Plot: ----- No plot has been thought up yet, but I don't want it to be really RPG like with dwarves and fairies and stuff. This RPG is more modern styled and needs a zelda-esque plot. And by the way, this games is going to be designed to be a GameBoy game, keep that in mind, somewhat like pokemon, mixed with zelda, but without the poke monsters. Plot ideas: ----------- In ancient times a fearsome dragon controled the balance of the 13 elemental stones of Earth. These stones each maintained the balance of their respective element and had immense power. Evil warlords sought to gain the elemental stones for their own evil power, but were thwarted by the dragon. People feared the dragon and worshipped it as their God. But typically with things of old, the peoples faith in the dragon slowly vanished. It had not appeared for many generations now as nobody dared seek the elemental stones. Unfortunatley the dragon was a manifestation of the 'Earth' stone created to protect itself and maintained by the people's belif in it, and without belief the dragon faded away and ceased to exist, the stones were unprotected. Several hundred years later the people of earth live happily with little evil in the world. Other than an insane cult of people, who believe that the dragon will return and destroy the world. Most people ridicule the cult memebers for believeing in such ancient nonsense. Thus, the leaders of the cult go on a search to find one of the element stones, and proove their beliefs right! In the heart of a volcano they discover the fire stone, and proceed to wreak havoc on the world. Immediatley cult members are sent out to track down the other elemental stones, and destroy all non-believers in the dragon. You play an archiologist who's been-there, done-that and knows everything there is to know about the stones, you feel you are the only qualified person to get to the other stones first, before the cultists do. Ides, etc: ---------- Real-Time play, Morning 4am-8am, Day 8am-6pm, Evening 6pm-9pm, Night 9pm-4am You can get junk-mail and various stuff through your door, SPAM e-mail also. At home there is a reminders list that tells you of, items and things you are waiting for. You can play the lottery for 1GC per ticket, the odds are exactly the same as the real lottery, the prize money can be between 1 and 10 million GCs each week. Your Home: - Yes you own a house, and it's all yours. ---------- You have a PC, use it to order things from the internet! You can also use your PC to organise floppy disks and view their contents. Send and recieve e-mails using your PC You have a bookcase in which you can store all your books. Your cubboard contains food, which can replenish your health. You must buy food from the super- market. All food items have an eat-by date, once past the food items will get thrown away. Watch the TV, Listen to the Radio for the latest news updates. Player Statistics: ------------------ Name Age D.O.B. Health - Your health is always measured out of 100% Magic - Magic is measured out of 100% Attack Points Defence Points Equipment - Left Hand Weapon - Right Hand Armour Shield Belt & Contents BackPack & Contents Crime and how it works: ----------------------- For each item it has a desirability or a Theft Chance, which is rated out of 4. More expensive and desirable items have a higher theft chance. Each town or area has a crime rate as a percentage which determines how likely something is going to be stolen in that area, it is rated as a percentage. So if you leave an item in an area with a crime rate of 50%, then there is a 1 in 2 chance that a thief will have attempted to steal your item when you return to it. The reason an item is not always stolen when an attempt on it is made is because each item's theft chance determines how many of the attempts will be succesfull. If the item has a theft chance of 1/4 then only 1 in 4 attempts will work. Items can be protected using locks which have a protection rating in percent. When a succesful atempt is made on an item and the item has a lock on it, then there is a x% chance the thief will not break the lock. the x% is of course the protection rate of the lock. A full example: Let's assume an item has been left in an area with a crime rate of 50%, and the item has a 1/4 theft chance. Also the item is locked with a lock that offers 40% protection. If the 50% chance of a possible theft occurs, there is still a 3 in 4 chance the crook will fail, as the item has a 1/4 chance of theft. If that 1 in 4 chance occurs, the crook will need to get past the lock, and there is a 40% chance he will give up. If he succeds, you're pretty guted really. WARNING: The chance of an item's theft is calculated when you return to your item. You increase the chance of something being stolen if you keep walking back and forth between two areas. Buring an item will compleatly remove the possibility of it being stolen. Fights and how they work: ------------------------- Enemies are displayed on screen in a Zelda style gameplay. You have an attack(R Hand), defence/equipment(L Hand) button. When you attack an enemy, the AP of your weapon is reduced by the DP of their shield, if they have one. The enemy's HP is reduced by this amount, until it reaches 0 and then they are dead. For example: If you have a sword with an AP of 40 and the enemy has a shield with a DP of 30. When you attack the enemy you will do 40 points of damgae, if the enemy doesn't use their shield. However, if the enemy defends with his shield then your attack of 40 points will be reduced by his defence of 30 points, leaving only 10 points of damage. The same rules apply when being attacked by an enemy. ================================================================================================ WALLET ITEMS: ================================================================================================ (PLEASE NOTE: 'ca' stands for 'cubic area' and is a measurement of capcity. everything has a size measured in ca's. You can only carry a certain amount of stuff as you yourslef have a ca rating.) The maximium amount of loose change that your wallet can hold is 50 coins, regardless of value. (Money can also be placed in a bag, each coin requires 0.02ca of space, notes require 0.1ca) Your wallet can also hold up to 10 notes of any value. Money ----- 1 Bronze Coin - (BC) Similar value to 1p 10 Bronze Coins = 1 Silver Coin (SC) - similar value to 10p 10 Silver coins = 1 Gold Coin (GC) , 100 Bronze coins - similar value to £1 5 Gold Coin Note - similar to £5 10 Gold Coin Note - etc. 20 Gold Coin Note - etc. 50 Gold Coin Note - etc. Cheque - Any amount of money above 5GC, must have money in the bank first. Cards ----- ID Card - Positivley proves your identity, even if it's not you! Debit Card - Excepted in most areas. you must have the money in the bank, obviously Credit Card - Accepted just about everywhere, you must have the money in the bank by the end of the week or you will have to pay back 10% of the cost each week, plus intrest of 10%. Faliure to have the money in the bank will get you black-listed and you won't be able to use your credit/debit card again until the debt is paid off. ================================================================================================= EQUIPMENT: ================================================================================================= (u=unit, a unit of power.) Torches ------- Torch (Fire) - - L Hand - Found only - Burns permenantly, but must be carried Torch (Bulb) - 2ca - L Hand - Bought only - Runs on 2 bateries, Drain Rate - 1u p/Hr - BasicLife: 2hrs Bateries - all bateries come in packs of two -------- Brand X - 0.2ca - 1 GC - Life: 1u - Mainly available in small in-between shops Durex Ultra - 0.2ca - 3 GC - Life: 3u - Available in bigger areas Rechargeable - 0.2ca - 5 Gc - Life: 1u - Will take 1 hour to recharge at home. Potions ------- NRG Drink - Recovers health by 10 HP - 10 GC? - 2 CA Medical Herb - Recovers health by 50 HP - 50 GC? - 1 CA Books etc --------- Maps (local) - 2ca - 2 GC - Available in their resepective areas Magazines - 2ca - 3 GC - Lot's of topics available Local Guides - 2ca - 5 GC - Available in their resepective areas Local Companion - 2ca - 10 GC - gives complete statistics on an area The Bible - 1ca - 1 GC - Goto a church for a copy of the bible, pocket-size edition Phone Book - 3ca - 5 GC - Contains all numbers in your local area Misc ---- Belt - - 10 GC - Holds 6 CA Shovel - 7ca - 20 GC - For digging holes Metal Detector - 7ca - 50 GC - For finding things that have been put in holes Pouch - 1ca - 2 GC - For use on a belt, takes up 2Ca on belt, holds 4ca Mobile Phones - peak rate is during 'day' time priods ------------- Pay as you go phone - 2ca - 40 GC - PeakRate(Day)=40 BC/Min, OffPeak=10 BC/Min WAP Phone - 2ca - 70 GC - PeakRate(Day)=30 BC/Min, OffPeak=2 BC/Min - Sends E-Mails aswell Locks ----- Padlock - 1ca - 5 GC - 20% - Do NOT leave in an area of high crime D-Lock - 3ca - 15 GC - 50% - Average protection Tuff-enuf lock - 3ca - 50 GC - 99% - NOTHING will get stolen, with this! Stering Lock - In Car - 20 GC - 20% - Nothing that a pro couldn't get past Immobaliser - fitted - 30 GC - 60% - A bit better Disks - thier contents can only be viewed on an available PC ----- 1 Mb Disk - 1ca - 1 GC - Holds 1MB, big whoop 100 MB ZIP Disk - 1ca - 15 GC - Better storage capacity 1 GB Portable HD - 2ca - 100 GC - Expensive, but holds 1000 disks and can show the contents of disks BackPaks -------- Basic Backpak - On Back - Holds 10ca - 20 GC Super Backpak - On Back - Holds 15ca - 30 GC Hold All - L Hand - Holds 30ca - 40 GC ================================================================================================= SERVICES: ================================================================================================= Banks ----- National Bank - Current Account Only - 1% Intrest per month - Debit Card OpenPlan Bank - ISA - 10% Intrest per month - Only 1 withdrawl a month, with prior notice - Current Account - 1% Intrest per month - Cheque book & Debit Card Bike Shop - Go Green with a bike! - requires only minor maintenance --------- Mountain Bike - 100 GC - Will puncture on rough ground - theft chance: 1/4 of potential attempts DownHill Bike - 300 GC - Will not puncture on rough ground - theft chance: 3/4 of potential attempts Puncture Kit - 5 GC - Use to fix punctures on the spot Car Shop - you'll have to pay for petrol and maintenance, and pass a driving test -------- Cheap Car - 400 GC - 24 mpg - Theft Chance: 1/4 of potential attempts Good Car - 1000 GC - 32 mpg - Theft Chance: 3/4 of potential attempts Sports Car - 10000 GC - 16 mpg - Theft chance: 4/4 of potential attempts Petrol Prices ------------- 75 - 89 BC/l in rural areas 90 - 99 BC/l in city areas Pawn Shop --------- Sale Items are always at 75% of original price. Any item will pawn at 25% it's original price The theft rate of an item, determines it desirability, and as such, expensive items may be sold before you get it back. The crime rate of an area determines the popularity of the shop, and the chance of any pawned items being sold. (This dosen't mean that your items get stolen, it's just that the crime rate is good way to judge the size of a town and the amount of people in it.) Trains ------ Trains are available throughout the day, check the local time tables. Buses ----- Same as above airways: -------- Yes, you can use the airways to goto another country to further your quest, but you must be able to afford the flight, accomodation and misc stuff. Check out a holiday shop for details on flights and accomodation. ================================================================================================= WEAPONS: ================================================================================================= Swords - R Hand ------ Wooden Stick - AP:10 Copper Sword - AP:20 Iron Sword - AP:40 Dragon Sword - AP:50 Shields - L Hand ------- Wooden Shield - DP:5 Cooper Shield - DP:10 Iron Shield - DP:15 Dragon Shield - DP:20 Armour - Body ------ Chain Mail - DP:2 Copper armour - DP:4 Iron Armour - DP:8 Dragon Armour - DP:16 Projectile - R Hand ---------- Bow & Arrow - AP:20 - Requires both hands to use, but can hold a shield as well. Grenade - AP:40 - Can blow through craked walls - throw right handed only ================================================================================================= MAGIC: ================================================================================================= Element Stones - Found only -------------- Sunlight Stone - Held at the temple of light, it controls the sun rising and setting Dark Stone - Held at the temple of darkness, it maintains it's balance with the sun Spirit Stone - Held at the temple of death, it controls the balance between the spirt and normal realms Wood Stone - Held at the temple of the forest, it controls the growth of the forest Earth Stone - The central stone, it controls gravity and the movements of Earth itself! Air Stone - Held at the temple of the wind, it controls the movement of air Water Stone - Held at the temple of the sea, it controls the movement of the tides Sand Stone - Held at the temple of the desert, it controls the movements of sand Rain Stone - Held at the temple of rain, it controls the coluds and their rain Thunder Stone - Held at the temple of thunder, it controls storms and thunder Time Stone - Held at the temple of time, it controls the forward/backward speed of time Ice Stone - Held at the temple of winter, it controls snow and ice Fire Stone - Held at the temple of fire, it controls the movements of fire ================================================================================================ ABILLITIES: ================================================================================================ If an abillity is usable on an object, the action button will assume the correct function. Push/Pull - Certain objects can be pushed/pulled Pick Up - Collectables can be picked up Talk To - Only people can be talked to Use - Switches and such are usable ================================================================================================ STYLE: ================================================================================================ If you've read this far you've probably realised that some things don't fit, like all the modern things like cars but old style stuff like magic and swords. This is because this game is set in a parralel universe, in medieval times, BUT... in this place, technology has only been used for good and as such old style traditions and beliefs still exist. Technology is seen as a tool rather than a weapon as wariors believe in honour and use magic as their most destructive force. Please E-Mial me with ANY suggestions you have at kroccamen@gmail.com ================================================================================================ In VB Terms: ================================================================================================ To actually create this game, i'm gonna need to consider how it can be implemented into VB. First off, I want this game to as much like a GameBoy game as possible, I want to mix the free roaming worlds of Pokemon Blue/Gold with the real time battles of Zelda. I intend to program the game using an 'Open Plan Structure'. This means that rather hard wire the program so that the game 'is' the program, I want to create a program that simply reads data in and creates a game from it, limiting the game only to the limits of the map. This way I can spend most of time designing the maps. Each map will contain: - The index to the map tileset, each tile is 16*16, there can be a maximum of 256 - The map startup script, detailing the name, width, height and other conditions. - The map data, each tile in the map has an index to which tile it should display. - The boundry/data layer, each tile in the map has an index to how the player should react to it. The data layer stores text and data which is processed when you react with an object. Scripting Language: ------------------- If ... (Else) ... End If - If structure, with optional 'else' Text - Displays text Ask - Shows a yes/no prompt If Yes ... End If - Branches on answer yes If No ... End If - Branches on answer no FadeIn - Fade the screen in from black FadeOut - Fade the screen out to black Give - Gives an item to the player Take - Takes an item away from the player (They must have it though) If Have ... End If - Branches if an item is owned If Time = hh:mm:ss ... End If - Branches if time is =, < or > specified time If Date = dd/mm/yy ... End If - Branches fi date is =, < or > specified date Load x y - Loads the specified map and places player at (x, y) Save - Saves the changes in the map. Set Time hh:mm:ss - Sets the real-time clock Set Date dd/mm/yy - Sets the real-time date ! - Comment ![ - Begin comment block !] - End comment block End - Stops running the script Examples: --------- !This example shows what you might do when you find something Text You found the silver sword! Give SLVRSWRD End !This example shows a multiple choice conversation with somebody Text Would you like to purchase this shield? Ask If Yes Text You have bought the shield. Give SHIELD End Else Text Come back later then! End End If Controls: --------- As aimed at the begining, this game is going to be made in a simplistic game-boy style (Mainly for the feel, rather than anything else.) As such the control system will involve only 4 buttons. A, B, Select & Start A - Attack/Use/Action - The main button B - Defense - Raises Shield/defense. Select - Inventory Screen - Allows you to equip weapons and use items. Start - Pause - I may change this at a later date. Keyboard or joystick will be used. File System: ------------ Here's a current list of files used within projects .rpg - This file contains the project details Modules.dat - This file contains the status of each module (Untouched, Edited & Finished) LogoSequence.mdl - Stores the setup for the Logo Sequence Module