What would make you "live" in a game space?

[techbear]

I've got a lot of good assets that I could turn into a 3D game where you hunt zombies in mazes. My vision is both visceral (splattering zombie fluids spray the walls) and strategic (I want complexity and depth). Ultimately, I want a game that's very "sticky", that players want to keep coming back to. I want players to feel like my game is a place they enjoy "being" in.

If the game was about battling zombies in hallways, what would make YOU want to come back again and again? Here are some individual ideas; please comment and add:

- complexity. endless tunnels of different types, many different monster types, many different weapon types.

- a huge backstory. A deep history of the place. Find books everywhere, which detail the game history. Special places, that you can go to, that are mentioned in the books.

- a realistic and/or historical setting. Aside from the whole zombie thing, everything is correct. Buildings have bathrooms. Real posters on the walls. No alternate universe "Nazis won the war"-type things.

- a player community. An active forum, weekly contests, fan fiction, leaderboards.

- creativity within the game. Complex crafting of weapons and ammo.

- creativity to enhance the game. A level editor. A monster editor. Editable scripts for monster AI and level creation.

- accessable developers. Weekly dev chats. The devs implement suggested changes, or tell you why not. In-depth developer diaries.

- development "life". The game gets regular revs. The developer commitment is total. Never any question that the game will continue to grow and get better.

Thanks!

[JoKa]

- complexity. endless tunnels of different types, many different monster types, many different weapon types.

Just playing good old Deus Ex, I must say that it's not really necessary to have many weapon types. I really love the pistol I got as the first weapon, enhanced it's range, ammo capacity, precision, added a laser pointer and a scope, reduced reload time and maximized damage by becoming a sharpshooter. Got another one with a silencer for sneaky attacks and it's great fun :)

[Maupin]

My understanding of MMORPGs is that you need to give the players a sense of accomplishment. This could be as simple as making a number attached to their character go up... or as complex as allowing characters to alter the game world (i.e. put up walls to hide a service hallway and barricade themselves into a safe network of rooms they've cleared of zombies).

[Jesse Hopkins]

Little things like unlockable retro style games in an arcade you can visit. The ability to buy 3D polygon Toys (as in Shenmue). Side things like Zombie fishing and carnival games (knock the head off a zombie with 3 pitches). Interaction with the world in a fun way. Of course if the game is supposed to be very serious, you can't do these.

[Mashew]

I would have to say that if I had to choose what would make me come back. It would most definately be the idea of being able to change the world around you. Most games now are like "Good Job, You defeated the King of (Place)." But, then nothing has changed. You just have the title of "King Slayer" or something.

I would have to say being able to make things and make barricades like someone said previously. That is really what people are looking for right now. No longer should games' enviroments be static, I think that all games' enviroments should be totally dynamic and changes by what you do.


Also, I love it when games don't make it so complex that you are like "WTFH?..." and not so simple that you can become the strongest in 5 minutes.

[techbear]

JoKa - wouldn't you say that all the different upgrades to your pistol are the same thing as many different weapon types? I mean, in the sense that there are lots of weapon choices?

Jesse - Side-games and mini-games aren't hard to do. Are you saying that such things most keep you "in" a game, and keep you coming back?

[Jesse Hopkins]

Jesse - Side-games and mini-games aren't hard to do. Are you saying that such things most keep you "in" a game, and keep you coming back?

Yes, I was thinking of things that would expand the world of the game to make it more attractove when I don't feel like paying attention to the serious aspects. The more things that are fun about a game, the more I want to return to its world.

[JoKa]

JoKa - wouldn't you say that all the different upgrades to your pistol are the same thing as many different weapon types? I mean, in the sense that there are lots of weapon choices?
No, but the pistol becomes much more effective (=more fun) over time. There are other weapons, too. Since there's only one kind of bullets for the pistol, you can't damage bots with it, for example.

A decent choice of weapons which can be enhanced with upgrades may be a great alternative to masses of weapons. I think it's a much better solution than the weak beginner weapons you find in most shooters, where you only look for a machine gun to replace the pistol and then for the minigun as a replacement of the machine gun. In Deus Ex you have a small choice of weapons for very different purposes, but they don't replace each other. Depending on your strategy, you pick a few favorite weapons and learn to love them after some upgrades. Each upgrade feels rewarding like a levelup in a rpg, especially in combination with the player's skill level for each weapon type.

[sjohnson243]

"- complexity. endless tunnels of different types, many different monster types, many different weapon types."

On the other hand, isn't this what attracted SO many people over to Diablo Franchise? People played for months to get the more rare loot, class armor sets, etc... I think this is HUGE in a game.

[Artinum]

I have to agree with the few but customisable weapons idea. Having a number of basic weapons and being able to enhance them however you see fit is a great idea and means you can have far more weapon combinations than just different weapons. Some people would want to upgrade their pistol so it becomes rapid fire, some would want it to fire high-damage rounds, some would want to put on a silencer and laser scope and snipe at zombies. Having a range of basic weapons - eg. pistol, shotgun, rifle, crossbow, flamethrower - and allowing the player to customise is a great idea.

Subgames are a good idea, but further than this is the idea of a multi-thread objective. Rather than one aim, there should be a number of primary missions you can perform (rescue survivors, hunt the uber-zombie, find and stop the company that created the zombie virus, etc etc) and cut between as desired. There should also be numerous submissions, with their own rewards as well as the prestige of completing them. Clear the tenement block of zombies and you get a new weapon or some body armour, or an upgrade for a weapon of your choice, stuff like that. Minor missions could include collecting low-grade items to obtain extra ammunition or cash for your weapon upgrades. And really irrelevant but welcome additions would be things like buying/obtaining new outfits, vehicle paint jobs, etc etc.

But anyway. What keeps me coming back is harder to define than anything else mentioned on this thread - I suppose the best description would be "atmosphere". Having a convincing world and a sense of doing something within it are key. The idea of a customisable world is very good. I want to be able to draw on the walls, set up my barricades, set booby-traps. I want to take a pre-built town house and turn it into my zombie-proof fortress. I want to set up zombie runs where I can have the enemy wander in and brave my Tower of Death, or give me a bit of hunting practice.

This is probably all asking a bit much...!

Perhaps the key thing of a world you keep coming back to is customisability. Most RPGs have this effect, after all, and what about The Sims? You work at gaining experience so you can change your character's stats. Development is all your own choice. This is your character, not some generic nobody, and you get to affect their entire life.