v Customization
Ø UI scales to be as complex or as simple as the player desires
§ Can greatly customize (and even create unique) aspects of your character, weapons, environment, etc.
· Out of game application allows wire-frame modeling for many animations.
· Out of game application allows musical composition or remixing of existing songs (so long as license is open or obtained.)
· Out of game application allows the creation of custom decals, tattoos, patterns/textures, etc.
· All content created out of game must pass cursory inspection by GMs before allowed in game.
¨ Only creations that are deemed overtly juvenile will be disallowed. Also, real-world references will be discouraged and usually disallowed… especially if derogatory.
¨ Rude, hateful, etc. creations will not be censored automatically. It will be assumed that other players will chastise the creators without staff intervention. (Getting permed for the fortieth time because of your ‘I hate elves’ shirt should get the lesson home.)
§ A series of sliders in-game will be positioned prevalently in all UI screens.
· Allow easy customization of GUI for all skill levels.
· Easy to turn off/remove the sliders. More advanced users can use more advanced aspects of the UI to customize it.
Ø Avatar is highly customizable, not just face and hairstyle.
§ Appearance
§ Statistics (Strength/Dexterity/Charisma/Constitution) should have an affect on your appearance.
· Strength makes your character's body more toned. A character with a large weight value and a high strength value will look like a body-builder.
· Dexterity makes you more nimble allowing longer fingers... or something.
· Constitution affects your character's healthiness - very low constitution may make your character appear sickly no matter how you attempt to disguise that fact.
· High Charisma (Beauty) score gives a wider range of options for many characteristics of your character.
§ A large variety of races creates initial appearance differentiation.
· Most races will have custom features you can manipulate - Golems, for instance, will be almost free-form manipulation for where you want limbs, power-nods, etc.
· Sub-races will have even more custom features and create even more variety while at the same time furthering the lore in game.
§ Facial features
· You will be able to choose more than just eye-color. Your race will likely have a preset eye-shape, but others will be available.
· You will be able to choose more than just hair-color/style. Length, coarse/fine, static-decorations, etc. will be available depending on your race.
· Lips, nose, ears, jaw line, forehead, and other racially individual characteristics will also be fully morphable.
· Friend’s lists can be amended with a snapshot of the character's face to make it easier to recognize them. Portraits can also be painted to accurately represent the character's image.
§ Body
· Genetic anomalies
¨ Examples: Gigantism or Dwarfism where your character is much shorter or taller than average for the race.
¨ Anomalies will be based on race, but will generally give you a different range for properties like height/weight, eye color/skin color, etc.
· Standard height/weight.
¨ Height/weight range will be based off your race. Giants will obviously be taller on average than gnomes.
¨ Distribute weight as you desire - potbellies, love-handles, thunder-thighs, etc.
· Other
¨ Manipulate the pronunciation of your joints so you are more or less boney.
¨ Make your limbs and extremities longer/shorter, bigger/smaller.
§ Body Modification
· Players will be allowed a small number of body modifications when starting the game - others will have to be purchased in game.
· Some races will have a larger number of body modifications when starting, based on culture.
· Piercing and Tattoos are available in pre-made and customizable forms... no body jewelry will have any properties or value once in game. You must replace it with new jewelry in game to receive any benefits other than visual appeal.
Ø Socials
§ Offer the player an interface with wire-frame manipulation and animation so that they can create and name their own social animations rather than rely on a limited number supplied by the creator.
§ Players can create 'social suites,' or compilations of their social animation designs.
§ Contests can be held for 'best social', 'grossest social', 'best compilation', etc. Reward winning socials will be added to standard socials in the game and player reward will be an increased number of available social slots they can use in game.
§ 'Quick-start' or 'Easy' mode available.
· Quick-start lets the player choose an already created compilation of socials for use in game.
· Easy mode lets the player create their own compilation from pre-existing social animation.
· Any combination of the above is available.
§ Players can choose a compilation, replace one or two socials with different preconstructs, then create their own unique social and import a 'guild social' from a friend.
Ø Combat Maneuvers
§ For casters this section will also determine the visual effects and casting animation for their spells.
§ Slightly more limited than the rest of character creation.
· Must choose from pre-created models.
· Customization more limited not as many options in changing different attacks.
· As the character advances they can create their own truly unique combat style and it is possible that it will be added to those characters can choose when being created.
§ Combat Stance
· Choice in combat stance will determine the wider options you have for the rest of your combat maneuvers.
· Players will choose their primary skills before this and their options in stance will be based off of which weapons, martial arts, or schools of magic choose.
§ Flourishes
· Less restricted than maneuvers, but still based off which stance you choose. (A staff can be twirled, but try that with a double-flail... wait, just don't use a double-flail.)
· Berserker shouts, comic taunts, weapon displays, etc.
· Can be set to auto-flourish on successful critical and/or start/end of battle, etc. or manually flourish.
· Each attack and ability will have several visual options which, as mentioned above, will expand as the players create them in game.
· Draw/Sheath flourishes allow you to customize how you draw and sheath your weapon. For mages this is optional and allows you to customize how you prepare for battle (Summoning Power, Assuming a Meditative Pose, etc.)
§ General Stance
· For all general stances you have the same options as with social animations. Use a wire-frame animation to create your own, choose from presets individually, or choose from preset collections.
§ Basic or 'At Rest' Stance
· This is your characters stance when you have just stopped another action and have not started another.
· Additional 'Quick-Creation' method lets you choose how much your character slouches, how they hold their head or other appendages, etc.
§ Rest or Recovery Stance
· Crouching, sleeping, sitting, etc.
· Sitting/sleeping on furniture.
§ Idle or AFK Stance
· Animations for your character being bored and standing around after a long period of time without other actions.
Ø Skills/Abilities are not based on predefined classes.
§ Detailed Ability Scores
§ Standard ability scores
· Strength
· Dexterity
· Constitution
· Intelligence
· Wisdom
· Charisma
§ Derived ability scores
· Ability scores that are derived from other ability scores, skills, etc.
· Hit Points (Life)
¨ Standard life point system used for most races.
¨ Hit Points are derived from ‘Physical’ ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution)
· Magic Points (Mana)
¨ Standard magic point system used for most magic.
¨ Magic Points are derived from ‘Mental’ ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma)
· Devotion
¨ Derived from Wisdom
Ø In-Game Actions Modify
Ø The higher your devotion is the easier it is to get higher, the lower it is the easier it is to loose.
¨ Devotion adds power to your devotion based spells and abilities.
§ Sub-ability scores (Comeliness, Stamina, etc.)
Ø Skill focuses available, but no ‘classes’
§ Skills advance as you use them
§ XP pool allows you to put extra points in a skill that is difficult to advance
§ Skill focus talents and related abilities increase the speed that skills advance.
Ø Unique Modifiers
§ Talents
§ Skill boosts
§ Unique abilities
Ø Predefined faction
Ø Mutations
§ Benefit vs. Drawback
§ Can create story behind the mutation
Ø Races
§ Proposed Starting Races
· Human
¨ At least five or six different sub-races of humans, plus several standard humans in several different locations with different ways of life.
¨ Humans are the standard for which all races ability score modifiers are based off of.
· Elven
¨ Several sub-races with at least a couple starting locations for the main branch.
· Dwarven
¨ A few sub-races with many starting locations for the main branch. Dwarven cities will have less variation than other races cities.
· Orcish
¨ The ‘main branch’ of the Orcish nation is simply the largest city-state of the race. All other cities are technically sub-races.
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· Goblin
¨ The ‘main branch’ of the Goblin nation is the only liberated Goblin city-state. All other goblin sub-races live in other cities.
· Golem
¨ All golems are individuals – they have no sub-races, simply more seldom used design schematics. All golems are the same race.
¨ Golems do not suffer ‘old-age.’ They are able to repair any disrepair they may suffer from being old.
¨ Golems are not vulnerable to permanent death
Ø All golems, upon reaching a certain amount of damage, auto-pilot back to their home and begin automated self-repair.
Ø Golems reach a limit eventually which requires that they replicate/create an offspring. Only by creating a new generation of Golem life can they advance themselves.
· Taking recommendations for more races. I want about 10 starting races total, but I want them all to be the type of races that build large cities, etc.
§ Races with lower world population receive bonuses.
§ Change your race in game
· By questing
· By magic
· By accident!
§ Sub-races
· During character creation
· Certain races are predefined with sub-races
§ Other sub-races can be unlocked
· By quests
· By magic
· During game play
¨ Disease
¨ Curse
¨ Magic
Ø Unlockable races
§ Quest to unlock new races!
§ Guide the evolution of a species to create a new race!
Ø Unrestricted Starting Location
§ Start in any City or larger settlement
· Player cities require a starting location to be defined
· NPC cities will have multiple starting locations
§ Lower population gives bonuses
§ Race/Location/PC or NPC Owned modifies difficulty level
· Displayed during avatar creation
· No bonuses for more difficult selection
v World
Ø One Server
Ø Instances
Ø A seamless world
§ Explore
· Mountains
· Oceans
· Underground
· Skies
§ Landmass equal or greater to that of Earth
Ø World Enviornment
§ Real World Physics
· Lunar Cycles
¨ Tidal Affects
¨ Geological Affects
· Natural Disasters
¨ Earthquakes
¨ Volcanoes
¨ Tidal Waves
¨ Tornados
¨ Tsunamis
¨ Hurricanes
¨ All based on real world physics – when the environment dictates one will happen, it does.
¨ To prevent sadness: Players will be able to detect and prevent natural disasters.
· Weather
¨ Weather based of real world weather
¨ Rain, Thunder, etc. all exist where they belong
¨ Weather can be accurately predicted
· Magic
¨ As should be the case in all fantasy games, magic plays a role in the world environment. Magic shall be integrated in such a way that it interacts seamlessly with the real world physics. Magical equivalents of Acid Rain, rivers running backwards, etc. are all possible.
v Game play
Ø Content Adjusts to Skill Level
Ø Innovative and Non-Repetitive
Ø Allow Players to Choose which style of Play they Participate in
Ø Story-Driven Game play
Ø Players Impact World with their actions
Ø Possible to ‘Win’ the game
Ø Unlimited Ignore List
v Skills
Ø Combat
Ø Crafting
§ Tattooing
§ Piercing
Ø Non-Combat/Non-Crafting
§ Dancing
§ Singing
§ Composing
v Property
Ø Modular Production
§ All crafting products are modular and modules are individually morphable allowing unprecedented customization.
§ Equipment
· Not restricted by class (There are no classes.)
¨ Each type of equipment has an associated skill
¨ Skills available to further specialize in specific equipment
Ø For instance: Using a bastard sword one-handed as opposed to using a sword
· Weapons
¨ All fantasy era weapons
¨ Any new weapons we can imagine
¨ No double-flail, though, sorry!
· Armor
¨
· Clothing
· Jewelry
· Body Modifications
· Accessories/Misc.
Ø Highly Customizable Equipment
Ø Land Ownership
§ Housing
§ Cities
§ Shops/Stores
Ø Transportation
§ Airships
§ Sea ships.
§ Other cool modes of transportation
v Economy
Ø Player Driven Economy
v PvP
Ø Based on Character’s Skills not Equipment
Ø Battlegrounds/Arena Combat/Ladder Rankings
Ø Allow Players to Control Map/Resources/Etc.
Ø PvP is avoidable
§ Better loot in PvP enabled
Ø Advanced Collision Detection
Ø Player Bounty System
Ø PvP and PvE working together
v Death
Ø Death is Permanent Except in Special Circumstances
§ Death should be easy to avoid
§ Permanent death should be even easier to avoid
v Development
Ø Dedication to Constantly Add New Content
Ø Dedication to Communicate to Players
Ø Reduce lag and increase performance
Ø Focus on Player Interaction
Sun Aug 19 2007 1:31PM Report::cracks knuckles::
†Customization-
"All content created out of game must pass cursory inspection by GMs before allowed in game"
Hows about an official site where members upload their content and it is judged by their peers. Every week or so, the highest ranked submissions are then judged by the GMs as a last line of defense before being implemented. This takes the load off of the devs to peruse through hundreds of useless junk to find the good stuff... All votes are linked through your memberID / Account name so someone cannot just make a bunch of fake accounts for the purpose of voting their own submission up or taking down a rival.
† Statistics (Strength/Dexterity/Charisma/Constitution)-
So are these simply your External attributes? Are these set in stone for your specific race as they are seperate from your "Ability Scores"? For example, a Dwarf would have a higher STR rating thereby allowing a more stocky appearance than Elves who have a higher Constitution? And because the Statistics are seperate from Ability Scores then you could have Dwarven Mages?
†Ability Scores - Standard, Derived, and Sub.
I like this area but it needs more detail and how it would relate to your statistics.
†Races - Looks good at first glance but I was never a big fan of numerous races. Usually end up going with whichever had the best overall-appearance instead of ability to play certain classes. *which is why I was an Elvaan Mage in FFXI*
Anyhoo, that's about all I can think of at the moment. I'll post more when it occurs to me...
Sun Aug 19 2007 2:28PM ReportPerfection! I love the new content idea. The first statistics bullet is to say that statistics are linked to your appearance, the second is an explanation of the actual statistics. Everything on the whole list needs additional detail! I want about a paragraph for every bullet there, and most of everything there still needs additional bullets at that... so, there will be more detail on how all the statistics work and affect each other - but, honestly, I haven't even figured it all out yet.
So far as the races - with a single server and a world with landmass equal to Earth's... you need something to populate it with. I feel that the more options you have available, the more fun you'll have playing the game... "Well, I've played all seven Human factions/Starting locations... lets try a few of the Elf ones." The players starts over, and over, and over and still has a completely unique play experience.
Sun Aug 19 2007 4:24PM ReportI'm sorry, but I'll have to object to the idea of players having access to the race of dragons....
Dragons should be as gods for the game if they were to be implemented. It should require nearly a full squad/raid to defeat a hatchling. Dragons are ancient, wise and well-oriented with most, if not all, areas of magic. If anyone should be able to play as a dragon, it should be a GM if the AI isn't enough.... Is that to say that Dragons are invincible mobs? No, but close to it. Fighting one of the Ancients should be nearly impossible for a few raid groups....
Normally I would balk at the number of races that you are throwing out but with the proposed statistic/ability point divide, then it should all fall down on appearances and starting locations/quests that will diffrentiate between the races. Even so, I'm not sure I would play anything other than human if there were no advantages to playing other races aside from those things... Vampires, maybe, but that'd be asking to be annoyed with the emo-freaks....
Wed Aug 22 2007 12:05AM ReportOkay, lets try this for the third time. Bah! And, what's up with the formatting? Anyone know what happened? It was just fine when I posted it... anyways...
Unfortunatly I am not trying to make Arcanum Online... I wouldn't mind playing it, but I wouldn't want to design it. Further, in my opinion two sides is not an ideal number of factions. I believe that three factions are much better, as seen in Planetside. That way, if one faction begins having success, both other factions will team up against them... The chances of one faction winning are very small. You may say, "What's wrong with that?" Well, if one faction wins then the game is over for the other faction.
Further, I am designing a fantasy based campaign. The history will be created to imply post-apocolypse, and some of the terrain and the things players will discover will reinforce that... but, the main theme is fantasy. See Terry Brooks' 'Shannara' Series for an example.
I'm looking for races that have a higher potential for quickly creating an advanced civilization. Animorphic races, in my opinion, do not have that potential... in most settings they are magically created, or something, and little removed from their ancestors (instinct still playing a large part in their decision making processes.)
Thank you, though!!!! I completely forgot I had an underwater area I had to fill up with something!!! Mermen and Sea-Elves would be perfect, though Sea-Elves are a subrace of Elves... Can you think of any other likely suspects to put down there to round the number out a little bit? Triton, perhaps?
Vampire: Vampirism is an affliction or curse, not a race. Vampirism is a part of my vision, but it will also not be available upon game release. Vampirism will be a sort of way around the permanent death system and a means of enabling PvPers to go 'Hardcore.' Vampires will not permanently die by any means other than PvP. There will be other ways to enjoy 'Hardcore' PvP than becoming a Vampire as well.
Giants (Two-headed Ogres)/Dragons: I want every sentient race seen in game to be available to the Players... so long as they can figure out how to unlock them. Giants and Dragons, being epically scaled as they are, will be the most difficult to implement... and, as Freon pointed out, Dragons especially will be a difficult case to handle because of their epic ability.
I believe the way I will handle it is that most races will be available to the general public as soon as a group completes the quest to unlock that race... Dragons, Giants, and perhaps a few other prestige races, must be unlocked individually... That is, quests must be completed by each person who wants a dragon or giant.
For Freon: Remember that this game will have age... Consider how that would apply to a dragon. ;) Players who expect to create a dragon and be instant gods -will be- dissapointed. Dragons will start out as hatchlings and be required to advance into their power with age... the truly epic ages being likely unreachable by a normal player. A very hardcore player might reach an adult dragon (by DnD standards) at most. Is hatchling power formidable? Yes - Dragons would start a few leaps and a couple bounds ahead of the rest... Hoewever, that is the point of the game... each successive character starts a little bit ahead of where your last character started. Giants are actually more difficult to balance than dragons. :(
Dragons and Giants do not qualify as starting races, though. In the beginning giants will not be much more advanced than Mountain Giants in DnD, and Dragons are too individual to form a large society.
I hope to accomplish more than just statistical diversity by creating so many races... I hope to create a world that is truly alive. Where it means something to be of a specific race: Perhaps your race was the first to discover some important magical theory, or perhaps your race instigated some national alliance.... Then you can have pride for being a part of it. I want the players to truly shape the world, and I think they can do that best by being able to create whatever character they want.
However, because the standard player sees statistacal diversity first and lore second (if at all), I do plan to create a large statistical diversity with more than just ability scores. Racial abilities, starting 'designs' for crafting, etc. will also be available to encourage a player to lean one way or the other. Also, the fundamental design of how certain races interact with the world may cause players to desire one race over another. As mentioned earlier, vampire have a very unique place in the world... There -will- be an unlockable race that will interact with the world in a similiar way.
Golems have already been mentioned and they interact in a -very- unique way. Golems -build- their offspring. No other race does that... Golems can be built in any way imaginable (three legs, four eyes, seven... eh, you get the point. :) again, something that no other race can boast.
Elves lifespans are infinite. Elves will probably be the only race immune to the effects of aging. Some players won't want to age and might have chosen another race if not for that.
And then, again as mentioned in my outline, the true power-gamer will look for the least played race... because that one will receive statistical bonuses above and beyond the other races.
Thanks again for responding!!
Thu Aug 23 2007 4:08PM ReportMMORPG.com writes:
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