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DFalcon
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Software engineer and amateur game developer with a focus on challenging non-twitch gameplay. I set the bar for "challenging" pretty high.
Other major chunks of interest go toward reading, math and tabletop games of many stripes.
Other major chunks of interest go toward reading, math and tabletop games of many stripes.
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Oxtongue Heroes
Update ( 3/30/2011 ) - Culminating Checklist III, Return to Work after Abscence
What's up with the damn profanity?
I don't mind swearing in moderation or for impact. When a character's every third word is "fucking" I usually get bored quickly.
I actually find the fantasy/medieval objection interesting, because although people have always sworn, the ways they've done so and the words they've used have changed over time. For example, blasphemy packs a lot less punch nowadays. It can be tricky to pull off the right atmosphere with an audience that doesn't necessarily realize that change, especially viscerally. At least if you make up your own swears here people won't be feeling "'Damn'? Couldn't he have picked about 200 more forceful things to say?"
(I've also read, though not from any particularly reputable source, that medieval oaths were more likely to occur as part of actual sentences and not the interjectory "Oh shit!" sort of thing.)
I actually find the fantasy/medieval objection interesting, because although people have always sworn, the ways they've done so and the words they've used have changed over time. For example, blasphemy packs a lot less punch nowadays. It can be tricky to pull off the right atmosphere with an audience that doesn't necessarily realize that change, especially viscerally. At least if you make up your own swears here people won't be feeling "'Damn'? Couldn't he have picked about 200 more forceful things to say?"
(I've also read, though not from any particularly reputable source, that medieval oaths were more likely to occur as part of actual sentences and not the interjectory "Oh shit!" sort of thing.)
Emo Require: Do RPGs need a story?
I would hardly suggest that a story is required, but it can be useful to remember the things having a story gets you that aren't directly related to its depth. Providing goals was mentioned upthread, for example; I would also mention pacing, because dungeon-dungeon-dungeon can be a strain.
Can you make arrays in rm2k3?
It's not so much arrays plural as it is that the entire set of variables is one big array. If you need an array, you just set aside a chunk (of course it won't be zero-indexed, but that's what you get for using 2k3). One of the options in the variable-change event will let you access the big array using a particular variable as array index.
The Dedicated Healer
LockeZ:
Well, I like to think that a team of four dedicated white mages will be eventually dead in most cases. I wasn't thinking so much about evening out the large-scale problem as providing room for a little undershoot. Things with more significant effects I can think of tend to be less systematic - like giving some boss fights a lot of enemies and making killing off a few fast important.
Anyway, to go back to your original question, I don't really mind being forced to have a dedicated healer, but it's nice if I have to think a little about what to do with that character.
Well, I like to think that a team of four dedicated white mages will be eventually dead in most cases. I wasn't thinking so much about evening out the large-scale problem as providing room for a little undershoot. Things with more significant effects I can think of tend to be less systematic - like giving some boss fights a lot of enemies and making killing off a few fast important.
Anyway, to go back to your original question, I don't really mind being forced to have a dedicated healer, but it's nice if I have to think a little about what to do with that character.
The Dedicated Healer
Suppose I have the usual sort of jRPG with a fixed-size party and characters specialized on an offense vs. healing continuum.
Q. What's the right amount of healing for a battle?
A. Just enough to keep everybody active. More and you'll start to do less than optimal damage. Less and you start to lose characters faster than you can regain them. Of course, missing this optimum point is basically safe on one side and doom on the other.
So make it not that. When somebody dies, give the rest of the party a buff for a while; or give people at low HP a much better chance of avoiding damage, so it's more worthwhile to keep a key character or two healed than the whole group; or give people a health level where their strength starts to drop a bit, so optimum healing becomes a matter of keeping them at that point rather than just alive, and the player has a little room to recover; just to think of a few things off-hand.
On the other side, healing could use resources that the player actually cares about, for once.
Q. What's the right amount of healing for a battle?
A. Just enough to keep everybody active. More and you'll start to do less than optimal damage. Less and you start to lose characters faster than you can regain them. Of course, missing this optimum point is basically safe on one side and doom on the other.
So make it not that. When somebody dies, give the rest of the party a buff for a while; or give people at low HP a much better chance of avoiding damage, so it's more worthwhile to keep a key character or two healed than the whole group; or give people a health level where their strength starts to drop a bit, so optimum healing becomes a matter of keeping them at that point rather than just alive, and the player has a little room to recover; just to think of a few things off-hand.
On the other side, healing could use resources that the player actually cares about, for once.
RMN Closing Down April 2nd
I wish WIP would reconsider. I'm not going to say he should, precisely - I'm sure I don't know everything that went into the decision, but if nothing else running something like this can be a big drain on time and energy people want to use on other things sometimes.
Even without getting into where we touch on other genres, I think this is the best, most useful RM or indie RPG site around. Even - I know it's popular and in some ways justified to bash the forums, but I don't really see the level and variety of RPG design discussion we have in the game design forums at other places.
I owe WIP and Holbert a fair bit, going back nearly 6 years to when they let me mooch some random space to put up my game, before anything of current RMN existed. (If not more - did I have any earlier demos up here?) And though my activity level has varied, it's always been good to have RMN around - so, thanks, WIP.
That said, especially because it has been successful enough to become the first point of call (e.g., who does TVTropes link to for RM games? Not RRR...) and has built up quite an archive, I hope you do consider a bit more of an exit strategy than just nuking the site. Handing it over, making the data available in a way that someone can use it, asking for some particular support, or something else - I'm not sure what exactly you'd find most palatable. Having spent years with it, I'm sure you at least want to end things in a way you won't regret later.
And no, I don't know a decent web designer off-hand. If that's the single key to RMN's salvation I might need a bit more of a clue. =)
Even without getting into where we touch on other genres, I think this is the best, most useful RM or indie RPG site around. Even - I know it's popular and in some ways justified to bash the forums, but I don't really see the level and variety of RPG design discussion we have in the game design forums at other places.
I owe WIP and Holbert a fair bit, going back nearly 6 years to when they let me mooch some random space to put up my game, before anything of current RMN existed. (If not more - did I have any earlier demos up here?) And though my activity level has varied, it's always been good to have RMN around - so, thanks, WIP.
That said, especially because it has been successful enough to become the first point of call (e.g., who does TVTropes link to for RM games? Not RRR...) and has built up quite an archive, I hope you do consider a bit more of an exit strategy than just nuking the site. Handing it over, making the data available in a way that someone can use it, asking for some particular support, or something else - I'm not sure what exactly you'd find most palatable. Having spent years with it, I'm sure you at least want to end things in a way you won't regret later.
And no, I don't know a decent web designer off-hand. If that's the single key to RMN's salvation I might need a bit more of a clue. =)
Healbot Express: Convincing Players to Drop the Healer Chick
One benefit of a traditional reactive healer that Einander didn't touch on - these are often the characters who can heal outside of battle, meaning they don't have to waste turns on it in battle. That can be a valuable trait for any character when getting through pre-boss fights. Don't know how you have this planned, though it sounds like at least some skill-powering resources may evaporate at the end of combat.
(Have to agree about the dominance of a turtling strategy in many games. My usual CT endgame party is Crono/Frog/Marle.)
(Have to agree about the dominance of a turtling strategy in many games. My usual CT endgame party is Crono/Frog/Marle.)
Oxtongue Heroes
Yeah, all current names are from the 1989 Atlantic hurricane list. Wasn't sure anyone would notice.
No particular reason for that year, but (particularly when I was considering doing this with a Dwarf Fortress-like interface) I figured it'd be convenient to be able to abbreviate PCs with one letter. While it does seem somewhat apt to name RPG characters after forces of destruction, if it bothers anyone I'll probably rename most of them.
No particular reason for that year, but (particularly when I was considering doing this with a Dwarf Fortress-like interface) I figured it'd be convenient to be able to abbreviate PCs with one letter. While it does seem somewhat apt to name RPG characters after forces of destruction, if it bothers anyone I'll probably rename most of them.
Games - Tester
Games - Other
