1. There are loads of RPGs without stories - any roguelike for example. Battleheart on idevices is a fantastic tactical RPG but it would have been an all time classic in my eyes if it had even the most rudimentary of stories. 2. Er, easy - example: Characters: 'we have to get through these sewers for story reasons' then you randomly generate the sewers. At the end of the sewers the characters complete whatever story motivation there was for getting through the sewers.
I do not want to derail the thread, but I MUST quote you on this, because it's my very exact opinion.
Thanks for all the support and ideas everyone! We're really glad you enjoyed the video and love to see everyone so excited about Pocket Heroes. We're taking all of your suggestions under advisement, especially taking a look at D20 rules systems, and we'll hopefully have some more details to share with everyone soon. In addition to laying out the rules we're also putting in push notifications so we can really start to play through the game as it's intended, throughout the day whenever we have free time. It will be interested to see if that changes the feel at all. We're really excited about Pocket Heroes and what we can do with the game, and the technology, in the future. Our first goal is to get something out for everyone to play and enjoy that won't have all our ambitious ideas implemented but we're definitely building everything with the idea that all of that will come afterward through updates. Thanks again, and if you have any more ideas or questions let me know.
Okay, sry i got cocky but thats not what i would call a decent story, with characters and a plot BTW Brandon, if you intend to let ppl play a game for days, could you please let us have multiple games at the same time( otherwide some ppl might just stop plqying forever during a game.... which would be a shame)
You will definitely have the ability to play multiple characters at one time. We want you to be able to play with as many character types as you like so we're going to give you that possibility. I was also just running through some old RPG articles and I found this one from Kotaku about removing the 'numbers' from the user interface in RPGs. Kotaku - Death to Numbers I just wanted to post this here to see what people's thoughts are on this. We obviously have hit points show up in our game currently but I thought it might be good to hear how you all feel about the numbers.
Argh we need numbers in RPGs for me that's one of the things I love about RPGs I love all the stats,hitpoints, damage etc. The numbers must stay
Nice article...I feel exactly like that. That's why I hope your game will have a somewhat strong story above numbers and rules. That's why I love something like: 'You found a strange sword, when you put your hand on the hilt you feel stronger.' Instead of: 'You find a +3 magic sword.' I understand that with the graphical style you choose, it would be somewhat more difficult to avoid numbers though.
I found myself largely disagreeing with this article, I know that if you are creating a role-playing game in the strictest sense, then numbers would only get in the way. However, to me one of the most intriguing and lasting parts of rpg's is managing numbers. Also, if you do decide to go the number-free route, at least make sure you have some way to tell the difference between weapons.
I appreciate the feedback on this. We definitely aren't looking to go a numbers free route, just trying to decide how many numbers need to be there. Do you need 9 different stats on your character or can we present the same information in 2 or 3? Those are the kinds of things we're trying to figure out. We're trying to capture that old school RPG feel but not shackle ourselves to old school sensibilities if there is a better way to do it.
My stance is simple: tons of numbers, the more the better (9 stats instead of 2 sounds like a vast improvement), but always presented in the most immersive, in-canon style possible. A perfect marriage of both worlds But this discussion will always come down to what player base the game is tailored towards. Casual fans will settle for less (and sometimes prefer it), hardcore RPG fans will rarely settle for less numbers when they can have more. It might sound like an oversimplification, but you probably have to decide what group you want to please primarily (primarily, as I've no doubt we hardcore RPG fans will still have plenty of fun with Pocket Heroes should you go the less-is-less route ).
Well,while I'm not exactly well learned about the whole way it works, what about a system of "hidden" stats similar to pokemon IV's? Keep the top layer simple, with the real numbers going on underneath, available to see by those who wish it. It sounds like a bit much at first, but I could see this working well and adding a whole additional layer of depth for our stat loving friends.
One stupid question: Will chars have levels (i know its dum....) If the answer is yes then i presume there will be dungeons for specific levels (like between 10-15) So could you add dungeons with chars with no level so everybody stands on equal ground? That will be freakin hard but i think as awesome (so good old gamers can truly test their skills) PS: find a way to add guild systems!
We will definitely have character levels, but we're still looking into how we'll handle level restrictions on dungeons. When we nail a few more things down I'll try to share more. In other news, Push Notifications are in! Cody and I spent most of last night cleaning up some code and connecting to Apple's Push Notification System, ever since then we've been sending turns back and forth like crazy.
Why not let the heros write the story as they go along? Or maybe that's a feature for when randomized dungeons come into play. Overall I'm not too worried about story, Dungeon Raid's intro paragraphs and class/race selection was enough to whet my imagination. Last thing I'd want to see is the game held up while f5 mulls over prose. Will chat messages show up in sequence with attacks/movement etc? I'd love to see that seamlessly integrated. Numbers, I'm fine seeing simplified digits popping up (Pocket RPG double digits were fine for me) and don't care how complicated the dice/stats/system is underneath. Also while I'm playing Pocket RPG, I typically just equip the most expensive items in the inventory. So having an over all "goodness" number like that visible would be kind to people like me who don't drool over the stats (my brother who I used to play tabletop games with is the latter). Congrats on notifications ... exiting to follow along!
Please allow this game to run on older iDevices with iOS 3.1.3! This looks awesome, especially for D&D fans!
This is actually an idea that I had the other day and we've started talking about internally. I'd like to integrate the player chat, action descriptions, and any monster dialog that we may have all into one view. It seems like that could provide a running story log for the game and maybe recreate some of that 'sitting around the table' feel that everyone misses. Anyone have thoughts or opinions on that?
Whaoh cool game :d Whoah i just found this thread and it looks awesome this classic rpg is pretty cool, but i was wondering, is there gonna be multiplayer? like a co-op dungeon kind of thing?
