Concept Game layout and feedback

[froggy]

Hello,

 

I've been working on my project World of Adea for quite a while. While i originally only intended to only do mapping for fun whenever i felt like it, it ended up as something i wanted to finish/be playable, while there's quite a bit of content playable for Adea i felt there was something missing. Since i originally used it just for mapping since that's what i enjoy the most, i had zero plan or thought behind what i was creating.

 

Intersect has also come a long way since i started doing anything with it, with those things combined, i felt Adea was rather lacking in player progression, balancing, zones, etc, just over all simply put.

 

So a while back i started ripping some tiles from games that (there are rips by game rippers, but they're just raw sheets) and editing them myself to make them fit to a 32x32 grid. It has taken many many hours.. Not just to make them fit, but to edit pixels since they're not intended for a 32x32 system. From what i can tell, tidbits of graphics from these games have been used over the years, but not the parts i've customized myself. A part from this, i also dabble in pixel art, i've made a few of my own item paperdolls, and monster sprites. They can be found in my Adea thread.

 

An important aspect that i will completely ignore for now, and possibly change in the future, is how i do paperdolls. I made them overly complicated, adding 'attack' animations with the movement frames. I will not do this now, and instead just use the movement frames for attacking. This will also allow me to use more sprites, change them easier (since i used a modified sprite as my base sprite), and also use bows/ranged attack weapons.

 

With that said, I've decided to put Adea on the shelf and move on to a new and more well planned project.

 

So before i delve into my plans for a game that i will spend most of my game creating time on, here are a few sample screenshots of the graphics mentioned above:

https://imgur.com/a/fjQjy0q

 

To start with, any projects i've made over all my years of game developing has just been raw mapping and some combat, never created a thought out story line. I intend to change this, by combining a base story, and then individual stories depending on the class you pick. Now, to be clear, there is a base story that everyone starts out with, but that quickly branches for each player. I've never been a fan of the 'great story line' where your path is laid out in front of you, with few deviations.

 

What i've been thinking goes a long the lines of this:

After character creation you discover you are part of your countries army, which is in the process of beginning an invasion of a neighboring continent. After you set sail, and i was thinking some type of short event movement controlled intro here, you land at an island a ways out in the ocean outside your target destination. This zone acts as the tutorial zone. You gain a few levels, during those levels you get to do a few simple tasks gathering provisions for the rest of the journey, to have the player acquaint themselves with the various schools of attack(melee, ranged, caster), and then set sail again for the mainland, however during the last stretch of ocean there's a massive storm, which sinks the entire fleet. You then wash ashore and start working your way inland, discovering a village (which is just outside Nusst, the capital of the continent). Nusst controls the entire region and most of the continent. There are outposts in every village/town to enforce rule, protect the citizens and collect taxes, etc. They also serve as quest hubs.

 

Once there, the player decides it would be best to try to blend in, claim you are from a distant village looking for work, and thus you start your journey. Here is where it starts to branch off. I will include some elements from Adea, such as the class advancement system etc. Same with how i intended to create story lines. Each class will be given a quest chain that 'never ends'. It's purpose is to be able to further your class and have a type of goal, this quest chain is partially gated by content level, with dungeons and such being included in the quest objectives. This part includes whether you wish to work your way up the military ranks of the ruling nation or not, meaning you can freelance if you so desire.

 

One of the things that will further your choices even more, and this part is not fully fleshed out (see below about organizations) is factions/reputation.

 

Apart from your class quest chains i've put together a neat little idea, and that is organizations and factions. One thing i find is lacking in a lot of games is the villain groups. WoW does this excellently (or did, i haven't played the later expansions).

 

So i've decided to take a page out of their book and implement that into my game. You can expect to have frequent encounters with:

 

The Jade Alliance - These guys are a bit of a mix between all type of characters, bandits, outlaw mages, sellswords, and the likes, that banded together under one banner. They often raid supply houses and supply convoys.

Western Trading Union - A group of excellent smugglers, thieves, and mercenaries united together to safely steal, ship, and sell various materials and resources.

Excavators Company  - The excavators company is a  shady group of wealthy people who hire workers to excavate and plunder the land for resources. This group often works together with the Western Trading Union.

The Southsea Raiders - A fearsome fleet of pirates who regularly attack and capture unprotected vessels out on the open sea. They also have a strong presence along coastlines and many harbors.

 

Apart from the villainous type of groups, i've got plenty of good groups and organizations planned. While the groups mentioned above are mostly for player progression combat and quests, the good groups will serve as quest hubs etc.

 

Features/ideas I intend to implement line by line:

Fully open world

Bounty System

Encouraged World PvP

Different Zone types with individual rules

And all the usual jizzyjazz games nowadays has

 

As you might be able to tell, i'm not much of a storyteller. Just not my strong suite, i'm rather unsure about the direction i'm headed with the game in general, but over all i'm quite satisfied and think it will be a lot of fun if executed properly. That is why i made this thread, since I work alone it is difficult to see if an idea is decent or not. 

 

So, based on the short idea and ideas i've posted, any thoughts? I'd love some feedback  

 

Worth noting, since i have a general outline of what i want to do, i've been developing and mapping for quite some time now, but i've halted enough so that i can still implement changes to the ideas above.