Author Topic: Boris RPG  (Read 13737 times)

Boris

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Boris RPG
« on: February 15, 2006, 03:27:53 am »
If you don't like me rambling on about things I made up, this is definitely not the post to read. Thank you

So fueled by a haze of various video games, I've once again been inspired to start on my own grand far reaching and utterly impossible project of creating even a tiled 2D based RPG. (I could go on and on about what I'd like the engine to do, but the fact is I'm still just writing for loops in my programming class, so I don't know how to do squat.)

What I do know is that I want a veritable ammo dump for the crazed things I come up with for on this game that people can comment on if they have an opinion, so thats what this topic will be all about.

So where to being? At the beginning of the game I suppose, letting you know what the player would. we open on three of our protaganists sitting in an advancing line with a bunch of extras, inside some kind of drab building.

you have KING, the guy you'll be controlling, a fellow who hates to every be accused of making a bad decision, and will be freezing more and more in that respect as the game goes along until he has to confront it. (this works well see, because it makes me more able to exactly control the plot direction instead of offering branching choices too early.) King has no trouble making just and traidionally moral decisions, but very often the game world requires sacrafice or immoral behavior tword a good outcome, placing King at odds with the very real situation of having to make the best of bad choices. Physically King has very dark medium short hair, a bit of a distinguished sharp face, wears jeans and a button shirt, with a worse for the wear jacket. He weirlds a special class of sidearms called a Sheller, a revolver like gun that fires something more like a shotgun shell.

next to King, you have CHASE, his best buddy and foil for most of the show. Chase has a bit pleasenter features, lighter brown messier hair, and dresses more relaxed, with just cargo pants and a shirt. In contrast, he carries a no-nonsense rifel on his back. For a good chunk of the early game, Chase will move in and give the course of action to best resolve a problem that King is unwilling to make a move on (doing his clasic freezing thing.) Chase will continually be established as the more competent but less likely to lead of the two. He doesn't know how to act around people he's unfamilar or uncomfortable with, whereas King is good at such things (allowing you the player to direct the relationships in the game, which will be a part of the combat engine, explained later.) Despite being good buddies, King's unwillingness to act starts to put him at odds middle of the game. Just as things could have gone too far south though, that'll get resolved

Next to Chase, you have NAMI, their rival at the very first and then ally for most of the rest of the game. NAMI is also a bounty hunter, although she prefers two claws to the guns approach. I havn't entirely decided on any given appearance for her, although its likely a bit sharper dressed and groomed than either of the guys. Chase because he doesn't care about people, and King because he's continually self depricating to do the right thing instead. Nami's personality has two clear points, a heavy sarcastic streak, and a sort of older woman girlfriend trait, she winds up tending to take care of whatever guy you set up with her.

There are three other main characters too, but I only have vague details on them. For now I will just call them by description, smooth girl, bubbly girl, and quiet guy. I figure you rescue the prior two from the Paradise Cults (see below,) and the latter joins you for some reason in the first non giant town you go to.

The Paradise cults I actually invented back in our RP days here, although they're modified and updated to be anarchy inducing world spanning messes. Basically the backdrop of this world is that magic resurfaced in the world suddenly and violently about 60-100 years ago. Now there are twin solutions for everything, the magical and the technology. The paradise cults are violent paramilitary groups who belive if they force magic or technology out of the world, itll somehow usher in a golden age. Naturally all these two warring factions have done is create a lot of urban decay, and a phenomenon I call 'sinkholes' large collapsed inward areas of land where nothing will grow. Typically fields of wheat are only about 25% viable, wasted by giant sinkholes all over. I havn't exactly made a connection as to HOW the paradise cults fighting caused this, but it did. There would be famine except for the fact that magic and science have created a sort of alchemy and RATIONS are mass produced. Rations sustain your life energy and provide a few minerals to your body, but you always feel tired and hungry anyway. Real food is highly sought after, and pay for big things like major bounty hunting contracts.

All right, thats enough infodump for the moment, this is mostly for me to organize my thoughts, but I love me some comments if you want to.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2006, 03:34:29 am by Boris »
<Armature> i just really want centaur Azula

Boris

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Re: Boris RPG
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2006, 04:54:46 am »
I've talked out with KING with Deck a little more, and thought I'd share the crux of the point I got from that. Chatlog format is messy as hell I know, sorry.

Code: [Select]
[02:21] <Boris> so like the first big city you're running around in is the decaying version of some huge American city
[02:21] <Boris> I say Boston because that sounds particualrly industrial and gritty
[02:23] <Boris> and they start out as bounty hunters because that gives them something actiony to do
[02:23] <Boris> before I get around to any of the real plot
[02:23] <Boris> and gives me a chance early on to show King freezing in the face of having to make a difficult decision
[02:23] <Boris> I worked out some more how that would be
[02:23] <Boris> I figure at heart, King is really a highly moral guy
[02:24] <Boris> but he hates to dissapoint anybody
[02:24] <Deck> Are you worried that the main character's personality will annoy some people?
[02:24] <Deck> I mean I can relate
[02:24] <Deck> But I dunno about everyone
[02:24] <Boris> folks love a character with an easily named flaw usually
[02:24] <Boris> I've seen that many a time in more insteresting fictions
[02:25] <Boris> the fact is he's a traidional hero too by the end
[02:25] <Boris> doing the right thing even in the face of huge opposition and dirrision
[02:25] <Boris> let me illustrate how it works with the first mission as an example maybe
[02:26] <Boris> so they track down this guy who stole the military magic stores, and find
     out he's just trying to sell them to make things better for his family
[02:27] <Boris> King knows the right thing to do is to let this guy go, since he knows the
      military will replace em anyway and folks are on hard times. At least he could let the guy go and take the items
[02:27] <Boris> but he's trapped by the notion of dissapointing his buddy Chase
[02:27] <Boris> since they're bounty hunters and their job irrigardless is to bring the chap in
[02:28] <Boris> so he freezes until Chase finally steps in and says 'heres what were gonna do,
     get this guy and turn him in' since Chase is a little more of a self-interest fellow
[02:29] <Boris> and thats how it works, getting progressively worse further into the game.
     King freezes on any decision that would dissapoint people, and starts getting upset over it
[02:29] <Boris> until some big turning point where he's backed into the corner and forced to
     make decisions wheather folks like em or not
[02:30] <Boris> after which time he finally embraces the leader ideal he seems to be carrying around
[02:30] <Boris> I dunno, does it sound too cliched?
[02:30] <Boris> sounds like it would be neat to me
[02:30] <Deck> Sounds good to me
« Last Edit: February 18, 2006, 07:01:08 pm by Boris »
<Armature> i just really want centaur Azula

Boris

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Re: Boris RPG
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2006, 05:32:46 am »
Code: [Select]
[04:26] <Boris> now here is something interesting I've told people before but not written down in the topic
[04:26] <Boris> stat growth will be related to the relationships you build
[04:27] <Boris> lets take just the three characters I have defined so far
[04:27] <Boris> through the course of the game you build king's friendship with Chase, and have him start a romance with Nami
[04:27] <Boris> that group working at a team would adjust to eachother's growth
[04:29] <Boris> Chase, being into self preservation, will change to help dish out the most damage based on what you do with King
[04:29] <Boris> Nami, being protectionist, will change to help yoiu suck up the most damage based again on what you do

This is of course, just one probability, I'm not telling you what relationships to form~
« Last Edit: February 18, 2006, 06:59:04 pm by Boris »
<Armature> i just really want centaur Azula

Boris

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Re: Boris RPG
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2006, 06:58:05 pm »
a crappy sprite King for you guys, not to mention an experiment in a bit of pixel arts shading for me. I rather suck at it~
For some reason I seem to have shaded this with light coming from the lower right, but it still works mostly.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2006, 07:02:14 pm by Boris »
<Armature> i just really want centaur Azula

Boris

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Re: Boris RPG
« Reply #4 on: February 19, 2006, 04:17:47 am »
Code: [Select]
[03:13] <Deck> Yeah maybe start off with the action, and when it's over sort of a
     conversation that hints to what has happened and why
[03:13] <Boris> ok, yeah, that works better
[03:14] <Boris> we start off immidiately with Chase teaching King how to fight against some thugs
[03:14] <Boris> as they get about 50% there, Chase dialouges what you're doing, chasing the fellow
[03:15] <Deck> perhaps just a hint, to leave a bit of mystery
[03:15] <Boris> well yeah
[03:16] <Boris> so then they catch up with the guy
[03:16] <Boris> and King freezes on making a decision after the guy explains he's a sob story
[03:17] <Boris> Chase makes a decision and you fight him, and the scene resolves with Chase
     being happy about getting paid for bringing the guy in
[03:18] <Boris> hmm, from there they can go do the 'sit in line and infodump just a little' scene
<Armature> i just really want centaur Azula

Prox

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Re: Boris RPG
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2006, 07:57:55 pm »
How to make a sinkhole in 4 easy steps:

1
2
3
4
factors
« Last Edit: February 19, 2006, 08:08:05 pm by Prox »

Boris

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Re: Boris RPG
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2006, 08:08:10 pm »
minus the notion of the radiation spreading and killing immidiately, this is basically an awesome mechanic for the sinkholes. I more like the idea of the area just of the sinkhole being irriadiated, and so only the land ringed just around it becomes unuseable.

Edit: he seems to have adjusted the pictures to my notions, awesome.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2006, 10:44:47 pm by Boris »
<Armature> i just really want centaur Azula

Buzzard

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Re: Boris RPG
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2006, 11:55:12 pm »
That works awesomely. I like it.
Ten years to the minute, no longer in it.

Boris

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Re: Boris RPG
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2006, 04:13:31 am »
Code: [Select]
[03:04] <Boris> so maybe I can make that relevent. I want to get a good picture of the criminal element
that would thrive in [the Boston slums]
[03:04] <Deck> Speak Easies
[03:04] <Deck> Rip Off shops
[03:04] <Boris> hmm, very classic 20's mob
[03:05] <Boris> protection racket
[03:05] <Boris> speak easies are great in my mind,
[03:05] <Boris> because they have illigialy obtained real food
[03:06] <Boris> see, and they want to let you eat in peace without the cops knowing
[03:06] <Deck> nice
[03:08] <Boris> excellent, that gives me a second mission to boot
[03:08] <Boris> beat up and press some folks to get access to a speakeasy, then take down the boss once there
<Armature> i just really want centaur Azula

Boris

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Re: Boris RPG
« Reply #9 on: February 27, 2006, 10:25:39 pm »
apperently, fyber tells me, the look in my head is isometric style. Here it is in the roughest possible way so you too can see what I was thinking. good thing is there is plenty of demo material avalible for isometric design too. (edit: this blows the crappy king sprite outta the water as too huger, but I'll leave that up too as an idea for folks to see.)
<Armature> i just really want centaur Azula

FyberOptic

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Re: Boris RPG
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2006, 01:34:25 pm »
It's still a fine sprite for a title screen or somesuch.

The reason I never messed with isometric is that I found it hard enough to slap together simple sprites with an overhead type of view.  I was never very good at drawing things from angled perspectives.