Blindside is the working title for the game I'm designing/building. The Angels 50 view is "a multi-user action RPG played entirely in text." Yes, reading & typing speed will play a factor. It's an extended revisitation of a simple game I made two decades ago. It's probably far too ambitious in scope, though when I look at it from an architecture point of view it's really just a lot of components that interact fairly simply, so should be doable. Whether or not it will ever be done is another question. I am having fun working on it so far.
On the technology side it'll be playable in a web browser. That's all you'll need. Well, and an internet connection. Because it's multi-user. Of course. I have a proof of concept up and running already, but it's nothing to be impressed about.
I wanted to write about the character design that I'm working on. I'm familiar with lots of computer game RPGs and a few tabletop RPGs so I have a pretty solid base of where things have been and where I want to take them.
The game's characters are broadly described by gender, race and alignment. These characteristics affect the finer statistics that define the abilities of the character.
Gender can be male, female or aescetic. Race can be human, elf or dwarf (these are placeholder names for something more interesting). Alignment can be lawful, beatific, chaotic or nefarious (pick one).
Thus, there are 36 combinations of gender, race and alignment. These combinations affect character statistics in reasonably predictable ways, though for game balance reasons I'm reaching a little bit here and there.
Each unique combination of race and alignment produces a class, which is more or less the character's profession. At this point there's no restriction on what you can do as the member of a class, except that your stats may make certain playstyle choices superior to others. My gross simplification here is that you'll choose a class which provides a starting "dice roll" for your stats so that you can start playing the way you want to play right away.
There are twelve statistics, grouped into four sets of three as attack, defense, active and passive. The attack & defense stats are physical, magical and empathic power and resistance. Active stats are accuracy, speed and stealth. Passive stas are awareness, constitution and charisma.
Physical power and defense are basically bashing things with swords or whatever, and not being hurt by being bashed. Magic in the game will probably be based on physics effects like light, fire and electricity. Empathy is a spiritual realm that will emphasise non-physical effects like fear, healing, and buffs/debuffs.
If you are a human, you get bonuses to physicality, and a lawful human is a heavy-footed Justice and with boosts to accuracy and physical power; think of them as a traditional soldier. Beatific humans are the somewhat clumsy Chaplains who get more awareness and constitution; these are also fairly powerful fighters but emphasising defense with healing abilities. Chaotic humans are the fragile and light-footed Tinkers with high resistance to debuffing. The cautious Assassins are nefarious humans with their devastating stealth and accuracy.
In the cerebral and magic emphasising elven realm: if you're lawful, you are a physically weak Scholar with high accuracy and charisma; your reputation preceeds you everywhere. Beatific elves are your 'glass cannon' Mystics with little defense but tremendous magical output. If you suffer from ADD you are probably a chaotic elf Pixie with the highest speed stats in the game, though you do have a hard time paying attention with a tragically low awareness. Nefarious elves are the half-dead Necromancers with their very high physical defense; their slow stealth makes them exceedingly dangerous in the dark.
Our dwarves are part of the earth and all living things and accordingly their stats reflect high empathy. Lawful dwarves are Mechanists whose accuracy and defenses are quite high, though the clanking of their armour does hinder any stealthy activities. Beatific dwaves are the aetherial Earthborn with dramatically powerful empathic abilities, though they are somewhat weak to magic. The chaotic Hermit with its quick reflexes and the highest awareness in the game is not one you'll sneak up on. Lastly, the nefarious Thief uses its natural abilities to blend into the environment mostly for selfish purposes.
From a game balance point of view I have everything worked out on the spreadsheets, though that isn't what worries me. What worries me is the need to ensure that when these characters encounter each other in battle that the fights are more or less evenly matched, not necessarily between individuals, but broadly across classes. For example, I can't imagine a specific hermit winning a battle against a justice, but hermits in general should be able to defeat 4 other classes, be evenly matched against 4 others, and regularly lose to the others.
What I want is for each particular class to find a different natural "groove" through the game, so that there are 12 different playstyles to be explored. Which will be a good thing as there are intended to be 12 major stories to be told (about which more much later).
To the end of game balancing, I'll be running probably millions of simulated battles as I simultaneously adjust what the stats mean, what battle tactics are included, how powerful the AI should be, and how all this stuff interacts. And I'll probably keep running it over, and over, and over, as the engine evolves. Balance is going to be the hardest part of the project, and I know it.
Anyway, like I said at the beginning, it's an ambitious project, but as far as I'm concerned right now, the journey is the interesting part. If a great game comes out the other end, that's great.
Shakespeare in 2039
11/10 '14
