D&D 5E Why a New D&D Video Game Should Be 16bit/2D

[pdzoch]

I liked Neverwinter Nights when I was playing D&D 4th Edition. I really liked the idea of fan made adventures. But it has been a hit and miss (and mostly miss) on the quality of those adventures. Now that D&D has returned to its roots in 5th Edition, Neverwinter Nights has lost is appeal for me.

I just would like whatever future D&D video game that comes out to have support for easily made quality fan support to keep the adventure content coming. I might even be willing to pay (micro-purchase) for it (perhaps via some sort of DM Guild for the game, but with good content).

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

If I saw a Kickstarter for a D&D video game I'd write it off immediately. Kickstarter is for small companies/indie devs who have a vision but not the funds. Hasbro has the funds for a AAA title. If they had so little faith in what they were making that they wouldn't even fund it, well, that's a good cue that neither should I.

Even if it was pitched by an indie dev who had licenced the property?
Kickstarter also lets a Developer find out if there actually is a market for their game before commiting to Development. It's been more than 10 years since the last proper D&D CRPG, so hasbro's marketing Department probably has little idea how big the potential market is today, and that means they will play it safe and not fund anything. As a result we get crap like Sword coast legends.

Business runs on numbers not faith.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I don't think a 16-bit video game would appeal to that many gamers of today. Except may be a segment of old timers.

This is not NES nostalgia buzz here, but a new video game running on obsolete graphism quality as an appeal to nostalgia, without any attachment to it like the old Baldur's Gate re-release had.

Today a large portion of kids are used to much better graphics and would avoid it i'm sure.

If WoTC do a D&D game, it won't be for a small segment of old timers is what i think.


Yan
D&D Playtester

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

Eh. Next gen of phones will apaperntly have the same GPU's as the next wave of VR rigs running around, so 3D should be fine on a phone. Heck, creating and animating assets in 3D is often easier, thus costs less time and can lead to more content. Of course you can always present said assets in 2D style. Really then, we're not looking at 2D vs 3D but rather how the game is presented.

Of course, what we should really be gunning for is fun first, form second. The style of presentation might attract different folks, but the quality of play will make or break the game. Personally, I'd prefer a D&D style of game that didn't try and clone the assets of table top play and present them in-game, as if to say 'BEHOLDEN! YOU ARE PLAYING AN RPG!'. Instead, I would prefer if such a game focused on what we enjoy about D&D and tried to find the best way for a digital format to present this. If this includes some of the elements of the table top, such as character sheets and levels, so be it. If not, aok.

Saying all that.. ..what I really would enjoy is WoTC to support a digital tool, developed for the phone, that supported both table top play and remote play - complete with dungeon tools, map making, NPC design and so on.

Or, failing that, just a solid first-person 1-6 player world-wandering adventure game. Fancy graphics, character sheets and goblins, the whole kaboodle - soaked in such tasks as farming, keep building and chess-in-the-tavern.

 

[dco]

Old games picked the gamerules from D&D and the settings, the rest including the budget was in the hands of the developers. Soon there will be a game using the Numenera rules, "Torment: Tides of Numenera", I don't see why a developer could not make a game based on D&D, you only need willingness from developers and Wizards.

 

[SunGold]

Even if it was pitched by an indie dev who had licenced the property?
Kickstarter also lets a Developer find out if there actually is a market for their game before commiting to Development. It's been more than 10 years since the last proper D&D CRPG, so hasbro's marketing Department probably has little idea how big the potential market is today, and that means they will play it safe and not fund anything. As a result we get crap like Sword coast legends.

Business runs on numbers not faith.

Kinda moot as I don't see Hasbro/WotC putting their valuable IP in the hands of someone so unknown and cash-poor that they'd have to look for money on KS.

And I agree that business runs on numbers. My whole point was that if Hasbro looked at the market and decided to make a game--but wouldn't fund it--that signals that they know what they are making is very bad, and won't return on their investment. Hence, not worth my investment either.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I don't think a 16-bit video game would appeal to that many gamers of today. Except may be a segment of old timers.

There have been a lot of pixel-graphic games made that don't seem, to me at least, to be aimed specifically at "old timers'.

Minecraft opened a door for games which are very much modern in their design and play, but wear the graphics of a former generation much like a modern young man might wear the fashion of the late 19th century.

 

[Parmandur]

There have been a lot of pixel-graphic games made that don't seem, to me at least, to be aimed specifically at "old timers'.

Minecraft opened a door for games which are very much modern in their design and play, but wear the graphics of a former generation much like a modern young man might wear the fashion of the late 19th century.

Pretty huge now, yeah, see Terraria. But they are not "16-bit," really.

 

[Bawylie]

I'm looking for a D&D game along the style of final fantasy tactics and Arcadian atlas.


-Brad

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't think a 16-bit video game would appeal to that many gamers of today. Except may be a segment of old timers.

This is not NES nostalgia buzz here, but a new video game running on obsolete graphism quality as an appeal to nostalgia, without any attachment to it like the old Baldur's Gate re-release had.

Today a large portion of kids are used to much better graphics and would avoid it i'm sure.

If WoTC do a D&D game, it won't be for a small segment of old timers is what i think.

I provided a link to Sundew Valley selling over a million units which is drastically higher than Legends of the Sword Coast.

Also games like Minecraft.