RPG like no other...I think

#1 Sounds cool.

reminds me of a movie where this guy would go and kill someone because he had the devil in him, then the devil would shift to someone else near that person (or when the person dies) -- it was a cool movie because you followed the lives of like 12 people briefly when they were "under control" and then they disappeared from the movie. it was definitely different (though I can't remember the title -- late 90's film)

#2 I think it might feel a bit disjointed if you're not careful. There needs to be some kind of link between the characters - even if it isn't obvious to the player at first.

Also, when playing a future character, it would maybe help to see one of the earlier characters doing stuff that the player did. That way they can see that the actions they take do affect the game.

When the player is cotrolling a 'past' character, have them see an NPC do something cool. When the player gets to control that particular NPC in the future, they can do the same cool thing.

You also need to be aware of the inevitability of some of your set pieces. You might find players will keep replaying a section trying to make it out alive when it is pre-destined in your story for that character to die. It could lead to player frustation if they aren't initially aware of all the game play mechanics.

#3 The name of the movie is Fallen with Denzel Washington.

#4 Shocker and a number of films share the "touch of the devil/evil/madness" myth theme. One of the great things about Pulp Fiction is that it is a linear narrative told in a non-linear fashion. Unfortunately, when people attempt the same thing, they usually work too hard to make it non-linear and the pieces don't add up. The opening to the Wild Arms games is an example of merging storylines for interest. An interesting way to approach it would be to make a relatively short adventure (like Fable, though I hated it) and then ghost their actions, kind of like ghost cars in racing games. Then, when they play a second time to play it differently, they will be affected by their previous decisions. You'd want a default ghost setting to make the first play-through interesting or else they wouldn't sit through it again, though.

#5 Using RPGM5 will be a limiting factor in the linearity scope of your project as there are a certain number of in-points and out-points to areas (I can't remember...I was translating the manual back in the day for the GameFAQs RPGM5 board). I'm not sure how it has changed with localization, though. Hopefully they sped up data entry. UGH!

#6 Maybe you could make a characters death or survival obvious simply by showing it to them before they begin playing that character. One way to achieve this could be to have say a psychic character you get to play, or at least see in between missions and view a premonition of the next characters fate in the game (through a cutscene?). This could also supply another link between characters to help stop it feeling disjointed and possibly provide some interesting story ideas. The nature of the psychic character would depend on the world you set the game in, in my mind i see a character like that voodoo woman in vice city or the oracle in the matrix. Other than that i think this way of working might be inventive enough to sell to a niche market.

#7 Reminds me a bit of Eternal Darkness, though all the characters in that one were connected in some way or another, and that game was survival horror, not an RPG.

#8 Depends on lots of other factors too, the most important thing IMO is that a game is fun to play. I wouldnt get any ideas of getting mega rich off the idea though.

#9 Joshua Spencer beat me to it, but yes, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for the Nintendo Gamecube plays out along those lines. It's actually a very good game and if you wish to attempt the gameplay style you mentioned, it would be a good place for you to start and see how things work out.

- Ronixus

#10 It isn't exactly a novel idea. There was a Dragon Warrior game like this back on the nintendo (maybe it was the snes).

#11 @Joshua hrm...did it star Denzel Washington?

sorry, didn't mean to hijack this post X_X


I like the idea of the eternal gameplay thing...sounds rather fun O_.

#12 You may want to checkout the Pc (I think it came out on Dreamcast too) game "Omikron: The Nomad Soul" it does this gimmick rather well. I didn't play the game all the way through. I found a review here
Don't let this stop you from making your game though :]

#13 Um, am I the only one who doesn't see anything there? I see "about the author", i see the 12 replies, but can't see the original post.

#14 Considering the age of this thread, the original post was probably carved on clay tablets that have dissolved into dust... :-)

#15 I see this a lot on old threads. I assume the OP wanted to delete it but had to settle with editing everything out instead.