NPC behavior, time cycles, and need for new PC

After all that it turns out that my system can’t handle the demands of the Unreal 5 engine. I still plan to use it even though it will take a while to save money for a new rig. I am on a pretty basic $600 machine showing its age. To get to the recommended 64 GB of RAM, awesome video card and processor, and other specs will not be cheap. It’s unfortunate, but since I am starting a new job at least I have a path forward.

I am staying with the engine choice though as there is plenty of other development work that I can do. But it is time to move to production vs. this eternal pre-production planning and tinkering stage. So I would like to commit to myself that I create at least 4 assets a month, focusing on written and visual works. I will also keep reading and watching videos about Unreal 5 engine. Although I would learn faster by having access I can still progress. I need to understand the blueprint system since a lot of the gameplay is reliant on NPC behavior and a realistic economy. Without those aspects the game itself becomes just another adventure title, even though I feel the world building and literature aspects will still make it special.

The reality is that a total life sim that is actually fun, is very ambitious. I have to start one step at a time before I can add all the options I have planned. The feature creep is real even in the planning stages.

Humor

I keep thinking about easter eggs and how I want to work in subtle references, nods, and visual jokes like out of the Simpsons. This is again putting the cart before the horse. However, if I have to make something anyways, I may as well make it funny or interesting. So if I brainstorm a list of funny store names or something, I can still use it hand have it ready.

I want to keep a light touch. This is not Monkey Island where you have to know a pun to solve a problem, or a kid’s cartoon that slams you in the face with “this is a joke.” Thematically this world stays close to Dying Earth (notably The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel’s Saga by Jack Vance). It combined dark fantasy with dark humor, and was filled with satire. The humor came from the situations and dialogue, and was refined. Cugel could barely classify as an anti-hero because his motivations are entirely selfish or petty. He leaves disasters in his wake on accident, and doesn’t think twice about it. I don’t expect the player to be an amoral asshole in the same fashion, and maybe only Jack Vance could pull off making such a villain likeable. However I find the idea of the NPCs around the player all being a little Cugel-like in a Dying Earth inspired culture to be very fertile grounds for story-telling.

Parody is a more direct 1:1 mockery, satire is more general and subtle. Parody is good for cheap laughs but I don’t want to make things too silly. I want bizarre and funny pets, but a mount made out of chocolate with a ribbon on it is where I would draw the line (reference is to a recent Final Fantasy promotion).

Not every character can sound like the pretentious windbags in D.E. stories. And not everyone will be a sharp dealing con artist like Cugel. But this will be a departure from the “I’m a poor simple farmer and we need your help” quest givers. It’s also not “I’m an all-powerful wizard / head of the Chad knights, and you’re the Chosen One.”

Motivation driven gameplay

Each NPC is a person and can potentially be negotiated with. At first since the game is new, many NPCs will just refuse to talk to the player and have limited actions like any other game. It makes some sense, because in real life most strangers don’t speak to one another, and in dangerous areas it is often the safer choice. The game world has plenty of reasons why people wouldn’t share much, out of caution. But even if the options to interact with the player aren’t built out, I still want them moving around the environment doing realistic activities. Survivor settlements are usually rebuilt from ruins with improvised materials, and so don’t need to be heavily populated. Quality over quantity here.

Just as in good fiction character motivations drive the plot, the gameplay is driven by character motivations.

The concept is that each NPC has its own drives and loyalties. This will start simple as far as game development: basic needs like hunger and thirst. Even if they start as just placeholders that aren’t referenced yet, there will more meters like energy levels, relief, need for entertainment, religious activity and so on. NPCs keeping their bars full is what drives each local economy, with or without the player. There are no set prices worldwide, every vendor sets their own within the limits of haggling, including the player. Scarcity and demand will affect prices. Vendors may only want to buy a few of an item per day instead of a stack of 50. But there will be more demand and higher prices for crafter goods that take a lot of resources. Rare monster parts and magical or tech fragments can also command a high price but come with hidden consequences. The player will not always know exactly what to do with all of their loot, what to save or sell, but to balance the lack of precise knowledge there should be in-game ways to get at least rumors and advice about the value of objects. In the opening area there will be some very reliable characters that can help appraise and give a player understanding of value and other tips.

Alchemy and crafting are a huge core to the game even though not strictly required, they need to be robust systems that are still interesting on new playthroughs. In the full release, I would like a lot of procedural randomization for any new settlement areas visited and how their local economy works. Ideally I will have the option to spawn a new world (including new recipes, values, and effects) or start a new character in the same world, so the player can use familiar things. The tradeoff is that the existing world will still have the same population and have been affected by previous player character actions.

I would also like to remix what a lot of alchemy ingredients do each playthrough so their is not a set best recipe listed on the internet. There would be some patterns though especially having to do with the elemental nature of certain ingredients and objects. Some objects will not change much and others will only change a little on generating a new world. It is actually very fitting with the background lore to do it this way. Parallel but connected worlds.

NPC activity

Confident or desperate characters may initiate conversation based on needs, wants, and ambitions. Otherwise the player will have to choose to talk to them, and gain some basic level of trust in many case by conversation choices. I may be feeding needs, wants, and ambitions into ConvAI or a similar plugin and see how it does. But that may be reserved for only some characters if it is hard to tailor.

Let’s take a very basic NPC character. They don’t discuss personal details with strangers so we don’t finsh that part yet. This character ‘Sal’ owns a shack with plumbing, net, fishing rod, tackle, driftwood club, clothes, lantern, a few odds and ends.

Needs (basic human defaults): Food, clean water, sheltered bed

Wants: Warm coat, better drinks, rare shells, money.

Ambition: Buy boat he can live on, or a smaller boat and better house. Friends to rely on. Court a wife.

A cycle for Sal would be:

1: wake up early, pray, get ready for day

2: walks out to beach areas during morning to fish and scavenge.

4: heads back to town to clean fish and try to sell them.

5: returns to beach to fish and scavenge.

6: returns to town to trade fish for hot food and cold drinks at a bar.

7-10 sleeps in shack.

These times wouldn’t be on the hour exactly but that is the basic structure. Nothing revolutionary yet. But what happens if there are no catches, or Sal gets bit and needs medical care, or his shack is ‘accidentally’ burned down because of the player? Sal’s needs and wants have suddenly changed. This will change how activities and cycle.

The time cycle

10 time unit day/night cycle (canon-in world) will pass at a rate of 10 hours in real time. I will leave it vague on purpose for now if these are literal hours or 10 units of 2.4 hours. This is incredibly slow by most game standards, which have days passing within minutes sometimes. Many activities will cost time units and fast forward the clock, with a nice changing of the light as it fast forwards. This is at the direction of the player, but they need to find an activity or safe-ish rest are to do it.

The conventional method of a hyper fast clock is flawed. If you want to talk to every NPC in a tavern and it takes 3 minutes of real time, but 3 hours of game time, it is jarring when you consider all the urgent quests that are being neglected. This game will not punish the player for stopping to smell the roses unless the roses are mutated. This relaxed and realistic pace will be balanced against threats and multiple time-sensitive threads.

It won’t take just 5 seconds to build a forge or something, but you can pay people to do it for you while you adventure elsewhere. If the player wants it done immediately, they can help build it and fast forward the clock. Taking your time to enjoy the atmosphere, talk to people, or carefully plan designs shouldn’t punish the player with lost time. Time is a resource because it drains meters like food and thirst. Also, many events will resolve on their own at certain time points. It is not all gamey to make sure that the player sees certain cutscenes or that the plot moves forward in a particular way. For the most part, NPC and Player actions ARE the plot.

By the Red Queen philosophy, sometimes you have to run just to stay in place. It won’t be easy to make money or thrive, which makes success more rewarding. Just survival will be a challenge. The player could lose resources via theft or worse, or suffer a long-lasting injury, curse, or disease. Making enemies will be a thing as you can’t please everyone. If you donate to a temple or faction it might annoy their rivals if they found out. Joining a cause will make you friends and enemies both.

A lot of events and opportunities will depend on the clock, in a slower and realistic way than the majority of games. This is deliberate, for more immersion, and also to give the real player time to mess around at their own pace. The character might be pressed for time, but some of the more in-town or social experiences are designed to be more ‘cozy’ and relaxing. It should be a nice change of pace as both the character and player rest from hazards of exploration and combat. Of course, nowhere is entirely safe or free from potential incident in this world.

This is why I am replacing a quest list with time-sensitive ‘opportunities.’ The next part is feature creep, but it would be awesome if the notes in this section were based on character skill and background to an extent. Like, player skill in literacy or intelligence played a factor in how many details were written down. Characters without means or skill to take written notes would have memories that could change or fade based on circumstances. A lot of the fine-grain realism or gaming innovations I want will take time to develop. For now I just need to get the basics created.

Game design progress and setbacks

With such a wide open field within creative design, limitations can actually help. If you have a set reference point it collapses ambiguity into certainty, which can inform and drive other decisions. Although I kept going back and forth for years on RPG mechanics and world design, I decided to just pick a title and stick to it. Well, that was a long time ago. Since then a video game called Godfall, and a novel named Nykara have appeared. At the time of creation about twenty years ago, those names were unique in fiction. Since I did not publish anything I have lost the ability to claim them as unique.

I don’t want to disrupt other projects or confuse consumers. I would also like to have a unique name so if someone types in the exact spelling into search, my projects and the fictional world will come up. The concept of a godfall is a unique part of the history of the world so that will stay, but it does not have to be the main title of the IP (intellectual property.) A fantasy name can be almost anything but that does not mean anything goes or that all made up names are of equal quality. The nation of Flaberstunk would not be taken seriously. I want something as close to Nykara as is reasonable while also having a unique search result and protect-able unique name.

(Some of these notes are a little rambling, but it helps to have drafts of ideas to assist in the more polished design document.)

I gained access to the original tabletop rules manual that was never finished, but it has some good material to draw from especially with some of the world-building.

In other news I finally finished installing Unreal Engine 5.2. I also grabbed a lot of the free plugins from the store. Many of them are not compatible with the version of the engine that just released. I think I am just going to take the loss of not using content that is not updated to be compatible. This is a brand new game that will take a while to complete, and I want it to be a living game that is easy to update and expand upon.

I have so many ideas for “the perfect game” that it actually gets in the way. I want a core loop of explore, take risks / combat, harvest, and then return to craft, sell, upgrade, and role-play more in depth. A turn based system will simply be easier to create, and more robust against glitches and crashes. The core mechanics need to be fairly simple as this could remain a one-person project indefinitely. But on top of this loop, I want to extend it with details and options to make it a sandbox / life sim, but in a fantastical unique world.

Every now and then, including past posts here, I go through and praise past authors, games, movies and so on that have been partial inspiration. A more concise elevator pitch cannot just be a big list of all the things I like. If I had to pick just three games to pick as inspiration, they would be Oregon Trail, Kenshi, and Skyrim. However it is not an adventure on rails like OT, nor an RPG/RTS hybrid like Kenshi, nor an action RPG like Skyrim.

That is too vague maybe, so let me bring in another title that I actually tried to mod: Shadow Returns. I am leaning towards clicking for movement and to interact with objects. As much as I love action games they are not very accessible for a lot of people. They are also a dime a dozen in terms of how much they are all clones of each other at this point.

While many of the features found in this game will be found in previous games, it’s the combinations, executions, and style that makes it work (or not). Pure originality is not needed nor asked for. I think I still have enough to stand out though. Who else is doing dystopian Ancient Aliens, genetic engineering, and magical post-apocalypse themes? Although all sorts of settings have been loved by dice-rolling players, not all of these themes have been explored fully on the interactive screen.

This game has as much DNA from Choose Your Own Adventure and Lone Wolf (interactive printed novels) as from other video games. I am trying to emulate a classic tabletop role-playing experience that accommodates to player actions much like a human DM would. Emergent gameplay is interesting and not explored enough by the big studios. In my project a lot of this will have to come down to clever programming of AI NPCs. The concept is that every character will react realistically according to who or what they are. Not everything will talk and act like a 21st century educated American (which is creative bankruptcy despite being everywhere).

The random element is introduced by player actions and modified dice rolls in many cases. But the NPCs must be able to act against one another and start or resolve disputes without player input. Without that the replay value dries up, emergent gameplay takes a huge hit, and once again NPCs will feel like flat and like objects instead of antagonists, allies, memorable customers, and so on. I will have some famous “named” characters hand crafted so that the world can reference them in very specific detail. They will be fixed points to start with but can adapt and change as events play out. Every other character will be procedurally generated (randomized according to pre-set options) to save enormous amounts of time and still give tons of variety.

The randomized NPCs will not be static though! What sets my game concept apart is the concept of realistic needs and schedules for all characters. There are very few games where NPCs have to find food, put it in a virtual inventory, consume it, and excrete. The Sims is a notable exception. But how can I make a whole town of Sims that actually buy and sell, and sometimes get in disputes or other complex activities? Even if challenges and combat are mostly turn-based (which could change with an optional expansion, update, or sequel) I would still like to see character move about the map (3rd person overhead) going about their daily business. It’s essential for gameplay that this be figured out. Every NPC will have needs, wants, inventory, and budget, and could be a potential customer, foe, ally, and so forth. The system needs to have that flexibility built into it from the ground up. It won’t be practical to befriend or sell to everyone, but that is for gameplay actions of the player to work out.

For example, if the player set up a shop that had a sign for drinks, thirsty or bored NPCs would consider going inside. But a sign with printed letters only would not appeal to characters that could not read that language. An ‘Ork’ Barbarian would be reluctant to patronize an establishment that looked upscale and expensive, with a lot of rules to follow. The same tavern would appeal to an aspiring merchant, who might spend a lot of coin or open opportunities for trade related quests. The Ork might come back when it’s dark with some henchman and rob or wreck the place, if the decorations were expensive and security is just a sleeping goblin. This is the dream of the living, breathing, world so many games promise.

Just like there will be famous named characters there will also be specific landmark locations with handcrafted central areas. But the adjacent ’tiles’ and every other area will be procedureally generated as well– according to sensible rulesets to make biomes blend naturally. Tile boundaries will be invisible and seamlessly blended. Every ’tile’ will have a chance of a Point of Interest, harvesting location, draw from the hidden encounter deck, and so on. Once an area is revealed it stays part of the game world, as is, unless some other event affects it. But depending on the biome it can spawn new things as long as it makes sense to do so. The player should have the ability to make campsites and eventually buildings as well as secret caches for goods. Most tiles will have options to rest, scavenge, check equipment, and so on. Maybe these will be dedicated buttons like ‘set up tent’ that you can do anywhere.

While the final version will have nice 3D graphics using Unreal 5, with the prototype I might have it run more like a board game. In the commercial release it would be nice to have both options, “classic” tile by tile, and modern point and click on a seamless scrolling 3D map. The more board game option could be turned into a printed form, and might work better for mobile anyways. It would be very hard to scout visually on a small screen. Rather than having clickable objects obviously glowing all the time, it would be more immersive if you actually had to move the cursor over something you noticed. But some players will not like that, and it could be tedious to play ‘hunt the pixel’ if done poorly. At the very least I could include an item that makes intractable points glow, or simply include it as a toggle to make the game more easy versus more immersive and challenging. I like the idea of it being a spell, skill, or device based ability to spot resources and threats as opposed to moving a cursor back and forth. The player could click on an object on the 3D play area or choose to click a contextual button that pops up / hotkey, for quality of life ease of play. If the game is accessible it is not just about being inclusive to individuals with specific disabilities. It is also thinking about how to give any player tools to customize their gaming experience without having to download tons of mods.

I am very open to mods unless their is a threat they could be an avenue for hackers. Especially if I have any kind of cash shop or player to player interactions. Since this is a lifelong passion project and not just a fire-and-forget stepping stone, I might just do it as official mods and DLCs. Most free, some not. This would be a way to provide things like adult content or incorporate player requests into the game. If I like an idea enough I can include it as an option for the base game. Say some volunteer sends me a file for a new weapon pack, I can then place it in the world properly in context. I will match the style to what part of the world it would match with thematically, and then make the items available just in that region or just in a very specific place. A lot of the unique artifacts could be player generated. Maybe there will be an option in the main menu itself to edit content, and attach files for 3D meshes, scripts, etc. Now I am drifting into later stage ambition though.

I have been doing a lot of mental work refining the core game concept in my head to be specific and limited, as opposed to the unlimited but unrealized world of imaginary possibilities. That means a lot of innovative or more unique systems I have planned will have to wait their turn until the basics are made.

Roadmap, starting with Need To Have:

Stage 1: Stats, inventory, dice rolling challenge resolution system. Begin work on 3D area for opening scenes / tutorial, and core settlement of Doron’s Haven.

Stage 2: Handcrafted NPCs that have stats and can make actions on their own and interact with each other, buy/sell,talk, etc.

Stage 3: Combat maneuver cards added to challenge system to add depth. Each maneuver card has advantages and disadvantages against other maneuver cards. Like Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock, except you get either large or small bonuses instead of auto-wins.

Stage 4: Expand card advantage resolution system. Settle on new name similar to Nykara with unique spelling.

Stage 5: Build out dialogue trees for opening scenes and basic buy / sell transactions.

Stage 6: Begin procedural system for NPC generation, encounter generation, and 3D biome terrain generation.

Stage 7: Develop more content, troubleshoot, test. Add skippable mini-games. Get attention for project.

Stage 8: Develop playable demo, prepare crowdfunding campaign or other source of financing. Campaign will run 30-60 days. Minimum ask somewhere between $20,000-$100,000. If I get well funded then I would be obligated to hire some help, and lay it out what kind of stretch goals could get what kind of services. If I only got the minimum ask my outside expenses would be minimal aas i would basically be paying myself to finish the game. $20,000 is not enough to fund a basic lifestyle for a whole year, let alone hire a semi-permanent staff, but too high a threshold and the campaign results in no money at all. It would probably be cleaner to make deals as Work For Hire, like give me 3 monster models with animations for $X, or solve a specific code / Unreal blueprint challenge.

Stage 9: Early access on Steam, hire talent if possible. Replace any placeholders or basic content with something more professional or interesting.

Stage 10: Version 1.0 on Steam and Epic store, look into porting to console and mobile.

Stage 11: Patches and player feedback incorporation. Make sure all backers / investors, if any, have their rewards.

Stage 12: Develop more content and refinements, address balance issues, work on wishlist and ‘nice to have’ features. At this point the game should be generating enough revenue I do not have to worry about other sources of income.

Stage 13: Spinoffs, cash store, merchandising, foster player clubs and forums, marketing. Finish tabletop version at least as a PDF file.

Stage 14: In game events, hopefully with live GMs steering events and interacting with players. (Each player is in their own pocket dimension essentially but they can affect each other, and the game world could permanently change across all worlds.)

Stage 15: Continue to curate user content, make updates, etc. New content generation should be focused on writing more opportunities (quests) dialogue material and looking into chatbot functions.

Stage 16: Keep adding more features and content including live combat (melee and grappling focused) and consider launching new version as a mostly voice-acted sequel.

Each stage should take at least a month even with dedicated effort. I am already far behind schedule even though there is no real deadline. But I don’t think that my pre-production work and research has been a waste of time. The more I think and write about this the more clear the idea becomes.

Gameplay loop concepts and minigames: Nykaran Tales

Although a prototype or demo can be a limited experience, I still want there to be depth and variety in the video game I am designing. Just making a visual novel with stat bars or dice rolls is not enough. The game should be fun to play to a broad range of players even if they didn’t come for the themes, storylines, etc.

Dialogue (with active skill use within conversations) is still important but not enough on its own to provide a compelling experience for the broadest amount of players.

Real time exploration and combat have been done well by many games, usually with huge teams and budgets. Rather than try to compete at their own strengths with the likes of Bethesda or Ubisoft titles, I want to approach from another angle. There are many imitators and competitors already on that front. As much as I like heavy use of realistic physics and timing within twitch games, I do not find myself qualified to single-handedly innovate in that area of development. Especially becuase I have so many other tasks.

In most action RPGs, harvesting, building, crafting, and social relationships are an afterthought. Storylines have branches and choices but generally are telling different versions of the same script. This game has as much roots in management sims and city builders, as it does in tapletop dungeon crawlers and action RPGs like Skyrim. I want the economy to be realistic and responsive to player actions. The more opportunities for the player to tell their own story as they leave impacts on areas the better, that is the whole point.

In Jack Vance’s fiction the protagonists usually brought crashing ruin around them or saved the day. They always left a mark on the world. Everyday needs and tasks as well as human failings played into the plotlines.

I want the player to be able to tell their own stories at the same time that they are within mine. In some cases I will choose decorum and decency over the more fully realistic options to be evil or show the depravity of the dystopian societies across the lands.

Getting back to basics and practicalities: Along with the stat and skill based die rolling system I want to add minigames for many activities. Doing well at the minigame would give bonuses and doing poorly, penalties. I have not decided if I should also have an option to turn off the minigames, have it be a more tabletop RPG emulator without the videogame timing gameplay elements.

The recently released videogame Dredge handled harvesting well, by making time a factor and rewarding good timing of clicks with efficient use of that time. I also liked the limited storage capacity playing so heavily into the game and the tradeoff between upgrades and storage space. This game should have tradeoffs that make the player really have to think about what to use instead of just no-brainer, pick the best. Cost is one way to balance out the presence of gear that is obviously better. Rather than just one kind of currency this game that rules all, there will have a lot of material acquiring and favors unlocking crafters kinds of mechanics.

The idea is that you could play as a more ordinary person just trying to make it as an entrepreneur and survive in a dangerous world, rather than become the ultimate hero or chosen one. Having a broad range of mid-level skills should prove more profitable than just being the ultimate combat monster. For example instead of a monster attacking and having piles of gold coins on its back, the process would be more involved and with more skill checks. I won’t go through every hazard and cost of wilderness travel, but let’s assume a character is out hunting. They might need a tracking roll, engage in some narrative before and during combat, then decide how long they can afford to spend skinning and dismembering the carcass. The sounds of combat and smells of death attract yet more hazards… assuming the character makes it back to an outpost they made or a pre-made settlement, then might then have more skill checks to try to tan the hide, find the right buyer, haggle over price, and so on. Taking extra steps and doing well on the challenge results will pay off with more materials / money / prestige, etc. There will be quick and dirty methods that are less profitable but have less steps as well. This way extra effort on the part of the player is rewarded, while others who are poor at steps like skinning and tanning or find it tedious can skip past it more.

The economy is tricky because it is central to themes as well as gameplay elements. I fully intend to use it as a bludgeon to propel the characters into action or risk losing things. It will not be easy to get ahead and become rich and powerful, so the survival horror elements can still survive. Many factions and denizens will extort money, goods, or services in one way or another. They may attempt thefts, vandalism, violence, or more exotic means such as curses and dangerous animals. So if the player wants to set up ship in an established area they will need to pay up or be strong enough to deal. As your wealth grows as a player so will your need for security and the costs that come with it will grow as well. The player will be leaned upon for money, food, services and so on by less evil types as well who are looking for a way up or perhaps just desperate beggars with little hope or prospects.

The demo cannot encapsulate all of the various factions and townspeople and events I would like to grow into. First I need to get it right for the minigames working with the dice rolling for resolving challenges. I want to make harvesting fun and challenging, not just click on a sparkling object. As I said before, the more mundane aspects of life are usually not dealt with in a realistic or fleshed out way in video games. I am trying to make something new and not just another clone. Realism over fun doesn’t work though.

Minigames for combat, stealth, and dexterity type challenges are also likely as harvesting and conversation challenges.

It is a lot to build out on top of having crafting, exploring, and all the rest of the game.The upside is that if the minigames are actually decent, and there is a large variety in them (not just re-skinned click timing) then I will have enabled a great deal of replayable gameplay that narrative, combat, and exploration alone cannot provide. I want to combine the fun aspects of video games with the responsive interactivity of a in-person role-playing session.

The demo does not need to have every minigame ever but just a few really good ones.

But stats and skills and gear will still matter a great deal, the minigames give bonuses. There is also an RNG random factor. That is not to everyone’s taste but honors the tabletop roots. The concept is largely a single player tabletop role-playing game run by a fair but tough GM.

How to stand out in a crowded marketplace?

Steam search results below. These are searching descriptions or keywords, not titles.

32,301 RPG (oof)
10,059 choice
9,207 visual novel
73,222 indie
9,275 early access
13,291 management
13,404 sim

A lot of overlap, but to be honest those numbers are discouraging. As a gamer and consumer it is great to have a lot of choices, as a developer I need to get real about the competition.

I need to come up with some marketing plan and community around this, because counting on search results is not nearly enough to sell a game.

Getting more specific:

562 alchemy
1,572 dimension
267 dystopia
2,949 surreal
1,831  addiction
4,968  romance

Mortals at war with half dead gods

Who says religion has to be boring? I’ve been musing about game design and characters but need to remember what an awesome premise I have. However so much of it needs to be kept secret for now but I just wanted to drop in a provocative teaser.

No game I am aware of explores the psychological and social consequences of crime and aggression in as much detail as I am planning.

Gameplay will still be fairly fluid and comprehensible, the complexity will mostly be in the content of the writing and plot choices. Bookkeeping can be done by the computer of course, but the player will not have the tools of an all-knowing birds-eye view. Maps and asking other characters can be unreliable and influenced by their own perceptions and agendas. The player can explore on their own to get closer to the truth, but even then… many denizens have had their minds broken by cataclysm, war, predation… they may lie just for fun, or truthfully report their insane false memories. The character might have some abilities to see through deception and madness, but a lot will be left up to the player’s interpretation.

Magic comes in three main flavors: Elemental affinity and channeling natural forces; spirit manipulation; and breaking reality. Because there are dimensional breaches and overlaps in Nykara, crazy and nonsensical things can happen. However, the intention is to use this sparingly and purposefully, because it is VITAL that the player trusts the game itself is not cheating them, nor am I as an author and designer playing dirty tricks. The player has plenty to worry about from a challenging and harsh world.

Breaking reality magic is the most flexible and “magiclike” however it usually drives users, recipients and observers insane when used for more than a tickle. This works to the advantage of the more powerful entities who have such abilities, and mortals fear to cross them. Too much raw “magic” in a given location in space time and a dimensional breach or reality fracture is inevitable. Legions of disembodied beings are trying to gain entry in Nykara at any given time, being the rich feeding ground that it is. Neither the Nykaran controllers nor the mortal victims welcome such intrusions from extra dimensional predators, parasites, and anomalies. Breaches are one of the only times the Nykarans themselves will take direct action.

What is a Nykaran? What is a Yitzari Ambassador? You will have to play the game to find out.

But… there are less risky, but more grindy ways to play some elements of the game. Having solid businesses in town and contacts could give opportunities for hiring bodyguards, getting reliable information, or proper equipment before traveling. The game should also be playable as a management sim with plenty of dialogue and stuff to do around town. Adventuring and exploring will have an increasing risk / reward element. But if you want to play it safe in town I still want you as a player.

More thoughts about format: Some maps will be handcrafted and pre-determined like for famous locations. (This works for a secondary reason, in the lore, if core location has enough belief in by sentient minds, for its existence pattern to be more solidified and hard to change.)

For the bulk of exploring locations and traveling, I plan to make the map itself semi-randomized and procedural, not just the encounters at those locations. This will mean I can make more content in a somewhat automated way and it will keep the replayability much higher. Then I can add in solid locations and also a slow trickle of content to the libraries of possibilities.

If an area, a set of locations is called for, the system will check the basic biome first. Starting from the city / core location, the system will then check for adjacent terrain to make the map somewhat realistic.

For a large scale territory I could generate elevations first and then that will determine the flow of water. From there that gives areas of likely forest, swamp, and desert depending on how water carrying wind will flow from the ocean and being stopped by mountains.

But the area maps I am thinking of are generally more on the scale of traveling on foot or horseback a few hours at a time before possible events. Or dungeons and towns, etc. I need a simple system to start with that is functional. I can have clusters of similar or matching terrain just matching like neighbor with like neighbor. Rivers would have to continue for multiple locations in a row with a small chance to branch or terminate or become swamp. Tiles next to a river would have high chances of forest, jungle, or grass. A village tile would be likely to spawn other tiles next to it, and enough cluster could spawn a more developed town / city tile. An enclosed area like a dungeon might place special door areas and build a layout of a building or underground area set of linked rooms. Not every door needs it’s own location of course, but main entrances will always involve an encounter related to entry to it makes sense to plan them out as getting their own tile.

Once the basic layout is generated, the kind of tile it is determines the basic percentages for what kinds of encounters will be on that tile. This will be both as a chance at an immediate scene (depending on entering cautiously, rushing, etc. as well as other stats) and as more static options on cards.

For example, a sparse forest might launch a sentient fungus encounter, but also be there as a place with a description, tile inventory, and maybe a few options like chopping wood a certain amount of times. Some static resources will cost extra time to take advantage of, time and yields will depend on tool used as well as a challenge roll. Most resources will have a hard cap on how much you can get. Others will have diminishing returns or external threats to discourage continued grinding in the same spot. There’s a reason why no “solo lumberjacks” live very long in Nykara.

But hey, that dense forest tile that is too dangerous or time-consuming to lonely-chop? I want an expansion feature for hiring crews to work for you, and all the storylines that could generate.

Each encounter should have impact or entertainment value. Each tile should be a chance at a resource now or in the future.

Once the system builds out the location with areas, paths between them, and time / resource costs for each path, we need graphics too. The biome can provide a basic textured dirt to use as the base layer. Then graphic assets representing each kind of area will go on each tile. The player will not see all of this right away, nor the kinds of encounters waiting. The assets will have transparency on the edges so they can just be placed on the base layer in their spot.

At some point, I want maps that were made by people in the game world, that can be bought or found. These need to be generated in a different art style than the representational location tile graphics. They would not be a 1 to 1 match, and will have quirks or errors depending on what kind of person made the map. The player should have the option to draw accurate maps if they have supplies and skill for it, and the system should automate… but that’s an expanded feature.

Since the player is already looking at kind of an overhead terrain view a lot, maps aren’t required for version 1.0 of the gameplay. But they can add a lot both thematically and as a strategic option. Ideally information should be powerful in this game and require the player to actually understand the situation to make a wise choice.

Side note to be thoughtful about the warnings I want to use as a storyteller, and also not to overdo it describing every last thing as dark and creepy. Some hints need to stand out from colorful descriptions of locations and irrelevant objects. If every floorboard creaks like a dying solider and every signpost looms ominously like a bird of prey, they lose their uniqueness, mystery, and horror factor. Uncertainty and deciphering clues is part of the core gameplay which is why it has to be handled carefully. My guideline is that actual danger has to announce itself ahead of time, somehow. This will build suspense and increase player agency if done correctly. Surprise ambush after surprise ambush is just like the purple prose floorboards and signposts. Yet that’s how most games conduct themselves.

I have asked myself for a giant list of assets, features, and writing content. It’s daunting honestly. I don’t want to over-promise as the concept takes better shape. I think next post will be focuse don organized the project. I need to list out features that are necessary, versus nice to have or secondary priorities. I have already pushed back any concept of live combat / running around platforms as way, way off. It’s been done to death 1,000 times already and is very time consuming to make an action RPG properly.

Yet very few are asking the kinds of questions or designing the kind of gameplay experience I am. So that merits focusing on what the project actually is instead of trying to beat the AAA boys and girls at their own game. You don’t get more indie than a solo project.

The downside is the timeline will be longer and my workload will be high. But as the one person in charge of the IP, mechanics, ‘company,’ everything – I can limit the amount of bullshit that goes on. I know anyone reading this has little reason to trust me cold – but I trust me, to be honest direct and reasonable when it comes to the business side of things. And I have high standards for many aspects of my work, an editorial strictness which can actually interfere with the creation side. It won’t be a perfect product whether made by just me or a team. I just know that the kind of slop and lies that a lot of indie or crowdfunding projects are responsible for have hurt a lot of people, and I think I can avoid that.

Cheers.

Influences on Nykaran Tales and gameplay outline

I’m still refining the elevator pitches to persuade people I have a good product and describe it in familiar terms. Thinking about how to tell someone else about it can sharpen focus and help me decide what formats to use. There’s not a 1:1 match with all my favorites or a complete list but it’s close enough.

Fiction: Wolfe, Brust, Lovecraft, Harrison, Heinlein, King, Aspirin, many others.

Video game themes and style: Fallout series, Elder scrolls series (Skyrim), Gothic Series, Wasteland 2

What this game will most be like for gameplay: Sunless Sea, Oregon Trail, Hand of Fate, management sims.

Gameplay components for version 1.0 before feature expansion:

ENCOUNTERS: Dice, attribute, and skill mechanic based on player choices in a turn based narrative structure. Text descriptions and static art images, to be expanded into simple animations where possible.

NAVIGATION: A detailed map (in-game objects that can be acquired) shows costs in time and resources to enter each area. You can move one space at a time to an adjacent area. You can choose to alter your approach to be hasty, cautious, etc. which can change the resource and time cost. Type of terrain and character abilities to compensate will also change both travel costs and influence encounters there. You may have a choice to investigate (usually costing a unit of time) or mind your own business to just pass through. Passing through will usually skip Encounters there but not always. Cautious Approach (stance when entering) and Passing Through (choice at location) will both give bonuses to escape choices, generally.

DIALOGUE: Similar level of detail to visual novel, eventually. All characters will have names, goals, stats, etc. but will not always reveal that to the player nor even talk to them. As players progress with storyline events and choices they may earn trust enough to speak to them in increasing levels of detail.

FACTION and PREJUDICE SYSTEM: How much characters like and trust your character and allies may be influenced by race / gene-caste, gender, clothing, cleanliness, faction loyalties, and so on. Navigating a world of suspicious and bigoted individuals is a core part of the theme and gameplay. But most characters will perceive a lecture on their shortcomings or wrong opinions as social combat and respond accordingly.

COMBAT: For now all combat whether physical, social, magical, or psychic it will be resolved with the same challenge / encounter dice roll system as a base. Resources can be spent to perform special maneuvers that the character has learned. Usually you can choose anything from your deck you can afford but some cards only work on opportunities granted by opponent actions or environment conditions. There will be handful of meters of different kinds of energy. It might cost one Breath of physical energy for a basic attack but two for a high powered move. Depending on the opponent’s stance (everyone defaults to unready stance) determines resolution along with the die rolls based on attributes and skills. As the game expands, more experienced characters can play more cards per turn.

To be continued…

Tinkering with attributes

Many aspects of he game design can proceed on their own tracks. But I would like to have the mechanics worked out before the programming. I want to have something that works as well on the table as in the video game presentation of it.

Last post I ended up with:

Strength

Agility

Speed

Reason

Charm

Willpower

Lifeforce

Craft

Stealth

Endurance

Awareness

Size (Roughly equal to 1 per foot of height)

Derived Health = size + endurance x2 + strength + lifeforce

I want to keep everything however it is possible that Lifeforce, and Willpower could be combined as well as Reason + Awareness. Lifeforce was going to help with things like animal connections, healing, and so on, but it should maybe be more in the elemental affinity side. Channeling elements can boost standard actions if appropriate or do basically magic. If each possibly redundant attribute had a robust set of different actions then a case could be made that they stay. But since I have the elemental affinity system and skills as well I can get more granular with slightly different kinds of abilities. Looking back at the list I also had Aim in some versions of the rules, which would basically be the same as ranged skill. I can capture the differences as raw ability + training + specialization + etc. but since everything is ultimately being reduced to numbers we’re mostly just worried about a character’s chances for success and not existential questions about talent vs. training.

Since the combat basics need to be expressed as stats distinct from the attributes, it is more of an argument to condense in other places.

Is someone being strong (able to lift and move heavy weights) the same as swinging a broadsword accurately? No. Does it help? You bet. So I can justify a Melee ability separate from the strength attribute. And I think I will include specializations for preferred weapons, although instead of more dice or bonuses it might take the form of re-rolls or other options.

Endurance could be rolled in with strength / size, if you are swole you are probably durable.

The focus of the game is story, choice, consequences, and realistic detail. So it is okay for this game to be more complex than others I might make. But like I talked about in the last post, complexity and innovation for their own sake do not translate to fun experiences for most people, even smart gamers, artists, and readers who are my target audience. But anyone mature enough for the content is welcome to play, and accessibility can go hand in hand with elegant design. The idea is to do more with less, but not be reductionist or just provide copycat material. Innovations and refinements take time and care. but endless pondering and going back and forth is not a healthy design flow.

Many games only have 5 or 6 “attributes” but then endless other statistics and details that really add up to more. So I am not super worried if these attributes cross over into categories or aren’t precise about the difference between natural ability, background, and training. Any statistic is a measure of ability, nature or nuture is not relevant. Some will pair up all the time, others not so much. That’s okay. History of weightlifting might be a Reason + Strength subject for challenges, or it might work as an add in bonus for using a lever. Otherwise, Strength will more likely combine with something like Agility for challenges such as climbing.

Attribute Dice: 2 = D4 , 3 = D6, 4 = D8, etc. After 6 / D12 it becomes extra bonuses, so a 7 is D12 + 1.

A little more math is a little more clunky but it’s a tradeoff for a representational, granular system aiming towards simulation and realism. Adding just two attribute dice together produces two inconsistent a range. We want unpredictability for story purposes, and to represent risk, but not clownish levels of chaos which make the stats meaningless compared to luck. The narrative boxes that explain results of actions (more complex than pass / fail usually) might mention odd or random factors that come into play and help explain the result, but the mechanics will always work fairly and the same way behind the scenes.

To that end, I do want to add in the primary attribute for a challenge roll. It weakens the need for a diverse set of skills but rewards a focus on a strong attribute. For a classless (but able to represent class) system that is important for the difference to be felt. I have had a primary / secondary system worked out before and just going to go with it.

An example of how this would play out is Charm is used whenever the conversation is weaponized into social combat and you are trying to get a result from another character. NPCs should also be able to use this on PCs with effects from time to time unless they can defend themselves properly. You should be able to feel it, the kind of different abilities and choices that will help a character survive out on the streets vs. The Great Library. Some of that will be handled when building out areas and encounters, but for Charm as an example:

Persuade: Charm primary, Reason secondary.

Roll would be score in charm added to an attribute die roll for Charm and Reason. Let’s Say Charm 4, Reason 3, would be 4 + (D8 + D6). Averages out to a 12. Range 6-18 without a fumble or critical system added. I think that works beautifully and is compatible with many other difficulty check systems around the same range, but the bell curve or probability is where I want it. It makes sense, so it stays.

Modifiers for clever dialogue choices, use of leverage, specific skills or specialties, can add in. The roll will be what is modified, the difficulty number will be static based on the challenge itself. Technically a debuff would lower a resistance number in most systems, but that could still be expressed as a bonus to hit that target.

More examples, with a new notation for Primary / (Secondary):

Intimidate: Charm / (Strength)

Entertain: Charm / (Craft)

Manipulate: Charm / (Stealth)

By contrast, it would be Stealth / (Charm) to avoid notice in a crowded room.

Might be tough for a GM to figure out on the fly, but there doesn’t always have to be a perfect answer. And for the video game version in progress I can show a lot of examples that make sense to me how best to capture the storytelling moment mechanically.

So I will probably end up with a lot of attributes and stats because they make up almost the entire system by themselves. Magic, crafting, combat, and perhaps other areas will have expanded rules and options that still use these as a base mechanic. Action cards can draw upon different stats as needed. The more different stats I can bring in, the more variety I can bring to combat and magic maneuvers at a base level.

Revised list, if I need to check speed I can do it by using a relevant attribute:

1. Strength (includes running speed, labor speed)

2. Agility (includes most other physical speed

3. Charm (includes social speed)

4. Craft (includes tinkering and lockpicking speed)

5. Stealth (speed when sneaking)

6. Awareness (includes Reason, Wit, Perception, Intelligence)

Size (affects pace / stride but could slow down other movements)

Physical Health = Size + Strength

Certain matters of willpower, wisdom, and intelligence / decision making are really for the player to determine, as decisions whether acting in character. But Willpower was also going to be used in psychic combat like when trying to bind spirits so I might still want to use it.

Cutting down gives me freedom to add more direct combat and magic attributes. Having a realistic, comprehensive classless system that is flexible without being cumbersome is the goal.

That’s all for now, thanks.

More concepts for Nykaran Tales and the Adventure RPG system

There’s really a lot of material I have developed over the years tinkering with different systems and world-building ideas. I’m continuing a daily project log to sharpen my focus.

I like a little more grit, complexity, and crunch to a rules system but not to the point of being cumbersome. At one point in system design I had 12 primary attributes + plenty of derived stats. That doesn’t include skills or elemental affinity or anything else. It’s always been a big question, the tradeoff between being comprehensive and simplified. An accessible and fun game needs to lean in the streamlined direction at least as far as the interface goes, and presenting the right information in a digestible way so the player is clear about what’s going on.

I have tried very hard to be original at times and make revolutionary concepts happen. Then I realized creativity for its own sake does not translate automatically to the best player experience. Just like a bizarre avant garde novel would be hard to understand and not fun to read for the average person. Just because it’s unique or new or different, it doesn’t make it better. I found out that another video game used the title Godfall and so that messed me up since that was part of the original novel title I was writing. Then I found out another tabletop system uses a similar core dice rolling mechanic to what I was working on. These things throw me for a loop but sometimes creativity just runs in parallel. I have to put aside fears of being called a copycat or hack because all commercial art is derivative, it has to be, otherwise there would be no sales. A completely new thing is a hobby, not a product. If I buy a novel I have a certain expectation of characters, plot, and dialogue happening. A customer purchasing an RPG game from me will have expectations that will fall within a predictable range, notwithstanding. At the end of the day it will still be a new system, one I made, and using standard conventions is not a crime.

It’s easier for me to brainstorm and ramble than come to decision points sometimes, or trim away what seems awesome. but even with a computer to keep track, 12 attributes is maybe a bit much. The tradeoff with my system is it’s designed to use the same kinds of mechanics and stats for everything without resorting to a huge tome of special rules and exceptions. Violent combat, magic, and social combat would have more elaborate options for those that learned them, I figured the more complex moves could be unlocked after the player had a chance to master the basics.

Every attribute I choose has to show up as a relevant attribute in a decent percentage of options. Skills need to show up now and then. This will force me to code more options but I also don’t want to overwhelm the player or myself with too many choices to worry about on screen all at once. There is workaround here of a sub-menu for more specific type of action, like you pick social and then it asks what kind of social. But I should have little icons for one click choices too for people are familiar and don’t need to see the details / roll preview.

One tradeoff is that the system relies on a fair and reasonable GM to handle any situation that might come up by assigning relevant attributes and skills when in question. I wanted to have enough to choose from to cover every contingency, But too many possible combinations makes the GM’s job harder with more cognitive load. It makes programming meaningful choices more difficult than it has to be. I makes game balance potentially out of whack if there is more chance of a useless attribute or ‘dump stat.’ I still want the granular level of detail to cover nuances of ability but there may be ways to do that with special ability cards or other special bonuses.

Some people really like tinkering with character upgrade ability trees and trying to game the system. I think a fair and balanced system should have safeguards against Munchkin number crunchers while still allowing freedom to make a strong character. One built-in protection is that the higher the skill or attribute goes, the more it costs. Basically going from a 4 to a 5 would cost 5 development points. Skills will probably use the same pool of points and the same rates to keep things simple. But you have to find a trainer for skills to start out with and every two levels. Tabletop can be less lenient with bookkeeping but you also have to use the attribute / skill in question at least as many times as the rank you are going to. And no jumping up 2 levels at once, you can increase multiple things at camp but only by one level each. These kinds of rules should make character progression more natural and realistic than a lot of games. Development points are basically earned from experience points, XP, and also be used to unlock special maneuvers and quasi-magical abilities. Development points might become progressively more expensive as well to slow down rollercoaster min / max characters. I do not believe in artificially adjusting either the abilities or tangible rewards of anything in the game based on what character is nearby. Their power level might influence what shows up and what kind of levels of encounter they deal with, but their will not be any yo-yoing hit point bars or anything. It’s simpler to program as well that creatures just have the stats they do. Of course there will be some variations, stronger and weaker versions often of different sizes.

As for stats, I have made many lists, but I’m going to go off memory to just write the most vital ones.

Strength

Agility

Speed

Reason

Charm

Willpower

Lifeforce

Craft

Stealth

Endurance

Awareness

Size (Roughly equal to 1 per foot of height)

Derived Health = size + endurance x2 + strength + lifeforce

That’s 12 if you count size, which is a stat not an attribute. I will have some other derived stats as well. Anyways, that’s one working model, more depth than some RPGs at the cost of complexity. The depth of writing, choices, world, etc. is a separate topic from the depth covered by an attribute system. but having 10 / 12 attributes also ties into something else about the world that’s hidden for now. So I may just keep what I have here and go with it.

Two relevant attributes per action makes sense still. However I’m thinking each attribute should have a default action associated with it that also adds the amount in that attribute as a bonus, in addition to being one of the attribute dice. There should be some consistency for simple actions.

Player strategy options for challenges / Monetization

I will mix in some miniatures content at some point, but for now this is my Nykaran Tales project log.

In addition to bonuses from equipment and consumables, players will have inner resources to use up in the process of executing actions. Some actions are free, some have a cost in endurance or other health bar type resource. Actions can be enhanced from these pools, I think I will make bonuses before the roll cheaper than bonuses after. Then maybe re-rolls from consumables since this is a single player experience for now, I’m not worried about optional re-rolls slowing down turns.

I have decided that for reactive / hidden rolls that the system makes, the player will not have options to influence or change the rolls. This preserves that some of these rolls need to be made discretely, and also makes the flow of actions easier to manage. There’s a difference mechanically between a passive Awareness check and an active search that takes an action. Also this reinforces the theme that you will have more choices and abilities when acting as opposed to being acted upon. If you want to build up defenses like a dodge, it will be baked into your previous action choices. (such as a stance with bonuses against attacks that can be dodged.) Magic the Gathering has a whole complicated stack of resolving layered actions in sequence. It works for that game but not here. That would be a gigantic pain to program without bugs, for one. It’s not the best flow for tabletop RPG groups.

If you want to burn endurance on a special dodge action or anything else, you have to decide that when it’s your turn that it’s worth the resources and opportunity cost for that action card slot. It’s a locked in choice and a risk with a cost which is what this game is all about. Some information is revealed and some is hidden deliberately in a combat or any encounter situation. You will be trying to predict the opponent’s moves while being unpredictable yourself, to get bonuses in a slightly more complex rock-paper-scissors type system of resolution. Closer to rock-paper-scissor-lizard-spock with five options. These aren’t auto-wins or even auto-hits but could determine significant bonuses. Stats, gear, consumables, magic bonuses will always factor in as well as this mechanic for combat. The computer tracking makes it even easier to keep track of the extra bonuses but the base system should be adaptable to tabletop play when it’s done.

Right now the idea is to have an active stance that determines (amongst other things) your baseline defenses, and therefore target numbers for various kinds of attacks. The stances will potentially give bonuses and penalties to a whole range of actions and defenses and special moves. I feel like in a tabletop game “someone shoots an arrow at you, what do you do?” is too much checking in, takes up too much time. Ultimately the character either dodges, blocks, or gets missed, it does not need to rely on a complex back and forth Q&A to get to that point. One roll can resolve it all, and the chance to be strategic comes on your turn, not the opponents.

Right now I’m thinking for an uninjured, basic starting character, they get one stance and two active actions. Or, the stance could simply occupy an action slot and becomes a strategic choice. With that second option, the stances need to be worth it to give up an action.

This game is going to try to replicate an old fashioned tabletop experience in some ways. I am not planning on using a line up of characters staring at each other waiting to swing, like Final Fantasy, nor a battle grid or hex placement tactics. There are plenty of those tactics game and JRPGs that master that experience but that’s not what I am trying to replicate. Likewise I am not trying to give the exact experience of Skyrim or Assassin’s Creed games as much as I personally enjoy that combat and exploration. This will be a more narrative story and choice driven experience but still more of a playable video game than a pure visual novel.

There’s also the running a business and caravan system, because running one dramatic encounter after another would burn through the novelty and impact way too quickly. I simply won’t have enough content with all the options intact to make the game nothing but encounters. That would be a more flat experience as well and the idea is to give players options as well. I suppose someone that wanted as little to do with any storekeeper / merchant / base building mechanics would go through the encounter cards and locations at a quicker rate, which is their right to do. So I need to make all systems as fun as possible and not force them upon players at rates they don’t want.

There is something to be said for mobile games called “time-wasters” where you slowly build up resource producing bases. Sim City clones, Farmville, even Pawn Stars can be enjoyable and have been hugely successful. Since there are a million action RPG clones out there replicating blasting lightning and swinging swords, I’m actually not trying to start out competing with those head on. Those are elements for version 2.0 or something. I’m starting with all the missing pieces from “Role-Playing Games” like actually playing a role. I’m trying to fill in the more human side and bring in elements of literature, poetry, and conceptual art into the experience in subtle ways.

The game Rimworld can be played as a base builder, but is called a story generator by its creator Tynan Sylvester. He presumably also wanted to add a human element and touch of realism to the genre of resource gathering and base building. Normally both player characters (PCs) and NPCs are all men and women of iron, like in a lot of blockbuster tent pole movies, either reacting stoicly flat or cracking jokes. Once in a while they will code in civilians running and crying or something. But there’s rarely any depth explored on say, how the trauma of crash landing on a planet then being attacked by savages would affect people.

I’m trying to go even further into the storytelling and imagine a whole economy based on trauma, and the cultures that exist around it. But I’m not just going for the shock value straight away on everything as dark and tragic as the world contains. I’ve decided to leave a lot as secrets that only stubborn investigation will reveal the truth of. That way people less interested in horror or social commentary can still enjoy the game for other features, and stick to safer, less creepy areas for their business.

This game is designed to launch on consoles, phones, and PC. It’s part of the reason I am keeping the programming and graphics to a manageable level for now, and using an engine that can export to all formats.

Multi-player is a 2.0 or 3.0 or 4.0 kind of feature, however I would like to integrate some sort of message system or player economy. For full transparency there will be a cash item shop for those that want it, but it will never be required to continue playing the game. This will help keep the base cost of the game low, I am looking at a price point eventually near $30, but with a steep discount for low content early access. A moderate price also gives me the flexibility to do sales and discounts. I do reserve the right to paywall premium or expansion content. Rather than releasing DLC levels, upgrade packs, cosmetics, etc. as separate products on all the various digital storefronts, it seems to make much more sense to keep all that in one place. I’m not looking to get outrageous prices for a re-colored jacket or something, but there will be a tongue-in-cheek “whales only” section of cosmetics and upgrades. I’ve been struggling financially for a long time to be honest and not going to turn down support from those who can afford it. Whether crowdfunding, Patreon, or cash shop, I could use the dough. However I would not want to put anyone in a bad spot financially because they overspent. Hopefully setting up more payment options is worth the trouble and I need some safeguards around it. Like a “no refunds” policy sounds callous but protects my time to live my life or make content rather than arguing with customers and doing a bunch of transactions. But if someone’s kid gets a hold of the credit card and blows the grocery bill on a “whales only” virtual comedy hat I need to be a human being about it. This game is designed to be accessible within reason and keeping core elements affordable is important to me. I think it’s only fair that for every item released in the cash shop I add an equal amount or more content available for the base game.

If all goes well, I can just make this my primary career to keep adding content and updating the game. With enough success and financial resources I can look into recruiting talent to keep the content coming faster and branch off into areas I have less experience in. Based on player feedback and reviews I can steer the ship where most of the fans want it to go. If that means expanding into a Skyrim clone that still works with the other mechanics and characters of the game that can be explored as a spinoff or added features. I wonder if it is feasible to have two games share variables so that coins, items, reputation, events, etc. can swap between them. If they both reported in through a blockchain it could be done, but that’s beyond my level of ability to set up. From a design standpoint it’s asking for trouble. Live combat could end up as a free expansion, paid content, or I’m just brainstorming now, but also considering directions to leave the game open to expanded mechanics and options to grow in the future.

Multi-player could also take the form of players writing custom actions or coming up with encounters. Technically any suggestion as to game content, posted here or emailed to me, etc., without prior agreement, become my property to use or not use as I see fit in my commercial work. I would still believe in giving credit in some Hall of Fame website or other place to acknowledge the contributions. I’m trying to think longterm here and just forestall possible problems since I really would like to dedicate the rest of my career to making this happen. I have other big goals like the recreational therapy camp, but they require revenue that day jobs just aren’t bringing in. To help people and myself and anyone counting on me I have to monetize the shit out of this thing but only where it makes sense to do so. This isn’t designed to be a grift but a living work of art. If this gets big, or whales come through in a big way I can even look at dropping the base price or doing more sales and giveaways. But I have played a lot of ‘freemium’ games and know what can be really unfair and grifty about them. I pledge to always remember the fellow broke ass gamers and penny pinchers like myself. At the same time, not gonna turn down sweet, sweet, whale money from those with cash to burn, in exchange for my lifetime effort of preparing and delivering this product to a high standard. There’s a balance to be found. Really the content comes first, and then the money can follow it when it’s deserved.

Outline of RPG in development: Nykaran Tales

It felt good to vent and clear the air about why my blog went missing for a decade. Losing momentum and enthusiasm can in many cases be the same as the end of a project. I’m in a place in my life where by circumstance as much as anything I have to rely on my own inner motivation to keep going or start anything new. I’ve learned for better or worse that self-reliance is up to you as a person, but other people’s actions are not up to you.

While I will still get personal and talk about real-life problems, advice, etc. I did promise hobby /gaming content and will deliver. I’m trying to combine many of the ideas I have had over the years into a project I can make money with, and have decided on a video game with the Unreal 5 engine. As a solo project I plan to finish a small area to a high level of detail with functional gameplay, rather than try to build out every character and stray thought I have ever had at once. With a proof of concept I can then add content to the stable platform slowly and tweak values /debug as I go, rather than try to make the next Skyrim all at once. I may or may not include a real time combat feature, it would be nice but those are a dime-a-dozen now and I am trying to make something a little more special and hard to find– an actual role-playing choice based experience.

I also like building sims with economies and want to include those elements, then expand into a caravan system with risks and costs. So far this is shaping up to be Hand of Fate meets Oregon Trail. That’s not a bad thing. I thought about doing this as more of a visual novel to “save time” but really I need core gameplay loops to be repeatable and not just a straight through experience. Multiple endings? There will be multiple resolutions all the time, but I don’t want this game to hard-stop “end” or “game over” until the player chooses to set it down. There should always be something to do even if it starts getting repetitive. More details and choices can be added later to every encounter. So while action reflex based combat would be nice to have it’s not the core focus. I don’t have the time to 3D model everything with a hundred options, and am reluctant to spam other people’s assets.

When the proof of concept is fun, playable, and beautiful, I can go to Kickstarter or GoFundMe, or a studio, perhaps with your help. I plan to set up a Patreon as a way to start funding this project (and others) as well as another way to get feedback and commentary on my work. On fact, this is your chance to influence what you want from an RPG right now with your comments.

The basic gameplay will involve a good amount of reading descriptions and dialogue, however it will be designed to be skippable while still giving context for a choice. The details may matter very much though as some of the risks and rewards will be hinted at rather than explicit. This is not a game about killing everything you come across or doing endless favors for NPCs. I want to bring back SUSPENSE and CONSEQUENCES for choices in game. To that end, you will see what you are choosing to do and the dice mechanics that will be used, but you will not as a player see the difficulties as a number, nor the potential results. There are heavy bonuses and penalties for how well a type of approach matches a challenge. Rolling raw strength to lift an object might give a higher number chance for a swole character, but rolling engineering to use a lever would give a significant hidden bonus. However, then the material used as a lever would be tested (behind the scenes) to see if it was damaged or broken, which would affect both the inventory object used and the resolution of the challenge. By getting granular into realistic results it will take time to make each new encounter, but give the depth I am looking for. Some choices won’t even involve rolls but will still have massive consequences on player relationships or events in town.

I have come to a few decision points, should I use exactly a system I was developing for tabletop or just focus on what is good for this game? For a video game using higher numbers, lots of modifiers, etc. is not a problem but for real life tabletop it can become a hassle. I have various ways to set up the die rolls that are all based on a combination of TWO relevant attributes, as well as skill level. Some ways involve no addition at all, but a more realistic system would give more consistent results than standard RPG tropes. Right now I am going with what works best for this game as far as the actual math and results work out, and then I can have an alternate version for tabletop. But that is not ideal, and I will continue to tinker around with versions of the system. The more you want to flatten the curve of probability into predictable results, the more common ways are to introduce higher numbers or more addition. I’m going to go back to the drawing board and then just decide on the dice formula once and for all so I can just start making encounters with it built in.

A clever choice should usually have a decent result even without great stats. However this isn’t going to be an easy game or always present you with a winning outcome. Although the look and feel is fantasy based for the most part, it’s built upon a foundation of cosmic horror, survival, and cyberpunk. There’s a lot more to say on the setting but today’s post is just focusing on outlining the concept and “thinking out loud” about the mechanics of it. I can’t fence-sit any longer on this because I have been thinking about this world and these dice mechanics for about 20 years now.

The basic formula I have works just fine for both tabletop and this game actually:

Attribute die + Attribute die + Skill level

But some people don’t want to add, and it just takes longer. So I came up with another system, best single result on a roll instead of adding. Skill level would act as a substitute minimum roll and / or determine how many dice you could roll, (or re-roll, or add, depending on version).

The thing is rolls on the tabletop don’t have to happen all the time so a little basic addition should be okay. The exception is combat and certain versions of magic systems so I was trying to work out elegant fast solutions there, that still allow for flexibility and are realistic and fair compared to character abilities. Realism is not considered important for all fiction, but here it is. I need a solid grounding both emotionally for the characters and practically for the results of their choices and actions. The world itself is grossly unfair, monstrous, bizarre and twisted under a veneer. So the results of fate and physics and common sense don’t need to also be stacked against the player. The characters attempting to survive and better themselves in this world have it hard enough already without rigged math and implausible plot twists. But from another angle, it’s terrifying. Facing an equally skilled warrior means an equal chance of being defeated. That’s why the player is called upon to be clever and used up scare resources in a risk / reward calculation.

So if the world is cruel the game system must be fair. The player should have some trust that they won’t get screwed over by the programming. But they are almost guaranteed to be swindled, betrayed, or manipulated by the CHARACTERS of the game world.

Is this all a tall order to program in and allow for lots of choices? Yes. But as it’s part of the core of the gameplay loop it’s a priority. Rather than just writing this all out as a visual novel of grand scope with predetermined endings, I want each scenario to have some impact. I can find ways to add filler or padding for those that want longer playthroughs without fully developed content to explore. My time will be better spent making that content and also coming up with procedural (randomized) ways to make each encounter a little different. It should just be basic scripting (using Unreal 5 engine blueprints) but it will take some time figuring out how to assemble semi-randomized elements into coherent encounters.

Part of the concept of this game is introducing elements of realism in unexpected ways that go against video game tropes. For example, in most games there is no consequence for buying out all the healing herbs in a shop. Here, you might eventually hear from an upset townie in need of that item, or see a price spike, or perhaps hear a rumor about a source of the herbs… for a price of course. I love the concept but there is no doubt it will take time to actually give this much level of detail and realism. But since I don’t have to do it all at once nor make an entire world at once, it’s feasible.

Imagine a world with NO filler NPCs or grunts to dispose of, everyone has a name and a past and a family. And they are all armed, desperate, and your health doesn’t magically regenerate.

You want to see how good of a fighter they are? Make the choice to size them up and analyze their equipment and stance… it’s a Hidden roll. Here’s your (accuracy based on roll) estimate of their abilities. Did they see you looking too closely? Another hidden roll. How do they react? Hidden roll. Generally predictable consequences, but with chances of crazy results.

Hopefully this sounds like someone’s dream system and now I just have to build it all out piece by piece.