After AoD3.

[Vault Dweller]

It's inspired by 70's sci-fi.

A huge colony ship carrying 100,000 colonists is launched to Alpha-Centauri. The ship is automatic. The journey will take 700 years, so only the distant descendants of the original colonists will reach the destination. To maintain the skills that would be necessary to build a colony different areas are established on different decks: farming, industrial, educational, military, etc. There is also a crew performing mostly maintenance duties, making sure that the ship stays on course, and overseeing the colonists. Naturally, children who are born into a "farming" family have no choice but to study farming to ensure that there would be enough qualified farmers upon arrival.

At some point there is a mutiny (there are reasons for that) against the crew. Many officers and colonists are killed, many decks are damaged (radiation leaks -> mutation), etc. Chaos replaces order, the colonists start regressing.

The game starts when the ship is already in the AC orbit. You have no idea that you are on a ship. The colonists formed different factions based on the original areas. The knowledge is being protected and restricted (the original purpose was misunderstood), so now it's being passed from father to son within each clan. The farmers trade food for tools with the metalcrafters, the replicators control the replicating machines and trade the newly created raw inorganic materials, etc. The mutants rule the abandoned (for a good reason) decks. Then there are mage lords who carefully protect the sacred chants like "Eks Ekut Proto Kol Van Fo Aso Riz Aish'n Nain O Too O", allowing them to cast powerful spells and control the environment.

There are different goals - find your place within the gameworld, learn about the ship, and either escape (pods), turn the ship around, or actually start the landing procedure.

Something like that.

 

[Jasede]

This is a good idea, but-
It would be so much better if you wouldn't have revealed that it's actually a ship.

It would be a great moment to find that out in game and be awed, especially if the decks look more like some dark city so that the player really can't tell if this is just some freaky building complex or something else.

 

[Fez]

Sounds like a good concept, VD.

That could be a good change, Jasede. Even if the player saw small things out of place (futuristic items, deckplate, etc.) as he progressed in the game, little hints of what will come and then the big reveal.

Of course that would probably require a different approach to it.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

This is a good idea, but-
It would be so much better if you wouldn't have revealed that it's actually a ship.

It would be a great moment to find that out in game and be awed, especially if the decks look more like some dark city so that the player really can't tell if this is just some freaky building complex or something else.

In which case, we'd probably just keep bugging him for a sci-fi game.

 

[GrudgeHolder]

Oh, man. I'd SO want a SF RPG to happen... but why does it have to be Heinlein's "Orphans of the Sky"? I'm far more partial to Aldiss' "Non-stop", not to mention the additional twist that Ballard came up with in "Thirteen to Centauri", and Sterling went the whole hog with in "Taklamakan"...

 

[MountainWest]

I like it. Any idea of what the theme(?) will be? Horror? Political intrigue? Ship of decadence?

 

[Jora]

You say that as if I don't already have plans of my own.

Share some of your plans with us then!

 

[spacemoose]

Oh, man. I'd SO want a SF RPG to happen... but why does it have to be Heinlein's "Orphans of the Sky"? I'm far more partial to Aldiss' "Non-stop", not to mention the additional twist that Ballard came up with in "Thirteen to Centauri", and Sterling went the whole hog with in "Taklamakan"...

it has to be orphans of the sky because orphans of the sky rocks hardocre

 

[Jed]

This is a good idea, but-
It would be so much better if you wouldn't have revealed that it's actually a ship.

The price you pay for being at Ground Zero of creative genius without your protective goggles.

... and just to add my shrill voice to the cacophany: MAKE THE DAMN COLONY SHIP GAME NEXT, PLEASETHANKYOU!

 

[Roqua]

Coming out with a new game right away, with all new assets, just tossed out efficiencies of scale and economies of scale. Makes a lot more sense to use and abuse current assets. For the love of God I hope a new game will have a party and party creation. Uou have the different races (farmer, replicator, mage whatever, blacksmith, and mutant), you like skill systems so class isnt a factor. If a brand new game doesn't have a party, I'll probably still buy it but damn you! Damn you!

Section8, whats your plans?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Coming out with a new game right away, with all new assets, just tossed out efficiencies of scale and economies of scale. Makes a lot more sense to use and abuse current assets.

We'll see. Maybe AoD would suck so badly, you will actually pay me to never attempt to make games again.

For the love of God I hope a new game will have a party and party creation.

It would fit the setting/story, so why not?

It would be so much better if you wouldn't have revealed that it's actually a ship.

Then I can't really explain what my idea is, can I? You ... uh...travel between places, and ... uh ... there are mages and shit ...but uh ... it's a sci-fi game. Anyway, the way I see it, it should never be clear or implied that it's a a spaceship. The decks should be huge and should look more like ruined towns, patched-up factory complexes, out of control vegetation, natural day/night cycles, etc than claustraphobic corridors.

 

[Roqua]

Buck Rogers is often over looked but that series made AD&D kind of good. There was a great mix of weapons and armor and actual reasons to use different items in combat vs. different enemies or situations. The skills and skill uses were well implemented also.

I love the Buck Rogers games; there are two of the best CRPGs released so far in my opionion. The writing and quests are the best part IMO. I still remember the thrill of desperately trying to find that goddamn med lab on the gennie ship. Given how primitive the technology was at that time, it is amazing that they managed to make much more "cinematic" quests than those featured in your average modern CRPG.

I mean you board this strange ship wreck, some monsters appear out of nowhere and attack your boarding crew, you survive and everything seems fine, you continue to investigate the ship, suddenly one of your team member becomes unconscious, and then another one.., and suddenly the guy who fell first becomes conscious again and starts to attack the other team members - you have to beat down your own guy to save the others, the whole drama continues while you desperately try to find the med lab to cure this strange disease. And even if you find it before your entire team is dead / crazy (I did not on my first attempt) you will just encounter another problem..
And that's just the beginning of the whole gennie ship drama! Which is only the first quest of many.

I cannot really say why, but no other RPG ever managed to grab me like "Countdown to Doomsday". Another really great quest was that Desert Runner village on Mars. You try to convince them that the RAM gliders are coming for them, but they just won't believe you, despite all your efforts (this is only one possible outcome), and suddenly the show starts, explosions everwhere, the villiage goes up in flames, RAM terror squads storm the villiage while the gilders continue to bomb it from the sky and you are right in the middle, you can fight the RAM squads together with the runners, drag people out of burning buildings to save their lives (and this will actually be recognized later on if you do it!). Notice that most of this is not rendered graphically on screen, if there is an explosion / burst of fire you just get a message and a sound effect. Nowadays you cannot make such quests because you are expected to render it all and leave nothing to imagination.
The villiage is doomed BTW, your NEO guys cannot defeat the entire RAM invasion (oh shock: realism!) so the best you can hope is to get outthere alive and save a few runners maybe. At the end you can only look at the burning ruins from your hideout in the mountains..

Or the massacre on Venus, where you discover what looks like a villiage of primitive natives slaughtered by RAM, but then you find that hidden door (oh, and lets not forget the lowlander baby boy who is looking for his father .. most RPGs these days do not even dare to include children, in CTD you could have a baby in your party - I still remember making him run away / look for cover everytime my party was attacked - yes that baby could actually be killed just like any other character!) Or that quest with the children on the RAM base.. Damn, they just don't make games like this anymore!

And this is not nostalgia BTW. I have replayed (for the Xth time) Countdown to Doomsday only about a year ago..

Damn, this thread has really reminded me that all RPGs suck these days

I agree and you have good taste. The last couple of times i replayed it I actually quit after a couple hours. I need more patience to get through party equiping and trading. It drives me whacky.

Have you ever played traveller? Its based on the pnp rpg (of course) and is right up there with Buck Rogers if you like SF Rpgs. I would definitely give the traveller games a shot if you haven't and you really like Buck Rogers.

I can't recommend the series enough, but last time I played it was hard to figure out the commands, but when you get the gist agian you are good to go. Character creation alone is worth checking it out.

I always forget about traveller when I make a top 10 list for some reason, but it should be in there. Buck Rogers has a little something that it doesn't and makes it a little more memorable. But if you love one you should at least like the other a lot.

 

[puppyonastik]

For the love of God I hope a new game will have a party and party creation.

It would fit the setting/story, so why not?

Do you think it would be possible to allow for both those who enjoy having a party and those who perfer the loner route to play this future game without complications? Of course it'll take a bit more work, but it may also allow for more replayability.

I may be a silly bitch, but for me it's hard to connect with my characters the more there are under my direct control. In TTOE my party members were, in my view, more or less meat shields for the one character I assumed as "Mine"/myself. In Prelude to Darkness, my connection to the other party members was better due to the personality they gave to those you came across with in your travels, but still, since it was I who was controlling them (and handmade two of them) they felt like just tools and nothing more. If you decide that for your sci-fi game that there HAS to be a party, I think that the option to have the game control them a la Fallout/Arcanum would be appreciated. Or am I alone be alone on this issue?

Thanks.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Do you think it would be possible to allow for both those who enjoy having a party and those who perfer the loner route to play this future game without complications? Of course it'll take a bit more work, but it may also allow for more replayability.

Like you noted, it's a future game, so discussing any features would be prematurely. A lot of features would depend on the feedback AoD's features will get.

...I think that the option to have the game control them a la Fallout/Arcanum would be appreciated. Or am I alone be alone on this issue?

In both games these characters often did some really stupid things, and I'm not really sure we can do better party members AI. Ideally, it would be nice to have some well defined characters joining you and acting on their own, in manners that fit said personalities (for example, a thief who doesn't fight with you side by side, but looks for opportunities in combat, circling around) instead of giving you the control and role-playing "burden", but if the AI fails to "role-play", then the second option is better.

 

[Roqua]

in my view, more or less meat shields for the one character I assumed as "Mine"/myself.

If you play yourself is that role-playing or self-playing? And AoD is single character you greedy fucker.

What is this nonsense about AI-controlled party memebrs? I hope you are talking about joinable npcs, because that hippy, no control of your party, shit is for girls. Party creation is far superior to hippy, joinbale, gaylord npcs. At least split it and make 4 to 6 party memebrs and only a couple of those recruitables.

edit: sorry if this came off hostile guy I quoted, you will soon learn I am a big teddybear and ignore me like everyone else. I don't want to chase anyone away from sharing ideas in case you are new or sensitive.

 

[SlavemasterT]

edit: sorry if this came off hostile guy I quoted, you will soon learn I am a big teddybear and ignore me like everyone else. I don't want to chase anyone away from sharing ideas in case you are new or sensitive.

You finally make the switch from cocaine to prozac, Roqua?

 

[Section8]

Section8, whats your plans?

At the moment I'm just hammering out a design wiki. The ideas are pretty much fixed in my head, but they're not for sharing yet. You folks will, of course be the first to know when it progresses from "dreamware" to potential vapourware.

 

[puppyonastik]

In both games these characters often did some really stupid things, and I'm not really sure we can do better party members AI. Ideally, it would be nice to have some well defined characters joining you and acting on their own, in manners that fit said personalities (for example, a thief who doesn't fight with you side by side, but looks for opportunities in combat, circling around) instead of giving you the control and role-playing "burden", but if the AI fails to "role-play", then the second option is better.

Like most codexers here, I want your games to be financial successes. Without putting to much thought in it on my part, I was looking for something you could do that would please both types of players, using an example we know. I believe that Irontower has the ability to make great innovations in this area. Besides, I'd bet there are a good number of able-minded community members here that would be willing to help out a lot in AI development. Shit if there was a codex call to arms, even with my lack of knowledge I'd enlist to put free time towards helping you some how if you needed it for no compensation at all, probably many more out there with the same feelings.

sorry if this came off hostile guy I quoted, you will soon learn I am a big teddybear and ignore me like everyone else. I don't want to chase anyone away from sharing ideas in case you are new or sensitive.

No worries, feel free to throw all you have at me. I enjoy it, I'm kinky like that. If you want to see my sensitive side, feel free to take a look at my myspace.

 

[obediah]

This is a good idea, but-
It would be so much better if you wouldn't have revealed that it's actually a ship.

It would be a great moment to find that out in game and be awed, especially if the decks look more like some dark city so that the player really can't tell if this is just some freaky building complex or something else.

In theory it could be a great surprise, but it would probably end up feeling a bit cliche, like in all those Migh&Magics, Wizardries, and jrgs.

 

[Inziladun]

[Vd's Future game idea]

Umm. The mages and radiation poisoning(aka: Mutants) seems pretty weak. Plus the way you're describing the game, it seems like it'd pretty much be the same as Fallout(except in space!). Not that that's neccesarily a bad thing.

Overall the concept's pretty good, and I like the idea of not knowing you're on a colony ship. But unless the idea is handled carefully, it might feel like it being revealed you're on a colony ship is pointless and adds nothing to the story.

 

[mister lamat]

cavemen. i want cavemen and no dialogue except the bare bones of a language you build while going through the game, if you even choose that path.

 

[Jora]

Umm. The mages and radiation poisoning(aka: Mutants) seems pretty weak.

He didn't mean that they're actually magic-users, just people who know some commands of the ship's computers which seems like magic to those who don't even know they're on a ship.

I think the idea is great.

 

[Inziladun]

Ah, I misunderstood. Yeah, that's a great idea, then.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Plus the way you're describing the game, it seems like it'd pretty much be the same as Fallout(except in space!).

Actually it should be the exact opposite. A standard PA setting usually features "advanced" people whose civilization has crumbled around them. They know what electricity, jet engines, and computers are, but the knowledge is useless because the infrastructure is gone.

A "regression during a long space voyage" settings usually features people who have no idea what electricity, jet engines, and computers are, but these things didn't go away and still exist around them, function perfectly, and often being accessed/used without people realizing it.

 

[MacBone]

'Tis an excellent idea, indeed! Are you envisioning the game ending once the ship reaches Alpha Centauri (or returns to Earth)? It seems like the game would become completely different at that point.