Archive for the ‘Allgemein’ Category

Idea Collection: Puzzles (II)

Posted by The Architect on January - 2 - 2017

This posting is about a special kind of puzzles, namely conversation puzzles. For all the environment interaction puzzles you’d normally find in a dungeon, look here: Puzzles (I) Morrowind was one of the last major RPGs with a keyword-based dialogue system (A) Background (Skip to (B) if you don’t care.) Conversations with NPCs serve many  [ Read More ]

Categories: Allgemein

Idea Collection: Puzzles (I)

Posted by The Architect on July - 17 - 2016

Designing puzzles is one of the hardest parts of RPG creation. We want them to be creative and unique, but not beyond all common sense; interesting and challenging, but not frustrating. And for the icing on the cake, they should fit into the game world as well as possible (nothing like having to navigate a  [ Read More ]

Categories: Allgemein

Using Stop Signs

Posted by The Architect on June - 27 - 2016

(Inspired by this thread.) Before thinking about ways to block off an area, we must first decide whether we want to implement such blockades at all. I’m not talking about locked doors here, but large-scale blockades which impede the journey into the next part of the game world until a certain requirement is reached. The opposite approach  [ Read More ]

Categories: Allgemein

As Water Grinds Stone

Posted by The Architect on June - 14 - 2016

Yes, this is a post about grinding. No, don’t just run away! I’m aware that this is not exactly the most popular game mechanic ever invented, but there’s more to it than meets the eye, and certainly more than the “Bring me 100 frog ears” treadmill that defines so much of the MMORPG genre. Note:  [ Read More ]

Categories: Allgemein

Decisions, Decisions

Posted by The Architect on May - 21 - 2016

Hmmm. The immortal Sid Meier once declared that “a good game consists of a series of interesting decisions”. (I’m not certain he’s entirely right with this, as it excludes all games revolving around dexterity or reaction speed, but then this site is not about Super Mario anyway.) If we try to apply this adage to  [ Read More ]

Categories: Allgemein

“The Quest” – A Case Study

Posted by The Architect on January - 24 - 2016

Over the winter holidays, I finished “The Quest”, brought to my attention by the Legend of Erthia creator. While it only recently appeared on Steam, it actually has a long history as a mobile game, having been available in the iPhone app store since 2009. There are several very favorable reviews for the app out there; I  [ Read More ]

Categories: Allgemein

Idea Collection: Draining Money

Posted by The Architect on January - 18 - 2016

I must admit I never really thought about money in RPGs until I found the CRPG Addict and CRPGs Revisited sites and their rating category “Economy”. To summarize the Addict, a game would get a high “Economy” rating if there were lots of ways to make money and lots of ways to spend it. The  [ Read More ]

Categories: Allgemein

New Article: On Overland Travel

Posted by The Architect on January - 18 - 2016

So it’s half a year later than I had originally planned, but late is better than never, right? My thoughts about how to handle wilderness journeys in (fantasy) CRPGs have become a document long enough that I placed it in the Library instead of just making a post. Hope you like it, feedback is very  [ Read More ]

Categories: Allgemein

Idea Collection: Doors

Posted by The Architect on June - 21 - 2015

I recently came across a posting on the Legend of Erthia Facebook page where the creator mentioned sarcophagi in the game which could only be opened with sufficient strength. Someone commented: “Cool, I’ll use that idea in my own game.” Well, as one of the objectives of this site is to give RPG creators just  [ Read More ]

Categories: Allgemein

Pillars of Eternity: Be Careful What You Promise

Posted by The Architect on May - 24 - 2015

                  (Warning: massive spoilers ahead.)       If you’ve been playing Pillars, you will (eventually?) recognize the above picture as a shot of the final battle in the game, which is pretty easy if you have two wizards casting Gaze of Adragan and somewhat challenging if  [ Read More ]

Categories: Allgemein