Features for a new RPG

[Roots]

Well they did this in Final Fantasy VIII, but the difference there was that the enemy's levels always matched the players levels, so yes leveling up was futile in a way in that game. There's really no way to know if this method I'm proposing will work out well (in terms of still challenging the player, but still showing noticeable growth in strength). We're just going to have to play it and continually refine it till we strike a good balance. It will be very easy to continually adjust the level simulation algorithm as the player's levels get higher.

[irrevenant]

I wonder if this is a natural process in game design or a lack of my own foresight into think of these situations beforehand. I've actually tried to do a fair amount of planning before coding, but typically I've found that that never works well because things are so intricate and complicated I really can't "understand" the problem until I actually start writing the code to solve it, ya know?

Really belated comment:

I've not coded a big project, so take this with a grain of salt, but I've always understood that planning continues after you start coding. You just update the plan once you understand the intracacies better...

[almondblight]

Well, you can't make everyone happy. But personally, I find easy battles incredibly boring and only serve to annoy the player. When you are at level 40 and you go back to somewhere near the starting point of the game, even though those battles are easy the rewards you get from them are so meager that they are barely worth the time. Even if you run from a battle, you'll lose something like 20 seconds of game time for every battle you encounter. Do you see my point?

In Earthbound they had a pretty neat system where if you were really strong low level enemies ran from you on the screen and if you had a fight with them you'd automatically win. If you want to try to make it harder, what about something that makes sense like mercenaries stalking the hero that gain strength as time goes on, or monsters trying to fight in groups?

[Edit- quote was messed up]

[Roots]

I think an update on the state of Allacrost is long over-due. Tonight we launched a wiki which contains a lot (and I mean a lot) of information about Allacrost previously only known to the staff. If you'd like to check it out the URL for it is:

http://allacrost.sourceforge.net/wiki/

We've got all sorts of information there, including our current team goals, code documentation (make sure to check out the quick start guide!), how to design artwork for Allacrost, what artwork is needed , and the current positions we are hiring for. And that's just for beginners. Please take a look and tell me what you think. I hope it helps to shed light on where we in development right now.




Also I was reading through the first page of this thread earlier today and found some interesting things that were said.

On the other hand, Roots, unless you're a very determined person, it's hard to imagine working on a Free game for 3 years.

Well, we're over half-way to the three year mark now and we're stronger now than ever before. We still have a ways to go to prove ourselves (by a playable release that is), but that goal is finally starting to come into our reach.