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I am not sure if this is even a new idea or if it has / hasn't been done before -- but as far as I have seen -- it hasn't.

Maybe try making a sort of long movie RPG, and instead of being set heros that have to do set quests in a set storyline, you can be ANY person on the map and you can embark on ANY quests you want, and the storyline unfolds depending on what you do: for instance.

If bartender is at the pub at '4PM' you stop a fight from happening, somebodies life is saved however a feud between the two families begins, starting two new sets of quests.

however

If bartender is at the pub after '4PM' you don't stop a fight, somebody gets killed in which the guy is imprisoned and the family is too poor to pay for a funeral, your quests would be to get money to help them, or you could spring the guy out of jail.

So basically the "every action has a reaction" statement.

Meh, you just gave away my idea.

But, if you do that. You can just have it so (maybe in somewhere in the storyline)that you do all the bad stuff 2 get an ultimate weapon.

The point is you could be any character, so an "ultimate weapon" would be depending on what character.

But then your rpg would be hundreds of time more popular

Hey, someone who really wants to create an rpg like this can really go for it. I mean, it is relatively simple, its just that you would have to map out everything first or else you would have to back track and alter triggers.

But the idea is original and hasn't been done. Even without the ability to pick anyone, its still original.

so to like, choose a character, u get a dark archon a, arbiters position all around the map so u can recall it, then u can just be any character??? sounds interesting

Pro's:
-large popularity
-endless possibilities
-lots of updates ( u can start with a lot, then u can keep adding new stuff )
-good mapping experience

Con's:
-huge map file ( for all the triggers that will enable the different storylines [swithes will run out quickly for this kind of map, then triggers will run out... ] )
-all switches and triggers will eventually be used up ( this map would push starcraft wayyyy to the limit. meaning it would have to be a relatively simple map, no complex things that would take up trigger space )
-long dl times
-lag
-unit amount limits
-terrain size ( the relatively small amount of terrain will severely limit the amount of building interiors, thus meaning less explorable terrain )
-people might want a password system so they can continue their story ( they could choose from starting anew, or continuing: this would severely severely severely limit trigger space, because there are so many paths to take... )

but if someones up for it, then more power to you

I don't think you'd run so much into Starcraft limits, but the problem is the following:
Say there is one decision every hour, the storyline can turn every hour. And not only for one single place, but at several places of the map. you'd get n^k possible outcomes, where n is the number of places where stuff happens and k is the number of hours. Imagine yourself how many storylines you'd have to work out.
It's a great idea, yes but especially for that reason I mentioned, I haven't seen it anywhere before in a game. At least not a computer or board game. Maybe you could consider Live Action Role Play as a similar setup.

So, before you even open up Staredit, make sure you got a HUGE plan for the storylines, or otherwise you can forget it.

I am gonna take this task on to show you it's possible, and to spice it up ill have a save system too.

Save system won't be much of a problem here, I guess. At least it doesn't sound lik you want people to be able to upgrade their chracters and such. Saving a bunch of two-state switches doesn't cause many problems. At least it is by far less data than a D2 character

IRT to edai

the trigger limit is 1.7 million triggers...the largest(so i've seen) currently released maps have around 5000 triggers, but that usually includes repititive triggers that don't have to neccessary exist. and any decent mapmaker should know how to avoid running out of switches.

the only real limit are the all powerful strings.



ps idea has been thought of, but as far as i know, its never actually been made into a map(or at least not very done).

Wouldn't be so much of a problem, actually. You can roughly get 32000 strings with 65000 characters in total. That is, once we get to be able to really work with strings - referenceing them by index and modifying the STR section independantly...

For now, you should do well with SCMD2 and it's string recycling - if all the issues with it are really fixed now.

thats fine for a linear RPG, but a good branching RPG would require quite a bit more.

*keyword: good

You mean you would need more than 32000 strings/65000 characters (the characters are the more threatening limit)? If so, "good" means "great", if not better. Well, ok, if you have lots of long texts to say, the 65000 characters will be met soon. But I don't think I can recall a map that even came close to the character limit, and that even with SE-style STR-section...

i guess my 'good' would equal others' 'great,' i have high standards :^_^:

i personally haven't hit the string limit. although this would be because i don't make RPGs, which are the main culprits of this. However, MANY people have hit the string limit multiple times and have had to redo all their strings. Having an indepth story does take a huge amount of strings. also, i think a culprit is text effects(alternating colors, displaying one character at a time). for instance, using a 'typed-out' text effect for a 100-character paragraph would take 5050 characters. while they aren't necessary, they are details that DO help asthetics.

Typing it out from back to front would only require 100 characters 100 strings, though.

you know what i mean

5050 characters spread across 100 strings

Yes I know what you mean. Still, if you type it out from the back to the front, you don't need additional characters. Example:

!
o!
lo!
llo!
ello!
Hello!

Takes up only the space for the last sting, plus it's one string per character. I don't know if SCMD2 supports this, though. If not, I don't know any editor around that was capable of this.