For Immersive Sims and other types of systematic games, you can see that the player character, both narratively and in gameplay, becomes the big, powerful one over time, and becomes the ultimate boss. However, with this mecahnics and systems, I've thought more about using this, but rather not in the player's advantage. ​ Using the systems, rather than to typically empower the player, would be used to instill fear and increase tension. For one example that inspired me, was Far Cry 2, and how fire spreading and noise attracting nearby enemies can wreak havoc and make a problem much, much worse ..read more

If I see another "horror" game that's just a flashlight searching around somewhere dark, especially with psuedo-90s graphics, I'm gonna puke. There is barely any innovation left. Nearly nobody is going for a new look or a new angle. New mechanics are few and far between. Everything is just some derivative mashup. Even the top posts on the engine subreddits are mostly memes. I look at the YouTube devlogs and it's mostly the blind leading the blind. I look at the Twitter feeds and almost every post is someone showing off something that isn't innovative or interesting. I feel like there's a soci ..read more

Imagine a survival-sandbox game like necesse, core keeper, cleanup on isle goblin. The idea of the game is a progression tied to the development of the settlement. However, the settlement does not belong to the player, he can only trade with the inhabitants in order for the settlement to have the resources necessary to build/improve buildings. In more developed buildings the player can buy better equipment. A similar idea is realized in the modification millenaire in the game Minecraft submitted by /u/Flashy_Egg_3997 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

I have a very stupid design thing I'm trying to solve: In my party based classless RPG game, i want the characters to have a weapon proficiency skills for different weapon types (swords, guns, unarmed, maces etc.), the characters add their skill level to the attack roll when using that weapon. The characters will be able to train between missions to level up certain skills based on what type of training they pick and i want to have the system do something like this: When you level up a weapon category you still get some bonus to fighting with other weapons meaning that even if you put all you ..read more

Hi all!! I’ve made a few posts to reddit communities about this, but I think this might be the best place. I’m trying to incorporate a lot of aspects of life in my game to be really inclusive (disabilities, different cultures, etc.) Though, I only really have my experience at my disposal for reference. What would be the best way to go about this? I’ve been interviewing some close friends about their cultures and such. I don’t really know what I’d do for things outside of that realm though. I don’t suppose just researching a disability or culture or tradition online would give me what I need ..read more

I'm designing a deck building game where the goal is to score points by playing hands. There are two types of cards Value Cards - which give points equal to the number on the card. e.g. 1, 2, etc. Special Cards - which enhance the point generation, apply other effects, etc. The player can carry max 10 special cards into a round. There is no limit for Value cards. I want the Value cards to be randomized (like regular card games) where you draw the cards from a deck randomly and play the best possible hand from the cards you get. But, the special cards should be non-randomized, that is, all 1 ..read more

One of my characters is hard of hearing and she has hearing aids, but when she doesn’t, her and other characters use sign langue. I already plan on using italics to symbolize thoughts and actions so I feel like that would be confusing if I always used italics to show signing. What’s the best way to do this? submitted by /u/chinnyquinny [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

I'm working on an MMORPG (miniscule instead of massive*) which draws inspiration from games like Runescape and older MMOs where there's a vast amount of skills and a big grind associated with leveling them. I have a mechanic where I want players to be able to utilise a "Spell Book" which could play a vital part in the game loop. These spellbooks would be dropped from bosses or Skilling activities at a rare chance and will provide buffs to other areas. So for instance let's say you were to go over and begin levelling Woodcutting, you could equip the "Woodcutter's Manual" which had buffs like ..read more

I'm currently conceptualizing a multiplayer game that uses a faction system. It takes place in a fantasy world where players would choose, for example, the "Goblin Faction" and play in an army of goblins fighting bands of human, orc, and elf players. While thinking about this more deeply, I thought about an issue this system might run into. Right now, every fantasy race is essentially it's own playstyle. The goblins are focused on agility, the orcs on strength, etc etc. I really don't want to remove or water-down the individuality of each faction, but I predict there might be problems with on ..read more

A fairly classical mechanic is that you need an item to progress the story, and you can obtain that item somewhere else in the game's world. Sometimes I want players to hoard that item without yet knowing that it will be important later (Some other times the item will be important for an optional bonus story content, but disguised as junk you can freely ditch or sell). How can I influence players to pick it up, to not force needless boring backtracking on them too often? One solution that came to my mind is to force the progression to stall until the player picks it up, via a door that unlock ..read more