D&D 5E How To Make a Good D&D Videogame

[RotGrub]

Eye of the Beholder?

yes, cd c:\EoB

 

[RotGrub]

This is not an indictment against those game designers, however. If they don't want to make a game like D&D then they don't have to. And if WotC is okay with other companies paying to further dilute the D&D brand, that's their prerogative. It's just obvious when you see threads like this one in every other forum and gaming community that there is some untapped demand for a game that more closely emulates the D&D rules. I doubt WotC is consciously standing in the way in the creation of that game, but I suspect that the licensing fees they require and the continued existence of the SRD are combining to create an environment where unlicensed copy-cats are more likely.

I couldn't agree more.

It just takes one developer who has the desire to create an authentic D&D game for it to happen. You need someone with a passion for D&D who is willing sacrifice market share and profit for a game that's true to the rules.

Sadly, I think most developers underestimate how successful a game like that could be.

 

[illwizard]

Hey guys, just wanted to say I used to love playing warriors of the eternal sun on sega mega drive back in the day. I thought it was a pretty good adaptation anyway.

 

[MechaPilot]

I couldn't agree more.

It just takes one developer who has the desire to create an authentic D&D game for it to happen. You need someone with a passion for D&D who is willing sacrifice market share and profit for a game that's true to the rules.

Sadly, I think most developers underestimate how successful a game like that could be.

I think most developers of virtually all products aim to maximize profits and/or market share. If as you say making a D&D video game true to the D&D rules would be making the game less profitable then it sounds like a bad business decision to stay true to the rules regardless of how much doing so would cause purists to nerdgasm.

 

[Remathilis]

The question becomes, what is more important: D&D the Rules or D&D the Setting.

You can have dozens of games that take place in the world of D&D the Setting. One of the best games ever was D&D Champions of Mystara which was a side-scrolling beat-em-up like Final Fight and captured the world of Basic/Mystara perfectly and didn't have a lick of accuracy to the game rules. On the other hand, games like Baldur's Gate or the Gold Box game were much more faithful to the rules and setting, but at the cost of both of those style games having a horrendous learning-curve and high difficulty. (BG in particular emulated 2e a little TOO faithfully in some areas, which is why later games added "house rules" like max hp on leveling, rest-until-healed, and automatic scroll learning). To be fair, BG and Gold Box games required a lot of knowledge of how the "paper" rules work, which is fine for people who know the paper rules already, but harder for those unfamiliar with them.

Personally, I hope the next (and there will be a next) D&D game is a little MORE faithful to 5e than SCL was; it has elements of "edition switch" legacy mechanics like NWN had. But I don't want it too faithful; just the fun parts taken to keep the game easier to grasp.

I'm sure there is such a mix, but finding it hasn't exactly been easy.

 

[Lanliss]

I have been playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown and ts a turn based tactical squad based shooter. The combat system seems very D&D based with things like reactions and full move and readying an action. Different genre of course.

I don't know which thread it was, but I mentioned that XCOM would make a great D&D game. Just needs a more melee focused approach, and reskinned rocket launchers to make the AoE spells. If that Darkest dungeon game is anything like that, I will be getting it.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

I don't know which thread it was, but I mentioned that XCOM would make a great D&D game. Just needs a more melee focused approach, and reskinned rocket launchers to make the AoE spells. If that Darkest dungeon game is anything like that, I will be getting it.

Darkest Dungeon is not that much like XCOM. I'm a fan of both DD and XCOM:EU, and while I love them both, the similarities are fewer than the differences.

I recommend watching some DD play on youtube. It's probably your best bet to see what the game is like pre-purchase

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't know which thread it was, but I mentioned that XCOM would make a great D&D game. Just needs a more melee focused approach, and reskinned rocket launchers to make the AoE spells. If that Darkest dungeon game is anything like that, I will be getting it.

Yeah it also has RPG and levelin based Elements. Even if you had a reduced spell list the Xcom engine would seem to make a good D&D turn based game. Seems ideal for a 4E type game if nothing else but you could make it any D&D version.

 

[Lanliss]

Yeah it also has RPG and levelin based Elements. Even if you had a reduced spell list the Xcom engine would seem to make a good D&D turn based game. Seems ideal for a 4E type game if nothing else but you could make it any D&D version.

The only problem would be the social column, but most games lack that anyway. I cannot think of any good way to emulate the D&D style of the entire party having social interactions.

 

[wedgeski]

Take what N-space has done with Sword Coast Legends and you throw it all in the bin, start over, and do the exact opposite of what they have done.

Really? You do the exact "opposite" of a multiplayer CRPG with active real-time DM?

SCL feels like a v0.9 product to me (note: I haven't played it, only watched a few streams), but it has the potential to be something special. I'm quite happy to hold my money back and wait for a year to see what they can do with it.