Games Subforum Chat

[Schazer]

The line, arguably, is "Don't talk about games that are running." That would include giving "go post" reminders to people who are too inconsiderate to not leave a message about their more-important whereabouts before they go not playing a game they're in.

Also, X: if Wheat is game I'm also willing to jump upon a doomed pantsless slot to teach some toy-throwing pissant a passive-aggressive lesson.

[Red709]

Psst Schazer you're setting a bad modexample [/joke]

[Jacquerel]

I suppose one could make a case that it's totally OK to make posts along the lines of "Someone really should replace into Experimentfia what with it having been more than an entire in-game day and there's two slots that will just have to be modkilled otherwise because they don't have replacements in them and thus cannot speak", but there's also a case that there isn't and I should be modkilled as well.

[A Killer Cuppa Tea]

This post is a Good Post, and people should take heed - myself included. I'd like to add that if you DO feel the rage building (hey, it happens, mafia can be an emotionally invested game), take a deep breath or two, and if that doesnt help, go for a walk and come back and post when you've calmed down. Don't second guess yourself and post anyway, thats dumb. Forum mafia is not played in real time, you dont have to post this very second if you feel like your emotions may be compromised, and it may be time that we as a collective became more aware of this.

[Kocel232]

I suppose this is a good as place as any for this...

Okay, I apologize for vanishing for a month or two, but I've just been struggling to build up a manageable schedule. Forum gaming just didn't fit into that, I never could get on long enough to type satisfying posts. But I think I can start fit it in now. I apologize to everyone who's games I was part of that I let down in the interim. I just thought I'd put up something here to update you all as to what the hell happened to me. XD

[Solaris]

NEVER LEAVE ME AGAIN

[Dim]

The recent Pikmin 3 announcement makes me want to make a Pikmin like game. You know controlling a horde, collecting, fighting, and puzzle-solving. And probably new things like base-building and a different setting. It'd be 2-4 players most likely.

Anyone interested in that?

[Supernerd]

The pikmin-esque game idea sounds like it has some potential. Something like a pvp match where the goal is to collect the most pellets by solving puzzles, fighting monsters and stuff perhaps?

[Dim]

Yeah I thought about doing it pvp. But I'm gonna do co-op, then maybe pvp later. I wanna get the setting and story established, and if people like it I'll do pvp.

[Tricycle]

To whomever it may concern:
Issues have reared their ugly mugs in my life, so I'll be taking a break from the forums.
Sorry.

[Varkarrus]

we need just one more person for the create-your-own-TCG tournament
desperately

we already have 15 people and we can't start with no less or more than 16.
so hurry up and sign up!

[hero122]

we need just one more person for the create-your-own-TCG tournament
desperately

we already have 15 people and we can't start with no less or more than 16.
so hurry up and sign up!

I may sign up...
BTW the pikmin think looks cool too!

[Cetus Amicus]

I have a conundrum. I want to start an empire-building RP game but I don't know whether it would fit better in Forum Games or Collab/RP.

Read the plans below and help me decide!

Planned Original Post
Game Map

(Critique/Q&A also very welcome.)

[Vancho1]

That sounds a lot like the Citystates and derivatives, though the mechanics definitely are a little different. I'd look at the currently running ones, City-States 2; Politico; Gods, Guts and Glory ; and Elysium.

For this, I'd say it'd fit better into Games, but I could be wrong. Really, for such things, it's up to you. There have been tabletop RPGs in here (I played on running classless DnD, and have seen at least 2 GURPS games), and in the RPG forum as well. I also think this board gets a little more traffic, so it might be better in that respect too.

Really, though, it's up to you.

[pikajens]

I have an idea for a mafia game. Who should I PM it to?

[Kíeros]

A lot of people would probably volunteer to look over it and give you advice on some changes. I'd help, and probably quite a few of the next people would help as well.

[pikajens]

I sent it to Kieros, If anyone else wants to take a look at it just ask.

[Palamedes]

I'd be willing to look at it if you need more opinions.

[Fragowump]

Hello everyone.
Sorry for my recent absence from everything.
You know, that one where I just dropped off the face of the forums.
My laptop happened to die again, right after I thought it had been fixed.

And now, even though it's all been sorted out, finally...
I'm going to have to refrain from joining/participating in games for a while.


Sorry to anybody who's game I'm in, or was in before this happened.

[Dim]

I've dropped the Pikmin idea I had earlier. A turn-based Pikmin game doesn't seem to fun now that I think about it.

But I have a new idea. A hardcore rogue-like. I would make a large dungeon full of monsters and items, and let 10 or so players roam free. You only have 1 life so once you die a new person takes your spot and begins at the start area with a new character. Maybe the body could be looted, but disappears after so many turns. Groups are encouraged but not mandatory, so you can go solo if you want. To keep the pace up instead of only moving one space per turn, you would move 5 (maybe more).

I don't know how I'll do the dungeon yet. I might add in a new floor for the characters that survive well and have the earlier areas regenerate for new players. Or I might have it to where once the dungeon is cleared, I would make a whole new dungeon and have everyone start with fresh characters.

I'm still fleshing things out, but I just wanted to post this so you get the jist of it. I'm pretty sure there are some rogue-like fans here right?

[Ross_Varn]

Probably quite a few, I know that I'm one for one, even though I'm pretty terrible at it.

If you're hellbent on making a ten-player game, make sure the rules are really really simple. That's my piece of advice. Otherwise you may be better off knocking it down to five or so, and keeping audience interest high so people will actually come in when there's a death- which can be quite difficult, actually.

Something I've come to ask myself is- am I making a forum game, or am I making a video game? For as much fun messing around with a video-type of game is, it often doesn't translate well from head to post- things get confused, mechanics that I thought were great end up being convoluted in real play, and the length of update times works against both involving play and the survivability of the game itself. For as much time that goes into each turn, there's five times more work than is in a typical classic CYOA over on the Forum Adventures subforum. We restrict ourselves with mechanics, rules, dice, stats, gear, there isn't the angle of one single input, it's all the players at once, and an actual game of decent length stretches for months upon end. I don't have the attention span for that kind of gamemastering. If we compare a typical pen-and-paper RPG's session, a single session can last for two or so hours. In a play-by-post format? It lasts for two or so weeks. That is an actual estimate.

I'm not pushing for keeping people from running forum games, there's just an element to it that I've had to discover myself, and it's that of devotion. It's kept me from finishing any forum game I've ever started, and held me back from starting a thousand others. The ideas are incendiary. But they burn out fast in my head, and the kindle that keeps them going isn't usually available when progress in the game is stretched out over a month's time. But the result- the result can be awesome. It's just that first step that keeps us restricted.

Whoops. Wall of text. TLDR: Ross has realized he's a lazy bum who doesn't finish games and is summing up the points of this realization.

[ProfessorLizzard]

Not to mention turn based combat does not translate neatly enough to an entirely asynchronous environment. Although some has done quite well, for example PlumFinder. But even his game is over a year long, and it has been about only 75% finished.

[GenetiXientist]

In addition to the above, the issue with many games is that they attempt to craft a story alongside the gameplay, which doesn't work in a lengthy game. The interactivity is slow, so that element is unavailable (i.e. NPCs are really hard to talk to,) the formatting is non-linear (it can take 10 posts for a shopping trip to end, by which point, if all players post, it will have been days since the story came into play,) and the background isn't nearly immersive enough (the medium is, by its very nature, unable to fully draw you in.) The end result is that story-based games become tiresome, because they don't occur at a fast enough pace. For pure gameplay games (or those with minimum plot,) the issue is mainly the lack of instant interactivity and the limited method of conveying the effects of an action. In other words, when you do something, it takes a while for something to happen, even if it's something as simple as moving 1 space to the left. In sum, many forum games fail mainly because of the relatively slow interaction between the person running the game and the players.

[Ross_Varn]

That is the exact point that I am driving at. Many of the things we do here could be better played in an IRC- but then we'd lose all those shiny graphics! So we go with the graphics, end up with the delay, and hamstring a thousand other things. Games like Mookland, and it's ilk, are the most popular for a reason- they've figured the system out, and figured it out well. But simulation- simulation is simply something we can't do here.

[Jacquerel]

I think saying it's impossible might be a bit of a stretch but it certainly takes far more dedication and effort on the GM's part