You Are Attacked by a Ohgosh the Goblin King

I've been thinking about a new game. It would be classified as a dungeon crawler. Combat and dungeons are normally less important to me in an RPG than playing my character and exploring the world. This game, which I will dub Dungeon Quest for now, is based on two games that I did like for their hack and slash approach. Well, the second one's was boring, but it did do some things right. Both are multiplayer online games, which I intend Dungeon Quest to be (I have a server program sitting around that I made for another game I lost interest in).

The first is the Colosseum mini game on the Balamb Garden chat server (http://psycrow.chatserve.com/frames.html). It features Final Fantasy-style battles between two teams. Players choose from a large selection of preset characters from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and Xenogears. Combat is similar to the basic Final Fantasy ATB system, but also includes charges, similar to Chrono Cross and Xenogears. After a normal attack, a character gains a charge that can be used to perform a technique on another turn. Most characters have three techniques, the first taking one charge, the second two, and third three. The techniques have a variety of affects such as damaging one target, damaging multiple targets, healing, bufs, debufs, and statuses from FF and related games. Overall it was a fun and strategic game.

The second is Wyvern (http://www.cabochon.com/). Wyvern is a graphical MUD. I like two things about Wyvern. First, it provides lots of character customization. You choose a race for your character at the start, which determines your hit points, spell points, and innate abilities, such as flying for a pixie, skill with ranged weapons for an elf, and the ability to turn invisible for a halfling. Then the character gets three or four, depending on the race, skill points to spend each level. Skills include things like swords, which improves damage and accuracy, strength, which also improves damage and increases encumbrance limits, air magic, which makes air spells more effective or last longer, conjuration, which makes conjuration spells cost less spell points, and many others. The player also can't train a skill past the character's level to force some variation in skills. Lastly, guilds increase certain skills, decrease others, and normally have specific restrictions. For example, a paladin gets bonuses to strength, swords, life magic, and hp, negatives to magical elements besides life and magical arts besides incantation, and must keep a positive alignment. Overall, the game is fairly difficult and forces the player to carefully plan how a character is developed and setup. Unfortunately, the game has a lot of balance issues and incomplete features as its main programmer is busy with other stuff. The second thing that I like about Wyvern, which I think goes along with the first, is that it gives a sense of identity. Even though there isn't much backstory or world interraction, just a character's race and guild seem to point the character toward a certain personality with unique mannerisms and characteristics. Throw in which skills a player chooses and style of play and you have a righteous paladin who smiteth vile demons with his massive diamond sword while casting arcane abjurations against their evil magic. Or a wary halfling archer who finishes off weak opponents with his sword and teleports to safety when the situation gets out of hand. Or a fire and death mage who wreaks destruction on anything nearby . . . unless it's immune to fire and death magic. I attribute this to wide range of choices the player can make, which are relatable and superficial, but also dramatically affect gameplay.

So the idea is to create a game that combines fun and strategical turn-based battles with deep character customization that goes beyond numbers. I have a lot of ideas for realizing those goals as well improving certain certain common aspects of the genre and a lot of original mechanics and content. I'll describe these ideas later when I can say what's in and what's out with a bit more certainty.