Alignment Feature

[Aaron]

Would you recommend having alignment (Good/Evil) in a game? Alignment changes depending on what the player chooses to do. Think of FABLE for the X-box.

[The Final Rune]

As an old school AD&D player, I like the idea, but shudder at the thought of impantation into RPGM2. But, if you can/want to do it I'm all behind you.

[Aaron]

It's actually really easy to do. And it will help me greatly when it comes to the point of my CMS and DMS problem. I have a great idea (I think) that I want to use in my game that will make it unique (I think).

[Jugem]

The question shouldn't be if we recommend it, but rather do you want to include it? Judging by your response, it seems like you do. If you think you could include this feature and have it work well, then of course it may be a good idea to include it. But if you ever feel that maybe it's not working the way you had hoped, or that it's detracting from the game in any way, then you should think twice about it.

[Deleted]

(what Jugem said) + I like the idea. I think especially for an open-ended game that's good (then based on what they do (collectively) they later can do different things. I think for a more linear or at least just not open-ended it's also good (if it can work well), especially if it affects things in the game. For say, my relationship values are somewhat similar and work quite well.

[Dungeon Warden]

Even the creators of Fable didn't do a good job of using the alignment system. It only affects what you look like and how NPC's react to you. It doesn't effect the main story at all.

For this to be really effect, you need to write the story so that the alignment of the character won't change the story too much. For example, if the player is good, he could be encouraged to fight a villian in order to save a town. If the player is evil, he could be payed lots of money to fight the villian or the villian could be a threat to the player's own plans (ex. by heavily taxing townspeople the character planned to rob or vice versa).

You need to give the player the oppotuninty to be bad when they want to as well as giving them incentives to be good (being good is often harder than being evil), to balance everything out.

I look forward to seeing what you do with this idea.

[Doan the Nado]

I definitely like this idea. I don't think that Fable shows the flaws of this idea, I rather think Fable dropped the ball on what could have been great. I've played Everquest (an MMORPG), and in that game, if you kill certain people, it changes your faction with different groups. For example, killing a guard in a certain city will make it so that that city's guards hate you, and they will attack you when they see you.

If you can do something like that, or change the story according to your current good/evil standing (this could turn out to be quite difficult), I think you could have a great concept.

[Dungeon Warden]

change the story according to your current good/evil standing

Yes, this is what I meant by Fable not doing a good job of using the alignment system. I believe they originally planned for alignment to effect the story, but found it too hard and decided to drop the idea rather then delay releasing the game.

It would be hard to work alignment into the story. The story would have to be written with alignment as the center piece. That is, what alignment you are effects who will help you and who wants to get rid of you. Evil men will try to use you and good men will try to get you to see their side of the story. The character(s) will be caught in the middle and will need to decide who they will help. Alignment will determine who will accept your help. If you anger both sides you might have to fight both sides at once (this is what happens if you keep switching alignment). I can see how this idea has potential if done right.

[Aaron]

This is going to be hard feature to incorporate into the story side of it I agree. I think that I can do it though. It's going to take me alot longer to finish the game, but I believe it's worth it.