Mages? An RPG game idea Thread

So I'm working on this game idea and trying to get it all together. It's set in a fantasy world where some people are "gifted" with the ability to use magic, but the government doesn't like magic and there are special soldiers that find and capture or kill these gifted people, called Silencers. I like to call the gifted people Mages, well because it sounds nice. So these Mages form a faction, a community, to protect their selves from the Silencers (kind of an Assassin-Templar atmosphere is created there). But here's the problem; I feel like the gameplay that I have in mind for the game doesn't really fit in the context.

The gameplay would mostly be based on spell casting and using abilities to overcome challenges in a unique way, other than just throwing fireballs at people. The protagonist is a young boy who isn't really good at hand to hand combat, you won't be able to slash the heck out of everyone with a sword, or swing a huge battle axe to kill everyone. You are very vulnerable and fragile in terms of physical power and you should try to engage your enemies in unique ways, also including a lot of stealth. So there's a lot of movement utilities, blink, dash, invisibility, probably more, but the question is how far can this go from the classic damage-dealing spell casting, but still stay in the context of mages?

I've been researching about the word mage and the public understanding of it is a high damage dealing spell caster. So is there any other word that might fit in better? And also tell me what you think about the whole idea, and whether you would prefer the classic throwing fireball kind of spell casting or more complicated/strategy based abilities? Also feel free to leave suggestions about the design.

If you are interested in helping me with this game feel free to send me a message.

Edited by: justcallmeB

IMO Mage is the lowest class in spell caster tree. Wizard, necromancer and sorcerer are higher than mage. IOW don't worry about using Mage in the title or story

As for gameplay, I assume you're aiming for stealth game instead of shmup, am I right? . I can say it might work but obviously you need to remove MP bar or any MP limit to allow player to cast any spells freely

However, there's something which bothers me about this stealth idea (maybe that's what you had in mind too). Why would a person gifted with magic sneak behind enemies instead of facing them and use magic to attack? okay, maybe he's not strong enough to cast destructive spell/magic but the next question is how long he's going to do stealth? when will he be strong enough?

I believe, in order to answer these questions properly, you need to define magic clearly in your concept. Is it a destructive ability, constructive ability or supportive ability?

DarkBloodbane wrote:

As for gameplay, I assume you're aiming for stealth game instead of shmup, am I right? . I can say it might work but obviously you need to remove MP bar or any MP limit to allow player to cast any spells freely

There won't be a Mana system or anything like that, you basically have Stamina that is decreased when you use abilities, jump around, swing your weapons, almost everything except running. This is quite different that the normal stamina that exists in Skyrim. It doesn't get drained as quickly, and it kinda represents the mental aspect instead of pure physical power.

DarkBloodbane wrote:

However, there's something which bothers me about this stealth idea (maybe that's what you had in mind too). Why would a person gifted with magic sneak behind enemies instead of facing them and use magic to attack? okay, maybe he's not strong enough to cast destructive spell/magic but the next question is how long he's going to do stealth? when will he be strong enough?

I believe, in order to answer these questions properly, you need to define magic clearly in your concept. Is it a destructive ability, constructive ability or supportive ability?

Well it's not just basically stealth, but the abilities that the protagonist can pull off, don't do damage directly (if I decide to go for this approach to magic), instead they are more like utilities that you can use both in combat and in stealth. Also, killing too many people affects you and your powers (and hopefully the way others react to you and the story itself). The goal is to survive, not to eliminate the Silencers - at least for now. So the abilities are mostly movement utilities like blinks and dashes and illusion spells like invisibility and clones. Some other characters have powers to summon and change form while some others deal damage directly by throwing fireballs and stuff. Also some senior silencers have anti-casting powers, being able to suppress your abilities and some of them cast spells mostly stuns, slows and roots. So it is possible for you to engage your enemies and take them out but you won't be doing so in the traditional manner or casting damage dealing spells.

you basically have Stamina that is decreased when you use abilities, jump around, swing your weapons, almost everything except running

IMO it's best for you not to use stamina to limit player's abilities. This is to allow player to use magic freely and make players feel that magic is really part of the game. Well some high level magic (which could unbalance the game)could be limited if you like

Also, killing too many people affects you and your powers (and hopefully the way others react to you and the story itself)

That sounds complex, I hope you can get it right

So it is possible for you to engage your enemies and take them out but you won't be doing so in the traditional manner or casting damage dealing spells

You know, I wonder how player would take those abilities as magic

So the abilities are mostly movement utilities like blinks and dashes and illusion spells like invisibility and clones. Some other characters have powers to summon and change form while some others deal damage directly by throwing fireballs and stuff.

Hmm... I hope the protagonist won't be underrated because those other characters. Really, summon, transformation and destructive magics look cooler than dashes & illusion spell