This is my game design FAQ. It's a fraction of what I've written, but it gives the most important details. Would anybody care to read it & comment? A lot of it is already implemented, but I'm open to suggestions since I can spend as long as I want on it Lords of the Aethyr Merrick Edited by - morfe on 9/17/00 4:23:30 AM

Looking good so far! I don''t even play fantasy games as a rule and I found myself wishing for screenshots or a download.

Okay, so as far as praise:
I''m happy to see another more open-ended game out there!

The use of the plants is AWESOME! I like that you''ve come up with a way to make the map more than just something to walk on from point A to B. The fact that there are good and bad uses for some of them (poison) is a wonderful stroke.

The different start locations reminds me of Ultima. I like this. Will they vary according to play style (say, more magick in some, or more chance of fighting in others?)

Good not to have weapons wear down. This is just busywork in Diablo, and rarely creates any useful suspense.

Shrapnel looks like a great feature. Could be a great tactic for a magick weilding, fireball casting mage.

Divine intervention with massive effects sounds cool. Talk about changing the world!!! Hahaha! You may not want to only save it for end-game stuff, tho''. You may want to give players an early taste of the power in some limited way, to tease them along.



Constructive Criticism
If you''re already well into design, it''s probably too late for this, but the character classes allude to Diablo/Hellfire pretty greatly. Since I don''t play a lot of fantasy, it may just be me, but aren''t there any different character types a fantasy game can use (yes, this is a whine )

Not sure I like the "No Difficulty Level" aspect. Unless you''ve got a killer idea, I''d encourage you to reconsider. I''m one of many players that likes to change this at will. In fact, for games I like I''ll play thru on normal, then nightmare/tough level for a *real* challenge. What I mean is that if I''ve played thru once, I don''t want to be treated like a newbie the second time thru, so maybe you can turn this feature off?

Perhaps you want to put more quest and story details?

Weather effects are great, but how will they affect the game? Can snow slow you down? Can you hide in it? Can rain make you sick with fever? Or fizzle fire spells? It''s fine if it''s just eye candy, but like the plants it would be awesome if it had a more direct impact.


Questions

Does the Underworld serve as a penalty for death, or are there other purposes? I like the idea that magick doesn''t work there, but I''d hope that you make it more than just an annoying penalty. Think of mythology of old (Greek, Egyptian) where you have to bargain with demons, steal things from hell, and rescue fallen comrades.

How does the spoken spell stealing work? That looked a bit vague, more detail would be interesting.

Looking forward to seeing more!

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Just waiting for the mothership...

To quickly answer the questions :

The rain impacts on fire spells, yes. It also allows you extra force for your water spells.

The snow will make the player sluggish, and if not watched can cause hypothermia and death.

The Underworld is a way to circumvent death, not as a punishment. The main purpose is to get out, but some dead characters may be able to teach you things while you''re there (some spells can only be learnt from dead people).

Spells are spoken aloud using a speech generator. If you hear a spell clearly often enough, you can attempt to try it. It may or may not work, but the chance of it working will increase each time you hear it.

Merrick