Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Nikitian]

Heavy, hands down. Because mechs and actual piloting!

(And personally, Tactical Breach Wizards sounds like Yet Another ER/Perplexicon/Chalice, and I suppose we've had plenty of them to date.)

[piecewise]

Is this exclusively about what system you'll make and publish, or is this also to gauge interest for the next game you'd run yourself on bay12?

Bit of both, really. Mostly because I'll probably be running at least a short test game of anything I put out.

WWII in space and TBW seem to be our major picks at the moment.

[Radio Controlled]

Hmm, one thing that makes deciding harder is that some of these ideas are little more than a setting idea or a pitch, while others give you more of an idea of how the game itself would look mechanically (and as we saw with DIG, a great setting or pitch can be torpedoed if the mechanics and game flow don't match up).

That said, I think I'd prefer Oro out of all of these, both for the setting and the game pitch as it was originally. Wasn't a fan of the feature/limb creep, but if that's fixed then I'm all for it.

Then, in order:
bathysphere ("DIG: slightly more damp edition")
Heavy, but depending on the setting, aka why are you fighting. If it's just an arena game then meh.
WW2 in spess ("ER: slightly more fascist stomping edition")
Colossal, due to the setting, but I dunno if SotC translates well into forum format.

[Illgeo]

In order:
Colossal.
Bathysphere.
Battle Royale,
I'd say

[Questorhank]

Tactical Breach Wizards
WW2 in Space

[piecewise]

TBW and WWIInS seems to be the choices right now.

Think I'll poke TBW first, mechanically, to see what I can come up with.

[Devastator]

I'd like Heavy, but with supertanks and not mechs.  Or Revolver, as that was fun.

[Pancaek]

WW2 in space
Tactical Breach Wizards
CULT

in that order for me

[piecewise]

Current rankings:

Maze 1
[Unnamed Racing game] 3
Revolver: Blood and Neon 1
Ouroboropolis 3
The Glowing King 1
Poison 0
Bathysphere 5
Battle Royale 2
Colossal 5
Mainspring 4
Heavy 3
WWII in Space 10
CULT 3
Tactical Breach Wizards 7

[Doomblade187]

We actually have 2 at least for revolver, me and Devastator voted for it.

[piecewise]

So, thinking about Wizard Tactics, I've come up with a few fundamental game play concepts that will influence everything else.

1. Movement and actions
So there are basically three ways to handle this.  The first, as seen in things like the original Xcom and Divinity 2, is Action points. Basically, every action, power, and movement would have a cost and you could do as much or as many as you wanted so long as you could pay it. The second, as seen in the recent Xcom and a lot of other more contemporary tactics games, is the idea of having 1 move and then an action or two moves with no action, or an action alone. The last is the Fire emblem or advance wars style where you move once, and then attack or just attack.

I would go for action points.

2. Classes
So in the original xcom, if memory serves, you don't have any kind of classes or restrictions. Anyone could use any weapon or item and no one had any special abilities.  Divinity 2 is...kind of like that where any character can use any spell or weapon or item if they have the right stats or skills or attributes or whatever. There's a lot of freedom in that, but everyone also feels very interchangeable if they're not specialized or have some sort of defining trait. The alternative is to have set classes with set abilities, items, weapons, etc that they and only they can use. It means you're more restricted on how you can act, but it also means that each unit has one thing they're good at and can contribute in a meaningful way.

I'd go for Classes.

3. Micromanaging
Original Xcom and Divinity 2 have a LOT of micromanaging. Managing each armor piece, each magazine, each gun, each grenade, each item, etc. Meanwhile the recent xcom, and a lot of tactical games, don't bother with that sort of thing. Guns just have infinite ammo, though they need to be reloaded every so often, and items are generally very few and are replaced automatically upon mission end.

I prefer minimal micromanaging.


4. Permadeath
All the Xcoms and Fire emblem have permadeath, at least in terms of units being able to be used. Divinity 2 has death but it can be undone by resurrection spells and scrolls, and some tactics games just have characters "Faint" and get brought back upon the level ending.

I prefer permadeath

[Caellath]

Oh hey. This time I'm around and might actually join a game.

Tactical Breach Wizards
Heavy
Poison.

[The Lupanian]

Just my Opinion here. I think move'n'shoot would be better if you're planning to do a lot of other complex mechanics. Action points don't add much to the game, and are tedious. Additionally, you can still have a tactical strategy based game with a more streamlined system.

As far as Classes VS A La Carte, could you implement a skill system? Like, you have about a dozen magic stats (Projectile, Spray, Touch, Fire, Animate, Ect.) And do each one go up to three, then all the spells and items have prerequisites, and the player has a limited number of spell slots. Low level spell, like a simple attack spell, only require a single level in one skill. Then higher level spells would require either higher levels, higher variety, or both. Players could use experience to upgrade skills. New items and spells can either be bought, or found. That would also have the effect of players trading and interacting, as not everyone will be able to use everything they find. Which could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it.

[piecewise]

In terms of WWIInS I've got a bit thought out already

One of the biggest things about this setting and pulp science fantasy in general is that you have to apply the rules of an understandable world to space. And part of that means making space MUCH MUCH smaller. Making space a place where you can reasonably move around without it taking months, years, decades or lifetimes is a very important for that sort of careless adventure feeling. Being able to bop around to different planets and see them clearly from the planet you're on is fun.

Second, you need a form of FTL. Even if you can move between planets in days and stars in weeks, you don't want to have to take that long most times. And to me I like the idea of FTL travel that isn't 100% safe and isn't instant. Nothing as horrendous as the Warp, but more like the sea voyages of old. They usually went ok but occasionally you might hit a storm or a sea monster.

To that end, I have the Primrose drive.

Spoiler: Rambling (click to show/hide)

Primrose Drives do not allow faster than light travel, nor do they fold space. Ships under Primrose Drive do not exist in the observable universe and cannot interact with it. They are moving through what is called “Deep Space” or “Primrose space”, a sort of alternate space which does not interact with but is still spatially connected to normal space. Distances within Deep Space are drastically reduced but speeds are also uniform, meaning you can get places much faster but not any faster than anyone else. Moving through Deep Space requires careful calculations as to direction and time spent otherwise it might result in reappearing off course or in a planet.  While they cannot physically interact, planets, stars, and other large objects can warp Deep Space and make “Dives” starting or ending in their proximity dangerous.

Deep Space is dangerous in several ways: in many ways it behaves like normal space near the ship and can be moved about in with a suit. However, the field the Primrose drive generates to keep the ship in Deep Space does not extend far and as such anyone who goes outside it will be jerked up into normal space and left behind. Deep space has an appearance like traveling through a 3d fractal and there are unbelievably massive structures within it making up these fractals. These have to be navigated, through so far no one has “Dove” into one at the start of their dive. Certain sections of space cannot be jumped to because of these structures.  Finally, Deep space is inhabited by seemingly living things, though they are too different from normal life to really say. These things are usually benign but can dangerous.

Ships moving in Deep Space can see each other and interact, but generally combat is impossible due to any sort of projectile dropping out of Deep Space once it gets beyond the range of the Primrose drive. Instead, boarding  and physical attacks are the only real form of battle available

Power sources are another thing. In science fiction power sources are a big consideration but in science fantasy its pretty much a nonissue. No one in star wars ever talked about running out of fuel or having no battery for their light saber. Because petty shit like that is not cohesive to adventuring.  But I think you should still at least have some explanation of what the power source is, if it ever comes up. Oh and of course it has to be explosive.

Spoiler: Power source Rambling (click to show/hide)

Power is provided by devices called “Reactors” which generate free energy pulled from Primrose Space. The amount amount of power generated is directly connected to the size of the Reactor and past a point there are diminishing returns. Reactors are rated on the amount of power they put out in an hour.  Small scale reactors are often used in energy weapons, though in these cases the reactor is used in tandem with a battery because the raw output of the reactor isn’t enough to keep up with energy demands. Internally reactors have a small spherical empty space surrounded by copper plates. This is where the opening to primrose space is generated and the energy is gathered. Reactors that are damaged while still active can malfunction explosively. As such they are usually very well encased and not able to be fiddled with or opened without special tools and machinery.

Finally, a list of standard fantasy tech and what is and isn't in the setting.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Gravity generation: Energy expensive, generally not used on smaller craft. Generators have exponential energy usage as field gets larger so generally many small generators and fields are used in tandem, allowing gravity to be different in different ship sections.

Force Fields: There are two kinds of energy based shielding, active armor and Point defense shields. Active armor is armor plating that, when powered,  becomes significantly more resistant to energy weapons than normal. It will still be damaged, but the amount of damage is lessened. No effect on physical weapons. Point defense fields are force fields as we know them, ie an invisible barrier that prevents things from entering, but they don’t enclose a whole ship. They are basically a flat or slightly domed field which is moved around to intercept incoming projectiles. Usually done manually at a control station. Very resistant to damage but reliant on good operators and constant energy.

Teleportation: Does not exist

Prosthetics and robotic implants: High quality prosthetics for limbs as well as specific organs, exist, however replacing large parts of the body results in what is called “Morselli Syndrome”. Morselli syndrome’s most evident symptoms are a progressive atrophying of remaining organic parts and a loss of affect, progressing into psychosis. The extent and speed of progression of the syndrome varies on amount and extent of implants, with implants of artificial organs having a greater effect than limb replacements. Implants used to enhance the body do exist but are generally limited in scope.

Robots and Computers : Exist in a myriad of forms, many humanoid or semi-humanoid. Minds as powerful or more so than humans, but also very focused. A translation droid can translate as well or better than a human but has no real flexibility to do much else in terms of specialized actions. Combat robots exist but due to their single minded nature cannot act well without guidance. Computers exist but are not sapient, they are simply machines due to the simple fact that a star ship doesn’t need a personality. Robot’s have personalities generally related to their specialization.

Space magic:  Aliens or objects might have special abilities but humans do not.

Aliens: Exist, but are generally not the focus of things. Interact with humans as other humans would. Some have specific powers or abilities but generally they are fairly akin to humans.

Cloaking: Exists in a limited way as automatic camo, but not as true invisibility.

[piecewise]

Just my Opinion here. I think move'n'shoot would be better if you're planning to do a lot of other complex mechanics. Action points don't add much to the game, and are tedious. Additionally, you can still have a tactical strategy based game with a more streamlined system.

As far as Classes VS A La Carte, could you implement a skill system? Like, you have about a dozen magic stats (Projectile, Spray, Touch, Fire, Animate, Ect.) And do each one go up to three, then all the spells and items have prerequisites, and the player has a limited number of spell slots. Low level spell, like a simple attack spell, only require a single level in one skill. Then higher level spells would require either higher levels, higher variety, or both. Players could use experience to upgrade skills. New items and spells can either be bought, or found. That would also have the effect of players trading and interacting, as not everyone will be able to use everything they find. Which could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it.

The problem with stat trees like that is that it
1. Becomes exponentially harder to balance
2. Removes the need for teamwork to use complex ability/magic setups.