Dragonshard Designer Diary #4 - RPG Elements in RTS

While traditional real-time strategy games have remained relatively unchanged for almost a decade, there have been attempts to morph and evolve the genre in new directions. Dragonshard is one such effort, as the designers at Liquid Entertainment are taking on the ambitious task of blending real-time strategy with Dungeons & Dragons role playing. To do this, the game will take place on two levels. On the surface, players will be able to battle one another like they would normally do in an RTS game. However, players can also send parties down to the underground level to explore, battle monsters, and receive RPG quests. The game will ship this summer, but in the meantime, Dragonshard designer Charley Price fills us in on the details in the latest chapter of our designer diaries.

Putting the RPG in RTS

By Charley Price
Designer, Liquid Entertainment

One of the most common questions that people ask us when we talk about the high concept for Dragonshard is, "How do you integrate RPG elements into an RTS game?" In the past, we have discussed the game's underworld and how the two-layer system generally provides an "RTS-above, RPG-below" basic framework. Now we will discuss some of the core gameplay mechanics that help to distinguish the RPG elements that make Dragonshard so unique.

There are many different definitions of what an RPG is and the necessary components it must entail. That said, we believe the key unifying traits of an RPG are a sense of character advancement and an overall breadth of choice. We have gone to great lengths to incorporate these gameplay elements across the board, but they are most prevalent in our flattened tech tree, global experience system, and captain leveling.

The flattened tech tree does away with the traditional RTS model of having limited, low-level building choices from the outset, which in turn must be built and upgraded in various combinations to unlock higher-level and more-powerful buildings and units. Among the problems with this system are that it very narrowly constrains player choice early on in gameplay, which is compounded by the fact that tech trees in and of themselves tend to be arcane and complex to players who are just starting to learn the basics of the game. As such, having a flat tech tree means that the player can build any building and thus produce any group of units he or she chooses without arbitrary constraints. Having the full breadth of characters to choose from at the outset means that players can produce exactly the force that they want to build, without having their population filled up with intermediary units. This drastically changes multiplayer, as now any player can immediately muster a diverse and powerful force right off the bat, without having to drudge through the necessary steps to get that one cool unit that he or she wants to use.

One of the few perks of a traditional tech tree is the feeling of advancement over the course of a given gameplay session as you unlock progressively more-powerful buildings and units. With our flattened tech tree, advancement becomes entirely focused on the units themselves. Much like in Dungeons & Dragons, as players kill monsters and complete quests, they receive experience rewards, which get added to their global experience pools. As such, global experience essentially becomes a third resource that players can use to level up all units of a given type--at that unit's building--thus granting those units upgraded stats, new powers, and increased abilities, as appropriate for their type. For example, as the paladin gains levels, he gains moderate upgrades to spellcasting ability, resistances, and the like, but he also gains a substantial boost to his hit points, as well as the holy smite ability, which reinforces his role as a "tank." On the other hand, as the ranger gains levels, he gains--in addition to standard increases in hit points and resistances--substantial increases to his line-of-sight and attack ranges, along with the snipe ability, thus reinforcing both his "ranged attack" and "scouting" roles.

It's a Rogue's World

In treating global experience as a resource, in addition to gold and dragonshards, the player is given the choice of gaining experience by directly attacking other players or by delving into the recesses of the underworld to face off against various monsters. This is where the role of the rogue comes in to play. With the dungeons littered with traps, locked doors, and chests, having a high-level rogue becomes invaluable in order to glean as much as you can from each underworld area, not to mention to survive and avoid the dangers therein. In multiplayer, a rogue can not only disarm but also rearm traps to only trigger when a non-allied unit passes through, which turns the underworld into a constantly changing realm of uncertain danger that only the rogue can easily monitor and maintain.

In developing our single-player missions, we went to great lengths to think of each of them as actual Dungeons & Dragons modules. As such, in designing each level, we focused much of our attention on making each map feel "alive." This meant that, in addition to pursuing the goals necessary in order to progress the overall story, the player would also encounter a wide variety of other creatures, adventurers, factions, and the like in these treacherous areas. When the player meets these beings, they may be friendly, wary, or downright hostile. But in many cases, these encounters lead to quests.

The difference between quests and the "objectives" found in most standard RTS games is, in general, the sense of scope. Objectives tend to be single-minded, overarching goals that guide the player in the pursuit of completing a mission, such as "defeating the opposition." Quests, on the other hand, are more organic in nature, are usually optional to the player, and often allow for more player choice. So, while we have "kill X for us, and we will reward you Y" quests, we also have quests involving two vying factions wherein the player must take sides, unravel puzzles that need to be solved to rescue less adept adventurers from trapped tombs, undertake quests to collect reagents that can be fashioned into powerful items, and enter interrogation scenarios wherein the player must extract information by any means necessary.

Similarly, in order to ensure that there is always something cool for the player to see and do, we have an "at least one cool thing per screen" rule so that even as players navigate the environment, they will always come across cool and interesting creatures, events, and locales. These events are much like those a dungeon master would insert into a Dungeons & Dragons session to maintain player interest. In addition to all of the Dungeons & Dragons flavor, Dragonshard is filled with gameplay mechanics that reinforce the core of what makes RPGs fun--player choice and character advancement--in a fashion that should feel both refreshing and familiar to both RPG and RTS players alike.