Hello RPG fans, My name is Zach and I'm the lead developer for a new RPG being developed by a new studio named Instant Lazer. We're trying our best to bring a really unique gaming experience to the iPhone, something that is not an easy thing to do. We've recently finished up the majority of the abilities on the player's side (over 200 skills!), and am about to begin on the enemy AI for battles. This is where you come in. We really want the enemies to feel "intelligent," rather than the brutish damage dealers you have in most RPGs. I don't want to give away too much of the battle system, but I will say that it is party based. It is also not turn-based. So I ask you fans of epic battles, what do you want in your enemies? What would make battles feel really engaging? Outside of enemy AI, what do you look for to give battles a real feel of tension and suspense? And heck, while you're at it, just what do you think would be cool in an RPG on the iPhone? Post below, or feel free to PM me with your thoughts. PS We don't have a ton of art ready yet, but I know we all like images so here's a rough draft of a demon you'll be fighting:
Kinda hard to say, not knowing how the combat system will be. However, it would be cool to see enemies that don't just stand there attacking/casting, etc. Enemies that move around, jump around, and have specials would be cool. And as for bosses, things like phases (similar to WoW bosses) would be nice. Again, it's something different to go against rather than a boss that just hits hard and has a ton of health. Also, seeing how the combat is party based, multi character attacks would give more dynamics to the fights. Say, your burly Conan type guy picks up your smaller rogue and flings him at the enemies. I look forward to hearing more about this game BTW, your attachment doesn't work
That's weird. It should be fixed now. Great points too. I guess I should say that the battles aren't action rpg-like, but rather jrpg-like. There's movement in animations, but not really movement in the sense that you would need to position your characters in order to hit anything. Love the boss phase idea, I'll make sure to use that.
look at classic beat em ups, the bad dude knows when to block, when to counter, and when to special your ass. I'd love to see the bad guy be bad ass.
I think what would add to the game is scaling AI for not just enemies, but party members as well. My idea is this: Intelligence/Perception or wisdom stat determines the multiplier at which "AI XP" is gained. This determines how smart things are in combat. But Intelligence and the Perception or Wisdom stat would also determine starting AI level. This is a system I'd love to see in more RPGs, and I'd include it in my own if I knew how to code. That way the more battles a party member survives, not only the more powerful do they become, but the more wise in tactical decisions- any person who's been in a real fight can tell you that you get better at making calls in combat after you survive enough fights to the death. This is something I learned secondhand from my father, who has been in both the military and external conflicts.
I was definitely going to try to implement scaling of the AI, but I'm not sure what you mean by having the party scale as well. The party won't be AI based, instead they're controlled by the player. Did you have something in mind other than party AI, or was the idea to have all the AI scaling with level or experience?
I've seen a lot of RPG's and the KRPG's mostly have 'cute kiddie' type graphics/characters. I wish we could have something like the old Ultima IV type games which were on the Amiga in the 90's. A lot of gamers here arent 14 and dont want 'cute' graphics. Ultima had very simple graphics but the game had soooo much depth, was totally non-linear and it felt like a 'world' at your fingertips. I'm after a classic RPG with non-cute graphics. I hope yours is like that
We're definitely working for non-cute graphics. How does the demon I posted catch you? We're definitely staying away from the anime feel that a lot of the KRPGs have. The graphics are more in the vein of the snes FFs, but not really retro and pixelated. Ultima IV holds a special place in my heart (oh shepherds), and there's a mechanic in The Epic of Roderick that owes itself to that game.
Yep looks great. Dont get me wrong i'm glad there are KRPG's out there but just seems to be so many. Glad youre a fan of Ultima as well. Classic times back then, simple graphics but a huge brilliant world to discover (Same with the game Elite, simple wireframe graphics but one huge addictive game). Looking forward to seeing this game
For a party based fighting system I'm sure you have already implemented different classes(tank, healer etc.). But for me I would like to see several different strategies to go about playing the game. E.g. a mage that can dish huge amounts of healing by the time you reach endgame or he can beef up the other part members' abilities such as defense(so he doesn't need such a high healing stat), attack and even their special skills to add a sense of reliability on the whole group as opposed to one overpowered beast in the bunch. And having different ways to beat the game adds a lot of replayability. I can suggest a lot more but I'd rather keep it short as possible. Plus I'm not even sure if this fits into the style of gameplay you have planned but this is just a suggestion.
I hear you on the strategic element. One thing we're really trying to do is have as many of skills as possible be meaningful from when you get them to the end of the game. With over 200 skills, that's a pretty tall order, but I think we have a good mechanic that helps keep everything relevant throughout the game. With that many skills, there should feel like plenty of variety in strategy. Replayability is an interesting topic. I've played some games that I thought had great replayability (Star Ocean: Second Story comes to mind), but checking out some reviews of that it seemed that a lot of people felt it had little to no replayability. What gives an RPG replayability? And would you rather have a deep game that's only really good the first play-through, or a game with high replayability?
With FF Tactics coming out, I'm not sure if SRPG is the right genre to be working in right now. I'd love to make an SRPG like Shining Force or Master of Monsters some day. If TEoR is successful, I'll bump that up the list for you.
This most certainly is a legitimate game in development. We should be done with the alpha around the end of this month and looking to beta some time in September. If you've played Game Dev Story, we're about halfway through the focusing on the graphics part. I'll start updating the twitter more often now that I know someone's looking. And I promise once we have something awesome to show it'll be here first thing.
Yeah that's true. That was my shining nostalgia speaking. I thought of shining force cuz your demon kinda looks like a dragonewt especially Elliott hehe. Heh your new game sounds interesting. Oh and yeah tactics is good but doesnt hold a place in my heart like shining force.
It's important more iOS RPG content get developed and I think there is a lot of demand so although it seems there is a concern no one is following that's not the case. From very early indication this could be a very hot game if you keep good progress.
I completely agree. In the spirit of this thread, I'm now focusing on a lot of settings. I'd like to make as many elements customizable as possible (while maintaining balance and gameplay). What are some things you wish you could customize in your RPGs? For example, do you like tapping to a location or using a virtual d-pad? Do you like your characters to power to obscene levels and lay down the 9999s or do you prefer keeping things on a smaller scale? If you were making a JRPG, what would you want to change from the formula? Note: The game's not a JRPG, but that's the genre that I guess it's closest to insofar as the game's broken up into walking around times and battle times.
