an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

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If this game were created I would...

Play it everyday until I became Japanese.
105
63%
Play it occasionally, because it seems fun.
57
34%
Say it seems fun, but I would not play it.
2
1%
Say it Sucks, and you should get a life.
1
1%
What is an RPG?
2
1%
 
Total votes: 167

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Krikit
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an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Krikit »

EPIC is what I think...you might think :crap:...or :godly: :mrgreen:

Okay, so I'm in the process of working through the idea and scripts of an RPG that would be used for those wanting to learn Japanese, but not stop there. I'm rather tired of language learning games that are 'over' after a few quests, or that have a repetitive, been-done-millions-of-times battle system, etc for language learning. Who wants to gain levels by defeating a monster because you knew a Kanji? Now what if the Reason for knowing the Kanji, was to calculate the creatures resistances, or weaknesses, or to use a magic spell command that would tell a "flying" creature to "land," thus allowing you to attack? I'm thinking on the scale of the epic language RPG. How far can a bunch of guys with little to no budget get? Well, we're about to see where imagination ends and reality kicks in. But before that, if you are willing to read it, here is a general overview of part of the story. I haven't gone into items, skills, leveling, etc yet because of the length of what I've already written, but if you've got time, please check it out! (First off, I call the game 'JRPG' but that is just because I haven't been able to come up with a name that just screams 'epic' yet...opinions?)

Think of being able to have a deeper grasp of japanese, enough to plod through some light novels after playing this game?!?!

Spoiler for length of post:
Spoiler! :
JRPG is a game that teaches the player Japanese kanji and grammar, in other words reading skills. There may be a possibility for added sound files and the like to do listening recognition, but that is something that will come out in future releases or so depending on resources and those willing to help with the project.
As for the material, I’m aiming for the Minna no Nihongo textbook way of teaching. Starting with introductions, the game will proceed through the chapters of the Minna no Nihongo books, and beyond. Kanji and vocabulary will be built up, and the best part is? It’s part of the games storyline!
So far, I’ve been rather tired with the level of material currently out for learning Japanese, and so I’ve been thinking of a way to make learning more enjoyable, and so more in-depth, that the games out so far. The games out now, like Knuckles in China Land, and Slime World, Kana Attacks, etc are great for learning, but they quickly get old and repetitive to people like me that want a game that feels like a game, not just like you’re learning things. In this way, the game idea that I’ve come up with, is fairly engaging, at least in my own opinion.

The game world is made up of two large continents. On one continent, you have Pleuo Kingdom a country of philosophers, whose specialty is mathematics. The language here is English. On the same continent, there is the Tamashi Kingdom. This country is a mix of government and military, with the spoken language both English and Japanese. On the second continent, there are two countries, the Country of Magic, and the Country of Science. These two countries are constantly at war, fighting over land for things like mining, crops and more. They are two countries that just can’t forge a good relationship with the other.
To try and abate the hostile actions of these two countries, the Pleuo Kingdom is sending a novice mathematician to the Tamashi Kingdom, to learn Japanese. Why a novice, and why Japanese? To start with the second question, the language of Continent 1 is English and Japanese, with English being used in the Pleuo Kingdom, and both English and Japanese used in the Tamashi Kingdom. However, across the great sea, only Japanese is spoken. The relationships between the countries are still being forged, and the languages are still developing, and changing.
Why a novice? One could say that otherwise, you would have the start the game with quite a wealth of knowledge in mathematics. That not entirely being the case, we can look deeper into the Plueo Kingdom. They are a country of philosophers, spending their time on research of the world, the stars, and the meaning for their existence. Due to this outlook, most of the people are not too interested in the war across the sea, or in creating better relations. So instead, they send a promising young novice to the Tamashi Kingdom to learn the language, and to prepare for a diplomatic mission to the Countries of Science, and of Magic.
This is where the game takes an interesting twist, and is unlike most games you have probably played. The game starts in English, and gives the history of the lands, the basic plotline of the game, and the overall gist of what the players mission and goals will be. Through this, the player has a good understanding of what is expected of him/her, allowing them to keep the story line in mind, and advance through the language learning aspect of the Tamashi Kingdom.
After a time, when the novice from Pleuo Kingdom succeeds in completing a certain number of quests that measure the overall Japanese proficiency of the player, they can proceed to a port city, where they can board a ship and head across the sea to try and solve the diplomatic problem of the two warring countries.
Going back real quick, the innovating part of the Plueo Kingdom, is the notable RPG feel in learning Japanese. I have, and if you are interested in this, I’m sure you have as well, become tired of those games where a monster appears, and you type in a kanji to defeat it. Will a monster really die because you know a kanji? Maybe. But not yet, in this game at least. Instead, you receive a lot of quests to begin gathering equipment that will prepare you for your journey. You will learn to introduce yourself to NPC’s, with the “My name is…..I am from….,” lines. You will also begin gathering provisions, for the trip. This is where Vocabulary skills will be raised. Foodstuffs, medicines, clothing, tools, weapons, etc will need to be prepared, and you will learn the Japanese for these items, as well as how they are used in sentences. The Kanji as well will come, but it builds as your level progresses. The interesting thing about clothes, is the NPC that gives you the quest will ask you to gather the ingredients, so you will learn animal names, plants, vegetables, meats, atomic elements, (for example, iron for forging tools and weapons, etc. The land of Magic is pretty much Chemestry, so there will be a lot you learn from that as well.)
That is the gist of the Tamashi Kingdom. After the character has gained ‘knowledge’ of items, there is a “review” battle that begins as you walk around randomly. This “review” battle is pretty much sentences, and you use a system like pokemon, but instead of “attack,” “defend,” etc, you use options such as “noun” “verb” and such to pick a word in a multiple choice format that corresponds to the question. This way you get to read sentences, and learn vocabulary and grammar. As for the hiragana and katakana, I’m trying to decide, but I think they might be a pre-requisite to the game, and I’ll give a link to kana-attacks or some other hiragana/katakana learning program.
After the player makes it out of the Tamashi Kingdom, he will board a boat headed across the sea. During the trip though, a storm arises and blows the ship off course. So, instead of arriving at the port, they arrive beached at the far end of the Science country. From there, you head to the nearest town to try and get some materials to give to the ship hands to fix the boat, following which you would proceed on foot to the major city where the debates take place.
However, according to one of the ship mates, the situation in the Science and Magic countries has changed. They are still arguing and fighting each other, but recently a new terror has arisen. In the fields and roads around settlements, all manner of violent creatures have been spotted in the fields around the two countries. Many people have been killed while tending their farms, or traveling between cities to buy goods and to trade. However, after around two weeks, a great dragon appeared in the sky. While the dragon flies, screeching it’s terrifying cry, the monsters leave the fields, and it becomes peaceful. But it is only for two hours. Peace outside the fortifications of the towns lasts only two hours, while the dragon flies in the sky. It doesn’t kill, attack, or even steal food.
As the player arrives on the beach, he/she sets off to the nearest village, where they replenish their supplies, and get some items to give back to the ship hands. On his way back to the ship, the Dragon finishes its run, and monsters start appearing. But not before a man in the previous village tells you about the combat system.
All monsters, after they are born from the depths, have an engraving upon themselves that gives away their “element”. It is the element they were created with, and by that same element they have great defense. For example, when a monster comes up, it may have on its chest, the water kanji, 水. In this case, you find an attack which defeats this element. For example, in your arsenal, you have an enchanted sword with a special attack, “雨” or, “Rain,” and 火山 or Volcano, 雷 Lightning, Your “test of Japanese” is to use an element attack that corresponds with the creatures’ weakness.
Some creatures don’t have elements, they have words, like 飛ぶ. Such a creature might be a bird. What you do, is find a Japanese word that is the opposite of 飛ぶ、which acts as a “spell” if you will on the bird, and causes it to fall, where you can attack it, or so.
That’s the gyst of the combat system, but not the end of it. Some monsters have more than one resistance, lets say a monster had resistance to fire and flight, then if you used a fire attack, it would do 50% damage. If there were three resistances, fire, flight, physical, then if you used one of those attacks, it would be 33% damage. But an attack like water or so, would be the normal 100%.

The player continues delivering the supplies to the ship, and then proceeds down another route towards the main city. Along the way, the player learns more about the strange appearance of creatures, and the Dragon, growing in experience, and obtaining weapons and the like, stopping at towns along the way.

For right now, that is as far as I’ll talk about.
So...what do you guys think? There is alot I didn't mention, mainly due to the length the words. But if your interested, I will keep telling part by part, the storyline of this game. But the more I go, the more complicated I think it is...if there are members interested in this sort of game, then yes! But anyway, I'll wait for the rap, whether it be good, bad, or both. よろしく!

EDIT: I'm pretty much looking for a team of people able to split the work between us. Programmer, Graphic Artist, Music Creator, etc. The storyline, scripts, and the Japanese lessons and content will come from me, with feedback and communication, brainstorming between the team members.

However, I really don't think anyone here at B-T has the time for that....lol O_o

At least tell me if your interested in the game? (I should probobly say game concept, as nothing has really been developed yet...)
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Fushichou »

Yes, yes, and yes.
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Fushichou »

Oh, and yes.
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Beware the talking cat »

Hmm. It sounds like a great idea, and I'd love to help, but I'm not sure there's much I could do.
I wouldn't be able to be the main programmer--I'm more of a theoretical computer scientist, and I have absolutely no experience with GUI's. On the other hand, I'd be happy to be some kind of assistant programmer, doing the more minor tasks.

That really is the key, though: finding a good programmer. Well, and whether or not you can work with the programmer.

Sounds great though--I'd love to help out, play, whatever.
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by b0mb3r »

I really like the sound of the idea of that. Though like BttC you gonna need a good programmer for this type of work. Man is like going to find the right girlfriend or something. Me? I'm just an artist who is not good in photoshop. hopefully in the future I can assist you on this project but on the mean time I am unable to.
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Krikit
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Krikit »

At least there are responses here as opposed to some of the other forums I've posted on, lol O_o...

Even if it were made in Game Maker, that would save alot of work, at least that's what I thought. But I'm currently doing an electronics course in uni, and programming is coming up. If a team can't be assembled, I'll have to at least try and make the skeleton of the game solo...>_< and at my current skills, that's gonna be a game very similar to the "blue screen of death" :shock:

But it's nice to see the support :mrgreen:
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by b0mb3r »

my friend the "blue screen of death" can be as good of what Seth posted recently:
Setherzam wrote:http://www.scoutshonour.com/digital/

Digital: A love story

An english visual novel that is full of nostalgia, I thought I'd never see that accursed blue background ever again. Also, I actually learned a bit about the history of the internet through here, go figure.

very immersive, well written, and simple. The only complaint I have is a bit of aimless wondering at times, and reply to everything. EVERYTHING

http://simulatinghistory.com/game-reviews/
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Krikit »

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread. ... ost3054663

I've got an updated post there, and something you can actually download as well:

http://www.mediafire.com/?gulentdlmzn

It really is a sucky beginning, but this game has alot of potential, if there were people with the skill to work on it.
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Hikaru »

As interesting as it sounds, there are problems, or so I think. Oh and just to answer your question, I draw, so if I can help you you'd have to let me know, but I'm sure there are better people out there you can recruit because I'm still trying to figure out my own VN project.

1) Your battle system doesn't sound very interesting. And the problem would be, the more interesting you want it, the harder the coding would be. Considering you'd be trying to teach roughly 2000+ Kanji, it just sounds like a whole lot of effort for something that has nothing but spiritual and ascetic return. The thing is there would also be a variety of different sentences that would be correct in different situations, not only one. Also this may teach you how to read Japanese, but speaking and writing don't seem to be an option, not is listening as you'd have a hard time finding some people to voice them for you.

2) Now if it was just a straight RPG or whatever I'd at least try to help, but I have to say I don't think you can learn Japanese through these. There's too much culture in language for it to be learned from games. Well, I suppose an interactive VN could work, but that's a different matter altogether. Also you'd have to think about what to name the items, how you're going to introduce mainstream modern society into a fantastical setting.

Yeah, I think that's about it =\
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Krikit »

I think I've actually been waiting for a damper to it...I really don't have the time, or the skills especially to work on this. I can plow through the storyline and come up with ideas, rework them and have something decent, but that's useless without people that could, and want to turn it into reality. But an Interactive Visual Novel sounds pretty interesting...^_^
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Hikaru
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Hikaru »

Well, imagination is always good. I always think of the most impossible things and let other people inject the reality into it for me.

It's not a bad way of doing things.
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by jarke »

You've really put a lot of thought into this. I actually had a similar idea a few months ago for learning a language - but nowhere near as indepth as yours. This is what I posted at another forum:
I'm thinking a game like 'stick RPG' from xgenstudios except you're dropped into a city of some foreign country (say France) and the player starts at the airport, walks outside and meets the driver that's been arranged for him. They exchange some basic French "hello", "my name is etc." (The kind of thing you learn in a "basic conversation" language lesson), then the driver takes the player to his apartment or something.
The player then has to do missions around the city and as the game progresses the vocabulary used by the player and everyone around him gets harder, with the general goal of the game being to just learn as much French as possible.

To make it more of a "learning" game rather than just a game, before each mission, even before starting the game, the user has to pass a flashcard test with the next words that are going to be used and maybe some basic grammar notes, and the player has to keep trying until he/she passes.
To converse with people the player can either type the words on an in-game foreign language keyboard(would take long), type the transliterations, or select the words from a list.
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Poke2201 »

Well, all I can say about this is, the combat has to be based on learning kanji. Its so fundamental to learning japanese and arguably chinese if one might go that far.
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Hazue »

I'm interested!
it really has potential, but once again, the main problem is getting people with enough skills.

developing a game was my dream since i was a child so i
- am currently pursuing software engineering in my University
- sketch and draw whenever i had the mood to (in other words, learning/practicing drawing)
- took a basic japanese class, and continue to improve my jap by reading raw light novel or manga.
- learned violin, and attemping to compose own music.

so you could say i'm kind of a jack-of-all-trade. but unfortunately none of the skills are good enough to be used in developing a game -_-

basically i'm trying to say, i want to be involved in this, but is unsure of what i can do.
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Re: an EPIC Japanese Learning RPG - Development

Post by Poke2201 »

Uhhh, do you know how to create 8-bit sprites?
onizuka-gto wrote:Big Boss was playing with the cosmic forces and forgot to switch the blog database back on.
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