When I first came on as Keeper, there were a number of things I wanted to do right away. These included:
- Creating a census to track the playerbase
- Asking for input from all players as to what was needed from the game
- Sifting this feedback and determining a list of next actions
So, here is the list, printed in it's entirety, from 2007 with the following colour coating:
Completed changes appear in BLUE text.
Changes that are in process appear in RED text.
Changes that have not been undertaken appear in normal text.
The goal here is to consider the progress that has been made. And so ... here is the list!
II. Game Design Renovation.
- A. Make the game more newbie-friendly.
- 1. Newbie-helper wizards.
2. Link to Forum on login screen.
3. Preconfigured client.
4. Newbie area created on Forum.
5. Allow players to login as guests to:- a. Skip the login process.
b. Get right to some sort of action.
c. Use a newbie chatline
based on race and gender.
7. Make Sparkle a natural "first step" into the real game for
newbies. (see item C2).
8. Give newbies a book with:- a. Suggestions on what to do next.
b. A list of guilds, their themes and their locations.
c. Suggestions on how to make money.
d. Locations for good newbie questmasters.
e. Common player hangouts.
f. A list of names of people they can mail for personalized
help and advice.
each newly created player:- a. Welcoming them
b. Giving them information/access to pre-defined clients with
useful scripts/maps/etcetera for the game.
c. Giving them useful advice on how to get started.
11. Give maps to newbies.
12. Provide newbies with some sort of gamecontent "hook" that
grabs them immediately in the first minutes of gameplay.
13. Poll players on the following:- a. What made them stay and play the game?
b. What were their first thoughts on the game when they
created their characters?
c. What did they find appealing?
d. What was the cause of reaction and emotion?
- a. Skip the login process.
- 1. Level the playing field between guilds.
2. Implement global versions of stun, block, and poisons.
3. Increase player death.- a. Make combat more dangerous.
b. Make it easier to trap a player.
thus giving certain players the option to enjoy the game in
peace. - a. Make combat more dangerous.
- 1. Restructure shipping lanes to route through Sparkle.
- a. Have all domains connect via shipline to Sparkle.
b. Remove all shiplines between domains. An alternative would
be to have inter-domain travel not through Sparkle require
far more money in price and take far longer in terms of
the duration of the boatride.
c. Domains can still have shiplines to other areas within the
same domain. (e.g. Grey Havens to Pelargir)
d. Reduce the time that boatrides require. Travel is not
fun or even interesting.
- a. Quest master to educate on quest solutions.
b. Killing grounds with neutral aligned stuff to kill.
c. Npc to follow player around, offering help.
because of the shipping lanes:- a. Interesting surrounding content for players of all sizes.
b. Move unique content from other cities and have it be
only offered in Sparkle:- 1) Weddings
2) Tattoos
3) Parties, etcetera
somesuch (see point J) under or near to Sparkle. - 1) Weddings
and content that represent the finest the game has to offer. - a. Have all domains connect via shipline to Sparkle.
- 1. Allow players to view which quests they have solved in a given
domain.
2. Recode all quests to have the master object deal with bits,
rewards, etcetera.
3. Allow quest hints for those who want to use them.
- 1. Add a central faction controller that Lieges can incorporate
their npcs and factions into.
2. Slowly phase out the good/evil alignment system.
solutions:- 1. Cap stats
- a. Perhaps around IMM stats
b. Make sure that benefits continue for grinders so there is
still something to work for for hardcore players.- 1) Increased skills
2) Increased titles
3) Elite area only for those players
- 1) Increased skills
- a. Perhaps around IMM stats
- 1. Only do so again when playerbase warrants it.
2. Instead, rework and improve existing areas.
H. Stop adding new guilds, possibly close some existing guilds.- 1. Forces players into more populated communities.
2. Increases conflict between certain themes.
- 1. Fantastic money-sink for seemingly useless coins.
2. Gives players something other than grinding to focus on.
model:- 1. Random layout, changing after each reboot.
2. Monsters drop nifty equipment and treasure randomly based on
droptables that scale with monster level.
3. Progressive-combination model:- 1) Different levels for different player-sizes.
2) Small localized goals accomplished through grinding.
3) Alignment neutral npcs
- 1) Different levels for different player-sizes.
- 1. Make NPCS smarter at fighting players, adapting to their
abilities.
2. Change the way stats are used to calculate combat damage.- a) Take strength into account for damage.
b) Dex is no longer king.
3. Update the combat system to be more straightforward.
4. Normalize the difference between normal attacks and special
attacks in terms of damage potential.
5. Add more randomness to combat so that victory is not pre-
determined by stat size.
6. Rework the death penalty either by:- a) Reducing the amount of exp loss
b) Having consequences be something other than exp loss
c) Creating a resurrection quest whereby players can very
soon be back to where they were. (death recovery)
normal combat damage.
8. Improve the benefits of a two-handed weapon. Currently,
no one uses them because they are a horrible tradeoff vs.
a one-hander and shield. - a) Take strength into account for damage.
- 1. Give players more things to spend money on.
2. Possibly include an expanded system of banking via player-
to-player loans, etc.
- 1. To promote true roleplay:
- a) All attacks/spells/specials moved away from guilds to a
centralized location where players can define their own
abilities to define their character.
b) Implement a "point-based" system by which players can buy
the abilities they want.
c) Joining a guild no longer a requirement for successful
competetive play. Rather, it is now an optional feature
intended to promote roleplay of a specific background.
d) Guilds can still offer unique abilities, but these are not
more powerful (i.e. required for competetive play) than
those offered by the centralized system. The same "point
system" is used to buy guild-based abilities.
- a) Establish the existing array of unique guild abilities.
b) Remove redundancy among guilds so that each guild is in
some way uniquely valuable to the game.
c) Establish which guilds should have each unique ability
(i.e. block, stun, disarm, poison, cleanse, move-behind,
rescue, etc) and make sure that only one guild from each
alignment faction offers it.
d) Close certain guilds:- 1.) Consolidates the diminished playerbase into larger
communities.
2.) Increases player interaction.
3.) Removes redundancy of guild themes.
4.) We can always increase the number of guilds once the
playerbase grows
- 1.) Consolidates the diminished playerbase into larger
- a) All attacks/spells/specials moved away from guilds to a
O. Relocate all magical item files to a centralized location for
update and maintenance.
P. Change Darkness to 3 levels: twilight, darkness, magical darkness
Q. Allow items to be saved on players until they break.
R. Remove the difference between quest and normal experience points,
and do away with brutality as a concept.
S. Implement protocolization:- 1. In the options menu, players can select whether or not they
want protocolization turned on. It is off by default.
2. Protocolization sends messages to a pre-programmed client
that can then present the game in a more up-to-date fashion
that might cater to today's young playerbase in a more
immediately friendly and familiar fashion.
3. This can include both graphics and sound.
4. This will require very little actual change of code, for the
main changes would be very deep in the base routines.
T. Occasionally, have wizards control npcs to interact with mortals
for the purposes of story/roleplay promotion.
U. Find a way to deal with guilds with inactive councils which bar
new and eager players from joining.
V. Find ways to make the game cater to casual players.
W. Standardize dps (penetration) calculations for weapons.
X. Implement a system of diety worship and divine rewards.- 1. Potential money sink.
2. Combat implications if a god intervenes in time of need.
- 1. Questmaster in Sparkle with randomized quest: (Market Quest)
2. e.g. Bring me 30 Ogre teeth, 12 buffalo hides, and
40 gnome purses!
3. Random cash, exp, and unique item rewards.
- 1. Newbie-helper wizards.
- A. Update the homepage.
1. Give it a more professional look.- a. Better graphics
b. Better content
- a. Better graphics
- 1. Determine what type of players we want to target/cater to.
2. Determine our selling point.
a. What can we offer that MMORPGS can't?- 1) Earnest roleplay
2) Combination of popular fantasy settings (Krynn vs. ME)
3) Nominal system requirements
- 1) Earnest roleplay
- 1. Graphical banners.
- a. Allow players to register their URLS where banners are placed.
b. Track the hits from each URL.
c. Calculate monthly winners, and give them some in-game
reward.
3. Trailer for YouTube.
4. Create a name for the campaign to increase excitement, interest.
5. Utilize facebook.com
6. Build a connection through Second Life. - a. Allow players to register their URLS where banners are placed.
- 1. Wizards and players treat one another with the mutual respect
both populations deserve. Neither could exist without the
support and enthusiasm of the other.
2. Keep lines of communication open and friendly.
3. Favoritism must be eliminated in terms of:- a. Alignment
b. Playstyle
c. Roleplay ability
- a. Alignment
- A. Update the homepage.
Help!! Information Overload!
Quite so! Aren't design choices crazy? So, the purpose of this monstrous list is to review what we came to 3 years ago, and to see where we've come. Remember, the BLUE text shows us things that didn't used to exist, but now do thanks to lots of hard work. The RED things show us things that are in process and may be quite far along, but might be still quite a long way from completion.
Quite a few things that have happened are not in this list at all, but were things we found needed doing, and they got done. One specific area that appears only in a few lines in the list, but that has taken a bulk of wizard development effort has been the balance recode of all guilds - a massive undertaking, and over half complete!
I do feel we have a lot to be grateful for. A huge amount of progress has been made, and I am so appreciative of the many hands that have been involved. A big thank you, also to the players who have stuck with us through this process.
Many things remain to be done (and some of the ideas on the above list just don't make the cut - and in hindsight probably aren't worth doing at all) but I feel energized by how much has been accomplished.
I will be following up soon with more posts and threads in this section to detail the future of the game as we are envisioning it.
Onward, upward, and to a greater game!
G.