It would be a first person shooter MMO in a post-apocalyptic setting. Perhaps cyberpunk, as there isn't a lot of competition in that genre.
Character advancement and customization would come in the form of gear.
Gear would include things like implants, vehicles, weapons, explosives...
tactical & utility items like radar, cloaking devices, cameras, weapon mods, rappel gear and so on.
All gear would be fully lootable from corpses, and players would be in a ring of competition for what's in the world.
Money would be static. Like a gold standard, there would be no way for money to pop into existence via NPC. There would be no room for inflation
I would add content like World of Warcraft does with epic battle scenes, stories and interesting NPC interactions. New gear would be added with the focus on providing new style elements to the game, such as skuba equipment, or thermoptic camoflage. The development teams combined imagination would be the limits on our creative use of adding new objects to the game for players to interact with.
If I were to go further, I'd add a crafting system and capital resources to the world. Such as in EVE online, there would be a way to gather resources for crafting. To counteract an inflation of gear, I would add ways for gear to deteriorate or break down into smaller components, used in crafting. If I was to completely seal the crafting sandbox, I'd make it so that the only way to get resources for crafting would be to break down an existing item in the game.
I could go further with this, but the main idea is that it would be level-less, class-less, skill-less with a focus on gear.
An MMO of the Real world. Not much else to say. IT wold be Fantastic Tool for learning and many other things. Just think when you wanna teach somebody about something you can bring them there in a Real high graphic 3-d Environment.
I think the main goal would be to create high Graphics on Multiple levels For different users. Low to Medium to high. With Each Setting Genre Having Its own set of Low to high settings. I hate when im playing a game and i lower the graphics and it Also lowers the quality. This way when exploring on lower settings you continue to keep the quality of everything you just loose The epicness you would gain from other settings.
Wow. Some of these post. I dont want a 50 man dev team.
I want a 4-6 man core dev team. I need 2 or 3 in QA. I need a release engineer. I need at least 10 3d modelers. 20 people doing scenery, textures, assets.
Then we have 5 people doing storyboard/quests/tuning. One person making sure the other 49 have what they need to work. One visionary and then Me to kick everybody in the ass to get things done.
I'm giving you 50 experienced developers (artists, programmers, the whole deal). You are the project manager, the direction of the game is completely open. What type of MMO do you make? What are the games goals?
Browser-based, micro-transaction, isometric-view, fantasy RPG with core focus on solo and small-group PvE, robust crafting system supported by time-consuming (and of course micro-payment-boosted) gathering, and a few "free-for-all PvP" zones with gathering nodes and fortresses giving buffs (XP, faction, gathering) to guilds owning them.
Western style graphics, but when solid partners are secured for launch in Asia there needs to be a client option for kawaii style. 6 months after launch, tailor the game further for the community existing in the game at that time.
Once that is all up and running, have the team make a post-apocalyptic version of the game, and then a sci-fi version, all following the same model. Other versions can be added over time too.
The games' goal? Make money. Duh.
Oh, you mean for the players? To have fun. Duh again. ;-)
giantsquidRunes of Magic CorrespondentMemberPosts: 118
F2P(I would follow Runes of Magic's example and not sell anything toward gear/weapons, only things that let you speed up your progression in the game)
Fantasy
PvP and PvE servers
PvP: factionless reputation based similar to Runes of Magic except I'd have a forced cooldown on PK status and no PK protection. Also, you'd be able to steal from players that you killed who were within 5 levels of you and the reputation points are based on level difference as well: you lose rep regardless of what level you kill, you cannot gain rep from any "redname" or negative rep person unless they are within 5 levels of you. Positive and negative rep provides bonuses and "curses" at different rep amounts. I.E. +30 rep gets you a small health bonus
I wouldn't be a good manager but I think if I were given a game like Runes of Magic, I would change the above in it, but I would take that massive team and redirect how the game is being worked on.
I would have the team implement all the basics as seen in RoM's open beta, then I would have them pump out new zones super fast to increase the game world to somewhere between the size of WoW and the size of EQ2.
After that I'd start implementing more systems and added things to do: collectable trophies, cards, furniture.
Basically I think more direction needs to be put toward getting the basics done, then increasing the overall size of the world to make it significantly sized(I.E. WoW, EQ2) then continue with adding new quests, mini-games, items,
The second major difference is a much more robust crafting system that is the real core of the game with pvp and instance raids and all the other stuff still there, but surrounding the craft system.
I'd try to make a mmorpg that felt as much as possible like a world. The foundations would be similar to EQ1 but with changes like:
- lots of factions with their own conflicts and alliances, possible to make your character neutral to all of them but not friendly, being friendly with some guarantees making enemies elesewhere
- quests and missions that tied in to the details of the world e.g one region could be the horse producing region and there'd be various trade type quests revolving around that fact. Basically making the quests and missions constantly reinforce the lore of the game
- animal critters act in a natural way e.g herds of deer, packs of wolves
- seasons
- zones aren't "levelled" completely e.g a level 10-20 zone doesn't just have level 10-20 mobs - it has the same basic low level mobs like deer etc and maybe a lowbie goblin camp or two plus areas of level 10-20 mobs plus a few higher level to scare the players and a high level zone might have all sorts of lowbie mobs plus the level 40 giant fort for the hgher level players
- no level 4 bears in lowbie zone and level 40 ones in a high zone, mob types exist in a level range that fits them e.g goblins always 4-8, orcs 6-12, uruks 8-16 etc with higher level leaders only.
- no single levelling conveyor belt from level 1-40, instead have lots of short conveyor belts in different zones that a player can jump on and off e.g a player might start off by joining the town watch in their starter town and do missions for that faction and in the process pick up a couple of fighting skills. Those fighting skills might be the requirements to join a number of other factions e.g the royal army or one of the temples as a guard. The army path would involve quests related to that and be a warrior style path picking up more advanced fighting skills and progressing through the ranks. One of the temple options might be a goodie healer type temple with quests that fitted that and the rewards for levelling with this temple could be a couple more fighting skills and some healing ability. The other temple might be an evil snake cult where the player picks up a couple of extra fighting skills and some skills involving poison. You'd build your char up by following a sequence of short conveyor belt faction quests that could make each char's path different.
- some dynamic element to the world where player actions have a persistent effect, even if temporary e.g normally in these games you the newbie zone with things like three farms overun by beetles and beetle quests that you complete and then the quest giver says you fixed the problem even though nothing has actually changed at all. Instead I'd have eruptions of beetles on one of the farms on a random timer so your char/group can solve the beetle problem (at least until the next time the timer triggers) and there'd be a visinle change i.e no beetles. Other zones could have 2-3 states that can flip through player action like the battlefield objectives in Warhammer RvR e.g a zone with a goblin fort in the middle of it which if attacked successfully by players (similar to a Warhammer public quest) can flip to a human village with vendors and an inn. Once flipped there'd be regular attempted goblin invasions on a timer and this would be set up so the goblin NPCs would beat the human ones unless there was some players helping and if the invasion succeeded the zone would flip back to state 1.
Something like that. Try and make a game that felt like a world.
I'd create a giant sandbox game. Sci-fi with both ground and twitch space combat. Giant open, seamless, instance free worlds. Housing, cities, bases. Fully player driven, crafter driven economy and a rocking skill system. Basically old SWG, only fixed and improved.
I'm giving you 50 experienced developers (artists, programmers, the whole deal). You are the project manager, the direction of the game is completely open. What type of MMO do you make? What are the games goals?
I'd create a game like APB but better. You wouldn't choose a class or any skills, you'd just start off being born in a certain area of a city. And the choices you make as you go from adolescent to adult determines the path you're on. Whether it be a big bully, a nerdy genius, or glamorous slut, you will be stuck on this path (and it may or may not be a rewarding path) unless you make certain decisions that creates a branch in your life line. Your destiny is your own and only you can stay on the bottom or rise to the top. And rising to the top is the toughest challenge. It will not be an easy battle, but keeping your friends close and your enemies closer, you will survive the greatest challenges and become the ruler of all (until someone dethrones you of course).
I'm giving you 50 experienced developers (artists, programmers, the whole deal). You are the project manager, the direction of the game is completely open. What type of MMO do you make? What are the games goals?
A Battletech MMO.
That's it.
I think this is one of the better ideas in this thread, even better a mechwarrior mmo, that's a healthy franchise yet to be exploited by the MMO market.
Someone also mentioned 40k, I thought cryptic(maybe bioware?) was spose to be working on one, but the website has been stagnant for 1 year+ so im thinking the economy ate it. If so that is a tremendous property for the MMO market, I am hooping to see one in the works soon.
As for me, I think I would make a good sandbox wild west MMO. I'd make it huge too... like gigantic by current standards... I'd be willing to sacrifice a little graphics for size (my adoring fans would forgive me, as well as people with outdated computers). I'd make perhaps a territory sized map (south dakota maybe) you could buy a claim and try to strike it rich or get a lumber lease ... be any sort of craftsman... be an outlaw, a lawman an indian or a soldier.... players could form settlements, set up saloons, brothels or legitimate buisnesses... run trains... or rob them!
There might not be much of a market for my game, but its my dev team... ima do what i want .
Anyways there isnt one out there thats gotta be worth something
House based character management. As you get a bigger house you can have more characters. When one dies the next in line inherits title and assets has to retrain abilities.
3 way border war. Actual battle lines change as events unfold.
Terrain altering gathering mechanic. Allowing deforestation and as tech increases even strip mining. Farming Animal Husbandry etc etc.
Deep crafting system based on ingredients and skills allowing for certain experimentation.
Overdose of fluff over time allowing crafters to create any sort of item adding new art monthly to the crafting tables.
Experimentation triggered tech advancement.
Historically inaccurate settings including mythology and other superstitions.
this game would be coded to allow multiple platform consoles, Web browser based and, server client.
Gold based currency economy mechanic.
Gold is the commodity it originates from gathering, questing, monster drops, treasure chests. It is no drop and can only be sold to banks. Gold is the asset that drives the Character Advancement. When you get gold and sell it to the bank a note of how much is added to the account and as it adds up the character levels.
Currency is the mechanic. Its value is based on the amount of gold in the system. It is used in all player transactions and can be used to buy all other items. Currency is coded with an origin tag. If your caught dealing in RMT you get a warning and then your coded assets are removed.
PvE will revolve around hunting tasks village and city protection and monster hunting/fighting based on mythology and superstition. And fighting the innermost NPC's as the army progresses.
PvP will revolve around a three way border war.
NPC's will not involve themselves at the border. but as you get closer to the capitol center areas the npc's will be actively fighting the invading force.
Mêlée fighting system based on skill manual targeting and opportunity attacks. IE you will cock your fist to punch but not throw the punch until your opponent comes within range of your fist. He may see your fist cocked and try to set up a counter . If your right on top of each other it will be instant attack
Tech based world Sim designs
Starting with sticks and stones draping dead animals on your back for armor. Crafters would use experimentation mechanic to unlock sharpening, fire hardening, etc each experiment that is successful becomes the basis for the next. in this way the tech advances would go quickly at first but become more slow as more and more materials are discovered to experiment with. IE
After the crafter contingent creates 100 fire hardened staves and a group of gatherers found some copper ore the tech advance would allow crafters to tip their staves with copper. After so many rocks were used to shape wood or stone fro tools a tech advance would open to allow handles to be put on the rocks to make hammers. The tech would originate in the area with the crafters that make the discovery who would share that knowledge by traveling to other areas. Usually with a bunch of their product to sell.
this where i would start.
Refugee from UO,EQ,AC,AC2,AO,DAOC,L2,SB,HZ,CoH,PT,EQ2,WoW,VG,SWG,EVE,WAR,DF,MO,AI,GA,LOTRO, SWTOR... Gw2 on Deck
buildable towns and forts each race a faction, in faction murder possible but that sticks for good.. so get a tent.
Psudo real death but can be ressurected just no ghost running.
NPC travellers, bandits, criminals and heroes all doing their own thing so you can get what you need on the go alot via henchmen, supplies, or a dagger or whatnot... a rez.
PvP centric but many mass dungeons and highly explorable.
NPCs have agendas, build towns, learn to hate you, not just your race.. some of them hate just you, hire assassins to kill you etc.
Henchmen, mostly hireable, some permanant due to spec.
There are mounts, not always a good idea in some.. most areas of the game.
Classes: in progress lots to choose from..
Professions: yes and they MATTER your leather items can compare to dungeon items.
Instances but: your not going to be able to have it all to yourself, every group doen't get their own personal little dungeon to safely traverse, others may come in as well.. and some things get out.
Astral gods sometimes .. get involved... to a degree.
First/Third Person Shooter mixed with Driving/Piloting, individual and coletivelly.
In a modern ambientation. No more fantasy or sci-fi. We are sick of those.
Long character progression (vertically AND horizontally) time sink, yet organic sense progression.
without quests or endgame as we know it, remove those concepts from the design from the beggining. Make a multitude of possible activities (open ended nature), make them all fun and rewarding. Create a conflict based on the overwhelming ammount of possibilities of what to do now. Dont force nothing, dont drive them, dont limit them, neither promisse them an endgame.
Roguelike elements, randomization/progression is king. Exagerate on procedurally generated content. Create/Invest on system mechanics that will run/nurture itself in the long run.
High risks, High rewards experience is the best way versus the safe/boring/guaranteed way. People can go anywhere, try anything, their results are based on their choices, the system wont never tell them if they will suceed or not.
No concerns on balance between classes, races, levels, equipments power, no concern on economy either. Human nature, dont waste your time trying to change it.
Free for all PVP and Player Driven Economy.
Frustrating and shocking death experience, make it so combat is not essential.
Durability/Decay on everything, from characters, to map elements/territory, to equipments, buildings.
Evolution and DE-evolution, when it applies.
Make everything as organic as possible, from the beggining dont advertise/give people hopes of ever lasting achievements or power.
Not everyone is a hero, instead of "everyone is a hero" (wich defeats the uniqueness and rewarding feeling of being a hero).
Make it people can achieve stuff without combat, through other activities.
Design it not to be a game. Design it to be players new virtual lifes.
Iinstead of "si vis pacem para belum" paradigm, to "carpe diem" paradigm.
Or you make it so its enjoyed at any time, from the start and prevent it from being attractive to think that it will be much more enjoyable comparativelly in the long term.
Dont stablish limits/caps, make the lore/ambientation coerent with this.
No instances, even if the character locks itself in their bathroom inside their house, someone can come in by destroying the door/walls.
Allow players ability to control almost everything, creating/destructing/controlling, from nature laws, to territories, to buildings, to services, to products, but hiding the game mechanics itself! The game mechanics you prevent being controlled by hiding and changing them all the time. No certainties, not even on the stats of characters stats and chances of succeess. Every knowledge is a secret that even if posted on wiki, due to its random/mutable nature, will be incorrect/imprecise and it can be twisted from black to white inexplicably. True knowledge will be of high value adding to "player skill".
My best ideas wont be posted here. Pay up front and I will share.
4: Completly player made economy. Every items player can use are made by other players. Just like EVE.
5: You dont hunt NPC, NPC hunt you. Just like L4D. When you leave safe area, NPC spawn around you and proced to kill you.
6: Balanced around small groups; Its hard to survive alone, if you are pinned down by a monster and you have already used your escapes abilities, you are mostly dead. Thats why being 2 or 3 is more profitable. No XP debuff until you your group is bigger than 5. There will just be more enemy spawning around you.
7: Full free for all PVP. Everyone start neutral, depending on your actions, you have a bad or good standing, like EVE.
8: Full loot. But items take HARD durability hits when they are shot at. Which mean you may only scavenge one or two pieces at a time from dead bodies.
9: At launch, hauling vehicles only. Haul marchandises or people in between player made hubs or encounter instance ( think dungeon in WOW ) Maybe one lightly armored vehicle with a turret such as a humvee or a pickup.
A game studio. And make AA games, with a few A games. Dream to make AAA games, but not really, and never ever make a MMORPG game. Online games maybe, but not mmo's.
I would make a game that I actually wanted to play. If I had unlimited founds and a good 50 man dev team to make it. I would make a game for me.
Then I would use an invite System where you had to submit an essay on the charecter you would be portraying, to even get to play it.
This way I would only have the Top Elite RP players joining my game. As the game would not be out to make a profit but to provide a playground for the privileged to play in.
So my dream is to make a game for Old school Rpg players, those that realy know how to RP, and make it an invite only game, where we could create our own universe away from retarded little kidds, gold sellers and people with a lack of vison.....
Ps: IT would not be out to make a profit just be the Best game on the market, but just like a sports car not everyone would get to drive it hehe
Order a bunch of pizza and beer... and have a LAN party. These guys are overworked, and many right out have not been paid. It may not be a long vacation, but it would be the least I could do.
From butchering boars in the forest to slay'n the mother dragon from another dimension... From getting ganked to pop'n noobs in the starter area.... From questing till my eyes bleed to crafting till I fall asleep in my computer chair... I salute you developers!! If you’re ever in the Dallas area, you can stop by for beer and pizza on me...
I would make a game that I actually wanted to play. If I had unlimited founds and a good 50 man dev team to make it. I would make a game for me. Then I would use an invite System where you had to submit an essay on the charecter you would be portraying, to even get to play it. This way I would only have the Top Elite RP players joining my game. As the game would not be out to make a profit but to provide a playground for the privileged to play in. It would be like Owning a koenigsegg www.tendancehightech.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/images/Koenigsegg-CCX-2007.jpg , many dream of it but few can afford it. So my dream is to make a game for Old school Rpg players, those that realy know how to RP, and make it an invite only game, where we could create our own universe away from retarded little kidds, gold sellers and people with a lack of vison..... Ps: IT would not be out to make a profit just be the Best game on the market, but just like a sports car not everyone would get to drive it hehe
2 points - 1) it would be the best game for YOU, not necessarily the best game for everyone else(the best game is a mythical beast - because you cannot please everyone, the best you can get is the most popular game). (2) it sounds a lot like D&D paper and pen used to be, and if so I might write an essay to try and play.
I would make a game that I actually wanted to play. If I had unlimited founds and a good 50 man dev team to make it. I would make a game for me. Then I would use an invite System where you had to submit an essay on the charecter you would be portraying, to even get to play it. This way I would only have the Top Elite RP players joining my game. As the game would not be out to make a profit but to provide a playground for the privileged to play in. It would be like Owning a koenigsegg www.tendancehightech.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/images/Koenigsegg-CCX-2007.jpg , many dream of it but few can afford it. So my dream is to make a game for Old school Rpg players, those that realy know how to RP, and make it an invite only game, where we could create our own universe away from retarded little kidds, gold sellers and people with a lack of vison..... Ps: IT would not be out to make a profit just be the Best game on the market, but just like a sports car not everyone would get to drive it hehe
2 points - 1) it would be the best game for YOU, not necessarily the best game for everyone else(the best game is a mythical beast - because you cannot please everyone, the best you can get is the most popular game). (2) it sounds a lot like D&D paper and pen used to be, and if so I might write an essay to try and play.
How right you are my friend . Iv been Storytelling pen and paper RPGs going on 20+ years now so. I would make a game for me and my fellow players that like my style.... Others would not be welcome. Through he years I have had to cut out alot of players that did not have what it takes to be part of my Elit gaming circle. I only look for the best you know. And I would approche an MMO mush the same way. Only the worthy would get a chans to play it. Just like a Luxury sports car not everyone can have one sorry!
"I'm giving you a 50 man developer team. What do you do with them?"
I ask where my equally large QA team is that is going to test the game, then ask why not some more devs to make a AAA title. Then say if this is all I have I assign everyone dev and QA assignements and go with a more sandbox open ended game since I won't have the man power to put in lots of deep quests and solid storys.
Comments
I laugh at you and demand a 200 person team.
Level-less, skill-less, class-less gameplay.
It would be a first person shooter MMO in a post-apocalyptic setting. Perhaps cyberpunk, as there isn't a lot of competition in that genre.
Character advancement and customization would come in the form of gear.
Gear would include things like implants, vehicles, weapons, explosives...
tactical & utility items like radar, cloaking devices, cameras, weapon mods, rappel gear and so on.
All gear would be fully lootable from corpses, and players would be in a ring of competition for what's in the world.
Money would be static. Like a gold standard, there would be no way for money to pop into existence via NPC. There would be no room for inflation
I would add content like World of Warcraft does with epic battle scenes, stories and interesting NPC interactions. New gear would be added with the focus on providing new style elements to the game, such as skuba equipment, or thermoptic camoflage. The development teams combined imagination would be the limits on our creative use of adding new objects to the game for players to interact with.
If I were to go further, I'd add a crafting system and capital resources to the world. Such as in EVE online, there would be a way to gather resources for crafting. To counteract an inflation of gear, I would add ways for gear to deteriorate or break down into smaller components, used in crafting. If I was to completely seal the crafting sandbox, I'd make it so that the only way to get resources for crafting would be to break down an existing item in the game.
I could go further with this, but the main idea is that it would be level-less, class-less, skill-less with a focus on gear.
An MMO of the Real world. Not much else to say. IT wold be Fantastic Tool for learning and many other things. Just think when you wanna teach somebody about something you can bring them there in a Real high graphic 3-d Environment.
I think the main goal would be to create high Graphics on Multiple levels For different users. Low to Medium to high. With Each Setting Genre Having Its own set of Low to high settings. I hate when im playing a game and i lower the graphics and it Also lowers the quality. This way when exploring on lower settings you continue to keep the quality of everything you just loose The epicness you would gain from other settings.
Wow. Some of these post. I dont want a 50 man dev team.
I want a 4-6 man core dev team. I need 2 or 3 in QA. I need a release engineer. I need at least 10 3d modelers. 20 people doing scenery, textures, assets.
Then we have 5 people doing storyboard/quests/tuning. One person making sure the other 49 have what they need to work. One visionary and then Me to kick everybody in the ass to get things done.
That's your 50.
Browser-based, micro-transaction, isometric-view, fantasy RPG with core focus on solo and small-group PvE, robust crafting system supported by time-consuming (and of course micro-payment-boosted) gathering, and a few "free-for-all PvP" zones with gathering nodes and fortresses giving buffs (XP, faction, gathering) to guilds owning them.
Western style graphics, but when solid partners are secured for launch in Asia there needs to be a client option for kawaii style. 6 months after launch, tailor the game further for the community existing in the game at that time.
Once that is all up and running, have the team make a post-apocalyptic version of the game, and then a sci-fi version, all following the same model. Other versions can be added over time too.
The games' goal? Make money. Duh.
Oh, you mean for the players? To have fun. Duh again. ;-)
Basically I think more direction needs to be put toward getting the basics done, then increasing the overall size of the world to make it significantly sized(I.E. WoW, EQ2) then continue with adding new quests, mini-games, items,
The second major difference is a much more robust crafting system that is the real core of the game with pvp and instance raids and all the other stuff still there, but surrounding the craft system.
Just One MMOre
Remake Asherons Call, no where near the idea of Asherons Call 2. Better Graphics with the same gameplay and slight tweaks to combat and casting.
Sell their organs for beer money
I'd try to make a mmorpg that felt as much as possible like a world. The foundations would be similar to EQ1 but with changes like:
- lots of factions with their own conflicts and alliances, possible to make your character neutral to all of them but not friendly, being friendly with some guarantees making enemies elesewhere
- quests and missions that tied in to the details of the world e.g one region could be the horse producing region and there'd be various trade type quests revolving around that fact. Basically making the quests and missions constantly reinforce the lore of the game
- animal critters act in a natural way e.g herds of deer, packs of wolves
- seasons
- zones aren't "levelled" completely e.g a level 10-20 zone doesn't just have level 10-20 mobs - it has the same basic low level mobs like deer etc and maybe a lowbie goblin camp or two plus areas of level 10-20 mobs plus a few higher level to scare the players and a high level zone might have all sorts of lowbie mobs plus the level 40 giant fort for the hgher level players
- no level 4 bears in lowbie zone and level 40 ones in a high zone, mob types exist in a level range that fits them e.g goblins always 4-8, orcs 6-12, uruks 8-16 etc with higher level leaders only.
- no single levelling conveyor belt from level 1-40, instead have lots of short conveyor belts in different zones that a player can jump on and off e.g a player might start off by joining the town watch in their starter town and do missions for that faction and in the process pick up a couple of fighting skills. Those fighting skills might be the requirements to join a number of other factions e.g the royal army or one of the temples as a guard. The army path would involve quests related to that and be a warrior style path picking up more advanced fighting skills and progressing through the ranks. One of the temple options might be a goodie healer type temple with quests that fitted that and the rewards for levelling with this temple could be a couple more fighting skills and some healing ability. The other temple might be an evil snake cult where the player picks up a couple of extra fighting skills and some skills involving poison. You'd build your char up by following a sequence of short conveyor belt faction quests that could make each char's path different.
- some dynamic element to the world where player actions have a persistent effect, even if temporary e.g normally in these games you the newbie zone with things like three farms overun by beetles and beetle quests that you complete and then the quest giver says you fixed the problem even though nothing has actually changed at all. Instead I'd have eruptions of beetles on one of the farms on a random timer so your char/group can solve the beetle problem (at least until the next time the timer triggers) and there'd be a visinle change i.e no beetles. Other zones could have 2-3 states that can flip through player action like the battlefield objectives in Warhammer RvR e.g a zone with a goblin fort in the middle of it which if attacked successfully by players (similar to a Warhammer public quest) can flip to a human village with vendors and an inn. Once flipped there'd be regular attempted goblin invasions on a timer and this would be set up so the goblin NPCs would beat the human ones unless there was some players helping and if the invasion succeeded the zone would flip back to state 1.
Something like that. Try and make a game that felt like a world.
SHABAM!!
Survey says, "NUMBER ONE ANSWER!"
Tried: EvE, DnD Online, LotRO, WAR, AoC,
Played: UO, SWG(pre-cu), GuildWars, FFXI, WoW
Liked: UO, SWG, GuildWars
Disliked: WoW, FFXI
I'd create a game like APB but better. You wouldn't choose a class or any skills, you'd just start off being born in a certain area of a city. And the choices you make as you go from adolescent to adult determines the path you're on. Whether it be a big bully, a nerdy genius, or glamorous slut, you will be stuck on this path (and it may or may not be a rewarding path) unless you make certain decisions that creates a branch in your life line. Your destiny is your own and only you can stay on the bottom or rise to the top. And rising to the top is the toughest challenge. It will not be an easy battle, but keeping your friends close and your enemies closer, you will survive the greatest challenges and become the ruler of all (until someone dethrones you of course).
I would create The Change Online. An MMO based off of S.M. Stirling Change books that start with Dies the Fire
A Battletech MMO.
That's it.
I think this is one of the better ideas in this thread, even better a mechwarrior mmo, that's a healthy franchise yet to be exploited by the MMO market.
Someone also mentioned 40k, I thought cryptic(maybe bioware?) was spose to be working on one, but the website has been stagnant for 1 year+ so im thinking the economy ate it. If so that is a tremendous property for the MMO market, I am hooping to see one in the works soon.
As for me, I think I would make a good sandbox wild west MMO. I'd make it huge too... like gigantic by current standards... I'd be willing to sacrifice a little graphics for size (my adoring fans would forgive me, as well as people with outdated computers). I'd make perhaps a territory sized map (south dakota maybe) you could buy a claim and try to strike it rich or get a lumber lease ... be any sort of craftsman... be an outlaw, a lawman an indian or a soldier.... players could form settlements, set up saloons, brothels or legitimate buisnesses... run trains... or rob them!
There might not be much of a market for my game, but its my dev team... ima do what i want .
Anyways there isnt one out there thats gotta be worth something
MMORPG
Twich based combat
Asset Driven Skill Based Character Advancement.
Full loot FFA PvP
Perma Death
House based character management. As you get a bigger house you can have more characters. When one dies the next in line inherits title and assets has to retrain abilities.
3 way border war. Actual battle lines change as events unfold.
Terrain altering gathering mechanic. Allowing deforestation and as tech increases even strip mining. Farming Animal Husbandry etc etc.
Deep crafting system based on ingredients and skills allowing for certain experimentation.
Overdose of fluff over time allowing crafters to create any sort of item adding new art monthly to the crafting tables.
Experimentation triggered tech advancement.
Historically inaccurate settings including mythology and other superstitions.
Slightly techtonic variance quarter scale earth map complete with 2 hemispheres (server separations).
this game would be coded to allow multiple platform consoles, Web browser based and, server client.
Gold based currency economy mechanic.
Gold is the commodity it originates from gathering, questing, monster drops, treasure chests. It is no drop and can only be sold to banks. Gold is the asset that drives the Character Advancement. When you get gold and sell it to the bank a note of how much is added to the account and as it adds up the character levels.
Currency is the mechanic. Its value is based on the amount of gold in the system. It is used in all player transactions and can be used to buy all other items. Currency is coded with an origin tag. If your caught dealing in RMT you get a warning and then your coded assets are removed.
PvE will revolve around hunting tasks village and city protection and monster hunting/fighting based on mythology and superstition. And fighting the innermost NPC's as the army progresses.
PvP will revolve around a three way border war.
NPC's will not involve themselves at the border. but as you get closer to the capitol center areas the npc's will be actively fighting the invading force.
Mêlée fighting system based on skill manual targeting and opportunity attacks. IE you will cock your fist to punch but not throw the punch until your opponent comes within range of your fist. He may see your fist cocked and try to set up a counter . If your right on top of each other it will be instant attack
Tech based world Sim designs
Starting with sticks and stones draping dead animals on your back for armor. Crafters would use experimentation mechanic to unlock sharpening, fire hardening, etc each experiment that is successful becomes the basis for the next. in this way the tech advances would go quickly at first but become more slow as more and more materials are discovered to experiment with. IE
After the crafter contingent creates 100 fire hardened staves and a group of gatherers found some copper ore the tech advance would allow crafters to tip their staves with copper. After so many rocks were used to shape wood or stone fro tools a tech advance would open to allow handles to be put on the rocks to make hammers. The tech would originate in the area with the crafters that make the discovery who would share that knowledge by traveling to other areas. Usually with a bunch of their product to sell.
this where i would start.
Refugee from UO,EQ,AC,AC2,AO,DAOC,L2,SB,HZ,CoH,PT,EQ2,WoW,VG,SWG,EVE,WAR,DF,MO,AI,GA,LOTRO, SWTOR... Gw2 on Deck
Planescape setting Sandbox but Dungeon Crawl.
3d but done in far out possibly 2 1/2 visuals.
14 levels at release.
buildable towns and forts each race a faction, in faction murder possible but that sticks for good.. so get a tent.
Psudo real death but can be ressurected just no ghost running.
NPC travellers, bandits, criminals and heroes all doing their own thing so you can get what you need on the go alot via henchmen, supplies, or a dagger or whatnot... a rez.
Races: Githyanki, Tiefling, Shad, Githzerai, Nathri, Khaasta.
Semi destructable environment.
Clustered servers many acting as one.
PvP centric but many mass dungeons and highly explorable.
NPCs have agendas, build towns, learn to hate you, not just your race.. some of them hate just you, hire assassins to kill you etc.
Henchmen, mostly hireable, some permanant due to spec.
There are mounts, not always a good idea in some.. most areas of the game.
Classes: in progress lots to choose from..
Professions: yes and they MATTER your leather items can compare to dungeon items.
Instances but: your not going to be able to have it all to yourself, every group doen't get their own personal little dungeon to safely traverse, others may come in as well.. and some things get out.
Astral gods sometimes .. get involved... to a degree.
I would bet on a mixture of genres.
First/Third Person Shooter mixed with Driving/Piloting, individual and coletivelly.
In a modern ambientation. No more fantasy or sci-fi. We are sick of those.
Long character progression (vertically AND horizontally) time sink, yet organic sense progression.
without quests or endgame as we know it, remove those concepts from the design from the beggining. Make a multitude of possible activities (open ended nature), make them all fun and rewarding. Create a conflict based on the overwhelming ammount of possibilities of what to do now. Dont force nothing, dont drive them, dont limit them, neither promisse them an endgame.
Roguelike elements, randomization/progression is king. Exagerate on procedurally generated content. Create/Invest on system mechanics that will run/nurture itself in the long run.
High risks, High rewards experience is the best way versus the safe/boring/guaranteed way. People can go anywhere, try anything, their results are based on their choices, the system wont never tell them if they will suceed or not.
No concerns on balance between classes, races, levels, equipments power, no concern on economy either. Human nature, dont waste your time trying to change it.
Free for all PVP and Player Driven Economy.
Frustrating and shocking death experience, make it so combat is not essential.
Durability/Decay on everything, from characters, to map elements/territory, to equipments, buildings.
Evolution and DE-evolution, when it applies.
Make everything as organic as possible, from the beggining dont advertise/give people hopes of ever lasting achievements or power.
Not everyone is a hero, instead of "everyone is a hero" (wich defeats the uniqueness and rewarding feeling of being a hero).
Make it people can achieve stuff without combat, through other activities.
Design it not to be a game. Design it to be players new virtual lifes.
Iinstead of "si vis pacem para belum" paradigm, to "carpe diem" paradigm.
Or you make it so its enjoyed at any time, from the start and prevent it from being attractive to think that it will be much more enjoyable comparativelly in the long term.
Dont stablish limits/caps, make the lore/ambientation coerent with this.
No instances, even if the character locks itself in their bathroom inside their house, someone can come in by destroying the door/walls.
Allow players ability to control almost everything, creating/destructing/controlling, from nature laws, to territories, to buildings, to services, to products, but hiding the game mechanics itself! The game mechanics you prevent being controlled by hiding and changing them all the time. No certainties, not even on the stats of characters stats and chances of succeess. Every knowledge is a secret that even if posted on wiki, due to its random/mutable nature, will be incorrect/imprecise and it can be twisted from black to white inexplicably. True knowledge will be of high value adding to "player skill".
My best ideas wont be posted here. Pay up front and I will share.
I make a game with core mechanics as follow;
1: Real time combat, twicth+gear based. A little bit like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
2: Non linear skills trees, it level up over time just like EVE, but you can speed it up using the skills unlike EVE.
3: Basic movements = Sprint, crouch, crawl, lean left, lean right, jump.
4: Completly player made economy. Every items player can use are made by other players. Just like EVE.
5: You dont hunt NPC, NPC hunt you. Just like L4D. When you leave safe area, NPC spawn around you and proced to kill you.
6: Balanced around small groups; Its hard to survive alone, if you are pinned down by a monster and you have already used your escapes abilities, you are mostly dead. Thats why being 2 or 3 is more profitable. No XP debuff until you your group is bigger than 5. There will just be more enemy spawning around you.
7: Full free for all PVP. Everyone start neutral, depending on your actions, you have a bad or good standing, like EVE.
8: Full loot. But items take HARD durability hits when they are shot at. Which mean you may only scavenge one or two pieces at a time from dead bodies.
9: At launch, hauling vehicles only. Haul marchandises or people in between player made hubs or encounter instance ( think dungeon in WOW ) Maybe one lightly armored vehicle with a turret such as a humvee or a pickup.
Sigh, if only.
EDIT: LOL ZORVAN...awesome post... really funny!
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Before: developers loved games and made money.
Now: developers love money and make games.
With 50 devs?
A game studio. And make AA games, with a few A games. Dream to make AAA games, but not really, and never ever make a MMORPG game. Online games maybe, but not mmo's.
My business plan in bullet points.
1- I'd first trade them in for 50 monkeys.
2-I'd have those monkeys find me the ten most fundementally flawed games in existence.
3-I'd open up a subscription based all access pass to every game for the cheap price of 24.99 a month
4- I would then divide the monkeys up 5 to a game.
5-Sit back and laugh. Oh, and buy a bunch of bananas.
Crap it's already been done
.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I would make a game that I actually wanted to play. If I had unlimited founds and a good 50 man dev team to make it. I would make a game for me.
Then I would use an invite System where you had to submit an essay on the charecter you would be portraying, to even get to play it.
This way I would only have the Top Elite RP players joining my game. As the game would not be out to make a profit but to provide a playground for the privileged to play in.
It would be like Owning a koenigsegg www.tendancehightech.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/images/Koenigsegg-CCX-2007.jpg , many dream of it but few can afford it.
So my dream is to make a game for Old school Rpg players, those that realy know how to RP, and make it an invite only game, where we could create our own universe away from retarded little kidds, gold sellers and people with a lack of vison.....
Ps: IT would not be out to make a profit just be the Best game on the market, but just like a sports car not everyone would get to drive it hehe
Order a bunch of pizza and beer... and have a LAN party. These guys are overworked, and many right out have not been paid. It may not be a long vacation, but it would be the least I could do.
From butchering boars in the forest to slay'n the mother dragon from another dimension... From getting ganked to pop'n noobs in the starter area.... From questing till my eyes bleed to crafting till I fall asleep in my computer chair... I salute you developers!! If you’re ever in the Dallas area, you can stop by for beer and pizza on me...
2 points - 1) it would be the best game for YOU, not necessarily the best game for everyone else(the best game is a mythical beast - because you cannot please everyone, the best you can get is the most popular game). (2) it sounds a lot like D&D paper and pen used to be, and if so I might write an essay to try and play.
2 points - 1) it would be the best game for YOU, not necessarily the best game for everyone else(the best game is a mythical beast - because you cannot please everyone, the best you can get is the most popular game). (2) it sounds a lot like D&D paper and pen used to be, and if so I might write an essay to try and play.
How right you are my friend
. Iv been Storytelling pen and paper RPGs going on 20+ years now so. I would make a game for me and my fellow players that like my style.... Others would not be welcome. Through he years I have had to cut out alot of players that did not have what it takes to be part of my Elit gaming circle. I only look for the best you know. And I would approche an MMO mush the same way. Only the worthy would get a chans to play it. Just like a Luxury sports car not everyone can have one sorry!
"I'm giving you a 50 man developer team. What do you do with them?"
I ask where my equally large QA team is that is going to test the game, then ask why not some more devs to make a AAA title. Then say if this is all I have I assign everyone dev and QA assignements and go with a more sandbox open ended game since I won't have the man power to put in lots of deep quests and solid storys.