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Taiya's IRC-based RPG

#1
While a part of me would dearly love to pour all my effort into finding a job, my SO has mandated that I spend much of my time doing something besides working (in the interests of avoiding burnout)... so I've chosen to put some of these "free hours" into making an LT-like IRCRPG, accessed via Taiya. The RPG will not be a typical one, as it'll pit the players against each other instead of working together towards a common goal. Taiya will be capable of "playing" as well, managing a few AI-controlled characters.

The game is not meant to be taken completely seriously - it's supposed to be, at least in part, funny. It'll last about ten turns, which is at most a little under an hour, so people can play while talking in IRC. During the game you go from a humble pilot to (if all goes well) the most powerful person in the known universe. As it advances so quickly, things get crazy fast. :D

Part of my posting here is to ensure I have something to hold me accountable, so I don't drop the project at some point. :D Also to give updates. For a brief while, I'm a coding game developer! Hooray!


The way it will work is like this:

1. Each player chooses a character name, gender, and five stats: Toughness, Friendliness, Caution, Diligence, and Ambition. They put in values between 0 and 9 for each stat. Taiya then takes them and evens them out so you have an average of 4.

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<Taiya> Hai! You said you wanted to join the game? Message me your character name and gender, and 0-9 values for the stats: Toughness, Friendliness, Caution, Diligence, and Ambition. Like this: "Taiya, female, 1,9,3,7,4"
<Talvieno> Josh, male, 1, 5, 2, 9, 9
<Taiya> Your character profile has been accepted and added! Please remember not to switch your username while the game is in progress. I'll give you more instructions after the game has started.
2. You are assigned a class based on your stats. There are ten classes, mostly to help me with storytelling. I may make it so you can choose a class rather than having to put stats in, too. Current classes are:
  • Bounty Hunter
  • Escort
  • Explorer
  • Leader
  • Merchant
  • Miner
  • Pirate
  • Researcher
  • Salvager
  • Spy
3. Each turn, Taiya gives you two pseudo-randomized lists of actions to choose from. These choices are partly based on your stats, partly based on your skills, and partly based on what's happened before.

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<Taiya> Time for the next turn! Your options are: >>A. Attempt to upgrade your targeting computer  >>B. Gather friends and attack a new freighter coming in  >>C. Lay low to try to lose the heat from the cops
<Talvieno> A
<Taiya> Okay! I'll tell you the results after the turn. Here's your next set of choices: >>A. Try to humiliate Dino (Dinosawer) by sending him false reports >>B. [Request] BigCheese (Silver) to join you in a large-scale attack on a local trading hub >>C. [Request] Arwinia (Taiya) to duel with you to the death   >>D. Help repair BigCheese's ship from the damage he sustained at Station 9
<Talvieno> info on D
<Taiya> You help BigCheese repair his ship. The amount you are able to fix depends on both your knowledge of hull construction and how friendly you are.
Your first choice list is composed of options that affect you, and only you. Nobody else will see the results of these actions. This means you can upgrade your skills and equipment in private.

Your second choice is composed of two types of actions: WITH actions, and [i}VS[/i] actions.
  • A "WITH" action requires another player. It will send them a message, and they can choose to either accept or decline. It may benefit both parties, or have a chance to greatly benefit only one or the other. It could be gathering support for a political movement, playing a high-stakes simulation, dueling to the death, or more. A "WITH" action has a 50% chance of having the results shown in the main channel at the end of the turn, and a 50% chance of being shown only to you.
  • A "VS" action does something to another player - positive or negative - without them having any option to decline. These can be things like stealing someone's job, scrambling someone's tracking equipment so you can hide from them, or even straight up attacking them. A "VS" action has a 50% chance of having the results shown in the main channel at the end of the turn, and a 50% chance of being shown only to you and the affected party.
The third part of the turn is a "VS" action that you have little control over. Taiya will choose it for you, based on your stats, skills, and previous actions. This is so you can enjoy watching your character decide to beat up your opponent just because he bloody well wanted to, and without feeling any guilt.


4. You can lose by either getting arrested and thrown in prison, getting your ship blown up, or becoming so unhappy you commit suicide. There are a lot more ways to win, however:
  • Becoming insanely popular(movie star, tv show host, musician, whatever)
  • Becoming an infamous mob boss/criminal/etc, such that everyone fears you
  • Being richer than bill gates
  • Being the CEO of ... everything
  • Killing off all your opponents (or letting them kill themselves off)
  • Making everyone your friends.
Making people your friends is a very viable approach. People that like you are much less likely to attack you - but at the same time, you are much less likely to attack them in return. Making yourself immune effectively means you win - but if people are mean to you before you can befriend them, obtaining this goal is much harder because then you'll start off hating them. :D While you'll need to be able to switch strategies at a moment's notice and think on your feet, you have many paths to victory.

5. Finally, Taiya will be able to control AI characters if there aren't "enough" players, and you can even abandon your character and have her play it instead.


Thoughts? :)
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Re: Taiya's IRC-based RPG

#4
F4wk35 wrote:Honestly, it sounds GREAT :shock:
:D
Wanna test!
:D :D
Wanna play!
:D :D :D
(Don't) wanna (Horribly messy) die! :ghost:
:twisted:
*Cough* I mean...sounds nice :) How far is it? Can it be played yet? :shifty:
I have a Python-based simulation set up that plays it solely with computer players to balance it, so I've (mostly) balanced the game. There's some imbalance still there, which I suppose is good in a way... but it's not anything incredibly game-breaking. (As far as I know, anyway. Giving it to human players may prove me wrong. :D)

It can't be played yet. Actually, it's not even hooked up to Taiya yet. I'm working on rewriting it in Java now and adding interface stuff like actual text output and input methods. It could be a week, maybe two, depending on things. Probably not over a month though. :D
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Re: Taiya's IRC-based RPG

#5
cuisinart8 wrote:Ooh, I like the sound of this! I'll have to drop by IRC more often. The game sounds quite fun. It'll be interesting to play against people here instead of alongside them!
Yes... Part of me still feels some guilt that I had to drop REKT, but overall, I think I made the correct decision there. I lack the time for it. :\ It took many, many, many hours of my time, to the point I could barely do anything else. It was stressful, too. Twenty players is far too many. :D
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Re: Taiya's IRC-based RPG

#7
Yay IRC RPG
*is excited*

On a tangent, if you're not planning on picking REKT back up, it might be nice to write down a summary of the remaining storyline, for closure - I'm still curious how it was all gonna pan out.
Or you could make it your next writing project. REKT: The bookening.
Would buy :ghost:
Warning: do not ask about physics unless you really want to know about physics.
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Re: Taiya's IRC-based RPG

#8
Dinosawer wrote:Yay IRC RPG
*is excited*

On a tangent, if you're not planning on picking REKT back up, it might be nice to write down a summary of the remaining storyline, for closure - I'm still curious how it was all gonna pan out.
Or you could make it your next writing project. REKT: The bookening.
Would buy :ghost:
I could do either of those. I have a decent idea of where the story could've gone, and there was one potential timeline in particular that I liked. I could write that out soon. :)
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Re: Taiya's IRC-based RPG

#14
oday I noticed there was a slight error in the python prototype - namely, there was a * where there was supposed to be a +. It was a small thing, but had enough of an effect that, when I fixed it, it unbalanced the whole game. I had to spend some time rebalancing it again.

On a more interesting note, I've both (started) the manual for the game (here), and added a lot more to the code. Now Taiya has starting strings coded for your introduction to the game (after character creation) and a lot of text input for other parts of the game, such as choosing actions. I'm nowhere near done for it, but progress is progress. :)

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<Taiya> You are Victor, a novice explorer. Your recent adventures have brought you into the Delta Pavonis system - a surprisingly poorly-explored area of space. You park your ship (the Magellan) at the nearby Exodus Station and assess the situation.

On a game design note, I'm thinking of making it so you could switch classes partway through the game. Switching classes would cost you skill points - but allow you all the perks of whichever class you're switching to. As the game lasts (about) ten turns, you would switch classes after turn 5. You would have to weigh your options - would it be wiser to switch classes and take the penalties, or stay the class you've chosen? Sticking with your current career would let you continue on down the same path as before, but if you chose to switch, you could have new options open up to you.

I don't know if I'll actually do that, but it's worth a thought. :)
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