Unnamed Project

[Joyce]

* * *

Unnamed Project

* * *

**The Project:**

Well, I figured it'd be a neat time to write down my ideas and see if anyone would potentionally be interested in helping me out with the graphical work or anything on this really. I can't do some things myself and I would rather not have to drop the ideas due the lack of graphics or anything really.

The idea for this project is to make a Post Apocalyptic survival game, you'll be set in a some-what standard ORPG setting where you do quests and whatnot, but you'll be under the constant looming threath that a random ambush of mutants, bandits or perhaps another player will swoop in and pick off an easy kill while you gather food, water and ammunition or various other supplies to make your way through the days.

It may sound a little silly, and it kind of does.. I'll explain more of the mechanics in detail as I sort out HOW I want to handle them later on in this topic.

**Progress:**

Well, little to none. I'm really looking to planning out WHAT I want done with this in terms of story, content and features before I start working on it. I'll also need to figure out what resources I'll need to work with, it may not be very clever to start posting here then, but it never hurts having more people to think along with or to hear their input!

**Story:**

Should probably look into this, haha.

**Features:**

Notoriety:

> Instead of using the standard statted levels ORPG have, this game will use Notoriety, it gives you no real benefit in terms of stats or damage.. But it will make your name change color based on your Notoriety level, the exact colors are yet to be determined.
>
> Furthermore Notoriety unlocks cosmetic items and small perks to your weaponry at certain vendors spread throughout the world. These bonusses will be minimal, and will most likely consist of small things like more bullet storage, faster reload time or better medkits. Nothing that would unbalance the game too much.

Death:

> One of the main issues I had with working in a somewhat progression based RPG fashion, yet still retain the survival feel was Death.. Permadeath was an option, but this would piss people off a little too much if they worked on their characters for ages, instead you will die and return at your last checkpoint/safe haven you visited. You'll lose part of your Notoriety and everything on you. Note that your items will be stored in a temporary stash where you died, which will be LOCKED for other players for 5 minutes, so if you die you have some time to return to your location of death and retrieve your items, after this 5 minute timer the stash will be available for everyone else, and they can get your items and equipment.

Cosmetics:

> Cosmetics will be a large part of the game, you will start out as a standard naked sprite and get your first few choices of cosmetics during the tutorial of the game. After this, cosmetics can either be earned through quests, killing rare monsters, surviving invasions, killing specific players and purchasing them from vendors.
>
> Cosmetics will NOT be dropped on death, and they will be stored in a seperate sort of system. Cosmetics can not be traded or dropped, and are account-wide.

Invasions:

> Sometimes on random non-safe haven maps an invasion of monsters will spawn, these generally come with a larger boss monster that will prove significantly harder to defeat, while Invasions are generally neutral at first, hitting a single one of them will enrage the entire group.
>
> Invasions earn unique cosmetics and weapon upgrades, as well as titles and a hefty Notoriety boost.

Open World PvP:

> This is a tricky one, I want to allow PvP in pretty much anywhere but Safe Havens, BUT there will be an option to temporarily turn it off by purchasing an item from certain vendors, these items will have a fairly long cooldown, but will protect you from any harm done by players for a specific amount of time.
>
> My reason for doing this, is that if you're very desperate to find some food because you don't want to lose your new upgrade, is that you can always purchase one of these and go out to hunt for food without risking being killed by random players. Note that monsters will still aggro on you.

Hunger/Hydration/Health:

> You'll die if you don't keep yourself hydrated! Watch out for water pools and always try carrying a cantine around. As for food, you can hunt animals all over the world and grab their meat, then eat it raw or cook it for a larger food buff.
>
> Your health decreases the more hungry you are, and the more thirsty you are the slower your health will regenerate.

Reputation:

> Reputation will be earned through playing the game, killing certain invasions, doing quests around safe havens and various other deeds throughout the world. Note that killing players and non-hostile NPCs near towns or in them will decrease your reputation with certain reputations, and the guards of these reputations will not look be kind to you ;]
>
> Reputation unlocks new cosmetics, gear and titles. It will also unlock new content and quests, as well as safe passage in certain areas.

Election:

> Once a player reaches a certain point of progress with a reputation, this player can run for a "Care-Taker" position for this faction, this will be handled like a democracy and people will be allowed to vote, after the first vote has been cast there will be three days until the voting closes, and the winner is announced.
>
> The Care-Taker can raise or lower taxes on NPC stores, note that there will be cash deducted from the faction's gold stash on a daily basis after you have been elected, this is to do with security and well, having to pay for just about anything that needs to be paid, try keeping this balanced. You may also corrupt yourself and take money FROM the faction, note that this will decrease your Reputation with them significantly, and will be announced globally. If the cash runs out, all NPCs will no longer server anyone in uprising.
>
> Raise the taxes too high, or steal enough and players will start coming after you, if you die you'll lose your elected spot and everything you've done will reset back to default once a new person is elected, and service resumes. Note that the last person that was elected is banned from the first election afterwards.

More coming Soonâ„¢

**Need Help?**

Hell yes I do, right now I could use the following:

* Graphical Artist(s)

* Sprites
* Tiles
* Interface
* Items
* Sound Artists

* Music
* Sound Effects
* Thinkers

Now, most of that is pretty straightforward right? And the Thinkers will probably be the people interested in this, and the ones giving me feedback on how they think it may or may not work, or features you want to see.

**Conclusion:**

There's a lot to do here, I'll likely start working on the Notoriety and Death system later today when I get back from work, and I'm sort of hoping people are willing to help me out with this, I can offer little to no payment for this, and have no plans of really getting anything out of this aside from experience and just having something to show, instead of just helping people out with their stuff. 

[TorenRenne]

Love the idea. To me it sounds similar to Fallout, but instead of the "story line" of the games, your focussing on the survival element. If you can mimic the atmosphere of the Fallout games your on to a winner I think. Would the Safe Haven's be your own camp that you can setup/customise, or a generic camp other players can use? Or a combo of them both?

What is your ideas on Magic? Are you going realistic Post-Apo, or will there still be magic and fantasy elements to it?

[Joyce]

> Love the idea. To me it sounds similar to Fallout, but instead of the "story line" of the games, your focussing on the survival element. If you can mimic the atmosphere of the Fallout games your on to a winner I think.

It's not where I got my inspiration from, but that works 

> Would the Safe Haven's be your own camp that you can setup/customise, or a generic camp other players can use? Or a combo of them both?

Haven't really thought of this, to my original vague idea a Safe Haven would simply be a larger city or hub, not a fan of player housing as it's such a nuisance to get it right.. BUT I might look into it in the future and add furniture nodes, instead of letting players map their houses(I mean letting them map them is just silly and allows the most retarded crap).

> What is your ideas on Magic? Are you going realistic Post-Apo, or will there still be magic and fantasy elements to it?

Good question, haven't really thought of it much actually. My original intention was to make it based fully on Melee and Gun combat, but the occassional magical ability(that drains your own health perhaps? Need to make a story anyway, so might work something like that in.. Magic consuming your life force) might spice it up a little. Nothing too fancy or heavy though,

[TorenRenne]

> Haven't really thought of this, to my original vague idea a Safe Haven would simply be a larger city or hub, not a fan of player housing as it's such a nuisance to get it right.. BUT I might look into it in the future and add furniture nodes, instead of letting players map their houses(I mean letting them map them is just silly and allows the most retarded crap).

Ok, agreed with the situation as listed above. Something that might put an interesting twist on things…

Each player spawns in a different area in the 'wilderness' as such and that is established as their "camp". Allowing basics such as tent, campfire, water storage and locker. Problem is, how would you go about generating the camp where they are randomly spawned and inserting it in to a real game. You might end up with 2 right next to each other.

(More hassle than its worth, but nice idea)

> Good question, haven't really thought of it much actually. My original intention was to make it based fully on Melee and Gun combat, but the occassional magical ability(that drains your own health perhaps? Need to make a story anyway, so might work something like that in.. Magic consuming your life force) might spice it up a little. Nothing too fancy or heavy though,

I like the idea of Magic consuming your health, so you have to make a gamble as to whether its a benefit to use. Will you be having classes? If so, maybe some are more adept at using the magic (Maybe call it Life Essence?) so the penalties are less steep. Example:

```
If Class = Non_Magic_Class Then

Cast Spell

HP Damage = X

Else If Class = Magic_Class Then

Cast Spell

HP Damage = (X * 0.75)

End If
```
You could possibly make it "Mech dependant", so instead of it being "Magic", you use a device which gives the effects of "Magic". A Mech-Wizard?

Maybe each "settlement" (not many, and spread out), give different values for items, so you could become a trader?

Example Classes (and related perks)

Mercenary - Good at fighting, not good with "Magic"

TechKnight - Good with Mechs, but not good at trading

Nomad - Can scavange and survive longer than the others

Trader - Gets X% better trades in each outpost, but isnt as good fighter

Cursed - Somewhat mutated/disfigured, Random stats, but with downsides such as:

.Super Strong, but people wont trade with you

.Can use Magic without HP damage, but very weak.

Just a few random ideas to throw and see what sticks.

**EDIT:** If you get enough "rep" you could become a leader of the town/outpost/trade network, or maybe a bounty on your head if you become infamous? Maybe make it so traders cant pickup "contracts", but mercs can. However Mercs cant do smuggling runs. The techknights however can stop X traders per cycle to see if they are smuggling if they are they can confiscate the goods? The Nomads can "hide and ambush other players", and only get 75% Notoriety increases (as people don't know who they are?)

[Joyce]

> Ok, agreed with the situation as listed above. Something that might put an interesting twist on things…
>
> Each player spawns in a different area in the 'wilderness' as such and that is established as their "camp". Allowing basics such as tent, campfire, water storage and locker. Problem is, how would you go about generating the camp where they are randomly spawned and inserting it in to a real game. You might end up with 2 right next to each other.
>
> (More hassle than its worth, but nice idea)

I think I'll allow a starting city of choice, and a basic "campsite" map next to them, or near anyway. The player will spawn/respawn(If they do not wish to respawn at their last checkpoint) here, and have basic storage access. It'll be instanced so you only see it as your own though, might allow for some stuff that'll come later such as personal trophies and the like.

> I like the idea of Magic consuming your health, so you have to make a gamble as to whether its a benefit to use. Will you be having classes? If so, maybe some are more adept at using the magic (Maybe call it Life Essence?) so the penalties are less steep. Example:
>
> ```
> If Class = Non_Magic_Class Then
>
> Cast Spell
>
> HP Damage = X
>
> Else If Class = Magic_Class Then
>
> Cast Spell
>
> HP Damage = (X * 0.75)
>
> End If
> ```
> You could possibly make it "Mech dependant", so instead of it being "Magic", you use a device which gives the effects of "Magic". A Mech-Wizard?
>
> Maybe each "settlement" (not many, and spread out), give different values for items, so you could become a trader?
>
> Example Classes (and related perks)
>
> Mercenary - Good at fighting, not good with "Magic"
>
> TechKnight - Good with Mechs, but not good at trading
>
> Nomad - Can scavange and survive longer than the others
>
> Trader - Gets X% better trades in each outpost, but isnt as good fighter
>
> Cursed - Somewhat mutated/disfigured, Random stats, but with downsides such as:
>
> .Super Strong, but people wont trade with you
>
> .Can use Magic without HP damage, but very weak.

Not a huge fan of class based games, too much of a hassle balancing stuff and it's just boring having to reroll if you dislike your current situation. While I might incorporate a system where specific titles give a small bonus and negative effects, I do not like limiting people to classes in a game that has no actual level progression or barred off placed by level.

> **EDIT:** If you get enough "rep" you could become a leader of the town/outpost/trade network, or maybe a bounty on your head if you become infamous? Maybe make it so traders cant pickup "contracts", but mercs can. However Mercs cant do smuggling runs. The techknights however can stop X traders per cycle to see if they are smuggling if they are they can confiscate the goods? The Nomads can "hide and ambush other players", and only get 75% Notoriety increases (as people don't know who they are?)

An interesting idea, but as I said I don't like using classes. :[ I can do elections for people with high reputation though, and this person will be able to instate taxes. Of course, killing this player would open his spot up again ;] I probably will make a bounty list for player killers though, the top X amount of people will have bounties on their head, and you'll be able to view this anywhere and anytime.

**EDIT:** Added my idea on the election system in the original post.

[TorenRenne]

That's fair enough if you don't like Classes, you can implement them using a perk structure instead.

1 way you could do it is allow the user to pick X Perks to benefit, or a slight difference and one I like is making the user pick a benefit, and then a negative. so they get a Pro & Con list and have to pick 1 or 2 of each.

Pro:

+2 STR

+5% Money from Trades

-5% Damage from "Magic"

+10% Food/Water endurance

-10% Bounty

+5% Charisma (for Votes/conversations)

+5% Luck

Cons:

-5% Overall HP

-5% Trade Value

-5% Effectiveness of Spell

-5% Luck

+10% Bounty

Water doesn't last as long

[Joyce]

I suppose, I'm not entirely sure how I'll do that. It's something I need to grind my gears over some time, might link it to titles.. Or as you just described above.

Anyway, I added my idea(s) on the election system in the OP, should give the game a little more depth. :] Because it means the elected person would need to somehow gain protection to not get his ass kicked by half the playerbase. ;]

–-

Election:

> Once a player reaches a certain point of progress with a reputation, this player can run for a "Care-Taker" position for this faction, this will be handled like a democracy and people will be allowed to vote, after the first vote has been cast there will be three days until the voting closes, and the winner is announced.
>
> The Care-Taker can raise or lower taxes on NPC stores, note that there will be cash deducted from the faction's gold stash on a daily basis after you have been elected, this is to do with security and well, having to pay for just about anything that needs to be paid, try keeping this balanced. You may also corrupt yourself and take money FROM the faction, note that this will decrease your Reputation with them significantly, and will be announced globally. If the cash runs out, all NPCs will no longer server anyone in uprising.
>
> Raise the taxes too high, or steal enough and players will start coming after you, if you die you'll lose your elected spot and everything you've done will reset back to default once a new person is elected, and service resumes. Note that the last person that was elected is banned from the first election afterwards.

[TorenRenne]

> I suppose, I'm not entirely sure how I'll do that. It's something I need to grind my gears over some time, might link it to titles.. Or as you just described above.
>
> Anyway, I added my idea(s) on the election system in the OP, should give the game a little more depth. :] Because it means the elected person would need to somehow gain protection to not get his ass kicked by half the playerbase. ;]
>
> –-
>
> Election:

I like it. Is the position indefinite IF the player manages to juggle the taxes and stay alive, or will a new election be called after X period of time?

Also, instead of it just being leader of a location, possibly other ideas such as:

Head of Mercenaries (Bounties/Contracts Tax… instead of the Shop/Tax)

[Joyce]

If he manages to stay alive and juggles taxes, he should be fine. Problem is, how do you stay alive where every player can murder you?

And it's a caretaker for a faction, not a location. :] So every shop or location owned by that faction will be your responsibility. MIGHT add a bountry hunter one as well, for say quests and whatnot.. But we'll see about that when I start implementing it all, and depends on how I'll write it. :] It's a neat idea though.

[TorenRenne]

> If he manages to stay alive and juggles taxes, he should be fine. Problem is, how do you stay alive where every player can murder you?
>
> And it's a caretaker for a faction, not a location. :] So every shop or location owned by that faction will be your responsibility. MIGHT add a bountry hunter one as well, for say quests and whatnot.. But we'll see about that when I start implementing it all, and depends on how I'll write it. :] It's a neat idea though.

Ok, what determines which Faction owns a shop/location? Can you initiate/take part in turf wars?

[Joyce]

Uhm, not really. They're just factions NPCs belong to.. Not dynamically allocated stuff. So I'll just add a faction marker to the NPC and that pretty much determines what faction they belong to.