Advice/Help Help planning this project I have in mind!

[CalamityQueller]

Hello everyone! My name is Quill and I have realized that I am waaay too ambitious for my own good and so I need some help with this project I want to create!

The general idea I have is a sort of mmorpg-inspired forum where you create your character and throw them into a sci-fi world where they are able to quest and level up, gaining gold and valuables on the way.

Admittedly, this would be a very big project that would take me a lot of time to work on. So I come here to ask for advice from anyone who has created something similar. Was it worth it? How did you plan it out? How did you balance your mechanics?

If you have any piece of advice, please send it my way! Thanks :]

Update: I've had some ideas that I'd like to add

Firstly, I've considered the idea of adding a sort of shopping district. A thread full of vendors selling their various wares, each catering to a specific item type (armour, weapons, consumables etc.) that displays new items after a set roll over time.

Next, I considered the idea of having a sort of bank where players could ask for their current balance. I'd probably need a team for this considering I can't be up at all hours of the day and night.

Lastly, I thought of having a main hub (or hubs if we want to go with various locations) where players can pick up quests, chat with others, and just chill before setting out on adventures.

 

[Idea]

I've been working on a VRMMORPG-type setting for... years now... and uhm still not finished. Mostly cause life keeps forcing me to put it on hiatus and every time I come back there's something I want to redesign, which is to say nothing of the sheer scale of the project I've attempted to tackle.

I think the first thing you probably want to keep in mind is exactly what you're trying to design. For instance there have been cases where I talked to people trying to make RPs like this and I asked "ok is this game focused on PvP or PvE" and often the answer has been "both", which inevitably resulted in mechanics designed as a middle ground that worked for neither. It's not like you can't make something with multiple goals work, but anything that adds complexity to your objective makes the process of making it exponentially harder and more complex / time-consuming. Fortunately this isn't a real game so you can take some liberties with design that a lot of real game designers wouldn't be able to due to funding / technological / skill limitations, but my point is that it's paramount to have a clear idea of what you're trying to design. This will put your future decisions into perspective, especially some of the hardest decisions of what to prioritize and what to cut out.

This even extends beyond the game design itself too. For instance, way back when I joined this MMORPG style RP where the GM decided that our characters are the ones chosen by a promotion of sorts, where extra powerful items are handed out to people who accomplished... something I can't quite recall right now. It was fun though, but it wasn't really as focused on exploring the game as a common player, because well, it wasn't exactly a fair match when our characters started out better than everyone else. So questions like "are characters just common players or someone more special?" and "is this supposed to be mainly about the game itself or more about the people playing game" (the latter implying that a good portion of the RP may be spent outside the game, with the game being a core but supplementary feature of the roleplay).

The last piece of advice I can give without knowing things in more detail or at least having the answer to the question in the second paragraph answered is "When in doubt, streamline". Simplicity is your friend. It's maybe not something I'm one to say because my own approach called for a lot of complexity, but as a rule of thumb, where you can make things simple, you should. After all, even if you try to avoid it some things will get complicated, and you really want to save the leeway you have for complexity for when it's either unavoidable or truly crucial to include something more complex.

Best of luck!

 

[Chordling]

Hey Quill! What a fun project ahead of you. There’s lots of potential. I think the things I would start to focus on are the main goals/objectives that players could focus on. Why would they want to level up and earn money? How do they earn levels and what can they do to gain more wealth? It helps to have something that can drive and motivate the players to do these things. Otherwise, it may be more difficult to keep the players engaged!

 

[Nessuno]

I feel like you're semi describing my RP at the moment?

Regardless, How I do it is mainly observation.

It takes a lot of time to develop stuff like this, sometimes great ideas and inspiration will just hit you out of the blue.

You cant force very much of it unless you want it to heavily reflect your current obsession.

Just have the thought in the back of your mind at all times and think on it while you aren't busy.

Like I said time is one of the biggest factors. It takes a lot of thought to make something fresh and unique with quality.

To throw on mechanics like leveling and keeping track of wealth makes the whole thing even harder.

Feel free to reach out if you'd like any more specific info.

 

[CalamityQueller]

bump!!

 

[Sylph]

The general idea I have is a sort of mmorpg-inspired forum where you create your character and throw them into a sci-fi world where they are able to quest and level up, gaining gold and valuables on the way.

Oooohh I love systems. Systems are fun! For the sake of context I'm assuming the characters are living in the world where this system applies—as in the premise isn't that they're logging into another game IC—and if so then I'm familiar with a mediaeval fantasy style version. IE: characters go on quests in order to gain gold and increase their stats.

Where I'd probably start is figuring out what degree of interactivity player characters will have with the levels. Obviously they know if they receive gold from completing a mission, but are they aware of increasing in strength or EXP? Since you're in a sci-fi setting, perhaps 'levels' could be tied to technological enhancements, whether through augmented limbs or nano-like machines. Characters could then check what enhancements they have through terminals and, potentially, scan opponents to see what sort of technology they're up against.

Or—it could be completely background knowledge. Used only by the players to compare allies and opponents. Either way the important thing is to establish what levels mean for the world and what effect they have on the characters.

How did you balance your mechanics?

I won't go too far into mechanics here since I don't know what you have in mind, but I assume this thread means you're still trying to decide what core aspects should be included to balance the RP. Personally, I aim for 2-3 parts of a system to build off of. Based on what you've said; gold, levels and valuables are going to be vital, so if I were going for something similar myself:

• I'd establish a way gold can be used to gain levels and/or valuables so that it interacts with the other core aspects of your system. It depends on what you're aiming for, but my preference here is to not start out with a huge pricing list. Most of what characters buy are regular combat supplies and necessities like food or lodgings, so I find it easier to leave the economy as a background aspect and save just a few items for special rewards.
• I'd have levels broken down into something more intuitive, like skills or stats. If it's sci-fi you could go for genre-specific skills like hacking, parkour, firearms, toxicity tolerance, etc. Things that can be measured against an opponent or the environment. Add in upgrade chips that can be bought or earned through missions, and you have a basic rewards system in place.
• Similar to pricing, I tend to keep restricted items at a minimum and trust my players not to abuse the freedom. In a sci-fi setting stuff like augmented weapons, upgraded prosthetics and skill-specific items might be some of the things I look to keep as a reward for missions, since they can be used to give characters extra abilities.

Admittedly, this would be a very big project that would take me a lot of time to work on. So I come here to ask for advice from anyone who has created something similar. Was it worth it? How did you plan it out?

I'd say it's absolutely worth it, though the same is true of any large-scale project if it's something you want to do. The fun thing about MMORPG style worlds is I don't think the planning ever truly ends. It's just about when you have enough of a basic premise and foundation to let other players start testing it.

Of course you may have had a completely different idea in mind for all of this—the above is just my take. Feel free to consider as much or as little as you want from it!

 

[CalamityQueller]

Bump! I added a few concepts that have been floating around in my mind :]

 

[Idea]

Firstly, I've considered the idea of adding a sort of shopping district. A thread full of vendors selling their various wares, each catering to a specific item type (armour, weapons, consumables etc.) that displays new items after a set roll over time.

Sounds like pretty typical stuff, yeah. The only question would be if you only want sellers at this particular district, or if you want them spread across the world as well, and/or if you want other such district for instance in different towns or equivalent location for your game.

Next, I considered the idea of having a sort of bank where players could ask for their current balance. I'd probably need a team for this considering I can't be up at all hours of the day and night.

While I can understand that some people have an aversion to math, surely it can't be too much to keep track of adding and subtracting costs and loot on their own?

Lastly, I thought of having a main hub (or hubs if we want to go with various locations) where players can pick up quests, chat with others, and just chill before setting out on adventures.

Again, pretty typical stuff, nothing wrong with it.

 

[CalamityQueller]

While I can understand that some people have an aversion to math, surely it can't be too much to keep track of adding and subtracting costs and loot on their own?

I just thought it might be helpful if the numbers got too big. Perhaps I'll just keep a record myself and I can be pinged if anyone lost track or needed an update?

 

[Idea]

I just thought it might be helpful if the numbers got too big. Perhaps I'll just keep a record myself and I can be pinged if anyone lost track or needed an update?

Sure, that makes more sense.