Dev Blog #1: Why I’m Building Another RPG

Why does the world need another RPG? The truth is that it doesn't. But that has never stopped anyone from creating one, and it is not going to stop me from developing the game I have always wanted to play.

I have been working on this project for quite a while, learning more about storytelling, game design, and how current LLMs can help one person build something like this. This is not the first time I have written about Stormtome either. Articles about earlier iterations have already appeared on Technodabbler. This is, however, the first time I feel like I have something worth sharing as an ongoing game project.

The motivation is fairly simple. I have always wanted to make an RPG, and I want to build something I would enjoy playing myself and hopefully share with my daughter. The games that shaped that interest each contributed something different. The NES versions of Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior established the basic vocabulary of classes, weapons, armor, items, spells, and progression. Diablo showed the importance of loot. Quest for Glory brought worldbuilding and freedom of exploration. Ultima made statistics and party management part of the adventure, while Eye of the Beholder introduced me to dungeon crawling. Even the HeroQuest board game mattered because it showed how RPG mechanics could be translated into simple physical rules.

BBS games added something else. Before MMOs, they were my first experience with other people sharing the same game world. I would recognize names, see other players progressing, and know that other people were having their own adventures. At a time when computers and BBSes were still niche interests, they were also a way to find people with similar interests.

Legend of the Red Dragon left another lasting impression. One of the forest options was simply to "Look for something to kill." I liked that I chose when to start another encounter. I could fight, heal, return to town, or try one more time. I have never particularly enjoyed random battles interrupting exploration, although I have no problem with repeated combat or grinding. What matters to me is deciding when I am looking for a fight. That "one more fight" feeling is something I want to explore with Stormtome.

The project is also an opportunity to experiment with technology. LLMs have already played a role in programming, worldbuilding, and working through design ideas. I wrote more about that in Storm Tome: Worldbuilding and the Limits of Generative AI, so it will remain part of these dev blogs without becoming their sole focus.

A game is made from thousands of decisions, from technical architecture to how a single combat mechanic should feel. Some ideas work. Others sound good until they are actually built.

These dev blogs are where I want to document those decisions, experiments, and mistakes as Stormtome develops.