Races and Teams - Are teams composed of only one race? (or racial mix)
At this point in time teams will be allowed to mix different races. The next release will only have two races with one class each - I don't see how playing an all-Grunt or all-Sorceress team would be fun. However this is a question to consider now because it will effect how future models are created.
Should teams be restricted to only one race? (Or thematic group)
Pros:
More thematic. Why would Elves and Orcs fight side-by-side?
Possibly more teamwork and decision making, learning to use strengths of each race and minimize weaknesses.
More "flavor" in general.
Easier to identify teammates on the battlefield.
Cons:
Harder to find games to join, harder to auto-balance games.
Less variety in each battle.
Possibility of poorly balanced races, either in general or against certain other races.
Less room for interesting classes. Each race would need somewhat analogous basic fighter and magic types, leaving little room for more specialized classes.
Racial restrictions on teams only make sense with decent numbers of classes per race. At this point regardless of whether it is feasible in the long run or not it does not seem feasible now.
How to Proceed: To keep our options open, it makes sense develop the characters systematically, only choosing races that allow some room for expansion within that race. A Merman might not be a good idea, for example, because a race of 3+ classes of different Mermen might be a bit hard to come up with and Mermen don't seem to naturally fall into a theme like "bad guys." We want to choose races that can allow for diversity of classes. If we later find that restricting the racial makeup of teams doesn't work we can always add oddball race/class combinations. It could also be possible to loosen up the racial requirements a bit, for example throw Elves, Dwarves and Humans into the same "good guy" classification.
Classes, Weapons and Spells
The idea of unique weapons and spells for classes is interesting and appears doable. It would certainly add another important axis that classes can differentiate on. For example, perhaps only an Orc could wield a giant stone pillar as a weapon, but not make use of a Thief�s throwing knives.
This does introduce some interesting problems, chief of which is where do you get weapons from? Imagine a battle with 10 different classes participating. If weapons are strewn about the map in typical fashion, you might have to search high and low to find any weapon you can use at all. In the worst case any weapon you run into will have only a 1/10 chance of being usable by you. Solutions?
Allow some overlap in terms of weapon use. Maybe the typical weapon can be used by about 30% of the available classes. For example Knights, Dwarves and Orcs might all be able to use swords, while both Wizards and Sorceress's can use Staffs. Perhaps allow a fair amount of overlap but make some classes use certain weapons more effectively than others. One advantage of a fighting class might be more versatility with regards to weapon use, where a Magic-using class makes up for that with spells.
Adjust the weapon spawning depending on the class makeup of the level. This has some problems though. What if you are the lone Thief on the level? It doesn't help the worst case (large class variety) very much. But it would help in some cases, the most obvious being where a certain class is not represented at all.
Some totally alternate method of acquiring weapons rather than respawning. Perhaps save up resources and simply buy them. That would give you a mix of picking up weapons off of other people or just getting them yourself.
Another idea that seems popular is lending real strategy to the acquisition of weapons, by limiting the number of weapon slots and also weighing players down based on their equipment. If you already have a giant axe and a crossbow is it worth it picking up a throwing axe as well, or will it just slow you down? Maybe you can save the crossbow to throw to your Thief friend who is currently using an awkward hammer they can't wield very effectively.
Distinguishing Factors of Classes
These are the proposed ways that classes can actually differ from each other.
Looks
Size - Perhaps a small character can go under obstacles that larger ones could not, use small tunnels, hide behind low fences and bushes, etc
Starting weapon complement. (Respawn set)
Total weapon complement. (Which weapons they can equip in general)
Spell complement.
Slots for weapons/armor/items
Effect of weight on movement/effectiveness
HP/MP
HP and MP regeneration methods/speed
Resistance to Physical and Magic Attacks (durability)
Movement speed
Jumping ability
Water navigation. (Sink, swim, tread, etc. Also effected by weight?)
Strength-based damage. (Most hand to hand weapons, for example, will do different damage based on strength of user.)
Accuracy - reduce effect of wandering crosshairs for certain weapons. (Requires some weapons with a wandering crosshair feature, like long-range sniping weapons)
Feedback
As always, to provide feedback on this document you can post to the Garage Games forums or send mail to James Margaris. All opinions are welcome.
