We design the game!

[Deleted]

Although I hate sandboxes... I could get on board with this idea, too.
As long as a) I didn't have to spend 90% of the game hunting for and cooking food, and b) there is some story-driven element.

Actually, come to think of it...

What about an MMO-Sandbox with a collaborative story-driven element? As in... you have say 7 days to prepare for some huge battle, so you spend the week collaborating and building weapons and castles and traps and whatnot... and then on the 7th day you have some huge battle and everything gets burnt to the ground and your survival depends on how well you prepared (and then you start again).

I mean, seeing the game go from an empty field on day 1 to siege engines, weaponry and castles as far as they eye can see on day 6 would be epic. And then seeing it all burnt to ash on day 7 would be even more so.

But the story needs to be so, that it doesn't end the gameplay. It cannot really be a sandbox game if the game ends when the story ends.
Ofcourse there would have to be motivations. Perhaps forming groups or societies would be a larger goal. Though any and all interaction on a social level, would be between one player to another. No NPC's!
The dynamics and "story" would be much like in Minecraft, where there is no story what so ever, it'd be driven by interaction with other players. All the intruigue and trouble would come out of nothing but the surviving and the means to do so.

I'm thinking about something more basic then medieval towns and wars. Much more basic then that, because those are the things I want to avoid. They aren't fun. The game shouldn't be avoid violence and war, it should be about cooperating and surviving.
Naturally, you should be able to survive on your own, if you chose to be the lone wolf. Harder, but still doable.

---------- Post added 2012-05-31 at 04:01 AM ----------

something other than zombies and im down, day z just doesnt look appealing to me

Zombies are banned. No war or fighting of any kind. New games need to innovate, and zombies are as far from innovation as you can get right now. That and war.

[saberon]

But the story needs to be so, that it doesn't end the gameplay. It cannot really be a sandbox game if the game ends when the story ends.
Ofcourse there would have to be motivations. Perhaps forming groups or societies would be a larger goal. Though any and all interaction on a social level, would be between one player to another. No NPC's!

I'm not talking about an overarching story per se, but rather self-contained story-driven events. It could be anything from "Build a throne room made entirely of gold because the king is visiting" to "HOLY FUCKBALLS ITS DRAGONS!". Whilst I enjoy Minecraft, I'd prefer a more goal-oriented game. I mean, imagine a Minecraft game where you're given 24 hours to build defenses before a bazillion zombies/skeletons spawn. Or perhaps you have to build a transport system to move building materials from point A to B in preparation for next weeks "construction" scenario. You'd have to dig tunnels and build bridges for your trains to travel to their destination. It's still a Sandbox game, however you're pointed in a certain direction with certain challenges to overcome.

The benefit of such self-contained story-driven events is that they are essentially endless. This week its dragons. Next week you have to build a castle or a city. The week after that its about Mole people. Better yet, a game like that with a substantial playerbase would allow for a multitude of different events to run simultaneously. If you'd rather focus on building cities and wonders, you choose an event based around that. If you'd rather focus on building castles and keeps and fucking shit up, you choose an event that incorporates that.

Furthermore, each type of event could lead-in to other types. Say that one such event is to build a city. The following event could be to build defenses for such a city without destroying any of the existing structures. Instead of building keeps, you would be barricading roads, for example.

It's still an open-world sandbox, but by creating goals and constraints, you're creating an objective and goal-oriented story to motivate and guide players.

[icedwarrior]

Why don't we have a poll that at least limits the game to a specific genre, and then work from there?

My vote: RPG.

[Taliesyn]

Yeah, I'd have to go with sandbox-style MMORPG. Then again, I'm one of those wild and crazy guys who like(d) both EVE and pre-CU SWG.

[evilgnomey]

FPSMMORPG (first person shooter massively multi-player online role-playing game) think games like borderlands but with "dungeons" and raids. you select classes like medic (healer), sniper (long range burst dps), Heavy gunner (rocket-launchers and acts like a tank).

Picture raiding counter-strike style maps that feature trash and bosses with 10-25 players FPS style.

(World of Starcraft could work like this lol.)

[Ynna]

So, when and where are we going to vote? Or are we going to vote for where we're going to vote? ;P

We will be voting later today. When I get home from buying a million books.

Why don't we have a poll that at least limits the game to a specific genre, and then work from there?

My vote: RPG.

The plan is to vote on a genre, and then work from there. Depending on which genre is chosen, it might be interesting to pick a sub-genre or a genre to mix it with.

[saberon]

The plan is to vote on a genre, and then work from there. Depending on which genre is chosen, it might be interesting to pick a sub-genre or a genre to mix it with.

What genre's are we voting on? Are we voting FPS, RPG, RTS, TBS and so forth, or are we going to pick an over-arching genre first? i.e. Action, Adventure, Role Playing, Strategy, Sports, Tycoon, Simulators and the like.

Personally, I think it might be better to pick the overall direction before deciding whether its RTS/FPS/RPG etc. No point choosing FPS only to have people want it be a strategy or sport game.

[guff]

this reminds me of the simpsons episode where Homer was hired to design a car xD

[Toccs]

This is a great idea, we all have connections and different skill sets, I can see this working.

[raddry]

Great thread I see. Will surely follow this and try to participate, would be cool if one could do the game we'll come up with. But first people just discuss GENRE for now please. Keep your other ideas for later, cause I'm sure a lot of people won't repost them and we'll lose these ideas. First step: genre as the OP said.

I'm all for a Sandbox Survival, Sandbox Zombie Survival, RPG.

One could argue if Sandbox Survival or Sandbox Zombie Survival are genres but I think they are, as they use quite original and unique points of game making IMO, not really common to any genre, so you probably can't put them in any.

Edit: Also I'll ask the OP to include every (serious) opinion of everyone in the voting. If there's a limit then those who were mentioned the most. And as well, in a post, include a link to the original suggestion post that explains it more than the single phrase in the pool. Sure it's not needed for genre, but we'll have more complex ideas later so It would be good to see the entire suggestion.

[shimargh]

guys, for doing something like this I advice you to step a bit aside from personal preferences, think on something that'd work, not just what YOU would like, that way you keep yourself away from internet battles and forum rantings, besides ehat way you exercise your brain more.
neither bring personal ideas, try with fresh ones, not your "years invested game story", for the matter of rights and all that. remember all kind of ppl read this, maybe one of them is looking for an idea for their book, or game or whatever, so don't put your deepest idea for a game, just throw something in the brainstorm.

personally i love rpgs, and have some (a lot) settings for tabletop ones, even comics, stories or books based on that (nothing published, just personal and friends), I have a whole 5000 year world in my head, i've been writting since I was very little, but besides I think is great and all, here's not the place to post anything of that, we're trying to get an idea from a lot of ppl, a real brainstorm, so think of something fresh, a bit distant of the "always preferences" and bring it! i'm pretty sure we can get something very interesting from this.

[raddry]

guys, for doing something like this I advice you to step a bit aside from personal preferences, think on something that'd work, not just what YOU would like, that way you keep yourself away from internet battles and forum rantings, besides ehat way you exercise your brain more.
neither bring personal ideas, try with fresh ones, not your "years invested game story", for the matter of rights and all that. remember all kind of ppl read this, maybe one of them is looking for an idea for their book, or game or whatever, so don't put your deepest idea for a game, just throw something in the brainstorm.

personally i love rpgs, and have some (a lot) settings for tabletop ones, even comics, stories or books based on that (nothing published, just personal and friends), I have a whole 5000 year world in my head, i've been writting since I was very little, but besides I think is great and all, here's not the place to post anything of that, we're trying to get an idea from a lot of ppl, a real brainstorm, so think of something fresh, a bit distant of the "always preferences" and bring it! i'm pretty sure we can get something very interesting from this.

I can't agree. It is the vote that will determine on what people think would work the best, but it is essential we first post our personal ideas. If not, what's the point of the thread? Also the OP said he isn't hoping to get something that would WORK. He's not planning on making it. My understanding of the purpose of this thread is as follows: people post their personal ideas based on what they'd want to see, then the people vote and we move to the next step.

[saberon]

My understanding of the purpose of this thread is as follows: people post their personal ideas based on what they'd want to see, then the people vote and we move to the next step.

That's my understanding of it. A collaborative imaginary-game.

[shimargh]

I can't agree. It is the vote that will determine on what people think would work the best, but it is essential we first post our personal ideas. If not, what's the point of the thread? Also the OP said he isn't hoping to get something that would WORK. He's not planning on making it. My understanding of the purpose of this thread is as follows: people post their personal ideas based on what they'd want to see, then the people vote and we move to the next step.

yeah i threw an example there, and it was an advice not a dictatorship quote.

[Ynna]

What genre's are we voting on? Are we voting FPS, RPG, RTS, TBS and so forth, or are we going to pick an over-arching genre first? i.e. Action, Adventure, Role Playing, Strategy, Sports, Tycoon, Simulators and the like.

Personally, I think it might be better to pick the overall direction before deciding whether its RTS/FPS/RPG etc. No point choosing FPS only to have people want it be a strategy or sport game.

We will be voting for every genre that has been suggested. Not every suggestion is a genre, however (sorry for the people who suggested "sandbox" or "zombie").
I'll put on a vote in short time. I'm still thinking that I'll just put on poll and make a new thread for the next step.

My understanding of the purpose of this thread is as follows: people post their personal ideas based on what they'd want to see, then the people vote and we move to the next step.

This is indeed the idea. You can choose for yourself why you suggest something, be it personal preference, for the greater good or for art-reasons.

[Spl4sh3r]

This is the current list of suggested genres. Let me know if I have missed something.

Sandbox
FPS
First Person Action RPG
RTS
Survival
Platformer
RPG
Puzzle
First/Third Person Shooter
Sidescroller

I think a First Person Action RPG Survival Sandbox with Puzzles would be fun With some parts Third Person so you can actually see items you equip, but only in like a safe area or something. As long as there is more than one player there I would be happy aswell. I hate how companies make so many singleplayer games without co-op or real multiplayer options. Like Mass Effect 3 it has a singleplayer game and a multiplayer game in one, I don't want that. I want the multiplayer version to play out in the same way as singleplayer does. Basicly normal campaign but with more players. Survival and Puzzles are always fun and RPG Sandbox is something we all want. So add those together and the First Person to make it abit harder and you are set.

Also to make it impossible....make it fully dynamic. So anything can happen, with some limits. Like no random alien race with high technology weapons attacking the planet and such. Just keep it within the planet. So none and all cities can be invaded and destroyed, rebuilt. New cities can emerge and such. So really it must be huge aswell. Would be good with magic aswell.

[Deleted]

Im all for a survival-game, as long as it supports multiplayer. I like the idea of having to keep a fire alive to stay warm etc, but I also don't want to spend all my time gathering wood for the fire and food to eat. I want to explore, perhaps build some basic stuff. Yeah... I like Minecraft... But food conservation and the fire-idea is really nice, and perhaps set it on an alien planet, so we're not bound by "X is not possible on the Earth, while Y is if Z happens", and that way the "art-team" if we ever get this going can get totally free hands =P Could be awesome^^

[Ynna]

Voting is life. Please vote for the genre that you'd like our hypothetical game to be.

I've decided not to include "sandbox" as a genre after careful consideration. I've decided to view it as a gameplay feature, since only a couple of games have it as their main drive. We can make pretty much every genre in a sandbox, so we'll probably discuss this in a later step.

Voting will last until it's 12 PM for me tomorrow (that should be CEST- for reference, it's currently 19.15 for me).

[Tragedia]

An Open world RPG game. Doesn't have to be a MMO but playing it multiplayer would be nice. (Like D3)

[reckoner04]

FPS is listed twice (together with 3rd person shooter in one entry).