Topics

1

Precursors / Player Advancement

« on: September 29, 2005, 09:24:08 am »

So its time I start contributing again.....

Player Advancement, how do we keep them coming back for more like a good drug?  I've played pretty much every MMORPG in the last 6 years so I can tell you exactly what I do and do not like.  Let's break this down into phases:

Character Creation - Users should be able to create a highly customizable character (facial features, attitude, etc) and not have to worry about messing up with bad stats.  Everquest had this problem, where if you picked to put all your points into Intelligence as a fighter you were boned for quite some time.  Abilities should not very too much other then by race.  No class choices at creation.

First Days - The first time that User logins in with their new character they should be greeted and offered a tutorial dependant on their race.  Characters should follow the tutoiral to get a basic understanding of the mission system, communicating, fighting, travel, ship systems, etc.  A little taste of everything.  This tutorial and initial system should be downloadable and free...hook the players here, get them wanting more.  It would be important to make them feel involved in the story and want to purchase the game.

First Week - Characters should start interacting with other people, NPCs and start deciding on skills, classes, etc..some kind of a goal for their character.  We should never lock them in to just one though.  With Eve Online I could switch with time to any other role I wanted (from fighter to trader to miner to industrial).  

First Month - Characters might have a list of friends that they've been in contact with and share similar ideals with.  A corporate, group,etc is formed, this bond is often the most important in an MMORPG.

First Year - Character is well established in the story line, player world, and so forth.  He has reach a lot of goals and also set new ones at the same time.  The user has become very attached to his character and would no cherish starting over.

2

Precursors / mmorpg design article

« on: August 12, 2005, 12:16:38 pm »

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=723&Itemid=2

thoughts? opions?


--------------------

Never trust the client.
Never put anything on the client. The client is in the hands of the enemy. Never ever ever forget this.

I think this is an extremely important item to keep in mind for obvious reasons

3

Precursors / Content

« on: August 11, 2005, 07:29:35 am »

In my other post just now I mentioned a need for content.  Do we have any plans yet for a mission system, task system, quests, etc?

If we took as much time with backstory, groups, politics, etc with content as we do with the actual game, we will have a plethra of good stuff come beta and rollout.  A coupl eof things i have seen in games would be kind of cool to implement.  In one game they have Agents where you go an get missions from.  There is a general bucket of missions and one is selected randomly.  They scale with the level of the Agent so they are usable by noobies and oldtimers a like.  They also added in story line agents/missions that advance some overall story for the player.  

Another thing I saw in a game was they have these battleground zones and you do quests for your side of the conflict.  As you do these quests your "avatar" for your side (just some super beefy npc) grows in power for when it attacks the other side.  We could do something similar with faction missions where as you complete quests for the Terran side, a deathstar is created, or something of the like.

ok, really ima go work now.

topher

4

Precursors / Game Acceptance

« on: August 11, 2005, 07:24:21 am »

The current crop of major publisher MMORPGS seem to pass or fail based on

1.) rollout (how smooth it went from beta to prod)/first month of release
2,) content
3.) game play
4.) customer interaction

I'll try and address this one by one-

Rollout Anarchy Online is a prime example of an awesome game that people had to write off because of constatnt bugs, slow servers, crashes, and a lot of other things that were just ammateurish.  There are two exceptions to this, one is Everquest the other is World of Warcraft.  Both were so anticipated and ground breaking that people could see through some of the problems.

Content One of the few games I never tried was Shadowbane, mostly because it was pure PvP and they relied on that as their content.  Another game that had piss poor content, again becase of a reliance on pvp was Lineage.  The first time i played eve, wow, eq i felt immersed because of the rich towns and npcs.   To this end we need static content and dynamic content to keep people going.  This is where we have an opportunity to really shine!

Game Play This one is a given.  The major benefit we have upgront is the different styles of play.  Not only that but we allolw actual flying in space, something which has never been done before.  <derail of my own thread> I was just thinking how cool it would be to have tests of skill for pilots, like a race, obstacle course, etc that would be pitted against others as some kind of an event.</derail of my own thread>

Customer Interaction All of the current MMORPGS have a customer relations face person who handles press, message boards, and generally acts as a buffer between the development team and the players.  The worst part about everquest early on is they did not have this, only the two producers, who rub a lot of the community the wrong way.  Keep customer apprised of upcoming changes, answer questions that are not detremental to the game, and help keep them happy are all roles this person/people who have to do.

Ok, my brain is finally switching gears from creative mode to programmer mode (it's early) so i'm out =)

5

Precursors / Guilds, Corps, Player Goverments

« on: August 09, 2005, 10:56:17 pm »

So I 've yet to see a discussion on the social aspects of the game.  Will players be able to create different kind of social structures, ie. gangs of mercenaries, corporation of research scientists, etc?

In another game i play you have Corporations and skills associated with running said corp.  You can designate roles and responsibilietes to each member of your corp, from VP to research assistant, etc.  Corps also have a wallet, shared banking, hangers and many other items that are rights protected.

topher