I've had great advice and ideas from play testers and designers alike here, and the cooler seems like the best place to mention my newest project, so here goes.
Classic Sword and Sorcery RPG combined with a web based app to crunch the numbers for you.
Short and sweet. And of course all comments and suggestions are welcome.
Thanks
I think that the biggest hurdle to overcome is going to be making your game different than all of the rest. There are several apps already available for games like D&D and Shadowrun, either for your PC or your phone that are meant to make the game less mathematically challenging.
There was a game released a while back that played similarly to the Playstation game 'Eye of Judgement' and used miniatures on a tiled board that was cam-loaded into your phone, and stats on the phone. You moved the minis around, but the fights were animated on the phone, and the outcomes decided by the app. The game tanked - it could have been played on the phones alone like you see on Kongregate, or with just miniatures, but it half-assed a combination of the two and failed at both. Don't let your game go the same route - I'd focus on making it playable with pen-and-paper, or just develop a software app that lets you use any existing game/stats. Either as a standalone would probably be more successful than this, as far as contemporary thinking is concerned.
That's interesting news, Sly -- I hadn't heard of that app, and I've been considering making something for that space. Phones and minis sounds awkward. I wonder how much of the failure relates to the user interface.
Cortex, do you have a plan for making the UI easier to use than rolling dice by hand? And what are your thoughts on the idea that players like to roll the dice?
I assume is an old school rpg (all-powerful GM, characters, task resolution, combat-focused, etc), am I right?
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First off, let me apologize for not responding sooner. I'm involved in quite a few thread discussions at the moment, and this one slipped my notice for longer than I anticipated. Things have been busy.
There ARE quite a few digitized character sheets on the market, some with leveling capabilities, but the automated combat features are far rarer from what I've seen. The combination of a character generator and leveler, with the automated skill tests and combat, and the GM organizer will make our app something different, or at least that's my hope.
To answer your questions, Not so much easier than rolling dice, but the app will do the math involved, including comparing attack to defense, figuring damage, and in the case of my system, showing the wound results. With skill tests it will show success levels. The UI will be the real simplifier. It will show the available enemies, who's engaged with who, and what their current conditions are. Attacking someone will be an easy choice tree. Touch the enemy, choose your attack. The attack pops up on the GM screen, he chooses defense, and the system does the rest, quickly showing a result.
As far as the love of rolling dice. I am coding a simple toggle into the system that allows you to input your own dice roll if you want to. It will slow the speed of the exchange down a fraction, but I too sometimes love to roll the bones, and I didn't want to lose that opportunity with the app.
I have made the decision to code for Pathfinder too, so the project can be a little more universally applicable. Still have my setting and system, just the possibility of D20 too. I have quite a few new updates on the project page. I'd love to hear feedback from other designers.
Thanks for the input. I've bookmarked this thread so I will be responding sooner next time.
Kevin
tinyurl.com/aeranos