Tag Archives: RPG

March 23, 2023 · 09:14

One thought counters another

This is a case we sometimes face. My thought counters theirs and their thought counters mine. There is nothing unnatural about it. In a setting where we applaud, respect or even merely accept the scales of balance, we see that one side counters another. Balance is natural and that is important here. You see, players like Microsoft have been fighting balance for their own selfish little needs for the longest of times. Now, this does not mean that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are not like that, but they tend to go with the flow for most of the time (Facebook perhaps a little less than the other three). Apple might be the most in tune with the scales of balance, but that is from where I sit and might be incorrect. And this all started with ‘Microsoft says ten years is “sufficient” for Sony to create Call of Duty rival’, yes, I can do you one better. They can do it in half that time. More important it will not be some Call of Duty rival, it will be better. As Microsoft is becoming more and more of a hollow egg, the $69 billion more in the near future is also the face of a failing company. You see, You can buy all you like, but when the creative people walk away because they see the failing of a company who fails against Apple with their Surface, who fails with their Azure against AWS, who fails with their Bing against Google search is a company that is doomed and as I personally see it, it is in its last 1,375 days before it crumbles into a joke, that firm will lost a lot more soon enough. And it is not that hard an equation. To merely break even Microsoft will have to exceed 72.8 million of PROFIT every day between now and 31/12/2026 and that is merely to cover the last three spendings, not all their waste. That is why I know that Microsoft will fail. So I created in the past blogs the foundations of more RPG that I made freely available to people designing for the Amazon Luna. It is the final blow of failures for Microsoft. I don’t need to do anything for Sony. They have their horses in a row and they are ready to race. Nintendo has its own niche and they are doing fine. All settings that two gaming giants had racked up correctly. Microsoft betrayed their own gamers, blew its audience who is now taking a distance from Microsoft, and as such their population is dwindling down. Still think I was delusional?

It goes from bad to worse after that. Their own cornerstone is having more and more issues and people are willing to push away from that too. Microsoft office is too bulky and there is a lot of power in Open office and Google’s solution which apart from their spreadsheet is doing above OK, not to mention the fact that it is a free product. And in the graphic settings Adobe surpassed them in several ways all at once and in the age of Meta and their metaverse Microsoft will merely lose more and the need for the daily profit of 72.8 million that marker will merely bite more and more. With the Luna set to overtake (with a little help) the Microsoft streaming service they will get another opponent. It is Chinese Tencent who is already taking serious time to create Unreal Engine 5 applications. Another soft spot Microsoft was ignoring. Yes we are given all the spin in the media, but too many is created by ‘Microsoft Friends’ and we see AI claims all over and when we think things trough, we will realise that ‘their’ AI is data driven and they lack data. There is no way that some AI claim can create scripts. You see (deeper) machine learning can only react to data, react to events they HAVE and that means that they can copy and edit, but they cannot create. That is the first larger flaw. And now as I had another idea for Streaming gaming, there will be a much larger case for people to connect to systems that will deliver, not are bought and then altered to fit another need. That is a sure way to fail. One source (a few, but seemingly all from the same source) gave us “Redfall PS5 version was in development, but cancelled after the Xbox buyout”, so how does that align with a Microsoft statement that they would be everywhere? Now, lets be clear Microsoft is allowed to do what they do, they bought Bethesda, they are trying to own Blizzard. But what happens when we design new versions, new IP exclusive for Amazon Luna and Sony? What is their win when they spend $100,000,000,000 for a console that as some sources gives us 

As of June 2022, lifetime unit sales of Xbox One consoles in North America reached 31.58 million, while in Europe, lifetime unit sales surpassed 12.8 million with some partial addition of what was estimated that Microsoft had shipped at least 18.5 million units of the two consoles (series S and X) worldwide by December 2022. Now look at the Sony equation. PS5 sales have now climbed to 32 million, with 7.1 million consoles sold in the last three months alone, a dramatic increase over the 3.9 million sold in the same quarter last year. This means that the PS5 is almost equal on the Microsoft last 3 consoles, all whilst the PS4 has surpassed 117,000,000 consoles. Now they want to go to the cloud whilst their consoles are already doomed. So I am willing to set aside some creative time to make sure that they fail there too. 6 directions (tablet, SAAS, office, search, gaming and GAAS) where Microsoft fell short and keeps on failing, no purchase will counter that and the message merely gets to be worse soon thereafter. Now, do not discount some options. Microsoft will get some parts right, Starfield looks for all accounts amazing, but when there is an alternative people will go for the one solution that does not betray them. And should Amazon (or Apple) select my IP, they stand to get more than 50,000,000 more accounts making the failure of Microsoft even more dismal, especially as I predicted this setting for the better part of 2 years. No spin will work when there is a published article countering that. They are all about making a spin towards the future, but what happens when the ‘future spin’ becomes past and does not hold up to the numbers? That is the part Microsoft seemingly forgets about (again and again) and that wheel is merely spinning faster and not for Microsoft. They will merely lose more and more control. At some point they will need more money to repair the potholes of their shoddy road. Consider the Solarwinds issue and the fact that Microsoft was going to buy a cyber powerhouse (which became part of Google) and after that the media went dark, the spin failed, so darkness is all they had and the media complied. There were no questions on how Microsoft was going to deal with it after that. Weird he?

The list merely grows and at some point the media needs to do a 180 or accept that they are a Microsoft tool. So how many failures until the media actually turns on Microsoft? Perhaps the larger advertisement deals come through, but not for all and that is the counter that vanishes, especially when you consider that the world has 18,000 registered with the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). Some will lose and that is the beginning of a lot more pain for Microsoft. 

So whilst all of that is in play. I considered a new RPG, free for Amazon Luna and Sony developers. Consider the absolute hit the first 4 God of War games were. Now consider an RPG where Tartarus is actually mapped out. As such it is no God of War and you have no special powers, but a battlefield the actual size of America named Tartarus, the underworld where you need to keep standing, where you need to survive and each death restores you, but with the millions of opponents you cannot run into battle all the time. You need to find the relic weapons that have additional powers and perhaps you will at some point find an Olympian piece of armour or. weapon that gives you an edge. And it will be first person. So 9.9999 years before Microsoft imagined I gave Amazon and Sony a rival. That is the power of creativity, something Microsoft lacks, they surely lack it, because if blizzard is bought, many creative souls will retire with their part of billions and Microsoft end up with another near empty shell, product but without driving creativity. So how long until the makers at Bethesda will have had enough? How long until they think that Ubisoft is a better deal than Bethesda under new management? That is how I know that Microsoft is ticking away towards implosion and when that happens (within the next 1380 days) I will merely sit, sip a little Ice water and tell you ‘I told you so!’ Because I get to do that at that moment. Yay me!

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February 15, 2023 · 23:14

Evolving a game

That is the matter, it is part of any game if it was designed properly and I have to tell you that Hogwarts Legacy is a lot better than most reviewers see. There are a few good reviewers (except the one in Wired) and as I am not at 50% of the game at 30 hours of play with one character, I have to admit that this game has so much more than anyone realised. I do accept that like all RPG games there is a little too much fetch this, fetch that and go here, go there. But the way it is done, whilst giving you a choice of HOW you approach this game is brilliant. Avalanche software outdid themselves. But it is not about the now. My mind evolved this game into what is next. You see when you have a strong foundation and that is the golden bullet in any game. You see, we can consider what is next, some of the stories are just that good and even if it is not all about Hogwarts, you do get a larger setting to consider. 

To see this I need to take you to another game. A game masterminded by Richard Garriott. He created Sosaria and he mapped it, more important the map was basically the same in Ultima 3, Ultima 4, Ultima 5, Ultima 6 and Ultima 7. The graphics were upgraded and Ultima 7 was as perfect a game as any RPG every released. It is one of the few times I gave a game a review of 100%. 

But that never left my mind and it is time for Hogwarts to consider the next step. You see it will be soon when some want a DLC and that is fine, but what happens when they release the next version, something of bolster Hogwarts legacy? For example Hogwarts learnings? The map perhaps a little larger but with a part of France now added with the Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons? As the main character you become an Auror and how you get there is how you played the first game. With added places like London and Paris (these are always played at night), and a new story as an Auror. As this game is around 20 years AFTER Hogwarts Legacy and long before the Potters became a thing, or the events that started the Chamber of secrets. Different environments, different creatures and different challenges. If they can produce a capturing storyline they have a setting that could be big in 2024/2025. And the way the people embrace this game, it has every chance to do so again, especially if the second run is 4 times the size of this one. We forgot about evolution at times, it happens, because most of us see games as they used to be, a once off event. But games evolve and the gamer that embraces a franchise evolves too. And perhaps it is not France, but wherever Durmstrang is, or its American equivalent. There are a few options and perhaps Portkey games embraces these options, or perhaps they will not, but they have the option and they have it as they made heads turn. I am still a realist, so far I have found half a dozen glitches, only one annoying and I crashed once, but that is it and for a game of this size that is quite the achievement. Especially compared to a game playing in France filled with dozens upon dozens of bugs (not glitches) as such these makers did an amazing job. I cannot wait until I get more done in the game. I stopped because I remember the impact of non-stop gaming and I did 8 hours today. Tomorrow I can do more, so far this is the best investment in gaming I have made in at least two years and I do not regret buying the other games. But that is excellence for you. 

Have a great day and remember to embrace the games you really love, no matter what game it is.

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February 8, 2023 · 00:16

Wands, Witches and Wizards

To get to the good stuff, that yummie chocolaty centre we need to make a small detour and it matters.

Prelude
I have been a huge Skyrim fan. I bought the game on 11/11/11 and to the best of my knowledge it is pretty much the best RPG ever seen. I played it on Xbox360, Playstation 3, then the Legendary edition on PS4 and Xbox One and the Anniversary version on PS5. The game is close to perfect. This matters because it took someone 11 years to get there and surpass it. Avalanche got there and had room to spare. They upped the bar for quality gaming by a lot. 

Start
The previous part is important. This is not a Harry Potter game, it is an open world RPG with a wizarding world theme and they did one hell of a job. As stated it plays a century before the boy who lived came into the picture and what was done is as close to perfect as I have ever seen it. I am not fussed about the 1-2 second delays with some of exit parts of Hogwarts, it is a lot better then anything else and this matters. So far I played 10 hours and I got 4% done. This game is huge, the castle is huge and you will get lost there, but there are options (censoring spoilers). The world outside of Hogwarts is huge, optionally larger than Skyrim, but it is not a comparison, Hogwarts is so large it will strike you in many ways. I started as a Ravenclaw student (I like blue), but I already know that I will play the game three more times to see everything, Gryffindor most likely last. What does matter is that you will recognise parts and classrooms as you saw them in the movies, but that feeling of discovery does not wane and it merely improves and gets larger as you see more and more. Weirdly enough I lost my life three times and got to redo the fight. The game is invigorating and it leaves you with a sense of accomplishment as you progress. The game has puzzles, some are simple, some are devilishly evil and never boring. This game is for anyone who loves RPG and even more for those who love the (Harry Potter) wizarding world. 

You will see things, you will seek things and you will wonder and try to figure things out. The game is truly a step forward and I was speechless more than once. The important thing to realise is that I did not play it in 4K, I do not own a 4K TV and even then the game overwhelms. So, I reckon that once I have one of those puppies, this game will overwhelm even more. 

No matter how you slice it Avalanche software created something we all hope for and we never got it. Well, this time around this player (Avalanche) delivered. Avalanche created a new level gameplay so close to perfection, you are in for a treat. Any hater of this game is as I personally see it simple and stupid. People who dislike RPG’s might not go for this, but I urge them to try (if possible), If you disliked the Harry Potter movies, this game as an RPG is still fulfilling in several ways. This is definitely one of those must buy titles. But I do get that those who dislike RPG and Harry Potter will not go for it, but that should not make them haters, merely a gamer with other interests. 

Consequence
There is a consequence and it is for Bethesda and Microsoft. You see Avalanche has raised the bar after 11 years. Skyrim was the game everyone compared to and that is now no longer the case. It makes sense because it took 11 years to improve on it and Avalanche does pull that off. Yet for Bethesda and Microsoft it becomes a new issue. Starfield (which looks AWESOME) and whatever Elder Scrolls title comes next needs to be a lot better then this and that is a massively tall order. You cannot put them next to one another, but there will be comparisons and if these two RPG games fall flat next to Hogwarts Legacy their goose is pretty much cooked. I did not know what to expect but a game this good is a little overwhelming and possibly the other two titles will be better, but I have to say, it will be a herculean task for Bethesda. Avalanche the next generation of RPG that is never to be underestimated. 

Hogwarts Legacy is not merely a Harry Potter game, it is an open world RPG that will knock your socks off, that latter part I did not see coming. Well done Avalanche! And I would not be surprised if WB will turn this game into a TV series, the storyline is that good as are the locations (many we never saw in the movies). I reckon it will be a few months that WB will turn this 200 hour game (estimated) in a series with several seasons, but that is sheer speculation from my side.

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December 29, 2022 · 20:35

As stated yesterday

It is in part a reap from ‘Recap to the intro’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/09/25/recap-to-the-intro/), showing you the stories that make up a new RPG, the initial setting was given on September 25th 2021, well the recap was. The stories were earlier, but that article gives you a collection of links, 6 in total that gives you the backstory. Then when you seek “Lawlordtobe + RPG” you will get a lot more, including some stages of commerce. It was the stage that Bethesda set by becoming part of Microsoft, that allowed me to add a few other parts. You see, the stage of an RPG is too often set to one main line. Yet what happens when you open that stage? You see streamers allow for that and it allows for evolution whilst people are playing the game. So in this setting we have the island as is, but when we get past the first two games, the games evolves into a new setting, it is taking NewGame plus to an entirely new dimension. In this we have two settings, the old and the new. The old is the stage where Magic is part of life, in the new, the non-magics decided that magic gives some an advantage that is unfair on those that do not have control of magic. It creates levels of distrust. It is not a copy of Skyrim, there are no fighting parties. Levels of distrust can go a long way before there are actual hostilities. But distrust can give way to imbalances in trade, conversations and abilities. Trainers that will not train the other side, until you change the balance of that seesaw. And that is merely the beginning. 

The stage of that story can be aligned in several ways and that allows for more game play, more new games and more sides to a story that is shaped by gameplay. A stage we invite the players to shape and that opens a new form of play in RPG’s. A story with multiple sides and different triggers. It has never been done to this degree in gaming before. And now the streamer (Amazon Luna) could be the first. This is not going to be an easy task, but the right developer will get the chance to create a new kind of RPG, one that none have seen before and one that Microsoft could never have thought of. Thats another chunk of $100,000,000,000 going straight to the sewer of lost revenue. A stage Microsoft could not have considered because they lack imagination and I am making this freeware for Amazon Luna developers, so that they can take the wind out of Microsoft even further. That is the price of business. Those who cannot pull their weight, they get left behind and forgotten.

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December 28, 2022 · 23:11

Why be surprised?

I saw the news yesterday, I saw the news earlier. Yet yesterday we were given ‘Microsoft admits to making future Bethesda titles exclusive to Xbox’ It does not make me happy, but it is as I personally see it, their right. They paid over 7 billion for Bethesda, as such they get assign the dance card of Bethesda. I don’t think it is good business, but it is their choice. You see, in the lat two years I placed gaming IP, with storylines on this blog as freeware for anyone programming games for Sony and Amazon Luna. We can jump high and low, yet I decided to create IP for these two players to offset the Microsoft advantage. I believe that a new RPG IP will not solve it all, but it will take more wind out of the sails of Microsoft and Bethesda. When these RPG’s catch on, the damage for Microsoft increases and those who used my freeware will get a larger chunk of profit, all for free. A win, win, win (not for Microsoft though). 

So when we try to give rise to the titles and consider “The document blacks out the names of the upcoming titles, saying that these are games to be played “primarily alone or in small groups.” If this doesn’t say Starfield and/or The Elder Scrolls 6, we don’t know what does.” I reckon that Microsoft wants to hide the titles, they want to influence the impact of what system to buy. They want to sell more consoles, but Microsoft crashed its own windows all the way back when the Xbox one was here. It never broke the records of Nintendo consoles of the Gameboy Advance, the 3DS, The DS, the the Wii, the Switch and so on and the subsequent systems aren’t doing any better. The latest system has less than half the global sales numbers that the PS5 has. It gets to be worse, the PS4 has sold more than the sum of all Xbox One versions and Microsoft is getting desperate, another field where they no longer have any influence. Bethesda would optionally make a difference. I get that, people bought specific consoles to play a game. It is the reason I got the Xbox360, Oblivion was worth buying the 360 for and it gave me great gaming, a really good system and Microsoft bungled it with the Xbox One, just like they bungle all things else (as I personally see it) and they go on to the Blizzard merge. Another clever ploy, but I can counter it with more freeware for Sony and Amazon Luna. $100 billion in IP bought and the creative minds can counter that with additional settings that will lessen the value of these companies. I left over $6 billion annual on the blog and that is merely the first phase. I created IP for game developers who do not work for Microsoft. Slam after slam after slam. I will bring Microsoft down to their knees and teach them what happens when you mess with gamers. It might be the most expensive lesson they ever got and I am not even close to done yet. Now that I am fired up all the IP that was initially meant for TESVII: Restoration can be poured directly into a new RPG, one that is about creation, choice and restorations. Of course it will need new storylines but I can pull that off too. 

And the new makers never have to pay up to $100,000,000,000. A direct loss for Microsoft, as it should be.

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September 6, 2022 · 22:12

Just to be clear

Yes, that is essential. I am about to throw caution to the wind and do something (optionally extremely stupid) that has never been done before. Yet that is for tomorrow (or the day after). For now we focus on Microsoft. I did not plan this, yet with the article (at https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/uk-watchdog-further-probe-microsofts-687-billion-activision-deal-2022-09-01/) we get ‘Microsoft’s $69 bln Activision deal could harm competition, UK says’ I keep my voice in the middle in this. You see I always applauded exclusives, in any system. It made Nintendo the behemoth it is today and Sony has had its successes as well, as did Microsoft with its Master sergeant in Halo. All systems had this and even as I hated Microsoft buying Bethesda, it was a brilliant tactical ploy. I did counter it by giving away RPG IP to all Amazon Luna and Sony Playstation developers, but it is a valid ploy. Yet Microsoft keeps on buying companies. It is their funeral. Yet the UK only reacts to Activision? So when I see “Microsoft Corp’s $69 billion acquisition of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard could harm competition in gaming consoles, subscription services and cloud gaming, and it needs to be investigated in depth” this might be fair enough, but it seems that there is a larger issue here and it is not with Microsoft, I have more questions regarding certain ‘investigators’. Now, as stated before, I am no Microsoft fan for a few reasons and those who have read my articles know what I am about. But here is something more and I was happy that some people had (again) not done their homework. This is seen with ““We want people to have more access to games, not less,” Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith said. “Sony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about ‘Call of Duty’, but we’ve said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation,” he said.” I am hereby calling Brad Smith a LIAR! You see with the purchase of Bethesda they have clearly stated that the new Elder Scrolls is now an Xbox exclusive. As such we see Brad Smith as the liar and Sony gamers as the victim. But there is another side. Microsoft has been pushing its cloud gaming, and that is the path they will take, to host Microsoft cloud games on other systems, so that they can honestly claim that they service all systems, as long as it goes via their cloud capturing data (a speculation, I admit).

And the cloud solution is seen with “the deal would not be anti-competitive if competitors were given access to Microsoft games, as Microsoft has pledged” It is the ‘access to Microsoft games’ part that is the stage and interestingly enough there is no ‘release on other systems’ part. It is a larger capture and I get it, it is decently brilliant. As such I gave the others a new RPG game, parts of the stage, parts of the story (to get them started) and within a week another nice surprise that will cost Microsoft dearly (if all goes well) and on September 30th several parts become public domain, and only the clever sleuths will be able to find it. A new way to push the industry in a new direction. It is a crazy step and it took me months of pondering, but as I was given the afternoon off, I went to a local internet cafe and activated the timer. It is the start of one hell of a ride that might not go anywhere, but it will make the headlines and show the shortcomings of a few tech players (including Microsoft), yet the article bothers me. You see I believe in exclusivity, as such the quote “Microsoft needs to give a greater deal on assurances and put down in writing certain specifics around exclusivity” bothers me. What specifics? An exclusive game is an exclusive game. That is the case for Nintendo, Sony and as such also Microsoft. They are allowed exclusive games and if they buy Activision for 69 billion, they got the company and the exclusives are theirs. I might not like it, but that is the game, I countered by handing a totally new and unique RPG game to Amazon Luna and Sony Playstation free of charge. That was my choice, and over time I do believe the stupidity of Microsoft will be the death of them (I will be happy to help out though). 

And over time we will see shifts, the streamers will make sure of that, but that is the day after tomorrow. For now we focus on today and tomorrow. And here the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) might be an optional enemy. You see, Mario has been a Nintendo exclusive for a long time, for decades but the CMA did nothing there. So what gives now? They did not act on the buy of Bethesda, so what gives now? They are all focussing on “Call of Duty”, there is no mention of Diablo, a franchise no less important. And I get it, they have a case. Microsoft got greedy and now there is an issue. Yet I still feel bothered, because this stage opens the end of exclusives and that is a problem. It is a problem because the games will end up being as good as the weakest system and that is not acceptable. Am I overreacting? Perhaps a little, but there will always be differences in games. And these differences will make a game better on either system A or B, and that is fine. But when a system MUST be there for both one system will lose out more and they will have a game that is less than optimal and that is a larger problem. Gaming must always be at the edge of technology and that makes gaming great. As such not all games will work on all systems. Some games will be better in one location, some will be better in the other place. Exclusives are more than a game on one system. They are the games that uses that system to the maximum of what is possible. It is one reason why we love our exclusives. So I cannot tell if the CMA has a point but from a pure gaming point of view they are on a slippery slope as I personally see it.

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June 25, 2022 · 16:30

Where the wind blows

It seems simple enough, yet the stage of the blowing wind was for most of the day in my mind and I did not know why. It was when I sat down when the image occurred. I wrote about the arcane houses. They are:

  • the Floating house (water)
  • House of Chimes (wind)
  • Monks of the Sulphur Cave (fire)
  • House of Bones (earth)

Yet in all this, how do they recharge? They can recharge slowly (like a point per minute), yet if we add elemental points like resting in water, swimming or in a shower the water element will got +10 a minute, when we add 1-2 elements (discussed later we can add factor 2 or 3. Wind is found in any strong, but also a wind-weave, fire by the fire and earth resting on the ground (directly), so you sleep less comfortable. You see, it is nice that Bethesda had their potions, but I wanted change. And this is how I get it. So when we see the direct approach, we could see a wet scarf or hoodie give us factor 2 for wind mana, we could swim, we could walk in the rain and we could wash for factor 3, so 33 per minute recharge. And we might need up to 1200 of mana recharged, so this is not immediate or direct, but consider that from a water source, you can recharge whilst you fight. Wind is direct and more powerful in windy place, but that is not the case in a cave, or at times in a ruin. But if we have a webbed weave we get more out of what is around, then there is a wind chime which is noisy but gets us factor 3 and when we get to 45 per minute, we can gain strength fast. Fire, torches are direct sources for the monks of the sulphur cave, but to illuminate that, we could get a necklace or ring made from sulphur and when touch it to fire we can really light up the tally. Earth is the hardest until you make a cloak of the death, a cloak made with ground bones. It protects, conceals and gives you factor 3 like that. It was the parts I had not considered and the arcane has its own rules and it could develop into something more, remember you will only be a member of one house, but then there is the generation gap, so the next generation might inherit some of the previous one. All set to a now larger station. 

An RPG path now developing in places we have not seen before because Bethesda adhered to you can do it all and my game needs to be generations larger, as such other limitations come into play. But it will be something that is new, not seen before and showing Bethesda the short end of the Microsoft stick is just a little too appealing. So here we go and for my next trick (soon to be released) there will be a setting of setting of discrimination, because the cogs have not experienced religion and that too needs to be addressed and they need to interact, or anti-interact with arcane houses, so wish me luck (I will need it) to set the next bit to paper. 

Have a great Saturday 

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May 30, 2022 · 00:29

Creating economic sides

Yes, we saw the optional impact of inns and sustenance. We were given the impact of the smith, and some sides. But how to control them? 

Well that is the first part, we do not control them, the cogs set some form of balance, like tables but with cogs we have less issues. We have slightly more control (or seemingly so), but the setting is an adjusted form of tables. We need no tables, we need the cogs to adjust seesaws and create a foundation of balance. This is hard to put into words and even as the foundation is set to credits, we need second seesaw creator that turns the credit value for each store into goods. This needs to apply for the jeweller, the bookstore, the smith, the general store and so on. I believe that it is like some form of chess assessor. Low value goods, medium value goods and high value goods. There is a side that we learned in school. For example 237 is 2*3*7(33), 28 is 2(2)*7, so how could we translate that into goods? I am still working on it and when we have that, we know what was left, we also know what the location has as revenue, this translates into town welfare. This welfare needs to translate into a balance for the town and a residual that translates into a positive or a negative. The negative pushes the location down, the positive lifts it up. The trick it to stay close to the seesaw balance. Too much into either direction turns places into ghost tows, or over lively places of expansion. I reckon it takes a real mathematician to set the stage for it to work, but the benefits are decently overwhelming so I need to create a way for this to work and it needs to work before we unleash the stories. The stories need to test the seesaw balance, it can flip a little, but it cannot take control, that is the challenge at present. 

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May 29, 2022 · 14:45

Music and sustenance

In continuation of the previous two articles. It is time to set a larger scene. In the first we talk about sustenance. You see there are always food places in RPG games, yet until Monster Hunter, I never saw any of these games take advantage of the sustenance factor. In this I got to thinking.

In the first, the levels of that. As I see it there are coffeehouses, taverns, Inn’s, restaurants, and as such we get to the basic setting we see below. As you might understand, you cannot have a village with a 4 star (or larger) sustenance place. And some places could get an upgrade. The upgradable settings are furniture, sustenance, and lodgings. Taverns can only upgrade sustenance and furniture. Sustenance are upgraded by getting that place a cook, it gets you a 20% discount for the rest of the game. Cooks can be upgraded by getting them a cookbook. Furniture can be upgraded by getting them better furniture and it gets you a +20% discount for the rest of the game. And the setting for the upgraded places is what I wrote earlier. In towns the production goes up, happiness goes up. It has all kinds of long time benefits for the gamer and the gaming area. Then we get another benefit, its benefit is temporary, but larger. You see in the old days the minstrel (bard) could invigorate the area. But the bard can only be in certain places. Restaurant/inn with terrace (as such it would have a podium), and there is an upside in that area. 

It is one of the benefits of the cog system. It showed me the ideas and the benefits of a larger stage, it brings the larger stage to the player and stops the person from being the centre of attention. The player still gets to set the tone in places, set the upgrades. But the larger stage will become the populous and the economy, stages where the player is a simple small factor, not the staging agent. And as we consider that the minstrel can be upgraded (2-3 upgrades in total) we need to make choices. A setting most RPG games tend to avoid, we can do it all, but it takes away replayability and sets the stage for blanket actions and grinding. That are things we can avoid to some degree and we get aa better game because of it. 

Consider that the minstrel can be upgraded 2-3 times. The clothing, the instrument and the music. Then we see that these are extremely limiting items. Like 2 outfits, 1 instrument and three pieces of music at the most. Who will you upgrade? One minstrel completely, or three minstrels partly? All choices we have to make. We could even adjust the music to the max of the highest minstrel, or the level of the minstrel in your home town. All parts that shape a game, all parts that make a game more desirable to the gamer, because a game that shapes in different ways, a game that gives more than one option and makes it replayable, that I a game that will be cherished for a long time and streamers will need long term interest in a game, it is their margin of profit on a large scale. And in this article I am merely scratching the surface of what is possible.

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May 28, 2022 · 22:35

Tally part two

Straight into the deep we go. Breathe in, hold your breath, dive.

Commerce
I wrote most of the foundation in ‘The stage of commerce’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/25/the-stage-of-commerce/) but not all, the foundation is larger than what I set there. I did it some time ago, but the article came to mind on February 25th 2022. Yet over the last few months I also reconsidered other parts. I stated “In the past I already discussed bookshops, taverns, and smith. We need to include goods and foods. This gives us the shops we need as a bare minimum, and considering the size of any area (in the past shops were seen in larger towns and anyone within a distance came to this place). So we now have the larger stage, and the people in that area add to this commerce.” But the world is larger than this, even if we base it on a 17th century fantasy premise. The cogs tend to simplify the setting, but does not change the dimension and that is what we need. But I feel that additional cogs to prevent the game from falling short. We can all rejoice into tables and the setting for armour, weapons, groceries, food, general items, books, jewels, taverns, masons and the list goes on. There are the cogs that drive 1:1, and the others tend to set the equation 1:2, 1:3, 2:1, 4:1. It is the balance that they set that keeps the game going and the more balanced that is, the longer the attention span the gamer gives it, and that I part of the equation. You can run from quest to quest like some set it, raid after raid and a quick trip to the stores to exchange equipment to coins. The one needs to be prevented, the other needs to be dismissed. The first element was discussed yesterday, by altering the concept and the kind of loot you find, the larger your benefit is in the beginning of the game. As the game progresses we get quarries and mines. The mines might make some of the requirements go away, but not all. As you get into the need of silver weapons, gold for enchanted jewellery. That gave me the idea to add Platinum as a source (it started with an engagement ring, but that is another story and she does not know it yet). But Platinum added a few other options, a few I had not considered before. So as we can find every mine EXCEPT Gold or Platinum we can create a handle on some parts of the equation. Then the idea goes from one side to the other. 

Towns
These are all over the place in many games, there we see villages, towns and optionally cities. This is how it has been, but the setting that we see villages and towns, they support farms, abbeys, convents, and keeps. Keeps have a more central setting in my mind, Keeps are supported by towns and cities, but the distance of a keep allows a town to BECOME a city. That is the larger setting, people can contribute to the creation of a city, but cannot push it. One person does not make an economy, people do, so I had to consider the setting where people are the foundation towards creating a city and even as the player you set the domino stones to get it done, I need a stage where (at least) 10% is out of our hands. I believe that the cog system does work and it works beyond economy, it could be the balance setter for entire games, not to manage it, but to set is as a setting of checks and balances. A setting where we can test the game in its true potential and that is essential. Streaming RPG’s are basically new, they might be based on old games, but the moment the makers realise what else is possible, they will run to what more they can get. They will make their games merely larger but not better. The deeper I dive into creating the next RPG, the more I see that another system is required, another pattern is required and in this I came up with the cog system. It is not unique, it is not the only way that it can go, but it is the way I designed it to go. I personally believe in the cog system. It is flexible, it an be adjusted and tailored to any specific situation or need and that is the foundation towards creating an RPG, is the cog model too small, we can add a cog, we can move cogs to be connected, it is a foundational choice. I believe that for me it is the best choice. For you? You will have to make up your own mind on what works for you. 

Four elements towards any RPG, towards any new story that gives life to a dynasty of gaming, it is time we prepare for the next stage of gaming, whether it is Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, PlayStation 6. We need to prepare what what comes next, not for the 10 year old game that we can play again, even if it was a really good ride. 

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