Multiple Races / Depth of Content in an RPG
One question I get pretty frequently on WoB is "Why don't you have Vaizard, Quincy, Fullbringers, and Bount?" The answer is that I don't like throwing more races in just for the sake of having more races, I believe they need to fit into a greater design of the game. Vaizard is planned and I will be doing that once I get a few more things that need to be done finished, because balancing the game between two races is hard enough without throwing a third one into the mix.
In the case of Bount and Quincy, there isn't much source material to work from compared to Shinigami and Hollow, the two races that formed the core identity of Bleach for around 300 episodes, in combination with their half-races Arrancar and Vaizard. There were only three Quincy shown in the anime, and the Bount race was a half-developed race for a filler arc that was non-canon, and there were maybe 6 or 7 actual Bount characters, which doesn't leave a lot to make abilities: Consider that for the other races in WoB, Shinigami and Hollow, each race has close to 120 shop abilities, and around 100 Zanpakuto/Ressureccion (per race). That level of content for 8 ranks takes quite a bit of source material to make interesting abilities from. Sure we could make stuff up, but it wouldn't be as compelling and people wouldn't identify with it as well as with things from the races that have been shown.
I've learned that in the manga, which I currently don't read, the Quincy have come back and there's a lot of things surrounding them. Once the manga finishes, if the anime starts back up, I'll watch the anime, if not, I'll read the manga, and when I've done that, I have to evaluate what has been shown for the Quincy and if that would fit well into the game alongside Shinigami, Hollow, and Vaizard. If the races aren't designed to have meaningful interactions inside the game, the game is boring or bland. Already there weren't many ways for the Shinigami and Hollow to interact beyond just random PvP in Kyoto, and there was little reason to there except for the regen square. Introducing the race bases, invasions, and boss fights gave people more to do, but it's not enough, and it's very tricky to make sure both races are able to enjoy it (see previous post on race balancing).
Once I have Shinigami and Hollow both into a good place, and the game has fun interactions, then I have to decide how Vaizard will fit into this. There won't be many Vaizard compared to Shini/Hollow, so will the average Vaizard be considerably stronger than a Shini/Hollow? How are the Shini and Hollow going to feel if their captains get stomped by Vaizard? Do I need to have Vaizard be able to be 1v2'd by Shini/Hollow? Do I make Vaizard not all that strong? Do I add more abilities for Shini and Hollow to allow them to compete with Vaizard? What can I add that would be cool? How would it balance against the Vaizard mask abilities, and will it maintain the cool feeling of uniqueness that Vaizard should have?
There's a thousand questions I have to figure out the answers to, and many many things to think about. I could just throw races in and make them all identical in function, but that wouldn't make the game all that more fun.
In the case of Bount and Quincy, there isn't much source material to work from compared to Shinigami and Hollow, the two races that formed the core identity of Bleach for around 300 episodes, in combination with their half-races Arrancar and Vaizard. There were only three Quincy shown in the anime, and the Bount race was a half-developed race for a filler arc that was non-canon, and there were maybe 6 or 7 actual Bount characters, which doesn't leave a lot to make abilities: Consider that for the other races in WoB, Shinigami and Hollow, each race has close to 120 shop abilities, and around 100 Zanpakuto/Ressureccion (per race). That level of content for 8 ranks takes quite a bit of source material to make interesting abilities from. Sure we could make stuff up, but it wouldn't be as compelling and people wouldn't identify with it as well as with things from the races that have been shown.
I've learned that in the manga, which I currently don't read, the Quincy have come back and there's a lot of things surrounding them. Once the manga finishes, if the anime starts back up, I'll watch the anime, if not, I'll read the manga, and when I've done that, I have to evaluate what has been shown for the Quincy and if that would fit well into the game alongside Shinigami, Hollow, and Vaizard. If the races aren't designed to have meaningful interactions inside the game, the game is boring or bland. Already there weren't many ways for the Shinigami and Hollow to interact beyond just random PvP in Kyoto, and there was little reason to there except for the regen square. Introducing the race bases, invasions, and boss fights gave people more to do, but it's not enough, and it's very tricky to make sure both races are able to enjoy it (see previous post on race balancing).
Once I have Shinigami and Hollow both into a good place, and the game has fun interactions, then I have to decide how Vaizard will fit into this. There won't be many Vaizard compared to Shini/Hollow, so will the average Vaizard be considerably stronger than a Shini/Hollow? How are the Shini and Hollow going to feel if their captains get stomped by Vaizard? Do I need to have Vaizard be able to be 1v2'd by Shini/Hollow? Do I make Vaizard not all that strong? Do I add more abilities for Shini and Hollow to allow them to compete with Vaizard? What can I add that would be cool? How would it balance against the Vaizard mask abilities, and will it maintain the cool feeling of uniqueness that Vaizard should have?
There's a thousand questions I have to figure out the answers to, and many many things to think about. I could just throw races in and make them all identical in function, but that wouldn't make the game all that more fun.
There is PLENTY of sources on the quincies, but it requires actually reading the manga for you to see it, there is a whole arc just about them, their story has developed their abilities developed perhaps 70 chapters of them.
ReplyDeleteas the owner of a games based on bleach ,sacrifices are meant to happen to see productivity, in this case you need to sacrifice your "anime only" state and actually follow up and keep up to date with the series you are designing your game to be on, isn't it ironic when the owner of a bleach game doesnt even know what is going on in the show?
there are so many sources if you had taken the time to actually read upon it.
i dont want to spoil things but there are even more high levels than a CC shinigami if you are planning to create higher ranks in the future, if you wish to actually read those rank "names" that you can easily get just from the manga without having to struggle what to name it.
however creating a whole new race concept does take a lot of time, even if you started right now it may take months to complete it due to the fact that shini/hollows are already so ahead in the game and trying to balance the new released race will be a difficult task, this can be numbers race points squad/house points, its called "house" for quincies, a long with creating swords (bows) and new moves.
but you have a whole game base of people ready to back you up because they are willing to provide feedback and creative (and stupid) ideas to you about it if you ever ask them to, they want to help the game expand, they want to believe you can do it as much as i can.
brb boss is here work time :s RIP.