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Originally Posted by Ephirith
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Mount and Blade and Dwarf fortress are two of my very favorite games, so those are clearly some astute suggestions :P
I've played Haven and Hearth as well and enjoyed it, for what it was. Haven't tried the others. Looks promising but I'm desperate to see something developed on a large scale by a major studio.
Salem looked promising. Was developed in part by the Haven and Hearth guy, funded by Paradox, but the overall feel from reading about the beta makes me scared they've botched the thing. Labelled "The Crafting MMO"
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One topic that interests me are the NPCs and the things they do. In fact, this is something I'd like to explore someday with my programming. Sort of like a cell simulation, except the cells are non-players. There're many games that have done this somewhat. It's a type of emergent causal gameplay. All of the non-players are assigned needs and schedules and so on. They all act independently and can influence one another.
Some RPGs with interesting NPC behaviors/etc:
Gothic (I/II/III)
Ultima 7 The Complete Edition
.... and many MANY more.
Lots of good single player games can be found here:
http://www.gog.com/catalogue/rpg
Some good games: Darklands, Guild Gold Edition, King's Bounty: The Legend, Baldur's Gate 1/2, etc. SO MANY GOOD GAMES on that site, that's why they call it GOG. It's a treasure trove of games.
Dark Souls is a more modern action-RPG that caught my eye a bit back.
Here's a very nice 3-part series written by somebody who has been in the business (UO/SWG):
Part 1:
http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/06/03...source-system/
Part 2:
http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/06/04...system-part-2/
Part 3:
http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/06/05...system-part-3/
And then there's this about why/how they were forced to "dumb down" NPCs:
http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/06/09/why-dont-our-npcs/
Here're his concluding remarks for that link:
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Here’s where I editorialize a little bit. We’ve tended to, over time, focus so much on the quest and kill aspect of these games that we’ve reduced down other elements in favor of this. We no longer have NPCs with schedules because it interferes with getting a quest promptly and killing things faster. We no longer have NPCs that give directions because a radar map is more convenient. We no longer have NPCs that crack a joke when you say something because we’ve removed NPCs hearing you altogether. We no longer have NPCs that take initiative because all interactions must be through menus. We no longer have NPCs that fool people into thinking they are maybe real because it’s confusing.
But there’s fun to be had in those things, and a sizable amount of humor to be mined, and springboards for much further development of other systems. There’s storytelling (will no one have a thought for Sarah’s pain and her desire for Burly Bob’s killers to be brought to justice?).
Players objected quite a lot to seeing the fictional dressing stripped away from the modern quest dispenser NPCs in SWG, seeing them as actual metallic terminals. And yet, that’s how our NPCs act today anyway. We should swing the pendulum back a little bit. I, and I think many other players, would gladly trade some inconvenience for a world that feels a little less like a pellet dispenser.
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