In Need of Feedback

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Hey all!

I'm trying to get some stuff set up for myself here to get things rolling (while health permits) and I've got some stuff I'm throwing together for you all, but I need some feedback on it.

First of all, does anyone here have any experience with setting up an "effective" Patreon account? My medical health is just an utter mess (but I'm working on it! T^T) and I got a document of sorts written up to basically explain my "story", but I'm sure it's "far too long" and I really don't know what all to put into it or what to omit. (Also I am completely clueless in how to "dress up" a page ^^; )



Second of all, to go with that question, I've a little "project" of sorts that I've been working on for a few weeks now (..I blame the health ;__; ) but it's actually REALLY fun for me and not "hard" because it's a little "exercise"/ "experiment" in trying to work WITH my writing quirks instead of working AGAINST them. (I can be long-winded and I LOVE details, but... My hope is the the topics are interesting enough that it actually garners interest in the project and shows a little taste of how i think ^^ )

Basically... Well, I don't know what to call it, but it's basically like a "mini dev blog" series of sorts. (I probably should just create an actual blog account, but... 'til then ^^; )
These "blogs" are like a series of posts that more or less simulate what I am like anyway when I start to gush on a subject. (ask anyone I IM regularly with. They've all seen this XD; ) It's a jotting down of my thoughts and feelings on the subject, often with a musing, opinion, and perhaps most importantly, a conclusion and/or "point" that it is trying to get at.

Here is a list of the topics I have so far, to give you a "preview" of sorts of the types of subjects that have popped into mind as I started thinking about this:

(List subject to change as individual blogs are produced)
Blog 1: Biomes and "Biome Identity"
Blog 2: Item Drops and Crafting  
Blog 3: "Legendaries" and Interesting Equipment Powers
Blog 4: Followers
Blog 5: Follower AI and Orders Priority
Blog 6: Follower Fatigue System?
Blog 7: "Renewable" Content vs "Consumable" Content 
Blog 8: "Farmable" content (in the literal sense)
Blog 9: "Environmental Challenges"

These blogs are also an attempt at an experiment to get my ideas out in a more timely manner, as I realize that I can rant for hours on a subject, but I just can't write a formatted document to save my life, so maybe I just need to work with my writing style instead of try to fight it?

The blogs talk about a side-scrolling sandbox-y/survival/RPG-y game concept that I have been putting together for some time now, but the idea's sort of been cleanly split into two separate "games" based on "some ideas work better for one than for others" but they both use the same engine, and ultimately the two games share enough features that I could EASILY see them building together into the same "game" in the end. (just, with two separate "game modes" based on what you feel like playing when you load it up ^^ )

Just, it's a long and winding road to get to that point, so even if the games DO eventually "build into" each other (where effectively the end result is building both "halves" of the game), the hardest question for me is "Which part do I start with?"
(I kind of break them into "Side A" and "Side B". Named in no particular order, I guess)


Also, a preview for the first blog is here: sta.sh/027hplv5pyvm (it's a bit rough, but gives you an idea of what a blog post might look like)


As for the sides themselves...
(feel free to skip this section, I know it's a bit long, but it gives you an idea of the two games I'll be talking about at length with the blogs in some combination.)


"Side A" is more from an almost "arcade"-y perspective. 

It emphasizes rapid world exploration in veins similar to the games "Rogue Legacy" and "Terraria", but also emphasizes leveling up a character and collecting loot in the vein of a side-scrolling RPG or Diablo-like game. ("Dungeon crawler"? I'm not sure what to call "Dive in to hunt for loot drops" type games, though technically MMOs do that too.)
Of the two games, it's the more "light, casual" game that you might load up similar to throwing in a Mega Man ZX game into the ol' DS handheld and blitzing through some stages for boss clears without having to think too hard, relative to "Side B"'s concept, at least. (Easy to pick up; easy to put down. Goal is to be flexible for any play session length and provide fun entertainment)
It does several things (and I could easily do entire blogs on the nuances of this game, but.. *looks up at list* actually, I think that's the plan XD; ) but, while I could be wrong, I think the most "interesting" thing this game does is focus on creating "interesting situations" based on building characters off of not one but three different "attributes" of distinction for shaping your play style for your character. 
("One attribute" is like.. Choose your character class. It gains levels, but it always needs the same stats so getting better gear is little more than a "power-up". Your character is ONLY distinguished by its class. "Two attributes" is like.. You choose a class and choosing your character's "character race" is more than just a cosmetic thing, but also a determining factor for play style. "A flying insect race" and "a ground-based race with lifesteal and stat-steal" would play VERY differently, even when playing the same class. Thus, you have "two attributes" because of "Race" and "Class". "Three attributes" however is like... Even with the same "race" and "class", the way you choose to allocate your character stats on level-up shapes how your character plays. (This was something I ADORED about "Ragnarok Online", because you could give your characters VERY odd stat builds, but it gave them "personality" because those builds WORKED despite being potentially VERY "non-standard". (like, has anyone ever heard of a Knight with high Int and only moderate Str? Granted, you couldn't do just ANY build, but... Ragnarok Online gave a LOT of leeway to experiment with weird stuff, because a physical damage dealer with high Int could spam skills more often, thus making up for lower damage per strike) Thus, that is "three attributes" because of "Race", "Class" and "Stat Build".)

Focusing on "Side A" would be more about putting "development focus" on creating "interesting races and classes" (I relate "race" to be like picking a "game mode" to play that "class" in, because "race select" can do many things to mix up the play style of a single class. I however think that choosing race is just as important as choosing class as I think they should both shape play style equally ^^ ), and also focusing development on the "world exploration" portion of the game to assure that you have lots of interesting monsters to fight and biomes to explore (and, content to unlock ^^ ).
After the core stuff is in (and enough content to make an enjoyable game is in), development would begin on the features in "Side B" while sprinkling in new content for the "Side A" side of things to make sure both sides continue to get "attention".

To be honest, I sort of feel like it's hard to fully "sell" Side A for what I see in it, without going into detail about some examples of those class/race combos.


"Side B" is more from a "slower, long-haul game" perspective.

It emphasizes exploring your world and setting up a "thriving" city or civilization inside of it.
The "core heartbeat" of the game concept is to "Establish a Thriving City or Civilization in a Hostile Environment that would Actively Seek to Destroy It".
(my journal in doom-san.deviantart.com/journa… is pretty much the "game concept" of "Side B" ^^ )
"Side B" is a bit more in the vein of games like "Terraria" in that it emphasizes actually growing attached to your world(s) and setting up a permanent city inside of it. It would absolutely support going onto random adventures in "throw-away" world files like "Side A" does, but the emphasis is that you would always have your "Base Camp" world to come back to for your "base of operations", so if you DID embark on "throw away" world files, they would all connect back to your main world file via portals of some sort. (And, like "Side A", those extra "world files" would only be "throw away" if you wanted them to be, as they could absolutely be permanent save files linking back to the main file if you wanted to keep them.)
To accomplish the goal of the "core heartbeat" would take several systems running at once, but together they create a very interesting game, I think ^^
The game would have a "defense" component, as to have a "Hostile World" that would "Actively Seek to Destroy" your base and characters, you would need enemies/monsters that can't be stopped by simply building a wall of blocks and standing on the other side of it. And, to stop enemies that can't be stopped that simply, you need to have some way of protecting your base while you are off on an adventure with your character. My solution to that is to have a "defense" component where you can assign your other characters (more on that later) to "defend" your base against enemies. (In Starbound terms, this would be similar to how NPC villages in Starbound have Guard NPCs scattered throughout the villages)
Once you have characters in place defending your village, that establishes a "safe zone" against the hostility of the world, as the world is "pushing" and your characters are "pushing back". But... That leads to the OTHER part of the "core heartbeat" of the concept: "Establish a Thriving City or Civilization".
Establishing a "safe zone" handles the "establishing" part, but.. What about the "Thriving City" part?
Merely having characters guarding your character's room and stash of items isn't much of a "thriving" city, is it?
"Side B" addresses this "problem" in a few ways, but, listed in no particular order:
- "Breeding Sim": You obtain characters for your base by exploring the world and looking for fellow survivors of whatever sort of event took place before the events of the start of the game as per the game world's overall "plot" / "premise". These characters come in a wide variety of races (think "monster girls") beyond just "human", and some of them may have traits that would be VERY useful your city and you may want more of them. Thus, tapping into probably too many hours of playing an ero Flash game called "Breeding Season" (hey, I like the concept X3; ), I realize I like the "genetics sim" aspect of things and I wanted to make a game with "breeding sim" components.  ...And the game concept I use as thematic material for this concept (which I've nicknamed the game from doom-san.deviantart.com/art/Ga… the "Sushiko Girls" game X3; ) actually featured that game mechanic as well, so, it's in X3;  Through mixing the traits of multiple characters you may have found, you can produce more characters that can help you protect and otherwise maintain your base, as well as give you more characters to play with through a system allowing you to switch control of your characters at any time. (possibly with some restrictions).  Thus, while you may have started the game with a specific character, every character you recruit could become your next "main" character, as every character is a part of your overall "team".
- "Non-Combat Professions": As you pick up new characters from exploring, you also gain access to new character classes and professions that you might not have had access to before. (like learning new battle classes or crafting profession classes.) These characters would handle "Civic" jobs like making equipment, making food and other non-combat-oriented "roles" you could perceive characters in a village having. Unless these characters also have some battle class experience, they might be pretty helpless and need to be defended or else they're pretty much "free lunch" for the monsters ^^;
But... That's not really enough to make your world feel "alive" either, is it?
- "Automation": This feature will pretty much need its own blog to discuss it at any real length, and I think the "Followers" and/or "Follower AI" blogs get into it a bit.
But.. The absolute shortest I can try to say it is.. "You can assign your characters to do AI tasks automatically, like "crafting items you ran out of" and "supplying loot chests with items collected from monsters your defenders killed". 
That doesn't even really scratch the tip, but with using simple character AI assignments to even just do things as simple as "Keep Chest B supplied with X amount of Item A from Chest A" allows you to set up a network of bussing items around from raw loot to loot chests to crafting characters to process them into crafting materials (by taking them from one chest, processing them, and putting them into another) to crafting those materials into usable items and equipment, all automatically as long as the monsters drop the items needed to craft those things.
I'm sure I'm skipping something (But, it's late, and I don't want to get TOO "Information Overload"-y), but that's sort of the gist of that.
I feel like... between giving your defenders something to protect and an "automation" system for getting your characters into doing something more useful than loafing around and opening doors to let monsters into your base (*glares at Guide and Merchant from Terraria* ), it should breathe quite a bit of "life" into the game ^^  Especially as the "automation" system taps into AI stuff that might really open up the game in terms of things you could come up with. (like setting up caravans of NPCs to carry "overflow" from your loot chests in an outpost back to your main base, or having cooking-type NPCs producing food items that your caravans distribute to the rest of your outposts ^^ ..And then there's assigning combat NPCs to guard your caravans as well ^^ There's other logistics involved, but this's just examples of how "deep" the system can get if you really wanted to go "deep" with it)

Focusing on "Side B" would be focusing more on building the infrastructure for setting up cities in the world. It is "sandbox/survival", but with the added "appeal" of being able to "breathe life" into the game with an intuitive (..hopefully) and simple AI system that allows you to put your other characters to work for you so the world really feels "alive". Development also focuses on "non-combative" classes/professions, as "Side A" is more explicitly focused on "Combat Classes" and "Side B" would have a lot of room to create interesting "non-combat" classes to help improve your "civilization". The focus of "Side B" would be in establishing those different parts that make that "Core Heartbeat" of "Side B" come alive, and then focus on the "world" and "battle" aspects present in "Side A". ("Side B" would also focus much more on the "crafting material item drops" portion of monster loot than "Side A" would, as "Side A" could play with just "chance on kill to drop an equipment item" for a long time before I start implementing the "Side B" features and start adding in "crafting")



In short: if "Side A" is an emphasis on "World Exploration" and "Battle System" (Mega Man X and ZX are core inspirations there for me for battle), "Side B" is more about "What to do with that world after you've found it" as it instead focuses on the interesting things you can do in establishing villages/forts/castles/whatever in the world as you explore it. ^^
(If "Side A" is about exploring and fighting your way through dangerous climates/biomes, I see "Side B" as being about setting up forts in those climates/biomes and overcoming those challenges before moving onto even harder biomes. ....and setting up trade routes between your forts as you grow your economy by gaining access to more new materials to play with ^^ You could still DO the "Side A" way in "Side B", just "Side B" makes for a "longer-haul" game geared toward creating a thriving empire and leveling your characters over many "play sessions", while "Side A" is expressly focused on just setting out and leveling your character ^^)



I could ask you now, which "side" interests you more, but I'm more keen to see what you think after I've talked about the contents of these blogs some more ^__^

(Depending on the popularity of these journals/"blogs" and how my health is feeling, I may start up another series of blogs on my other game concepts, though I personally feel that the game I am describing here is my "magnum opus" of sorts, for my current sentiments as a designer. I am probably most excited for this game, though with "overwhelming" demand, I may "grudgingly" go for one of the other projects instead XD; )


And, third of all..
I suppose it's a weird addendum to put at the end of a possibly-long journal, but...
Do you think I should do these "mini-blogs" as Literature Submissions or as Journals?

(poll for question at doom-san.deviantart.com/journa… )
© 2015 - 2024 Doom-san
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Maya-Lyfendha's avatar
Side A for me. Anything I can pick up and play and not have to risk and grind/farm/play for hours at a time to get what I need is what I dig. I start to feel fatigued when I have to commit and plan out what I want to do with a game, and being able to play through a game multiple times through muscle memory to see how well I do or trying different set-ups is always fun! I like experimenting and action, and it really helps if I know what I wanna do and when I wanna do it.