I'm thinking of creating a PvP/PvAI magic-fighting game similar to Arcanists by Jagex, the makers of Runescape. Basic gameplay: players get to run around and hurl spells at each other. Yes, I know, there is no such thing as magic - but it's a lot more fun when your game has magic; the possibilities are without bounds.

I'm wondering what you guys think about the game mechanics regarding how spells are cast. There are a few basic types that I will name here. Please note that whichever mechanic I use, I will probably call it Energy in my game.

1. The number one in online games is Mana - magic energy that every spell uses and can/will run out, but recharges over time. Has a maximum amount that can be increased depending on game difficulty/level. WoW uses only Mana for spells ( save for a few special cases that require special reagents ).
   
2. WoW Rage Mechanic: Magic energy that defaults to zero (0). When attacked/attacking, you generate so-and-so amount. Once you have enough, you can use it to unleash your most powerful spells/abilities. Should be called Adrenalin. More complex than Mana. If I use this, then there will be a few simple spells that use no rage, so you can still attack whenever you want.
   
3. Wow Rogue Mechanic: Energy used by the Rogue class in WoW. More complex than Mana or Rage. You always have a maximum of 100 and every attack uses some. Regenerates much faster than Mana. Certain attacks stack up "combo points" on the enemy target, which affect how much damage you inflict on that target. The more Combo Points the better. Damage++ ! W00t @ Blizzard!
4. Runescape Runes: Instead of magic energy being taken from the player, it is taken from charged Rune Stones. Different combinations of  Runes are required to cast different spells. When you cast a spell, the runes it uses are destroyed. A nice system, but probably too complex for a simple game.
5. Eternal-Lands Magic System: Uses both Mana and Essences(read:runes). Quite complex and not a likely possibility.
6. Arcanists Mechanic: Spells use no energy whatsoever. The more powerful/useful spells have "cooldown" times of X turns. Most likely possibility.
   
7. Dragon Rider Mechanic(taken from the book Eragon): When you cast a spell, use use your body's actual energy. There are no limits to the spells you cast but if they use more energy than you have, they will kill you. Instead of reducing the number of spells you can cast, the spells may become weaker depending on both the spell and your energy level. This mechanic may require a "Safe Casting" mode that does not let you cast a spell that will use all of your energy. Not very easy to implement, I may use this in future RPGs but probably not a simple "wizard war".

Tell me what you think! Any other ideas are very welcome.

 

Sounds good to me, I think you should try make up a good portion of the gameplay and rules etc on your own however. It sounds like you would be using systems common in other games. It would make the game more fun if you came up with several original ideas and used very few aspects from other games. It's your game though so you can do what you want.

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I wonder... do phrogs eat phlies????

Will this be a Live-Action, or turn based game?

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@Da Phrog:

Well the basic concept (Players throw projectiles at each other) has already been used in several games already, so there's nothing new there.  I just came up with the idea a few days ago so I haven't had time to formulate all the rules and such.

Obviously I can't just copy Arcanists, because of several technical issues ( not to mention copyrights ). It would also look bad just to make a straight copy of someone else's game. I will probably cook up a few original ideas but nothing is set in stone.

The point I had in mind was for you people to think up the ideas while I concentrate on the engine ( Splat! uses a lot of things that I would include, so I'll probably try to make a "platformer" engine and build off of that ) mechanics: Player locomotion, collisions, etc. The infrastructure on which a new game can be built. Yes I know Splat! is not finished ( It's close! ) - I'm juggling several ideas for it and I need time to decide which works best.

@Code:

Real-time is highly unlikely.  I have not done anything at all with the PhrogramTalk lib so I can't say for sure. Turn-based looks like the most doable right now.

I hope you don't mind if I correct the phrasing of your question: it should be "would it be turn-based" not "will it be turn-based". I'm simply toying with the idea right now and as of yet I have not decided whether I will make it or not. Leaning just a pixel towards "yes" but nothing is set in stone.

To sum up:

If I were to make a game like this, I need your ideas on how it would work. That's the point of the "community projects" forum, right? 

Okey Dokey

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Ok, I understand now. Here's an idea, you said that most likely the game would be turn-based. Well if you do end up making it turn-based, maybe you should make a couple attacks that require several turns to take effect or some attacks that have effects for several turns or both. I think the first one is a better idea because it would make the game far more of a thinking strategic game and less of a "clik the dude you want to kill and BOOM" game. As for that very long and interesting term... don't ask.. because i don't know either...

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I wonder... do phrogs eat phlies????

Da Phrogger:

and less of a "clik the dude you want to kill and BOOM" game.

I very much agree with you.

Maybe you should have (in future versions) a way to customize your character, or, like Spore™ Creature Creator, create your own species, or something like that.

Just a thought

-Code Master

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Codemaster:

Da Phrogger:

and less of a "clik the dude you want to kill and BOOM" game.

I very much agree with you.

No no no, you don't get it at all. You've obviously never played Arcanists. It's not a "clik and go BOOM" game at all. Sure, some spells are like that - it wouldn't be any fun without them! - but mostly it relies on player skill, not firepower. Nuking is fun in it's own right, but so is outwitting your evil opponent with a well-timed teleport. If I wanted to make a "clik and go BOOM" game then I wouldn't have even started this thread.

 

Maybe you should have (in future versions) a way to customize your character, or, like Spore™ Creature Creator, create your own species, or something like that.

Hahahahaha! No. Way. Such a project is much too advanced for my skill level. You could try to make your own - I'm not discouraging you - but good luck. You'll need it.

No, I've played arcanists before and I agree with you that it does have a lot of strategy involved in it, when I said it would make it less of a "clik the dude you want to kill and BOOM" game, I meant that only to emphasize that giving weapons which have effects over several turns would make it much more of a strategy game. And yes I agree with dragon rider that the spore game looks like it would be extremely hard to make anything similar to.

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I wonder... do phrogs eat phlies????

giving weapons which have effects over several turns would make it much more of a strategy game.

True. The ideas are already half-baked.. It would be much more entertaining with some damage over time( or rather damage over turns ) spells and objects that have different effects depending on their lifetime, such as: (example idea)

Unstable power crystal
Places and power crystal on the ground that has a lifetime of 5 turns. For the first turn, it increases damage caused by you or anyone within X radius by 150% (damage=damage*1.5). From then on, every other turn it will heal you for Z health as long as you are within X radius. The next turn it will have been depleted and must recharge itself with your own energy, causing 80% of Z damage to you no matter where you stand. On the last turn of it's lifetime, it explodes causing Z damage to anyone within X radius, and cancels the increased damage effect on every affected player.

I admit it sounds rather complex, but the coding would be rather easy. All it needs to do is read how much lifetime it has left and then act accordingly (spellpower++, heal,damage,heal,damage/boom). Sounds doable to me. Do you think this would add a bit too much complexity to the gameplay? Not that there's anything to add complexity to...
 

I think it isn't too complex, but I know that some people would like a weapon system like that except with more steady and predictable effects...

Example: An unstable power crystal on the ground has a life time of 5 turns. For the first turn it damages to anyone within x radius. Second turn, x radius decreases by z amount. Third turn same as second and etc until x radius = 0 at which time it either explodes(whether it causes damage to other players or not) or disappears.

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I wonder... do phrogs eat phlies????