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Help me create the 10 commandments of MMORPG game design.
Teala
Member RarePosts: 7,627
I'll start.
1) Thou shalt create a fun and challenging game.
Comments
2) Thou shall not clone.
I wonder if any developers ever set out to create a dull and easy game.
I seem to remember a few articles on this site from people in the business who have stated that most developers want to create a fun game.
It's what happens on the way that causes issues.
If only their design docs fell well within the given budget then maybe a lot of issues wouldn't happen.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
4) Thou shalt not release the game before it's ready for release
Thou shall not abide by design principles based on marketing/sales influence alone.
Meh... probably needed more time to think.
I think this is the one I will hold dear.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
4. Thou shalt create an unfinished game defended like the holy grail, to dozens of fanboys
When did you start playing "old school" MMO's. World Of Warcraft?
6. Thou shall commit no lag.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
7. Thou Shalt use anoying emoticons spamming the chat system with *place name here* dances
8. Thou shalt not have an open cash shop for a game still in "beta".
A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs:
That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.
9. Thou Shout be western styled and not asian influenced
10. Thou shall not set lofty unreasonable goals for your game by hyping certian features, printing on the retail box that your game will have said features and then not delivering them on release day.
Thou shall not steal..... features from another game unless you do it just as good or better than they did.
Thou shall not covet your neighbor's mmo and make a clone of it.
Thy class shall not steal..... unless you are a theif class and have adequate pick-pocketing skills.
Thou shall love thy own game. Don't make me play it if you don't even like it...
Thou shalt alway's stay true to the original vision of the MMORPG you try to create/develop.
That list turned out way better than I expected. Particularly the early ones.
I had expected "Do not clone" followed by a list of ways to clone all existing MMORPGs. :P
The only overtly bad one was the art style preference.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
7) Thou shall reuse the same creature models over and over but with different sizes and colors to save money and time.
1. Thou shalt focus on short term flash instead of long term substance.
2. Thou shalt focus upon Oh Mighty Dollar above the happiness of those providing the dollars to you.
3. Thou shalt keep your thinking within a small wow shaped box, do not ask me what a wow shape is, but know that it means true innovation is not what you seek.
4. Thou shalt use spin and damage control and treat your players as if they are brainless imbeciles rather than treat them with respect.
5. Thou shalt never put together a system that works in the way SWG did. After all players are far too stupid to understand so many classes and such a free-form system. Players definitely need narrow little pre-defined classes otherwise their tiny brains will explode.
blah blah etc
Thou shall not release and unfinished game
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
Thou shalt not take advice on design from those with no experience in design.
Thou shalt pick a target market and cater to it.
Thou shalt not commit NGE.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
Thou shalt pay constant and close attention to the whiners, complainers, permanoobs, socially inept, friendless, and ignorant masses. They have a proven track record within the MMO scene and their words are like gold...
Laudanum - Romance. Revenge. Revolution.
Crappy, petty people breed and raise crappy, petty kids.
1. Make a WORLD filled with a multitude of game mechanics.
2. Have STORY that is meaningful and changes the world dynamically, as well as varying storylines broken up by classes, professions, and factions delivered via means other than plain text.
3. Spare no expense on sound/music/graphic design
4. Thou shalt patch content to the game in a timely fashion.
5. Provide excellent customer support and provide more info in said department to the public, so that stupid questions aren't asked when customer service is required.
6. Make any conventions based on the IP or company rotate cities! instead of staying in one every year(Blizzard, SOE!).
7. Ignore the whining of the minority game population while developing the game and post launch and after MUCH extensive testing, ONLY then CHANGE anything if deemed necessary.
8. Figure out your payment model early and never change it.
9. Don't promise the world and then provide a small room. Don't embellish current mechanics in your game to being more than they are(Paul Barnett!)
10. Develop a game you want to play and LIVE in, not one that is built JUST to rake in the cash(Cryptic)
Thou shalt not tempt the lord...
Pepsi1028
PEPSI!!!!!
Get out of your box already...
Thy game shall not allow jumping.
Thy game shall allow all playstyles in an equally viable manner throughout - to include solo, small group, full group, raid, PvE, PvP, and crafting.
The localised versions of thy game shall be run by the developer and not contracted to some incompetent distributor with delayed updates and hotfixes and no meaningful way of interacting with the developers due to the curse of unsupported localised forums.
Thy game's naming policy shall incorporate an immediate permanent ban for any player seeking to adopt a character name derived from any variation on Legolas, Aragon or Gandalf.
Thy game shall demand a monthly subscription and shall not incorporate any form of cash shop.
I agree with the rest of your points except for the highlighted red, sure some folks might use jumping to annoy other players, but still a jump option should ALWAY's be part of a game where you have a character, I have to walk around a rock?, a tiny fence?. Sure FPS games seem to get away with it, atleast many of them, though thankfully more of them getting to a point where you character can move like a normal human character and not be glued to the ground. I actually find it somewhat strange people don't want to have the ability to jump in games. And with jumping I mean realistic jumping.
10) Thou shalt include 3 or more factions for PvP RvR type games...
Thou shall not abuse the terms of service within their own contracts.