I had also been thinking about sending a verification mail to the original mail address instead of to the new address. It might be a bit more complicated, but it gives me a better feeling of security.

As for the social security number, I think this would probably only work when the game has players from one country only. Otherwise social security numbers could be the same. I know both the USA and the Netherlands have a nine-digit SSN. If player "a" happened to have the same number as player "b", you would already have a problem.

Or you would have to link the SSN to a copy of your identity card in the database. Not sure if that would be sufficient though. I'd go for the first system to begin with. Sure, e-mail accounts can be hacked too, but that's entirely up to you to keep your account safe :)

It certainly looks very interesting. I hope there's an open beta english test this year in which we can participate, cause my understanding of the Russian and Korean language is non-existing :)

If you are looking to work with programmers, art people and such, I think it's wise/comes in handy to make a Game Design Document (GDD). This maybe a lot of work at first, but it will help to give your team a guideline as to where you want to go and how you want your game to look and feel.

Tom Sloper has made a great GDD template, as well as Mark Baldwin. Many of Nikkons017 questions will be answered with the GDD as well as lots of other questions you might not even think about yet.

This will also help with your discussions with the experienced people.

Have fun in creating your game!

Hey Daniel,

If you'd like to put up a design team, I think it's a good idea to start with writing your Game Design Document (GDD). Tom Sloper has made a great GDD template, as well as Mark Baldwin.

When you've lined out your ideas like in the above mentioned templates, it will be a great help for all the members of your design team. And the most important thing:

It will give you an idea, in the end, what you'll need from your design team and what you want to do yourself.

Be as specific as possible, instead of only saying: "I want it to be something everyone wants to play and that's different than other games."

Have fun in making your game!

Ah.... Can't edit my post... Forgot to tell everyone Happy Thanksgiving and have fun!

Speak MMO. That's a keeper!

In part I can agree with you. I've played MMO's where you could get special seasonal items when fighting monsters and perhaps get something with that package or plant the seed and then get another item.... But.... in the end, all people did was auto-fight instead of chopping critters together with friends. if you were looking for help with quest... Forget it. Not at those days.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the items, but there was a low droprate, so you really had to slaughter monsters for hours and hours (or days and days) before you perhaps could get what you want.... Too bad.

I wish MMO developers would make something during those times where you can just go on with your normal business and still get seasonal items. Hmmm.... I think an idea for some questlines for my own game just were born :grin:

I like your ideas. It's definitely more then the average MMO we see nowadays. I wonder if the crafting you have in mind would actually work, programming wise, but it would be very interesting for the players. I guess it would be the challenge for the developers to make it happen :)

I agree with you about Ryzom. The migration part is awesome! The expansion you've come up with is very intriguing. Again a fun challenge for programmers, I think, to keep the program running without lagging or any other problems.

I'm totally into the Global idea. In the game world I'm "creating" (at least for now on paper), I'm working with several planets that you can visit/live on and actually explore. I think that will make for a very interesting game play.

The instant whisking to another place is something that has been bugging me too. That's why I'm also going for the "real" travel. You'll have to walk, ride a monster, have carriers, a ship, a horse or whatever to be able to travel around the world and the other planets. It did get me thinking that there needs to be content all the way that's that interesting for players that they'll gladly travel by ordinary methods instead of using portals, potions, or whatever.

Well, have fun with exploring your ideas!

Thank you for this link. It was very informative! It gave me more things to think about again :)

Originally posted by astoria

As a player I’ve always wanted to do more with pets.

 

Sure, I enjoyed having pets fight with me in Guild Wars, being able to use special powers for them.

 

Really enjoyed the amount of control you had over pets in City of Villains with masterminds.

 

Liked having to worry about my horse in Fallen Earth. (they would get attacked if you weren’t nearby).

 

But what about leveling them up with their own skills like a player?

 

Being able to make a large animal a pack animal or a mount?

 

Being able to train a dog or cat to track for you?

 

Have an animal help you with crafting e.g. by growing wool or a bird catching rabbits?

 

Having different ‘breeds’ of domesticated animals for different roles? (Bloodhound v. mastiff)

 

I think some games have one of these elements but I don’t know of any that have them all.

 

Basically, having animals fulfill the roles we have actually had them fulfill in real life.

I like your ideas! Many of your ideas I had already implemented in my GDD even before you brought them up :)

You're talking about leveling the pets up with their own skills. Would that also mean that your pet has to level it's skills, like a player has to level his/hers skills? Or would you prefer it if the pet simply learned the skills and could use them immediately to the max?

I like the idea that you have to think about your pets whereabouts. You have to keep an eye on them, just like in real life. Good idea!

About crafting: Do you mean: let the animal have the skill or more something like have sheeps and goats for wool, cows for milk, etc?

I'm not sure about the breeds of the same species. I'd have to do more research on the possibilities of that. I have been thinking about making more breeds of one monster species, though, simply to make the game more entertaining.

I've beent hinking about this subject too. I've played several MMO's where lower level people couldn't play in higher level fields, simply because they'd either be killed by the monsters or by the players. I liked Ryzom where your character didn't level, but instead you got points you could level your skills with. In this last case you'll still have far more powerfull "level 50" then level 1 people simply because they've been much longer in the game and thus have had far more points to use for their skills.

I think that if you want level 1 people and level 50 kinda equal at the same location, that you should have a flatter power curve. If you don't want lower level people to have access to higher level content, then you should use an exponential system.

In my game, I'm going for the flatter version, because I want new players to be able to view loads of the world straight from the beginning. I'm working out a way to make that possible without being instantly killed, but I'm not gonna use character leveling (and with that the power curve and stats curve) to make different playing fields for different levels.

Have fun!

Hey all,

I've been working on a game (Game Design Document status) for several years now and there's one thing that keeps wondering about what to do: Mounts & Pets

I know I liked the pets from puzzle pirates, althought hey really did nothing more then be there, but it was fun :) Then there are the loads of pets from other games where you get them either from a quest (where even human companions are called pets) or where you can catch them in-game. Then there's also the mount system. But what's the real difference, if there's any?

I can imagine that you'd have mounts which are the big pets/monsters that you can actually ride and who can have combat skills. Next to the mounts you could have pets which are pets/monsters that you can NOT ride but who have combat skills and thus help you in fight. What would you do? Have either one of them in the game? Or perhaps both? And if you'd have both, would you let a player use them at the same time, so ride the mount and have the pet with you at the same time in a fight?

And how about companion pets like cats, dogs, bunnies and the like?

I'd love to hear your opinions!

Regards,

Grisaline.

Wow! Thanks for all the info about the servers! This is really helpful with the financial part of my GDD :) You've given us an incredible thorough explanation of it all.

Well, for the moment I'll just develop the GDD and later on my game, with small games (perhaps even including some crafting games, lifeskill games and combat games) somewhere in between. But it's good to think about server hosting (either at home for the beginning or outsourced) already and especially the funding part :)

At the moment I have a computer that's about 8 years old. Although it was one of the best computers there were at the time I bought it, right now it's simply not up to the more complicated jobs. That's why I'm saving my money first for a new computer for the development part of the game. Perhaps I can buy a second new computer sometime next year, a computer that can act as a server which I could use for small scale testing. I currently have a cable connection, so that should be okay :)

Thanks again for all the info!

Originally posted by Emergence

It sounds perfect for me. I can start with a free investment, then perhaps invest in some plugins (About $90) to make Unity3D into Unity2D, lol, and then basic multiplayer.

Once I get that completed, amp it up to 50 players using the Photon engine (free) and if that engine is good enough, do the free trial (1 month free) and if it's stable, then invest a huge chunk into it to make the game officially an MMO ($1450).

This and server costs (which hopefully I can avoid until the game is actually ready to become MMO).

I've already invested way too much in art and graphics, lol. Once I get a basic multiplayer prototype made up, I can just expand the server architecture to include more players- with the game having been mostly completed already.

It sounds good indeed :) Starting out with a small group is what I intend to do too. I'm not sure yet if I want to include all the features at the moment I make it a real MMO (open up the game to the major public), perhaps a few features could be included in expansions/updates, but I think that all depends on how long it takes to develop everything :

Still, having a small group to begin with, will be the best, I think :) Also, I think I'll start with the smallest group possible to test things out: me, myself and I. But I'm wondering if I should start out with a server too and test the Multiplayer function straight from the beginning, or first test the Roleplayering Game aspect and then move onto to the multiplayer aspect. Downside is..... Part of hte roleplaying aspect is the fact that players need to rely on each other....... Perhaps I'll just start with basic functions for which I don't need "other" players and once those work, move onto the muliplayer aspect.

Hmmmm.... Server costs... That's another point I need to research on. Not only the server costs, but also a question that's come up after reading hundreds of posts on game design:

Originally posted by Emergence

Originally posted by Grisaline

Well, that's it for now :)

Sounds good. What theme is the game? Just wandering, you sound serious but no actualy detail on the game itself! :P

I have one question...

1) How long have you been working on your GDD?

 

I have heard of good things with Unity3D engine, which is now FREE until you make 125,000+ a year, which then it's only like $2400 for the engine itself. This is what I am using after realizing that, unfortunately, Torque2D (although wonderful Interface IMO) doesn't support real time networking. Dur. So Unity3D it is, with an eventual 2D animation package.

I can't do 3D art, but if you ever need 2D art, you can always message me on here :P regardless if it's Sci-Fi, Modern, Medieval, etc.

Well, I've been working about 3 years on my GDD now. First it was all on paper, simply because I had that at hand the first time the ideas began to come. NOw I've started to actually put it in an electronic document. For the moment I'm using Open Office Writer because at first it's a document for me. If and when I decide to get a team of people (which might be something for the future :) ), I'll look into methods where people can add info/ideas, but not destroy the document. Perhaps a wiki or something. That way the talk page can be used for discussion before something is included in or removed from the original text.

The theme of my game.... Well, it's high fantasy combined with pseudo-mediaval times. I'd like to have various fantasy races, an environment that does not have industrialisation, but where people have extensive crafting possibilities.

Basicly, players will start out as a slave, but will have the possibility to set themself free and to become whatever they want. It would be fun if people could "have a second life" in this game, but I have no idea if I can manage that. I'm developing my ideas towards that goal, though. I got my inspiration from the Netforce Explorers series from Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik. They've described some awesome things in their books :) Up until now I haven't found a game in which I'd like to "have/live my second life". And yes, that includes the actual Second Life :)

Players will get fighting skills, but they're not going to be class based. There is a downside: a player can only have a max amount of skills, so they can never get all the skills. They'll really have to think about building their character. They can get Class titles, with extras, but that's not straight fromt he beginning.

BUT.... the crafting skills (lifeskills and tradeskills) will be the first thing they'll have to think about. I'm working on ideas to have a fully player based economy, where even the NPC's have to rely on the players to get certain goods. Also, a master-apprentice relationship will be craft based and not class based. I think that's a huge difference in comparison to other games :)

I'd love it if I were able to include some form of NPC where players can also be actively approached by NPC's, but I'm not that far with my research on that point yet.

At the moment the most important thing for me is to finish my GDD. I know people say that it's also good to have other people critic your GDD, but first I want to write everything down that I've already thought up. There's so much I've already written and thought up, that I really need to get it on one line (is that good english?) for myself. Also, I want to have a GDD that's sounds logic and complete to me before I'm showing it to other people. And right now....... It's just to much of a mesh all taken together. I really need to get order into it :)

The Unity engine is indeed interesting. I've taken a look at the license comparison and the free version has a lot of features already. I guess I could wait until I have a turnover of $100,000 in a fiscal year before I buy the pro version and use the other features as well :)

It does seem, though, that MMO is a feature that you'd need an external application for as seen at the bottom of this page. I'll have to have a further look into that. After all, I want to make a MMO rpg :) hmmm... I wonder if multiple planets are possible in Unity, instead of only one planet. It will be interesting to find out :)

Originally posted by NinjaVega

Originally posted by Grisaline

Perhaps I'll develop my own engine in the future, especially seen the fact that I'm not really interested in giving the people from the Unreal Engine 25% of my  earnings whenever I start earning money or to open up my game engine for everyone to see. I'm very hesitant about the last one, since I don't want people to cheat, hack into the game and things like that. With the Ryzom Engine you are obligated to publish your code.... Right...... In my opinion that's asking for problems.

Making your own engine can take years, in fact I don't believe anyone has done it "alone" on any recent systems. All current generation engines that I know of took large teams and several years to complete.

The best of the current gen engines took more than a decade to develop.

If your passion is game design I would spend more time finding the right engine than trying to make your own.

There are quite a few out there that are reasonably secure and cheaper than Unreal.

Unity and Hero just to name two off the top of my head, and I know there are more from past research I'm just too tired to remember them at the moment without looking them up again.

You're absolutely right about writing your own engine taking time and investment! I'm not sure yet what my passion is. I've started with game design as in:

• story
• background
• features
• research for races, era, etc
• Quest development

Originally posted by MumboJumbo

When do players decide that making the game is a course of action to take instead of playing the game?

For me it was the moment I realised I was missing something in each game I played. In Puzzle Pirates it was the fact that there weren't any quests to do. I loved the fact that you could have houses and shops in all varieties, but I really missed the quests. Also, only a flag (kinda like a tribe) could own an island, but you could never own your own land as a player. I'd love to have some land, albeit just to build a house or a shop of my liking. I loved the puzzles, but I also wanted to be able to really craft things myself and that was not possible. I loved the fact that you could travel with friends on a ship the size you liked, slaughter the brigands and participate in the economy.

In Wonderland Online it was the fact that I couldn't have any houses. Okay, there's a tent which you can customize, but I love to play with houses! Also, there was nothing like having land/island like in Puzzle Pirates. I loved the extensive crafting system, but the only thing that resembled puzzling was the alchemy part.

In Ikariam it was the fact that there weren't any quests and there were no houses for me to utulize or decorate. It was fun that there was development in science and warfare, but for me it was too much simply governing a city and getting more cities then anything else.

I've played tribal wars and there was even less then anything mentioned above.

In short, I wanted a game with extensive crafting, houses for me to build and decorate, owning land (as small as placing a house on it, or maybe as big for building a city or perhaps a kingdom), some kind of puzzle system for things like crafting, loads of quests and of course the possibility to have lots of fun with friends.

Now I'm designing a game that's more to my heart. I don't know if others will like it, but it will be fun to try.

As for the programming and such, I've decided to try out a few engines to see if I can get things working the way I want them to work. Just to see if things work out the way I have intended. I'm gonna try out Unreal Engine and the Ryzom engine, since both are freely available in the development stage.

Perhaps I'll develop my own engine in the future, especially seen the fact that I'm not really interested in giving the people from the Unreal Engine 25% of my  earnings whenever I start earning money or to open up my game engine for everyone to see. I'm very hesitant about the last one, since I don't want people to cheat, hack into the game and things like that. With the Ryzom Engine you are obligated to publish your code.... Right...... In my opinion that's asking for problems.

At the moment I'm starting very small, no MMORPG's, with building games. I'm using Gamemaker, simply to see if I can build anything that resembles a game. Questions that are important to me:

• Is there enough progression?
• Is there enough content aka, will players still stay interested?
• Are there multiple ways to play and end the game?

I've started my own GDD as well. Right now I can't really tell anything about it, since it's still in basic development, but basically it's a high fantasy MMORPG that's has the look and feel of (late) mediaval times, but probably without guns and canons. And since I personally love crafting in games, that is, of course, being included in the game as well!

Granted, it's been almost three years into development right now, but I started out with three different kind of games in my head. I finally decided to combine them and now I've really started to write the overall GDD. I don't know yet, if it will really stand out amongst other games, but I'm primarly setting it up for my own enjoyment at the moment. As long as I like it, that's enough for me right now.

I hope to be able to develop the game sometime in the future and therefore I'm studying game design now and programming & graphics in the future. I'm doing research for the things I want to include in my game (like the era I want to use, races and technologies) and like one of the previous posters said: I'm not going reinvent the wheel, so research on the internet for existing things that are widely used seems logical to me.

I'm starting this as a one-woman project, since I can't afford to pay anyone. Perhaps I'll be able to find a few people who'd like to work for free, but before I'm going to look for those people, I first want to have my GDD finished, or at least as far as I can possibly think. Right now I have so many ideas that I need to write down and decide which things I'd like to include (be it technical possible or not (yet)) and which to exclude at some point, that my GDD is not yet ready to read by anyone. Things are too mixed up at the moment :)

One of the things I also do is researching other games, as in simply playing them (as far as possible) and researching (fan) sites about the games. That gives a good insight. It will not only teach me about things that work for fans (or don't work), but it will also tell me if the features I'm coming up with are unique or not. It would be fun if I have a few ideas for features that are really unique. I guess only time will tell.

Have fun developing your ideas, everyone!

I'd pay a maximum of $ 15,-. I've got more hobbies then only 1 role playing game, so I'll have to divide my budget. I do understand that companies have costs to cover, but I'd hope it's possible to cover all the costs if sutomers pay $15,-.

Well, guess what? I was wondering if and when the game would come to Europe so I asked their customer Service for that. Instead of getting answers to my questions, the ticket I had entered for that was closed. (Previous I had asked what the darn message about the service area meant)

When, in response to the closed ticket, I submitted another ticket asking why my ticket had been closed, this new ticket was automatically closed. I couldn't believe it! So, because I'm from Europe I can't contact Customer Service? This is NOT customer Service. This is...... I don't have any words for that, but it's very, very, very bad!!! Better said, it's ridiculous! It's completely disrespectful to (potential) future customers. And also to non-potential future customers. This is just not a way to behave, period.

I'll have to think trice before playing this game IF and WHEN it comes available in Europe. With this kind of Customer Service I don't expect any problems that might occur will be solved correctly or with respect for the customers. At least that's what I think based on the way they have done this.

Anyway, thanks for letting me rant. Sorry, but I had to get this of my chest.....

I was sooooo disappointed to get the official confirmation that I couldn't play Mabinogi in Europe. I had heard about the game and it sounded like a lot of fun.

The official response when I asked about the  Message: Not a service area?  

I am sorry for any confusion.

This means that you are not able to play our Mabinogi in your area, you will have to use another service to play. Unfortunately we do not offer a service for players in your area, you may find another service that provides it in your area.

Thank you and I apologize for any inconvenience.

So, this didn't help one bit.......

I'm not sure what Ozzyx meant with Nexon Europe, cause I checked their site and they don't have a branche in Europe (or so it seems anyway)

Nexon is headquartered in South Korea , with branch offices in Japan , China , and the US , and partners in international markets including Taiwan , Thailand , Singapore and Malaysia .
 

Too bad, I was really looking forward to playing this game