Information on a new and unique open rpg!

This is all copied from my last post, so there's no new info, but there is a new screenshot that you might not have seen last time.
Here are some of the features.

Abilities - Heroes learn abilities that act as general categories for other skills. Things learned are things like "Swordplay" "Fire Magic" or "Shapeshifting". Many heroes have some of the same skills (Both Paladins and Clerics will have "Healing Magic" for example). You find or buy tomes to learn or upgrade abilities, but using them requires certain amounts in this skills (To learn Summon Bear you would need some amount in "Summoning" and "Earth Magic"). Many abilities are sold in shops scaterred throughout the land that have randomized stock, you can't just remember where to get a good ability and go there every time! Many abilities will only be earned from quests or by slaying powerful monsters.
Items - Weapons will have an extraordinary amounts of properties. The game keeps track of the weapons attributes in custom values, and applies the properties to the player with triggers when the player equips the item. It may also be possible to upgrade weapons by using special runes to add additional attributes, but I havn't decided. Bows require arrows to fire (but archers have other attacks that aren't very stronger, but usable as a last resort if out of arrows), and wands and staves may grant bonuses to specific abilities.
Quests - The quest system is randomized. Every once in a while, a random NPC will have a quest (It is shown by an exclamation mark). If you go to the NPC, it will generate a random quests in which you either kill a certain number of a type of monster, kill a certain "boss" or "champion" monster, or find a certain item and return it. The rewards can be EXP, gold, items, or abilities.
Monsters - Monsters spawn somewhat randomly. A large area will spawn the same strength units, so you don't have to worry about a high level creep spawning outside the first town, but you cannot simply camp a specific spot, you may have to look around for more monsters that have spawned. Another nice feature this will have... As you kill more and more of one type of monster, their hatred increases (it decreases over time). If the hatred gets high enough (if you kill a lot in a rather short time), then a "boss" or "champion" type will spawn next. These will be the same unit type as what you were killing (I won't have to make a ton of new units) but they will receive special buffs that make them MUCH stronger then the normal units, and killing these is also more rewarding, and required for completion of some quests.

I am considerring a save/load password system. I know how to do it in such a way that it is impossible for someone else to use your character that you tell the password for, and it will be highly unlikely that you will get a good character just by guessing a password, thanks to a checksum. The only problem is that the password for this game might be rather long with the large custom values of the items. Still I may be able to optimize it enough for this to be manageable.

Below is a small sample of some terrain I have done for this. I was looking for a terrainer before, but not anymore, now that I have discoverred I'm not as bad as I thought at it.

ummm.... exactly what are we supposed to say? :ggani:
Alrighty, ill just mention a pitfall or two I noticed.

one: If the archers must have arrows, give them alot of arrows. Or make dead enemies drop arrows. If you have an army of archers, and they all run out of arrows, it would kind of suck.

two: make sure you can win! There was this one excellent game for starcraft, Quest Open RPG, where the game was entirely open, and you could just lie back and kill tons of monsters, but there was no goal, no point.
So i got bored of it real fast.

If you pull this off, it could be excellent. This idea really has some potential.

Keep working:ggani:

If the archers must have arrows, give them alot of arrows. Or make dead enemies drop arrows. If you have an army of archers, and they all run out of arrows, it would kind of suck.

An army? There is no army, just one hero, and yes I was planning on letting them carry a lot of arrows and being able to find them too. They will get some abilities that let them replenish arrows over time.

And about being able to win... if you could win it wouldn't really be an Open RPG. Your goal is whatever you want it to be. This won't be boring like the others where you just kill things repeatedly. In this there are quests and goals to work to (it won't be so easy to level up to max, and getting levels is more rewarding as it gives access to lots of new abilities). You'll also have quests to do if you don't want to just kill things.

The issue with save codes isn't that people will guess them. It's that the method for generating them will be cracked. Also, if your method to stop players from being able to tell other people is to use their name in the code, that's been thought of before ;) Should work though. How you possibly plan to compress the code down to a manageable size however...

I know it will be easy to crack. But some codes I've seen were so extraordinarily simple that I noticed the pattern without even trying and could have easily bumped myself to max level with no effort (im referring to final fantasy open rpg). Of course it will be POSSIBLE to crack, but it will be a little more difficult at least. I'm really not too worried about people cracking it, it's unavoiadable, so the best I can do is make it as difficult to crack as possible.

For compression, I'll convert a large integer which has information on all of the characters stats and items into a base-62 number system (0-9, a-z, A-Z). But there will be far too much data on abilities (with the large number of abilities available at different levels), so I'm dumping the save/load idea, it just won't work out well, but there's still plenty more this map has to offer.

[quote]An army? There is no army, just one hero, and yes I was planning on letting them carry a lot of arrows and being able to find them too.[\QUOTE]
Umm... oops... I guess im just used to a game where you can recruit an army. Can you recruit? That would be cool.
[quote]They will get some abilities that let them replenish arrows over time.[\QUOTE]
Alrgiht, that doesnt make any sense to us :ggani: , real people, but i think it will work in the game fine.

[quote]if you could win it wouldn't really be an Open RPG. Your goal is whatever you want it to be.[\QUOTE]
I like how you put it, but normally i play a game to win, not to just kill some monsters. Its gives you the feeling that you have done something. I mean, your game has excellent potential, but... Perhaps there is a way to compromise winning into a open RPG...

Probably just some grazy guy rambling...

Hey that sounds like a great map project! :D
Ive always wondered when some good Open Rpg would come...Ive grown tired of those we have these days...its good to see some from the Wc3c community taking this type of map off the shelves and improves them, so that we may all enjoy the fresh taste of newly crafted Open Rpg's made from excellent mappers.

When do you think you may be able to finish the map? :ggani:
I understand if you can't give a date yet, since you just started but if you think you can point at a likely date, I would be most glad.
Otherwise, I hope this turns out as good as you say, and it most likely will be. :gsmile:

That is all.

I'm glad everyone is showing some interest in this map.
I really cannot say when it will be done, But I have even less work done then it seems, since I lost all that terrain I just did (the editor crashed before I saved, but after I took a screenshot...) and I plan on revising all of the heroes and skills I have thought of, I didn't like the way it turned out but I thought of something better.

Here's a few questions I wonder if anyone can answer...
Is there anyway to change a hero's attack type? It's important that I be able to change it at any time and as many times as necessary, is it possible?
Same questions about armor type, can it be changed?
And lastly, can I enable a unit's attack 2 and disable their attack 1 without having to use an upgrade (I want to be able to undo it)
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it will make my job easier, but i can still get it done even if there is no way for these to be done.

IN response to something said earlier, you MAY be able to hire mercenaries (which may include archers). But mercenaries will not be required to have arrows anyway (think of D2, they just use their own arrows and seem to have unlimited supply...)

As I said, I'm considerring redoing the ability system and I have three different approaches. I can either redo the ability system the same way I've described before, but do it better (I only fear this ability system will have little replay value). Or I can make a normal ability system but with highly unique triggered spells that can be raised to high levels. My last choice is to use a job system from FFT. Learning abilities will be like in FFT where you essentially "buy" them with JP and you can set secondary abilities from another job to be more customized. Which idea is best, or are there any other ideas you can think of?

I'm going to answer yes to all three of your questions but I think you mean when someone is actually plaing the RPG at which point, no. Attack type and armour type CAN be changed from the object editor menu but not during the game as far as I am aware. You can also disable a unit's attack 1 + 2 but once again only in the editor, not during the game. I haven't used the editor properly in a while (still getting back into it) so I can't say much, maybe someone else will know.

On another note, your terrain is looking impressive. I really like the closed-in look of that town, good job. You have some interesting features too, I like the idea of uber versions of certain creatures spawning after you have killed so many. Nice work!

Thanks for the answers, but I meant in the game. Only if I decide to retain my original abilities idea would any of that stuff have been important, and I may not do that anymore so it won't matter. I have another to get around it though, it's not a very good idea though...

By the way, I'm a slow (but consistent) worker. This map may take a while, but it will be worth the wait.