Rpg weapons vs scifi
by Simon Conn · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 06/29/2006 (10:26 am) · 5 replies
I recently was toying
with a game idea where one team uses rpg style weapons with special abilities and the other team uses sci-fi guns. the problem is how would I balance the teams so the guns don't overpower the swords. I thought of giving the rpg team better stats and faster movment and things like that. Any thoughts on how this could be made to work
with a game idea where one team uses rpg style weapons with special abilities and the other team uses sci-fi guns. the problem is how would I balance the teams so the guns don't overpower the swords. I thought of giving the rpg team better stats and faster movment and things like that. Any thoughts on how this could be made to work
#2
06/29/2006 (9:00 pm)
Hmm your probably right, but i was thinking of working melee weapons into it but i see i didnt think of it like that. Well i thought of making the "rpg" team players alot faster and more agile than the soldiers so they could get in and be able to attack the soldier players. Actually the team with the melee weapons are more magic users, there main offensive force are spells and their ability to move fast to get in and attack before the soldier can fire to many shots into them. Also the melee weapons i was considering having them use would have very powerfull special effects and would probably do considerable damage compared to a single shot from a gun. As a comparison think of the energy sword in Halo, effects like the abillity to lunge forward really fast and kill in 1 hit made it a formidable foe against the gun weilding player. That is the kind of melee weapon feel i am shooting for.
#3
Seriously though, having fast lethal characters that can only kill up close versus slower gun toting characters is a pretty cool dynamic. The Spies vs Mercs multiplayer mode in recent Splinter Cell games is a very cool example of pitting two vastly different character types against eachother, but still having it work out as fun balanced gameplay. It's certainly something that can be done, but it requires a lot of thought to how the players control, what abilities the players have, and the level design is a huge factor in making something like that work as well.
06/29/2006 (11:51 pm)
You have to make the melee wielders badass Samurai that can block bullets and cut through mechs with their swords. Obviously.Seriously though, having fast lethal characters that can only kill up close versus slower gun toting characters is a pretty cool dynamic. The Spies vs Mercs multiplayer mode in recent Splinter Cell games is a very cool example of pitting two vastly different character types against eachother, but still having it work out as fun balanced gameplay. It's certainly something that can be done, but it requires a lot of thought to how the players control, what abilities the players have, and the level design is a huge factor in making something like that work as well.
#4
07/31/2006 (1:43 am)
Uhm.. yea, Paul, that idea is cool I suppose, but i was morely thinking of using shields that to stop bullets with your sword :) I am using shields and swords in my own game too, or well, im trying to, but I dont have scifi guns in it (and i wont have them) but it is a pretty cool idea. and you are also right Paul that the level design is very important, if you are in an open field guns will be far more usefull than a sword, but when you are playing in close quarters where there is a few metres till every turn the swordsman still has a good chance. 
#5
Has 3 races, one robot race which can use guns, bows, launchers, knifes, swords, etc..., and have related skill and attack buffs to increase attacks and defence. These race has higher HP, defence rating(armour) and speed than other races.
You have an elf life race "Cora" that are magic focused which can use the same things as the robots but launchers, which is replaced by summoned creatures (minons), and loads of spells (attack, race buff and target debuff). This race has high Force(magic power) and better debuff and attack spells than the others.
Then you have the third race "cute" which replaces launcher and summoned creatures with MAU(massive armour units) which is like an small mech (5-6m tall), they still have magic same as Cora's. Race has an high dodge and healing spells.
Now the weapons and Spells do the following types of attacks and damage;
Normal one target damage
Area of Effect damage
+the follow ammo/spell damage effects
Water damage
Wind damage
Earth damage
Fire damage
Magic has a fifth field "dark/holy" depending on race, these are the magic buffs and debuffs. The othe four magics have deduufs too but not as powerful.
You could do a little bit more to the magic by having some of the attacks include debuffs in then at the cost of lower damage, like the magic spells in GuildWars (eg. MindFreeze does "x" amount of damage, and 90% speed reduction to target for 10sec. ,but if you have more energy than target x2 to damage).
Also remember RPG's do have ranged weapons (eg. Spears, throwing daggers, bows, crossbows, etc...) which could get through force fields due to their lower speed. ;)
Check RF Online and GuildWars out, you might get a couple of ideas from it.
07/31/2006 (1:26 pm)
A good game that ties RPG and SciFi together is RiseForce online and GuildWars for magic.Has 3 races, one robot race which can use guns, bows, launchers, knifes, swords, etc..., and have related skill and attack buffs to increase attacks and defence. These race has higher HP, defence rating(armour) and speed than other races.
You have an elf life race "Cora" that are magic focused which can use the same things as the robots but launchers, which is replaced by summoned creatures (minons), and loads of spells (attack, race buff and target debuff). This race has high Force(magic power) and better debuff and attack spells than the others.
Then you have the third race "cute" which replaces launcher and summoned creatures with MAU(massive armour units) which is like an small mech (5-6m tall), they still have magic same as Cora's. Race has an high dodge and healing spells.
Now the weapons and Spells do the following types of attacks and damage;
Normal one target damage
Area of Effect damage
+the follow ammo/spell damage effects
Water damage
Wind damage
Earth damage
Fire damage
Magic has a fifth field "dark/holy" depending on race, these are the magic buffs and debuffs. The othe four magics have deduufs too but not as powerful.
You could do a little bit more to the magic by having some of the attacks include debuffs in then at the cost of lower damage, like the magic spells in GuildWars (eg. MindFreeze does "x" amount of damage, and 90% speed reduction to target for 10sec. ,but if you have more energy than target x2 to damage).
Also remember RPG's do have ranged weapons (eg. Spears, throwing daggers, bows, crossbows, etc...) which could get through force fields due to their lower speed. ;)
Check RF Online and GuildWars out, you might get a couple of ideas from it.
Steven Fletcher
I assume by "rpg style" weapons you mean more or less medieval weapons with some magic tossed in.
Mages can turn invisible, so the sci fi people have to shoot in random directions if they even know that the mages are there. Mages can throw fireballs and summon monsters. I don't see any problem with a mage fighting a sci fi guy.
Warriors can have magic armor that's just as good (or even better than) sci fi armor.
One real difficulty is that by "rpg style" weapons you might mean melee weapons. The guy running around with a sword is going to feel stupid as the guy with a laser circle strafes him and shoots him full of holes. Clearly, the "rpg" people have to have bows, crossbows, and magic wands. They can even throw knives. Just don't give them melee weapons (except maybe for their "default" weapon for when they run out of ammo).
If you really want medieval MELEE weapons versus sci fi RANGED weapons, you'll have to make the melee guys ogres or something. This would be dumb. When you play a game, you want to be the guy who shoots people, not the guy who chases them until he's eventually shot too many times.