Public Opinion needed for Fire Emblem Fan Game.

[Marth_of_Altea]

Thank you for clicking on this topic.

I am Icarus, A game designer. I would like to create a Fire Emblem Fan Game, but I am lacking on what game mechanics others want if they could choose what game mechanics would stay, go, come back, or be introduced. This is a general discussion on what you want in a fire emblem game as if you wanted it personalized.

Only Serious posts will be considered. Have fun! May Naga bless you today.

-Icarus.

[Carge]

I want a main character with blue hair. I want a good plot twist, and I want soldier units.

[Ethlyn]

Well, I always liked the idea of marrying and having kids, so that.

[The-Mage-King]

Two gens, separated.

Loads of dragons. On both sides.

A red cavlier and a green cavalier.

GOOD mages.

[Tragoedia]

Y'know, it'd be nice if there were actual challenges to (the characters') morality in all this, whilst the story goes beyond "destroying/ruling/remaking the world" as the main villain's goal(s) or whatever typical RPG tropes you can throw here and there. And if the characters (feel) complex and connected to the plot, not just "we're fighting with you in this war" and nothing beyond that. And a female main protagonist that's actually manipulative would seem fun to observe.

As much as having a variety of units is nice, it's somewhat irritating to have masses of characters that are more or less likely going to be ignored/put aside if there's too many characters. That being said, perhaps a small cast could put up the challenge of having to deal with large armies.

Also, Dancers need to be more useful.

[Marth_of_Altea]

Can you define, Useful? As in make them be able to defend themselves better? Or have them go an extra turn as well? Use Staves too? I'll consider any of these options.

EDIT: Side note to self. Useful meaning allowing all adjacent allies to go again and partially heal them.

Edited January 18, 2015 by Icarus

[Klokinator]

And a female main protagonist that's actually manipulative would seem fun to observe.

but the whole point of games is to focus on fantasy, not reality

[Marth_of_Altea]

but the whole point of games is to focus on fantasy, not reality

Well, look at what FE: Blazing Sword did. Lyn was good. Even if her game was a tutorial.

[Klokinator]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY

IT'S A BIRD!

IT'S A PLANE!

it's the joke that went over your head

[Marth_of_Altea]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY

IT'S A BIRD!

IT'S A PLANE!

it's the joke that went over your head

Oh. I thought you were being serious. I should just disregard what you said earlier.

[Tragoedia]

but the whole point of games is to focus on fantasy, not reality

Even so, it doesn't hurt to go look at characters for their actual 'character', personality and whatnot. Perhaps they actually affect the plot in some way. Fantasy is cool and stuff, but you can't fully neglect certain aspects of reality even though this is fiction... I mean, there's some sense to make out of what you're perceiving/learning, you know?

(Oh, uh, derp. Let me headdesk while I'm at it, please?)

Edited January 18, 2015 by Tragoedia

[Sentacotus]

Thank you for clicking on this topic.

I am Icarus, A game designer. I would like to create a Fire Emblem Fan Game, but I am lacking on what game mechanics others want if they could choose what game mechanics would stay, go, come back, or be introduced. This is a general discussion on what you want in a fire emblem game as if you wanted it personalized.

Only Serious posts will be considered. Have fun! May Naga bless you today.

-Icarus.

Depends. Is this a fan game thats styled like the GBA games or more recent titles like the Tellius saga/ Awakening?

Either way the biggest things for ANY Fire Emblem are good characters (in the sense that they are developed and have good supports with one another). Lords with decent if somewhat shakey stats at the begining (this so that while they are not overpowered they can at least handle themselves and not die on the first chapter). Permadeath (a Fire Emblem staple). And balanced availability of recruitable units (in other words try not to put recruitables at the very end kinda ruins the point of them being there).

[Erzherzog]

I'm a CK2 player.

I demand incest.

[Marth_of_Altea]

Depends. Is this a fan game thats styled like the GBA games or more recent titles like the Tellius saga/ Awakening?

Either way the biggest things for ANY Fire Emblem are good characters (in the sense that they are developed and have good supports with one another). Lords with decent if somewhat shakey stats at the begining (this so that while they are not overpowered they can at least handle themselves and not die on the first chapter). Permadeath (a Fire Emblem staple). And balanced availability of recruitable units (in other words try not to put recruitables at the very end kinda ruins the point of them being there).

To answer your question, It's styled like the GBA games. Thank's for the suggestion. I'll leave permadeath an option, and add casual mode as the second option. For some new players, permadeath is too difficult.

[Sentacotus]

To answer your question, It's styled like the GBA games. Thank's for the suggestion. I'll leave permadeath an option, and add casual mode as the second option. For some new players, permadeath is too difficult.

Yeah thats a good choice. Since its styled like the GBA games I guess that means you can leave out features like pair up and a my unit so you don't have to worry about that. I don't frequent it but the spriting part of the forum might give you some ideas on where to start for characters/design.

[Marth_of_Altea]

Yeah thats a good choice. Since its styled like the GBA games I guess that means you can leave out features like pair up and a my unit so you don't have to worry about that. I don't frequent it but the spriting part of the forum might give you some ideas on where to start for characters/design.

When I was firstt viewing the site, I saw that page. I might go there for reference. I do plan on using the Rescue feature (having the unit currently selected take an adjacent unit onto his space). Thanks for the info.

[HereIsToYouNnB]

I really liked pair up so if that's easy to program, bring it back but please make enemies pair up able too, since it's a broken mechanic. Make it so enemies gain the bonuses we do on lesser amounts, that should work. Also barbarians and berserkers on our side, that'd be so cool, not just as a reclassing option i mean a character who starts off as a barbarian, basically we need another Gonzalez is what i'm saying.

Edited January 18, 2015 by HereIsToYouNnB

[Marth_of_Altea]

I really liked pair up so if that's easy to program, bring it back but please make enemies pair up able too, since it's a broken mechanic. Make it so enemies gain the bonuses we do on lesser amounts, that should work. Also barbarian and berserkers on our side, that'd be so cool, not just as a reclassing option i mean a character who starts off as a barbarian, basically we need another Gonzalez is what i'm saying.

Ok. Pair up should be somewhat easy to program. I could make the enemies do that too. For example, if the AI feels as if a specific unit is threatened, it could pair up another nearby unit with high stats and that could help them out. Thanks for the suggestion.

[alatartheblue42]

If you do supports, please do like in the GBA games, not Radiant Dawn style.

Personally, I'd prefer to use Rescue instead of Pair Up, but that's because Pair Up made Awakening completely broken on easier difficulties.

Any of the following if possible: Reclassing, split promotion, 3rd tier.

If there's a Tactician/Avatar, make them a useable character, not a NPC.

[Snowy_One]

May as well...

The game starts off with a mother and daughter living as commoners struggling to get by. For the first few levels both are playable as they struggle against the world, picking up a few of the characters along the way (maybe the mother is the Jeigan in this case?). About chapter 5-7 it gets revealed that the mother is a Manakete/descended from dragon blood and offered a chance to become nobility. Doing so means that she won't have as much time with her daughter, but her daughter will be well taken-care of. Then next chapter or two focuses on her. It very soon becomes clear that, while being a manakete/descended from one is very helpful it also makes her an excessive target. As a result she decides to hide it from her daughter entirely.

This ends up backfiring though as the daughter is soon cast out. The nobles are eager to get a new 'holy lady', or whatever title you desire, onto the throne while the daughter just wants to flee from a mother she feels has denied and forsaken her. As a result she heads to another country offering her services as a hired blade. As for the mother she finds out that this other country is threatening her own, pushing it to the brink of war, and soon start claiming that they have their own 'holy woman' (the daughter) to lead the troops into battle. Trying her best to protect the homeland, a land she fears will be destroyed entirely if the other country wins, she employs more and more drastic measures until, at last, she employs the Fire Emblem itself, not realizing just what it can do. As the daughter fights through the hordes of undead and demons, what few generals the mother has left she orders to join with her daughter in the few moments of sanity that she has. When the mother and daughter finally meet the daughter realizes that her mother is almost completely taken over, resulting in a fight and, after her defeat, they get one final, teary, moment together where her mother explains that she did what she thought was best to protect her, acknowledges that she made mistakes and is proud of what her daughter has become, and hugs her one last time before passing on.

As for game mechanics...

1) Return to the PoR style support system where what matters is the number of chapters, not the number of turns next to each other. Failing that go with RD's system where many supports can be held.

2) CLASS BALANCE! Increase armor knight movement by 1, decrease the average mounted units stats by 1-2 points, increase the number of anti-mounted weapons, and the like. It's freaking ANNOYING to see them almost always trump non-mounted units.

3) Focus heavily on map design. Here is a thought. Make a map where a stream of foes constantly spawn and they are TOUGH! So tough that the player can't win and, instead, just has to manage to put up enough of a blockade to get all units out and escape. If you were really smart you'd make the foes give little to no EXP to trample the notion of grinding them. Things like traps (you'd be shocked how easy a tripwire can screw over a gameplan) and the like to increase the challenge without being too unfair as well. In general just try to make it so that the player will need to vary tactics in order to survive and not just bumsrush the end.

4) Kiddies! Maybe not a full-on second generation, but at least make them exist and acknowledged in the storyline.

5) Weapon variety. Don't be afraid to try new things and ideas out for weapons. Just seeing Iron/Steel/Silver with maybe one or two variations is boring. It doesn't matter so much that a weapon might be imbalanced. Just make them exist.

6) Balance 1-2 ranged. Make thrown weapons rare and put a serious hamper on their power (like, 1-2 points). Make magic, on the other hand, decently potent and possibly even trumping melee weapons since, after all, mages are kinda squishy and not that good outside of magical combat.

[eclipse]

Here's what would be helpful:

- What engine do you plan on using? Suggestions are nice, but not if it's ridiculously hard to implement (like hidden treasure on certain tiles, with hints towards said tiles).

- What do YOU like in a FE game? Chances are, someone else likes it, too.

[Marth_of_Altea]

If you do supports, please do like in the GBA games, not Radiant Dawn style.

Personally, I'd prefer to use Rescue instead of Pair Up, but that's because Pair Up made Awakening completely broken on easier difficulties.

Any of the following if possible: Reclassing, split promotion, 3rd tier.

If there's a Tactician/Avatar, make them a useable character, not a NPC.

Supports are interesting for both installments in the series, but which one to choose is an interesting choice. I'll have to think that one over. If I were to choose between Rescue and Pair Up, why not have an option for both? Units in danger can be saved by someone else, while units who can give other units a boost can pair up. I also think the enemies should too. I'd probably include Awakening's Second Seal as an option for Reclassing. I never really understood Shadow Dragon's. Tacticians would be a minor feature, and you will be able to utilize them well.

May as well...

The game starts off with a mother and daughter living as commoners struggling to get by. For the first few levels both are playable as they struggle against the world, picking up a few of the characters along the way (maybe the mother is the Jeigan in this case?). About chapter 5-7 it gets revealed that the mother is a Manakete/descended from dragon blood and offered a chance to become nobility. Doing so means that she won't have as much time with her daughter, but her daughter will be well taken-care of. Then next chapter or two focuses on her. It very soon becomes clear that, while being a manakete/descended from one is very helpful it also makes her an excessive target. As a result she decides to hide it from her daughter entirely.

This ends up backfiring though as the daughter is soon cast out. The nobles are eager to get a new 'holy lady', or whatever title you desire, onto the throne while the daughter just wants to flee from a mother she feels has denied and forsaken her. As a result she heads to another country offering her services as a hired blade. As for the mother she finds out that this other country is threatening her own, pushing it to the brink of war, and soon start claiming that they have their own 'holy woman' (the daughter) to lead the troops into battle. Trying her best to protect the homeland, a land she fears will be destroyed entirely if the other country wins, she employs more and more drastic measures until, at last, she employs the Fire Emblem itself, not realizing just what it can do. As the daughter fights through the hordes of undead and demons, what few generals the mother has left she orders to join with her daughter in the few moments of sanity that she has. When the mother and daughter finally meet the daughter realizes that her mother is almost completely taken over, resulting in a fight and, after her defeat, they get one final, teary, moment together where her mother explains that she did what she thought was best to protect her, acknowledges that she made mistakes and is proud of what her daughter has become, and hugs her one last time before passing on.

As for game mechanics...

1) Return to the PoR style support system where what matters is the number of chapters, not the number of turns next to each other. Failing that go with RD's system where many supports can be held.

2) CLASS BALANCE! Increase armor knight movement by 1, decrease the average mounted units stats by 1-2 points, increase the number of anti-mounted weapons, and the like. It's freaking ANNOYING to see them almost always trump non-mounted units.

3) Focus heavily on map design. Here is a thought. Make a map where a stream of foes constantly spawn and they are TOUGH! So tough that the player can't win and, instead, just has to manage to put up enough of a blockade to get all units out and escape. If you were really smart you'd make the foes give little to no EXP to trample the notion of grinding them. Things like traps (you'd be shocked how easy a tripwire can screw over a gameplan) and the like to increase the challenge without being too unfair as well. In general just try to make it so that the player will need to vary tactics in order to survive and not just bumsrush the end.

4) Kiddies! Maybe not a full-on second generation, but at least make them exist and acknowledged in the storyline.

5) Weapon variety. Don't be afraid to try new things and ideas out for weapons. Just seeing Iron/Steel/Silver with maybe one or two variations is boring. It doesn't matter so much that a weapon might be imbalanced. Just make them exist.

6) Balance 1-2 ranged. Make thrown weapons rare and put a serious hamper on their power (like, 1-2 points). Make magic, on the other hand, decently potent and possibly even trumping melee weapons since, after all, mages are kinda squishy and not that good outside of magical combat.

Thank you for your time and energy that went into this great post. All of these features/storyline sound great. Unfortunately, one of your class balance items, specifically making the movement of the armored unit +1, isn't a feature I would consider because the armored classes are supposed to be wearing heavy suits of armor. You would imagine they wouldn't want to go very far in that thing. The reason the great knight had 7 movement is because even the horse had a heavy armor piece. Since many people requested different support methods, I need some time to think about it. In the meantime, later today, I'll post some sprites I've been working on. The map design thing sounds really great. Traps would be interesting to add and would spice up the gameplay a bit. Well spotted! I have actually decided to add a second generation to the game, so you don't need to worry about that. Weapon variety is an interesting thing, and I'll be working around the clock to create more weapons than just the ones shown in the real game. Mages and magic will have a stat increase, definitely. Even I think they're a little to frail. They'll definitely need a boost. Again, thank's for all your input.

Here's what would be helpful:

- What engine do you plan on using? Suggestions are nice, but not if it's ridiculously hard to implement (like hidden treasure on certain tiles, with hints towards said tiles).

- What do YOU like in a FE game? Chances are, someone else likes it, too.

I already chose a simple engine to use. It's called Game Maker. Some may laugh at me trying to make a good game with that engine, but it actually works, so please don't judge. As for what I enjoy in a Fire Emblem game, I like the strategy used by the player to safely get all his/her units across to defeat the mini-boss without losing someone dear to you. With that, the AI needs to be good as well. Random movements won't cut it. I also enjoy the Forging system, but it was really nerfed in Awakening (seriously, 8 upgrades with only 5 upgrades per slot??) I'll update this with more info later.

Edited January 18, 2015 by Icarus

[alatartheblue42]

The something other than rout enemy/kill boss maps would be good. Maybe bring back defend and escape. Or weather.

Bring back light magic!!! Please. That was one of the things I missed most in Awakening.

May as well...

The game starts off with a mother and daughter living as commoners struggling to get by. For the first few levels both are playable as they struggle against the world, picking up a few of the characters along the way (maybe the mother is the Jeigan in this case?). About chapter 5-7 it gets revealed that the mother is a Manakete/descended from dragon blood and offered a chance to become nobility. Doing so means that she won't have as much time with her daughter, but her daughter will be well taken-care of. Then next chapter or two focuses on her. It very soon becomes clear that, while being a manakete/descended from one is very helpful it also makes her an excessive target. As a result she decides to hide it from her daughter entirely.

This ends up backfiring though as the daughter is soon cast out. The nobles are eager to get a new 'holy lady', or whatever title you desire, onto the throne while the daughter just wants to flee from a mother she feels has denied and forsaken her. As a result she heads to another country offering her services as a hired blade. As for the mother she finds out that this other country is threatening her own, pushing it to the brink of war, and soon start claiming that they have their own 'holy woman' (the daughter) to lead the troops into battle. Trying her best to protect the homeland, a land she fears will be destroyed entirely if the other country wins, she employs more and more drastic measures until, at last, she employs the Fire Emblem itself, not realizing just what it can do. As the daughter fights through the hordes of undead and demons, what few generals the mother has left she orders to join with her daughter in the few moments of sanity that she has. When the mother and daughter finally meet the daughter realizes that her mother is almost completely taken over, resulting in a fight and, after her defeat, they get one final, teary, moment together where her mother explains that she did what she thought was best to protect her, acknowledges that she made mistakes and is proud of what her daughter has become, and hugs her one last time before passing on.

As for game mechanics...

1) Return to the PoR style support system where what matters is the number of chapters, not the number of turns next to each other. Failing that go with RD's system where many supports can be held.

2) CLASS BALANCE! Increase armor knight movement by 1, decrease the average mounted units stats by 1-2 points, increase the number of anti-mounted weapons, and the like. It's freaking ANNOYING to see them almost always trump non-mounted units.

3) Focus heavily on map design. Here is a thought. Make a map where a stream of foes constantly spawn and they are TOUGH! So tough that the player can't win and, instead, just has to manage to put up enough of a blockade to get all units out and escape. If you were really smart you'd make the foes give little to no EXP to trample the notion of grinding them. Things like traps (you'd be shocked how easy a tripwire can screw over a gameplan) and the like to increase the challenge without being too unfair as well. In general just try to make it so that the player will need to vary tactics in order to survive and not just bumsrush the end.

4) Kiddies! Maybe not a full-on second generation, but at least make them exist and acknowledged in the storyline.

5) Weapon variety. Don't be afraid to try new things and ideas out for weapons. Just seeing Iron/Steel/Silver with maybe one or two variations is boring. It doesn't matter so much that a weapon might be imbalanced. Just make them exist.

6) Balance 1-2 ranged. Make thrown weapons rare and put a serious hamper on their power (like, 1-2 points). Make magic, on the other hand, decently potent and possibly even trumping melee weapons since, after all, mages are kinda squishy and not that good outside of magical combat.

Nice story. Would be an interesting idea. If there are two mains that end up on opposite sides, please put in some seriously emotional dialogue, either for a Talk sequence or at the beginning of their battle sequence.

Having Pair Up and Rescue both be usable could work, but I think that most people would just go for the Pair Up option and ignore rescue in most cases. Still... can't know until you try it, I suppose.

And supports. RD's way of being able to support with anyone was cool, but I didn't like how they were just a couple of lines from each character. In the GBA games, there was a limited number of supports per character per run, but the supports were interesting and revealed things about the characters. If you do specialty endings based on A/S rank support levels, try to have different ones for every combo, rather than just one or two that work. Like Ike, he only had 3 possible endings in RD. Even if they had just changed the names, or only done it for the Greil Mercenaries that would be better.

Also, Manaketes, if they fit in your story.

[eclipse]

I already chose a simple engine to use. It's called Game Maker. Some may laugh at me trying to make a good game with that engine, but it actually works, so please don't judge. As for what I enjoy in a Fire Emblem game, I like the strategy used by the player to safely get all his/her units across to defeat the mini-boss without losing someone dear to you. With that, the AI needs to be good as well. Random movements won't cut it. I also enjoy the Forging system, but it was really nerfed in Awakening (seriously, 8 upgrades with only 5 upgrades per slot??) I'll update this with more info later.

No, I'm not going to judge you on the engine you use. Rather, it'll keep me from asking for things like an enemy that takes heavier-than-normal movement penalties when walking on forests, or for FE4-style maps.

Everyone will have different views on what they think is "good". I asked you for yours so I'd have a better idea as to what to suggest. Since your emphasis seems to be on strategy, how 'bout including the magic triangle in addition to the weapon triangle?

[The-Mage-King]

Can you define, Useful? As in make them be able to defend themselves better? Or have them go an extra turn as well? Use Staves too? I'll consider any of these options.

EDIT: Side note to self. Useful meaning allowing all adjacent allies to go again and partially heal them.

Capable and potent. I want the Magic Triangle to matter, and actually, some 'Gish' classes. Like Dread Fighter, or similar.

Ooh, and make a Dancer/Bard that's worth a damn. Let them defend themselves, with spell or sword. Let their songs be useful.