I've had this great idea for something that can be used in a MMORPG/MU*, but I don't really have the time nor the focus to work on one. Basically, it's a self-expanding system, which lets the players actually 'invent' new technologies, new weapons for the game, based on a set of rules that allows the player to actually find out interesting things. The concept should also allow people to slowly build up their player-based economy and stuff, but that part still needs a bit of tweaking. Oh, and btw, the game has a nice payment system, where you get to fully enjoy the game without paying anything... AND the system allows you to pay for others, for example, if you want to keep another player's skilled blacksmith or researcher for your army/city.
Long story, I thought of using it for another online fellow's MUD, but he suddenly disappeared. So, right now, I'm left with a very nice design for a big multiplayer game, but nowhere to put it. It would be just nice for those of you making Klik MMORPGs, but aren't sure what to put in them.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
The idea you have is a really good one, that's why it's been used in alot of MMO's already.
In the end it's all about how much you make it like you think it should be. In the end it will still be limited in some kind, as in that all the users only create particular items because they are simply the best (unless you have tons of spellcombinations, and once again we're on the 'how much you put into the game' thing). If you however make it just as you say it, without restricting anything, that's a game I'd be willing to pay the huge amount of money you need to pay off to get a game these days.
Yup, text. Not MMF, something my partner did, but I could only figure out how to modify his code to do things I wanted to do, lol.
My idea kinda is more of a 'if you hit rocks randomly, there's a 1% chance of finding "common material A" and a 0.005% chance of finding "rare material B"'. That alone kinda maintains the economy. A fully user-based economy would mean that prices can go up or down according to supply & demand.
With a proper amount of say, blacksmithing skill, you can make a dagger or sword or whatever from it and sell it. And random experimentation between materials could result in an alloy, cept it takes anything from 3 minutes to 3 hours (real time) of your player doing nothing just to test combinations. That gives players plenty of incentive to 'hire' (pay for membership) a researcher to do the work for them. And if kids were as desperate for free gaming as I used to be when I was a kid, there'd be plenty of people who'd take up the offer.
And the nice thing is that the design should be self-sustaining, even when the user base drops to about 3 at a time or so. I kinda plan on starting it off as in a 'caveman setting on a small island', then 'guide' them into civilisation (and fees ) after enough time. The 'barbarian/caveman' gameplay would still be free though, enough incentive to keep people playing even with a payment scheme.
Still.. I need a server with enough BW/memory to handle it and a MMO game to put it in..
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.