I think Lorenoth had the right Idea starting that class ideas thread. Many people have been complaining lately about the less than overflowing amount of information we've been garnished about ColdStone (I'm not complaining mods, just stating! :)). I think we should take some time off from the technical features of the engine and just have some fun pushing storylines / character design / map + level design / whatever else interests you about creating an RPG around.

I know people have story ideas, if the ColdStone webring is any indication, so let's hear 'em, people. unless of course you'd rather keep your own secrets, in which case I'll just wait till your game is released to find out. and those of you that aren't sure how good your idea is, tell us! it'll never get any better if you don't let people point out why they think it needs work.

I leave the rest up to you.

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Do not follow me for I may not lead. Do not lead for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me the hell alone.
-Jedi

Alright then, to get the ball rolling (if a little slowly), my game will be a sort of amalgamation of Blade Runner, Fallout and Final Fantasy 7, with hints of Gladiator in their as well.

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Friction leads to fire, you could get burned,
How much ink I just injected is none of your concern,
Unless your on terms of understanding the omega,
He controlls the mix so you can inherit the heater.

as for myself, I'm presently working on adapting an old comic book idea that I have to an RPG. I wanted to mix fantasy/sci-fi, but as it turns out most of the sci-fi will be in plotline, and the gameplay itself will be mostly fantasy (magic, swords, etc. all that boring stuff...)

it goes a little something like this...
i wanted to set my story on an Earth-like planet (very green, humans, no really spectacular animals...). a sort of medieval world, but with slight variations on the common feudal theme. however, one day, the skies begin to rumble and the clouds grow dark, parting around a huge ball of flame crashing down into the earth. the impact kicks up a huge crater directly in between two warring nations. by neccessity of the emergency, the war ends and an uncomfortable peace ensues.

When all the smoke and dust clears (or enough of it to be safe), and the crater can finally be examined, people begin to get even more worried. whatever it was that fell, it was no natural thing. it is metal, worked by human hands (although centuries in advance of what the people in this setting have), and totaly beyond even the most wisened man's (or woman's) comprehension.

What ensues will be the game itself, which (although somewhat less thought out than the storyline around which it is based) will include all the best aspects of a good adventure that I can implement, and a healthy dose of sci-fi plot twists to this otherwise strictly fantasy game. I hope to be working on this one for at least a year before I have anything worth playing, but that all depends on when ColdStone comes out.

ok, that's my first blurb, now it's your turn.

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Do not follow me for I may not lead. Do not lead for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me the hell alone.
-Jedi

Hi ev'ry body.... I'm not dead visit my coldstone related site (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/ill_a_nois/randd.html")www.geocities.com/ill_a_nois/randd.html(/url) ,drop me a line in the guestbook.

My game will consist of a turn-based battle engine (one way or another I will find a way), Summoning, elements( (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/ill_a_nois/randd.html")www.geocities.com/ill_a_nois/randd.html(/url) ), I look forward to seeing the many different varieties of RPG that will come out of this engine.

For right now I also plan to involve a strong stategic edge to my game, as well a lot of personality...

pssssst... 'Carte Blanc' lives (my final boss character )

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(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/ill_a_nois/ring.html")Join the CGE Developers Webring here(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/ill_a_nois/index.html") My main page(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/ill_a_nois/randd.html") My current project page if you like it, give me a buzz(/url)
(url="http://"mailto:ill_a_nois@yahoo.com")mailto:ill_a_nois@yahoo.com(/url)ill_a_nois@yahoo.com

(url="http://"http://www.angelfire.com/ma3/skyblade/shadowblade/index.html")Shadowblade(/url) is the working title for the CGE game I'm working on. Clicking that link will tell you about the story and stuff, although, I must warn you, it hasn't been updated for a while.

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(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/skyblade500/omega_conspiracy/index.html")The Omega Conspiracy(/url) - An (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/games/evo")EV Override(/url) Novella
(url="http://"http://www.angelfire.com/ma3/skyblade/shadowblade")Shadowblade(/url) - A (url="http://"http://www.beenox.com/coldstone.html")Coldstone(/url) Roleplaying Game
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My (as yet unnamed) game was concieved when I finish playing the Breath of Fire series, and looked at them, and said to myself, OK, what would it take to make an RPG where the main character actually was a dragon, instead of being a human with some nifty looking combat abilities. The first problem that had to be solved was one of social interactions: how do you go around and talk to people when they (in general) run away screaming on sight? The solution I chose was to give the character the ability to transform from a full size dragon to a small lizard. Of course, having actual humans in the party is crucial, since there really isn't that much a talking lizard can do in a human society.

The setting is fantasy, with a touch of magic-that-looks-a-bit-like-technology, specifically airships, seagoing ships, maybe even a submarine.

The plot is generally linear, but it branches rather dramatically, and with no warning when you've come to a branching point. One different choice in a conversation can lead to a dramatically different plot, though they all have roughly the same ending.

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(Insert Signature Here)

Quote

Originally posted by jmitchell:
**one day, the skies begin to rumble and the clouds grow dark
**

the skies begin to rumble? how do skies rumble?

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The Absolute Destiny: Apocalypse

oh, don't you worry Pheon'x, the skies will rumble. oh, how they'll rumble...

or maybe they'll just get all dark and stuff. I haven't made the cinematics yet, so only time will tell. all I know is that there will be a lot of "crashing" and "banging," etc. all sorts of good fun.

as for wyvern's post (I should have known you'd be a dragon person from the name...), that's actually a damn original idea. I've seen games that involve transformation of the sort you're talking about, but in very, very few of them the main character is the big huge beast in his natural form. Usually it works the other way around. if nothing else, it should make for an interesting game.

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Do not follow me for I may not lead. Do not lead for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me the hell alone.
-Jedi

Angel's Fate: The jist of it is, the main character escapes the destruction of his country by chance and has to find a way to stop his enemies from bridging the gap between heaven and earth and controlling all the realms..

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Was it the Chad?
--------------------------------
Make sure you visit the Coldstone Hotline Server run by GlueBubble. The IP is:
65.4.86.190

I have virtually nothing about Power Trip on the web....go to my HL server to check out a lot of upcoming stuff from various people (including myself). 65.4.86.190 is the IP.

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"Bond, GlueBubble Bond"
::walks down the mountain::

in my game the main character is an elf, and you get around 20 people in your party(I hope they can all be there at the same time, that would be nice).
Most of the game is actually developing a romance with one of your party members(there will be a choice of several). Your party members range from the deranged wizard Lorenoth(I just had to use my "name" in this game) to the 6 year old conjurer Rhyanth. Your party members will be constantly changing, Derron shifts into Demon somewhere along the line, Talia might decide to become elven and give up her wings, etc.
Anyway the game mainly focuses on your relationships with party members.
There will be fighting and all that, and a huge world to explore, but you know...

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"No, I'd say the hardest fight of my life was when I drove off 6 armed orcs only using the key to Woran's Pagoda"
-Jun, talking to Kell

20 people would indeed be nice for large epic battles but there would be major difficulties in trying to move around with them. 20 characters would create one heckuva logjam in tight places, not to mention that the computer the person is playing on probably would be unable to handle it without a ferocious amount of lag.

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Was it the Chad?
--------------------------------
Make sure you visit the Coldstone Hotline Server run by GlueBubble. The IP is:
65.4.86.190

Quote

Originally posted by DarkBlade:
**20 people would indeed be nice (...) but there would be major difficulties in trying to move around with them
**

Are you forgetting the standard RPG method of having the party represented on the map by a single character? Or will that not work w/ Coldstone?

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(Insert Signature Here)

Quote

Originally posted by jmitchell:
**so let's hear 'em, people.
**

My working title is "Among Romans"
It's a historical simulation of living day to day in a first century Roman city. Currently the game map is based on a smallish section of Pompeii. No magic or avanging gods - just good ol' Roman civilization.

you'll have to do something to make money (you ain't gonna get to be some senator living off the fat of the land though you might be able to work you way up to equestrian status). You'll need to participate in public life, purchase necessities, and so forth.

There is a goal of providing an "adult" switch (every other store front in Pompeii seems to be a brothel) as well as an option to play in Latin.

Comments and ideas are welcome!

-bc
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(This message has been edited by JustBill (edited 02-12-2001).)

man, it seems like there are a lot of people planning on making historicaly accurate RPGs. Well, a "lot" relatively speaking. I wish you all the best of luck, but I can't help but be a little skeptical. I've seen few historical RPGs, and zero that have been successful. Maybe it's just that the corperations that usualy put out historical matterial are unqualified to make RPGs, and the companies that make RPGs are unqualified to put out historical material, and so disaster ensues.

It's always possible that a single person (or small group) could do a better job though. With enough motivation, I guess anything is possible, espescially if ColdStone is going to be as powerfull as it appears to be. I'll definitely be checking out all the historical RPGs that come out from you guys though, as I still want to see one has been done well enough to call both accurate and entertaining.

Oh yeah, and that reminds me. how many people are planning on working solo on their project? I'm interested in seeing just how ambitious/crazy the lot of us are.

I know I'm going it alone, chiefly because all of my friends just laugh and turn away when I tell them that I'm trying to make a full-sized RPG and do all the cinematics + graphics + story + characterization + "code" by myself. maybe I can get some help once I've got something to show, but until then; nada. what about the rest of you?

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Do not follow me for I may not lead. Do not lead for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me the hell alone.
-Jedi

I've got numerous RPGs planned, but some will have to wait until I have honed my graphic/sound making abilities, and one I may not even make with coldstone. (It's got a lot of fencing and fast action wich coldstone may not be able to do) which Is why I'm going back to college learning programing.

The one I am focusing my main efforts on, Times of anarchy , is set arround a monarchist nation who's ruler has died without an heir, throwing nobles and counts into a civil war over power. After an hour or two into the game, the plot loosens, and multiple custom alterations could be made which could add to, simplify, or enhance the game. Much like plugins for EV. I plan on making several modifyed versions myself, as soon as I get it finished and cleaned of bugs, but the main idea is to get people into sending in their own versions, as a way of doing two things.

1. Get newbies adjusted to using coldstone, by giving them access to ready made examples (Dee, if it's not too late, that would be a good idea hinthint*)

2. Try to make a freeware game, that would be fun enough to replace a good night's sleep (also like EV), which would require much replayability.

So, I intend this to be a group project, including anyone who wants to contribute. I welcome plot/scenario suggestions, graphics, music, and anything else people have to contribute.

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Madman 2000 tip of the day. (more tips) (stop showing tips)

:Casts remove curse on his ring of anti-memory:

Almost forgot, If anyone has anything to contribute, please mail me at Madman@Diplomats.com

Please people, I don't intend this to be a work of mine alone, but a group activity involving all coldstone users, leaving us all with a game "our way" while still not spoiling the whole thing for us from knowing the whole game inside and out.

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Madman 2000 tip of the day. (more tips) (stop showing tips)

Quote

Originally posted by jmitchell:
how many people are planning on working solo on their project? I'm interested in seeing just how ambitious/crazy the lot of us are.

I'm more-or-less planning on working on mine alone, but I have a number of friends who are sufficiently interested that I can bounce plot off of them (to see if it breaks), and some of my friends have friends who can make music, and I'm sure I can find someone who can make FF1-6 style graphics, or, more likely, find a tile set in that sort of style. If worst comes to worst, that sort of graphic is primitive enough that I could do the graphics entirely myself, but I'd rather not. So it's a one-person project, but I intend to get whatever help I can.

Current status: the first 4-6 hours of plot designed for all major plot directions, the last 1-2 hours of plot designed, vague notions of what goes inbetween, a complete but not completely detailed world design, a world map, and an erratically detailed history. Approximate percentage of neccessary work finished: 0%

Yup, definitely the crazy option.

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(Insert Signature Here)

ok about the whole 20 people at once thing, I realize that it would probably be a bad idea.. so I'm gonna limit it to 7(6 is used so often: pokemon, baldur's gate, revelations the demon slayer, etc..)
Of course the characters that you leave behind will probably gain levels as you do, but one or two behind. You're gonna want to work on all of your characters, because some points of the game will call for separate ones.
Of course this will get tedious. I mean in pokemon they wanted me to raise ALL of them.
Well to hell with that, I chose that orange dragon thingy and totally destroyed everyone I met. I'll balance it somehow

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"You will suffer! You will all suffer!"
-Jon Irenicus speaking to the Cowled Wizards

Hmm...I have a lot of ideas for RPGs, but the first I make will probably be something like this:

You take on the role of Santa Clause...the game will focus around trying to deliver presents to spoiled children, fighting with lazy reigndeer, and of course the woman of doom commonly known as "Mrs. Clause".

I'm also thinking of doing an RPG based on a story I did in a writing class called "The Great Adventures of Bob Woo"...it would probably end up being like the GameBoy Zelda (you save Paul the talking Walrus and he gives you a backpack, which you trade to Barnampus the Frog for a pencil etc.) but much more zany...

Maybe I'll do a "real" RPG...I have many good ideas for sci-fi games, and I would love to see a Wheel of Time RPG, though I'm not up for making it by myself...

Kraig Hill

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Kraig Hill
"I've changed by not changing at all" - Pearl Jam