Systems Design #1: Hardcore Accessibility
April 1, 2018
Over the last couple of months of development, we have really put our minds to solving a major problem that can be found throughout the RPG genre: the oldschool, hardcore games offer a learning curve that is just too steep for new players, but many modern RPGs are just too easy to be enjoyable to the hardcore players. Of course, we're designing a feature-rich, complex oldschool RPG and want to provide the player with a challenging experience and dozens of interesting gameplay features to explore. Since this might be a little overwhelming for people who are new to the genre, we've come up with a couple of accessibility features that will make getting into our game so much easier. Keep in mind that each of these options is entirely optional and won't have an impact on the overall design of the game!
1. The Location Markers
Ever since the revolutionary Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, markers that show you the way to your quest location, or even to the nearest dungeon, have become a standard in modern RPGs. We're going to take it a step further: if you activate our Location Markers feature, you not only get each quest goal marked on your map - you can also instantly travel there by going to your journal, clicking on the entry for the quest you want to tackle, and clicking the "travel there" button next to the quest title. You just talked to the town's mayor who told you to go kill the orcs at Blacktooth Camp, but you're too lazy to check on your map where Blacktooth Camp is? No problem! Just go to your journal, click the "travel there" button next to the "Orcs at Blacktooth Camp" entry, and you're instantly teleported to the quest location. Not even Skyrim's fast travel was this convenient!
2. Combat Aim Assistance
Turn based combat can be difficult, especially when the encounters are designed to be a challenge. But worry not! If the large amount of combat options overwhelms you and you have no idea what to do, you can just let our handy little Aim Assistant help you out! When it's the turn of one of your characters, you can click on the nifty little "Aim Assistant" button in the combat menu, and your character will automatically choose the optimal combat action and go through with it. The enemy has two wizards, and you can't decide which one to take out first? No problem! Let the Aim Assistant handle it! Tactical decisions have never been this easy! As an added bonus, the Aim Assistant literally assists your character with aiming, increasing the to-hit-chance by a few points. Nifty!
3. Dialogue Choice Advisor
Dialogue trees have been an integral part of role playing games since Ultima Underworld and Dark Sun, and in some RPGs the dialogue trees and the choices they offered you were even the most important part of the gameplay: Planescape Torment, Age of Decadence, and Torment: Tides of Numenera are some noteworthy examples. But dialogue trees with many choices can be a little overwhelming. If you have ten different options, it's difficult to decide which one would be best. Half of these options might piss the NPC off and botch a quest, or even make the NPC attack you. We all remember those conversations in Fallout and Arcanum where we picked the dialogue options that looked the funniest to us, but they ended up insulting the NPC and caused him to never talk to us again. If you're afraid of making the wrong choice, you have to worry no longer, because our Dialogue Advisor is here to help you out! In any conversation, you can just click the nifty little "Dialogue Advisor" button in the dialogue window, and it will automatically choose the best option for you! Want to convince the evil overlord to give up his plans of world domination, but you're not sure what to say to him? Let the Dialogue Advisor handle it, and you are guaranteed to succeed!
Of course, each of these features is completely and entirely optional, and players who want the full oldschool RPG experience can disable them entirely in the options screen. But for those who wish for a more accessible and welcoming game, they offer the ease-of-use and smooth, barrier-free gameplay that defines the newest generation of gaming.
