What type of engine for Book II
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- Fellowcraft Apprentice
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- Fellowcraft Apprentice
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- Joined: December 3rd, 2007, 7:23 am
- Location: Aus
I voted Option 1 as well. To me, it'd be silly to fix something that's not broke; at least for your first trilogy. I think that each of the classes has a ton of room for expansion. You could write up the NPC's to be more than cardboard questgivers, now that the game engine is complete. Shareware doesn't generally earn enough revenue to afford a new engine for each game. I'd stick with single player and maybe add a new wrinkle. Something like a gambling parlor in the larger towns or a black market that deals in exotic wares. You could perhaps change skill costs for various classes so that every class isn't exactly the same. It'd be cool if I had to pay 3 skill points to learn 1 level of sword as a mage for example.
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You mean this was your original plan? Whatever gave you the idea that creating a new engine for Book II would be a good idea? I always assumed you'd just improve upon the existing engine.BasiliskWrangler wrote:3) Go with a party, but take the engine in a radical new direction: an engine that we have been developing that would be similar to Wizardry 8, with hints of Dungeon Master / Eye of the Beholder.
You do? What about the way Ultima IV handled turns? Afaik it worked pretty much like Eschalon, but you could control each party member when it was its turn. There were neither action points nor phases.vid: Think of the way Book I handles turns. To deal with a party, we need to change over to a phased, action-point system.
I'm not sure what you even mean by that. It might be a good idea to have a key to switch between autonomous and manual control. Maybe just use autonomous mode so the party follows the main character so the player doesn't have to move every single party member when he's travelling.Unless the party members are completely autonomous (no one wants that) there has to be a functional way for you to control everyone.
While I like all options, I am going to have to say #1.
You have started an excellent story trilogy. Many people are happy with what you have produced. My suggestion would be to "improve" on what you already have accomplished and leave drastic changes to later projects.
One of the biggest complaints I have had with past games is that they try to reinvent the wheel with each release. All this ends up doing is creating an immediate "measurement" of the next release. While your efforts in new directions might be noble, it usually gets lost in peoples disappointment with the game feeling too different from the last which is something new projects and ventures do not suffer from.
I would focus on your current engine and push it to its absolute limits of capabilities. By the 3rd release, you should be reaching that apex of ability in your engine and players will gain new features in a comfortable shell.
There are still many aspects both small and large with your current engine to improve upon, please continue to do so. After you have finished this line of story, then you can create a new direction with a new story.
Personally, I would love to see a first person RPG similar to wizardry 8, but not at the expense of losing the structure you have already gained with this current project.
Party based games are also a good concept, but I think it would result in continuity issues with your current project. To quote the old software development principal, KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). A party based system is a good idea on a new project, not this one.
Keep your project structured and focused. Improve upon what you have, make it better, but don't mess with the look, feel, and structure of the current one. Movies don't do well when they change drastically mid trilogy, games don't do well either.
You have started an excellent story trilogy. Many people are happy with what you have produced. My suggestion would be to "improve" on what you already have accomplished and leave drastic changes to later projects.
One of the biggest complaints I have had with past games is that they try to reinvent the wheel with each release. All this ends up doing is creating an immediate "measurement" of the next release. While your efforts in new directions might be noble, it usually gets lost in peoples disappointment with the game feeling too different from the last which is something new projects and ventures do not suffer from.
I would focus on your current engine and push it to its absolute limits of capabilities. By the 3rd release, you should be reaching that apex of ability in your engine and players will gain new features in a comfortable shell.
There are still many aspects both small and large with your current engine to improve upon, please continue to do so. After you have finished this line of story, then you can create a new direction with a new story.
Personally, I would love to see a first person RPG similar to wizardry 8, but not at the expense of losing the structure you have already gained with this current project.
Party based games are also a good concept, but I think it would result in continuity issues with your current project. To quote the old software development principal, KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). A party based system is a good idea on a new project, not this one.
Keep your project structured and focused. Improve upon what you have, make it better, but don't mess with the look, feel, and structure of the current one. Movies don't do well when they change drastically mid trilogy, games don't do well either.
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