I am a Developer and I have been looking into building a game also. If you are serious send me a direct message, I would be interested in helping you if you need it. Here is what I am thinking currently about these four areas.
Character Creation -- Differently some hybird action. No lock classes or roles but have certain Races have bonuses for certain abilites. Maybe a cap on active points spent or something like job switching in FF.
Crafting System -- There needs to be the ability for diversity. All items shouldn't be the same stats no matter who the crafter is. Experimentation should be a part of it. Something close to the SWG model for this without the skill point penalties that hurt your Combat level and a cap on active points here also.
End Game -- There has to be something to do at MAX level that can still improve you character.
Graphics -- There has the be a high polygon count. Wouldn't have to be the best ever, but it has to be nice to look at.
Originally posted by Tacola I am a Developer and I have been looking into building a game also. If you are serious send me a direct message, I would be interested in helping you if you need it. Here is what I am thinking currently about these four areas. Character Creation -- Differently some hybird action. No lock classes or roles but have certain Races have bonuses for certain abilites. Maybe a cap on active points spent or something like job switching in FF. Crafting System -- There needs to be the ability for diversity. All items shouldn't be the same stats no matter who the crafter is. Experimentation should be a part of it. Something close to the SWG model for this without the skill point penalties that hurt your Combat level and a cap on active points here also. End Game -- There has to be something to do at MAX level that can still improve you character. Graphics -- There has the be a high polygon count. Wouldn't have to be the best ever, but it has to be nice to look at.
Just my 2 cents
What is your history with games? Have you done anything else before? Looking for full time, or just part time?
We will definitely be incorporating every area with multiple quests per level. This way High level character's will still visit NooB lands
Also we will be going for a brand a graphics not tried yet. Were actually trying to get really great graphics, DX9, etc.. But with minimal lag, this is going to be our hardest area to fill, but were pumped to try and get the first game to have mass battles with minimal lag.
i like everything about the info except some about the PvP, where you can drop items..
1. it be like, Evil Players have higher chance off dropping? cause i like beeing good and i hate losing my stuff 2. it has to have Good Grapichs with a option to take out a lot off the detials for slower computers..
My first piece of advice is DON'T build another fantasy game. Unless you can do it VERY well and VERY cheap, you won't make any money on it. Just look at the number of fantasy games on the game list here. You are entering an extremely competitive market.
However, if you can pick a new genre, you will increase your chances of success tremendously.
Sounds like you have your heart set on making a YAG (Yet Another Grinder), so I doubt I would subscribe, but I wish you luck regardless.
However, I like these kinds of threads, so I can't resist chiming in on what I have always hoped to see in a game.
1)Subsistence economy: -Participants struggle to meet payments on rents and errata of enterprise. The costs of pseudo-living and doing business scale quickly to match increases in profits. Ergo, the stage is set for players to succesfully employ one another in a dynamic setting without the immersion handicap of ready self-employment. -Success in raising capital is the precursor for the expansion (or aggressive acquisition) of the means of production. PVP must be economic as much as anything. -No task beyond a few simple one absolute newbies can do can be done alone. We must go beyond the simplistic rubric of individuals (in a whole dang class) providing individual sectors of markets. Rather, individual services can be provided by smaller groups, and in some cases individuals, to facillitate market actions over a long period of time. (i.e. negotiating the transportation of a commodity shipment from a producing area to a market hub where speculation occurs prior to being distributed down the chain.) -Ideally, nothing is ever added or lost to the total resources of the game environment from beginning to end. For a while there will be an extractive bonanza, and later, competition will overwhelm all other concerns, but be tempered by vast networks of interdependence. -With fairly open ended game mechanics, I would hope to see the burgomasters truly acquire a kind of control over life and death amongst other players. -All currency would be tied to a "gold" standard to prevent massive hoarding. Inflation would not be a concern, because all valuations would be set by negotiation between producers and consumers of services.
2)Automation: -Players achieve tasks primarily by scheduling them, and by having the necessary capital (or sufficient connections to fake it for awhile - a "windhandel") to make orders and aquire difficult to obtain and maintain instruments or other errata of that end of goods or services procurement. -All physical actions are merely supplementary to the process of planning their progression. I like to think of it as a game for the mature player who isn't terribly interested in wasting hours of precious time or megabyte upon megabyte of server resources. Some stages of actions deserve to be live of course simply to be entertaining, especially for groups of players. More of an end result of what is done with the economy of course - plus for that ever important zero sum game aspect. -Players return day after day, or for multiple shorter sessions of the day as much as they care to, rather than as many hours as they can spare. This has to appeal to a gamer who strives to control the impact of a mmog in their life, or that of their SO.
3)Even footing on skills: -Either everyone enters the game with even skills, or in order to "hook" the subscriber, everyone on a server progresses at an even daily rate of investable skill "points" which they may schedule to distribute as they like whenever they log in. -Huge, branching, and even intertwining skill trees in both industry and mechanical prowess allow further career specialization for competition in hiring, though all players can do most tasks with some finesse. Most choices will be based on social connections of course, but insular cults should suffer enough to promote the custom of divided loyalties to ensure that everyone sweats when daily politics heat up. -All combat skills are relatively basic, and there is no super mastery to make anyone largely invulnerable to anyone else.
4)Combat Specialization: -It cannot be sufficient to just have the best weapon and wade through the built up assets of half the playerbase who are inferior. In fact, no tool will be inferior. -It cannot be sufficient to just have the largest number of combatants in order to destroy a foe. -Battle environments should be like advanced chess boards where each is only vulnerable to a minority of other game pieces, yet also can only really injure a minority of other pieces. The more variety in instrumentation of attrition that is available, the more tactical combat becomes, and the more likely small will informed groups will succeed.
Originally posted by lowrads Sounds like you have your heart set on making a YAG (Yet Another Grinder), so I doubt I would subscribe, but I wish you luck regardless.
Actually we are going to go for everything but the grind. We are going to try and make the world totally interactive. Building Cities, Destroying Cities, Crating basically anything you want, with the ability to just be a contracter/builder(You would be required to build the houses, maintain them and also add improvements) be a cook, or just be a weapon smith. We are also going to try doing a system kinda like SWG *had* where it is mostly consumer driven.
We'll have more details later, and like we said we might incorporate a different setting then fantasy.
Would there be that many people interested in a MMORPG but with planetside type gameplay? Meaning it's a FPS but it's like a standard MMORPG with quests, crafting, building houses, etc...
FPS, sounds cool if ranged classes can aim with they mouse, for either Head/legs, arms and such... would be cool to shoot a Humanoid mob in the Arm so it drops it weapon , or maybe right in the eye on another player so his screen goes black...
but just to be sure FPS, is like 3D shooter games, right? i havent tried Planetstrife
I would most certainly be interested in FPS style game play in a normal MMO world. I think that removing the 3rd person view will untimately increase the play value of most games. PVP becomes more fast paced becuase you now have the freedom to click and swing versus the auto attack button. First person also removed the ability to see behind the character making the rogue and thief classes much more appealing.
The downsides to FPS style game play is that players will be required to have more coordination as well as some actual skill to play the game. (This could also be considered an upside.) It also takes away from the player's association with their character. In a typical MMORPG players see their character constantly, so they strive to look cool and get new armor and weapons for apperances. Without constantly seeing their characters players would either loose the desire to get cool looking armor or feel frustrated that they never see their cool looking armor.
There are upsides and downsides to the FP view. But i think that FP combat with a click and swing interface is what would really improve both PvE and PvP combat.
I'll be your first tester :P ... and i dotn need to get pay or anything but i fi could get an update on how to game develop coming to maybe give more tips from my experience or what i like to see in a game that i'm not seeing that would rock :P.
I really hope you'll have a game with some GM host events.. I think it's something that all game lookign to hold on to their population should have.
Host event allow you to have something new every once in a while, unlike most game where there are no host GM event what you have at end game is the same thing over and over again.. whether it's killing a dragon or just beating the crap out of the enemy player... eventually it becomes repeatitive. So host events is the way to be original... once or twice a month woul dbe fine... you'll probably need a dedicate a team to programing eventing or somethin glike that on a regurlar bases. But on the other hand if the game is worth it you can up the cost monthly and still have players.
Lets face it online gaming is pretty cheap as compare to going out to a bar or something so if the game really has a strong draw it can be expensive.
We are deffinately going to be having weekly events, that is why were striving for 1 server only.
Well we are talking right now, about possibly changing it up to a FPS RPG type game, but with all the same elements as a standard mmorpg(Crafting and that stuff) I'll let you know what were thinking.
We should have a website out in the next month or so and I'll let you know as soon as it's up.
I similarly am bored with all current MMORPG's due mostly to lack of game depth. I am not talking about story line, or game play. I am refering to Game Dynamics. We need more games that will allow you to truely interact with the game world, games that are not limited by the game system but by the player's creativity.
This frustration sparked me into my own flurry of game development. I have a concept MMORPG that I have been designing for the last 2+ years. We have some similar ideas and I would be more than willing to discuss anything you would like input on.
We both have some ideas that I would consider out of the norm for MMO's, but nessicary for their long term survival. I would love to see some more detailed outlines of your game systems so we can compare notes. If you are interested drop me an email.
Also if anyone else has any good ideas, lore built up on a world, or even a whole new setup for a mmorpg drop me an email. If we like it we could decide to use it and we would hire you to be the lore designer.
I'm not trying to be critical here but you are making the number one error most mmog's make: asking what people want instead of creating your dream and then letting the chips fall where they may. You have a chance at being unique and changing the game world. Asking us what we want will get you parts of every game ever made.
If making money is the main concern (since you seem so driven to give us what we want...and that means every want and desire that varies from player to player) then just make an eq clone, keep it simple with defined classes and go from there. Most players can't function without a framework they are familiar with.
What you describe would have to be impossible to implement and way too complex for the masses. Sure lots of cool ideas in there.
Here's mine:
Playable monsters, open pvp, large game world with weather effects that effect how the game has to be played. No levels. No skill numbers shown but many skills that get better through use. Very basic weapons that can be honed by the skill and talent of craftsmen. No magic. No quick travel methods. Walk or run or hitch a ride on a beast. Man kind thrown into a world where surviving takes teamwork (not by groups) but by everyone.
All items used as tools come from the environment which then make crude weapons with eventual specializations allowing more advanced weapons if that particular society can survive. No cites. Just a huge wilderness where you can interact with your surroundings: cut down actual trees and build with them, mud huts with eventual improvement to brickwork. Rough stone usable for stone homes.
The game is based on the society that mankind can come up with and make it work. Natural disasters: comets hitting the earth, monster tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, fog, rain and giant thunderstorms. And at night: the world gets even more dangerous: picture barely dress and starving humanoids huddling around a fire at night while the stronger try to hold back the creatures of the night.
Anyway..that's a bit of my dream for a game simplified as an example of why you really can't ask us gamers. Thanks for reading.
Well the problem with creating just what I want is that it's just that, what I want and maybe nobody else wants.
We want to create a fantasy game that lets you do anything you want. But besides that we have things we want but we like to get input on what others want.
Your problem with that thinking gets you companys such as SOE, NCSoft, etc.. They might do well but they lost alot of customers since they don't listen to their customers they just listen to them-selves. They say we know better then they do, well guess what? You are the ones who pay, you are the consumer and you are the one who chooses what you play.
Obviously we aren't going to produce just anything of course, but molding something around many ideas is a great way of creating a new game with new ideas, and new things to do.
Ofcourse the flipside to all that is focus. Alot of games give you a huge world, tons of races, classes, skills etc. There are more options than any single player couild hope to fully explore, but the forget to add a point. Sure, I have lots of choices but why do I want to keep coming back to play night after night other than just to grind some more or get a chance to score some decent loot.
Comments
Your game sounds neat Eirek! count me in ^_^
Hi! My name is paper. Nerf scissors, rock is fine.
MMORPG = Mostly Men Online Roleplaying Girls
http://www.MichaelLuckhardt.com
I am a Developer and I have been looking into building a game also. If you are serious send me a direct message, I would be interested in helping you if you need it. Here is what I am thinking currently about these four areas.
Character Creation -- Differently some hybird action. No lock classes or roles but have certain Races have bonuses for certain abilites. Maybe a cap on active points spent or something like job switching in FF.
Crafting System -- There needs to be the ability for diversity. All items shouldn't be the same stats no matter who the crafter is. Experimentation should be a part of it. Something close to the SWG model for this without the skill point penalties that hurt your Combat level and a cap on active points here also.
End Game -- There has to be something to do at MAX level that can still improve you character.
Graphics -- There has the be a high polygon count. Wouldn't have to be the best ever, but it has to be nice to look at.
Just my 2 cents
"There were some who said this day would never come. What are they to say now ?"
Looks matter. Some games you just don't want to play cause the graphics aren't that good.
GuildWars looks are awesome.
People say WoW is cartoony, which i don't like.
Have a noob land where there's stuff to do for high lvl's. This will extend the life of the game.
Nothing worse then an awesome game that you can finish in a few weeks.
If you look at custom games in Warcraft3. They're exciting and you beg for more. But you only wish you could save your character.
We will definitely be incorporating every area with multiple quests per level. This way High level character's will still visit NooB lands
Also we will be going for a brand a graphics not tried yet. Were actually trying to get really great graphics, DX9, etc.. But with minimal lag, this is going to be our hardest area to fill, but were pumped to try and get the first game to have mass battles with minimal lag.
I wouldn't worry too much about the underwater & cloud areas.
You can get a lot of replay value just from orcs & dragons.
I'm not big on massive battles. But I noticed GWs is too flashy. You don't know what's going on.
Have like arrows sticking out of foes. Bleeding...
- be able to cut off fingers, arms, legs , heads (finishing move)
Yo eirek this one topic sure is boosting your post count hehe. But seriously, is your Siggy picture the name of your game? Ebonlore?
Hi! My name is paper. Nerf scissors, rock is fine.
MMORPG = Mostly Men Online Roleplaying Girls
http://www.MichaelLuckhardt.com
think a good tutorial is a must...like eve online.
you then get a good jist of the game.
saves lots of reading when you just want to get stuck into a game first and ask questions later.
i like everything about the info
except some about the PvP, where you can drop items..
1. it be like, Evil Players have higher chance off dropping? cause i like beeing good and i hate losing my stuff
2. it has to have Good Grapichs with a option to take out a lot off the detials for slower computers..
My first piece of advice is DON'T build another fantasy game. Unless you can do it VERY well and VERY cheap, you won't make any money on it. Just look at the number of fantasy games on the game list here. You are entering an extremely competitive market.
However, if you can pick a new genre, you will increase your chances of success tremendously.
Sounds like you have your heart set on making a YAG (Yet Another Grinder), so I doubt I would subscribe, but I wish you luck regardless.
However, I like these kinds of threads, so I can't resist chiming in on what I have always hoped to see in a game.
1)Subsistence economy:
-Participants struggle to meet payments on rents and errata of enterprise. The costs of pseudo-living and doing business scale quickly to match increases in profits. Ergo, the stage is set for players to succesfully employ one another in a dynamic setting without the immersion handicap of ready self-employment.
-Success in raising capital is the precursor for the expansion (or aggressive acquisition) of the means of production. PVP must be economic as much as anything.
-No task beyond a few simple one absolute newbies can do can be done alone. We must go beyond the simplistic rubric of individuals (in a whole dang class) providing individual sectors of markets. Rather, individual services can be provided by smaller groups, and in some cases individuals, to facillitate market actions over a long period of time. (i.e. negotiating the transportation of a commodity shipment from a producing area to a market hub where speculation occurs prior to being distributed down the chain.)
-Ideally, nothing is ever added or lost to the total resources of the game environment from beginning to end. For a while there will be an extractive bonanza, and later, competition will overwhelm all other concerns, but be tempered by vast networks of interdependence.
-With fairly open ended game mechanics, I would hope to see the burgomasters truly acquire a kind of control over life and death amongst other players.
-All currency would be tied to a "gold" standard to prevent massive hoarding. Inflation would not be a concern, because all valuations would be set by negotiation between producers and consumers of services.
2)Automation:
-Players achieve tasks primarily by scheduling them, and by having the necessary capital (or sufficient connections to fake it for awhile - a "windhandel") to make orders and aquire difficult to obtain and maintain instruments or other errata of that end of goods or services procurement.
-All physical actions are merely supplementary to the process of planning their progression. I like to think of it as a game for the mature player who isn't terribly interested in wasting hours of precious time or megabyte upon megabyte of server resources. Some stages of actions deserve to be live of course simply to be entertaining, especially for groups of players. More of an end result of what is done with the economy of course - plus for that ever important zero sum game aspect.
-Players return day after day, or for multiple shorter sessions of the day as much as they care to, rather than as many hours as they can spare. This has to appeal to a gamer who strives to control the impact of a mmog in their life, or that of their SO.
3)Even footing on skills:
-Either everyone enters the game with even skills, or in order to "hook" the subscriber, everyone on a server progresses at an even daily rate of investable skill "points" which they may schedule to distribute as they like whenever they log in.
-Huge, branching, and even intertwining skill trees in both industry and mechanical prowess allow further career specialization for competition in hiring, though all players can do most tasks with some finesse. Most choices will be based on social connections of course, but insular cults should suffer enough to promote the custom of divided loyalties to ensure that everyone sweats when daily politics heat up.
-All combat skills are relatively basic, and there is no super mastery to make anyone largely invulnerable to anyone else.
4)Combat Specialization:
-It cannot be sufficient to just have the best weapon and wade through the built up assets of half the playerbase who are inferior. In fact, no tool will be inferior.
-It cannot be sufficient to just have the largest number of combatants in order to destroy a foe.
-Battle environments should be like advanced chess boards where each is only vulnerable to a minority of other game pieces, yet also can only really injure a minority of other pieces. The more variety in instrumentation of attrition that is available, the more tactical combat becomes, and the more likely small will informed groups will succeed.
Actually we are going to go for everything but the grind. We are going to try and make the world totally interactive. Building Cities, Destroying Cities, Crating basically anything you want, with the ability to just be a contracter/builder(You would be required to build the houses, maintain them and also add improvements) be a cook, or just be a weapon smith. We are also going to try doing a system kinda like SWG *had* where it is mostly consumer driven.
We'll have more details later, and like we said we might incorporate a different setting then fantasy.
Would there be that many people interested in a MMORPG but with planetside type gameplay? Meaning it's a FPS but it's like a standard MMORPG with quests, crafting, building houses, etc...
I read all the posts, i still didnt get it, will it be free and is there an website? Good luck!
FPS, sounds cool if ranged classes can aim with they mouse, for either Head/legs, arms and such...
, or maybe right in the eye on another player so his screen goes black...
would be cool to shoot a Humanoid mob in the Arm so it drops it weapon
but just to be sure FPS, is like 3D shooter games, right? i havent tried Planetstrife
I would most certainly be interested in FPS style game play in a normal MMO world. I think that removing the 3rd person view will untimately increase the play value of most games. PVP becomes more fast paced becuase you now have the freedom to click and swing versus the auto attack button. First person also removed the ability to see behind the character making the rogue and thief classes much more appealing.
The downsides to FPS style game play is that players will be required to have more coordination as well as some actual skill to play the game. (This could also be considered an upside.) It also takes away from the player's association with their character. In a typical MMORPG players see their character constantly, so they strive to look cool and get new armor and weapons for apperances. Without constantly seeing their characters players would either loose the desire to get cool looking armor or feel frustrated that they never see their cool looking armor.
There are upsides and downsides to the FP view. But i think that FP combat with a click and swing interface is what would really improve both PvE and PvP combat.
I'll be your first tester :P ... and i dotn need to get pay or anything but i fi could get an update on how to game develop coming to maybe give more tips from my experience or what i like to see in a game that i'm not seeing that would rock :P.
I really hope you'll have a game with some GM host events.. I think it's something that all game lookign to hold on to their population should have.
Host event allow you to have something new every once in a while, unlike most game where there are no host GM event what you have at end game is the same thing over and over again.. whether it's killing a dragon or just beating the crap out of the enemy player... eventually it becomes repeatitive. So host events is the way to be original... once or twice a month woul dbe fine... you'll probably need a dedicate a team to programing eventing or somethin glike that on a regurlar bases. But on the other hand if the game is worth it you can up the cost monthly and still have players.
Lets face it online gaming is pretty cheap as compare to going out to a bar or something so if the game really has a strong draw it can be expensive.
We are deffinately going to be having weekly events, that is why were striving for 1 server only.
Well we are talking right now, about possibly changing it up to a FPS RPG type game, but with all the same elements as a standard mmorpg(Crafting and that stuff) I'll let you know what were thinking.
We should have a website out in the next month or so and I'll let you know as soon as it's up.
I will be excited to hear more about this game.
I similarly am bored with all current MMORPG's due mostly to lack of game depth. I am not talking about story line, or game play. I am refering to Game Dynamics. We need more games that will allow you to truely interact with the game world, games that are not limited by the game system but by the player's creativity.
This frustration sparked me into my own flurry of game development. I have a concept MMORPG that I have been designing for the last 2+ years. We have some similar ideas and I would be more than willing to discuss anything you would like input on.
We both have some ideas that I would consider out of the norm for MMO's, but nessicary for their long term survival. I would love to see some more detailed outlines of your game systems so we can compare notes. If you are interested drop me an email.
Email just sent to you.
Also if anyone else has any good ideas, lore built up on a world, or even a whole new setup for a mmorpg drop me an email. If we like it we could decide to use it and we would hire you to be the lore designer.
I'm not trying to be critical here but you are making the number one error most mmog's make: asking what people want instead of creating your dream and then letting the chips fall where they may. You have a chance at being unique and changing the game world. Asking us what we want will get you parts of every game ever made.
If making money is the main concern (since you seem so driven to give us what we want...and that means every want and desire that varies from player to player) then just make an eq clone, keep it simple with defined classes and go from there. Most players can't function without a framework they are familiar with.
What you describe would have to be impossible to implement and way too complex for the masses. Sure lots of cool ideas in there.
Here's mine:
Playable monsters, open pvp, large game world with weather effects that effect how the game has to be played. No levels. No skill numbers shown but many skills that get better through use. Very basic weapons that can be honed by the skill and talent of craftsmen. No magic. No quick travel methods. Walk or run or hitch a ride on a beast. Man kind thrown into a world where surviving takes teamwork (not by groups) but by everyone.
All items used as tools come from the environment which then make crude weapons with eventual specializations allowing more advanced weapons if that particular society can survive. No cites. Just a huge wilderness where you can interact with your surroundings: cut down actual trees and build with them, mud huts with eventual improvement to brickwork. Rough stone usable for stone homes.
The game is based on the society that mankind can come up with and make it work. Natural disasters: comets hitting the earth, monster tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, fog, rain and giant thunderstorms. And at night: the world gets even more dangerous: picture barely dress and starving humanoids huddling around a fire at night while the stronger try to hold back the creatures of the night.
Anyway..that's a bit of my dream for a game simplified as an example of why you really can't ask us gamers. Thanks for reading.
Well the problem with creating just what I want is that it's just that, what I want and maybe nobody else wants.
We want to create a fantasy game that lets you do anything you want. But besides that we have things we want but we like to get input on what others want.
Your problem with that thinking gets you companys such as SOE, NCSoft, etc.. They might do well but they lost alot of customers since they don't listen to their customers they just listen to them-selves. They say we know better then they do, well guess what? You are the ones who pay, you are the consumer and you are the one who chooses what you play.
Obviously we aren't going to produce just anything of course, but molding something around many ideas is a great way of creating a new game with new ideas, and new things to do.
Ofcourse the flipside to all that is focus. Alot of games give you a huge world, tons of races, classes, skills etc. There are more options than any single player couild hope to fully explore, but the forget to add a point. Sure, I have lots of choices but why do I want to keep coming back to play night after night other than just to grind some more or get a chance to score some decent loot.