ZinroC's MMO

[zinroc]

This topic is for development's in my project.

My motivations for making this game are:
1) http://indie-resource.com/forums/viewto ... =28&t=7362
2) for fun


Lore
Theogony
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IZm ... sp=sharing

GDD
Racial Structures
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11Tg ... sp=sharing
Framework
http://prezi.com/rolvlmb4d75x/?utm_camp ... c=ex0share
http://prezi.com/31-fj2v5husr/?utm_camp ... edium=copy


Code
TBD

Art
TBD

Development Plan

I'd like to get the barebones of the game made (the two core mechanics, target system and action point system) and make it easy to create new actions. Also, make a fully functioning human town (with most of the planned attractions) with a border of "boundary conditions" that simulate what/who would be coming in/out of the town if the world was fully created. This would be a "tech demo" of how to world would work. This would hopefully peak enough interest to get more game designers on board and creating new actions, regions, etc.


Game Summary

- High fantasy MMO
- 7 races (goblin, dwarf, orc, human, high elf, dark elf, dragon)
- 2 races are factionless (goblin, dragon)
- 5 factions
- Each faction has a different social / economic structure / game mechanics / reward systems / end goals (none of their goals are “world domination”, but they are unique and at time conflict in interesting ways. Also since each races game mechanics are different from each other, their conflicts are also interesting).
- communist (dwarf), anarchist (orc), capitalist (human), fascist (high elf), mafia crime state (dark elf)

- player driven economy
- 1 currency generated from player owned banks (gold) (you lock in real resources to print gold currency)

- Simple base economy
- 3 base resources make every other item (iron, wood, food), every structure and item in the game will be player
created.
- Shards also exist, which are "magic batteries" (but they are a rare secondary resource, that you might find while doing a harvesting activity for one of the three core resources.)
- There is a "channeling" concept for magic and it works in parallel with the action point system, where your mana pool and regen rate are determined by your affinity with your god/demigod/dragon (or consumable battery-like shards if your a secular wizard) and your magic skill level unlocks spells that you can do.

- player made theme park (not sandbox)
- each “attraction”, is targetable in the same way a player is. Attractions are mostly different types of static buildings, but there are also caravans and ships (mobile attractions).

- Very few NPC’s (2 gods + 0-10 demigods *can have more player enslaved demigods that don’t count as NPCs, more like items*)
- I’ve written a Theogony type lore that explains how the gods and demigods came to be + different motivations for each race. I’m also writing narratives based in this world that are more fun to read.

- Perma death system with account leveling that allows opens higher influence respawn options (unique system)
- You make permanent progress in you account's racial slots, while the actual characters you play can die.

- Skyrim / Wurm type skill system where you get better at an activity as you do it
- skills add an effectiveness modifier to actions they are related to it so you get more bang for each action point you put into that action.
- skills can also unlock new action types for you to do.

- menu based slow persistent gameplay (time steps of 12hr or 24hr, not sure yet)
- players are encouraged to make a character of each race that is open to them (elves and dragons are unlocked)

- static graphics only, no sprites. (like Starwars Combine interface)
- 90% mouse controlled gameplay (not a text based mud)

- “Regional” territory / travel system

- Property (attractions) owned with “deed” system similar to wurm

- Unique player / structure targeting system (see “target list” section)

- Game mechanics (“actions”) available to you are based on your race and faction (usually one and the same, but not always)

- Every time-step you can spend up to 1000 action points towards various actions.

Action Point System (One of the core mechanics of the game):

- Actions work like “intrigue plots” in Crusader Kings games, where (depending on the type of action) you can invite players to your actions, invest in others actions etc.

- Actions are not limited to intrigue type things like they are in Crusader Kings (i.e. you can invest action points into “search” type actions to populate your target list, invest in harvesting food, travelling etc.)

- action points regen every timestep based on how “hungry” you are (food consumption mechanic)

- at the end of the timestep the game resolves all of the action points players invested

- you can buy action points, i.e. you can trade 100 gold for a player to invest 100 of their action points into a “defend character X” action that you created

- The actions types open to you are dependant on your faction, race and skills. This means each race plays VERY differently.

Target System (Second core mechanic)

- your target list has the players you can “see”, target and interact with (share actions).

- you have two target lists, friendly and hostile

- the friendly list works like a friends list in most games, but if a player removes you from it you lose them as well.

- The hostile list is populated through “search” type actions, (which includes “defend myself” actions which can result in discovering a player that has you on their target list, or is targeting you with a hostile ability. This “defend myself” also then works to counteract action points they spent on hostile actions against you. Like this example, many actions can have a “search” function along with some other function.

Reward Systems
This summary is getting long so I'll make this short. Reward systems are dependent on your race and faction (usually the same, but not always). They are VERY different for the different races / factions


Q&A

How do you prevent the game from getting boring?

There is a huge, immersive game world with races that play in completely different and fun ways. The slow paced time steps encourage you to play every race. Characters of any race can get into a position where they are an important influence of the game world and then become of focus of your gameplay experience. Players can play within racial stereotypes to play "optimally" or use wild card functions to play out of the box at a much higher difficulty and perhaps have a more rewarding experience.

Are you going to have a story-line?

No, but I have started writing narratives based in this world.

Or story events

There are 2 gods and a bunch of demigods that generate what could be considered story events. It's much more nuanced than just a scripted event though. Dragons (player controlled characters) also have the power to generate these "story events".

Are there going to be wars?

Yes, as a result of competing interests. But these competing interests often lead to conflicts of very different types, some that may not even involve combat. War is one of many modes of competitions in this game world and rarely the most efficient way to achieve your goal. The higher races (elves and dragons) don't even have the numbers to create a standing army and have much more important places to invest action points so war becomes a "lesser" activity for the mortal races. (A lot of wasted action points go into a war...)

How are you going to make the economy balanced?

GM or AI controlled banks + player controlled trade posts +disproportionate distribution of resources and resource needs+ merchant system

How would you differentiate the economies of the species?

Goblins - merchants, need food to survive, mostly care for gold
Dwarves - harvest iron, trade for food, rarely need wood
Orcs - harvest wood, some orcs don't need food, some raid for food, some raid for ore.
Humans - farm for food, have limited access to ore and wood and mostly trade for these
High Elves - usually don't need food or wood, trade for iron / items made from iron, can't harvest anything themselves, have access to magic shards (a secondary resource)
Black Elves - Can't harvest themselves, can run slave mining operations, trade with Orcs for wood and ore, don't usually need food
Dragons - take what they want by pillaging.


Are all species together in one land, or do they all have their own states?

5 have their own state. Goblins and dragons don't have one. The human and Orc states are the only ones with any racial diversity.

Are there going to be governing bodies?

Depends on the race, but yes, there are different type of player run governing bodies.

[Jackolantern]

Nice stuff! I also think your GDD is interesting how you outline certain "controls" in the gameplay and categorize various aspects of the game into these controls. I think this is a good way of looking at your design to make sure everything is working towards your goals

[zinroc]

Update:
Added a framework document that has most of the game screens and how I forsee it all looking.
http://prezi.com/rolvlmb4d75x/?utm_camp ... c=ex0share

Let me know what you think!


P.S. I'd like the "back drop" to each menu to be a 2-D animation (or just picture if animation is too hard) of the character walking and doing random (not user controled) stuff in the background (like Moster Ranchers did) and I want the character and his surroundings in the animation to be loosely created based on skills / items / location of the actual character. (kinda showed this in the main screen of the framework doc) Would this be possible with php? Could I use some other language AND php or would that not work? What language could do the animations? or just a 2-D picture (that is still loosely based on the actual character)? Or should I just forget the art style of the game and make the framework first?

[Jackolantern]

Very nice!

As for the animation, no PHP can't do this because PHP only generates static HTML on the server. Probably your best bet would be Javascript, since JS is for client-side scripting, where animations occur.