RIFTS Videogame?

[GBAnnihilator]

This may have been posted before but, I've collected and collaborated with my friends and family. We have found that most people anymore are hardcore videogame addicts who don't care much for board games.
The game should surround the Tolkeen Wars and the three cities; Tolkeen, Free Quebec and Chi-Town. This should make it easier than creating America, whilst still giving a good story and range of choices. The map area should be as large as Skyrim's, giving the player(s) a diverse land to explore. The actual war should be able to be seen even while not actively participating. The game should be adaptable to changes made by a player character. If say, a Techno-Wizard player character invented a powerful device and sold it to the Tolkeen military, it should change the war front, or even the conclusion.
The war gives COD players the FPS feel, while the surrounding environment gives that RPG feel. The players should also be able to create personalized characters with an in depth character generator as like in the Elder Scrolls games or the lesser known City of Heroes. Of course it would still have the same board game character creator (Alignments, etc). The choice to make a salesmen like character or super soldier would give the game an even more immersive atmosphere.
Giving the game an online ability would make it even the more immersive. Watchdogs for example; only a set amount of people can be on the same server. Have each person a separate server and keep the server capacity low, and it lowers the drag on the system. Making it so when people want to join a server they can either join the party or go neutral meaning they are unaligned and can kill NPC's and PC's (It works the other way around too, obviously) depending on their characters personal alignment and/or they can just free-roam. PC's should not be able to kill each other - unless neutral or of other faction - within safe zones, such as towns or cities. Players should also be able to turn on and off the online feature (as in Fable).
I know that Palladium doesn't have a great budget, so I think that a Kick Starter and/or funding from a large RPG studio could help. I know that if this game ever does get out in the public it will catch like fire!

[psam_rage]

Been done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifts:_Promise_of_Power

To be fair I would love to see a PC adaptation or a new game, since you know the N-Gage is pretty much dead.
But yeah Rifts run like Fallout 1 or 2 it looks AWESOME, but it is next to impossible to find both an N-Gage and the game.

[GBAnnihilator]

Been done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifts:_Promise_of_Power

To be fair I would love to see a PC adaptation or a new game, since you know the N-Gage is pretty much dead.
But yeah Rifts run like Fallout 1 or 2 it looks AWESOME, but it is next to impossible to find both an N-Gage and the game.

That game is ancient and horrible, which is why a revamp is in order!

[Killer Cyborg]

There should be a Rifts video game, but Palladium can't do a heck of a lot about it unless a video game company wants to make one.

[Crow Splat]

I think the more likely scenario would be a game coming from the modding community like Day Z did. Rifts just doesn't have the presence among video gamers for a studio to pick it up.

If someone were to make a quality mod and build up some interest, basically prove that video gamers like it, then maybe a studio would pick it up.

[dragonfett]

I feel that if any game studio were to tackle Rifts, Bethesda would be the best. They have already made two outstanding series of games (one wholly original, one whose license they acquired) that already have elements of Rifts, Fallout and The Elder Scrolls.

I don't know if centering a game's plot around Siege of Tolkeen would be wise. I have seen a lot of people with mixed emotions about it. A wholly original plot line I feel would be best.

[Morik]

I'd really like it if Harebrained Schemes made a turn based one.

[Crow Splat]

I feel that if any game studio were to tackle Rifts, Bethesda would be the best. They have already made two outstanding series of games (one wholly original, one whose license they acquired) that already have elements of Rifts, Fallout and The Elder Scrolls.

I don't know if centering a game's plot around Siege of Tolkeen would be wise. I have seen a lot of people with mixed emotions about it. A wholly original plot line I feel would be best.

I disagree. Bethesda is too mainstream. I would not want Rifts to be subject to the treatment Fallout got from them. Namely toning down the more mature themes of the game to get a better ESRB rating.

Now Fallout 4 being heavily modded by a third party is something I would be wiling to support.

[Mack]

The question is not "should Palladium develop a Rifts video game?" The question is "what video game developer is willing to produce a Rifts game?"

If we want to see a Rifts video game, then we need to lobby that industry.

[Tor]

I'd just pitch the concept to one of those companies who run one of the free2play models where they make money by allowing people to purchase locked gear or classes and get advantages in the game, like Perfect World Online or Tribes Ascend or Gunz2. I could enjoy the Palladium Megaverse in one of those kinds of layouts.

[Killer Cyborg]

I would love to see a decent Rifts Tower Defense game.

[Tor]

Just make Starsiege TRibes and its bioderm a dimension book and in turn adapt it as a custom play mode on Ascend

[TheGeneralCube]

so I think that a Kick Starter and/or funding from a large RPG studio could help.

Actually, I think this is the only way it would ever get made. With the recent problems that Palladium has been having, the only way to go is to get the fans involved. I would just make sure that those who donated get like free access to locked gear or select OCC/RCC's.

I know that if this game ever does get out in the public it will catch like fire!

Yep, totally agree with you there.

-GC

[rem1093]

I would try to get Square or Bioware to do it. They have both created games in similar setting as Rifts. ( exp. square with the Final Fantasy games). The only problem I see is that hole thing with the Rifts MMO.

[GBAnnihilator]

If we don't want mainstream then we need to have Palladium make a Kickstarter to support their DayZ like mod game. Which would be a testbed to send to the people they want to make it into a full platform or PC game. If the game doesn't get picked up, Palladium could just send copies to those who backed the project.

[Crow Splat]

Why ask for money at all? Unless they have an ace up their sleeve like a Chris Roberts level producer willing to take it on, a Kickstarter would never get enough money. Or you would need an independently wealthy person or group to pour tons of money into a regular developer.

The likely scenario would be an individual or group that is dedicated enough to produce a free mod to an existing game. If it were good enough to be turned into a standalone game and work out a deal with Palladium for the rights, then it would likely get more funding through Kickstarter or investors.

[FatherMorpheus]

Currently the cost to produce video games ranges from the Indie side of $50,000 to $10,000,000 on the major release side of things.

On the Indie game side, you have one or two people putting in thousands of hours to develop a simple game concept. For example, Sixty Second Shooter or Runner 2. Or on the other side you have any major release (pick one, Call of Duty <insert version), Grand Theft: Banana, or whatever) can take hundreds of people working 3 to 5 years to get everything mostly right. And these are for standalone games, the cost to develop MMOs can be even more just for development. Let alone to support and expand upon it for years to come.

The idea behind a Rifts Video game is awesome. I would love to see Promise of Power released on Android (or something else). BUT the problem is the cost.

For a successful kickstarter, someone would need to be 85% to 90% done with the game to show the demo. Then try to get a kick starter for millions to finish and pay all the bills they stacked up getting to that point.

On the other hand, if someone was to take something like the Arma 2 (DayZ) and build their own mods. That might be fun enough to play for a while, but that takes us back to the one or two people putting in thousands of hours on their own to support it.

I'm sure Promise of Power cost a fortune and didn't come close to making its money back. With luck, Palladium just sold the licence and didn't have to fork out cash for it.

[psam_rage]

What? You mean something like making a game called Megaverse, start the game out with the Rifts: North America module (other locations such as Phase World or England would be temporarily limited). Then as you release expansions/Major patch updates (like sto seasons) you add more Location based modules (Rifts: Vampire Kingdoms, Phase World, Rifts: Japan, Palladium Fantasy: Byzantium)

Ambitious but I expect anyone that tried would **** can 98% of the classes and probably ham fist mages and psionic to use magic orbs instead of guns. And of course deny glitterboys or make them stupidly weak. (I am of-course referring to the ABOMINATION that is what Neverwinter did to D&D, I want my Archer Fighter, Sword and Board Cleric, or Shield wielding eldritch blast slinging warlocks!)

All in all, no palladium wouldn't do well as a generic MMO. It lacks the innate balance (and consistancy).

[Q99]

Been done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifts:_Promise_of_Power

To be fair I would love to see a PC adaptation or a new game, since you know the N-Gage is pretty much dead.
But yeah Rifts run like Fallout 1 or 2 it looks AWESOME, but it is next to impossible to find both an N-Gage and the game.

That game is ancient and horrible, which is why a revamp is in order!

Is the game itself bad, or just the N-Gage thing?

[Kagashi]

A facebook, "free to play, pay to win" game is not that cosmic to make or maintain.

People would try it just because its a game on facebook. It would reach out to millions of people who either think Rifts is some other game without the "s", or has no idea what Rifts or Palladium is anyway. Its free advertising. That is the real benefit. Trying to make money on this is possible, but its really meant to spread word beyond the 40 or so people who post regularly on these boards.

They play it, they like it...they check out the website to see the genesis of Rifts and Palladium and start ordering books...they see a trailer for a movie about a theme they are already familiar with, they go watch the movie...

The game concept itself is easy. You log in, and make a character. Earn skills through XP (or "Palladium Points" you buy with real money). When you make a character, your friends whom also play the game are able to use your character in their party as they do their own adventures (promotes the spread of the game as people ask their friends to play).

Make the home screen your base, where you are a merc company and you assign each character to jobs or an adventuring party based on the skills/abilities you give them. When you go to adventure, you leave "Merctown" and complete quests. There would be a "battlefield" as well, where you can PvP. There would be a city center where you can buy and sell gear, visit the magic shop, get eclips recharged, sell items to other players on the Black Market, etc...

Combat would be a command based mechanic where both players issue commands to each party member (in quests, the computer does it for NPCs), when both players are finished, they click "execute" and combat is resolved based on the inputs of the players. It can either be text or have some sort of graphical interface (the latter would be more appealing to modern gamers).

At the end of quests or PvP, you earn XP, which you assign to exiting or new abilities on a skill/abilities tree. You go to the shop and pawn your loot, spend in game credits, equip your characters. Send damaged characters to the Body Fixer, damaged gear to the Operator, etc...

I also see things based on a time token system, where you earn time tokens whether you are online or not. You spend certain values of time tokens to do certain things which determines how long a character back at home base needs to spend healing at the Body Fixer, etc... It also limits just how long a player can spend trying to complete a quest. If the player runs out of time tokens, the player either has to come back after a few hours (creating a need to want to continually come back) or break out the checkbook and purchase more time tokens with Palladium Points.

But the end result is, even if somebody sees this on Facebook and tries it for a few days, they will be educated on what the concept of Rifts even is. It may spark interest for future endeavors like a TV show or the much talked about and forever stalled movie. Heck, if JB sees that a game like this gets a bunch of hits...interest from the studio to make the movie might get more steam...

[GBAnnihilator]

A facebook, "free to play, pay to win" game is not that cosmic to make or maintain.

People would try it just because its a game on facebook. It would reach out to millions of people who either think Rifts is some other game without the "s", or has no idea what Rifts or Palladium is anyway. Its free advertising. That is the real benefit. Trying to make money on this is possible, but its really meant to spread word beyond the 40 or so people who post regularly on these boards.

They play it, they like it...they check out the website to see the genesis of Rifts and Palladium and start ordering books...they see a trailer for a movie about a theme they are already familiar with, they go watch the movie...

The game concept itself is easy. You log in, and make a character. Earn skills through XP (or "Palladium Points" you buy with real money). When you make a character, your friends whom also play the game are able to use your character in their party as they do their own adventures (promotes the spread of the game as people ask their friends to play).

Make the home screen your base, where you are a merc company and you assign each character to jobs or an adventuring party based on the skills/abilities you give them. When you go to adventure, you leave "Merctown" and complete quests. There would be a "battlefield" as well, where you can PvP. There would be a city center where you can buy and sell gear, visit the magic shop, get eclips recharged, sell items to other players on the Black Market, etc...

Combat would be a command based mechanic where both players issue commands to each party member (in quests, the computer does it for NPCs), when both players are finished, they click "execute" and combat is resolved based on the inputs of the players. It can either be text or have some sort of graphical interface (the latter would be more appealing to modern gamers).

At the end of quests or PvP, you earn XP, which you assign to exiting or new abilities on a skill/abilities tree. You go to the shop and pawn your loot, spend in game credits, equip your characters. Send damaged characters to the Body Fixer, damaged gear to the Operator, etc...

I also see things based on a time token system, where you earn time tokens whether you are online or not. You spend certain values of time tokens to do certain things which determines how long a character back at home base needs to spend healing at the Body Fixer, etc... It also limits just how long a player can spend trying to complete a quest. If the player runs out of time tokens, the player either has to come back after a few hours (creating a need to want to continually come back) or break out the checkbook and purchase more time tokens with Palladium Points.

But the end result is, even if somebody sees this on Facebook and tries it for a few days, they will be educated on what the concept of Rifts even is. It may spark interest for future endeavors like a TV show or the much talked about and forever stalled movie. Heck, if JB sees that a game like this gets a bunch of hits...interest from the studio to make the movie might get more steam...

That's exactly what I was thinking about! The game being a hit or not isn't the main point. It's the advertising that's needed! The people who I've told it to or seen my friends and I playing, say it looks fun but would rather play a video game version. I don't know how well the time token system would work. People I know (including myself) would rather like to go on for their leisure instead of thinking their forced to by the time token system. Though, I don't recall playing a game with one, so I can't really say it's a bad idea until I've tried it.

[Crow Splat]

That's great in theory, but in reality, an unknown ip in the video game world that makes a less than mediocre Facebook game, doesn't get a quality game later on. It goes in the trash.

It's also about brand management for Palladium. They can't afford to have one of their premier IPs being associated with a crap game. You may get a small bump in book sales short term but Rifts would earn a reputation for being a crap Facebook game and not an awesome RPG.

From a business standpoint, the only scenario that would end well for everyone involved is a small group of independent developers coming up with something free and licensing when they start selling, similar to Day Z.

[Killer Cyborg]

That's great in theory, but in reality, an unknown ip in the video game world that makes a less than mediocre Facebook game, doesn't get a quality game later on. It goes in the trash.

It's also about brand management for Palladium. They can't afford to have one of their premier IPs being associated with a crap game. You may get a small bump in book sales short term but Rifts would earn a reputation for being a crap Facebook game and not an awesome RPG.

From a business standpoint, the only scenario that would end well for everyone involved is a small group of independent developers coming up with something free and licensing when they start selling, similar to Day Z.

Sounds like you never saw the D&D Atari game.
Or the movies.

[Kagashi]

I don't know how well the time token system would work. People I know (including myself) would rather like to go on for their leisure instead of thinking their forced to by the time token system. Though, I don't recall playing a game with one, so I can't really say it's a bad idea until I've tried it.

Thats exactly what the time token system does. Whether or not you are online or not, you earn say, 1 token for every 1 minute of real time. You log on 30 minutes later, you have more 30 tokens to spend on actions the next time you play.

The idea would be, you might have a guy healing in Body Fixer's office and it is going to take him 800 tokens to be fully healed. At the same time, the character you have working on repairing a suit of armor in the Operators room takes 300 tokens before he is finished with that job in the queue. Second in the queue, he has another suit of armor which will end up taking 2000 tokens to finish.

Meanwhile, your adventure party sets out, and you travel to the next town. The computer tells you it will take 500 tokens for your party to reach the next town, and you click "okay". The party arrives at the next town, that guy healing only has 300 more time tokens worth of time to go, and the Operator has finished the first suit of armor and is 1800 tokens left to finish the next.

Then dang, you realize you dont have any more tokens left. Guess youll have to wait, or spend cash for Palladium Points to buy more Time Tokens. You log off and watch Avengers for 2 hours and log back in, magically, you have 120 more time tokens to play with and the adventure continues.

In the next town you are faced with a gang of ogres (which happens to be the 500k credit quest you were sent to accomplish). You chose to attack them. In the combat screen, you direct what and where you want your party to go in the battle screen. You hit enter, which costs 1 time token. Combat is resolved and you beat the ogres! Meanwhile, that guy in the hospital still have 299 more time tokens worth of time to go and the suit of armor has 1799 more time tokens to go and have 119 tokens remaining to be spent.

You physically go to bed (since you have been up all night playing Facebook games). Wake up 8 hours later and immediately go back to playing the game. Low and behold, you have an additional 480 time tokens for a total of 599 tokens. You head back to MercTown for 500 tokens. Meanwhile, back in the Body Fixer's office, that character you had healing is completely healed and is ready for the adventure party to come back and you can include him again, and that second suit of body armor has 1299 more tokens to go before you can use it again.

You go to you home base within MercTown and start moving things around, placing that extra guy back into your adventure party, then going back to the Job Market Cafe to collect the bounty on the job, which costs 10 tokens. That suit of armor now has 1289 tokens to go...etc...

Basically, everything you do would cost a time token, and every time you spent a time token, everything requiring time to accomplish would move one time token closer to finishing. This could include the lifespan of a Juicer, the effects of a spell, how long a character needs to heal, how long a character needs to learn a new spell/acquire a new ability, how much MDC a bio-regenerating character heals with each time token spent, etc...

I would limit it to 1440 tokens. That way you have a maximum of 1 days worth of tokens to spend at any one time. That way, it encourages people to play at least once a day, which brings them back more often, which increases the chances of them wanting to spend cash to finish that job they have been waiting on...

[Chronicle]

R.T.S. or MMORTS would be nice.

[Killer Cyborg]

A facebook, "free to play, pay to win" game is not that cosmic to make or maintain.

People would try it just because its a game on facebook. It would reach out to millions of people who either think Rifts is some other game without the "s", or has no idea what Rifts or Palladium is anyway. Its free advertising. That is the real benefit. Trying to make money on this is possible, but its really meant to spread word beyond the 40 or so people who post regularly on these boards.

They play it, they like it...they check out the website to see the genesis of Rifts and Palladium and start ordering books...they see a trailer for a movie about a theme they are already familiar with, they go watch the movie...

The game concept itself is easy. You log in, and make a character. Earn skills through XP (or "Palladium Points" you buy with real money). When you make a character, your friends whom also play the game are able to use your character in their party as they do their own adventures (promotes the spread of the game as people ask their friends to play).

Make the home screen your base, where you are a merc company and you assign each character to jobs or an adventuring party based on the skills/abilities you give them. When you go to adventure, you leave "Merctown" and complete quests. There would be a "battlefield" as well, where you can PvP. There would be a city center where you can buy and sell gear, visit the magic shop, get eclips recharged, sell items to other players on the Black Market, etc...

Combat would be a command based mechanic where both players issue commands to each party member (in quests, the computer does it for NPCs), when both players are finished, they click "execute" and combat is resolved based on the inputs of the players. It can either be text or have some sort of graphical interface (the latter would be more appealing to modern gamers).

At the end of quests or PvP, you earn XP, which you assign to exiting or new abilities on a skill/abilities tree. You go to the shop and pawn your loot, spend in game credits, equip your characters. Send damaged characters to the Body Fixer, damaged gear to the Operator, etc...

I also see things based on a time token system, where you earn time tokens whether you are online or not. You spend certain values of time tokens to do certain things which determines how long a character back at home base needs to spend healing at the Body Fixer, etc... It also limits just how long a player can spend trying to complete a quest. If the player runs out of time tokens, the player either has to come back after a few hours (creating a need to want to continually come back) or break out the checkbook and purchase more time tokens with Palladium Points.

But the end result is, even if somebody sees this on Facebook and tries it for a few days, they will be educated on what the concept of Rifts even is. It may spark interest for future endeavors like a TV show or the much talked about and forever stalled movie. Heck, if JB sees that a game like this gets a bunch of hits...interest from the studio to make the movie might get more steam...

That's exactly what I was thinking about! The game being a hit or not isn't the main point. It's the advertising that's needed! The people who I've told it to or seen my friends and I playing, say it looks fun but would rather play a video game version. I don't know how well the time token system would work. People I know (including myself) would rather like to go on for their leisure instead of thinking their forced to by the time token system. Though, I don't recall playing a game with one, so I can't really say it's a bad idea until I've tried it.

It would become the point, though.
People STILL wail and moan and cry about the N-Gauge game, blaming a game that most people don't even know existed for Palladium's current lack of popularity.
Launch a crappy FB game, and history indicates that people would talk trash and whinge on about it for quite literally a decade or more.
Granted, people are going to wail and moan about anything and everything that Palladium does or does not do... but I don't think that a crappy or generic FB game would really help. Exposing new people to Rifts won't do much good if it's a crappy or generic experience, and most pay-to-win FB games are either/or/both crappy and generic.
Not that I'm against a FB game... I just think that they should aim for something solid that will gain followers.

[Kagashi]

The problem with that game was not the game, it was the incompatible device. I never had the chance to even try the game out.

A FB game would be tried by all. and just because it is free to play does not mean it would be a bad experience. Look at Kabam's Kingdoms of Camelot.

[Crow Splat]

That's great in theory, but in reality, an unknown ip in the video game world that makes a less than mediocre Facebook game, doesn't get a quality game later on. It goes in the trash.

It's also about brand management for Palladium. They can't afford to have one of their premier IPs being associated with a crap game. You may get a small bump in book sales short term but Rifts would earn a reputation for being a crap Facebook game and not an awesome RPG.

From a business standpoint, the only scenario that would end well for everyone involved is a small group of independent developers coming up with something free and licensing when they start selling, similar to Day Z.

Sounds like you never saw the D&D Atari game.
Or the movies.

No I saw them.. the atari games were made before video games were as mainstream as they are today and the movies were made after d&d was pretty much a household name. Hell my parents knew about it just so they could tell me it was evil and not to play it.

Rifts has no such luxury.. It needs a quality game if any game is made. Not a super huge CoD level hit, but a solid success with longevity. You know the more I think about it, a fallout 1 or 2 mod would be pretty cool.

[Killer Cyborg]

That's great in theory, but in reality, an unknown ip in the video game world that makes a less than mediocre Facebook game, doesn't get a quality game later on. It goes in the trash.

It's also about brand management for Palladium. They can't afford to have one of their premier IPs being associated with a crap game. You may get a small bump in book sales short term but Rifts would earn a reputation for being a crap Facebook game and not an awesome RPG.

From a business standpoint, the only scenario that would end well for everyone involved is a small group of independent developers coming up with something free and licensing when they start selling, similar to Day Z.

Sounds like you never saw the D&D Atari game.
Or the movies.

No I saw them.. the atari games were made before video games were as mainstream as they are today and the movies were made after d&d was pretty much a household name. Hell my parents knew about it just so they could tell me it was evil and not to play it.

OR one-time video-game/movie quality isn't as much of deal as people think for RPGs

Rifts has no such luxury.. It needs a quality game if any game is made. Not a super huge CoD level hit, but a solid success with longevity. You know the more I think about it, a fallout 1 or 2 mod would be pretty cool.

If they could release Promise of Power as an app or flash game, that'd be good enough.
Sure, a great game that people play for decades would be nice, but so would winning the lotto.

[GBAnnihilator]

That's great in theory, but in reality, an unknown ip in the video game world that makes a less than mediocre Facebook game, doesn't get a quality game later on. It goes in the trash.

It's also about brand management for Palladium. They can't afford to have one of their premier IPs being associated with a crap game. You may get a small bump in book sales short term but Rifts would earn a reputation for being a crap Facebook game and not an awesome RPG.

From a business standpoint, the only scenario that would end well for everyone involved is a small group of independent developers coming up with something free and licensing when they start selling, similar to Day Z.

Sounds like you never saw the D&D Atari game.
Or the movies.

No I saw them.. the atari games were made before video games were as mainstream as they are today and the movies were made after d&d was pretty much a household name. Hell my parents knew about it just so they could tell me it was evil and not to play it.

OR one-time video-game/movie quality isn't as much of deal as people think for RPGs

Rifts has no such luxury.. It needs a quality game if any game is made. Not a super huge CoD level hit, but a solid success with longevity. You know the more I think about it, a fallout 1 or 2 mod would be pretty cool.

If they could release Promise of Power as an app or flash game, that'd be good enough.
Sure, a great game that people play for decades would be nice, but so would winning the lotto.

None of the D&D games or movies were amazing! They were at best decent, but that's all they needed to be. It got them out their where people could watch or play them, so they weren't being judged by word of mouth. I have a couple of the games and movies myself. They're not the best but enjoyable, I even play or watch them again from time to time. That's what a RIFTS game should be, enjoyable.

[GBAnnihilator]

I don't know how well the time token system would work. People I know (including myself) would rather like to go on for their leisure instead of thinking their forced to by the time token system. Though, I don't recall playing a game with one, so I can't really say it's a bad idea until I've tried it.

Thats exactly what the time token system does. Whether or not you are online or not, you earn say, 1 token for every 1 minute of real time. You log on 30 minutes later, you have more 30 tokens to spend on actions the next time you play.

The idea would be, you might have a guy healing in Body Fixer's office and it is going to take him 800 tokens to be fully healed. At the same time, the character you have working on repairing a suit of armor in the Operators room takes 300 tokens before he is finished with that job in the queue. Second in the queue, he has another suit of armor which will end up taking 2000 tokens to finish.

Meanwhile, your adventure party sets out, and you travel to the next town. The computer tells you it will take 500 tokens for your party to reach the next town, and you click "okay". The party arrives at the next town, that guy healing only has 300 more time tokens worth of time to go, and the Operator has finished the first suit of armor and is 1800 tokens left to finish the next.

Then dang, you realize you dont have any more tokens left. Guess youll have to wait, or spend cash for Palladium Points to buy more Time Tokens. You log off and watch Avengers for 2 hours and log back in, magically, you have 120 more time tokens to play with and the adventure continues.

In the next town you are faced with a gang of ogres (which happens to be the 500k credit quest you were sent to accomplish). You chose to attack them. In the combat screen, you direct what and where you want your party to go in the battle screen. You hit enter, which costs 1 time token. Combat is resolved and you beat the ogres! Meanwhile, that guy in the hospital still have 299 more time tokens worth of time to go and the suit of armor has 1799 more time tokens to go and have 119 tokens remaining to be spent.

You physically go to bed (since you have been up all night playing Facebook games). Wake up 8 hours later and immediately go back to playing the game. Low and behold, you have an additional 480 time tokens for a total of 599 tokens. You head back to MercTown for 500 tokens. Meanwhile, back in the Body Fixer's office, that character you had healing is completely healed and is ready for the adventure party to come back and you can include him again, and that second suit of body armor has 1299 more tokens to go before you can use it again.

You go to you home base within MercTown and start moving things around, placing that extra guy back into your adventure party, then going back to the Job Market Cafe to collect the bounty on the job, which costs 10 tokens. That suit of armor now has 1289 tokens to go...etc...

Basically, everything you do would cost a time token, and every time you spent a time token, everything requiring time to accomplish would move one time token closer to finishing. This could include the lifespan of a Juicer, the effects of a spell, how long a character needs to heal, how long a character needs to learn a new spell/acquire a new ability, how much MDC a bio-regenerating character heals with each time token spent, etc...

I would limit it to 1440 tokens. That way you have a maximum of 1 days worth of tokens to spend at any one time. That way, it encourages people to play at least once a day, which brings them back more often, which increases the chances of them wanting to spend cash to finish that job they have been waiting on...

OK, now I think I understand. I would actually like to play this to try it out, doesn't sound bad. I also like your slightly turn-based battle system. If RIFTS were a turn-based this's what I would rather play, if I'm understanding you correctly.
The battle scene freezes (not with each player lined up in-front of each other - that's not real battle). Each player tells their character(s) where to go what to do. The computer does the same for the enemy (dodge, parry, etc). Once everyone clicks enter (or whichever button) the battle scene unfreezes until the next turn or all enemies are dead.

[Chronicle]

Not a fan of pay to win type games

[Kagashi]

Not a fan of pay to win type games

Isnt that what the Rifts RPG is anyway? You read online about the juicy tech in WB 45 and you guy out and buy it so you can use it in your game. Same concept here. I envision more adventures and quests than PvP, but Id still have it in there.

[Zer0 Kay]

THQ in the line of Dawn of War One with the developing add on/sequels... Oh wait, their extinct. But the style would be good, like world books and it would even allow players in multiplayer to buy the add ons they like and still be able to fight their friends who didn't buy them.

[Killer Cyborg]

Not a fan of pay to win type games

Isnt that what the Rifts RPG is anyway? You read online about the juicy tech in WB 45 and you guy out and buy it so you can use it in your game. Same concept here. I envision more adventures and quests than PvP, but Id still have it in there.

Not for me.

[Tor]

Perhaps different mini-games for android/facebook would be good. I have seen this where they have benefits to each other, like completing a quest on 1 format of game gives you benefits or items in another (like farmville vs castleville)

Dozens (hundreds?) of these use the time-based building/resource stuff, you could do that easily with a spin on various communities in the Megaverse. Some of these also include tie-in turn-based adventure combat which would also be simple.

I think the key thing is to just pitch the idea to a game designer and give them some art to incorporate and ask for a percentage and they will.

Even with 0% as people have pointed out, it is great advertising alone.

[Zer0 Kay]

Perhaps different mini-games for android/facebook would be good. I have seen this where they have benefits to each other, like completing a quest on 1 format of game gives you benefits or items in another (like farmville vs castleville)

Dozens (hundreds?) of these use the time-based building/resource stuff, you could do that easily with a spin on various communities in the Megaverse. Some of these also include tie-in turn-based adventure combat which would also be simple.

I think the key thing is to just pitch the idea to a game designer and give them some art to incorporate and ask for a percentage and they will.

Even with 0% as people have pointed out, it is great advertising alone.

I think those suck. maybe as adverts they'd be good, but as a way to get the feel of the game across... Riftsville just won't cut it nor will Rifts Crush Saga.

[Tor]

Cruddy games can still START to get the feel across. Doesn't mean they have to be the penultimate video game. Look how many wrestling/marvel/DC games that're out there.

[Zer0 Kay]

Cruddy games can still START to get the feel across. Doesn't mean they have to be the penultimate video game. Look how many wrestling/marvel/DC games that're out there.

And look how many wrestling/marvel/DC games **** fans off and make people not take it seriously. "Oh. Your into 'that stuff,' your so childish." The first game should be of such where it gets the non-fan to think... "This is freaking cool, I'm gonna go out and buy a copy now." Of course if they live in King County, WA then they'll go to a store and find out, no one sells it and will have to order it on line.

[Crow Splat]

Cruddy games can still START to get the feel across. Doesn't mean they have to be the penultimate video game. Look how many wrestling/marvel/DC games that're out there.

And look how many wrestling/marvel/DC games **** fans off and make people not take it seriously. "Oh. Your into 'that stuff,' your so childish." The first game should be of such where it gets the non-fan to think... "This is freaking cool, I'm gonna go out and buy a copy now." Of course if they live in King County, WA then they'll go to a store and find out, no one sells it and will have to order it on line.

This suns it up for me. The first Rifts game needs to be a quality game. It doesn't have to win Game of the Year or anything but it needs to be solid and convey all the best parts of Rifts.

Ultimately, Rifts is a niche game that you want to draw people to. A bad game does the opposite of that.

Imagine if you had never had a hamburger and the first one you ever tasted, tasted like butt. You might think you hate hamburgers but there are millions of people out there who say they're good, so you might have second thoughts and give hamburgers another try.

Now imagine you have never tried rocky mountain oysters. The first ones you try taste terrible. Now there aren't very many people around who say they're good or can even say they have ever tried them so you probably will think that is what they are supposed to taste like and never try them again.

The hamburger analogy would work for d&d, marvel, or whatever established property you want where the rocky mountain oysters would be Rifts.

[Tor]

We've already had a first Rifts game, cat's out of the bag, kinda bombed.

A bad Facebook game is not going to harm anything. The idea that people would recognize the name (even if negatively) is actually a good thing, because it means people are talking about it.

Is anyone thinking that the simplicity of the original Donkey Kong is somehow a detraction from the awesome Donkey Kong Country?

[Kagashi]

A facebook game does not have to be bad...

[psam_rage]

A facebook game does not have to be bad...

Except that they usually are subpar.

[Tor]

Probably has something to do with relying on ads or rare item-buying (which I think most avoid) and being unable to hire good programmers who get snatched up by better companies. Still, it would raise awareness of the memes in RIFTS or other games and generate interest in a better game being designed.

[Nox Equites]

An RTS can deal with the unbalanced nature of the the RPG. Treat it like Dawn of War and none of the sides are really good or bad.

[Chronicle]

Not a fan of pay to win type games

Isnt that what the Rifts RPG is anyway? You read online about the juicy tech in WB 45 and you guy out and buy it so you can use it in your game. Same concept here. I envision more adventures and quests than PvP, but Id still have it in there.

To me that would be closer related to an expansion or content patch for mmo or other games. Kinda like a DLC

[Zer0 Kay]

An RTS can deal with the unbalanced nature of the the RPG. Treat it like Dawn of War and none of the sides are really good or bad.

Yup, said that already. Too bad THQ is gone, not that they'd show interest.

[Zer0 Kay]

Not a fan of pay to win type games

Isnt that what the Rifts RPG is anyway? You read online about the juicy tech in WB 45 and you guy out and buy it so you can use it in your game. Same concept here. I envision more adventures and quests than PvP, but Id still have it in there.

To me that would be closer related to an expansion or content patch for mmo or other games. Kinda like a DLC

Yup, like the way THQ was doing the first DoW where in order to play again someone with x faction you didn't need to buy the add on but the person who wanted to play the faction did have to buy it.

[drewkitty ~..~]

No, PB should not itself create a video game. Nor Hire someone to.

If some game company wants to license the Rifts setting for a video game...sure, fine, whatever.

[Zer0 Kay]

No, PB should not itself create a video game. Nor Hire someone to.

If some game company wants to license the Rifts setting for a video game...sure, fine, whatever.

Best option. (stamp)