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Rebooting the RPG
RPG's are among the most beloved game genres, yet are burdened by outdated design principles. This article analyzes the original "thinking man's video game" and my own attempt at recapturing the childlike joy the genre evokes in our hearts.
Cross-posted on my personal blog
In the Beginning
Many indie game developers start with RPG’s, and thirteen years ago, I was no exception. With hundreds of hours of classic RPG playing experience and RPG Toolkit 2.0 freshly installed on my Compaq Presario, I sat down to create my answer to Final Fantasy.
Months later, after I’d made a game that not even my mom pretended to like, I went online to ask experienced developers for advice. I'll never forget what they said:
"Start with PONG."
It’s like Joel Spolsky says in his article Back to Basics:
If you want to teach somebody something well, you have to start at the very lowest level. It's like Karate Kid. Wax On, Wax Off. Wax On, Wax Off. Do that for three weeks. Then Knocking The Other Kid's Head off is easy.
So I did just that - I worked on simple games, and slowly improved my skills over the years.
Ever since then, I've steered clear of RPG's, my first love, and never looked back. Fast forward to today, and I've somehow realized my dream of making games for a living. Whereas I once hoped to work for Square or Nintendo, I now run my own company, and instead of working on RPG's for home consoles, I develop strategy and educational games for the web and PC.
All these years later, I have a confession. I’m working on an RPG. But this time, with everything I've learned, I'm going to do it right.
The Appeal of RPG’s
When I was six years old, video games were difficult. Action games in particular were nearly impossible. They required quick reflexes, and if you reached a stage that was too difficult, you could easily get stuck and give up. RPG’s offered time to think, as well as a safety valve. If the game was too hard, you could grind for a while until you reached a higher level. In those days, beating an RPG was a mental exercise, making it the thinking man’s game. RPG’s were also about the only games that offered stories. Other games often had a light premise, but if you wanted an interesting narrative, the logical choice was an RPG.
[EDIT: I'm talking about console/computer RPG's here, not tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons]
Anatomy of an RPG
RPG’s typically feature several systems, including:
· Overworld
· Towns
· A battle system
· Inventory/equipment system
· Experience/level-up system
· Character classes
· Dungeons
· Boss fights
· Mini-games
· Cutscenes
Each of these was originally created for a specific purpose, but over the years, they’ve become standard features simply because “that’s what you do in an RPG.” With all these elements competing for attention, it’s easy to lose focus—a significant risk for any developer, and indie developers in particular.
Focusing on the Battle System
The core of any RPG is the battle system. That’s where players spend most of their time, and if it isn’t awesome, it weighs down the entire experience. Even so, many RPG battle systems use a traditional formula—simply copying what came before. Take, for example, many JRPG battle systems. They’ve been around for decades, but most of them still look a lot like this:
Just look at Persona 4 (2008):
The standard turn-based JRPG battle system was designed to deal with graphical and memory limitations that don’t exist on modern machines. Furthermore, this system is pretty shallow (for further reading on this, try this great article by Indie RPG designer Zeboyd ).
The basic strategy flowchart for most RPG battles looks like this:
Developers have added plenty to this format, including magic systems, special attacks, elemental weaknesses, etc, but none of this can compensate for the system’s main limitation—its complete lack of geography. Board Position