Project Update: Scaleability

Orchestra as a game is designed to create an environment in which no character will become unbeatable. One of the core goals is to create scaleability; the idea that you can use multiple characters of the same archetype. For instance, if you had multiple people specializing in Dominance they could still cooperate normally and not rival each other, even were they to use the same exact skills and abilities, and two hackers can still team up to wreak havoc on their opponents’ attempts to boot them out of sensitive computer systems.

How is this achieved? Orchestra’s one-size-fits-all system is designed to be flexible enough to provide a degree of believability for pretty much any challenge characters can face, but it has the advantage of being simple to design encounters for, and the multifaceted approach to everything plays a role. For instance, if there were two hackers and a soldier in a group, one of the hackers could be on physical overwatch shutting down enemies’ wireless gear and hindering their communications while the other hacks into an important database for the information their employer wanted. Most games have a certain degree of parallel cooperation, such as Dungeons & Dragons which gives each character a certain amount of combat proficiency and potentially special abilities to explicitly help with combat (for instance, the Magic Missile spell). However, Orchestra is fundamentally different in its character design than D&D and its companions are, since it is at its core point-based.

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