Character Creation

Doing this a bit backwards for the moment, as while I've been working on the city, some of the areas I'm not happy with and have asked Stean if he can get in contact with his mate at Rebellion. Hopefully I can get some more info on locales within the city and where they actually are, which would give me something correct to play on.

But, I'm working on the character creation at the moment, and the basis of what I'll be doing for now. This is involving what I'm going to be doing in relation to how the player makes their character and how the character levels up and spends their specialisation points. The basics of how the spec is laid out is what I'm working on for the time being, and this is how it is laid out at the moment.

Cadet

This is when the player begins. After creating their character, the player is dropped in as a cadet within the Grand Hall of Justice. They will play through some story oriented parts and given lessons on movement, using weapons and melee fighting, using vehicles, making arrest, etc. This will have the player moving about as though they are in school, and skipping through time as though they are in years of learning. This will end once the player has played through each tutorial and "graduated", which is when they will become a Street Judge. They are given the rest of the day off and the next day they report in for their uniform and lawgiver (firearm).

Street Judge

The player is given their first assignment and first specialisation point. They start as level one and can now earn experience from completing missions, given at the Halls of Justice, doing side missions, called in over their radio, and from killing perps/enemies or making arrests. Arrests will give more exp than killing them, as the player is supposed to be a lawman and not just a vigilante. Every thousand exp or so, not yet decided how this works as this will be done in the production module, the player will gain a level and specialisation point. The points can be allocated in the different trees the player has, which are unlocked through the game. The first tree the player has, is the Street Judge tree. This covers making the player better with the daystick (melee weapon), lawgiver, arrests and movement, such as stealth.

Specialisation

At a point in the game when the main story is building and around the time the player reaches level ten, the player will unlock the next ability set and their specialisation choices. These will be integrated to the story and made so the player's choices reflect what kind of judge they will be for the rest of the game. These specialisations will be Psi-Judge, Tek-Judge or the expanded Street Judge. Depending on how the player has progressed they will be told they seem to have an affinity for a new kind of work. This will begin their route into the new system of skills, which will further reflect how the player would like to play.
*Although it will be suggested through a conversation in the story what type of judge you will be moving on to become, the player will have a choice to override the decision made by their superior and become something else. This is purely to appease players, as if a player is told that they seem to have some psionic power and should join the psi division, some players will want to be a specific sort and may not have played that way, so an option in conversation will say, for example, "But sir, I've always thought my place was on the street" and this would open the expanded Street Judge specialisation*

Psi-Judge

Psi Division judges are those that have some innate psionic abilities. Their specialist skills in their tree will be focused on their energy and new skills. Upon choosing this specialisation the player will be given a new bar along with the health bar, which is the psionic energy reserve. This new bar will deplete whenever the player uses the new skills they have access to. These new skills will be only available to the Psi-Judge, as the abilities of the other judges are available only to them. The main focus of these skills is stunning attacks used to hold perps so that they can be arrested. However some of the attacks will cause substantial damage to enemies and the environment, such as a blast of psi energy, which can throw something so hard it will break open a door or window, or even throw and enemy through a wall.

Tek-Judge

Tek Division judges are the innovators of the judicial services. They create the machines and are used to hold up the security systems and such of the city. Choosing to become a Tek-Judge will give you access to abilities which range from help with infilration to taking control of a security droid and sending it into a room to assist the player with taking down enemies, or other sorts of hazards. They will also have access to a special skill in the way of hacking. This can be used to access terminals to open doors, make an unmanned turret fire on an enemy or even open up med droids to recover health kits. There will be the chance to use this to hack into bank terminals and vid screens for some naughty perks, though this will lower your standing.

Street Judge - Expanded

If the player chooses, they can also decide to stay as a Street Judge. This will make them more like Judge Dredd himself, as it will give access to some of the better abilities, but limit the judge to using physical strength over guile or special powers. The person choosing this will be given access to some of the more powerful kinds of lawgiver ammunition as well as, the powerful, Widowmaker shotgun. However they will get some other specialist skills that give them an advantage in close combat too. The extension in physical strength of the judge, such as new armour with enhanced fibres, will increase their durability in a firefight, and a new type of helmet will give them infrared vision and will allow them to see heat signatures etc.

These specialisations will have a balance, to make them all equally poweful, but to give them all an edge in different scenarios. For example, if the player is fighting an ABC Robot. The Psi-Judge has the power to throw it back, or pull a scaffold on top of it, the Tek-Judge will be able to disable it's targetting circuits, making it unable to fire properly, or shoot other enemies, and the Street Judge, having better basic protection, can go up against it with the Widowmaker, making light work of the robot's heavy armour. Each of the specialisations has to have a uniquness, and also be fun to play. This may need to be focused on with the Street Judge, to make sure it isn't overlooked by players.

Secret Specialisation - SJS

In the comics of 2000 AD, in the Judge Dredd stories, there is a section of judges who have power over all other judges, the Special Judicial Squad. These are incorruptable judges who have proven their worth and are hand picked by the leader of this division. During the playthrough, once the player has chosen their specialisation, after the main breakthrough in the tale, they will continue for about another ten levels and then there will be the chance for a final specialisation. This will be in the form of a cutscene and conversation with the head of the SJS. He has noticed what a good judge the player has been and that he wants him/her to join the SJS. This will happen ONLY if the player has an excellent rating with the judges (the rating system is not yet finalised on how it will work). This will therefore only happen if the player has made a significant amount of arrests, when compared to how many perps he has killed that can be arrested. This specialisation will unlock some extremely powerful points in the tree, which will be dependant on the class the judge has already specialised in. These will be revealed at a later date.

Specialisation Points

The player, as mentioned, will have a specialisation tree, which has a set of skills specific to whichever judge the player has taken. At the start of the game proper, after the tutorial cadet section, the player will be given a specialisation point, whether it is one or more is to be decided later. These can be allocated within the Street Judge tree, which covers the basics of play, IE: firearms, melee and movements. This will be for roguhly ten levels of play, at which point the player will get their specialisation option. Once the player gets this, another ten levels with a new point for each level gained will start. Not all of the new skills will be available to the player, so they will have to decide which path they choose to take. There will be an option somewhere during the game to change their specialisation for a fee of some sort. Once the player reaches the point they can join the SJS, towards the end of the game, then the player will instantly be given a further five points, which they can use to buff out their existing skills in their spec, or will be able to use these five in the SJS tree.

This is where abouts the character creation is at the moment and is the small basis for my set up for pre-production. It will be fleshed out later on and will include the different skills that will be available, as well as the specialisation trees.

Next prog - Specialisation Tree