Jazzing up your gameplay/mechanics/systems

[Reives]

Never include a bunch of "systems" JUST to make your game seem different.

Agreed. Not that originality is ever a bad thing of course, but thinking purely with the goal to distinguish often makes it easy to forget the real goal of an enjoyable experience. Similar concept as trying so hard to compose music without cliche chord progressions that one ends up with something "original" that sounds horrid. (But of course, big kudos to those who can achieve both at the same time.)

Edit: Just at the idea, not at any responses in this thread.  :smile:

 

[Actingman00]

I don't find my game completely "original", it's not exactly copied but there's nothing really completely new as it is a Pokemon game but with a much, much different spin.

I'm actually super proud of myself (I mean super dee duper :P) as I have so far created a Day/Night system and a withdrawing/Depositing/Buying/Selling/Catching Pokemon system purely with events and lots of variables   So while my game is sort of original in story I find it is quite original in it's systems and things like that.  Although systems do not make a game good, it can help to make it original if the system is a major point of that game, and my two are huge in my game.

I would say a little bit more about how it is original other than it's systems but i'm not quite ready to release too much information until I have enough done.

 

[Crystalgate]

I think the best way to "Jazzing up" whatever features your choose to include is to supplement them. Whenever you choose to add something, pay attention to how it affects the gameplay and whether or not it actually contributes to anything useful.

Let's take an example as simple as a skill that causes damage and as an added effect, heals the user equal to half the damage the skill caused. That sounds useful, but that will not only depend on the skill itself, but also by how the battles are planned.

If random encounters typically works out so that you use just offensive skills during the battle and then heal up afterwards, the draining skill doesn't really help much. Sure, you could let the character heal himself so that the healer doesn't have to do it, but usually the healers have access to a superfluous amount of healing anyway. Left is boss battles. Boss battles usually lasts long enough so that you have to heal during battles. However, that doesn't mean the draining skill is neccessarily useful. If the boss uses a multi target attack, chance is you want to use a multi target healing to counter it, making the draining skill superfluous. If you get hit by a single target skill, but have a dedictated healer that can't really do anything else than heal, it probably easier to let the healer do the healing and instead have the injured character choose whatever option causes the most damage.

There are more circumstances that can render a draining skill useles despite the possessor of said skill being injured. It's fully possible that there's almost always such a circumstance present in your game thus your draining skill serves mostly as clutter in the character's skill list. Other type of skills can also end up near useles even trough there is plenty of oppertunities where they would work. Status inflicting skills won't be of much help if the vulnerable target dies from one hit anyway. Defense increasing skills serve little to no purpose if random encounters are defeated to quickly for defense to be an issue and bosses overpower defenses to such a degree that the end up killing a character with the same amount of hits regarless of whether or not to boost is applied.

Then there's always the difference between being useful and contributing to the game in a meaningful way. Let's look at the last mentioned defense increasing skill again. Random encounters still dies to quickly for there to be much of a point in tinkering with defense, however, this time we'll let it work against bosses. Let's say it's a multitarget skill with a good duration so that there's little to no point in not using it on boss battles. What you have now is a skill that will never be used in random encounters, but always in boss battles. The use of the skill is now flat out obvious. It doesn't really add to the strategy of the game. You could just remove the skill entirely and compensate by toning down the physical attacks of the bosses and the only significant consequense is that one character's skill list is now less cluttered.

Again, whenever you implement anything, do check how it contributes to your game. Don't just add something and hope it will make the game better.

I see that I have focused a lot on what not to do, so I think I take one example of how you can do something right. Time to return to the draining skill.

The first step to make it useful it to ensure that anyone who can heal also has other abilities you'd rather use. As long as there is a character who really cannot do much else than heal, the benefit of a draining skill is moot. For random encounters, they really should require more effort than just whack away and heal up afterwards. If you need to heal a certain character and every party member can contribute to either hurting enemies or mitigating the damage the enemies will will be able to inflict, then the draining skill can become very appealing to use rather than wasting a character's action on just healing. For bosses, it really helps if you can't spam multi target healing relentlessly. In that case, chance is you don't want to use a multi target healing if only two of four characters need healing and rather save it for when all are in need of it. If one of the two hurt characters has access to the draining skill, you can let him drain and the healer can cast a relative cheap single target healing on the other one. In general, if multi target healing is limited and how many and which characters need healing varies a lot, then a draining skill allows the player to avoid getting overwhelmed while still being able to hurt the boss.

 

[opaj]

A topic to make me think.  Hm.

I know it's not all about the battles, but the most unique aspect of my game (mechanics-wise) is probably the combat.  You control up to 3 characters in real time (and sometimes there's a fourth AI-controlled NPC) against up to 4 enemies.  Each PC can either be in Attack or Support mode--in Attack mode, they run to the frontlines to fight the enemies, while Support characters stick to the rear and cast magic.  Your attack mode characters inflict less damage, but of course the mellee attacks also cost less MP/SP.  If they're taking too much damage, you can attempt to dodge enemy attacks by jumping backwards, but if you retreat too much then you put your Support characters at risk, and getting hit pretty much ruins any magic casting.

Different characters have different ranges.  The MC, for instance, uses a longsword, while the token healer uses a spear.  So, if you wanted, you could have both MC and healer set for Attack mode, and the MC will absorb all of the damage for the healer while the healer uses her superior reach with the spear.

There are about 20 skillsets, and different characters can learn different skillsets.  Each skillset also gives you stat bonuses on level up (and sometimes penalty), so if you've already mastered a skillset, you might keep it equipped to get extra attack power when you level up or somesuch.

Oh, and there's this: You have HP, SP, and MP.  MP is your main pool of energy, which recovers quickly in combat.  SP is your second wind, which you can use if you're out of MP, but it doesn't recover very quickly at all.  And if you run out of MP and SP, your skills start costing HP, but do double damage to compensate.  This represents a sort of desperation mode, and some characters intentionally have lose SP/MP and high HP.  Of course, you can literally kill yourself from overexertion, and healing magic is halved when cast from this state.  (All attacks count as skills--so even if you're attacking with a sword, you can get desperation hits in.)


It's still under development, so I haven't been able to test everything in the system.  SP might be an unnecessary stat, though in theory, I think it adds an extra dynamic to the system.  I've had fun play testing it, though.  There are plenty of strategies at your disposal, and the enemies have access to any strategy you have.

 

[Bojangles]

The best way to 'Jazz-Up' a game to make it unique and fun?  You don't need all these new-fangled systems or scripts.  The best way to make a game appealing is to make it fun and interesting enough so that you don't need fancy systems to cover up a lack luster.. x]

Of course they don't hurt to add to even of the most awesome and simple games :P

I the ideas goin on x]

 

[HoRe]

My question is which is more important in an RPG game: an incredibly unique battle system and throwing levels out of the window (not to say these are bad things) or really thorough character and plot developement? I've found a few too many RPGs (even professional ones) where things are included in the world but don't actually INTERACT with the world.

Example: in an interview talking about Monsters Inc., one of the developers was asked why a chair has a big hole in the back. He simply shrugged and answered," So Sully's tail could fit there." Even the vending machines had different sized snacks in flavors like "Salt and Sour."

Slight digressing, but the point is, aside from LOOKING different, how can we as developers actually make items that FEEL different-that feel as if they've come straight out of the world we are creating? For my own personal opinion, it's movies and games that take everyday objects (or people) and turn them topsy turvy and shed a whole new light on them that gains my respect, generic dungeon crawl or no.

 

[Mundane]

I go for making the player feel like what's going on and the environment that they are immersed in is true. The story and the puzzles and the battles are not 'jazzed up' until I feel a sense of logic and flow. I make the environments as close to real as possible and give light effects where aesthetically necessary. Flow is how I jazz 'em up!