Tabula Rasa Designer Diary #4

GameSpot has published a fourth designer diary for Tabula Rasa, in which lead designer Paul Sage covers the game’s character cloning system.

Another thing I like about the cloning system is the way it compliments our class system. The two really emerged almost hand-in-hand in Tabula Rasa. We wanted to solve the problem of the player having the appropriate amount of choices in the beginning. When you think about it, anytime you try something new, you really don’t have enough information in the beginning to decide it its something you want to do. It’s not until you’ve had a chance to experience it, to play with it for a while, that you really have a chance decide, yeah, this is for me. Plus, along the way you’ll want to have chances to go back if you decide that you don’t like the choices you’ve made so far. In that way, the cloning system supports our class system very well, though I feel it would also compliment other class systems.