Right now I'm working on ASCOS of course (trying to get something out the door for you guys on that ASAP), and refining my turtle butler idea into a "turtle society" idea after a few rather wild discussions on the IRC, and organizing a live programming tournament and attempting to rebuild my workshop after the last one I held and a thousand other tiny little scripts and projects and ideas, but once I've come back to just this afternoon and want to keep at is my RPG. It's probably my favourite program so far, and of all my wild projects I would like to finish it, and not just finish it but finish it nicely.

The casual observer who hasn't seen it can browse what I've come up with so far here http://www.computercraft.info/forums2/index.php?/topic/1586-wip-ultima-style-rpg/page__hl__ultima__fromsearch__1, but it's disappointingly unfinished. I have sketches of a world map and a rough draft of a story, but before I do any of that I want to refine the game mechanics.

This post has two sort of intentions. Firstly I'm certain most people on here have played or play role playing games- so your Skyrim (and other TES titles), Diablo III, more esoteric titles like Grimrock and if you're a real gerontechonophile like myself or very old the Ultima series on which the core of my game is inspired. And hopefully there's at least one or two of you out there who have played a proper pen and paper RPG too.

Then question I'm asking is what makes a good RPG? And when we think about ComputerCraft, it's strengths and it's limitations in terms of graphical presentation, input and style of game possible, what features would be best for such a platform?

- How rigid would a good RPG be? Should players choose classes and follow uniform levelling paths from the beginning or have a more fluid, open-ended approach? Or something in between, and if so where?
- What sort of skills should a good RPG have control over? Do you want to be involved with the intimate calculations of your gear- swords having damage values of 1d12? Or do you rather a more opaque model, where vague choices with less maths is involved? If so where is the depth in the experience?
- What kind of world do you want to role play in? What is your favourite setting? Do you prefer fantasy, history, modern, science fiction? What elements are most important to you and keep you engaged?
- What kind of quests do you want to do when playing an RPG? Do you want to be socializing and working with NPC's, or do you rather quests done alone? Do you like exploring overworlds in search of areas or are you more partial to dungeon crawling? What are your favourite kinds of quests?
- What sort of gear do you like in RPG's? There's lots of options here- you can do it like Morrowind and choose every plate of armour you put on your body or you can just have generic "suits" like Gothic. And weapons? Do you like wide choices in weapons? Enchantments? Degradation? Customization? Crafting?
- What kind of magic do you like in RPG's? Do you want to just have access to blasting enemies or should magic solve environmental puzzles too? Should they provide alternative solutions to problems more commonly handled with a sword? Should magic come from a mana pool or purchased and used with scrolls and runes?

Lots of really broad questions but I'd love to hear from you to get an idea of where to go with this. The Ultima model I'm following is dated, and it's not great either- I'm sure I can do better but I'd love to hear some opinions to help me out.

Oh and my second, annoying question. Yes, graphics remain a thorn in my side and anyone with a bit of artistic know-how who finds this interesting please contact me- I've got an image for the box art that's in dire need of a photo shop and dozens of ideas for concept art. Would love to hear from you.


Thank for taking the time to read this!
NF