Okay, okay, so how many of my posts start with 'Okay, okay'?
Okay, okay, I know its been ages since my last post. (How many start like that?)
Okay, okay, sorry but this blog has become less about pure P&P, and more about game design in general. As this next post concerns MMOs not over-the-table shenanigans. How many more posts are like that?
Well, the above are purely rhetorical questions of course. Stuff your answers. I'm trying to run a business and this eats into my recreational blog time. I have also threatened repeatedly to start a blog purely about MMO design, which I will no doubt do at some point, but right now I barely have enough spare thought for one recreational blog let alone two, or three or four (as I'd ideally start blogs for MMO's; sandbox action/adventures; FPS etc. etc.). Seriously, I intend to do this in the future. I intend to launch a mother-of-all game design blogs and break it into sub-blogs covering design parameters / initiatives anent my favourite genres. I may even be so arrogant as to call it the The series... i.e. The MMO, The FPS... etc. etc. And it will be about lessons learnt in respective game design re those genres, with notable examples. And also about evolving genres, improving gameplay, etc. etc. But all that's going to have to wait, I have a business to run.
So I'll keep this short and sweet.
I've been playing Rift recently. I like it. It's like WoW but better. It's a good distraction from the trials and tribulations of reality (a little too good at times, exerts quite a pull, like the gravity well of a collapsing super-giant). Anyway, enough to say it is still HEAVILY FLAWED.
As I have mentioned previously I believe (at least I've said it in my head enough times) that a major evolution in MMO game design would be enhanced physical interactions with the game world.
It is not enough to roll out the same tired old formats. And there are a few directions that need to be followed before we see a serious evolution in the MMO genre.
Firstly, take a lead from Shadow of the Colossus - if you're going to portray massive monsters, make players hacking away at their ankles futile (unless you want to pay homage to Achilles).
Secondly, get some real physics in there. Even if you have to compartmentalise the world - instance it - in order to cut down on the processing power. But provide real physics and real interactions with the physical world. Which segues nicely on to...
Thirdly, let players dextrous enough, with light enough gear (cloth or leather in typical Fantasy MMOs) climb up structures, cliffs, buildings... and enter into skylights, chimneys, holes cannons have made, whatever. I'm fed up with my 68th level rogue with 3000 agility being unable to scamper about on rooftops or evade capture by taking 'The Thieves' Highway'.
With such enhancements to the physical interactions of the game world we provide for situations like: throwing enemies off of tall buildings / cliffs / ledges. Many fantasy MMOs have spells and abilities with a 'knock-back' function, and I hate it - HATE IT! - when they cannot be used to send an enemy off a cliff - or similar high castle.
I appreciate some of the mechanics and gameplay behind the reasons why - but largely don't agree with them. If you as a player mistakenly send an enemy over a ledge into a volcano where they are consumed by lava and are thus unable to retrieve the object you wanted for a quest (which they had on their person, and took to their fiery grave) then you're an idiot. And you fail the quest. Simple as that.
When my 68th level rogue with 3000 agility is confronted by a rocky cliff of seventy degrees (which is actually a barrier between zones) I should be able to climb the damn thing! It makes no sense that I can't. There are other ways to inhibit or prohibit journeys which don't break down the verisimilitude of the gameworld. How would I do it? Let the character climb the cliff if they have dexterity and gear suitable for climbing. But if you don't want them to succeed - or rather you want to make it very, very hard - have the cliff be home to some terrible flying beasts which will literally pluck the player from the cliff face and fly off with them, dropping them in a nest of ravenous hatchlings! And that's just off the top of my head. How cool would that be in a game? To have your character a) unable to fight (or severely impaired and limited to weapon types) when climbing - perhaps just short one-handed weapons like knives, and they must remain static whilst doing so... and b) have monsters which are literally capable of picking them up and flying off with them!
Water rarely holds much of a threat for players (despite a minor breath issue). Yet in real life water is a potentially terrifying place because you can drown, you can tossed around by currents, and its home to myriad things that are far more agile and dangerous in water than you are. Capturing this kind of reality - or at least moving closer toward it in an MMO - is a must-have step toward inducing fear and tension and thus creating a sublime gaming experience that far outstrips that which is currently available.
This post has been brought to you IMHO.
Tuesday 19 April 2011
Enhanced physical interactions with the gameworld
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agile swimmy things, c.f. original halflife giant fish monster - 'i ain't going in that water!'.
ReplyDeletealso, realism in weapons, e.g. crossbows, the whole point of crossbows is that they could be used by almost anyone, meaning you could have large and effective though relatively untrained missile troops. so make that happen, and the same for other relevant types, e.g. a knife, anyone can wield a knife. the old question of training you ask? surely that is the whole point of leveling/experience/skillpoints as you add them you get better. access to certain weapons may be an interesting angle too. and you could have 'guild' only weapons, though these should be available on a 'black market'. and what about only being able to advance in a skill if you actually used it - maybe in proportion to use. you use your sling all the time you get much better, but you are still fumble fingers with the dagger!
water - minecraft has a nice touch in that the air bubbles denoting oxygen depletion 'pop' more quickly the deeper you are, effectively stopping any great dives and with a feel of realism though it clearly isn't.
view restriction based upon headgear, i always remember 'becoming' one of my many types of minions in dungeon keeper 1 and 2 and the various views that entailed. in relation to mmo's full helms would severely restrict vision, but of course protect from those mace blows... (fps perspective ofc, though there must be a way of translating that into standard mmo views). various slits and cross shapes and even a bunch of little dots - all would lend extra atmosphere and indeed individualism to the game. connected to that is what you can hear. how cool if in full plate, that the only thing you can hear is your own breath! would mean pre offensive planning would need to be followed since the 'tank' (how i hate that word, talk about killing immersion...) would not be able to hear any change of plans mid-melee!
as mentioned before somewhere, actual visual and control disruption from things like spell effects, confusion spell lands on you? all your keys are randomly reassigned every few seconds for the duration of the effect. fear? you run outside of your control. blindness? sleep? i think all these things should actually frak you up. imagine how cool to be a Mage(esque) and be truly feared since you could effectively neutralise key opponents. of course, the down side would be some kind of major weakness, whatever rationale you can imagine to explain why a mage cannot wear anything except clothes, very slow level increase (or skill point gain, or XP, whatever). a bowman can effectively target you from 100yds away or whatever is a realistic range, several arrows in flight before a melee type can even get in there, and if you factor in the bowman running and turning to fire again and again, presumably they would be able to keep their distance from a heavily armoured guy! hence the horse-riding knight being the most feared thing for an archer, they can close and trample effectively (yeah, tell that to the frenchies at Crecy and Agincourt!). i would like to see a game where you are shatting your pants if you think there might be a fight of some sort, unless you are well planned with enough buddies to mean a reasonable chance of getting back from the orc infested woods in one piece (more or less).
oh yes, and damage to items.. repairs should take time based upon type and extent. any swordsman would likely have a sharpening stone to grind off the small notches from normal use, but severe damage should need a grindstone - not generally found out in the field, and more serious than that a weaponsmith, who is not at your beck and call, but has a long list of work queued up 'oh aye, [sucks breath thru teeth a la garage mechanic] i might be'en able to 'ave this done by a week thorsday, if'n i can get the parts... it's and old style yer see, you just cant get them runeses these days...'
Some good points there Chou, but I'd say there needs to be a careful balance between striving for realism, and having a fun game. I quite like the view restriction / sound dampening idea of a helm. You could imagine the pre-planning occuring when the warrior has his helm off. And then he dons his helm as a signal to go into battle, and as soon as he does, view restriction / sound dampening. Yes he can tank the boss, but his perception is severely limited. Quite like this! But I can imagine it being really off-putting to the more casual gamer. But then, maybe some re-education is needed. Forget what you know about MMOs / RPGs, you want to play a Knight, the really play a Knight!
ReplyDeleteAs for Mages and Fear / Sleep etc. this is basically how its done already. In WoW for example, Warlocks are particularly feared in Battlegrounds literally due to their not one but three different types of fear which do make your character run around uncontrollably for a few seconds. A situation which essentially means death in most cases. Love the idea of confusion randomly reassigning your keys. That would be funny! And a very effective interpretation of confusion. Especially if you could accidentally target friendlies during that phase.
Don't agree with the repair stuff. People come to play a game. Not wait for dents to be hammered out of their breastplate. And you can always use the rationale of magic to sidestep the irreality (that even a word?) of either equipment not getting damaged, or getting fixed quickly.