27 replies to this topic

[Super Guy]

I put a church in one of my towns in my RPG. I never really thought of what to put in it. I sort of want it to be of some use to the player. Ideas?

[Robert3DG+]

Healing, enchanting items.

[{UM} GHILLI]

I put a church in one of my towns in my RPG. I never really thought of what to put in it. I sort of want it to be of some use to the player. Ideas?

What time period is your game set in?

[Lune]

What stats do your characters have? Going to confession might give a char more peace or resolve. And you can pray for just about anything, especially wisdom. Your prayers might not be answered though, so maybe it's a chance gamble?

[Super Guy]

The stats are strength, defence, agility and wisdom.

[ChefDavid22]

You could certainly give wisdom from the Gods or The God depending on your game theme. I suppose in theory you could all of the ones you listed above if you want the church to be the focus of where to always send the player.

Other than that there is a wide range of places you could go with it: rest, peacefulness, refresh, maybe forgiveness if your character can choose to walk towards the evil side. etc etc.

And I agree with CHilli it's all about the time period. Medieval time frame all you’d find are Catholic churches. Today you’d find Christian, to Catholic (yes there is a differece ), to pagan.

You could varry it accordingly. Have different churches to give different things.

[Markonicus]

In some context a name church, or a church looking object can be used to represent almost any made up religion in your game. Like TES Oblivion had classical medieval looking churches but they were dedicated to their Nine Divines and provided blessings.

So there's really no need to tie a church building specifically to any form of christianity. And the best purpose for them would be healing or a temporary boost in wisdom attribute.

[Super Guy]

I really like those ideas. Thanks. :D

[howzer]

You could also add powerful healing magic to your game that uses prayer points rather than the normal magic/mana points. Have the prayer points only restored at alters, instead of regenerating. Maybe you could only pray so many times during a time period.

[masterofhisowndomain]

Perhaps the player can talk to Church members in order to join a Covenant or Guild? That's if you've thought about adding that sort of system in your game.

[gmx0]

You can have some Templar or Paladin Knight Order within the church you can join, and get quests. You may also give an option to pray to the gods of the world and have them grant something to you, like a miracle or holy weapon.

[{UM} GHILLI]

You could certainly give wisdom from the Gods or The God depending on your game theme. I suppose in theory you could all of the ones you listed above if you want the church to be the focus of where to always send the player.

Other than that there is a wide range of places you could go with it: rest, peacefulness, refresh, maybe forgiveness if your character can choose to walk towards the evil side. etc etc.

And I agree with CHilli it's all about the time period. Medieval time frame all you'd find are Catholic churches. Today you'd find Christian, to Catholic (yes there is a differece ), to pagan.

You could varry it accordingly. Have different churches to give different things.

In a medieval time period you could find pagan churches. It also depends on the location. West Europe = Catholic (more or less) and East Europe = Pagan (more or less)

Also, perhaps the player can 'pray' at the church and the god(s) answer the prayer in the form of a mini quest... like a "spiritual journey" that rewards the player with a cool weapon or perhaps a better understanding of the story.
Or maybe (depending on the type of church), the player could offer a sacrifice in exchange for a weapon or enchantments or information.

It all depends on the setting.

[PetzI]

You should give the player the option of praying at the altar. You could just have a "prayer" button or make it more complex, like multiple prayers with different properties, etc. And make it so that the prayers don't have any visible effects, to leave the prayer wondering whether or not it affected gameplay in any way. Or have a simple message saying that the player has received a benefit but not actually give him any benefits, to achieve a sort of placebo effect. I think that would be pretty interesting.

Edited by PetzI, 13 June 2012 - 03:26 PM.

[gmx0]

What I haven't seen in an RPG church that happens alot in real life is a... church service! (Mass, if you're Catholic). That would be interesting.

[11clock]

You should give the player the option of praying at the altar. You could just have a "prayer" button or make it more complex, like multiple prayers with different properties, etc. And make it so that the prayers don't have any visible effects, to leave the prayer wondering whether or not it affected gameplay in any way. Or have a simple message saying that the player has received a benefit but not actually give him any benefits, to achieve a sort of placebo effect. I think that would be pretty interesting.

But that would make it pointless.

It depends. Does your game have a made-up religion, a RL religion, or an unclarified religion (never really announced)? Some useful stuff could be healing, saving your progress, and praying to activate certain benefits. Or you can do it Bastion-style and have it so that you can use the church to activate handicaps that make the game harder but you get more rewards in return.

Edited by 11clock, 13 June 2012 - 05:32 PM.

[PetzI]

But that would make it pointless.

It depends. Does your game have a made-up religion, a RL religion, or an unclarified religion (never really announced)? Some useful stuff could be healing, saving your progress, and praying to activate certain benefits. Or you can do it Bastion-style and have it so that you can use the church to activate handicaps that make the game harder but you get more rewards in return.

Not everything in the game has to serve a gameplay purpose. A lot of things in games just tell the story and shape the atmosphere.

The point of my suggestion is that it's very similar to how real-life religion works. If someone breaks their arm, they might go to the church and pray for it to heal quickly, but I very much doubt a light will literally shine upon them and they get all their health back; more likely, they'll feel better about their arm and feel like it's healing pretty well (and perhaps it would). So, at the designer's discretion, it could affect the player character or not, but never visibly, leaving the player to decide for himself whether he believes he's received a benefit or not. Or, in other words, whether he has faith in the game's deity that he just prayed to. There should be something that tells the player that praying does indeed do something good for him, but not something 100% reliable, like the interface, but rather a character or something. And possibly another character that tells you he doesn't believe in that stuff. The important thing is that the player has to question himself on whether or not to have faith in prayer and whether he should pray more.

This is pretty unconventional stuff, I know, but I think it would be really interesting.

Edited by PetzI, 14 June 2012 - 06:06 PM.

[Super Guy]

It would be interesting. Hmm...

It is medieval times by the way.

[{UM} GHILLI]

But that would make it pointless.

It depends. Does your game have a made-up religion, a RL religion, or an unclarified religion (never really announced)? Some useful stuff could be healing, saving your progress, and praying to activate certain benefits. Or you can do it Bastion-style and have it so that you can use the church to activate handicaps that make the game harder but you get more rewards in return.

Not everything in the game has to serve a gameplay purpose. A lot of things in games just tell the story and shape the atmosphere.

The point of my suggestion is that it's very similar to how real-life religion works. If someone breaks their arm, they might go to the church and pray for it to heal quickly, but I very much doubt a light will literally shine upon them and they get all their health back; more likely, they'll feel better about their arm and feel like it's healing pretty well. So, at the designer's discretion, it could affect the player character or not, but not visibly, leaving the player to decide for himself whether he believes he's received a benefit or not. Or, in other words, whether he has faith in the game's deity that he just prayed to. There should be something that tells the player that praying does indeed do something good for him, but not something 100% reliable, like the interface, but rather a character or something. And possibly another character that tells you he doesn't believe in that stuff. The important thing is that the player has to question himself on whether or not to have faith in prayer and whether he should pray more.

This is pretty unconventional stuff, I know, but I think it would be really interesting.

Now that you explained it that way, it actually makes a lot of sense... and is definitely more realistic.

Perhaps make how fast the player 'heals' random, to some degree, so no one ever really knows if the prayer is really helping.

[11clock]

But that would make it pointless.

It depends. Does your game have a made-up religion, a RL religion, or an unclarified religion (never really announced)? Some useful stuff could be healing, saving your progress, and praying to activate certain benefits. Or you can do it Bastion-style and have it so that you can use the church to activate handicaps that make the game harder but you get more rewards in return.

Not everything in the game has to serve a gameplay purpose. A lot of things in games just tell the story and shape the atmosphere.

The point of my suggestion is that it's very similar to how real-life religion works. If someone breaks their arm, they might go to the church and pray for it to heal quickly, but I very much doubt a light will literally shine upon them and they get all their health back; more likely, they'll feel better about their arm and feel like it's healing pretty well. So, at the designer's discretion, it could affect the player character or not, but not visibly, leaving the player to decide for himself whether he believes he's received a benefit or not. Or, in other words, whether he has faith in the game's deity that he just prayed to. There should be something that tells the player that praying does indeed do something good for him, but not something 100% reliable, like the interface, but rather a character or something. And possibly another character that tells you he doesn't believe in that stuff. The important thing is that the player has to question himself on whether or not to have faith in prayer and whether he should pray more.

This is pretty unconventional stuff, I know, but I think it would be really interesting.

Now that you explained it that way, it actually makes a lot of sense... and is definitely more realistic.

Games don't have to be realistic. It's a freaking video game, take advantage of that. It doesn't have to follow the rules of reality.

I don't care much either way, but I'd prefer for the church to have a use in this game. I'm all for more gameplay elements, and I think that a clear use would be more interesting than an unclear one.

Edited by 11clock, 14 June 2012 - 05:45 PM.

[howzer]

What I haven't seen in an RPG church that happens alot in real life is a... church service! (Mass, if you're Catholic). That would be interesting.

This could be really interesting. You sit through a SHORT sermon(preacher reads a random real/made up proverb), and then everyone has to sing a hymn. Add in a mini game where the player has to match the notes, just using the arrow keys, up, down, left right, and you hit it on time. On success(or partial success) of the mini game you get... buffs, one-time use item, etc. a worthy award atleast. You could easily get sound samples for this using the choir voice effects from a MIDI keyboard. I'd say I could sample them for you, but I don't like to make promises i cant keep. You can download free sound editing programs and virtual MIDI keyboards though and you'll need something called soundfonts. If i were gonna do it I would use a soundfont called Chaos something or other and StudioONE, but there are plenty of other programs. Just google search and I'm sure you can find them yourself. Or keep bugging me enough and I'll make them for you, but I encourage the DIY attitude more. XD

And if you dont think i'm giving you enough information, thats because to find this stuff, the only person I asked was google. You can do it if you want it enough.