There’s a lot of talk about various features on the forum, lots of helpful ideas flying about, but sometimes they can be a bit hard to track and there’s a lot to read. It can also be hard to parse what’s ultimately desired from a feature (especially from 3000+ world posts ). But we want that information!
Keeping track of a game this complex is a hard task, so I thought I’d introduce you to how we use design goals, and why we use them.
The way we start thinking about design on a new feature is usually: what should be the goals of this system? We do this without talking about features. For example:
- Players shouldn’t be able to join the game and quickly obtain the highest tier of gear through purchase or charity.
It doesn’t talk specifically about how we’ll achieve it, that comes next. First we all agree “yes we do/don’t want to do that”. There’s obviously multiple ways to achieve that example, in ways that do and don’t affect other features with variable development costs. Design goals are a really good place to start, especially when you’ve got a lot of potential solutions to one problem, it helps to agree on the fundamentals.
Here’s some systems it would be interesting to get community design goal suggestions for:
- Combat systems - Crafting systems - Construction systems - Progression systems - Player customisation systems - Titan systems - Beacon / land claiming systems - Guild systems
Reply with your suggestions below, something like this format would be easy to digest:
- Beacon system goal: One player should not be able to claim an entire world
Okay so first some of this depending on player will be very opinion based but here i go.
Combat: The Battle should be determined by the skill and equipment of players not abilities.
Crafting: Crafting should not only be simple but should take some time to create the best items.
Construction: I should be able to use a large varity of building materials, but as i build i would like some physics to be involved (so no floating bricks in the middle of nowhere)
Progression: There should be Progression for both Combat, and Crafting systems eventually i want to say im the best there is.
Player: I want to be able to look different to all players around me wether is skin colour, body markings, or even weapon shapes.
Titan: Titans should be a team effort and more particularly be a skill based objective, one person should not be able to jump into the game and take them after playing wow, or skyrim, it should take practice with the fight systems, but ther should be the ability to beat them without the use of rapidly pressing abilities.
Beacon: Eventually for my beacon i want to create a custom shape, squares are boring, i want to claim a valley for a city not the outsides of this valley, depending on the amount of players in the beacon will determine the size, each player can have max 2 beacon tokens per world, one of which he can add to his friends which will expand it and add his perms while the other is his holiday home.
Guilds: Me and the pony tail guild aren’t doing very well as they harass us and are abusive i want to be able to destroy them and force them to stop (active world pvp)
Dislcaimer not everyone may agree with me but i have reasons behind everything if you want to talk more.
Combat systems
Combat should be skill based and not gear based. e.g. it should be possible to figth and defeat better equipted players when you are better (aim, movement … what ever).
Crafting systems
I would like non determinant crafting where it’s not that easy that you can master your crafting disciplin with “recipes lists” or crafting guids. It should take you a lot of time, mats and a bit luck to master it.
Construction systems
It would be cool if we get more blocks and mechanisms (e.g. self repeating blocks [only in beacons], or moving blocks [e.g. for airships], logicblocks [aka redstone from minecraft])
Progression systems
Progression should involve Storys and quests but also extensive Training with your class and professions. It should not need titan figthing (“noobs out of big fights”)
Player customisation systems
I don’t like vanity items … they only mess up the game and focus/skill got lost.
Titan systems
Titans should be epic foes whom destroy land where ever they go. they should be the f*** hard to smash (with a team (3+) of skilled players in hours [NOT MINUTES]). They should be optinal for player/character Progression because they are that hard (like elite raids / dungons in other mmos)
Beacon / land claiming systems
Looks good like it is. But i’d like to see “guild beacons”.
Guild systems
Guilds should be important for coordination and cooperation. you should gain a major benefit if you join a guild but guild sizes should be limited so that there are more “small, well organized guilds” and not to many mass guilds (like you can find them in guild wars 2)
“Combat should be skill based and not gear based. e.g. it should be possible to figth and defeat better equipted players when you are better (aim, movement … what ever).”
do you mean skill as in the skill of players or skill as in Abilities? press 3 to do Arthurs ash dealing 1536 dmg etc
This is everything that comes to mind so far Nothing for beacons yet because I’ve no specific input for them yet.
Avoid the traditional “holy trinity”; make all characters capable of all roles (Damage, healing/support, tanking)
Bonuses from character choices - race/etc - should be significant (IE, not +1% to fire resistance), and should also have negatives (A “fire-type” character would also be weak against water)
Easy to learn, difficult to master; lots of little mechanics which can make your output significantly better than “simple” combat
Deliberate, predictable; As little randomness as possible
Economical; Crafting should be a viable way of making in-game money. Purchased materials should cost slightly less than what the crafted item vendors for. This should encourage gathering and inter-player trade.
Consistent; Similar building materials should be able to be used in recipes to create similar results.
1x Stone Block (A hard, refined material) can be used to create 1x Stone Slab, 1x Stone Step, or 1x Stone Wall, but 1x Clay Bricks (Also a hard, refined material) cannot be used to create the equivalent Clay Brick blocks. This kills the Hipo.
Adaptive; The more you use a particular type of something (IE, light weapons), the better you become at other things of that type of something, and the worse you become at other, similar types of something (IE, heavy weapons), to a lower limit of 0 (No “negative proficiency”).
Interactive; Certain progression options should interact with other progression options to create a combined effect, but this should not prevent progression (Not a skill tree with dependencies, just having both A and B unlocked gives you effect C)
Sliders over Presets; General archetypes are fine (IE, Roman noses), but there should also be a degree of customization within those archetypes
Limited pallete; Keep to the pastel aesthetic, no neon-magenta Oortians!
Difficult; Titans should represent the highest levels of combat, requiring planning and research before engaging.
Tiered; Titans should vary in strength from “Lesser Titans” (Slightly more difficult than regular mobs) to “Greater Titans” (10+ coordinated, skilled players required)
Guild housing! Using in-game currency, guilds should be able to purchase a small pocket-dimension which they have absolute control over (Similar to beacons, but with additional permissions like enter/exit and optional per-player permissions)
Guilds should have “classes” (Combat, Trade, etc) with specific traits (Trade guilds would be able to set up a shop in the overworld for selling their goods and services, for example)
Combat systems
A battle should be based on skill and not abilities with cooldowns, no hotbars, the borderlands style works really well for fast paced combat, where you have one skill thats unique to your race (In oort). All further skills are modifiers of your single cooldown or of weapon types, health and in borderlands, shields. This would work really well I think. However the deciding factor should be your skill, e.g aim, dodge.
Players shouldn’t have defined roles in combat akin to tank dps healer etc, it limits a persons experience of the game, no classes or strict party based combat.
Crafting systems
Crafting should be simple to execute but complicated to master. The difference between the master craftsmen and the newer crafters should be the quality, the aesthetics and the durability of the items, rather than the type. So everyone can craft a pickaxe or a bow or a door, everyone can make the base simple items out of simple materials, but the masters can make them stronger, look better, and do more damage/mine, have modifiers like extra fire damage, or bleeding, shockwaves etc etc.
Construction systems
Players should be able to build with simple mechanisms, but should have a large variety of blocks. Players should also be able to create automated structures which move water or dig, bridges, lighting. This could use oort shards etc
Progression systems
Progression should reflect the way you play the game, so the more you use certain aspects the better you get at it.
Progression shouldn’t have huge skill trees and perks but have proficiency and modifiers on weapon types or crafting quality.
The gameplay loop is already a great story progression system so I would stick with that.
Player customisation systems
Players should be able to look unique but races should be recognisable.
Titan systems
Titans should be hard and require teamwork but not too many players as it might get messy. Loot from titans should be in the form of resources rather than items as it is hard to split this up fairly.
Beacon / land claiming systems
Beacons should be large enough to build to your hearts content but not too large so that players can restrict other players.
Beacons should also include land below and above the surface so that someone else can’t build a bubble around the beacon and keep you from leaving!
Beacons should have to be reviewed on a monthly basis so that players can’t stick one down and then never use it, or use them to keep others from building.
Guild beacons should be slightly larger but there should be a limit on how many per world.
Guild systems
Guild shouldn’t be able to get too big and shouldn’t be able to dominate whole worlds.
Guilds should have types, e.g trade guild, even if it’s just easier to find a guild that fits with your play style.
Guilds should represent firms e.g you can contact and hire a guild, you can give contracts e.g contract them to build a structure in your beacon or take out a titan/mob so that you don’t have to, or craft items.
Guilds should complement the player driven economy.
Guilds shouldn’t be about having the biggest and wealthiest guild.
Any guild pvp if it’s going to happen should only take place in the respective guilds beacons so it doesn’t affect everyone else.
Beacons: I really hope it will not be a pay gold for beacons every week kind of thing. ArcheAge does this and I have stopped playing for this reason - they make u pay taxes on a house u build every week! If you have a busy life, u can not always get ingame that regularly to keep it updated. In Landmark, they make you pay currency pretty often as well and then destroy your whole claim if you dont pay it in time
I would suggest once you buy (or however you will give out beacons) a beacon, it will be permanent, unless the account is dormant for months at a time. Then at that time, the player receives an email to either keep it or let it go back to the Oort The beacon disappears, and the property becomes unclaimed. So maybe as long as you log into your account at least every couple months or so, you don’t lose all you have built.
Just my suggestion, from past frustration on other games
Combat systems
A battle should be based on skill and not abilities with cooldowns. Borderlands FTW.
Players shouldn’t have defined roles in combat akin to tank dps healer, lets have freedom of choice.
Crafting systems
Crafting should be simple to execute but complicated to master.
The difference between best craftsmen and the newer crafters should be the quality/effects, the aesthetics and the durability of the items, rather than a skill tree and time, lets keep people playing.
Construction systems
Players should be able to build with simple mechanisms, but should have a large variety of blocks. Players should also be able to create automated structures which move water or dig, bridges, lighting. This could use oort shards etc
Progression systems
Progression should reflect the way you play the game, so the more you use certain aspects the better you get at it.
Progression shouldn’t have huge skill trees and perks but have proficiency and modifiers on weapon types or crafting quality.
The gameplay loop is already a great story progression system so I would stick with that.
Player customisation systems
Players should be able to look unique but races should be recognisable.
Titan systems
Titans should be hard and require teamwork but not too many players as it might get messy. Loot from titans should be in the form of resources rather than items as it is hard to split this up fairly.
Beacon / land claiming systems
Beacons should be large enough to build to your hearts content but not too large so that players can restrict other players.
Beacons should also include land below and above the surface so that someone else can’t build a bubble around the beacon and keep you from leaving!
Beacons should have to be reviewed on a monthly basis so that players can’t stick one down and then never use it, or use them to keep others from building.
Guild beacons should be slightly larger but there should be a limit on how many per world.
Guild systems
Guild shouldn’t be able to get too big and shouldn’t be able to dominate whole worlds.
Guilds should have types, e.g trade guild, even if it’s just easier to find a guild that fits with your play style.
Guilds should represent firms e.g you can contact and hire a guild, you can give contracts e.g contract them to build a structure in your beacon or take out a titan/mob so that you don’t have to, or craft items.
Guilds should complement the player driven economy.
Guilds shouldn’t be about having the biggest and wealthiest guild.
Any guild pvp if it’s going to happen should only take place in the respective guilds beacons so it doesn’t affect everyone else.
Combat systems
Combat should be skillbased and have a high variety in tactics and strategic possibilities through equipment, items and character progression.
Crafting systems
Players who spend a lot of time and effort into crafting should feel that they are wanted and needed by players who didn’t. I want to be supporting the community I play with in ways other cannot reach without the same time and effort I spent.
Construction systems
I want to feel free in building with a lot of variety in possibilities.
Progression systems
I want to become better in what I am spending time and effort. I want to be able to spend months and may be years in a single character to max out his abilities. I want to have no limits or boundaries.
Player customisation systems
I want that players are able to have individual looking characters. I want to be able to keep a look when I like it.
Titan systems
I want titan fights to feel epic and an very impressive experience with friends or others. Titan fights should be something I have to work on for to become good enough to beat them.
Beacon / land claiming systems
I want beacons something I have to work for to get them, and work a lot more for getting an even bigger one.
Guild systems
I want my friends and me to feel supported by the guild system while having aims to reach together. I want to be able to play or fight with other guilds.
Man it´s hard to phrase the answers to this correctly
The goal of
Combat systems
should be that it doesn’t feel repetitive after the 10th fight against a player/creature (I´m still hyped because of the Borderlands post of yours )
Crafting systems
should be that it is a viable option to play as a crafter and that a player driven economy is encouraged by the crafting system
Construction systems
should be that only my imagination is the limit of what i can build (you know, theoretically)
Progression systems
should be that I feel better/stronger after each “step of progression” and that i already crave for the next “lvl up”
Player customisation systems
(playstile) should be that i can get creative in my way of playing without being forced into a “rota” (I hope most people are familiar with this term)
(optical) meh, the standard stuff i guess
Titan systems
should be that my guild/group and I feel proud after defeating one because it´s nothing a group of strangers can do on the fly
Beacon / land claiming systems
should be that i can customize my beacon area to make it fit my needs
Guild systems
should be that i can wear my guild tabard with pride because we can accomplish something as guild and are not just a group of players that share a chat-channel (and are able to beat the cr@p out of other guilds that are talking $h!t about us )
In addition i want to say that i don’t think the combat should be only skill and not equipment based. In my opinion it should be like in the early days of WoW, where a character with a higher tiered equipment wasn’t unbeatable but had a significant advantage. Otherwise the whole “equipment-improving-part” of the game becomes kinda pointless (that was also the main issue i had with GW2)
). But we want that information!
Nothing for beacons yet because I’ve no specific input for them yet.
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