Fundamentals of Role-Playing Game Design

The Presentation Layer

Like strategy games, CRPGs have complicated core mechanics, and the player needs access to a large amount of information. In addition to the game world, the player needs to see critical information about the health (and possibly mana status) of each member of the party. Spellcasting characters require a menu of the spells that they currently have available. Naturally, the type of machine you’re making the game for makes a big difference; CRPGs tend to have complicated user interfaces. A game for a mobile platform can take advantage of its touch screen, but doesn’t have much room on it to display a lot of information.

Interaction Model

Most single-player CRPGs today, and all multiplayer online ones, use an avatar-based interaction ...