My Steampunk/victorian ideas for a game

[Vatoreus]

Originally Posted by Millie

Very cool artwork. In terms of the storyline, maybe you can work in some sort of magic vs. technology thing? Like maybe magic is being eradicated from the countryside, or some such FF6-style theme?

Victorian England was all about the plowing over of the English countryside to make way for industry (this was in the height of the Industrial Revolution, after all). A lot of English folks were very bitter about the destruction of the natural landscape, forests, wildlife, etc.

You may not want to go in that direction at all, but just in case, it could be an interesting theme (or side theme) to explore.

Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

[Millie]

Originally Posted by xilsharn

my idea > yours

[Menoz]

I encourage and support anything steampunk. Keep up the good work!

[Flinch]

Originally Posted by xilsharn

Any steampunk RPG must involve a star-blimp.

You heard me.

Blimps in orbit.

I'm working on some fiction that is in this sort of vein. Can't really say too much, but yeah.

[xilsharn]

Originally Posted by Flinch

I'm working on some fiction that is in this sort of vein. Can't really say too much, but yeah.

I wrote it first, so I have rights to it. sorry chief =(

[CabbitCabbit]

Originally Posted by dubb01

and some practice 3d to see how I could pull off something similar

Giantstalkers?

[Flinch]

Originally Posted by xilsharn

I wrote it first, so I have rights to it. sorry chief =(

I'll give you a cut of the royalties?

[Ham n Cheese]

steamboy meets FFVII!

[dubb01]

I really like the idea of having kind of the warring worlds of magic/steampunk and I think the idea is generic enough that you can get by w/o the obvious allusions to Arcanum. I know I mentioned that I wanted technology to replace magic, and I still do, but maybe the timeframe of the game could be in the period where technology is still trying to take over magic. I've kind of tinkered around with the idea of including an area that I would equate to the Orient... mysticism and legends and shangri-la type stuff. though I'm not sure how far I want to start venturing outside of that industrial world.

I'm having problems with the idea of once you've outgrown the initial stages of the game where you go. Like from freeport you go to east commonlands and so on and so forth. If you start in this industrial city in a game centered around industrial things it seems odd you would venture out of the city into the country side to experience later content in the game. Maybe someone could help with a solution to that as I'm completely stumped.

I'm also curious as to what classes/roles there should be. I could come up with meaningless names, but honestly I'm drawing a blank when it comes to what they will actually do.

I've got some ideas for dungeons/instances(or lack thereof) but I don't want to get into that just yet. I'm planning on getting some environment work done this next week at least in a very rough sense, hopefully I can have that sooner than later to offer some inspiration or at least a view into my mind's eye.

btw, if any of my posts have made it sound that I don't want help on this, please disregard them. This project (if you can really call it that yet) is very very young and anybody that wants to put there two cents worth in is very welcome. I'm only marginally good at the visual aspect so help in any other area and even the visual stuff would be much appreciated

[QforQ]

Are there any good steampunk movies out there? I really like the whole concept/look.

[Vatoreus]

steamboy and Howl's Moving Castle are a couple of pretty good ones.

[Flinch]

Originally Posted by QforQ

Are there any good steampunk movies out there? I really like the whole concept/look.

Rocketeer
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The Golden Compass
Disney's Atlantis
Vidocq

and then there are other films that incorporate Steampunk elements or the 'feel' of the genre, imo. The Indiana Jones movies, Wild Wild West, Van Helsing, etc. are movies that have elements of steampunk/Victorian fiction.

[Flinch]

Originally Posted by dubb01

I really like the idea of having kind of the warring worlds of magic/steampunk and I think the idea is generic enough that you can get by w/o the obvious allusions to Arcanum. I know I mentioned that I wanted technology to replace magic, and I still do, but maybe the timeframe of the game could be in the period where technology is still trying to take over magic. I've kind of tinkered around with the idea of including an area that I would equate to the Orient... mysticism and legends and shangri-la type stuff. though I'm not sure how far I want to start venturing outside of that industrial world.

I'm having problems with the idea of once you've outgrown the initial stages of the game where you go. Like from freeport you go to east commonlands and so on and so forth. If you start in this industrial city in a game centered around industrial things it seems odd you would venture out of the city into the country side to experience later content in the game. Maybe someone could help with a solution to that as I'm completely stumped.

I'm also curious as to what classes/roles there should be. I could come up with meaningless names, but honestly I'm drawing a blank when it comes to what they will actually do.

I've got some ideas for dungeons/instances(or lack thereof) but I don't want to get into that just yet. I'm planning on getting some environment work done this next week at least in a very rough sense, hopefully I can have that sooner than later to offer some inspiration or at least a view into my mind's eye.

btw, if any of my posts have made it sound that I don't want help on this, please disregard them. This project (if you can really call it that yet) is very very young and anybody that wants to put there two cents worth in is very welcome. I'm only marginally good at the visual aspect so help in any other area and even the visual stuff would be much appreciated

Victorian literature. There's a wealth of untapped material available.

Exploration and discovery were two motivating factors. That dwarf guild in WoW (can't remember the precise name of it and too lazy to look it up) is an example of this.

Throw in archaeological sites, some industrial sites (like a mining town) with some Lovecraftian elements. Maybe have a 'gold rush' type thing going on in some frontier area.

You could also do a more involved thing involving famous explorers...either accompanying ones or trying to do a search and rescue. Remember, a good chunk of our world wasn't reliably written down on maps until like the 19th century (IIRC), so, yeah.

I'd really recommend reading some of the literature of the time for some ideas.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

I find this really interesting. I have been in game development for almost 10 years now, and recently tried to get my own project off the ground with some other people in the industry.
Steampunk (or a variant thereof) is my genre of choice, and I believe to be the next big 'fantasy'.
Oddly enough, we pitched it around to all of the major publishers, and some not so major ones. We have a completely working demo. The ability to create your own characters and costumes, select and move, issue orders, hit points, etc. Sadly 'Marketing' doesn't find steampunk appealing, thus finances aren't given.
My game was an MMO/RTS hybrid. Personally, I think if we had the funding to get it off the ground it would have been a mini-success, but of course I'm biased.
Screenshots can be found here.
Here's a screenshot of the game.

[niteflyx]

That looks badass, Bonzai.