Parody Of Mmorpg
by J · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 01/09/2008 (1:57 am) · 8 replies
First off, i must say that i have totally no game developing skills. I just downloaded TGE and bought myself a beginner's guide to TGE to familiarise myself with the concept and the how-tos.
Now that we've got that out...i've noticed the trend of most people's threads and they all seem pretty much the same to me...horror/survival, fantasy, sci fic...and so. While i know those are the ideas that would sell (look at the number of zombie flicks that came out last year), aren't people getting a little bored with it?
I'm a great believer of old school D&D style of RPGs, you create a character from scratch and you live his life, so as to speak. Along the way, you save the princess, slay a dragon or two and save the world. But somehow i think a parody of RPGs/MMORPGs would be a fun approach to design a game, take a look at the Order of the Sticks - started off as a web-based comic, and now have its own boardgame.
I'm not sure how the mechanics of designing such a game would be like, but i sure have an idea how i would want the game to be.
Game Environment:
Fantasy + Sci fic and Horror elements of cos! I would think that although it's a parody, it should feel like a real RPG/MMORPG. I want players to grin at the obvious dig at other games while enjoying the game mechanics, system and story.
Game Mechanics/System:
I would love input on this. So far, the tried-and-test method of XP leveling works best. But an idea would be increase of increasing XP and leveling up, completing a quest or killing a monster would reduce your XP and eventually reducing your level to 1. Another alternative to XP is Karma points, you gain or lose karma points according to your actions. Kill an innocent bystander? Lose 10 karma Points. Save an annoying damsel in distress? Gain 10 karma points. With this system, only certain skills/items can be accessable to a range of Karma Points. For example, The Morbid Dagger will only be available to characters with -50 Karma Points and below. Titles will then be given to characters who reach a certain Karma Level, Ranique the Rude has a Karma Level of 0 to -10 while Sarah the Benelovent will have a Karma Level of 20-30. OR if you neglected to save a number of damsel in distress, you gain the title of 'Your Name the Jerk' and if you kill too many innocent animals (those who play WoW would know what i mean), you would gain the title of 'Your name the Animal Abuser'. And as the game progress, it would be harder to gain (if you're good) Karma Points and easier to lose Karma Points.
I'm still trying to figure out the backstory, as well as the character development portion. Would you think this game idea will work?
Now that we've got that out...i've noticed the trend of most people's threads and they all seem pretty much the same to me...horror/survival, fantasy, sci fic...and so. While i know those are the ideas that would sell (look at the number of zombie flicks that came out last year), aren't people getting a little bored with it?
I'm a great believer of old school D&D style of RPGs, you create a character from scratch and you live his life, so as to speak. Along the way, you save the princess, slay a dragon or two and save the world. But somehow i think a parody of RPGs/MMORPGs would be a fun approach to design a game, take a look at the Order of the Sticks - started off as a web-based comic, and now have its own boardgame.
I'm not sure how the mechanics of designing such a game would be like, but i sure have an idea how i would want the game to be.
Game Environment:
Fantasy + Sci fic and Horror elements of cos! I would think that although it's a parody, it should feel like a real RPG/MMORPG. I want players to grin at the obvious dig at other games while enjoying the game mechanics, system and story.
Game Mechanics/System:
I would love input on this. So far, the tried-and-test method of XP leveling works best. But an idea would be increase of increasing XP and leveling up, completing a quest or killing a monster would reduce your XP and eventually reducing your level to 1. Another alternative to XP is Karma points, you gain or lose karma points according to your actions. Kill an innocent bystander? Lose 10 karma Points. Save an annoying damsel in distress? Gain 10 karma points. With this system, only certain skills/items can be accessable to a range of Karma Points. For example, The Morbid Dagger will only be available to characters with -50 Karma Points and below. Titles will then be given to characters who reach a certain Karma Level, Ranique the Rude has a Karma Level of 0 to -10 while Sarah the Benelovent will have a Karma Level of 20-30. OR if you neglected to save a number of damsel in distress, you gain the title of 'Your Name the Jerk' and if you kill too many innocent animals (those who play WoW would know what i mean), you would gain the title of 'Your name the Animal Abuser'. And as the game progress, it would be harder to gain (if you're good) Karma Points and easier to lose Karma Points.
I'm still trying to figure out the backstory, as well as the character development portion. Would you think this game idea will work?
#2
If you're rather new to game development I would also suggest that you try the single player RPG approach, which is much more feasible than a MMORPG.
Although not entirely original, I think this is a good idea and it would certainly be more original than most games. Good luck!
01/09/2008 (6:03 am)
I would also take a look at the bard's tale ( www.thebardstale.com )If you're rather new to game development I would also suggest that you try the single player RPG approach, which is much more feasible than a MMORPG.
Although not entirely original, I think this is a good idea and it would certainly be more original than most games. Good luck!
#3
01/10/2008 (1:30 am)
Brian: kingdom of loathing is fun! thanks for the recommandation, will do my neccessary research. 
#4
01/10/2008 (8:13 am)
The game mechanics are interesting (if it's comedic, you may want random bad things happening to people with certain karma scores), but I think if you can get together enough funniness in the game, it would work out pretty nicely. The biggest problem with MMO's next to stale features, is stale plot, so something as out of the ordinary as this would attract attention just on it's base premise of being a parody. I think it's a pretty good idea.
#5
EDIT: I actually have a nice idea, but I'm going to keep it for myself now, lol.
02/27/2008 (1:28 pm)
How would you parody them?EDIT: I actually have a nice idea, but I'm going to keep it for myself now, lol.
#6
Some rewards are Character Leveling, New Equipment, Virtual Currency to name a few.
But it seems to me that you might have found another niche for rewards and that would be your Karma idea.
Only thing i'd like to mention is when reward systems go stale. The player might have the highest Damage score with that Rubber Mallet but eventually being Number 1 in the Damage category just isn't enough to keep a players interest. The novelty of being number 1 eventually wears off and the player loses interest.
Thats just 1 example.
On the other hand, smaller rewards throughout the game helps a person feel like they have accomplished something. Remember that some players have just 1 or 2 hours to play a favorite game and while other people have just 1 or 2 hours to eat and shower and sleep before playing your game again. (nevermind that mental picture of those players ).. Just know that your Game idea has to accomodate the casual and the diehard unclean / under nourished no lifers that also will play. That means content.
If you have enough rewards and content to satisfy a broad spectrum of players then you are building a Game that can potentially become the next best thing to sliced bread.. or Soap whichever is the players case.
Go with it. It sounds like a winner.
02/27/2008 (2:18 pm)
Any game you imagine will need some sort of reward system.Some rewards are Character Leveling, New Equipment, Virtual Currency to name a few.
But it seems to me that you might have found another niche for rewards and that would be your Karma idea.
Only thing i'd like to mention is when reward systems go stale. The player might have the highest Damage score with that Rubber Mallet but eventually being Number 1 in the Damage category just isn't enough to keep a players interest. The novelty of being number 1 eventually wears off and the player loses interest.
Thats just 1 example.
On the other hand, smaller rewards throughout the game helps a person feel like they have accomplished something. Remember that some players have just 1 or 2 hours to play a favorite game and while other people have just 1 or 2 hours to eat and shower and sleep before playing your game again. (nevermind that mental picture of those players ).. Just know that your Game idea has to accomodate the casual and the diehard unclean / under nourished no lifers that also will play. That means content.
If you have enough rewards and content to satisfy a broad spectrum of players then you are building a Game that can potentially become the next best thing to sliced bread.. or Soap whichever is the players case.
Go with it. It sounds like a winner.
#7
04/08/2008 (12:44 pm)
Well what you described was final fantasy i swear (except without the horror) but you are right it eventually gets boring just being another player in thousands, where as the old rpg's you felt special and all powerful:D go to my link for the idea iv just had:D 
#8
04/08/2008 (12:59 pm)
I had an idea for an MMORPG once. It wasn't even going to be online. It would just make you think that it was connecting to the internet. Then it would "auto-adjust" your graphics to the lowest possible settings. (2d) That's about as far as I got with it. 
Torque Owner Brian Wilson
www.dungeonrunners.com/
Another example would be Kingdom of Loathing.
www8.kingdomofloathing.com/
Good luck with your idea development.