[MUD-Dev2] [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game

[Zach Collins Siege]

On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 3:09 AM, Mike Rozak <Mike at mxac.com.au> wrote:
> I've been thinking lately: Before I go to sleep, I often lie in bed reading a good book. I want a
> computer game (IF, Adventure, CRPG, or MUD/MMORPG) that I can play on my (as yet
> un-purchased) UMPC/Eee in the same way: in bed and relaxing.

Since nobody's spoken up on this, I will. Time to do some inference
and requirements-gathering.

First: I'm going to say it's an adventure game or CRPG. We'll discuss
multiplayer options later.

To start, let's talk combat. Somehow, I doubt that lots of combat
would be relaxing, even though I've spent many hours dully
slaughtering away in Diablo 1 and 2 when I'd nothing better to do.
Such combat feels to me rather like driving on a long, straight, empty
stretch of highway: sure, it can be hypnotic, but that's because it's
nearly mindless.

Excitation can be good, however. Let's leave in some combat. It should
be relatively easy, to fit the theme of relaxing before bed, but not
mind-numbing. Super Mario RPG actually comes to mind here, but I don't
think a separate screen for combat will be helpful.

Combat should probably not be the central theme. Let's try "variety"
for a theme. We'll have several different classes, and they'll
interact with the world in different ways.

So: What classes to include? How will they interact with the world?

Incantor/Incantrix: Uses magic. Their spells will be performed with
mouse gestures: Click and draw a circle or line, or click on the
target(s). Right and left click will be linked to different elements,
or different types of spell effects, like offensive/defensive.
(Elements? Let's use Chinese traditional elements for the initial
design.) Circles are area-effect or group-selecting. AOE will vary by
spell level, rather than circle size, but the area is centered on the
circle's center. Circles don't have to be completely round. Lines will
be walls. Target-selecting is obvious. Each gesture casts a different
type of spell, depending on the element selected: damage, shield,
heal, unlock, et cetera. New spells and elements are learned as
character level increases.

Warrior: Uses weapons. Click and hold mouse button to build attack
power, left and right select different attack/defense types. Also
double or triple click for variant/special attacks of base power. Each
weapon type has its own combat style based on this method, and some
can be combined like sword and shield. Weapons can have elemental
associations. Power level and special attacks are learned as character
level increases.

Shen: Unarmed. Select maneuver, click to activate. Location or object
clicked is the focus of the maneuver, and ranged or area attacks are
aimed in that direction relative to the PC. Maneuvers can have
elemental associations. One can build chains of maneuvers as character
level increases.

Three classes is good, though I'll bet I can come up with at least
five different ways to interact with the game world.

Party size. Party size is an issue. Do we want one character or
several? Do we want a fixed party size, forcing the player to choose
who joins and who stays behind? In multiplayer, do we want players to
join each others' parties? Will we want NPC party members in
multiplayer?

I'd say in single player we allow parties of up to N characters, where
N is some arbitrary limit based on how many characters an area can
hold without seriously lagging in multiplayer, perhaps divided by a
factor of two or three. A larger party means tougher enemies, though,
and some puzzles should be easier with a particular party size (some
larger, some smaller). We'll also have to write a useable AI with
easily-understood options, such as which spells to cast most often,
and/or triggers for particular behaviors (party member below 1/3 HP,
so heal them). Should the player be able to switch characters among
the party? I'd say no, for multiplayer considerations.

Getting crunchy enough for you? We wanted a simple play system, but
that doesn't mean things aren't complex underneath.

Next class:
Psion: Uses mana balls. Collects mana from defeated enemies, harvested
crystals, and special restore points, might also regen mana over time.
Spends collected mana to create mana balls with particular properties.
Can transform mana of one element into a different element over time
(sliders to set desired proportions). Mana balls degrade over time,
losing effectiveness until they vanish (represented by the brightness
of their glow, and displayed in numeric value on mouse hover). Mana
balls can be refreshed or empowered by spending more mana into them
(right-click and watch the glow/numbers increase), but once a mana
ball is used (left-click on ball to select/deselect, then select
target or AOE center), its properties take effect and it's gone.
Multiple mana balls can be used at once; just select them before use.
This character can only maintain a limited number of mana balls, which
circle the character's head on screen (and are displayed in an
inventory bar below). Max mana, total max ball power, individual max
ball power, number of balls, initial ball power, and speed of element
transformation and ball creation will all increase with character
level. Typical gameplay for this class will most likely be to create
certain mana balls shortly before an anticipated encounter. Note that
some mana balls (like a shield ball) could be continuously effective
on its creator without being used on a target (but things which
interact with it, like an attack while shielded, would reduce its
power faster).

There should probably be a slider for how often one desires a combat
encounter. Something that represents your confidence/attitude or how
obviously you're presenting yourself. Maybe the range can be [
secretive, quiet, confident, bold, outrageous ]. One should probably
also be able to resolve many or most encounters without combat,
depending on the enemy AI's own confidence slider. Or maybe some
creatures want something, and will give you a quest if you talk to
them instead of fight them. Displaying "outrageous" confidence should
actually give NPCs a slight confidence boost because you appear to be
overconfident, making them less likely to run from combat or treat you
as an equal when bargaining. Being "secretive" could also be perceived
as cowardice, leading to taunts instead of the NPC fighting or
bargaining.

Okay, lots of goodies so far, if a bit disorganized right now. I'll
continue this in another post.

-- 
Zach Collins (Siege)