A new mmorpg

#21 Yeah, of course the no voice chat is just my personal preference. I don't really like the way I sound on a telephone or recording anyway. An idea I had for voice chat included the ability to change your voice. That way you mask who you really are. What difference does it make if I sound like a Goa'uld as long as you can understand what I'm saying, right? ;)

Still wouldn't stop the burping, foul language and other stuff that goes in voice chat though. But that's another problem.

#22 There's always Teamspeak for voice chat.


Or a text to speech system could be used. I've heard some nice ones recently. This gets around the RP female problem too. That way you get to filter out bad language, translate between languages and keep within the bounds of the role playing experience.

Of course it would have to be well implemented.

#23 Yes, TTS and VR are both technologies that have not been seen really in games yet would make really good contributions to the game.

stuff like fighting a hard boss where you have to do several things at once, but need to tell your healer to make sure and stay back.. you could just say 'stay back' and have your lil guy pop up a message shouting 'stay back!'

#24 One of the things I really enjoy doing is studying MMO games. I just take note of how they've implemented everything. I find myself examining the game more than playing them sometimes. I'm looking at stuff like how is the camera implemented, the HUD design, how is the quest system setup, how are they doing housing.

All this information can be compiled and examined later.

One thing I wish WoW would implement is player housing. They've already laid the ground work but for some reason haven't finished the implementation. SWG had a great system for the most part, the only bad thing was driving around all the houses to get through to your destination. It was like going through a maze sometimes.

I have a good time talking with my son about the implementation details of different games he and I play. I'm in this more for him than anything else. But hey, I am having a little bit of fun myself :)

#25 @Jonathon

You got it! Wow, great minds think alike. You just said, pretty much verbatim what is in my head. Some companies just don't get it sometimes.

Will you be my Jedi Master?

#26 I've never played a MMORPG but I've played games like Morrowind (Basically MMORPG, just with... AI), etc. I always had an idea for death in these types of games (Guessing that the game is mystical, not realistic):

-When you die, your SOUL wakes up in a graveyard (The one nearest your "home").

-Your soul has the same magical powers as it did before you died, but no physical powers.

-Souls can't be killed, just evaporated for 1 hour (wether it be game or real time).

-You can attack another NPC for their body. If you win, you get their body and you keep your magical powers. You can go back and get your armour, weapon, whatever from your original body.

-You only have a limited amount of time to do this or you'll be stuck as a soul forever. You can still play the game, except with no physical powers and you can fly.

I always hated the level systems in games. I agree on the gaining points in the fields that you practice however. You swim: your body gets better at swimming, you summon creatures: you get better at summoning creatures. For strength, you'd have to exercise. So when you died, the only thing you lost was your strength, which can be gained back. You still keep all the magic you learned.

I think this would be a "realistic" approach. Yes, taking over bodies isn't too realistic, but it can be percieved that way in a world where you cast spells.

#27 How about one where you can basically 'MOD' your ship so you start of with a small one and then you can get bigger engines and then put on cargo bays etc. after a while your little ship will be dwarfed by everything else, so you need a new cabin to control your ship.
So then you have a little ship inside a small/medium shipand you wonder what to do with it, so you build a hangar bay and put it in there. by this time it will be to big for one person so you can go to a space port to hire crewman how make everthing much easier.
Also your friends in smaller craft can go into your ship and land, meaning they can help.
Eventually you will have a huge ship different to anybody esles due to going to different planets (for they have different designs), you could hire pilots who woul man your small fighter craft and soldiers who would land in boarding craft while you could play as captain or soldier or a a pilot for any of the ships.
yuo could fight agaisnt NPC'S or other players depending on choice.

plz tell me if you are going to use this idea for i would not liked it copied without asking

#28 Plz someone read this and say what you think of it

#29 There are some guys over at the Multiverse.net forums that are making space games. I myself would love to make a Tribes/Starsiege style MMO with a conquest feel to it. Then have RTS features where you can set up small bases. Heck, after my first MMO gets done I would be willing to work with people to make a MMO with a new feel.

#30 I find Will's ideas really interesting, but we will have to a complex "landing on other ship" phase and the standards for ship to be sufficient to carry fighters. If we make it real scaled the carrier will be HUGE compared to the fighters and it will be hard to control such a big ship or you will have to rely on AI of the hired pilots to operate specific functions like turret firing, etc.

#31 I really like Will's idea. It would be interesting to design/code, as well as watch it play out.

I believe the massive carrier ships would have to be AI controlled, who would want to take orders and push keys all day long? Not me. Maybe you could leave it open if someone wanted to pilot it out of trouble quickly, then when they get out of the seat, the AI takes over.. just call it auto pilot.

I believe the customization aspect of where you simply add components to your ship would greatly diverisfy the types of spacecraft you see in game. Perhaps you could add a special 3D part engineering tool, which the player could pay extremely high fees to build custom parts,guns,cargo bays, engine configurations, communication relays etc. and attach them to his ship.

This type of game could open up a whole new field of 'jobs' or 'professions' as people call it. Let's say in order to attach a certain type of part, you have to be proficient in that job, thus you can hire someone who specializes in it. These mechanics with their professions can venture out and build their own ships, have their own crews,etc. but they would always have that special skill to help them earn extra cash.

Thus each player could choose a profession, and enhance it by doing jobs, or practicing on their own ships... and maybe if you pay for a new tuition (or something) you could change professions if you really wanted...

Just some random ideas

#32 @ Jonahon,

Greetings, you should try EQ2 sometime. At the upper levels, everyone is using teamspeak or ventrillio, its the ONLY way to succesfully get the co-ordination required on raids to stand a chance of defeating anything at those levels with a compact and dedicated crew.

In our guild, there is no guild chat at all because everyone is in Ventrillo. Oddly enough, by using that, we can do with 6 people what other guilds cannot achieve with 24 who don't use a voice communication system.

Sorry can't comment about WOW.. as far as I am concerned thats the beginners version of an MMORPG before people get good enough to play a real one

Regards

Graham

#33 @Graham - I'm sure 90% of the world's population would disagree with you about WoW, however being as I don't play it anymore, I can attest that it doesn't do EVERYTHING right, just MOST things ;). You can't comment about WoW because you haven't played it? What would you consider a 'real one' ?

#34 Jonathon, greetings:)

Don't take my post the wrong way, actually I did play WOW for the three and a half weeks it took to go from level 0 to max. For me, that is THE fundamental flaw, and I can only speak for myself. I expect more entertainment for my MMORPG $ than WOW can possibly provide and I also expect immersive world, history, progression and return on investment, none of which, to my mind, WOW gave me. Most of the players I met were riding on the name Blizzard than actually there because they were expecting an MMORPG. Personally I have better memories of Meridian 59 back in the 1980's :)

If you want my all-time favorites they would be...

Meridian 59
Everquest (the first one)
Lineage
Eve

Regards

Graham

#35 Graham,

Wasn't taking it the wrong way, I respect everyone's opinion (except my parents because they are always wrong ;)) You can power level in most any game, but I do agree that if you can accomplish it that quickly, then it is a big let down. Especially once you get to that point. I would have to strongly disagree with you about WoW not having a good story or background however. The entire warcraft series has a LOT of background story leading up to the point of where WoW is now. Both in-game and on the web you can find a lot of materials to detail what has happened up to this point. I believe it's one of the best written games ever in fact. Games like EQ have next to no storyline at all much less a background to that storyline. EQ is a power leveler's dream, which is why it was so terribly popular.

Jonathon

#36 Farmer, M-theory, & "hawkie" have basically hit on what i'm gonna say but i'll recap

small games- why MASSIVE multiplayer online (why all the people? does having 10000000 people on the server make it better then having 42? how many am i going to really interact with anyways? I have 2 other friends on the server, and there really the only ones i'm gonna do anything with.) so why not Mini-Coop (MCORPGs).

as said before nothing u do makes a difference to the world (if you have to beat the same boss that 84829 other groups already had to beat, whats the point?). I play for the escapism, and they make me feel like the hero!! MMO make me feel the same as real life -- insignificant.

Really what makes me mad is that its most MMO are just standard RPGs that you have to pay monthly (and grind your way from level to level) instead of $49.99 to have the complete game (that you PLAY [not work at]) IF you have 40 hours a week to play games (i'm jealous) but do you really want to spend it grinding away just for that level 60 warlock or whatever?? seems like there should be something more fun in game to do? But should people that dont have that kind of time be punished? didn't they pay the same $$$?
if your gonna pay to play it should be from 'chapter to chapter' not based on time.

One other thing i dont like about 'level-ing' is when i'm told i CANT go somewhere because i'm not a certain level. Thats BULLSHIT! warn me that i might not want to go there, but dont say i CAN NOT (i payed my money). Whats the point of having 1 million people on the server if i cant trade for something cool cause i dont have enough experience? if they want to give me their level 400 sword for $1 thats are business not the games. (is it 'cheating'?? not really since nothing you do in game affects anyone but yourself)
Another thing i dont like about level grinding is if i want to change characters i have to REGRIND, i cant just change from wizard to warrior or whatever (maybe i should have to do a side quest or something but not have to replay the whole game >>> AGAIN since it doesnt really make any CHANGE to the game)

And finally Dying. There is no good way to die. Noone wants to be punished for dying. (at least not if its a level grinding game, having to kill bats for an addition 1/2 hour is stupid). Dying without consequence (GOD MODE) kind of takes some of the fun out of it though.


on topic though :p A space MMORPG .... is there a star trek one yet? that would really be the best scenerio.

#37 @Brandon - Are you going to turn away people from buying your game once you hit the 42 (or whatever limit you set) in your MCORPG? It's massive not just because you could interact with more people, but also so the game maker makes enough steady income to advance the series and pay for all it's development. A standard game takes WAY less time to create than an MMO.

I completely see your point about something making you different in the game world. That's up to the game makers, not you as a player in way too many games. That's why you need to break the mold and come up with game mechanics that give the player more control over their own character. Where things they do DIRECTLY affect the outcome of their character. Where XP isn't the only thing that's shaping your character. SWG used to do this with their profession system, but it's all gone to hell now with the latest combat upgrade. I'd divulge more on this strategy, however I'm implementing stuff into my game which will give you a lot more control over your character's growth ;).

I strongly disagree with your 'chapter to chapter' payment method. You ask 'should people that don't have that kind of time be punished?' Well, I ask this back at you: 'should people who DO have that kind of time be punished?' If a player is so dedicated to my game that (s)he's willing to sit in front of that screen for hours upon hours, days upon days, weeks upon weeks, constantly improving his/her character, why the hell should I force him/her to pay more money right away just because he/she is advancing faster than you? Those monthly fees are pretty fair if you ask me. Let's examine them for a second. $50 - typical cost of a non-MMO game upon release. The average non-MMO game has what.. 6 - 8 hours of actual gameplay time? That breaks down to $6.25/hour (with the 8 hour model). Now, take an MMO that you play say 10 hours/week (to go on the low side). 10 hours/week * 4.33 weeks in a month = 43.3 hours of gameplay. You pay $15/month so per hour you are paying $2.89/hour of gameplay. Now think about how much time a power gamer plays and do that math. We should be paying $20 - $25/month for these games. The only reason we aren't is because MMO's are too new to bust out that kind of monthly fee yet. Give if 5 - 10 years and that'll all change.

I agree that you should be able to go wherever you want, so long as you are aware that the zone you are entering is a higher level zone. WoW let you go anywhere, however would warn you with each zone that you are entering with what level zone it was. You contradict yourself here now about the uber weapon however. Say I'm a power gamer and I bust my arse for hours on end, sometimes for days just to get to a point where I have enough in-game money to purchase an uber weapon or enough skill to beat an enemy that drops it. What if I have all this time, but not all this money? Why should I have to work so hard to get something that someone who has $50 - $100 laying around can just click a button and *whamo* he's got the same damn weapon? That seems pretty unfair to the person who's spending actual time doing what the game makers INTENDED you to do to get that weapon. If you made enough in-game money to transfer some to a 2nd character who is low level and wants that uber weapon, that's perfectly fine as you still did the work.

Of course no one wants to be punished for dying, it sucks working hard and then getting that taken away because I died. It's a necessary evil. If there wasn't a punishment for dying, then people wouldn't care about dying and then would end up doing things the game didn't intend them to do, because they have no fear of dying. I take this one step further in my game design with killing too. I actually PUNISH you if you kill someone of a much less level than you. My honor system is based on killing players that are close enough to your level to actually post some sort of challenge to you. If you are level 60 and you kill a level 20, then you don't deserve to be rewarded, you deserve to be punished. That's all I'm gonna say about that 'cus mama said game development is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get. ;)

p.s. a star trek mmo is in the works. www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=39177

#38 Firstly my 42 player limit would just be for that server. the next 42 would be on the next server... ( you can talk about server costs or whatever .. I'm not making a game so i havent done the research. [but would probably have player hosted servers, and the content would just be downloaded. Player hosted would also give the hoster ability to DM {dungeon master} the game]).

I understand the makers are trying to make a buck, the thing i was trying to say with the chapter to chapter deal was tied into not being able to go to certain areas (which if i'm paying monthly for add-ons , i want to be able to see them even if i'm lvl 1 :p)

and the part about having the high powered weapon earlier because a friend gave it to you or whatever. No its not really fair, but it also doesnt affect anyone else. Its kind of like power leveling or whatever. If someone is enjoying the game playing it as intended and gets the weapon 'fairly' then they can have a feeling of accomplishment. if someone just wants to play it lazy (like peopole that use god-mod in fps) .. i dunno doesnt make any difference to me.
ps.. cool

#39 Player-hosted zones would be a must model for this type of game then. It would be way too costly to only put 42 players (and I know that's probably not a set limit, but it's easier to say it since you used it as an example) per server.

What game doesn't let you go into certain areas due to your level? I agree that disallowing you to go into areas based on level is rediculous and shouldn't happen, but I've also never seen it happen, so am curious as to what game you refer to?

It does affect people though. Picture this, you are walking around and some punk keeps bugging you to duel him. You don't really want to duel even though you look at he's three levels lower than you. You keep going about your business until the annoying brat just pushes one too many of your buttons. You finally agree to duel him and he whips out this uber pistol and drops you in one shot. Now you loose xp, your armor rating goes down and he gets honor points for player killing you since you were 3 levels higher than him.

Things like that have happened to me and it pisses me off. That is why I like it when you must be 'certified' for certain weapons that are way above your level, such as how SWG does it.

#40 Actually EQ2 USED to have (it removed the restriction) level access to zones and it was excellent.

Firstly theres the risk/reward thing.. get to a certain level you get rewarded with access to new areas.

Secondly, no baby characters standing on the docks screaming that someone's "GOT" to help them get their corpse 'cause three paces into the zone they got wiped and they should have been warned.

Thirdly, a LOT less calls to customer service and whiny posts on the forum about why can't they go exploring 'cause they paid for it and expect it but get instantly killed.

Fourth, most equipment is EQ2 cannot be given to another, so therefore you have to get it yourself.. hence, if you can't get into the zone, you can't get the high level equipment.


Regards

Graham