What Would You Want in a 2d sidescrolling ORPG?

As some of you know, I'm developing graphics for some ORPG, and the Programmer and I need some help from you guys.
What would you like to see in a 2D Sidescrolling ORPG? How would you enhance simple features like Player VS Player? What would you like removed in general?

Right now, we are at a loss of ideas for the game, and we need some ideas/improvements. The game itself is a cliche Online RPG game right now, Scrolling, Leveling, Fighting, and Buying/Selling.



Any ideas submitted may be used, and if they are you will get your name in the credits of the game and a possible beta testing spot. So please help us out!

I worked with Squeebs for awhile (kinda stupid but it was the epitome of generic orpgs and it was actually playable with dedicated servers unlike most) so I'll tell you some of the things we got right with it

1.) SET UP A LOBBY SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS PLAYERS TO HOST THEIR OWN SERVER-

This is the NUMBER 1 rule for maintaining an amateur orpg, this way you're not required to host your own servers and players can keep the game alive even if you can't/

2.) Allow for player created content-

Set up an area of your forum dedicated to allowing players to brainstorm new ideas and create items for the game, you don't have to add all of it but it helps make the game better and keeps people coming back.

3.) Have a solid combat system-

All anybody REALLY wants to do is hack eachother apart, so make sure you have a well balanced and fun pvp mechanic.

4.) Forums-

This ties in with #2, you need forums to keep an active community, make sure they're well designed as well.

5.) High end content-

So lets say your game gets a good community going, you're going to need bigger and better stuff for players to strive for to keep them interested

6.) Innovative environments

We all love the "grassy" tilesets but be creative, how about an area on another planet? Or inside of a big whale? Stuff like this really keeps people exploring.

And thats it for now, I'll recommend more later, good luck with your orpg.

Thanks Keyser, its much appreciated.

I'll suggest some environents.
1. The fun happy go lucky grassy area --Rolling Hills
2. Watch your back in this industrial nightmare!--Factory Fortress
3. To the skies! --Flying Palace
4. What the? This place is so strange and squishy! --Organic Nightmare
5. Carefull not to slip and freeze in the water! --Ice Wastelads

Fun fun.

I LOVE factory areas so much in games.

Especially with a Tim Burton esque "dirty London factory" thing to them.

Eh, I might work on those tiles Black Boo, thank you!

1)Destruction !

Let the Players destroy something ! But remember to syncronise the Damage and let the Objects recover/respawn !

2)Competitions !

Some kind of "Kill everyone! The last one surviving earns a secret price!" or "The one with the most candy wins!"(Halloween)

3)Teams !

Let the Player team up with others! It makes hard dungeons easier!

A lot of PvP fighting. And destructable enviroments would also be pretty cool.

Maybe NPC's that give you stuff only when you've gained their trust.

You know, it should avoid that " Go there, do that, come back and good riddance" stuff I see in RPGs.

And when you've gained their trust, they'll remember you, and maybe enable more sidequests.

Familiars.

Like pet things that can attack and follow you/ride on your shoulder

Customisable abilities.

So you give it a "Skin" (the animal it looks like) and choose from a list of abilites.

Skins are like:
Cat/Rabbit -Can't have Fly or Swim
Fox/Wolf -Can't have Fly or Light
Hawk/Raven -Can't have Swim or Light

Abilities can be like:

Outside Battle (One allowed):
Fly (Pick up char and glide short distances)
Swim (Spend longer/move faster underwater)
Light (Light Dark Caves)
-More are unlocked, so each skin can have more than one available-

In Battle Attack (One allowed - affect owner):
Eagle Eye (+whatever Accuracy)
Rage (+whatever attack)
Mimic (Use enemy familiar's Attack- If enemy has mimic, use their Defence Move)

In Battle Defend (One allowed - affect owner):
Block (25% chance of stopping enemy familiar's Attack)
Protect (+whatever defence)
Blind (-whatever enemies Accuracy)

You get element points to spend on them, you start with 2 for each element.

You also have to have one ability from each category (Outside of Battle, In Battle Attack/Defend).

More are unlocked ingame by finding them (using abilities helps) or earning them (in battles, from NPCs etc.), you can then buy them with element points you find/earn (element points are rarer than abilities).

Yellow is sky
Blue is water
Red is fire

(Elements do not contradict each other, so you can have fire and water)

This post has been edited by thingy on Jan 2 2009, 12:19 PM

I had level 5-4 in mind from Kirby 64 for no reason. That's what gave me that idea.

That, and Evil Foundry from Sonic and the Secret Rings. KILLER MUSIC!

Also, customizeable players duh. And PvPs. LOTS of PvPs, like if you meet a friend from school or here, you can just fight them for the hell of it, or if you meet someone you don't like from here, you can KICK THEIR ASS.

Yeah.

Maybe an arena of sorts, where you can watch other people battle (if you have a ticket). You can also arrange a match with someone else, but you have to book it first, and that costs money. (These fights would be for fun, so if you lost, you wouldn't die.)

You could also PvP in the wild, but if you die to another player there, you'd die as if a monster killed you.

And speaking of monsters, make them plentiful and varied, but always make sure they relate to the environment in some way. Putting bats in a cave, or outside in a nighttime area, is okay - putting them under the sea would just feel awkward and out of place. Not to say you can't put, say, a treant in a desert - just make sure there's grass beneath where the treant is, or it'll, again, look out of place.

Thanks guys, all great suggestons, I'm eager to hear more though!

Limit the amount of teams or groups you have; i.e. races, factions, etc. At my school I hear people argue about WoW, where they have factions (Hoard vs Alliance), Races (Night Elves vs Blood Elves, the same damn thing on opposite factions) and Classes (Druids are better than hunters!!1@2!). Yes, it gives backstory, but it also segregates your users and they will end up forgetting how to have fun with the game.

I don't think it's possible to stop elitism.
If not classes, then stats.
If not stats, then weapons.

Anyways, I'd like to see some geniune Zelda-esque puzzles for sidequests. It could definately add an interesting touch.

Also I endorse the NPC Trust idea. TWEWY did it a tiny bit with shopkeepers, but it could definitely be improved upon. Call me strange, but I've always loved having deep conversations and relationships with the NPCs.

This post has been edited by B.M. on Jan 2 2009, 06:26 PM

Good point, keep them coming!