TESTING NON-LINEAR RPG MECHANICS

I'm ValisFan. I used to go by the name of "RPG Cove" on GamingW. And I made 2 games before, Comradis and Trap and Search on RPG Maker 2000. The old RPG Cove website is still up. www.rpgcove2000.0catch.com

I'm making a new non-linear sandbox type game in RPG Maker 2003. If you've played Elder Scrolls: Morrowind or Oblivion, Fallout 2, or tabletop RPGs, then this should appeal to you.

Similar to Fallout, this game will have a skills system, where you can use skills out of battle. The skills I'm using are Theft, Lockpicking, Athletics, Speechcraft, Alchemy, and Barter. You choose your hero class at the beginning of the game, and each character has a differenct set of skills. For example...



Here, the thief rolls a 15 to steal a sword.

And its a success


However, the sorcerer has a much lower theft skill than the thief, so he rolls a lower number to steal.


As a consequence, the guard notices him.


And attacks.

And just like in Fallout or Elder Scrolls. You can kill the guard and take the sword, in fact, you can kill nearly every NPC in the game! There are many items to steal, many locks to pick, potions to brew, NPCs to talk to. I really am trying to model this game after Elder Scrolls Morrowind. So far, in the demo, I have made a castle with a few quests and items inside, a forest village, where you can join the Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, and Thieves Guild. A forest will plants you can pick, to make potions with, and a cave.


I basically need people to test the demo, try out the classes, do a few quests, join some guilds, and test out the skills systems. In more detail the skills are

Theft- Steal items without getting caught.
Lockpicking- Pick locks on doors and chests
Speechcraft- talk to people, learn their secrets or some advice
Barter- gain extra money when buying or selling items
Athletics- climb cliffs or buildings
Alchemy- not yet implemented, but it allows you to create potions using plants

I've done all this in a matter of about 3 weeks. I designed this project so that I can easily include maps and quests from other people. Because I don't intend to complete ther entire world by myself. It would be fairly easy to let others design a few dungeons or cities and quests, since this is a sandbox type game, it really does not have a concrete story path that HAS to be followed.

If I get enough interest in this project, then I will release a template game that easily allows assigned members to create entire sidequest lines, so I can expand the world to make it more open ended like Fallout.

Here's the download, don't mind any errors, since this is basically just a pre-alpha used for feedback and to generate interest in a sandbox RPG for RPG Maker 2003. Give me your feedback on if this is a good idea, and is this something which you would be interested in making a few maps and quests for.

http://www.mediafire.com/?vq1xd8b09ytsv41