Introducing my latest crazy idea – Sampi, a new computer role-playing game!
I don’t actually have anything to release yet, but the idea has been rattling around in my head for a while. I finally got started on it the other day, so I thought I’d begin blog about it. For one thing, perhaps it will raise some interest, and more importantly, it should help me organize my thoughts somewhat!
| A bit of history – once upon a time, there was a game called Omega. Omega was a roguelike. If you don’t know, a roguelike is a sort of RPG with text-character based graphics, randomized content, usually centered around exploring a dungeon. Omega was unusual in that it allowed the player to explore a wilderness area, in addition to several dungeons. Most notably, the player started in a town, albeit without any people. I had played several roguelikes prior to Omega, and my first thought on opening the game was, “Wow, a city! With guards!” Two seconds later, “Where are all the people?” It was a bit disappointing. The great thing about roguelikes is that nearly everything is random, making them far more interesting than a traditional RPG. But they don’t really have anything other than random monsters to kill. No plot, no real NPCs, etc. It looked for a moment that Omega would have all of that, but it (of course – it was made some 20 years ago!) didn’t. |
|
Omega inspired me, though – make another Omega, only with people in the city! (and Blackjack! and Hookers! – sorry….) I even tried to hack Omega somewhat, but the source was pretty limited and the effort failed badly. I’ve kept the idea around ever since, though. Since then, I’ve played other, more mainstream, RPGs and been dissatisfied with many aspects of those as well. So, I’m going to try and make a new roguelikeish RPG – named Sampi (for now)
Some planned goals, to be expounded on later:
- Random, but coherent, dynamic content.
- Interactive story-making in place of ”gaming’.
- One part game, one part society simulator.
- Gender-balanced (plus a copious amount of gender-fuck!)
- Unbiased otherwise (unlike many mainstream RPGs!).
A note about the name – I was going to call it Omicron, but that seemed boring. So, I changed it to Sampi, an obsolete Greek letter. I’m not completely happy with the name, though. It just doesn’t have… spunk, I guess. Perhaps I’ll find a better one – or get used to this one!
