Mixing two gameplay genres?

So, as I said a couple of times at Yack Fest, I love base customization in games. So I ended up writing a design for a customizable base, but halfway through, I realized I made half of my facilities roguelike-centered, and another half SRPG-centered.

So then I wondered, would that work? Would it be possible to have a game with both roguelike gameplay AND turn-based strategy gameplay, by simply using seperate strategy and roguelike sections?

So yeah, I was hoping to get some feedback from you guys, as well as some of your own suggestions with the genre-mixing concept.

Stargate SG-1 Let's Watch. Because my ZHP thing failed.

I don't think Roguelikes are all that different from SRPGs, in certain ways. Both are turn-based and have RPG-style stats and combat based on tactics. I imagine it could work. You wouldn't really need to separate them, even, at least not very much.

I'm not really a big fan of games that combine multiple styles of gameplay by just alternating between genre A and genre B depending on where you are in the game, unless the game can pull it off pretty well. That is, if both of the gameplay types are fully-developed and fun on their own, and each one contributes in some way to the other (like, say, Persona 3 and 4, which had RPG mechanics and Visual Novel mechanics. The Visual Novel sections improved your ability to fuse personas for the RPG part of the game). If it's just like, a platformer that randomly has a couple of racing levels for no real reason, then it will probably hurt the game, overall.

edited 19th Nov '10 2:16:04 PM by DYRE

As for genre mixing, we have Genre-Busting. And it doesn't just apply to just video games.

You got some dirt on you. Here's some more!

Dwarf Fortress isn't this already?

Yeah, but there, the Roguelike-part and the Strategy-part are basically two completely different games. What I'm trying is to have them both play equally important roles in one game.

The problem is in leveling: It having a strategy portion, it's obvious there's gonna be a whole range of characters, while roguelikes tend to make use of only one character.

Stargate SG-1 Let's Watch. Because my ZHP thing failed.

I think there's a roguelike where you control a party of characters. I can't remember the name though. There are also other ways you can deal with that, too. Like, have your party members in the SRPG parts be summoned monsters or something, so you can still only have one main character. Or whatever. Or the roguelike parts are mostly non-combat related and the SRPG parts are for battling. I don't know anything about what ideas you have in mind specifically, of course.

edited 19th Nov '10 2:32:58 PM by DYRE

There's CNCFPS, which mixes RTS elements, Vehicular Combat, and First-Person Shooter and then drops it into something related to Command And Conquer. I kinda adopted this term from the name of a website, though.

"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel

So you basically want a conventional, party-based RPG in roguelike format...pass, pass..passssssss

Almost, except it's not confined to the roguelike format per say. There's a roguelike format in the game, but also a tactical RPG format, and the two aren't in play at the same time. It's basically regularly shifting between the two, like an Expected Gameplay Change.

Also, I had another leveling idea myself: Your party members need quarters in your main base. These quarters can be upgraded to give experience to their inhabitants while your main character is off dungeoncrawling. Of course, it's not 1 exp for every exp you earn, but less. However, these quarters can also be upgraded with certain luxuries, IE a spell circle which will give wizard-type-characters in those quarters an extra EXP boost for the roguelike exp giving.

Rocket Dude: I might try that one out, looks sweet. Dyre: Thanks, you're a great help for giving this idea shape :3

Stargate SG-1 Let's Watch. Because my ZHP thing failed.

That actually sounds pretty cool, something like Baldur's Gate with randomly generated dungeons…

Eric,