Gaming If you could make your own game...

[Ellerby]

[FONT="Tahoma"][COLOR="DimGray"]In an effort to create a thread in the Arcade that'll generate discussion that [i]isn't[/i] just about one game I pose to you this question, [i]If you could make your own game[/i], that is develop, design, and sell it, what would it be? What genre? System? etc.

Personally I would try to create a game with a unique control scheme. I've thought about this before and I think it would be cool to have the main character slowly gain access to the four elements. It would be third person and each element would use their own set of buttons.

Let's say this game uses a 360 controller, the right analog stick would be used to control the element while other buttons would activate the elements. Press the right trigger and the character will raise a boulder from the ground (the boulder would be bigger depending on how long you held down the trigger), flick the right analog stick forward and he'll shoot the boulder forward. I could go into more detail with different elements and different ways to control them but I think you get the point.

Anyway, you'd advance through the game following a very compelling story (of course) and slowly gain more and more strength in the different elements. By the end of the game you'd have all four elements and all would be at maximum strength (with the ability the lift the entire ground infront of you or create a fire tornado by spinning the analog stick repeatedly with the fire button held and then shooting it forward). It would make for one epic end boss fight.

Epic boss fights are a must in any game I would create. What about you guys? I want to know your ideas for games. ^o^[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Kenso]

As cliché as it is, I'd go for an MMORPG, ala World of Warcraft. I will, however, admit that WoW has a lot of things done right. But I'd have far less emphasis on getting fancy gear. Most gear would be created by the PCs, with a huge array of templates and the ability to color it your own way (including creating your own coat-of-arms, etc). It would have to have an insanely good character generator (like the various Tiger Woods games, though there is likely better ones that I haven't seen).

I'm not entirely certain how I would do it, but I'd like to have a larger emphasis on inter-character relations. MMORPGs tend to have vary little RP in my experience, and that annoys me.

One very important thing is that I'd have mods monitoring the channel chats at ALL times, and literacy would be demanded. I know, that would lose a lot of people, but new players who refuse to learn chase away players too. Either you'll learn, or I'll hold onto the people who have already proven their loyalty.

While I'm not normally much of a PC gamer, this would obviously be intended for the PC. I wouldn't foresee it getting ported to a console, as I don't think it would be fit for such a platform.


I forgot boss battles...Boss battles would be EPIC in nature. There would be no real boss battle that wasn't designed for a multi-man party. Small quest mini-bosses, certainly, but huge story quests would need 5-10 people to beat (or some really high-level folks). An MMORPG should be about interaction, and what better way to interact than jointly kicking the crap out of someone.

The biggest reason I'd go for an MMORPG is simply its updatability. No game comes out anywhere near perfect, nor will all your ideas get out at once, so I like that you can add it in later, for lack of a better choice of words.

[Ellerby]

[quote name='MoyakuKeramushe']As cliché as it is, I'd go for an MMORPG, ala World of Warcraft. I will, however, admit that WoW has a lot of things done right. But I'd have far less emphasis on getting fancy gear. Most gear would be created by the PCs, with a huge array of templates and the ability to color it your own way (including creating your own coat-of-arms, etc). It would have to have an insanely good character generator (like the various Tiger Woods games, though there is likely better ones that I haven't seen).[/QUOTE]
[FONT="Tahoma"][COLOR="DimGray"]I really like your idea of focusing on inter-character relations. I loved RPing in WoW back when people actually role played on the RP servers so it would be fun for sure. But I have to question your user-created gear idea..

I think creating and colouring your own gear sounds good but when push comes to shove I think it's better for people to [i]earn[/i] their epic looking armor. If you could create amazing equipment from the get go there wouldn't be much there to keep you playing the game. I know basically the two main things that keep people grinding away in WoW are better gear and better skills. Take one of those out and you lose a lot.

Ooh~ an idea just popped into my head. I suppose you could only start with a small selection of templates and colours to choose from (different ones depending on your class?) and have to quest/level/whathaveyou to get better looking ones.

This sounds like a fun MMO! :animesmil[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Kenso]

[quote name='8bit'][FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=dimgray]I think creating and colouring your own gear sounds good but when push comes to shove I think it's better for people to [I]earn[/I] their epic looking armor. If you could create amazing equipment from the get go there wouldn't be much there to keep you playing the game. I know basically the two main things that keep people grinding away in WoW are better gear and better skills. Take one of those out and you lose a lot.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=dimgray]Ooh~ an idea just popped into my head. I suppose you could only start with a small selection of templates and colours to choose from (different ones depending on your class?) and have to quest/level/whathaveyou to get better looking ones. [/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=dimgray]This sounds like a fun MMO! :animesmil[/COLOR][/FONT][/quote]

I just can't run with the idea of 'earning' your cool-looking armor. I don't know about you, but I don't want to play some mish-mashed mess of armor pieces that don't go together. And there would be a few 'patterns' that wouldn't be available until later on in the game. But just because you're armor looks bad-*** doesn't mean it protects you any better. The enchantments and the like would scale with level. Those are the kind of abilities you should be playing for (not to mention your cool new character skills).

[Ellerby]

[FONT="Tahoma"][COLOR="DimGray"][quote name='MoyakuKeramushe']I just can't run with the idea of 'earning' your cool-looking armor. I don't know about you, but I don't want to play some mish-mashed mess of armor pieces that don't go together. And there would be a few 'patterns' that wouldn't be available until later on in the game. But just because you're armor looks bad-*** doesn't mean it protects you any better. The enchantments and the like would scale with level. Those are the kind of abilities you should be playing for (not to mention your cool new character skills).[/QUOTE]
I don't mean to say that the templates you would start with wouldn't look badass. I just mean that you can unlock [i]more[/i] templates/add-ons by leveling and such. So let's say you wanted spikes on your shoulder pads you could do that from get go, but if you wanted like.. [i]50[/i] spikes on your shoulder pads then you might have to unlock those.

It'd be cool if there was unlockable stuff that could only be received by something other then the regular grinding as well. For example let's say you get put on 50 peoples friends list just from talking to them and being a generally nice person, you would be rewarded with the Crown template or something. Y'know what I mean? [/COLOR][/FONT]

[Kenso]

That would be pretty cool. And it would help discourage the harsh treatment of newer players by giving people good reasons to help. Maybe a gp reward in the 'mail' if another player gives you a 'kudos' or something like that (but only once from any one player, to try and keep down the cheapness of doing it otherwise).

[PyrusDragon]

I would make an RPG on DS. Storyline would be kinda like Death Note. Young boy finds god-like power and believes he is doing good when he is doing bad. Several people attempt to stop him, as the main character you must fight them off several times (as well as multiple epic bosses). Multiple endings and innovative controls using the touch screen.

Maybe make it like a game where you can summon ghosts or something... evil spirits. You have to draw the element they correspond to (Fire creature, draw a little fire or something like that) you know.

[MaskedRider]

[URL=http://www.yoyogames.com/make]GameMaker Website[/URL]
For those of you who are interested in game design but don't want to learn a language just yet, try GameMaker. It's a fully functional game design program that just simplifies the process. It starts out simple, with collisions and events, and can get really advanced, with scripting and 3D. The program is freeware, and anything original that is created with the program is considered your property. I used to dream of game design myself, and then one day wandered onto this, and I've been using this since 2003. With practice and persistence, you can make some amazing things with this program.

Now if I was working for a development team of a large game company, I'd want to create something very unique and accessible. No FPS, no MMORPG's. Those are commonplace these days. I'd look for something that makes people rethink how they play video games. Think of games such as Super Mario Brothers, NiGHTS into Dreams, Jet Set Radio, and Katamari Dymacy (did I spell that right?).

[Ellerby]

[FONT="Tahoma"][COLOR="DimGray"][quote name='MaskedRider']I'd look for something that makes people rethink how they play video games. Think of games such as Super Mario Brothers, NiGHTS into Dreams, Jet Set Radio, and Katamari Dymacy (did I spell that right?).[/QUOTE]
I think I know what you mean. But I don't see why you couldn't do that with an FPS or an MMORPG, anyway. In fact I think it would be a greater achievement if one could change the way people perceive video games in a genre where so many games exist. I 'm reminded of Half Life 2.

I see where you're coming from, though. I'd love to make a totally new type of game for the DS that really takes advantage of the stylus and touch screen. I know it's not my original idea, but I think a sequel to Uniracers would translate really well to the DS (if you've played the original for the SNES you can probably see how).[/COLOR][/FONT]

[PyrusDragon]

[quote name='8bit'][FONT="Tahoma"][COLOR="DimGray"]
I see where you're coming from, though. I'd love to make a totally new type of game for the DS that really takes advantage of the stylus and touch screen. I know it's not my original idea, but I think a sequel to Uniracers would translate really well to the DS (if you've played the original for the SNES you can probably see how).[/COLOR][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Yeah, I played it once or twice on an emulator. That would be interesting. Also, MaskedRider, thanks for that link! This is a neat little program.

[Doublehex]

I already know what type of game I would want. It would be an RPG, but the biggest thing is that it wouldn't have an emphasis on combat. Sure, you could go along, increasing your combat oriented statistics, but the cases where you absolutely need to fight will be less than half a dozen.

The game will emphasize on storytelling - thus, you will gain most of your XP through conversations. If you invest in 'wise' skills, such as Charisma, Intelligence, and Wisdom, you will open up new conversation options that will get you more XP than if you just killed.

For the storyline, imagine an immortal. But he is not beautiful - his skin is dark gray, he has scars covering his entire body. His hair is like hay. He is dressed in a mixture of leather and bones. He does not remember who he is - and thus, he seeks to discover himself. The story is not epic - it does not revolve around saving the world. It is a story of self discovery, and that's it. It is not going to be revealed that by discovering your past you will save the world. The whole point of the story is to discover yourself.

[Pumpkin]

[SIZE=1][color=#CC6633]Of course I would create an MMO! Duh. Anyone who knows me, knows this man [ Sorry total Friday quote here ]. Anyhow, I would definately create an MMO that was different from any fantasy or Sci-fi mmo ever made. It would have to have a great plot or something new brought to the table. I would create a game with not only the best pvp combat system ever, BUT integrate more of the community and socializing into the game.

Nowadays, it seems like there are two games who have one of each of what I would like to see brought to an MMO. WOW did get a lot of things right such as creating a big vastless world, but atlast the community is weakened and most of the focus is again, on PVP and Quests. I would make a game that would have multitude of different quests such as ones for people who like to explore, fight, and socialize. Seriously, they need to mix it up a bit.

If I had my own mmo, these are some things I would consider..
[list]
[*][b]Mounted Combat[/b] : Like in AOC, there are multiple mounts. Mounts are generally just for transport but I think this brings a nice twist and makes mounts even more desirable in gameplay.
[*][b]More Detailed Quests[/b] : Not Kill X Birds for Pete. In WOW, those get really old fast. Quests should be fun and not always too easy or too hard.
[*][b]Player Cities[/b] : I love player cities. It should be zoned and not over-crowded like SWG was.
[*][b]Ship PVP[/b] : POTBS has it? Why cant this be intrigated into the world? I think it would be awesome to have a player city by the sea that can be attacked from the ocean. Why not?
[*][b]Player-Owned Housing[/b] : I love having an own house. This also creates a create atmosphere of RPing and builds the community.
[*][b]Crafting Professions[/b] : More intricate crafting professions, and things such as traders. Besides the typical blacksmith.
[*][b]Classes for Non-fighters[/b]: This sounds silly, but SWG pulled this off well with their classes of musician and dancer. They buffed people but it suited well for those not well-equipped for fighting. Not everyone is a fighter and it would be nice to have some 'normal' people walking about. It would make your skills seem more unique possibly.
[/list]

Basically more things for the Economy and Player society would be added. That's basically it. That and I don't believe in the ultimate goal of gaming to be "to get the best gear" but that could also be an option for someone else.[/size][/color]

[sakurasuka]

[quote name='Pumpkin'][SIZE=1][color=#CC6633]
[*][b]Crafting Professions[/b] : More intricate crafting professions, and things such as traders. Besides the typical blacksmith.
[*][b]Classes for Non-fighters[/b]: This sounds silly, but SWG pulled this off well with their classes of musician and dancer. They buffed people but it suited well for those not well-equipped for fighting. Not everyone is a fighter and it would be nice to have some 'normal' people walking about. It would make your skills seem more unique possibly.
[/list]

Basically more things for the Economy and Player society would be added. That's basically it. That and I don't believe in the ultimate goal of gaming to be "to get the best gear" but that could also be an option for someone else.[/size][/color][/QUOTE]

[FONT="Arial"][SIZE="1"]Sounds like you should try playing Mabinogi.

I played on the Beta version and it was a breath of fresh air. The quests can be tedious sometimes, but I loved that you could play as a musician, or shear sheep to make wool, or other oddball jobs.

I also like that your character ages, and his/her appearance and stats (Strength, agility, etc.) are based upon how you 'live' and what you 'eat'. Though I accidentally hit the keyboard command for 'eat' instead of 'attack' repeatedly, and my character got fat.

Plus it's online and free. Score.



Though if I were to make a game, I really would enjoy an RPG based almost entirely on building your character and inter-character relationships. There wouldn't be 'levels', but rather points in different levels of expertise depending on what you wanted to be good at. Plus I'd like unique skills or races/classes. Maybe there wouldn't even be classes, but just degrees of experience in a certain area. Maybe you could excel in more than one 'Job' or 'Class'.

I dunno. I just think that killing things to level up and find/buy armor has become stale.

[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Doublehex]

[quote name='sakurasuka'][FONT="Arial"][SIZE="1"]
Though if I were to make a game, I really would enjoy an RPG based almost entirely on building your character and inter-character relationships. There wouldn't be 'levels', but rather points in different levels of expertise depending on what you wanted to be good at. Plus I'd like unique skills or races/classes. Maybe there wouldn't even be classes, but just degrees of experience in a certain area. Maybe you could excel in more than one 'Job' or 'Class'.

I dunno. I just think that killing things to level up and find/buy armor has become stale.

[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

What you are looking for is "Fallout". There are no experience levels in that game - only stats. You just invest points in what you want to be good at. There aren't any classes, and since it takes place on Earth, the only race available to you is Human. But, it has most of what you are looking for, and from what I have heard, it is a great story. It's almost always listed on Top whatever Western RPGs list, so it has to be good.