The RPG Academy - for titanhex - mods this is okay

[+ Titanhex 284]

I know I said I was waiting to see Infinity Thief make the sub-idea work, but I think waiting for that could be better spent in discussion. After all, if the user base tests it just to find it's impossible via the admin capabilities it could be a lot of effort lost.

I'm not sure who here is aware of the RPG Academy or how it works, so it may be safe to explain it in depth.
 

I. What is it?

RPG Academy is an idea I've had for several years now. A long time ago I use to tune-in to Academy of Heroes, a DeviantArt group dedicated to improving people's artwork through practice, by giving them reasons to practice. The setting was an Academy, much like Hogwarts from Harry Potter. A friend of mine was in it.

(This group has become so popular it actually appears above Stan Lee's Academy of Heroes in search engines)

What made it so unique is it was entertainment driven. It was like the artists were breathing life into their character, drawing what happened to them, and creating scenes from their perspective. Because of this people from outside could watch it all unfold and feel close to each character, much like watching a television show.

I was going to create a game about my friends character, and that's when it hit me. People can do the same thing through RPG Maker! There, RPG Academy was a twinkle in my eye. This was 4 years ago, and until recently I haven't really pushed the idea.

So what exactly is RPG Academy? RPG Academy is an entertainment driven idea that says when people create video games about their and other people's characters, they find reason to practice. It's like putting on a play through RPG Maker, and that sensation motivates people to make games. The best part is, you won't be doing it alone. You'll be doing it for pride and your fellow students!

As well, it has the potential to hook others just watching, and make them feel attached to characters and entertained by people's games. It even has the potential to capture an audience outside of developers.
 

II. How does it work?

Before I begin, allow me to lay out some concepts that are unique to the Academy. This will help you understand the breakdown of participating in the Academy.
 

A. Terms

Houses: Before you start taking classes, you are admitted into a house of your choosing. This is a mandatory thing, and a student cannot join under no house affiliation. Houses are expected to work together in the interest of the Academy and one another, and live together under a single roof.

Points: Points are accumulated by houses. As each person completes an assignment, game, event, or creates a resource all via the Academy, they earn points for their house. At the end of a semester the points are tallied up and reset, and an award is given.

Event Board: The Event Board is a place that lists ways students can participate for house points. They typically come in the form of resource creation. However some may be story driven, and involve showing participation in an event via making a game.
 

B. Breaking down the Experience

1. Student

As a student you download the Enrollment form. On this form you put down your sprite-sheet, character name, gender, age, house* and bio.

*A house is simply an affiliation, sort of like a fraternity or sorority, though more like the houses in Harry Potter as they're mandatory.

There's also an optional form, where you can put your character's face graphic, beginning stats, strengths and weaknesses, elements, etc.

You then submit your forms, and if everything works out in your favor you're admitted into the Academy.

You check into your house. While the forum details need working out, I imagine there will be multiple subforums under the Academy. One for each house's activities, a classroom subforum, and an Event subforum.

Checking into your house means posting in the introduction thread of your house and picking up the intro package. The intro package will contain a game you can build on that has the general areas of the house commons mapped out.

Now you're ready to go. You've met your fellow house-mates, and can do a whole moving in spiel with your character meeting other characters or whatever else you want as you await orientation.

Orientation is a game you download that explains the Academy both in character, as the headmaster, and out of character, through a narrative. Rules are gone over, layout explained, where you need to go, etc. etc.

After Day 1 of orientation a few things will pop up on the Event Board. These events are meant to help students participate, have fun, and show their pride. Each event awards "House Points" on completion. At the end of the semester, House Points are tallied up and a winner is declared. Prizes are awarded in various forms. (Like a banner or gold star or somethin')

Events could be "Create your room decor", "Show off your first day getting used to your new mates", "Create a theme-song" and "Create your own school uniform" to give examples. These don't have to be games, they can be creating sprites or tilesets, music, sounds, visual novels, drawings, or any other part of the game development process.

They can also be full blown games, like find the headmaster's lost pet, or explore the northern forest for spider eggs.

They can even be Events thought up by the Academy staff, like a dance, or a big story-driven quest about the Academy itself.

These aren't the only way the Houses can earn points though. Lets say there's a roleplay thread in your house forum where you and your buddy are baking a giant cake for ships and goggles. (tehe, censorship) Suddenly it turns into a huge fiasco and the cake comes alive! You decide to turn this into a whole game from your character's perspective. You'll earn some points for it.

The big part of it though is the classrooms.  The classroom will issue as many assignments as it sees fit. Classrooms assignments are the bare minimum you have to do to stay in the Academy. So long as you submit your assignments for the classroom you won't be kicked out of the Academy.

So obviously a ton of interaction is happening and people are getting acquainted and spending time together, yadda yadda. Eventually after 4 months or so of all this, you'll be at the end of the semester.

From here, you get exams. Exams will be a game, collaborative or single, with random students. Here you improve your teamwork, and receive a final grade.

Then there's closing ceremonies. Big banquet, mingling, a whole to-do. The headmaster announces the house rankings, gives out any other awards for the semester, and thanks all the students. Graduates are called up. Yadda yadda. Cooldown time occurs for everyone, then enrollment opens and it all happens again.
 

2. Staff

As a teacher you create class assignments in game form in your topic and grade people's work, providing valuable feedback. In down-time, you help with points.

Examiners will grade the semester-end exams and help issue points for misc. and event games.

The headmaster will create the orientation and closing ceremony, and issue points for misc and event games. The headmaster will come up with big events like dances and story-quests.

Tutors may also be Examiners or Teachers. They create tutorials or lessons that help students complete Event Board assignments. They also come up with the assignments listed in the Event Board.
 

III. Is there some work done on this?

There has been a lot of work established for this. A good setting, some ground rules and ideas, and even a few mechanics have been laid out. A general template, and some fancy work. A lot of heated discussions too and ideas thrown about. Mostly towards the learning aspect.

Unfortunately beyond AOHC for DeviantArt, there hasn't been a lot of proof of concept yet. However there has been a lot of interest just from the General Discussion thread that's recently been closed.

I'll begin by using this section to break down the currently established work.
 

A. Names

These are small details, so we didn't come up with any major names. The world doesn't have a name (And doesn't need one). We did name the town the Academy is next to Haven. Nothing is really named though, as we didn't want to establish a hard setting.

Names of current characters can be established, like town NPCs in a hard setting, and player characters like teachers and the headmaster will all be established by the people who fill roles.

The only hard name established is the Academy name, which we decided on being called Ace Academy.
 

B. House Theme

The Ace Academy name opened up an interesting house theme. I came up with the idea of naming our Houses after the four card suites. Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs.
 

C. The Setting

The setting is relatively open. The world is full of multicultural people, of different forms of technology and influence. Nothing as extreme as sci-fi or medieval, but it covers a lot of the things in between. Mainly it focused on a modern-magical feel.  Characters should be mostly humanoid in nature, and have a human appearance.

The world is not definite in size or geography, there will probably never be a world map. While the setting is probably a general, generic starting point found in most RPGs, it's still heavily open to shifts of climate, and will contain all the seasons.

Next we have magic.

I'm thinking of breaking it into a few elements. Fire (Includes Lightning), Water (Includes Ice), Wind, Earth, Light, Shadow. Then we have physical practices. Ninpou, Weaponry, Combat Tactics, Beast Mastery, and Alchemy.

Light is the primary magic used to purify Djinni, and Shadow is the primary magic used to seal Djinni. The other elements help quickly combat Djinni.

Combat Tactics covers espionage and warfare.

Ninpou covers stealth and unique magic-infused augments.

Weaponry is a mix of an artisan skill to create weapons against Djinns and the practice using those weapons.

Alchemy is important to break down Magic, Djinns, and the objects Djinn inhabit. It's useful to nullify magic too. Alchemists are vital to stopping a person infused by a Djinn.
 

D. The Conflict

I'll quote directly from the message what I wrote up:

Dark energy, sin, negativity, and destructive vices have a negative impact on the world that is far more dangerous. These things form into a powerful, corrupting energy that feeds into a dark plane know as the Abyss. The Abyss is sealed away, but the seal begins to erode as the plane fills too full, and eventually the corruption takes hold in the world and breaks free. Normally it just corrupts inanimate objects, disfiguring them into malevolent creatures called Djinni. These djinni attack people and try to feed negative energy into the world. To destroy them, the object itself must be cleansed or destroyed.

Examples of Djinni:
 

There are also rare instances of the spill overcoming people. It lies dormant after taking root in them, and can take them over at any time, turning them into dark, malevolent Djinn form at will. A cleansing ritual must take place to remove a Djinn from a person without hurting them.

Magic is one of the most dangerous forms of power. In this world, magic is called Nether. It lies in the nether plane, and is conjured from there. It must be controlled though. When conjuring nether there's a chance that the unpracticed and unskilled may dig too deep into the nether and extend past it. The Nether plane attaches to the Abyss.
 

So when you dig too deep, you pull energy from the nether, which corrupts the magic and fuels the power of the Djinni. Unskilled magic users may become host to a Djinn if they try to conjure magic recklessly or for malevolent purposes.

Thus the Academy teaches people how to properly use magic and combat the Djinn.  There is also a fear that the seal may break, and a great flood of Abyssal creatures and Djinni will poor forth. Renewing the seal requires it to break before it can be reapplied though.
 

E. The Academy

The Academy has a twofold purpose. Firstly, they train people to combat the Djinn forces and destroy or cleanse their corruption and influence from the world. Combat is a necessary tool to use against Djinn who have inhabited our world. Also by training people to use magic responsibly and carefully, they prevent over-extension into the Abyssal plane and prevent Djinn from entering.

The other side is to teach people to better themselves and stay positive. This helps keep Djinn from corrupting people and the environment.

A few rules:

We're staying PG-1, just like the board. I'll let a few words like "shit" and "fuck" but no cursing like a sailor. Obviously no sex or nudity.

Also we have some rules within the Academy.

• No killing others unless in a very dire situation. (Self Defense)
• No reckless behavior.
• No fighting. (Unless it's combat sponsored by the Academy)
• No going out past curfew.
• No unauthorized magic use.
• Leaving the Academy requires you to sign out at the front desk or gain permission from the Headmaster.

 

V. Why is this a good idea?
(And why should we do it?)

 

I think my reasons in the intro were a good summary, but let me spell them out. This idea is entertainment driven, and even if you you're not a game developer you will probably be able to get into RPG Academy's story. This means capturing a part of the non-developer crowd, who may go on to check out other games by people enrolled.

It also aims to teach the developer crowd by motivating them to practice game creation. It helps teach them to put together one element of a game at a time, til a whole game is formed. This form of sectional game building can really help them grow more comfortable and confident with game development. Further, it shows them how to focus their design and limit their concept, so that in 3 months they won't have a game they have no idea what to do with.

Plus, the opportunity to build a fun story with a character you and your forum friends came up with, who doesn't want to do that? In this way you could really build relationships with other developers and community members.

It's also something members can participate in constantly, meaning members will come back to the forums often to check out the newest update.

Further it's a unique idea not found in other RM sites, and aims to capture a lot of people from those other sites as well.
 

VI. What does it require?

It's not a small undertaking. It will require a place in the forums, probably at the bottom, and some subforums. It will also require a staff of teachers and content developers. Fortunately we can go to the community for manpower. It will also require some advertisement and awareness, which can be generated with signatures and some off-site mentions, as well as support and recognition by the forum and forum team here.

None of these things are small, but I believe they're all doable.

 

A. Execution Plan
 

All good projects must be executed properly. The execution plan is a step by step procedure of how the Academy would be built up and brought to the forums. By creating this plan we can stay organized and know what we need to do next. Also, it gives the admins an idea of what will happen to get the Academy running so that they can approve it.

 

There are no time limits for any part of the project, only an order for the parts to be executed in. Some parts may not be able to proceed until a goal is met. That goal can be changed, and any later parts of the project can also be shifted, rearranged, or changed as needed.

 

The format of the outline is as such.

 

1. A new user group will need to be created. Academy Staff. They will be in charge of only the Academy forum maintenance.

 

2. Forum Creation. The main forums and sub-forums will be created and hidden. This way they can be set up and modified.

The forums are as such:

 

Staff Lounge

 

Event Board

 

Classrooms

 

Houses

- Spades

- Hearts

- Clubs

- Diamonds

 

Tutor Hall

 

3. Artwork.

a. We'll want to find someone who is willing to create a sig banner or some sort of banner for RPG Academy that people can show their support with. This will help with advertising both off and on site.

b. An Enrollment Form will have to be designed for the project. We can go to the community for this and have a competition for it, or simply advertise for someone willing to do it, or if someone volunteers for it we can do it that way.

c. If we want to do any badges, sigs, banners, or such for affiliations or an enrollment badge, then we can do so through the same means as a and b.

 

4. Announcement Topic. A topic will need to be created in announcements that lets people know what the Academy is, and how they can show support.  People can ask questions in there and grab support banners and sig icons. We will let them know that recruitment for tutor and staff positions will open up soon.  We'll also keep up to date information about the Academy progress in this forum.

 

5. Pin instructions and rules. We need to let everyone know what they'll be doing, when, where, and what's expected of them. Even before we have anyone recruited, these things should be clearly laid out. This is for Staff and Students, and we want them to read these before they start.

 

6. Templates need to be created in RPG Maker VX Ace for the different house commons along with any established locations that may require a map. These can then be uploaded in a pinned topic and shared with everyone.

 

7. Advertising. We will want a subtle but definite advertisement campaign going to get people interested and aware of the project. We can't go around breaking policies or spamming people, but we can find soft and subtle ways to talk about it on other forums and get people talking about it on other forums. Maybe the other forums will decide to open their own version, either way it's an idea worth sharing.

 

8. Staff Recruit. We'll open a topic for staff sign-ups. This will help us figure out how many teachers we'll have, how many examiners, and how many tutors. There will be a definite limit for each of these, sans Tutors.

 

Examiners - 3 min, 6 max

Teachers - 1 per category of Magic. Max 11.

Tutors - As many as we can get.

 

9. RSVP Topic. This will be our headcount topic. Here we find out how many are interested and how many spots we'll need to open for each house. The current idea right now is that it should be 4 people per house. The teacher/student ratio is also important to keep in mind, so the amount of tutors we get may have an impact on how many students we recruit.

 

10. Staff Induction. We take the staff interested, induct them into the lounge, and get them set up with a character, a class (if applicable), and some ideas on what their assignments will be. From there they mainly grade people's work and help manage points.

 

11. Enrollment. Here we allow students to enroll and submit their enrollment form. We then check the form and approve who we can up to our limit.

 

12. Waiting. We have to wait for everything to work out and make changes if it isn't. If we have too many teachers and not enough students, we need to either wait for more students, or release some teachers. If we don't have enough interest though, we may have to close down the Academy and leave this idea behind us. However letting people know this is a possibility should help them rouse people and get them interested.

 

13. After we get enrollment finished, we create the opening ceremony and do a double check on everything. From there, we're good to go! We open up, and start the Academy!

 

VII. Closing

 

Well that sums up my proposal. Feedback, thoughts, possibility, input, design, recruitment, interest, criticism, family recipes, medical charts, and standing ovations are all appreciated. Let me know the census from the mod-team here.