YUGIJAK'S PROFILE

So I had an idea after surfing around trying to find merchant and store-running style games similar to that of 'Swords and Potions' (which is a mercantile game available on Armor Games and one I highly recommend playing)

The principle is this:

You play as a wizarding clan hiding from the common folk for fear of witch hunts. Using spells, sweet-talking, and some gold (possibly more than you should have) you've purchased a house that doubles as a store, and must now run it in such a way as to provide income while evading accusations of being a witch.

The RPG elements are meant to blend in with the marketing and economy. Each day you can interact with customers that enter the store to sell them items, take on quests (of a sort), listen to news and try to negotiate your position within the town.

Then, during the night you are allowed to freely interact with the rest of the building like the Backroom and Basement Housing. Now during this you'll collect, restock, and re-select what items your various 'workstations' will craft during the day. You can also send off various caravans to acquire goods not available within town or to ship things around the countryside. In addition to this you have a Record Book which you can...correct...if necessary to try to avoid payments and debt. But keep in mind that things cannot come from or vanish into thin air. It must go somewhere.

Throughout all of this you have consistent access to a list of spells and other magical aids to give you some 'leverage' when negotiating or making deals/sales. But again this world fears magic at it gives way to technology, so each use can be risky and always has consequences. You also have access to 'Underworld dealings' from your Friendly Neighborhood demon, which can be used at steep costs to give you major advantages.

The goal of each game is different, with the first being this: to survive and secure footing by accruing about 20,000 gold.

My question is this:

How might I implement the mechanics of this game in RPG maker, as I was thinking it might be the best engine to do so. I'm not familiar with it, so I thought I'd ask.

Would you by chance be willing to try using VX Ace? I know someone who's group is working on a Kirby RPG that is very far in development and they need more programmers.

I'm certain they would really appreciate the help.

author=Milennin
I'm glad to know that 1 year after that post it all turned out to be false alarm. Imagine if it wasn't, though. Those people would have made a complete game using your vague, not so unique ideas, and having it published on Steam in less than 1 week. That would actually be pretty amazing.

The idea is more unique than you think. I've actually done some research on this concept and there isn't a game out there that handles the combat this way.

author=facesforce
Here is my best advice here: First take a sheet of paper, cut it into "cards" and write what they are going to do. If you are going to design a card game, it needs to be practical enough to function without a program as well. Set up a basic "AI" deck for you to fight against. This will let you refine your system.
It sounds like you have alot of ideas here, but not all of them are going to be fun or practical.I get the idea of having stats, it's a rpg staple, but in a deck based battle, card draw and card selection is FAR more important. If you have higher grade cards in MTG for example, you are going to have more options. The same applies to here, and it is for this reason that stats don't work in this format. It just makes the game completely unbalanced and you lose most control to do damage control to try to re-balance it later. Simplicity is your friend.

So, once you work out a practical prototype, go download Game Maker and learn how to use the interface. Don't even dare use rpg maker, you will just dig yourself into a hole where you will spend months, even years using conditional branches, loops, variables and labels in order to even get a demo to function properly.

The idea is to bridge both stats and cards. The stats can allow you to increase your odds with specific cards and improve the character's ability to work, and the cards will give you abilities you can draw from to use. The battle isn't outright deck-based. It's more like the deck is your equipment, and you have to choose what abilities you take into battle. Even then you won't have access to all of them all of the time, so you have to account for that.

That said, you make an excellent point. I should work out the card-based elements, maybe using a combination of D&D character sheets and card-like placeholders so I can get a physical representation of how the idea is supposed to work.


Off topic I apologize for not following up for a year. I've been...really distracted. But it's high time to get myself in gear.

I guess I can take a look at it. Story is one of the few things I feel is a strong point for me, so I'll see if I can provide any insight.

Wow, that sounds like me (but instead I'm a writer who has a penchant for planning games).

I have a folder with a crap ton of ideas I've had for various games, but no idea how to program them. I'd love to Kickstart them, but I want to make sure I can finish them first.

Do you think I could discuss them with you? Maybe you could give me some tips or ideas how to start programming them? I'd love to maybe help you find a style or mood for your game.