Game Development Community

Realistic MMO game.

by Tyler Slabinski · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 08/13/2008 (1:42 am) · 16 replies

I had an idea for a while, and although I still can't implement it due to lack of OpenGL support for TGEA and some other stuff, I guess I can put this out in the world:

This game takes place in medieval times (like most MMOs out there), but this one is going to be much more realistic then games like WoW.

You get to choose from multiple races such as:

Humans
Dwarves
Gnomes
Elves
Goblins
(more might be added later)

And you get to choose a class, but unlike most other games that have you choose a class, this will not restrict you to anything. It might be easier if I explain this first. There are many skills such as:

Magic
Crafting
Combat
Archery
Harvesting

And each one having a group of sub-classes:

Magic:
-Sorcery
-Teleporting
-Enchanting
-Summoning
-Transformation
-Combat

Crafting:
-Carpentry
-Potioning
-Fletching
-Smithing
-Tailoring

Now when you choose a class, you will choose to either be a Wizard, a Crafter, a Combatant, an Archer, or a Harvester. Now when you choose one, the only thing that happens is that you gain a few levels in each skill that is in each one, but it does not limit you from anything else. So you can choose to be a wizard, but gain your levels up in archery instead.

After you choose your race and class, you must choose your starting alliance. Now each alliance will not be considered 'good' or 'evil'. So that means new and experienced players will mix around, and not giving the odds to another alliance.

All alliances will have a diplomatic setting towards another alliance, which will change depending on how the players act. The settings will be as followed:

Ally
Truce
Enemies
War

Ally: Players are allowed in each other's cities at any time, and they help each other as much as possible. Players may stay as long as they want. This is good for times of war.

Truce: Players are allowed in each other's cities at any time, but they shouldn't stay too long. This is good mostly for trading.

Enemies: Players will raid other players for items and resources, they will be attacked if they get too close to a city or outpost.

War: Players will attack and hold siege to enemy cities until they are destroyed, and once that happens, then all players in that alliance will be forced to choose a different alliance. All players will be attacked on sight by the others.

So this means that the game will have realistic war and diplomatic parts.

Another major part of the game is Player Owned Alliances (POA). When very high-level players can make it on their own, they usually start their own alliance. First the player starts an alliance, much like they would start a guild in other MMOs, and then they need recruits, but the way they get them is up to them.

After they have a good number of players, they will start building their capital. Using TGEAs ATLAS terrain system, the games terrain will generated to spread out very far, with oceans and islands and many many features. Once the POA finds a good place to build, the leader will use a Land Marker, which will (depending on the amount of players) expand to a suitable size. All buildings built in the Land Marker must be authorized by the owner, and will then be owned by the owner. There will be many buildings to build using the carpentry skill, such as:

-Armory: Holds high level weapons and armor which may only be used when the leader allows
-Dragon Hatchery: Explained later
-Minigame Building: Allows players from all alliances to enter a portal and be taken to a universe with many minigames to play.
-Towers, Walls, and other fortifications.

So that is what a POA is... Just a regular alliance, but ran by a player.

#1
08/13/2008 (1:42 am)
DRAGONS:

Dragons will be a playable character (yes, playable...), but I wanted dragon players to be special and rare, so it is extremely unlikely that you will get to play as one.

Players that want a dragon must get a dragon egg, which will be protected by another dragon, that must be defeated. To make it harder, it will be very hard to even find the dragon, for they will always be moving, and will be hard to find. Then they must defeat the dragon, which will take at least 10 players since the dragons will be so strong.

Then comes the part of hatching the egg in a Dragon Hatchery. The Dragon Hatchery may hold 5 eggs, and each must be taken care of for 2 weeks with very special and consistent care. After the egg hatches, then it will follow around you like a pet as a baby, gradually growing into an adult for another week. The hatchling still need much care during that time.

After it grows up as an adult, then you can play as it by switching to it like any other character, but dragons are different then other characters. Humans, elves, dwarves, etc. have the skills listed above, while dragons have these:

Fire Breath
Flight
Combat

There are no sub-skills for these, but they allow you to do many things:

Fire Breath: Different kind of fire breathing powers, such as classic flame, and long-range fireball.
Flight: Allows you to fly to higher points in the sky, and let's you become more agile and faster.
Combat: Basic combat skills.

I am tired, but I will explain more tomorrow.
#2
08/13/2008 (8:48 am)
I always find it amusing to hear people refer to a "more realistic" game involving elves and goblins... Certainly, my goblin friends will appreciate it, as they're quite sick of being stereotyped and ridiculed. =D

Dragons sounds very limited and 2-dimensional to me. A big part of any MMO are crafting and non-combat activities. (According to Nick Yee's research over at Daedalus Project, more than 60% of MMO players feel a robust crafting system is "very important" or "extremely important".) As a playable character, dragons don't seem to have anything to do except fly around and fry things. I give that one, maybe two days before it gets stale.

Maybe give dragons access to magic, and let them use arcane powers to enchant weapons and such?
#3
08/13/2008 (8:55 am)
Well, I meant like a realistic game as in... Umm... Ok, I don't know, but it is pretty realistic in the other way.

Yes, dragons are suppose to be limited, that's what would make them so hard to get, but you are right, there are many non-combat abilities dragons will have. Such as carrying a box of cargo like a caravan.

I think I will put magic in as dragons, but I will need to make the spells a bit different (you don't want to see a dragon shooting a lightning bolt from his palm.)
#4
08/13/2008 (10:25 am)
Actually i had a more interesting suggestion, if you are going to have a player raise a dragon as a "character" why not make it a sidekick, rather then as a playable. And be able to let the player for a limited time take control of the side kick, like a psionic link. Kinda like Pern does dragons. And its possible to do a realistic themed game, with the fantasy races, you just have to remember some of the basic rules of each society, or create a sound ecology for each race that is realistic. If your basing elves and Dwarves on typical Tolkien or DnD themes, your still going to have some, this would never happen in a real society events.

Having the Dragons as pets would really add a different dimension to all the above items you mentioned. And still allow a wide range of uses for them. imagine a player who is a heavy crafter with adragon that is raised with speciaties in Imbuing. or A fighter with a dragon that he can actually mount as its special ability, and so forth.
#5
08/13/2008 (5:49 pm)
That is true, and a good idea. But I want the player to actually BE the dragon, rather then someone just riding and controlling the dragon.

Actually, I am going to make it so that dragons can drop certain items, such as bombs, a crate with players in it, or just some random items.

I also think it would be good for the dragon to have other players able to ride them, but the dragon is still the one in control.
#6
08/13/2008 (6:59 pm)
Well, I would suggest that you get started on this game, sounds interesting. I see alot of interesting mechanics that will need to be resolved.
#7
08/13/2008 (7:21 pm)
I resolved many things.

I implemented a way to have the dragon fly, I am using the melee system source code change, I know how to make .dif objects appear when a function activates, I will use catapults and siege weapons as vehicles. I can set fire come out of a node on a dragon. If you think of any others, tell me quickly. I don't want to start this game only to find out I can't do half the things I want.

I am also waiting for OpenGL support for TGEA, which is 'suppose to' come out either this year or next year, but I am not holding my breath.

I might try and make a smaller demo with less features and slightly worse graphics and try and raise funds to actually build the real game.
#8
08/24/2008 (10:44 am)
This is very interesting. It sounds like a fantasy but in a more realistic and modern style.
Seem's like a very promising game. Hope to see it in action.
#9
08/29/2008 (10:18 am)
Be The Dragon, is actually an idea I would love to make a game out of.

Make a dragon, eat maidens, destroy tows with breath weapon/tail sweeps, carry off lifestock, raise hordes of minions and sleep on huge piles of gems and gold, I have 2 choices, become a politician or a Dragon :)

and "Be the Politician" has already been done.

I would opt for Online play options, perhaps in a command and conquer style or FDS style game (Thats first Dragon Shooter btw)

Flying arial combat against another dragon, breath weapons, magic spells, claw to claw combat, you know, the usual "Be a dragon" game out there.

Gain reputation and prestige and you destroy city after city, or perhaps you are to play one of those goody two claw dragons, "lets save the little squishy snack humans" and help them....bleh!

63 Levels, 24 Dragon Types, over 1000 Cities to Destroy, BE A DRAGON!!! Coming SOON!!!

Sorry yes, I realize I am quite off topic, so don't follow my bad behavior :)
#10
08/29/2008 (12:04 pm)
Speaking of "Be the Dragon" and "Be the Politician", there's also a Be the Dinosaur
#11
12/05/2008 (7:23 pm)
*Cough* World of warcraft *Cough*
Well if it was like really far back in time, it would be a bit different...
#12
12/06/2008 (6:28 am)
Sounds interesting enough to get me playing that game.Hope to hear more about it's where abouts.
#13
12/08/2008 (12:20 pm)
Only words of wisdom I can provide is, dont worry about "realism" (which means different things to different players) worry about making sure the game is fun to play first. Then worry about what it looks like.

for example, in general, wow although very artistic and well done in terms of the "look" that they went for, looks like a$$ compared to something like crysis.

However, wow is by far a better game (as 10mil+ will attest too).

so please realize graphics do not make the game, your game design and implementation of it is what will make your game.

if you really want to go for that "realism" look, maybe use terms like gritty, darker, and less like cartoon town.

one more time for good measure, graphics do not make the game, if your game sucks graphics/realism are not going to save it.

oh and generally "realism" in the sense of bullets fire the way they do in the real world type of thing is generally not fun. people often play games to escape from what is "real" and to live in an imaginary world.
(very general comment as there are some successful realistic games, although they tend to be fps style).

another important key, is have a complete vision of your world and the experience you want to provide.
thinking this or that is cool from this game of that game wont cut it.

anyway, that my two cents. been working on mmos since the text mud days, and they are more often a complete miss for lots of reasons, but lack of vision is always present.

so good luck, keep working on it and refining it. keep thinking what makes this fun, why would someone play it, how might they play it (remember no one plays the game the way you intended them too).

good luck! and keep at it...
#14
12/08/2008 (1:13 pm)
No, when I say realism, I don't mean graphics.

Take the flying part of it. You will be able to drop sacks filled with gunpowder or oil. Now instead of like WoW where you choose where something would hit, it doesn't have a target, so you would need to rely on real life thought to drop it where you want it.

Melee to melee combat would also be different. Instead of you selecting the enemy, pressing the attack button, and watching you 2 go at each other. You would be engaged in a more flexible combat. Where you choose when to swing, and special moves such as parry, shield, or counter-attack. Think of it like a Zelda combat.

Same goes for shooting arrows. The arrow won't follow the target like in WoW, instead you would need to aim and shoot while the enemy gets hit in the head unexpectedly.

Now I have a long way to go before I will be anywhere close to finishing it. Infact there's a chance I may not finish it at all, I just wanted to throw out my 'Fantasy MMO' game.
#15
12/08/2008 (1:38 pm)
Quote:you would need to rely on real life thought to drop it where you want it

Basically, you want FPS-like combat (which follows physics- sort of, because it uses that same math, if not sticking to real-world properties) in an RPG. You can say that and have it go over better than saying "realistic". I run into the same problem with that word when trying to describe different features of my project, and it does cause some negative reactions, because people think of it and immediate begin thinking that their character will need potty breaks or that they will no longer be able to be a hero. It pays to try to think up better ways to say these things once you find yourself saying "no, what I mean by that is..." =)
#16
12/08/2008 (2:28 pm)
@Chad P. Dowell

I love your "Be The Dragon" idea!

Back on topic. :)