Top Mud Sites Forum Return to TopMudSites.com
Go Back   Top Mud Sites Forum > Mud Development and Administration > Advanced MUD Concepts
Click here to Register

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 06-16-2002, 08:00 PM   #1
Alexander Tau
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 101
Alexander Tau is on a distinguished road
Hail!

I have been working on a number of potential new game ideas, and one has begun to stand out from the pack. It would be a Science Fiction game, set in oh 2100 or so, the codebase is both undecided and unimportant right now.

In thinking about starting another new game I have gone to the very beginning. What a player does to become a character in a World, and how that all starts, has been a major concern. Since all my games are focused on RP, getting people up to speed in the game is important.

Getting a player informed enough to interact with other characters is no easy task. Who wants to sit for a couple days of briefings to really learn it all? And let's face it, if you really wanted to understand a new game, a whole world that supposedly you 'grew up on' that is how long it would take.

My concept involves Colonization, a new Planet is opened with no human population, and characters can build things on it's surface. At first the Planet will be deadly, and require a lot of combat to even begin to carve out a settlement. Times will be hard at first but the possibilites are as wide as the player's imaginations.

Part of the concept is to allow players to get into character over a short amount of time. The game would have 5 basic settings: SpaceStation, Galaxy Queen, Shuttle, Moon & Planet. These are just working titles not final names.

SpaceStation: Start point, high tech, easy life.
Galaxy Queen: usually in Space, takes 2 weeks to go to the Planet.
Shuttle: 3 days between Station and Moon, the fast way.
Moon: primative, slightly dangerous, small base
Planet: Colonies, everything built by characters.

The level of available Tech goes down as you move down this list. At first players would be in a Tech wonderland, teleporters, food service machines, perhaps based on some alien technology. When you get to the Planet's Moon you enter a place that is very quickly made, mostly a temp stop on the way to the Planet, a 'safe' place to retreat from the constant dangers of the Planet.

On Planet characters will have to build what they need, harvest materials for these efforts, and deal with the dangerous creatures and even the environment itself.

So the Players will move slowly towards the danger, they would start in a place where they do not have to work to survive. If they want passage on the Queen that will cost, and to get the money they will have to do something to earn it. On the Queen things also cost a bit, so if you want to travel in style you will be able to do so. A shuttle is cheaper and faster, but tiny and you do not get a chance to interact with anyone beyond the occasional shipmate.

When you reach the Moon, you will have to learn some safety proceedures. On the Moon they will have a very good idea of how dangerous the Planet really is and will try to make sure you are really prepared for planetfall.

The different areas of play do more than slowly get a player into the game, they are also places where some people will just decide to stay. Perhaps you like politics, and would rather stay on the Station and get involved in elections and other intrigue. Some people will choose to live on the Queen, perhaps by running some sort of business. And I actually have some ideas for the Moon base that should make it a bit of a challenging environment, and all with few if any creatures. The airless void is the enemy and it can threaten in all sorts of ways.

This is for RP people, so I do not need to hear 'nobody will sit for 3 days'. If they do not want to deal with that they will not be playing. People who apprecaite a sense of immersion will understand and the game would be targeted at them with no pretense or illusion of being all-inclusive.

So what I would like to know is:

1) Does this make any sense to you?
2) Does the idea of steps of involvement seem like a good idea?
3) Do the different styles of places sound appealing?
4) Do you have any thoughts that might improve on the concept?


A.T
(-)
Alexander Tau is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-16-2002, 10:13 PM   #2
Rytorth
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 364
Rytorth is on a distinguished road
Smile

Rytorth is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-17-2002, 03:54 AM   #3
Dre
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: the Netherlands
Posts: 65
Dre is on a distinguished road
Dre is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-17-2002, 10:07 PM   #4
Alexander Tau
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 101
Alexander Tau is on a distinguished road
To respond to the first set of questions, all new Characters arrive on the Station. If they have knowledge of the game already they can take a shuttle and be on the Moon in 3 days. There is a whole Society, including Earth that forms the backdrop. Players are those who leave Earth far behind, and intend to become a part of this new Colony and it's associated places.

For the second set of questions, I am not going to try to accomodate every playing style, unless you mean those that start with RP and subdivide. If you are speaking of the 4 player types defined in MU* land they would be the subdivisions. Playing a Character means fitting in a bit, doing something other than being youself first, with whatever actions that make sense following.

If you are the killer type, you would naturally gravitate towards the Planet, they will always need more warriors so they can expand and control territory. Unlike Earth, the local ecology will not just die off with a litle pressure. The Planet was chosen by the powers at Earth to try and make it impossible to really Colonize, but this information was leaked and only firmed the will of the original Colonizer group. It will be a long, long, time before the whole Planet is pacified. And there are other levels of resistance, that will have to be met with thought not weapons to overcome.

So the game would be serious RP, but in a natural speech style, with all of Earth's history as a valid part of the background. I would be adding some stuff to get us from now to the slight future, some new techs, maybe otherworld contact, but it will be easy RP.

The problem with attempting to mix RP with non-RP is just that the non-RP side does not respect the World and storylines like ther RPer does. It is natural, if leveling is what you are after, the rest is fluff to be enjoyed sometimes, ignored when inconveient. But since I know that inside RP you can be whatever you wish, pursue any goals you like, I have never seen a pure RP game as a limited thing.


A.T
(-)
Alexander Tau is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-26-2002, 05:49 AM   #5
Alexander Tau
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 101
Alexander Tau is on a distinguished road
Beyond getting people involved in the game in a technical sense, there is also the desire to immerse them in a very deeply complex reality. I am starting with normal earth history so that we have all that background to draw on, but then pushing all the players into very new environments cut off from their home planet, possibly forever.

So the different places are each intended to bring huge chunks of information to the player in a way they can comprehend, enjoy, and slowly begin to process. The Space Station is the most common human place, a whole lot of things that will be instandly familiar. In many ways a human dream of existance, without the immediate need to get a job you can wander at will for example.

A player will be able to reach alien areas, environoments and data on them will be available. And in some cases NPCs can provide some connections. But the station is for humans, and everyone knows that, it is psychologically the link to Earh and we will never really give that up.

The Galaxy Queen moves from the main Planet to the Station on a long slow cruise, and there is where the influence of the other alien cultures has much more influence. Trade, politics, galactic events, all these and more involve the Queen. Unlike the heavily enforced peace of the Station sometimes things can get rough in certain places. It is a really big ship and if nobody calls the authorities... well things happen. The Queen is the home to player groups and the directing control for many of the colonies that would be springing up.

The moon is sort of a tech testing ground, rather dangerous to live on but appealing to certain types of people. It would also be the likely point where a severly injured colonist would be transported into for recovery. I believe in PermaDeath but it can be guarded aginst with tech devices, just takes a lot of time to get back to the action when you do.

So I think by giving players these different places to pass through before they get to the actual colony planet will give me a way to impart a lot more information that is usual. When, after 2-3 weeks of time, they finally set foot onto the Planet it will not only be an accomplishment, it will be a moment to savor. Armed with knowledge of the universe around them, they can then proceed to carve whatever they wish out of this new frontier.

A.T
(-)
Alexander Tau is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-26-2002, 03:41 PM   #6
thelenian
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 122
thelenian is on a distinguished road
thelenian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2002, 04:47 AM   #7
Alexander Tau
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 101
Alexander Tau is on a distinguished road
I think if you are going to plan a real RP game you have to accept the need for a moderate playerbase to really have things work. Since this would not be my first game, and I do have a pretty good array of means to get the word out I do not see it as a problem.

Actually the beginning stages of the game would be unique in a couple of ways. First there would be a period where advertisting was being done, applications taken, but no real access allowed to the game itself. Very likely some small places would be created to let people experience some of the technology but even getting to the Station would be impossible.

After that would come a period of time where all activity is focused on the Station, building groups and other things to make Colonization even possible. Then the Queen would make her first appearance.

In a way I am planning this like I would a movie, generating pre-release buzz to get enough people to make it worth doing would have to be part of that.

It will take at least a small group of 5-10 to even attempt to start a colony site, solo player would probably be able to work with these groups but it would be a very dangerous life. Go much beyond the protected boundaries of a colony site and things would get very dangerous. The sheer amount of creatures and environmental dangers is intended to keep a large playerbase busy for years and it will just grind up a solo player most of the time.


A.T
(-)
Alexander Tau is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2002, 05:37 AM   #8
thelenian
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 122
thelenian is on a distinguished road
If you're truly planning on making colony environments hostile, you'll need to reconsider your figure of "5-10" per colony. You have to realize that those 5-10 people will not all be online at the same time all the time. If this is going to be even a moderately serious RP game, there will need to be the actual realistic possibility of character permadeath. Taking that into account, it will take a player whose char dies on a colony at least several RL days to make it back to that colony with a new char. Given that colonies are harder to stay alive on with less people for support, a colony of 5-10 could easily be destroyed by the environment alone very quickly. That's not even counting the occasional player with a penchant for PK. You might want to consider starting your game with only a single planet to colonize in the beginning, until you get a fair sized (20+ concurrent peak, 80+ unique people daily) pbase going.
thelenian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2002, 02:08 PM   #9
Alexander Tau
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 101
Alexander Tau is on a distinguished road
I am only planning on a Single Planet at the beginning, a very large one. When I said 5-10 that would be the bare minimum to attempt to start a new colony on the Planet, I agree that a larger group will probably be needed to be successful.

So in the beginning there would be at least a few such group on the planet, along with a couple of NPC settlement locations.

The Planet is in a way a nod towards those who live for combat, a world simply teeming with life for battles that might never really end. But mixed into that will be mystery as well. Your combat team might have to clear the way, but then you need scientist types to understand how to deal with what you find. The amount of Tech power available will be based on money more than time, so unlike a game where everyone starts very weak, fights little critters, and then moves up, things will start a lot more violent. So in some ways the Planet environment makes it possible for smaller groups of people to play with RP purpose.


A.T
(-)
Alexander Tau is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2002, 11:01 PM   #10
creepyguyinblack
New Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 1
creepyguyinblack is on a distinguished road
Thumbs up

I really like this idea and hope it works out well for you. I'd like to add in my ideas towards it though. It should be leveless as an experience pt system rarely seems to work well with rp intensive games. Have it be skill focused, with your skills increased by training and practice. Character classes are also a tricky pickle, they can be sueful for easy skill assignment and advancements, but can also be too confining and stifling. A system of advancing skills and learning new ones through practice within each group/set of skills could be worked out, with characters all having a few very basic skills, and choosing a certain number of additional ones would be nice. How will the characters make permanent changes to the gameworld though? Will there be methods and technologies allowing the characters to build/alter the colony planet and make it more liveable/advanced for colonists?
Again, good luck with this, it sounds intriguing.
creepyguyinblack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-29-2002, 12:24 AM   #11
Alexander Tau
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 101
Alexander Tau is on a distinguished road
I am pretty sure both Levels and Classes would be out, so I am right with you there. I prefer to let people build themselves up in whatever manner they wish.

One of the main reasons for creating a huge Planet without much of any civilized development is so that most of the effort can go into building systems. The key to the whole Colony idea is that with effort characters can construct structures and build other things. These buildings would also be destroyable so protection would be required.

Of course effort would be spent on the other locations, but they are intentionally limited somewhat in size and share a lot of simple common elements. Each location could be expanded, and the Queen is intended to have a vast size that can be explored as part of play. All creators of these locations will be able to draw on a lot of premade parts to speed the work.

A.T
(-)
Alexander Tau is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools


SF Game Concept - Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
MUD game Dianii Newbie Help 5 03-10-2006 02:27 AM
Iron Realms seeks Lead Concept Artist the_logos Advertising for Staff 10 01-06-2006 06:30 AM
Looking For a Game Wik Advertising for Players 28 06-29-2005 09:47 PM
A new game to try out Ivalaine Tavern of the Blue Hand 0 07-24-2004 03:26 AM
The Name Game Loremaster Advertising for Players 7 01-12-2003 03:00 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:01 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Style based on a design by Essilor
Copyright Top Mud Sites.com 2022