What game would you design!

[LordWushin]

If I could design a game it would be a massive online multiplayer game. Bear with me on this!

 

It would have basically a map of the world, usa, europe, africa, south america, and asia with china and japan. You could go any where on the map that is quite similar to the real world. Civilians are gone and the only people left are solders - you and I. You could chose between any major country in the game world. Choosing the nation means that you fight for that nation against all the other nations in the game. You could choose between army, air force, or navy each specializing in one thing. Army would be tanks humvees and rocket launchers, etc. Things that would be army stuff. The air force could fy plane that they would find in the world and be like special forces for the air force when not in airplanes. The navy would be the SEAL or equivilents. Specializing in boats, sneak, and explosives. People that are the same country would be allies and they would fight together in groups or if they wanted by themselves. Every country would be equal in weapon selection and unit selection, but each nation would get a special country ability( dont know what yet.)

 

I would like a game like that. Bases would be all over the countries both on good and bad side(for enemy country to attack and control eventually and for same country to defend against enemy attack)

 

Far fetch I know :)

[antonkr]

I would design a virtual battle space kind of simulator (Virtual Battle Space and Virtual Battle Space 2 are EPIC military simulators too bad they are sold only to military and its almost impossible to get it and if you do, be prepared to throw away 1.5k). It would have updateable units from all the armies of the world and many huge maps from all over the world. The biggest feature of the game is a powerful but easy to use mission editor (like arma 2 but more user-friendly and more non-script features:) It would have a lot of units from all over the world with an easy set up of their side of the conflict:(for example: You can make a rediculas mission where England is verses United States fighting over colonies lol) Units include huge amount of civilians. Civilians you would expect to see in the country of their origin. Fully destructible buildings with maybe some famous buildings. (that would may be a bad idea because terrorist may use my sim to plan an attack or something). HUGE and I mean HUGE amount of firearms from all over the world. Maybe some old firearms for a cool mission where you are a soldier on top of a tower and you are fighting off bunch of guys with swords using your M4. (epicest tower defence EVER). A lot of vehicles from all over the world and more of civilian vehicles then military. Tanks with realistic optics and stuff. Airplanes and helicopters very realistic (Like Flight Simulator with guns). Some more cool features like realistic like artillery and uavs. Stuff like random mine generator.

[jaysus]

@mass effect

yeah lol, cant play it due to my pixel shader 2 gfx card :( however this and bioshock are going to be the games i try once i upgrade hehe... i love bioware writing... kotor1 was incredible imo

[MonsterHunterMaster]

My game would be a MMORPG like WOW, where at least up to 256 players can be on screen the same time like in MAG, with awesome quests, a wonderful skill system, in 3rd person, with a fight system mix of God of War and the Devil May Cry series even though they are similar to each other and huge monsters like in shadow of the colossus...

The graphics don't has to be as good as in Crysis or better, cuz I think a RPG's graphics doesn't have to be perfect and it also wouldn't fit the game style in my opinion.

I want some crazy companions and also the design of the enemies should be awesome (they can look like normal dragons for example, but they can also be scary like the monsters from Dead Space for example.)

Also there should be a lot of dungeons and of course cool treasures and also a lot of different armors and weapons.

 

That would be my game... :biggrin:

[CommanderCrazy]

Sounds like you're designing a cool mix of Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, Dead Space & WOW. Hell, I'd buy it!

[MonsterHunterMaster]

yep, but the game would take up a lot of space...

hehe, at least about 1 Terrabyte for all those weapons armors, different monsters...

[CommanderCrazy]

I'd still buy it :thumbsup: Id hate to think of the cost :pulls collar:

[MonsterHunterMaster]

Of course it's going to be cheap, you know, when I'm fully grown up, I release the game and there will be black-ray dvd's, which can take up about 25 Terrabyte, so the price won't be the problem ;D

[CommanderCrazy]

At least I'll still be alive then ;D

[Vagrant0]

What game would I design? It would have to be a MMORPG of sorts. The general approach would be to create an MMO where what a person does actually has some meaning to the game world beyond those bits of momentary fame associated with being a high level player. The game would be setup with several systems and rulesets, but would leave most of the in-world creation, definition, and expansion to the player. Likewise, crafting and settlement building would be much larger aspect of the MMO than just combat. Ideally, it would be something that works well for both the casual player (logs on occasionally and micromanages) and the active player (people who live online and are constantly doing things).

 

The world itself would be fairly simple consisting of a continent with varied regions, each region containing atleast one major (NPC owned) city, with the largest being the capital of that region. Each city would have its own currency with a fluctuating exchange rate. The regions would be further broken up into subregions, subregions broken up into plots. Around each of the cities would be several small subregions containing many plots for rent. These plots would have their own costs and taxrate, and would be setup for various resource creation and gathering methods. Each plot would have a capability toward any number of materials based on the terrain of the plot. Over time the capability of the plot would diminish (offset by renewable methods). Subregions further away from the cities would be treated as wilderness, which would be home to a great number of vicious beasts. Once a subregion has been cleared and reasonably pacified through player action, a number of plots would open up to be claimed by those who conquered that subregion, or just whomever reached it first. Once claimed, they could either sell it to the city, build something on it, or rent it out to be used by others. Every few weeks there would be a chance that hostile creatures could return to that region and attack settlements, or a disaster would strike destroying structures or changing their ability to produce. Regions which become too destroyed or populated with creatures would revert to their wilderness status with all plots becoming unowned. Players could also take it upon themselves to attack settlements in order to loot them or claim ownership (losing prestige with the city, becoming an enemy to the owner (bounty)). As prestige is regional, having it too low could result in being seen as a threat to the region and being hunted/attacked by the city's forces. Prestige would be raised by performing good acts within that region (clearing wilderness, establishing settlements, gaining/contributing wealth, acquiring knowledge. Players with high prestige in one region could have low prestige in others, essentially allowing them to start wars between regions, even going as far as donating money to the city for troops, or hiring their own mercenaries to conduct raids. Playes with a high prestige between regions can seek more peaceful and diplomatic solutions with the waring countries, establish secured trade routes, or just decide to join the conflict. All of this meaning that the actions of a single player can have significant consequences to the world based on their trading, production and combat actions.

 

A major difference from other MMOs is that players wouldn't really ever create their character, but instead would be able to claim a character from a pool of NPCs which have some basic abilities that the player would want to use. Furthermore, the player's character would remain persistant within the world along side everyone else and thousands more NPCs. The actions of the offline character and NPCs would be determined by scheduled actions for eating, sleeping, working, ect. Each character would live for roughly 3 months real time, but would only be playable for the second and third month (adolescence and adulthood). Rather than working on a single character forever, the player would instead be working on improving the wealth, prestige, and knowledge of the family they establish through that character. A player would start with a character, try to invest their time learning a trade, gathering resources, exploring, defending settlements, or fighting off the creatures lurking in the wilderness. After 4 weeks of life (one week after starting that character), the player can try to marry one of the many NPCs wandering around the cities or even another player. This will open up the potential for passing on knowledge, prestige and wealth to the next generation. Of the children who get born, the player(s) can decide on their heir, leaving any other children to be either retained as a sort of servant character who can be micro-managed, or releasing them into the pool. The wealth, prestige, and knowledge of the parent would be divided between the children who are kept, with the child that is released being left to their own fate. If the character that the player controls dies far from town, they are assumed lost, and the player would be able to take control of any remaining members of their family they had retained. A player can retain a maximum of 25 members for their family at any time (children of siblings, ect), but can only directly control one character within that family at any given time. Although this may sound limiting, it would allow a single person to own large tracts of farms, schools, mines, and shops, or a small group of people to have a small town setup in the wilderness. Newer players can marry into the families established by older players either by paying a dowry, agreeing to certain conditions related to property/prestige/knowledge, disinheriting that family member (new player doesn't gain any wealth, property, prestige or knowledge) or by the new player forcing himself into the family (laying claim to wealth, prestige, knowledge, but making himself an enemy).

 

Death would work based on how far away from a city or their own settlement they were when incapacitated. If the distance is nearby, they will be revived within the city or their settlement, usually with some sort of injury based on severity of attack and distance from town. If they become incapacitated too far away, they will have 2 hours to be discovered by another player/npc (can send one of their own family members to search for them) or they will be dead with all their carried possessions remaining on the body. If they have not yet established a family, they will need to start anew with a new character but can rush over to where they died in order to reclaim some of their previous character's belongings as well as lay claim to any now abandoned settlements owned by the deceased for a small loss of prestige. If they have a family established, they can continue playing from the perspective of any member of that family, retain ownership to any land or stored property, and still search for their body to reclaim anything else. If killed by another player or on your own settlement, death would not be permanent, but the incapacitated player would not be able to do anything directly until that threat had moved on or been destroyed (can still indirectly control family members). However, depending on the strength of the attack, it may still result in a permanent injury, or if the settlement is destroyed/claimed during this time, the player may still die depending on actions taken by the destroying party.

 

Combat would be turnbased, based off a set of default actions based on conditions (attack, defend, evade/flee (scissors, paper, rock)) or by the player selecting a specific action. Rather than time being frozen between rounds, the participants would be in a sort of standoff mode, participants being able to leave or join combat between rounds. combat ability would be based off worn equipment, the materials that make up that equipment, the stats of the character, and augmented by any fighting styles or magical abilities that they might posses.

 

Fighting styles would be comprised of movements based around a particular form related to the weapon that is equipped. Both forms and movements would be discovered through weapon usage, observing others in combat, or by being taught. Simple styles could be taught, but more complex ones would need to be created by combining known movements with a given form, and eventually mastered. Each form would have a certain base set of offensive, mobility, and defensive characteristics. Each movement would adjust one or more of these values. The resulting style would have specific values due to the form and movements it is comprised of as well as have the ability for multiple attacks, evasion, or defense within a single turn as opposed to a single default action. The number of movements per usable style allowed by a character would be determined by stats, weapon type, and combat experience. In higher level combat, the individual movements of styles would perform the same scissors, paper, rock type of routine several times for each synchronized action, adjusted by the offensive, mobility and defensive characteristics of the style. Meaning that the style is really just a series of movements which can be performed within a set period of time, where one person's action (comprised of movements) is checked against the opponent's action (comprised of movements), with the attributes of the style having a chance to trump the other even when it is a losing check. In short, combat as it happens in real time, but broken down into a series of specific components with a large amount of variety in actions. All styles would be limited by an endurance component, so the more active movements within a style, the quicker a character will become tired and unable to fight back. Players who have collected several styles would be able to assign standard ones instead of default actions (when possible), or select from a user-sorted list during their turn. More industrious players can even setup training halls give other players the ability to learn and practice those styles for a small fee.

 

Magic abilities would be similar to styles, being something which is learned, observed, or discovered, but would be more innate to a given character. Magic itself would be broken up into 7 different levels, and 5 different element groups (divided further within each element based on aspects). Within the groups the magic components would be acknowledged as words. Level 1 spells would be comprised of 2 words out of the 5 true elements. Level 2 spells would be comprised by 2-3 words out of the true element and an aspect as high as level 2. Level 3 out of 2-4 words, comprised of the true element and an aspect as high as level 3. And so on. The first word would be the initial elemental form of the spell. The second word being the effect. The third through eighth word would be used as modifiers for movement, actions, and reactions of the spell. The first level of words would usable to some degree by everyone, but each character will have more or less ability with certain elements (aspects) than others. Levels 2 and higher would require special training or repeated usage to unlock on an aspect by aspect basis. The better you become at a higher level aspect for one element, the worse you will be when trying to use an opposing elemental group. Level 6 spells would only be open to those who focused primarily on a single element group, level 7 spells would require specialization in a given element group, even as far as blocking out the ability to use any level 3 words from other groups. Thus preventing any one player, no matter from being able to use all forms of magic and creating advantages for both the specialist and generalist magic users. Each spell would be treated initially as a single action (attack, defend, evade/flee) (based on words) when put against a given combat style, but with more words allow the potential to make only the first action of that style count toward any successful attack, such as a barrier that blocks any attack, but when hit explodes damaging the attacker. This allowing magic to have neither a decided advantage or disadvantage against combat styles. Magic would be further limited by a characters mana capacity based on the strength of the spell. If mana is depleted, magic can still be used at significant cost of health and endurance, allowing little more than a last ditch effort. Similar to styles, spells could be assigned to be default actions, or be selected from a user-sorted list of actions. Industrious players can also open up teaching halls to share their knowledge and abilities with others as well as providing a place to practice for a small fee.

 

Crafting would be based on plans, materials and parts. Again, these would be bought, learned, gained from observation, or discovered. The parts that make up a piece of equipment and the materials that make up that part determine the specific weight and attributes of that piece of equipment. Heavier, bulkier equipment would hinder movement or ability to use magic, lighter equipment would be weaker but would allow for easier movement. Smaller quantities of materials may be gained by buying them from a city, gathered from a settlement, or found in a raw form when exploring the wilderness. Larger quantities of materials, parts, and plans would also be used when building settlements, meaning that in order for a person to build themselves their own cabin in the woods, they would need enough lumber, rock, mud, and metal to put it construct it, as well as have learned or acquired plans relating to that construction. All of which could either be collected from the nearby area, or purchased in town and delivered to the site. Or the player could simply purchase a plot and hire someone to build it for them. As higher end plans, materials and parts would be more uncommon or very rare, many of them non-transferable outside the family, the crafting aspect of the game would be very diverse and meaningful. Players could irk out a living by creating equipment for would-be adventurers, be hired as a builder, or even establish some members of their family to focus on crafting/gathering through the micromanaging system to fund and outfit their personal conquests.

 

Training halls for styles and magic would also grant the owning player some prestige based on the popularity of the school, and receive a bonus to discovering/mastering new movements/words in addition to the income from paying students. Players would set their own costs and services, deciding who can learn what from their school. Schools can even challenge each other for the right to operate within city, or a tribute of knowledge or wealth. Furthermore, micromanaged family members may be sent to such schools to learn styles or magics which can be passed down or passed up accordingly. Meaning that some schools may at some times have several students from a given family simply for the purpose of providing the player a constant supply of reasonably skilled fighters to explore and conquer with.

 

 

I could go on... But I'd prefer to leave the rest unsaid incase anyone seeing this thread decided they liked the idea to go into development for it and would really like to have some things explained or refined well enough to be used in a working game. It's something I would have liked to have designed for some time now, but have not yet met those people who would actually be capable of putting it together and would take me on as project leader/head designer. I'm sure that most would agree that something like this would be far more addictive than crack and aside from some minor things that might rub some people the wrong way (not being able to make their own character or control multiple characters at once being one of them), ends up being almost the perfect MMO and true RPG (playing a role which starts out as being something which is forced, but soon develops into one which is decided through actions of the previous generation). As it is based around modular systems and internal fluctuations, it can also be expanded upon or changed infinitely as new regions are discovered, cities established, or old ones destroyed. The single act of a dragon appearing in the wilderness can have an extreme impact on both the inhabitants of that region and others who might be accepting refugees or offering aid. The story would be as grand or as plain as those influencing that world make it, and once written requires little additional programming to keep it interesting for everyone.

 

Oh, and by reading this you're required to either make me an equal partner or give me 10% of the net income and royalties from the game if made and released.

 

*edit* And, I've purposely left out solutions and explanations to complications which might arise during production. I've been thinking this little project through over the last 8 years or so as one of those things which one might do to pass the time. The only thing I've been lacking is the programing/technical knowledge and the time/money to do it. Most of the concept and system related stuff however is well in hand, as you might imagine.

Edited February 24, 2010 by Vagrant0