Final design topic (iPhone RPG)

[Gnome]

I still don't see how we can keep this "simple" without it being cliche

[Gan]

You have a point Gnome.
Ah, that's better WH. Though the guy sets out on the quest only to be placed back into his original job? No gold, promotions, a women's hand, or possibly another reward of some kind?
Note to all: Keep the storyline within the game mechanics and resources. Use what sprites we have, stick to the plan: Simple, make the storyline setting fit to the visual setting(tiles/maps).

Going off of what Gnome said, let's not worry about cliche. Any rpg created can be deemed as cliche because they all contain similar pieces of each other. What we can do is make a traditional rpg and use all of your massive amounts of ingenuity to make it as unique and addicting as possible.


-Gandolf

[EqwanoX]

the clue idea is lame cause the player could potentially guess or figure out where the boss is hiding right off the bat. if anything make it already known where the boss is (giant fortress) and the player needs to level up by doing other missions and obtain an object like a key or explosive that allows him to enter the fortress

make a giant world map with caves and forests to explore and obtain items from. with ahouse or a shop here and there, like in moonfable, thats what made that game fun, the world map

[WarHampster]

Well I was thinking that the antagonist's lair wouldn't even be reachable until the clues are found. The player would need to use the clues to find the other clues (lol) and then finally find all of them to get to the lair.

Grind levels and get a key to get into giant fortress? Oh, I'll just go play EVERY RPG EVER. Seriously, listen to yourselves:

No gold, promotions, a women's hand, or possibly another reward of some kind?

Why can't we try to make things interesting by leaving out stuff like this?

"The young whatever ventures out to level up, find key, and fight evil guy to get princess!"

Or

"Shamed by his expulsion from the whatever guild, the protagonist stumbles into the swamp after the antagonist, with no real plan or goal other than redeeming himself, bent on searching the whole area until he finds evil dude."

I was actually thinking to not have a world map at the start of the game, and make the player actually explore a bit. That would heighten the sense of searching for someone.

I still don't see how we can keep this "simple" without it being cliche

I'm trying very hard to do just that P:

[Gnome]

Actually WH's idea is kind of similar to my story I wrote (which was terrible but the gist of it is ok)

Protagonist: The "Time Hermit" can travel through time, but acts a bit strange because of his many years of loneliness.

Antagonist: Evil Overlord who took over the world in the present.

Setting: The present is a cesspool, and all hope is gone. The past gets less and less bleak.

Situation: Try to stop the past from turning into the present. Fight, collect items, clues, and enough info and strength to defeat the evil guy.

[Connors]

I don't know a lot about this thing yet but I'm already getting ideas from what I'm reading here. I feel like I'm the only one not contributing.

I liked the idea of starting out without a map and filling it in later.
I think it would be fun if it wasn't really obviously linear and most of the map is open right away, so part of the game is deciding whether you're ready to enter certain areas.
EDIT: (I read some more of this thread lol) I think this fits with the ideas of searching around a lot but you wouldn't necessarily need "clues". You might have to revisit some parts of the map though.
Also,

It's a bit vague, though what exactly are steampunk robots?

-Gandolf

i'd try to explain but you should probably just google "steam punk". I think it's pretty cool but it might not be a good idea because of the "simple" part.