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View Full Version : Several Questions on Prefrences of People in MMORPGs


EMidget
11-20-2004, 09:29 PM
Ok, I'm going to ask a bunch of questions about what you prefer on things to be done in a MMORPG. If you want, you can either quote each question and reply or just make a list, but I do ask that you make a detailed answer where I can tell what the qustion was. (I.E Regarding the interface question....) I'm typing these questions as they come to my head, so please forgive the order. You do not have to answer every question, I would much rather you answer just a few than not answer at all.


Ok here we go!

These are the current ideas I have for a theme or setting of the MMORPG:
Fantasy: Typical MMORPG (Which I have no problem with), that uses Humans, Elves, Dwarves, etc. that has dragons and fantasy type creatures. Pretty Self Explanatory

Medievil (SP): Uses the medievil age as primary source of setting and themes. Again Self-Explanatory... The only problems with this is that there are limtited races, because there all humans... and I definetly prefer not to use different countries, like the Britts fighting against the French.

Egyptian: This would use an Egyptian type setting containing different types of Egytian mythology as races, such as the Anubi. (The black animal-like things in the Mummy, if you didn't know) I'm not sure, but we may also be able to use some type of Martial Arts if we used Egypt, but the Con of this is that deserts aren't that pretty to look at. :)

Chinese: This could definetely use Martial Arts, and I'm almost positive there is some type of Chinese mythology which we could pull races from, Although, I'm not a personal fan of a chinese world because the buildings don't appeal to me, and although I am not racist in anyway, I feel there is less variety with Chinese People as NPC's.

These are my current ideas for setting, I'm probably tilting towards Fantasy just because it can go in so many different ways. Keep in mind, these are just the age or setting the game is in, you don't have to follow the history of each.

Now for actual questions:

How would you prefer an interface to be laid out in an MMORPG, What games did you like the interface in (Post screenshots of it please), is there certain things you'd like on an interface or certain things you think are not needed? Please be extremely specific on this, if you'd like, attach a microsoft paint of the layout you would want. Put little rows where you'd like the quickspell toolbar, menu, chat, etc.

How should the interface for the inventory and eqiupment screen be carried out? Should there be a picture of a person, and each article with a box holding the item in that area, or should it just have a list or some other way? How would you prefer this done?


How would you want spells to be done? They could be bought from a trainer or every level you could obtain a certain amount of points and they could be done in tree form, or it could be a combination of both, if it's done in both, tell me how'd you'd do it.

How would you do crafting? If there are multiple types, how many types should be allowed to be specialized on each character, or should you be able to master them all? What are some crafting professions you'd like to see (Please list uses of profession) How would you like crafting training to be done? By a trainer? Should you require certain items to perform your profession such as a hammer for smithing? How should crafting experience in your profession be gained?

Should monsters drop items more for crafting, or drop actual equipment, or a mix of both? If it's a mix, should it be 50/50 or more crafting items than equipment dropped, or vice-versa?

Should items have durability, or should they never have to be repaired?

What is your thoughts on a well-made death penalty? How would you like death to be carried out? What do you think are good penalties for death? Loss of Gold, loss of experience? Do you think a player-resurection spell should be possible? If there is no one to resurrect you, how do you get your corpse back?

What articles of eqiupment do you think your character should have? Should he be able to have rings or amulets? Any special articles he may wear to gain power? Do you think shoulderpads should be able to be worn? Bracers? Or should there just be a normal Head, Chest, Hands, Boots, Belt, Weapon, and shield?

Depending on the theme you choose, what races would you like to see in-game? What special attributes or racial traits would you want this race to have? Are you going to make up your own races, or use normal races along with that theme?

What classes would you prefer in a MMORPG? (Answering typical warrior, archer, priest, mage etc. is OK) Post any innovative class ideas, along with what type of character they are, what kind of skills they use, type of eqiupment they should wear, role in game, what races can and can't be that class, a name for the class (Strangely enough, this is always the hardest things for me in games, 'Names for something') and other things you think are necessary to include. What extra things would you like too see in the normal classes most MMORPG's that you've yet to see or things you really liked in other MMORPGs with that class?

What areas do you think should be instanced? On a personal note, I believe that the whole land should not be instances, but for main raid caves or areas, it should be instanced. What is your thought on this? Should there be instanced towns or villages?

Player or Guild housing. Should there even be player housing? (You won't get me to change my mind that I want guild halls!) What should be the purpose of player or guild housing? Should housing be instanced, or do you have a good idea on how it should be implented into the world? Should you have to buy or pay rent for player hosuing? Or for Guild housing should you automatcially recieve a guild house when creating a guild or should you have to buy it, and after buying it should you have to continue paying rent, or should it be yours forever? If you had to buy your guild house, and you abandon your guild, should you get money back from the house purchase? Should you be able to upgrade the size of your house, or what kind of objects should you be able to buy to improve your house?

How should guild creation be handled? Should there be a required amount of initial members to create a guild? If so, How many? Should it cost money to create a guild? Should guild's have a tabard? If so, where should the tabard be located? Should the tabard cost money to purchase? What are some suggestions you have to make guilds and guild implentation better?

Factions? Should it be Group of Races vs. Group of Races, Made up Faction vs. Made up Faction, a 3 faction war, Free for all with each race against each other? What are your thoughts on this? If you do think there should be factions, please list the groups you think should be in each faction in correspondence with your races and refer to the next question.

Should there be faction vs. faction combat? How should Town captures, Town sieges, or Castle sieges be handled? Should there be siege weapons? If so, how will these be added to combat? Will the battles be server-wide affecting? What if a certain quest a player needs is now in enemy hands, how will this be done? What will the player gain from helping capture a town or castle? What things do you have in mind on how towns or castles will affect the server or what bonuses a faction will gain?

How would you want a World Map laid out? Would you want each Faction on a different Island, or do you want a giant continent shared between all races? If you want, include a Microsoft Paint file showing how you would want it.

Traveling. What types of fast, long-distance travel will be avaiable? Bird Rides, Boat Rides, a type of train? Please give examples of this to go along with the theme you are using in your races and setting.

Mounts and Long Walks. Should mounts be used for walking long distances between quests or areas where transportation is avaiable? Should mounts have a required level? Should a mount have to be bought? Should there be race-specific mounts? How will mounts be called in-game? If your stable is back in town, do you have to go all the way back to town, get your mount, then ride to the area you were intended to go in the first place. Once dismounting, where will your mount go? Does he go back to a stable? Should there even be mounts or a stable? Should Mounts be killable if their is mounted combat? What suggestions do you have regarding mounts and mount implentation?

Armor and Weapon Counter Types. Do you think there should be counters for each weapon and armor? For example, if a person is wearing Plate Armor, a piercing weapon such as a sword or arrow would be much less ineffective than a bashing weapon such as a maul. What do you think could be some of these possible counters? Include Armor and Weapon Type.

How would you want the interface for player interaction to be done? When you Click a player, how do you invite him to a party, or initiate trade?

How do you want combat to be done? Should it be done in a semi turn-based perspective where once engaging in combat you just keep attacking your enemy with weapon until he's dead or until you cast a spell, or should it have some type of combat where you have to rapidly or hold down the attack button to attack the enemy? Any suggestions or ideas you have on making combat exciting but easy are much appreciated.


Finally, what extra things or features do you want that aren't in other MMORPGs or things you really liked in another game? Maybe just from your own thoughts as a gamer, things you would love to see implented in a game.

Please, no flames about how developing this kind of stuff is impossible... Let me do and try what I want, you can just help! : )

Also, more questions may be on the way as I come up with them!

Thanks!

Mark Fassett
11-21-2004, 12:04 AM
I don't want to sound like an ass, but these mmorpg questions are really better suited for gamedev.net. They'll be able to give you better answers.

Dan MacDonald
11-21-2004, 12:12 AM
EMidget, the members of these forums are pretty nice guys and they'll tolerate a certain amount of poor ediquett from new members. These forums are primarily focused on the business aspects of game development and to be a resource for people who are turning their game making skills into income. These forums were never intended to teach people the basics of game design and implementation. Gamedev.net is much better suited to help people learn more about designing and building games.

Once you have built a game or are in the process of building a game that you would like to sell, this forum will be of more use to you. If you want to know more about the design and implementation of massively multiplayer games there is TONS of information scattered all over the web. Gamasutra has a lot of interesting articles, someone else mentioned mud dev. There are also a number of good books written on the topic. I suggest you explore these avenues of learning as opposed to quizzing the members of this forum. As with all learning, you don't really learn it until you actually perform the function yourself. There is no way to learn enough ahead of time to design and build an MMORPG, the best way to learn is to actually try and do it with the abilities that you have. You will grow your own skill and learn a lot in the process.

RedKnight
11-21-2004, 05:14 AM
I was too lazy to read the whole thing but
Is like what the other guy said.

Make the damm thing, then we'll talk about it.


Chinese: This could definetely use Martial Arts, and I'm almost positive there is some type of Chinese mythology which we could pull races from, Although, I'm not a personal fan of a chinese world because the buildings don't appeal to me, and although I am not racist in anyway, I feel there is less variety with Chinese People as NPC's

Do Chinese always have to be a Martial arts guy?

Sybixsus
11-21-2004, 06:10 AM
Please, no flames about how developing this kind of stuff is impossible... Let me do and try what I want, you can just help! : )


If you can't bear to hear someone tell you you're extremely unlikely to finish, it sounds to me as though you're going to need to work on your inner strength a little. You're going to face much harder times than someone saying "I don't think you can do it."

Anyway, the most important feature for me in an indie MMORPG is that it be finished. It's very rare that MMORPG's have this feature, but it has happened.

Mark Sheeky
11-22-2004, 02:01 AM
On theme, I'd plum for Egyptian because it's the most unusual.

You've passed step 1 and identified the questions. The best best to get a good design is locate a similar game and see how they did it and try to understand why. After that, the design questions will start to answer themselves. Good luck.

Mark
Sound Effects For Game Developers
http://www.indiesfx.co.uk

andyb
11-22-2004, 02:06 AM
Please, no flames about how developing this kind of stuff is impossible... Let me do and try what I want, you can just help! : )

Then you should take your own advice and do it the way you want it to be done. Once you've got a working model and some players ask them if they want anything changing. I'd suggest you play the demos or look at screen shots of a few of the bigger commercial MMORPG's and see how they do things. I'm not saying they know best but they do tend to do a lot of beta testing before release.

With all of these questions it just sounds like you've had the typical "magic idea" and don't know where to start. If you've played any other MMORPG before you should have at least the smallest idea of where to go next.

Dom
11-22-2004, 04:13 AM
Best place for this info (game mechanics) is the MUDDev archives (https://www.kanga.nu/archives/MUD-Dev-L/). Plough your way through them :) Also check out Nick Yee's Daedalus project (http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/) - lots of surveys about what people play MMORPGS, what they like, etc.

Briefly (I dont have time to read all the stuff)

You biggest problem will always be bandwidth. For 1000 players a server simultaneously, you will be lucky to have more that 1 kilobit per player per second on average - so you must design everything to minimise bandwidth at all costs.

Egyptian style is currently being done by 'A Tale in the Desert'.

Player Housing is not much cop. It ends up being a glorified bank. Waste of effort usually.

Combat should be mostly 'automatic' combat. Send the fewest key commands possible to save bandwidth. You certainly don't want the player to have to hold down any keys to fight. Any actions a player takes must also be distributed to all the people who can see him - so pressing 'hit' every turn could mean having to send 100's of 'player x is fighting' messages to 100s of clients instead of a state-wise 'player x starts/stops fighting' which only get sent twice every combat.

Thats all I got time for at the mo.
Hope it helps a bit.