   Children
  I was just thinking of a really great idea for use in an RPG and I would like input on how you think it will work.When you start the game you will quickly find out that your life is not unlimited as some RPGs have it. You must, on top of doing main quests, search for a mate and...mate to create a child (nothing is shown). When your current character dies then you will switch to your child (if he is too young for exploring/fighting then he will be simulated till he does grow).The current lifespan I made for a human was one game year, less if they do permanent damage to thier health. The problem I do have is how long a game day is.I hope that was not a jumbled mass.How does it sound?   
  Sounds interesting enough. You might try looking into The Sims 2 to get a sense of scale for time. I've never played it but I hear Phantasy Star III also allowed the player to continue the game with offspring of their hero. Not sure how it worked though.   ;  This has come up before.Personally, I don't see how killing off people's characters and make them build up a new one every so often is anything more than forced tedium which will drive your playerbase away.   ;Quote:Original post by TelastynThis has come up before.Personally, I don't see how killing off people's characters and make them build up a new one every so often is anything more than forced tedium which will drive your playerbase away.Haha! Idea!Alright, since it would be to hard to rebuild a character, then it would seem that you can pass down your basic stats through genetic traits. How does that also sound?;  Passing down basic stats would help but it would still be tedious unless all stats, or all stats that take significant time to acquire, are passed down.However, if you imagine a futuristic game where 'level ups' involve genetic modification it would all make sense, except the kid would only have the stats when you had sex. This would make sex a kind of saved game system, which seeing as I play most games for half hour bursts could necessitate a really horny character... ;-)(Alternatively for fantasy you could work in a magical amulet etc, and its the amulet rather than the person that upgrades - whoever wears it (Your descendent.) gets the power. That is not why I wrote this post though.)   ;  There is a game which does something like this. It's a korean game called Mabinogi. It allows the player to "rebirth" by using real cash, which almost all the players do btw. You can be reborn between the ages of 13 and 18 I think? The younger you are the more "stat" bonuses you are able to put on yourself, but you have less endurance, do less damage and such. The older, more endurance but less stat bonuses. Every time you rebirth, you get to keep a portion of your previous life, therefore the key to success in this game is to rebirth as many times are you can. Their levels are practically limitless (for I saw a level 500ish character I think... lol) but is a big money waster in my opinion. It's not necessarily time based in which your character dies and everything but it's somewhat similar. Sorry if it's not heh...   ;  Reminds me of the old super nintendo game Ghengis Khan (sp?). During the game you had to get a wife to continue your dynasty otherwise the game was over. Pretty sure I've been playing some other strategy type game with that kind of mechanic.In one of those games, can't recall which, you were able to choose a character which couldn't get any kids for the price of extra strenght. Thus you had to finish the game during that persons lifetime.It can make some very interesting gameplay. I recommend checking these old games out if you're interested in seeing how other people have done it.   ;  I came up with a nicer flowing idea...Reincarnation...thought of it while with a friend.I think that could work like that one korean game.   ;  The idea was used in the original Shogun: Total War.As the leader of your clan, you would (I assume) randomly spawn offspring that would come of age and could be made into generals of your army...  However, if your avatar (as the Emperor type thing) died and you had no heirs, the game ended, but if you had an of-age heir, the game would continue as your heir now the lead character as it were.Of course, that was more of a strategy game a la Risk and not so much of an RPG or something, but it's something worth thinking about.-Vopisk   ;  I think it might work if you just didn't kill the avatar off needlessly every year. And what about the game type? Is it possible to die often?What happens if the player quickly dies again, and finds himself having to bribe and sex up a female just for insurance before challenging the evil tyrant that killed him again? So he grinds his teeth, flirts with another mate, fights again, loses again, loses more stats, bribes another mate, dies, then tosses the mouse across the room.I like the whole concept of offspring in a game, and having them rise to serve high purpose. But I think they'll only work as extra lives in a game where player death is very infrequent.   