The future of Role-Playing Games

[Gahbreeil]

To re-invent Role-Playing Games one has to look both to the past as well as the future. While the First Person Player RPGs have fell into a decline in the past, the isometric have succesfully taken the market allowing other companies to take up the FPP RPG innovating upon it and creating a succesful genre out of it. This genre appeals both to the fans of First Person Shooters and Role-Playing Games. However, the isometric RPG appeals to fans of Adventure games as well. As it is the market is unbalanced with a clear trend towards FPP RPGs.

This is because the isometric RPG as coined by the original Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series is a better medium for storytelling of a particular sort. It is true the FPP RPG allows the player to enjoy action while the isometric RPG requires the player to think of his choices in the video game. Dialogue will never be a strong part of the FPP as the game would be less interesting in the eyes of the FPS fans. Although it is true KotoR style cutscene dialogue could be implemented with much success. The Real-Time Strategy fans find their entertainment in the isometric RPG as well as the Adventure game fans. The market is small as RTS fans prefer RTS games. Recaping, Adventure, RPG and RTS fans are the customers for the isometric RPG as coined by Black Isle. If no one makes games of this sort, they will not disappear and start playing FPP games as these are of lesser interest to them and they would rather play their own genres of video games. While the FPP RPG is basically an FPS. To rectify the problem of smaller sales and a smaller market the isometric RPG can with a few innovations become much different.

The video game needs to appeal to a broader audience. Either through an original setting or through changes to the actual video game. At this point I should mention before I continue into the part about the changes that it is true the dialogue, the setting and the story as well as exploration form the foundation of the Adventure within the RPG. It is true Tactical Squad Role-Playing forms the second foundation of the RPG, the Strategy. Role-Playing is dual, in the aspect of theatre and combat as one plays out the role in the squad as well as in life. The two remain in balance to create an interesting game.

Both factors will play a major role in the RPG I will describe. However, the innovations stand to change the isometric RPG into something new and interesting as more appears beside the foundation. Full implementation of the 3.5 edition of Dungeons and Dragons proves to be an interesting point that may revitalise the genre. From pushing, pulling and carrying overhead through skills like riding, climbing, swimming, crafting, lore and many other to the combat system and the general premise of the paper and pencil game, the 3.5 allows for a very realistic depiction of real life. All that remains is to add a simulation into the video game so that NPCs walk freely and roam the world based on the AI coded. This would mean the player can engage in heroics while dwelling in a world that is alive as long as the PC is present in a particular area.

I believe this is the way for the classic Western Role-Playing Game. My Real Time Strategy Simulation is a game that can replace this game that I have tried to point out and that is why I name it an MSRPG which I possibly should not do because of copyrights. I do not know. Real Time Theatrical Simulation Single-Player Strategy is another good abbreviation. I know this might be boring yet what I'm doing here on this thread is trying to create this idea pitch so that is unflawed in any way. If anyone wants to help or exchange ideas I encourage the effort.

I am sorry for my ignorance in a claim of mine, dialogue trees might not be copyrighted. Yet anything might be as clearly one company cannot take another company's ideas.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

But in lack of private property, those managers would be either hired by or elected from among the workers.

Absolutely not. The state regulates the hiring of managers using quantitative and qualitative parameters. Managers would be classified by their ability to effectively manage the capital of a given size - that is to ensure maximum deductions to the budget from the capital of a given level. To be given access to the smallest managerial position, you have to pass exams better than your peers. What they have in China is similar to what I'm talking about.

Do you think that allowing 5% of the working age population to leech off the state isn't a big expense?

That's exactly what I said, yes.

And speaking of that, how do you expect businesses to get of the ground in such an environment? You have a business idea that requires employees, yet you are the only one with the money for it.

Two things to unpack here.
1) Money in communism/socialism is intended to be used as soon as you get it, because you should have no motive to save it. In capitalism you save for a) a rainy day, b) medical problems, c) losing a job, etc. These are all solved, so you can and should spend it all. Enjoy it.
Since the production forces are always growing, it would be fair to constantly depreciate your savings systematically, either through inflation or negative interest rates or any other way. Which is another incentive to go out and live a little.

2) Normally you start a business by going to the banks and presenting your business plan. In communism, there can only be the state bank, and it would work essentially the same way. A risk assessment of your business plan would be made, and a credit given to the company. You obviously have to first prove that you can manage a company through exams, like a driver's license.

Using your own money to start a business is a weird idea in this context. If professional risk assessment deemed your plan unrealistic, then it's unlikely to work. Still, it's your money... You CAN use it to start a business, but it's basically a donation to the state. It's not your company. If your business lifts off the ground, you can still be moved to another position if you're not the best manager the company can have. Historically, though, the best CEOs are the ones who started the company, so that's unlikely to happen.

since each member would prefer to have a say in company matters

??? Nobody has a say in company matters. A business is not a democracy. Where do you get these ideas...
Understand this: if you make a democratic vote asking what's heavier - humid air or dry air, 50% people would get the right answer, 50% would get the wrong answer. You probably don't know the answer yourself.
Managing a business or a state or anything for that matter requires specialized knowledge, the same way. If you're not putting up to vote what kind of air is heavier, you're not putting up to vote how to manage a company or the state.

Audits regarding what? It's a free market, businesses can sell whichever product they desire and if there's demand for it they'll do so.

Audits in regards to PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE.
Even in capitalism the market is regulated. There's a myriad of regulations in regards to consumer protection. Those have to be stricter in socialism, but not by much.

but they are aware that they'll be out of business after they hit it big

Who's "they"? The CEO is the one who makes decisions. If he has to scale the company down, it's not a problem. It's better for society, more efficient. Workers who would be terminated due to the scale down, would be
- compensated while they're looking for a different job, their livelihood is not on the line
- now they can produce something else! We've covered our razor needs for the next century. It's good, more free hands in other industries.

 

[Stavrophore]

Since the production forces are always growing, your savings would always be depreciating

That'a actually opposite. With increased production, your savings appreciate, because you can buy more with same money. Before modern monetary politics, it wasn't uncommon to have deflationary periods in XIX century, just as industrialization was in full swing.

PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE

It's mostly caused by mandatory waranty periods and because of consumer culture, plus rapid technological changes. Every item has different shelf period/life, there can be demand for same wrench for 20 years until a new better stronger set is created, but smartphones/gadgets get obsolete fast. And then you have also items that wear off quickly. Throwing all these items into one pool with same length warranty is stupid. Leave companies to create their own warranties, a company with good warranty will be worth billions, with poor not even few millions, because consumers value these things.

 

[Vault Dweller]

unequal exchange which is inherent to any market-based economic system and which by its very nature is exploitative.

Speculation is not labor, but theft of labor, therefore making it a part of your income is illegal under socialism or communism. If a part of the money you made was due to speculation, that PART goes into the PUBLIC FUNDS, where the money is divided between investments into development and investments into consumption, guaranteeing people's access to the goods that should be made equally available to everyone due to moral and/or logical reasons: education, sports, culture, basic food, shelter, medicine.

Hmm... Back in Nov:

I've dabbled in stocks this year. Made $40'000. Being a capitalist is living on easy street while the proles are sweating spinal fluid over who should be president and working their asses off every day.
...
I've not worked in 3 years now and I'm getting richer every year.

It appears you've stolen 40k worth of labor, comrade. Please report your crime to your local Citizens for Executions committee and donate the stolen money to nearest Public Funds kiosk.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

unequal exchange which is inherent to any market-based economic system and which by its very nature is exploitative.

Speculation is not labor, but theft of labor, therefore making it a part of your income is illegal under socialism or communism. If a part of the money you made was due to speculation, that PART goes into the PUBLIC FUNDS, where the money is divided between investments into development and investments into consumption, guaranteeing people's access to the goods that should be made equally available to everyone due to moral and/or logical reasons: education, sports, culture, basic food, shelter, medicine.

Hmm... Back in Nov:

I've dabbled in stocks this year. Made $40'000. Being a capitalist is living on easy street while the proles are sweating spinal fluid over who should be president and working their asses off every day.
...
I've not worked in 3 years now and I'm getting richer every year.

It appears you've stolen 40k worth of labor, comrade. Please report your crime to your local Citizens for Executions committee and donate the stolen money to nearest Public Funds kiosk.

Yeah, it's stolen labor. Russian proverb: If you live among the wolves, you have to howl like a wolf.

 

[Gahbreeil]

A question, should this thread be in the Codex Workshop instead?

 

[Stavrophore]

unequal exchange which is inherent to any market-based economic system and which by its very nature is exploitative.

Speculation is not labor, but theft of labor, therefore making it a part of your income is illegal under socialism or communism. If a part of the money you made was due to speculation, that PART goes into the PUBLIC FUNDS, where the money is divided between investments into development and investments into consumption, guaranteeing people's access to the goods that should be made equally available to everyone due to moral and/or logical reasons: education, sports, culture, basic food, shelter, medicine.

Hmm... Back in Nov:

I've dabbled in stocks this year. Made $40'000. Being a capitalist is living on easy street while the proles are sweating spinal fluid over who should be president and working their asses off every day.
...
I've not worked in 3 years now and I'm getting richer every year.

It appears you've stolen 40k worth of labor, comrade. Please report your crime to your local Citizens for Executions committee and donate the stolen money to nearest Public Funds kiosk.

Yeah, it's stolen labor. Russian proverb: If you live among the wolves, you have to howl like a wolf.

Thank God, because with that attitude communism will never happen! You will not destroy a system that you are depended on.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Thank God, because with that attitude communism will never happen! You will not destroy a system that you are depended on.

Not us, but the toiling masses of the Global South.

So cheers,

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Also, Bester, I'll be replying later if need be, got myself preoccupied with some other stuff atm. Still, I don't see how your proposed system is anything other than a more radical variant of social democracy.

 

[Stavrophore]

"Global South" sounds like a term a supreme retard like Richard R. Wolff would come with.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

all communists should be executed by defenestration.

 

[Hag]

God, it has been such a while since the last time I read a "I am a clueless enthusiast with no computer nor game-design skills who is looking for grunts to develop his awesome game idea that is always some endless-possibilities real-life-ripoff-but-in-fantasy or a MMORPG" thread. Reminds me of the 2005s, when everybody was a wannabe game-designer. Aaah, glorious times, to be young and optimistic again.

Gahbreeil thank you for this nostalgic moment. In exchange, some advice : nobody will develop your game for you. It looks like you are daydreaming of your ideal RPG, which is fine and I believe is something we are all doing from time to time (well, I do). If you are really serious about making it happen, do it yourself. You say it can take ten years, so at least you are realistic with the delay, and luckily it leaves you more than enough time to become a solid developer. Making a video game if in the end mostly development.

Also, if you can't pitch your game in three lines, you may not be such a good writer either.

 

[Gahbreeil]

God, it has been such a while since the last time I read a "I am a clueless enthusiast with no computer nor game-design skills who is looking for grunts to develop his awesome game idea that is always some endless-possibilities real-life-ripoff-but-in-fantasy or a MMORPG" thread. Reminds me of the 2005s, when everybody was a wannabe game-designer. Aaah, glorious times, to be young and optimistic again. Gahbreeil thank you for this nostalgic moment. In exchange, some advice : nobody will develop your game for you. It looks like you are daydreaming of your ideal RPG, which is fine and I believe is something we are all doing from time to time (well, I do). If you are really serious about making it happen, do it yourself. You say it can take ten years, so at least you are realistic with the delay, and luckily it leaves you more than enough time to become a solid developer. Making a video game if in the end mostly development. Also, if you can't pitch your game in three lines, you may not be such a good writer either.

A Real Time Simulation game in the trend of Role-Playing Games with an innovative systems in form of skills, combat and dialogue. The PC and NPCs enjoy the same freedom of action and deed in a world filled with wilderlands and a few villages where one being rules supreme. Possibility of enjoying daily life and work as never before in a video game.
If no one wants to develop games, there will be no video games. A single person would complete a demo in ten years, maybe. I do not have the time or the will to work alone on the project. I am a writer and as such design settings, storylines and dialogue. If I was a programmer I would be here with a demo of some poorly envisioned ARPG. And what then? I made this for fun and to share fun, not for money.

 

[Hag]

A Real Time Simulation game in the trend of Role-Playing Games with an innovative systems in form of skills, combat and dialogue. The PC and NPCs enjoy the same freedom of action and deed in a world filled with wilderlands and a few villages where one being rules supreme. Possibility of enjoying daily life and work as never before in a video game.

Thank you, much clearer. You may want to play Kenshi, this one hits quite close on some of your ideas, and is also the work of a single guy for years.

If no one wants to develop games, there will be no video games. A single person would complete a demo in ten years, maybe. I do not have the time or the will to work alone on the project. I am a writer and as such design settings, storylines and dialogue. If I was a programmer I would be here with a demo of some poorly envisioned ARPG. And what then? I made this for fun and to share fun, not for money.

You say you are a writer but you describe game mechanisms. Actually, you don't want to work as a writer, you want to be all creative jobs as the same time. You have been given good advice in this thread : learn to develop, create a real board game, create a small game with RPG Maker, etc. You have each time disregarded it. Is this the way you will also treat feedback from your game developer, if we suppose you find one ?

 

[Gahbreeil]

Thank you, much clearer. You may want to play Kenshi, this one hits quite close on some of your ideas, and is also the work of a single guy for years.

Kenshi looks terrible and not at all fun based on it's setting and graphics. I did not want to play it based on these two points although the game might be fun. I guarantee it would be much different from mine based on looking at the trailers and gameplay videos.

You say you are a writer but you describe game mechanisms. Actually, you don't want to work as a writer, you want to be all creative jobs as the same time. You have been given good advice in this thread : learn to develop, create a real board game, create a small game with RPG Maker, etc. You have each time disregarded it. Is this the way you will also treat feedback from your game developer, if we suppose you find one ?

I would approach all feedback with honesty and reply to the best of my abilities. I have created the board game in a post on the fourth page in under ten minutes. I know game mechanisms as I am a video game player.

 

[agris]

I have created the board game in a post on the fourth page in under ten minutes. I know game mechanisms as I am a video game player.

 

[Hag]

I have created the board game in a post on the fourth page in under ten minutes. I know game mechanisms as I am a video game player.

You have written a post in a forum, not a board game. You can't play with it. This is not a game. This is ten lines bullshit.
Video games are a lot of work. You are not ready. Keep dreaming and learn to listen to other people advice. You know, sometimes you may be wrong.

 

[Gahbreeil]

I have created the board game in a post on the fourth page in under ten minutes. I know game mechanisms as I am a video game player.
You have written a post in a forum, not a board game. You can't play with it. This is not a game. This is ten lines bullshit.
Video games are a lot of work. You are not ready. Keep dreaming and learn to listen to other people advice. You know, sometimes you may be wrong.

I am not prepared for this amount of negativity? You are wrong. How do you write a board game then, illuminate me. Did you want me to print it out to prove that I can create? I can do it with pencil and paper for friends and what will that prove here?
-
As for skills.
Imagine this, skills laid out around the basics of movement, combat, dialogue and work that everyone is capable of. All skills based on all five of the SAEIS that governs skills. Melee and Ranged which would both definetely use SA. Endurance would govern skills that mention physical endurance. All occupation skills. Basic movement skills like scaling or hiding and silent movement. Diplomacy and lying as well as use of sorcery. These would be squares that expand into squares that contain the actual skills. Various amounts of experience used to obtain any skill and level it up.

 

[mondblut]

Possibility of enjoying daily life and work as never before in a video game.

You must be new to this plane of existence.

 

[AdolfSatan]

These are some astounding levels of self-delusion for a guy who can't even spell 'Gabriel' properly.

 

[Hag]

I am not prepared for this amount of negativity? You are wrong. How do you write a board game then, illuminate me. Did you want me to print it out to prove that I can create? I can do it with pencil and paper for friends and what will that prove here?

Game for 4 players :
Each player gets 5 six-faced dices.
In the middle of the table is a pile of 30 cards, hidden, each one being a monster with a strength score : 6 being the weakest (a goblin), 30 the strongest (a dragon).
Each player, in turn, reveals a monster card and show it to everybody. To fight the monster, he must throw his dices against the monster strength and get equal or higher. He can ask other player to join in if the fight seems too difficult, meaning the dices of each fighting player are pooled against the creature.
If the monster wins, each losing player lose a dice.
If it lose, each winning player gets a dice, up to five maximum.
The game end when each creature card has been revealed.
The winner is the player with the highest number of dices in the end.

These is a board game, brand new, albeit maybe not a very good one. You just need to pick three other guys and you can play it. This is actual game design.

 

[Gahbreeil]

To further avoid using copyrighted content I've envisioned this. Left click deals with walking and some of the interactions that are obvious while right click deals with attack and defend. Further I will think on how to implement choosing skinning or inspecting someone to get the cover data of someone, not a description, for example the visible and approximate strength or endurance and the portrait. Unless portraits will be cut which I would prefer not to do. Agility, intellect and sense based on memory. Third mouse button would bring up a list of possible interactions.
-

You must be new to this plane of existence.

I am a primordial force of this world.

These are some astounding levels of self-delusion for a guy who can't even spell 'Gabriel' properly.

Self-delusion based on wanting to find the right people for the right job? All I need is a team that agrees with my dream. Everything I have written down is realistic to the core albeit it may be included within the next generation of video games.

Game for 4 players : Each player gets 5 six-faced dices. In the middle of the table is a pile of 30 cards, hidden, each one being a monster with a strength score : 6 being the weakest (a goblin), 30 the strongest (a dragon). Each player, in turn, reveals a monster card and show it to everybody. To fight the monster, he must throw his dices against the monster strength and get equal or higher. He can ask other player to join in if the fight seems too difficult, meaning the dices of each fighting player are pooled against the creature. If the monster wins, each losing player lose a dice. If it lose, each winning player gets a dice, up to five maximum. The game end when each creature card has been revealed. The winner is the player with the highest number of dices in the end. These is a board game, brand new, albeit maybe not a very good one. You just need to pick three other guys and you can play it. This is actual game design.

This board game you speak of does not have a board to the game. Actual game design at its finest, I am sure. Mine can house up to eight players, what do you think?

 

[Heroic Liberator]

To further avoid using copyrighted content I've envisioned this. Left click deals with walking and some of the interactions that are obvious while right click deals with attack and defend.

Yes, because that would clearly constitute copyright infringement.

 

[Gahbreeil]

Yes, because that would clearly constitute copyright infringement.

I cannot make a game akin any game, not because it was already done and I want novelty for sales, but because there are copyrights in place. There would be millions of clones otherwise. Please specify what is wrong. Walking by left click? RTS and RP games do the same thing and so, the RTS people are making money or it is public domain. Which would you guess?
-
Simulation game in the style of Strategies and Role-Playing Games. This would be the most straight forward pitch. Although I like the word Theatre as it is simulation of real life.

 

[agris]

pondering the future of RPG games made me wonder: do people still rank F2 over F3?