I have had this idea on the back burner for awhile now because I am still unsure how I might want to do it. For awhile now there has been a few building games out there. They are ok, but they aren't anything that really possess any real game play.
I wanted to take a building game and force it to breed with a ORPG to create the offspring of a Building ORPG. But what I wanted to really do, was allow players complete control of their own envioment. Examples would be of players starting off in a black void, with nothing at all in the world. They would be given some beginners conjure commands and left to it.
Players would be able to conjure up trees or plants, some that could bear fruit. Other things they might be able to conjure up is things like armor, weapons and even monsters.
The whole idea was, a constant changing world, in which players had complete control. Other players could wander around and play the game as if it was a normal ORPG. Killing other players' creatures and buying their equipment.
But I simply do not see a good way to do this without some sort of abuse going on. A lot of building games don't seem to stay constant for very long, often having map wipes every other day, simply because a player has no self control.
Any ideas on this?
ID:265747
 Jun 24 2007, 8:46 am
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But see, Byond rpgs are usually get repetitive after you grind for about one hour.
What you need to do is make make an arena type game with capture the flag and allow players to build arenas. Why? Because! Everyone loves to shoot each other! and some people love to build! Yay! Everyone Wins! Charlie's got the shotgun! Oh no! Bucky got his hands on the newb combo! Damn you Plasma Pistol/Battle Rifle D:! You're just as deadly overhead! T-T-TRIPPPPLLEE KILL!!! And then one of the jeaulous gms will ban mister noob combo and everyone will laugh like off of one of those old shows from the 70's and 80's. Although I do like your idea. Then again everyone would be bitching and complaining about 'Why cant I be one of the builders' I say this because.... If you let ANYONE build and change the world like you've suggested you're going to get a lot of spam problems and no one likes to clean up spam D:. Instead, have them go through a rigorous process that will make them wish they hadn't gone through it. Then they'll want their worth for their pain and suffering. So as an added bonus you get to keep a player for a couple of weeks or months. Or if they like it you get to keep them until your game explodes yay! In any case, there have been a few instances of building games that try to fuse with orpgs... mostly with horrible results. I hope yours are different. Peace. -Warlin | |
Don't think of it as a building RPG. Think of it as an RPG where your primary form of interaction is through altering the world. With that in mind, start thinking, "What restrictions will be placed on characters?"
Build commands should become spells with various effects. Something that might create a wall, or create a bunch of open space. Start players off with the ability to perform basic actions, and gain experience for using them in a proper manner (for a simple example: if you drop a tree in the middle of a field, you get +50 experience). Then, have a way for the world to interact back. Areas that restrict the use of spells, or create monsters, or create monsters that restrict the use of spells. Perhaps a chunk of the world would become permanently locked until a certain monster is defeated. Perhaps players would have no way of directly defeating a monster, instead having to create and lead OTHER monsters to it. And creating a monster isn't as easy as pressing "MAEK MONSTAR," you have to create an environment that would attract certain monsters (like a bunch of open fields would spawn a giant, or a bunch of caves would spawn a goblin). It's an interesting concept, if you look at it in the right light. | |
Maybe you could try client-side saving so then they load a map and maybe they are the only people who can play on there map or maybe they can invite people but these other people cannot build on it.
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But see, if their maps are too big when it comes time to load them it becomes lag max 5000 and no one likes lag max 5000.
If you use a different method and add the map on before you start running the server, bad things happen. Plus you might have to constantly open and close the server and that just doesn't work often. | |
I love this idea!
What about some form of overlying magical force that all the objects, terrain, and monsters are created with? Terrain is an investment that allows you to build upon. Then things like trees, animals, and water generate a constant supply of this "energy" for you to use. Then you spend energy to create monsters or towns to protect your area. When you defeat an enemy monster, you steal the energy used to create it. Also, if someone keeps sending monsters at you, you attack their lands and burn down their forests, removing their source of energy. Of course, a few groups of computer controlled lands could keep the game moving and allow players to band together. Although, that's beginning to sound more like an RTS... so if you don't want it, I think I'll take it :D Also, any worries of Trolls can be coded away. A simple ban verb could also automatically destroy all the objects the banned player created, quickly cleaning the area up. I hope you run with your idea! I'm tempted to walk away with it myself, but I'm already swamped with work v.v | |
Thats no way to think :D!
See if I like something I drop everything else and start doing that.... ... No wonder I never get anything done D:! | |
You know what, this has been totally been bothering me since I started to read your posts. What is with all of the stupid emoticons? Why put them in almost every sentence you use? stop it.
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I had an idea like this once, called "Gi", which is in the Bwicki RecyclingBin. No need to make yours profit-oriented, of course: you could just reward points for time spent in the game.
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Jtgibson wrote:
you could just reward points for time spent in the game. Ugh! I hate that system. You actually need to spend time in the game doing nothing to earn points? That's a game ruiner. When people have nothing else to do without points, then what? They will start idling inside the game, clog the server, and annoy the players. Eventually, players may quit due to boredom of having to wait to continue progressing. Points should be earned by action, not by idleness. </mini rant> | |
DivineO'peanut wrote:
Jtgibson wrote: Didn't usually happen in Hedgerow Hall. If the game is more about the community and less about the hack and slash, it's a great system. | |
Agreed. However, I meant "Action" as in, a sort of objective that, once completed, will earn you points. That could be dungeon raiding, and that could be points awarded by other players for RPing well. Idling in the game to earn points will be both an annoyance to the player and the community, hence why I think it is a bad idea. This system would work well, if the time is spent playing the game, but it kinda encourages the opposite.
Otherwise, I think a system that rewards long-term players is great, just not as an alternative to actually progressing through the game. | |
One possible way to help this a bit might be to implement property ownership, like some games do (RPGWO comes to mind). Each player may claim a single parcel of land (in RPGWO it's 20 x 20, but you could use whatever numbers you want). On that land they may do what they like, and players may not make changes to other players' land. If building space seems cramped, or for greater flexibility, you could have one or more underground levels for digging caves and dungeons, and/or a second floor that can be accessed with stairs. Anyone can build or destroy things on unclaimed parcels of land, but once they are claimed, the person who owns it has control over it. Players can give each other building rights on their own parcels of land, so a group can get together and make a town or guild or large dungeon or whatever.
I'm not sure how you'd go about coding this, but I've seen it done so I know it's possible. As for the RPG elements, you could restrict players in what monsters and weapons they can make. (If one player creates a powerful monster, and another creates an even more powerful weapon, there's no way to balance it out.) Maybe players earn the right to create more powerful items by adventuring and earning experience points killing monsters and completing quests. To keep this in balance as well, you could make it so that players can only kill monsters on public land, or other players' land, and no one can create monsters on public land - so players will have to travel to other players' areas to adventure and gain experience. Maybe a player can only create a certain type of monster after killing that type a certain number of times.
Sorry this is all rather rambling, but I'm making it up as I go along. :P I hope some part of this is useful to you. I'd love to try your game once you get it up and running.