The whole thing, paragraphed for your convenience.
If u wanna know more or get in contact with me, my msn is Dangrimmx@msn.com or email barratts@xtra.co.nz
1.1 or 2 players minimum, computer game. Based on roman times. Buy some slaves, only allowed a small amount at first, then you can get more as you advance ranks in the gladitorial world. You must equip these gladiators and train them, and as they gain experience and rise the ranks, They may even become the top gladiators. You may purchase gladiators from the following 'places':
Gaul
The Barbarian slaves from gaul would make an exellent addition to any gladiator band. They are usually resilient, Physically robust, and have a natural talent with martial weapons. +1 weapon skill when wielding martial weapon(s).
Italy
A slave from italy should make an average gladiator, Italian slaves arent always form italy itself, sometimes they come from the nearby islands of corsica and sardinia, or greece and even as far off as crete. Italian slaves are good with most weapons and exell at using the gladius, the Roman short sword.+1 Weapon skill and +1 damage when wielding a gladius.
Africa
Among the slaves of north africa are some of the finest specimens for gladiators in the world. Included are slaves from the recently toppled Carthage, nearby egypt, ethiopia and many places in south africa. The african slaves are fast and have an uncanny amount of stamina. Exotic weapons are often their preferred choice. +1 weapon skill when wielding exotic weapons.
You could be able to visit the 'places' and look through the selection of slaves, like at a caryard. Each place should have about 30 slaves available for hire. These should be randomly generated. In the beggining you can only buy the low-end slaves with low statistics, because of your scrawny budget. Each slave you buy should be equipped with a club or small, ineffective weapon. The Statistics should be similar to the 'dungeons and dragons' system, with experience playing a fairly large role as well as a large element of chance. That Statistics are described below:
Strength
This is the rating of how strong the gladiator is and how well he can put that strength where it counts. Strength is compared against toughness. The Strength rating is calculated each combat round If the strength was 2, then on a 6 sided die you would multiply that rolls numer time 2, if you rolled a 4, your strength total would be 8. The strength is compared against the opponents toughness rating to decide whether a hit is scored, that is if the accuracy test and weapon skill test is successful.
Accuracy
Accuracy is your gladiators ability to put their weapon in the right place. Accuracy is used against the agility rating of the oppponent to see whether they score a hit, then the weapon skill test kicks in. Accuracy is measured the same way as strength is.
Toughness
The toughness rating is how tough the gladiator is and how hard the enemy have to hit him before he flinches. Toughness is compared against strength. It is performed the same way as strength.
Wounds
Wounds is how much of a pounding a gladiator can take before he is knocked unconscious or killed. If the gladiator has 2 wounds, then the enemy must cause him 2 wounds before he loses the fight.
Weapon Skill
This is the gladiators overall knowledge and skill with weapons in general, This weapon skill is tested against the armor class of the enemy gladiator, it is the second test out of 3. Weapon skill has the same rolling properties of strength.
Agility
Agility is your gladiators reaction speed and flexibility. Agility is tested against accuracy, it is measured the same way as strength.
Armor Class
Gladiators dont start out with any armor class, but their armor and helm help them with that.like most other stats, armor class is measured by rolling the dice and doubling it.
Damage
How many wounds the gladiator causes when he manages to hit his opponent. a damage factor of 5 would cause 5 wounds to the opponent.
So,the general order of the attacks are like this:
Accuracy vs. Agility
Weapon Skill vs. Armor Class
Strength vs. Toughness
If the attacker passes all of these tests, then the defender is wounded for the attackers damage number. Another Way of measuring statistics is like this:
If the gladiator has 3 strength, it is also displayed in a spread, in this case:
Strength= 3 3-18
The Actual and the spread. This can really help out in what weapons you choose etc. because the stats have huge variations. This also gives low level gladiators a chance at defeating a more experienced gladiator, but only on rare occasions, for example, of the 2 gladiators portrayed below, the victor would be the first one 80% of the time, but the weaker one does stand a small chance:
Glaranius Minimus
Accuracy: 4 4-24
Weapon Skill: 6 6-36
Strength: 5 5-30
Agility: 3 3-18
Armor Class: 5 5-30
Toughness: 6 6-36
Wounds: 30
Timmius Heraticus
Accuracy: 3 3-18
Weapon Skill: 2 2-12
Strength: 4 4-24
Agility: 1 1-6
Armor Class: 3 3-18
Toughness: 2 2-12
Wounds: 20
Therefore, statistics arent everything, but they definitely have a major influence in the game. Enough on that. Onto equipment. Weapons should pump up damage. Armor and shields would increase armor class. Helms, melmets and leather caps could provide a bonus, like lowering the damage of attacks when they are at a certain number i.e. Leather Helm: Headgear, enemy damage 30+ (30 or over),-5 damage.So,like most helms, they dont always come into use, but with weaker attacks, or stronger ones (depending on the helm), they can sometimes stop your head being split like a melon. The Stronger the helm, the lower the damage quantity it can prevent from, and the more damage it prevents. Weapons increase attack, and offhand weapons might count you in for an extra, separate attack.
Also, the gladiators should have a number limit for how many can go into a battle at once. At the lowest rank,you may be able to own 3 gladiators,so 3 can fight. In the second rank, 5 can fight, and you may own 5. The third, 6 may join and you may own 6, then the 4th can own 7 and put the full 7 into the battle.And so on, up until rank 20 or thereabouts.
Now, onto the weapons and armor, etc. Okay, im not the best guy in the world for balancing games, I tend to make different weapons outrageously powerful in one area, and take off all other stats. Not to say that is a bad thing, but its not good to have ultimate, instant-kill weapons for every character. So, im going to just leave the balancing and weapon stats to someone else, one day....
Here are some ideas for weapons (although not totally historically accurate):
WEAPONS:
Basic Weapons:
Club
Spiked Club
Mace
Morning star (getting medieval here, but who cares?)
Tri-Star (3 balled morning star)
Dagger
Staff
Spear
Pike
Exotic Weapons
Bastard Sword
Gladiators Blade (Yes, kind of like the gladius, but its a long sword which ends in the blade parting in two, on the inner part of the blade, it has vicious spikes, making it exotic.)
Double Sword (A shaft with 2 short blades at the end.)
Double-Axe (A shaft with a double-headed axe on either end)
Scythe
Sickle
Martial Weapons
Handaxe
Small Axe
Medium Axe
Large Axe
Double Headed Axe
Battleaxe
Greataxe
Short sword
Broad Sword
Long Sword
Gladius
Greatsword
Staff
SHIELDS:
Buckler
Small Shield
Large Shield
Tower Shield
Tournament Shield
HELMS:
Leather Cap
Skull Cap
Half Helm
Full Helm
Plumed Full Helm
Armor:
Leather Rags
Salvaged Armor
Padded Armor
Tattered Leather Armor
Strong Leather Armor
Rusty Scale Vest (Scale referring to scale mail)
Scale Vest
Scale Half Suit
Scale Full Suit
Desintegrating Mail Vest
Mail Vest
Mail Half Suit
Mail Full Suit
The Weapons, helms and shields could have more names, for different qualitys, like the armor has. As well as all of those items, there is training to consider. At The Begginging of the game, only very cheap and ineffective instructors are available for hire, then, as you progress through the ranks, more trainers will become available for hire, as well as more advanced arts (like unarmed fighting, which increases your melee attack if your weapon breaks.) You can only take a training lesson once.Here Is a rough list of the trainers that could possibly be available(cost is not included):
Rank 1:
Weapon Tricks
+1 Weapon Skill
Body Building
+1 Strength
Target Practice
+1 Accuracy
Self Defense Training
+1 Armor Class
The Gauntlet
+1 Agility
Wrestling
+1 Toughness
Mind Training
+5 Wounds
Rank 2:
Body Training
+1 Strength
+1 Toughness
Hunting
+1 Agility
+1 Accuracy
Advanced Weapon Tricks
+1 Weapon Skill
+1 Armor Class
Galley Training
+5 Wounds
Rank 3:
Master Self Defence
+1 Armor Class
+1 Agility
+1 Toughness
Master Weapon Tricks
+1 Strength
+1 Weapon Skill
+1 Accuracy
Expert Body Building
+5 Wounds
Another way to pump up your gladiators stats would be to make him fight, and fight, and fight. The More enemies, and the more experienced his enemies, the more expreienced he will get. Each time he levels, he gets +1 to each stat, except wounds, which he gets +5. The Gladiators starting stats (when he turns up in the slave market) could be these stats (the dashes represent a spread, a chance range, if its 15-30, theres is a chance it will be 15,16,17,18 and so on up until 30.):
Strength 1-5
Weapon Skill 1-5
Accuracy 1-5
Armor Class 0
Agility 1-5
Toughness 1-5
Wounds 10-45
Now, off the statistics part for a small while, the graphics should be 3d possibly with individual graphics for each weapon, armor etc. And when a gladiator has an agility save, he dodges the weapon, when the gladiator has a armor class save, He block with a shield. In a shields absence he takes a hit, but doesn't flinch, and with the toughness save, he gets hit, staggers back for a bit, but recovers swiftly and continues fighting. This would make the fighting more realistic, and it would help the player identify the weaknesses of that certain gladiator. When the helm has an armor save, there is a 50% chance he gets clobbered on the head by the enemy, but He Recovers swiftly and continues fighting. he other 50%, when he doesn't get clobbered, its like a normal attack and the routine animation kicks in.
And as you rise up the ranks, the arena in the background gets bigger, more crowded, and more fancy, until eventually your gladiators fight in the huge colleseum in rome, with their fans goading them into a blood frenzy.
The money in the game should be handled like most games, if you win, you get money. The money is used to pay for armor, weapons, training, and buying gladiators. If you go into the negatives, you cannot buy anything until you have a positive budget again. If you go too far into the negatives, you go 'bankrupt' and lose the game. If your gladiators all die, and you cant afford another, you lose the game. The way you win is to get to the colleseum and become the top gladiator squad in the world (I dont really have much idea how they can become the best gladiator squad, yet.)
Before your gladiators enter battle, you should be able to choose an a.i for them , these a.i's should be 'target' a.i.'s, allowing your gladiator to target gladiators with certain statistics. Here Are some I think should be included:
Target strongest gladiator
Target Weakest Gladiator
Conserve Energy
Target Most Strength
Target Most Weapon Skill
Target Most Accuracy
Target Least Strength
Target Least Weapon Skill
Target Least Accuracy
Target Most Wounds
Target Least Wounds
Standard
Target Best Trained
Target Least Trained
These A.I's aren't all that controls the gladiator, if it was, the gladiators might end up running in a circle and not attacking each other. So, if the gladiator is engaged by another, he will fight him until 1 is defeated, then continue pursuing his goal. If the target is not caught within 1 minute (or So), it will switch to the standard a.i. and fight the nearest enemy.
A recordable battle function would also come in very handy.
Another idea is to also have ballistic weapons, but that i will leave until very last. Some weapons should be 2 handed, and others, 1 handed, and so, with 2 handed weapons you sacrifice the defense of a shield for more brute force. With dual wielding (like double short swords) the offhand weapon should get a negative from damage, so that the weilder isnt too powerful.
Multiplayer games shouldnt be too difficult to handle. Each player must start off with a new gladiator force, or use 1 from single player to combat other peoples forces. There are many different styles of battle that could be included, like deathmatch (choose a set rank for both players, have set amount of money, then both players buy gladiators, train them, etc. then have one big fight.), Imported Match (Teams from single player games duke it out in the arena.) or Free For All (anything goes, maximum number of force is allowed, unlimited cash, etc.).
The gladiators experience levels are measure in symbols, the first 5 are for regular troops, followed by the next 5 for skilled troops, then the final rank for talented ones. Like so:
* peasant
** recruit
*** soldier
**** warrior
***** veteran
# Crack Troop
## Elite Troop
### Hero
#### Legend
##### Myth
#(*****)# Godly
Gladiators come in different types, although you dont know until you buy them, a gladiator could be either normal, skilled or talented, normal can be promoted the first five, skill the next five, and talented to godly status. They achieve ranks by slaying a gladiator of higher rank.Of course, killing gladiators of lower rank counts as well, but you must kill as many up to your rank, and then one more, and example is if one of your gladiators was an elite troop, then he must kill 2 crack troops to gain a rank, or 4 veterans, 8 warriors, 16 soldiers, 32 recruits or 64 peasants. He may also kill a person of his own rank to gain a rank. Anyone above his rank that he kills, he only gains one rank for. Ranks give your gladiator more fighting skills, longer survival times when limbs a severed, stronger beserk attacks, and a better reputation.
Storyline:
Now, with some thought, there could be many different storylines. One possibility takes a page from the movie Gladiator, by making you a commander who was captured, but you earnt your way to retirement. You start you own gladiator clan in the hopes of once again chalenging your arch rival in the arena. Prior to you becoming a trainer, you had a battle with a man who was your equal, and it ended in you on the ground, with the axe over your head, luckily the crowd gave you the benefit for the reputation you deserved. You vowed that one day, you will have your revenge, and defeat him. And so, the scene is set, you know who your final boss is, and it leaves room for maybe a surprise at the end (you entering the ring and fighting in first person or something.)
Another could have you as a young entrepeneur (how do you spell it?), new to the business. Not to much of a storyline, but some addictive games, i.e. simcity, runescape have been made with little or no storyline.
Traps:
When you get to the advanced levels, perhaps you could have traps in the arena? like an underground lion cage, or pitholes,etc. It could add a lot of exitement to the game. Also reputation wouldnt matter too much, considering that tigers have little respect for ranking systems.
