Shards of Radiance (RPG)

I'm making a large RPG map and I thought I'd share a little with you, my potential players (and eventually slaves, MUAHA :gsmile: ). Anyway, lemme tell you what it's about. Essentially it's a linear RPG, however, it will be open to a great extent. The linear part of the game is the story and main objective, which is as follows:

The Crystal of Creation was broken into shards of the main elements of creation fire, water, shadow, light, air, and earth thousands of years ago in a war between the Dark and Light realms. Since then, none have been able to create new lands to meet their respective needs. And because the two realms, since the birth of the planet, are separated by a godly spell wall barrier, none have been able to create new portals to cross to the other side...until now. An underground hero movement in both the Dark and Light worlds have sprung up to recover the broken pieces in their own realm and the opposite in order to restore the Crystal of Creation. Evil will use it for evil, and good will use it for good. These determined heroes have been able to reach levels never achieved previous to now, and may cross to the opposite realm when they are able to channel a certain amount of power in specific areas. A whole new era, the Restoration, has begun. Pick your side and select your path, mighty ones, for you are the only ones who can achieve the goal.

Yay, that was good story time. If that doesn't sound appealing to you, then the "open" features I will now list will be.

Players will be able to select their side - Dark or Light - and may choose from 1 of (as of now) 4 classes: Way of the Warrior, Decree of the Mage, Path of the Shadows, or Skill of the Hunter. Warriors are strong sword or axe-wielding units that can withstand and deal a good amount of damage, but are limited or completely lack ability in magical skill. Mages, however, are not limited. They possess the mental capacity to manipulate magical sources that exist around them and use it to their advantage. Shadowblades take advantage of another natural thing that exists in both realms - darkness of the shadows and night. Capable of dealing good damage and sneaking from place to place, they should be considered a dangerous foe. On the other hand, the fact that they have been able to get by or kill without being seen more often than not, they haven't been concentrated and building endurance, and are therefore weak to blows they receive from warriors, mage spells, or even their own kind. The one and only versatile class is the Hunter, specializing in nothing, but knowledgable of all. A balanced class of strength, phsyical endurance, mystical abilities, and also a wielder of the bow. Because of their average skill, they are essential to most groups.
(Note: there will probably be multiple instances of a single class that lets people choose a hero more to their liking. Also, units in the Dark World will be completely different from units in the Light World and vice versa)

The terrain will be just as unique as character selection. The Dark and Light Worlds will have their own features that make them unique. Places you might find in the Light World: forest towns, forests, mountainous areas, dirt wastelands, water cities, ravines, and more. Places you might find in the Dark World: dead forests, ghost towns, swamps, deserts, dark cliffs, and more. Adventuring should be fun.

Side quests should be available, like "Go find me a mushroom for this potion I'm making. I'll reward you with money or some of the potion." Another type of quest would be like, "The forest trolls have stolen my precious gem! Return it to me and I will craft you a new weapon." or "Deliver this message to my friend for and he'll give you something."

There will also be a small arena that players from both Worlds can play in for experience, items, or gold. Heroes can fight others from their own realm, opposite realm, and/or random creeps.

Back to the linear aspect, what will make finding the shards fun in your own world is that they will be given random locations in specific areas. But they will also be locked away or restricted in access by some way. To unlock and reveal the locations of the shards, there will be randomly placed keys that you must find and randomly created puzzles that you must solve. An example of a puzzle would be step on 3 beacons in the correct order. But you have 3 chances to get it right until it resets its pattern. Another possible puzzle would be finding 3 gems on the map and bringing them to a single location to unlock a door. When a crystal piece is recovered it will appear in the closest town in which it was recovered.

Finding shards in the enemy's world will be fun because you're a foreigner to that world and can explore to find THEIR shards. Shadowblades will be very helpful for this part of the game, but Warriors, Mages, and Hunters can help fight through and cover the Shadowblades' behinds when trying to go back to their own realm.

Here is a picture of one town. It is bordered by a mountainous area, a forest, and dirt wastelands.

This is a picture of the Aquacity. A multi-level water town.

This is a picture of a Witch in the dirt wastelands, living among the lizards.

souds good, hope it turns out as good as it sounds...

All in all, looks pretty nice.

Aquacity doesnt look right, try making a large lake like area. Then near the middle make the land come above the water and build the town there.

I know it isn't a "water city" but it should turn out nice.

Well, what I had in mind for the water city was that it was fairly advanced in its construction. Which is why I used not only city buildings, but those Dalaran tower things, along with the magic Runes there, which sorta shows their innate abilities to use magic. I also had the Brick and Square Tiles in there to give it a unique feel. You know how often times in a large grassy area there are dirt roads created from frequent usage by walking, horses, etc. over same spots? Or in the first town that I provided a screenshot for, they have cobble stone sidewalks. Well, I tried to do something similar in this city by creating a solid foundation of square tiles, and then creating sort of a path around the city with brick tiles. Another reason why I decided to use stones/bricks/tiles for the city is because wouldn't a city of shallow water built on dirt be dirty?

However, I did create a little side area of your idea. I will be making it so that you will be needing a way to unlock something before getting there. It will have special shops, side quests, or perhaps required quests there. Tell me what you think.

The water looks too fake. Don't use that method.

In which? Both screenshots or the first one?

Both actually, since the water doesn't properly touch the cliff it looks very unnatural. That technique is good in non-cliff areas, but not here. Not meaning to sound rude, but I hope you change that.

Is this what you meant, FyreDaug? You want something that looks like this?

Yeah that looks better, but what about against the other cliffs, the next level up? (Or am I seeing things?) It didn't quite match on one of the screenies.

Well, FyreDaug, I took your suggestion and did something about the Aquacity. All cliffs in the city have water rolling off of them. I won't give another screenshot of it becuase I don't want to give too much away, but it does look nicer and more natural.

I was thinking of allowing heroes to level 30 times by changing the unit to reflect older age and new wisdom. For example, if you choose the Warrior class in the Light World, you might start off as a Peasant Militia unit; like a young, teen aspiring to become a fighter. When you reach level 10 on him, you become a Footman; an adult with more physical endurance (HP), more strength (Dmg), a new spell, etc. This is when you may cross realms to recover the shattered crystal pieces. Reaching level 10 on the footman will ultimately make you an Elder -- displayed by a Paladin unit. This is so you can visually note the skill of your enemies, and change your tactics depending on it. All items would be automatically transferred to the new characters, too. And any increased stats from tomes (_IF_ I add tomes) would be transferred as well.

Randomized puzzles is going to be a big part of the fun in this game. I've thought of some basic types of puzzles that I could put in, but I'm having trouble coming up with new ones. So if anyone can think of some kind of puzzles that you don't mind if I use (I would give credit), post 'em here. If you would like to share them with me only, send a PM or email me at [email protected]