr] on 05/11/2006 12:29

Erm... a rpg with not experience points is not a real rpg :/

reply to this message

#30: Re: ..

by Pxtl on 05/11/2006 17:27, refers to #29

So? An RPG without role-playing isn't a real RPG either, and there's damn little of that in most CRPGs. Nethack with sprites doesn't an RPG make. Neither does endlessly...
clicking...
through...
dialogue...
bubbles...
a la Square make an RPG.

reply to this message

#31: Re: ..

by CC_machine4 on 05/11/2006 21:35, refers to #29

as YOU play the game, YOU gain experience playing... and as you have full control of the character, your skill will improve as you go on.

just a thought...

reply to this message

#32: Re: ..

by Pxtl on 05/11/2006 23:20, refers to #31

That means that a hardcore l33t player can rush the Final Citidel and kill Skeletor 5 seconds into the game. "Gameplay-experience" doesn't sounds good until it lets you skip 90% of the game.

reply to this message

#33: Re: ..

by kurtis84 on 05/12/2006 00:43, refers to #29

"Erm... a rpg with not experience points is not a real rpg :/"

no...thats a more fun rpg. I would rather focus on exploration, and gathering of tools, spells, weapons, etc, than worry about getting a points system to the right count at the right times.

reply to this message

#34: Re.

by cronodevir on 05/12/2006 01:06

..

reply to this message

#35: ..

by cronodevir on 05/12/2006 01:06

Firstly, sorry for the double post, stupid keyboard.

secondly, is there a need for quest writers? if so, id love to help out.

reply to this message

#36: Re: ..

by Aardappel_ on 05/12/2006 06:12, refers to #26

in an rpg, the range of stats between the easiest monster and the strongest one is MUCH bigger than in an fps. Imagine when you start, the easiest monsters to be like hellpigs, and the strongest to be like a baaul but with 10x more health, 5x the firerate, and the 3x the damage. Also you will just have a dagger initially, things like bullets will be rare and expensive. So no point going even close to those montsters until you yourself have 10x health, etc.

reply to this message

#37: Re: ..

by Aardappel_ on 05/12/2006 06:16, refers to #28

I would like to set an art direction, but the reality of the world is that art will always be the bottleneck of a project like this, i.e. I am dependent on what I can get, rather than what I want. So setting a very specific art direction won't work because the majority of things won't fit.

That's why I am setting a very loose art direction, which is in essence "medieval", but with a touch of fantasy or steampunk in there if need be. Yes that is a horribly boring/unoriginal theme, but also the most feasible, flexible. I would like us to also not care too much about realism, but more about fun/cool/beautiful.

reply to this message

#38: Re: ..

by Aardappel_ on 05/12/2006 06:24, refers to #32

You're all not getting it. It may be easier to just say YES THE GAME HAS EXPERIENCE, except it is represented by items, not your character. Its the same in the end but... better.

Also FPS skillz matter, but not a great deal. The RPG will play a lot slower, and you will have a lot of time to aim or run away. Unless you are completely hopeless with the FPS controls, 80% or so of a battle outcome will be determined by your stats, not by aim etc.

reply to this message

#39: Re: ..

by Passa on 05/12/2006 07:43, refers to #38

So your ability to win really depends on your weaponry and armour etc? So I am guessing at the start you will have a fist or something, and work up to a chaingun etc. ?

reply to this message

#40: ..

by cronodevir on 05/12/2006 13:40

why not have a level system similar to morrowind? Heh. you have a list of skills, controlling everything from combat to stats etc, and these go up with use. for instance, the more damage you take, the more your Endurance skill would build, and the higher this skill is, the more overall health/resistance to phsyical you have.

The player won't have a 'level' the status page could consist of simply a list of skills with thier level, some skills could even not have a maximum, if you really want the players to achive an 'uber' status.

This way, you won't even need stats or levels, just skills, life, mana, and maby stamina. The damage you do and the Ac could be found by examineing the items you use.

reply to this message

#41: mutiplayer and maps?

by NIm on 05/12/2006 18:00

WIll there be multiplayering? It would seem to me that it might be a good idea to have a multiplayer version, so the players could go through and win as a bunch. or they could start in different parts of the world and compete.

WIll there be more than one campaign? will there be map submissions, just like sauer?

reply to this message

   Board Index