Quote: I can take the constructive criticism, I am a big boy...

Uh oh... you just opened the floodgates! [lol]

Quote: But once you start to put clues together by doing missions (NOT quests, that sounds so redundant and over used)

You say tomato, I say that it doesn't matter what you call it, it's a red juicy fruit used to make ketchup!

Missions, quests, adventures, chapters, whatever you want to call them is irrelevant. Are your "missions" just "quests" in disguise?

Note that it's ok if the answer to that is yes. Quests/Missions/WhatHaveYou are common because they work. They are a legitimate (if a bit lazy) way to add interactivity to a story. You don't have to be different just for the sake of being different, if you're going to innovate make sure what you're making is better (or at least as good) as what has been done before.

Quote: I feel that I have a new (hopefully it is new) idea for a MMORPG

Quote: Yeah, you can say that it is like some of the ones that are out there, like Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, and the like, but I feel that the difference is that it is not fantasy or sci-fi based.

Sounds less like a "new" idea and more like a skin wrapped around already existing games. The mod for the original Doom that replaced Bull Demon sprites with Barney the Dinosaur didn't make it into a "new" game. Neither does replacing "Amazon Warrior" with "Jason Bourne" if the gameplay hasn't changed.

Quote: Rusty Knight X
Copyrights are sure fire way to slam it in someone's face when they steal your idea. But they cost 40 bucks per idea.

I know you're trying to be helpful, but seriously... where did you get this absurd statement? Responding to topics with made-up numbers doesn't automatically make it true, it only confuses those looking for real information.

Quote: They awake in the hospital with no memory at all. They collect thier belongings and in it there is an address, no names, just an address. Once they get to that address, they are told that they have a job to do. They are sent to deliver a package at a building across town. Once they arrive there, they meet a little resistance from the locals (but through a series of questions, they get through to deliver the package). By talking your way through that, they gain skills in charisma (or something like that) which will help in later missions. Once they deliver the package, they gain reputation with that group. That reputation will allow them to use other items from that group. Once you gain those weapons skills (i.e. US, Russian or German), those are the only ones that you can use. This way, Russian weapons skilled person cannot use the PSG-1.

Note: the groups can be Russian, US and European. By gaining reputation with that group, it will allow you to use thier weapons:

Why is it an MMORPG? What do you gain from being multiplayer? Right now, it sounds like you've come up an intriguing single-player concept and are trying to stuff it into the MMO pigeonhole just because online is "cool". What is the multiplayer aspect and how can you justify it's existence, especially when considering it as "massively multiplayer"?

Your hearts in the right place, but you've got alot of work to do before this is a solid game concept. So stop reading this post and get to work! [grin]

Quote: Original post by JBourrie

Quote: Rusty Knight X
Copyrights are sure fire way to slam it in someone's face when they steal your idea. But they cost 40 bucks per idea.

I know you're trying to be helpful, but seriously... where did you get this absurd statement? Responding to topics with made-up numbers doesn't automatically make it true, it only confuses those looking for real information.

That actually IS REAL information Mr. Information Super Police. I know because I actually took the time to copyright a character of mine, and I was charged 40 dollars to do so.

Quote: standard weapons? if your trying to make the beginning like living on the streets, you might want to omit the assualt rifles, 'cause in my world, m-16s aren't something that you go and find a thug selling on the street corner.
along with an AK-47 is not a russian weapon, or even a european weapon. they are disreali weapons, manufactured in arabian countries. they are cheap, which is why, many times, russians are depicted with them.

First of all, please do not insult my intelligence by saying that an AK-47 is not a Russian weapon. With my over 17 years in the military, I think I know something about weapons. Read this for a little education on the AK-47.

Quote: You say tomato, I say that it doesn't matter what you call it, it's a red juicy fruit used to make ketchup!

Missions, quests, adventures, chapters, whatever you want to call them is irrelevant. Are your "missions" just "quests" in disguise?

Note that it's ok if the answer to that is yes. Quests/Missions/WhatHaveYou are common because they work. They are a legitimate (if a bit lazy) way to add interactivity to a story. You don't have to be different just for the sake of being different, if you're going to innovate make sure what you're making is better (or at least as good) as what has been done before.

The following is how I define the difference between quests and missions:

A quest is a journey towards a goal used in mythology and literature as a plot. Quests can be found in the folklore of every nation.[1] In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and the overcoming of many obstacles, typically including much travel.

A mission, from the Latin missum (English: sent), is a specific task, which a person or group has been charged with or adopts as their main purpose. Also a military operation is the employment of military resources (for example in a military campaign) to achieve a specific objective. It involves the planning, calculating, or the giving (or receiving) of information. It can involve the carrying out of a strategic, tactical, service, training, or administrative military mission in the process of carrying on combat, including movement, supply, attack, defense, and maneuvers needed to gain the objectives of any battle or campaign.

Quote: Why is it an MMORPG? What do you gain from being multiplayer? Right now, it sounds like you've come up an intriguing single-player concept and are trying to stuff it into the MMO pigeonhole just because online is "cool". What is the multiplayer aspect and how can you justify it's existence, especially when considering it as "massively multiplayer"?

Here is where the multiplayer comes into play. When you create your character, you choose a profession (i.e. sniper, demolitions, electronics expert, etc..) The missions that you get are based partly on your profession and generic ones that all professions can do. As you gain reputation, you gain access to missions that require more people. Example... You are sent to kill the head of a corporation that is your rival in business. But in order to kill him, you must find a way into his area (would require the skills of an electronics expert to get past his security), a sniper (to provide overall coverage), and maybe a demo (man to blow open a door or to disable thier equipment so they cannot follow you).

Those are just basic, but with help I hope that it can develop into something more.

I'd have to agree with a couple of other people here; that you are bringing nothing new to the table. Even your setting isn't that unique as such, there's a game in development at the moment called 'The Agency' I believe, which is an MMORPG set in a modern setting, where players can form or join agencies, and fight crime, or promote it in search of fame and riches.

and to be honest what you've described for us so far is basically a skinned world of warcraft, which is a skinned everquest which is a skinned Ultima Online.

Missions
the potential missions you've described so far are one of the basic quests in any other MMORPG, deliver package x to npc y, complications will arise.

on top of this, you said that as you choose a profession (ie. class) you'll get quests that apply to only characters of that profession, well these are basically class specifics from Warcraft.

character creation
I don't think you're quite sure what you want to do, because earlier you said that you wanted it to be skill based, and not class/level based, and then said that when you create your character you choose a class, which again brings you right back to all other MMORPGs.

storyline
You wake up in a hospital with amnesia, why can't anyone tell you who you are? If you can't remember at all who you are, are the medical staff really going to let you go out into the world when you essentially have nothing, including your memory? And when you're given this address, you turn up, and some thug tells you to take this package from A to B, how do you know where B is, and why would you listen to someone telling you to do this?

I appreciate your effort to make a game where you don't just pop out of nowhere and the guy with a giant exclamation mark over his head tells you to go kill 10 mangy wolves/angry ruffians, However, I think it needs some work, as at the moment it really isn't any more believable

Quote: I'd have to agree with a couple of other people here; that you are bringing nothing new to the table. Even your setting isn't that unique as such, there's a game in development at the moment called 'The Agency' I believe, which is an MMORPG set in a modern setting, where players can form or join agencies, and fight crime, or promote it in search of fame and riches.

Is there a place to review this game to see what it is about? If this is the style of game that I am thinking about then that is the place that I should look.

Also, I just want to say thanks for all the feedback that I have recieved. The idea of making an MMO is not dead with me, I just have to find the right direction to go. I know that the idea is out there, I just have to find it.

godspeed mate, you'll need it.

The biggest problem with making an MMORPG isn't coming up with the idea, it's actually making it. There are a million people with good ideas out there that could potentially be Warcraft killers, but only a handful of studios willing to take on a commercial MMORPG, and they tend to have their own people with good ideas.

as far as the agency goes, here's a short article on it.
http://www.gamesradar.com/us/ps3/game/news/article.jsp?sectionId=1006&articleId=20070604122417718041
sorry about the ridiculously long link o__O

Quote: godspeed mate, you'll need it.

The biggest problem with making an MMORPG isn't coming up with the idea, it's actually making it. There are a million people with good ideas out there that could potentially be Warcraft killers, but only a handful of studios willing to take on a commercial MMORPG, and they tend to have their own people with good ideas.

as far as the agency goes, here's a short article on it.
http://www.gamesradar.com/us/ps3/game/news/article.jsp?sectionId=1006&articleId=20070604122417718041
sorry about the ridiculously long link o__O

That seems to be for only the PS3. That article, while somewhat informative, does not tell much about the game. It seems like my idea is along the same lines, but not quite close. Since they have not released much information, it is hard to tell at this point. I am still going to try and develop the idea into something (what that is yet is still to be determined). I have the basic idea in mind and just looking for some help to get it down on paper in a logical sense. I know that taking on a project like this takes a long time to develop and then create, I have time to get it spelled out correctly. Since I am in the US Army and looking at 15 month deployment, I think that I have the time to get the details out and down on paper (at least) the same way that they are in my miind... lol

All that I am asking is for someone to kind of guide me in the right direction (and along a good reliable process) to at least get the design and game flow down. I really do not care if this ever does get published and played like World of Warcraft. I am just looking at this as a hobby and maybe a test see if I have any skills to pursue a career in the game industry when I get out of the army.

Idea - more gambling.


Actual Idea - more gambling aspect.

Players daily can run up abilities/stuff of their characters and the riskier their actions in more and more dangerous place, the faster they advance (like the double betting scheme in Blackjack...).
Likewise when you lose you decline severely(and a slower degredation if you do nothing/too easy things). :losses arent that awful because the player can regain what they had fairly rapidly.

Have the class/skill specialization so that players can explore new aspects as they go up and down in power.

The more you learn what to do with specific skills the more likely you are to retain (or regain) levels.

At the high end (a very high end to always give players a yet higher objective...) you would have those players fighting against other player's skill (PvP at equivalent levels).


New palyers can get a rush from lucky advancement and then spend endless hours trying to regain/surpass that earlier achievement.

The player is encouraged to do new things, to explore, etc... Cautious playing is not irrelevant because of the skill learning curve (players developing knowhow can pay off...)

Preferably you would have a large world to offer enough different tasks/settings and a good quest system to recombine things so each task is different each time.

Re: happy2267

Hi, I don't quite know what you need. The search phrase here is "game design document template". Once you find one you like you can just fill in the blanks. It can be a lonely process.

Quote: Here is where the multiplayer comes into play. When you create your character, you choose a profession (i.e. sniper, demolitions, electronics expert, etc..) The missions that you get are based partly on your profession and generic ones that all professions can do. As you gain reputation, you gain access to missions that require more people. Example... You are sent to kill the head of a corporation that is your rival in business. But in order to kill him, you must find a way into his area (would require the skills of an electronics expert to get past his security), a sniper (to provide overall coverage), and maybe a demo (man to blow open a door or to disable thier equipment so they cannot follow you).

I don't understand how this idea warrants the game to become an MMO. To be honest, I would try to stay as much away from making it multiplayer. Making it multiplayer means complications, and you are just making it harder for yourself. And from what I understand, you don't plan to do the art or programming(?). How do you think this game is going to be made then? It's not like making mmo's are easy. If you want to build an "MMORPG", then you should be doing a major part of it, and no, making the idea isn't a major part of it. Considering that it's going to be fairly hard for the programmer, you should either start learning one of the two major skills, or think simpler... much simpler.