23 replies to this topic

[rouncer]

Hey! Ive got a good idea, no mmo ive ever played implemented "mario brothers" like secrets and secret areas.

That would be really cool if you could put time into an mmo and put a few hard to find secrets in it, would make the game seem more mysterious and promote more websites about it maybe.

[SyntaxError]

fireside said:

I think procedural modeling and texturing will find it's niche, but that's all it will be. Most games need to be populated with well thought out goals and that means conscious placement of game objects. Try drifting around in a simulation for a while and it will get old in a hurry. That's not to say there are manipulative games that don't work that way such as Minecraft or some simulations.

MMORPGs are not typical games however. You don't win or lose. They are derived from D&D. They have small goals but typically not major goals. As an example there were very few actual quests in original everquest, yet it was still a hugely fun game for its time. Also there are lots of things that can be done with a good economic system and player generated quests. I actually find games that lead you though some linear pipeline extremely boring, but that's just me. In any case time will tell.

[Goldbott]

Well from all the great ideas I think I've put together a decent idea of what might appeal to many of the hardcore gamers out there.

Goal - To create a mmo with some real-time physics capabilities such as structure demolition and real-time ranged and melee combat.

Focus -
1-Combat and game mechanics first - make the game fun to play and remove the grind elements and anything that seems like too much work for a game - implement a robust crafting system and use exploration as a main method of obtaining currency.

2-Design - By this I mean placement of game elements and storyline. I also place the size and unique qualities of each map here.

3-MobAI - The AI for mast mmo mobs is generally weak - it wouldn't be all that difficult to add at least a little more realism to their attach style.

Server - The game will utilize one server with a projected capability of 175-250 CCU. New servers can be added when required.

Payment model - F2P with a cosmetic item shop as well as small in-game and site advertisement deals. The point of the income is to fund the server not to make profit. Projected revenue at six months full operating time (after final release ) $50-$150 a month. Projected profit $5-$50 a month. Using the profit to purchase better software for future releases and upgrade hardware will be priority. A certain amount (dependent mainly on server cost) will be set aside from the profits and placed into a side account to ensure that if a month goes by without significant income to fund server hosting the money from that account could be used.

Team - General estimate of team size for this project would be eight
Two Scripters
Two 3D artists (assuming they can create their own UV mapped textures and animate)
One Site Designer
One Writer
One World Builder
One Community Manager (later in development process)

This would be expanded after the first beta to include GM's and mod's

IDE/SDK
Depends - It'll be a while before I can get to work on this and the software I plan to use may change based on the expected upgrades to two particular game creation software bases.

[Luz Reyes]

I support the suggestion of NPCs that behave unpredictably. They could be programmed to behave randomly upon generation, or their behavior could be tied to a variety of factors, including your current status in the game.