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My Ideal World Design
Rungar
Member RarePosts: 1,132
I have come to believe that the best possible world design is not some carefully hand crafted/manicured zone but rather a procedurally generated one that features biomes similar to valheim. Not only is this more efficient and easier to develop, it is also much better than the traditional static designs.
however i would use a hybrid model where the world itself is procedurally generated but the various points of interest, which could be the size of a city, were handcrafted and "place-able". So you could not only place new things in the world but you could also modify the point of interest itself, independent of the world, to allow that to change when needed as well.
On top of this i would use a server system for worlds where few biomes exist on the starter worlds and you would have to go to different worlds to experience all the different biomes. This would have a random component so beyond the starter world could be very lopsided i.e desert worlds or water worlds or be more diverse in biomes. All done procedurally.
so in any region all the servers would be linked and thus all starter worlds linked and you could travel back and forth starter worlds to some degree ( like changing servers) but all new worlds made ( which would happen the first time someone steps foot in the world) are common to all servers in a giant network style configuration. A world that might be easy for one person to get to might be very hard for another to get to but anyone could go there in that region.
consider the starter worlds as a great ring and the rest of the game branches out from that ring in the form of new worlds to explore. You would be able to build a base on starter worlds if you started a character there but you could not generally build on the non starter worlds that branch out from starter worlds. You could also change starter worlds if there is space for you. There may also be other buildable worlds out there randomly placed should you be able to find them beyond the starter worlds. Each would would be connected by some sort of gate system and thus beyond the starter worlds ( which have 4 gates), all other worlds have 6 gates connecting them to all the other worlds.
so as the game progresses new biomes are continually added to the world recipe and when someone walks through the gate the world is formed procedurally and populated. How much of the new biome will be present in the new world is semi random so each new world made would be unique and permanent once its been formed. As more and more biomes (expansions) are made they are seamlessly integrated into the world recipe and are deployed by players travelling gates. Gates would be controlled by the developers such that not all gates would be open, and others might need to be refurbished and opened by the players. This lets the gatekeepers/developers keep control of world generation. When new biomes come out some gates might open or available.
Many resources on worlds would be limited and thus when they are gone, they may be gone for good though everything in the game would be recyclable. Other resources may grow back. So it would be expected that the buildable starter world would be completely depleted of key resources, meaning you would have to in search of new resources on other worlds. i.e travel the gates ( yes i like stargate. Who doesnt?)
so as opposed to traditional games where everything is static this would have a huge dynamic component that has qualities of a megaserver without the cheezy zone instancing. If a world is currently full you simply cannot go there as the gate system will turn itself off automatically to keep tit balanced. You could always return to your starter world as you would have a reserved status there. Starter worlds could accommodate visitors but only a limited amount.
This form of design would place a huge emphasis on exploring and resource collecting, while allowing building to a more limited degree. In this model you purchase a plot of land in a starter world and how much land you purchase is basically equal to your subscription but this can only be done on designated worlds.
however i would use a hybrid model where the world itself is procedurally generated but the various points of interest, which could be the size of a city, were handcrafted and "place-able". So you could not only place new things in the world but you could also modify the point of interest itself, independent of the world, to allow that to change when needed as well.
On top of this i would use a server system for worlds where few biomes exist on the starter worlds and you would have to go to different worlds to experience all the different biomes. This would have a random component so beyond the starter world could be very lopsided i.e desert worlds or water worlds or be more diverse in biomes. All done procedurally.
so in any region all the servers would be linked and thus all starter worlds linked and you could travel back and forth starter worlds to some degree ( like changing servers) but all new worlds made ( which would happen the first time someone steps foot in the world) are common to all servers in a giant network style configuration. A world that might be easy for one person to get to might be very hard for another to get to but anyone could go there in that region.
consider the starter worlds as a great ring and the rest of the game branches out from that ring in the form of new worlds to explore. You would be able to build a base on starter worlds if you started a character there but you could not generally build on the non starter worlds that branch out from starter worlds. You could also change starter worlds if there is space for you. There may also be other buildable worlds out there randomly placed should you be able to find them beyond the starter worlds. Each would would be connected by some sort of gate system and thus beyond the starter worlds ( which have 4 gates), all other worlds have 6 gates connecting them to all the other worlds.
so as the game progresses new biomes are continually added to the world recipe and when someone walks through the gate the world is formed procedurally and populated. How much of the new biome will be present in the new world is semi random so each new world made would be unique and permanent once its been formed. As more and more biomes (expansions) are made they are seamlessly integrated into the world recipe and are deployed by players travelling gates. Gates would be controlled by the developers such that not all gates would be open, and others might need to be refurbished and opened by the players. This lets the gatekeepers/developers keep control of world generation. When new biomes come out some gates might open or available.
Many resources on worlds would be limited and thus when they are gone, they may be gone for good though everything in the game would be recyclable. Other resources may grow back. So it would be expected that the buildable starter world would be completely depleted of key resources, meaning you would have to in search of new resources on other worlds. i.e travel the gates ( yes i like stargate. Who doesnt?)
so as opposed to traditional games where everything is static this would have a huge dynamic component that has qualities of a megaserver without the cheezy zone instancing. If a world is currently full you simply cannot go there as the gate system will turn itself off automatically to keep tit balanced. You could always return to your starter world as you would have a reserved status there. Starter worlds could accommodate visitors but only a limited amount.
This form of design would place a huge emphasis on exploring and resource collecting, while allowing building to a more limited degree. In this model you purchase a plot of land in a starter world and how much land you purchase is basically equal to your subscription but this can only be done on designated worlds.
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Comments
all these things to be randomly determined from a world recipe that is constantly updating with new biome and point of interest additions.
there could also be a disaster system for worlds that either arent being used or are overly depleted. This would give new life to that world. Depleted worlds could also be converted to buildable worlds.
there are so many things you can do with random world generation that would work well in a mmo.
this is my ideal. Not necessarily a unique idea.
You are going to make subscriptions more expensive if you are suggesting AI just creates an expansion based on players wanderings and then deleting expansions based on quests. I do like your idea though and I love stargate.
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