.

[FriendlyMerchant]

I'm still waiting for an answer as to what you guys call the same exact games except with only one character.

They're just called blobbers

 

[octavius]

The better term is DRPG and it captures all of the various “blobbers”, including single-character ones.

Deutsch RPG?

Yes.

(It’s actually for Dungeon RPG, if you’re curious. There’s a thread for an exhaustive list of Dungeon-RPGs but I’m pretty sure it’s in the JRPG forum)

But...what is a Dungeon?

 

[Bruma Hobo]

The only difference between the two is indeed the visual representation and not the mechanics - or core gameplay (vs visual or narrative features), as Wikipedia puts it. Of course this assuming that the only interaction between said NPC and the PC is the one you described - ie. there isn't even a way to talk (even with a precanned response) and the NPC doesn't move at all. In practice at least, even the most primitive of JRPGs made in the most primitive of JRPG engines like RPGMaker 95 do have some additional interactivity, like a speech bubble and NPCs often tend to randomly wander around.

But if things are only just as you describe, a wall is a wall regardless of how it looks. As far as mechanics / core gameplay are concerned of course (and usually they aren't called walls but something more generic, like blocker or obstacle). From a narrative or visual design perspective it can be a wall, a very deep pond that your character can't cross, a building, a tree, a boulder, a lava pit or whatever else that still behaves the same.

Hard to agree with someone who believes that presentation doesn't affect how a game plays. If you get sent to the game over screen after stepping into a lava pit that looked like a pool of water, then you're playing a very different game than one with bright red lava, don't you think?

RPGs in particular are games where the player's perception plays a big role: If he believes his character should be able to attempt some action (like jumping over a small pit, climbing a tree, killing friendly NPCs, betraying a questgiver because he didn't trust him, and so on), then the dice should be immediately rolling. And while CRPGs are unable to offer that many options (computer games have finite lines of code, and budgets are even more limited), at the very least they should provide the illusion of a reactive world, which is why you could murder and steal in CRPGs as old as Ultima I.

Wizardry I provided enough options for a dungeon crawler with almost no social interaction in 1981, but don't you think such mechanics are not enough if a game takes place in a city with dozens of NPCs, or in the wilderness? Guess what happened the moment NPCs became more prominent in the series:

Makes you think, huh?

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

The better term is DRPG and it captures all of the various “blobbers”, including single-character ones.

Deutsch RPG?

Yes.

(It’s actually for Dungeon RPG, if you’re curious. There’s a thread for an exhaustive list of Dungeon-RPGs but I’m pretty sure it’s in the JRPG forum)

But...what is a Dungeon?

The Donjon is the tallest tower of a castle.

 

[Berengar]

Markland Blake Clevemore is a moron. So if you're quoting him for proof, well see my original statement.

 

[Bad Sector]

Hard to agree with someone who believes that presentation doesn't affect how a game plays. If you get sent to the game over screen after stepping into a lava pit that looked like a pool of water, then you're playing a very different game than one with bright red lava, don't you think?

What you describe (including the rest of your message so i won't quote it) is about giving feedback, which is often done via the visuals but it isn't part of the game's mechanics that define a game's genre (which is what the discussion is all about) beyond requiring that feedback to be given. The game's mechanics only specify that there is a lava pit that sends you to a game over screen if you step on it, the feedback is responsible for telling the player about the existence of a lava pit and this is often done via the visuals. However if the visuals are not good at doing that (i.e. the artist made the lava pit look like a pool of water), this isn't a failure of the game's mechanics, it is a failure of visuals. Since the latter is also often a subjective matter (what i feel looks fine might be unreadable to you), it is also inadequate as a criterion for genre definitions - a game's genre isn't defined by your feelings for it.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

of course visual representation changes how a game plays, there's a reason first person shooters and third person shooters are separate subgenres that share many mechanics but both have their own unique mechanics that plays to their strengths

 

[Bad Sector]

of course visual representation changes how a game plays, there's a reason first person shooters and third person shooters are separate subgenres that share many mechanics but both have their own unique mechanics that plays to their strengths

The difference between a first person shooter and a third person shooter isn't only a matter of visuals, but about controls, feedback and other game mechanics that are affected by the camera.

The visual representation being referred here is things like having stone walls vs metal walls (that still behave the same by disallowing the player to progress past a point) or an elevation spell vs a jetpack (that still behave the same, i.e. helping the character fly upwards and use some consumable like mana/fuel).

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

But...what is a Dungeon?

Dungeons & Dragons Volume 3: The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson

 

[Roguey]

Adding another point to an old conversation.

People do not use this term to describe their own games, you don't see this term used to describe products. It's not a thing.

Spotted this in Wasteland 3 today!

 

[Harthwain]

The visual representation being referred here is things like having stone walls vs metal walls (that still behave the same by disallowing the player to progress past a point) or an elevation spell vs a jetpack (that still behave the same, i.e. helping the character fly upwards and use some consumable like mana/fuel).

Interestingly enough I think sci-fi is better for making a more interaction-restricted game, because the player is going to have easier time recognizing his limitations when he finds out his tools need power/fuel compared to fantasy counterpart. The same goes for "it makes sense!" sentiment - a fantasy world has to put down some ground rules first and make sure they are followed, so the player can extrapolate what he can do from that. It's also easier to allow the player more free-form experience in sci-fi, because you don't really need classes to be able to use certain tools (although prior character-related experience is certainly going to benefit you), beyond having physical capacity to operate them (like intelligence or strength).

 

[Volourn]

"What is a blobber"

Your face.

Anyone who needs to ask that question should be mocked.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Adding another point to an old conversation.

People do not use this term to describe their own games, you don't see this term used to describe products. It's not a thing.

Spotted this in Wasteland 3 today!

 

[BlaineMono]

it is actually very cool and not faggish in any way that this thread is still blobbing on

 

[c u in da ballpit ashren]

The Blob is a 1988 American science fiction horror film co-written and directed by Chuck Russell. A remake of the 1958 film of the same name, it stars Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey DeMunn, Paul McCrane, Art LaFleur, Robert Axelrod, Joe Seneca, Del Close and Candy Clark. The plot follows an acidic, amoeba-like organism that crashes down to Earth in a military satellite, which devours and dissolves anything in its path as it grows.

Filmed in Abbeville, Louisiana, The Blob was theatrically released in August 1988 by Tri-Star Pictures and was a box office failure, grossing $8.2 million against its budget of approximately $10 million. Though it received a mixed response from critics, the film has since accrued a cult following.

 

[Bad Sector]

Interestingly enough I think sci-fi is better for making a more interaction-restricted game, because the player is going to have easier time recognizing his limitations when he finds out his tools need power/fuel compared to fantasy counterpart.

I think this depends on the sci-fi approach, some sci-fi works - especially those set very far in the future - can be as weird and alien as a fantasy setting. If it moves beyond the common "metallic places and machines" style and towards something like bioengineering, it makes things even more blurry.

 

[Atlantico]

Spotted this in Wasteland 3 today!

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Pretty BLOBBY



Hilariously blobby actually.