PvP game design

[Slamz]

For example: Reticle controls like Planetside. Lets say for a second that reticle controls are different for different spells. The reticle can be controlled by how much skill you have or what kind of spells you are casting.

I like this idea. The Rainbow Six series was big on reticule changes, like:

M16: Very tight reticules for high accuracy but they jump out more when you shoot and they jump out when you turn or move, representing the extra time it takes to get the long barrel on target and the impact of recoil.
MP5: Fairly wide reticules represent the gun's basic long range inaccuracy compared to the M16 but they don't move much when you move or shoot, allowing you to much more easily rake bullets across someone's forehead while running across the opening of a hallway, provided they aren't very far away.


Taking that idea into an RPG, I could see things like...

* As you increase your Aiming skill, your reticules get closer together allowing for more accurate shots at longer ranges.
* As you increase your Reaction skill, your reticules snap closed faster
* As you increase your Stability skill, your reticules snap open slower

This could apply to everything from swords to arrows to fireballs. And different spells and abilities may have inherent modifiers to this. Like Magic Missile doesn't touch your aiming but Meteor Toss takes a long time to recover from. A newbie with a sword would have reticules halfway across his screen, meaning he's basically swinging wildly. If he's charging into a wall of people, he's guaranteed to hit SOMEONE but not necessarily the person he was aiming for. Or maybe he can even adjust this -- the more "berserk" you go, the faster you swing but the less accurate you are.


Maybe that's the fusion of "FPS" and "RPG" I'm looking for.

But why is shortening the battles a goal to begin with? I dont understand the fun of being killed before you see your attacker.

It's an FPS thing, which I think most FPS gamers would agree is fun. Whether it's Team Fortress 2, Rainbow Six or to some extent even Quake type games (insta-gib rockets) there's usually some ability to just kill someone in one shot which they never saw coming.

Part of the skill of playing is how to avoid these types of situations as well as how to do them. Or optionally, you just get used to the idea that when you jump down this opening in the ventilation system, you've got about 0.5 seconds to kill whoever is in that room before they kill you.

It's some real heart-pumping action which I think slower paced RPGs fail to capture. It also sets you up for situations where you KNOW you're badly outnumbered but it's worth a shot anyway, whereas in an RPG if you're outnumbered, there's often no point in trying (e.g., if 5 people are attacking the Lord, you might try to stop them and rely on the NPCs to help. If 5 people are sitting on a tower flag waiting for it to flip, you wouldn't bother trying. Whereas if there's 5 people in a room guarding a capture point in Team Fortress 2, you'd attack them and stand a reasonable chance of killing at least 1 of them. If you're a Demo Man, you might be able to kill several...)