(maybe) making my own game....

[mekk_pilot]

So I've always loved FFT, but when I think about ways I'd like to warp it to my will, I wonder to myself:  why not attempt to make your own game?

I'm not a total noob to design;  I've got a table-top RPG system on sale for kindle.  That probably took a hundred hours to design and test, so I've got commitment to follow-through.  I'm not bad with fiction either, but I haven't published or self-published any of that--it hasn't gotten through my internal censors.

What I'm wondering is if I can get a sprite artist on board while the game is still in a nebulous form, so when the story and gameplay are in a more concrete form, We'll(!) have some art to back it up.  I'd love for the art to be done FFT-style. 

I'm imagining a FFT-like game with much larger battlefields, that are semi-randomly generated (by which I mean, there will be strict parameters for an iteration to comply with, but the exact layout will be different on every playthrough).

There will be no levels (there are none in my table-top RPG either);  skills will be closely balanced and every skill will have an opportunity cost.  There will be no obviously *right* build.  Many of the opponents will have their skills generated randomly, in the same way as the battlefields.

The player will take multiple roles in a story that centers on a Vietnam-like conflict.  At different points in the game, the player will be fighting with different characters at different points in the history of the conflict.  The whole shape of the conflict will be illustrated to the player as the game moves on, although the story will not necessarily proceed with a linear chronology--the player will probably start in the middle of the war, and there will be flash-forwards and flash-backs.  The player will also play characters from different factions of the conflict.  Certain paths will be mandatory, and some will be elective.  I'm not sure if some will be "unlockable" or not.

My plan for skills right now is:  Every unit will have a basic class, with 2 support skills.  A Healer may have half-MP cost and extra magic range, or she may have turbo-MP and doublecast.  Every unit will probably have a specific weapon, so that can be animated with the sprite.

So, does this sound like an interesting project to anyone?

[mekk_pilot]

Some Clarifications:

When I say Vietnam-like, I'm not talking about putting it in a modern setting.  I'm just refering to the storyline possibilities...a rebellion, an ousted colonial power, the escalation and "advisory" roles, a proxy war between two greater powers, both sides trying to utilize the populace, the withdrawal and abandonment, etc.  Of course, I'd make the actual narrative a little neater--for instance, the rebellion would succeed, but only by betraying its ideals, for instance.

So, no levels, how do you do progression/challenge?  Well, let's say the opening missions you're an Imperial Captian and you've got some foot soldiers and magitek-armor like forces under your command and your task is capturing a town.  Since this is the beginning of the game, you've got massive advantages--it's not a fight, it's a massacre--but it gets the player used to the general feel of the game.  Gradually the odds begin to normalize.  Now, since the history has already been written, and the player is just playing through it, the intense challenges would be elective paths where, at some point in the history of the conflict, a force succeeded despite facing overwhelming odds.  For instance, there might be a Colonel who seems to have the magic touch;  he never loses.  But if you actually play his battles, they are incredibly hard.

[mekk_pilot]

Also, I'm toying with the idea of having a hard time limit on stages so some kind of turtle/buff strategy isn't an option....

[formerdeathcorps]

You should make your suggestions to the Tethical forum.  Obviously, FFT cannot handle some of the things you are asking.

Overall, I like your ideas (the removal of reaction abilities is a nice touch), but I think you're trying too hard to forcibly specialize your job classes.  I think units' stats should determine their "optimal" specializations and you can freely make everything else flexible.  Thus, I think you should keep FFT's dual job system intact.  It is more flexible that way (harder to balance, sure), but adds much more replay value.  Another thing FFT did right was the reduced number of stats, which is easier to keep track of and balance.  (My only suggestion is to turn Jump into an overall measure of a unit's agility [affecting their evasion], Brave into something representing the morale of the unit, and Faith into something representing the constitution of the unit [to determine encumbrance]).  Since FFT spritesheets can handle any weapon on any job (unlike many other games like Fire Emblem which literally hard-coded weapon animations to certain jobs), I think you should adopt the flexibility of allowing any class to use any equipment (like the original Let Us Cling Together for SNES/PSX).  Similarly, you could also try to work in a branching storyline akin to LuCT's: player choices can drastically change the outcome of the plot.  Another feature you may consider copying from LuCT is terrain and weather bonuses/penalties to accuracy and elemental damage, to simulate the effects of cover, opposite elements, height advantages, and footing (which would also make movement abilities like Any Weather more useful).
Another way to equalize weapons is to classify them by damage type.  For example, a sword would be slashing and stabbing, an axe would be slashing or smashing, a bow/gun/javelin would be piercing, and a pike would be only stabbing.  You can then differentiate armor types to have differing block rates against these types of attacks, which would force people to run a variety of weapons (because the enemy has varied armor).  Similarly, you can have different materials block some elements at the cost of weaknesses to others so nobody ends up using only one kind of magic.  If this isn't enough, you can add another layer with weapon/armor weights, effectively a tradeoff between speed and power/tanking.

Can you write computer code?

[mekk_pilot]

I've had "learn 2 code, n00b" and "don't be so ambitious" drilled into my head so many times it's finally starting to take.

I think I'll just see what I can do here, first.