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

[Parmandur]

A 16Bit game won't cut it, every D&D game would still be compared to Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter Nights(2) or, depending on the genre, Dark Alliance. Anything worse than that will automatically garner a negative reaction from the playerbase.



But the big point is, there is simply no interest in the D&D license any more. Even if there had not been the 4Ed which damaged the D&D brand, most game designers figured out that they can equally well design their own generic fantasy (or science fiction) world and have an equally invested fanbase, full control over their IP and do not have to care about future licensing.

There are some exceptions when licenses are strong and cheap (warhammer) or have a rather uncommon theme (cyberpunk). But generic Tolkien inspired fantasy? They are easy to create. Or you specifically don't do Tolkien fantasy which alone garners some interest in the oversaturated fantasy market.



In short, there is no company out there with enough resources to make a adequate game which has any interest in D&D unless they can get it for (nearly) free. And WotC won't do that kind of deal (yet).

Whelp, which is why WotC is making their own software division, I reckon. Not that they will be competing with Dragon Age or anything, but they will be at least invested.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

In particular 4e would be perfect for a video game, though...

 

[Derren]

Whelp, which is why WotC is making their own software division, I reckon. Not that they will be competing with Dragon Age or anything, but they will be at least invested.

Problem is that they want to do "innovative" games (not sure if they used that codeword or something different) which basically means mobile games and other cheap stuff.

In particular 4e would be perfect for a video game, though...

Not really.
It would be perfect if the game was turn based, but who still plays turn based games? For real time you had to take out many of the reactions and somehow automate the rest.

 

[Parmandur]

Problem is that they want to do "innovative" games (not sure if they used that codeword or something different) which basically means mobile games and other cheap stuff.







Not really.

It would be perfect if the game was turn based, but who still plays turn based games? For real time you had to take out many of the reactions and somehow automate the rest.

Cheap stuff like...2D sprite games, perhaps?

Some very successful turn-based game sour there: X-Com comes to mind (X-Com style game set in D&D would be awesome). Still quite a common game type.

 

[SkidAce]

Problem is that they want to do "innovative" games (not sure if they used that codeword or something different) which basically means mobile games and other cheap stuff.



Not really.
It would be perfect if the game was turn based, but who still plays turn based games? For real time you had to take out many of the reactions and somehow automate the rest.

I prefer turn based, or at least pause-able, make decisions then un-pause, games.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

Turn based is what the world needs. I wouldn't even call it staying true to the D&D ruleset if it wasn't turn based.

 

[Lanliss]

Cheap stuff like...2D sprite games, perhaps?

Some very successful turn-based game sour there: X-Com comes to mind (X-Com style game set in D&D would be awesome). Still quite a common game type.

I was agreeing with this before the server crash, in a different thread about making a D&D game.

On a cheaper note, I have been thinking more. I was previously saying that a more customizable "Fire Emblem" style game would work well, if it let you pick classes and spells for your characters. However, I just remembered another genre that would work well. The grid based Dungeon Delving games (Like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon), but with more depth to Character choices.

It is already a turn based engine, and built specifically for (can you guess?) Dungeon Delving!

 

[Mirtek]

Not really.
It would be perfect if the game was turn based, but who still plays turn based games? For real time you had to take out many of the reactions and somehow automate the rest.

Not even then really. To fully implement interrupts and reactions the game would have to ask for every relevant power at every action that triggers it

 

[Derren]

Not even then really. To fully implement interrupts and reactions the game would have to ask for every relevant power at every action that triggers it

Doable on the PC (see ToEE) but forget consoles.

 

[Parmandur]

They've already done d20 on consoles in real-time; Knights of the Old Republic was a quite faithful d20 Star Wars adaptation using the NWN engine on the Xbox, and that was well over ten years ago.