SIM/RPG fun?

Well, obvious choice is a relationship building sim - caveman dating sim is a pretty unique idea. But other than that, give them each problems that they are emotional about and let the PC fix the problems, preferably in some way which requires several steps of talking to other NPCs and crafting.

The stone age is one of my favorite themes. It's the perfect environment to have a main quest that amounts to little more than survival. It's a pity that more games - or even movies - are not set in this time.

Your sim aspect could be about keeping yourself and your cave clan alive. Hunting, fishing, trapping, finding water sources, finding good shelter, building up a simple technology tree, etc. Your RPG aspect could be about keeping everyone in line and happy, and interacting with scripted dialog events that build up a story.

I don't have any experience with text-based RPGs, though, so I'm really speaking in terms of graphical representation, menues, etc. I guess the same basic rules still apply.

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Original post by sunandshadow Well, obvious choice is a relationship building sim - caveman dating sim is a pretty unique idea.

According to The Quest For Fire, there wasn't much dialog envolved with relationships in those days. It was more along the lines of.. find a female, rape her from behind, then hope she enjoyed it. From the female's perspective, it's apparently even less interesting, and not interactive at all.

Pff, that bash-women-over-the-head version of cavemen was absurd. Supposedly bonobos are the most similar to primitive humans, and they give each other presents, trade favors, have their relatives get revenge for them, and cavewomen probably knew all about poison so they would have the additional option of trying to poison men who annoyed them.

They didn't bash women over the head in the movie. Or at least not the ones in their own clan. They just snuck up behind one and began the ritual.

I guess rape is a strong word for it, since the majority of the animal kingdom works that way. They didn't have access to roses and poetry. The only thing they had to offer was authority. The star female of the story did eventually fall in love with the quest leader (and him with her) after the "mating". But their relationship wasn't very complicated.

I suppose it would be absolutely essential to fast forward to at least a point where decent dialog existed, though, for a text-based RPG. Unless you want to use creative writing to describe situations, which is often more interesting than unintelligent speech.

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I don't have any experience with text-based RPGs, though, so I'm really speaking in terms of graphical representation, menues, etc. I guess the same basic rules still apply.

Remember that a text based RPG is the same as a 2-d or even 3-d one, but you need to imagine the visuals. Saying "Go to the pond" is the same as running there, but in words. The idea is that this game will be as complex as one with a GUI, but with words. (I might adapt it one day)

I think the dating sim has gone a little too far, but I kinda like the concept of making side-quests out of their issues. Also remember that it wont be 100% accurate historically.

"Clan of the Cave Bear" and other books by Jean Auel are great referrences for this sort of thing. I agree, however, that you need to engage the peeps some in order to build a relationship for the player.

Another issue is that, as more people die (or get very hungry), the others are going to be less willing to listen to you as a leader. Put in a rival that is all ready and willing to jump in and take over the clan.

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Original post by sunandshadow Pff, that bash-women-over-the-head version of cavemen was absurd. Supposedly bonobos are the most similar to primitive humans, and they give each other presents, trade favors, have their relatives get revenge for them, and cavewomen probably knew all about poison so they would have the additional option of trying to poison men who annoyed them.

Rediculously off-topic, but... bonobos also have this completely sexual mentality. When they meet other tribes, they simply have a big orgy amongst them, even all forms of homosexuality. Given that, I don't know if they are a good example of cave man love!