Hypothetical idea for multiplayer gaming.

Turd Burger · 2008-11-18T16:59:28

Firstly, a few people are going to be scared off when I mention MMORPGs. Don't be - I am not going to rabbit on about how cool it would be to make a totally unoriginal clone of a non-indie-very-commercial MMO game. Instead, I am going to suggest how online games could work in a way that eliminates the need for gross amounts of hardware (servers, maintenance etc...) and that builds on a sense of community within an online game. -FIRST THINGS FIRST- My understanding of how your average MMO works is as follows, the world in which the characters exist, essentially lives on a server usually miles away from any of the players. The world is part of the client that the users own, but all of the thinking and pulling power is done by the servers. They literally 'serve' (send and receive) information to the individuals who live in the MMO world. The characters basically live on the server. (This idea varies wildly depending upon the game, Runescape for instance is entirely self contained within the browser - so everything is the same, except the client is really just housed online instead of at the users end of the wire.) -MY IDEA- My initial idea started as a simple 2D avatar chat, where you could download the client and use it to customise your avatar, maybe build an environment (A small custom map?). The interface I visualised was similar to those common in 2D RPGs like the old Zelda games. The user could then connect to the internet and search for other users online (Through some sort of local lobby perhaps?). Three or four friends could connect up to the game, play around in the room that whoever was hosting had made, and ultimately interact online. The idea thrives on the fact that so few users would need less internet pulling power, and the whole thing could be hosted from a PC instead of a server. -THE IDEA EVOLVES...- After tossing the above mentioned thought around in my brain for a few hours, I had a thought that could make the experience a little richer. If you could introduce a currency/trading mini-game of some sort. Like this: ----- Player #1 hosts a room/map/whatever Player #2 joins P#1's room Player #3 joins P#1's room All the players have a game of poker (for example) Player #2 wins the game, as a prize - he gets to keep P#3's red hat. Later that day... Player #4 hosts a room/map/whatever Player #2 joins P#4's room The two play poker Player #4 wins this time, as a prize - he gets the red hat that P#2 won earlier. ----- You see, this way - the item in question changes hands without the end owner and original owner ever having met. Your characters inventory is stored with your client on your PC and stays the same, regardless of what room you log into. -THE REST OF THE IDEA- Once I had the trading idea in place, the rest seemed to sort itself out. Simply add the core elements of an RPG (Spells, dragons, machine-guns, fridge magnets - whatever theme you choose) and you have something really interesting. The players can mod their rooms, throw out griefers or anyone who they don't like - but their power is limited to their own rooms/maps of course so they can't go mad with power. The players have total control over the design of the environment. In a sense, the environment is infinitely large (An IMORPG!?) and at a fraction of the practical cost of a server based MMO. The only limit to the idea, is how many people a hosting PC will allow in any one room at a time, but even this opens the door to something new: If someone with a big server decided to get the client, they could host a massive world that players could join at their leisure anyway - and that itself would be an MMORPG within this 'IMORPG'. Please let me know what you think of my idea - BUT... ... I am only a pixel artist, so please answer with small words my little brain can understand. I know nothing about programming. If you have ANY feedback, let's hear it - point out any flaws you can see (because you devs are more in-tune with the practical workings of this sort of thing) and hopefully we might be able to think-tank our way around it. TURD BURGER [Edited by - Turd Burger on November 15, 2008 1:18:23 PM]

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by Turd Burger November 15, 2008 09:39 AM

20 comments, last by Turd Burger 15 years, 4 months ago

thk123

180

November 18, 2008 04:33 PM

Good idea, I still think that users should be allowed freedom to the people as some people may be turned off, knowing that their room will never look that different from everyone else's.

Supplying tile sets and inspiring maps I think would be key. Going back to something like Forge, when I see what people have done I always want to log on to Forge myself.

-thk123botworkstudio.blogspot.com - Shamelessly advertising my new developers blog ^^

Turd Burger

136

Author

November 18, 2008 04:59 PM

Yeah, you wouldn't even have to make things as strict as the tileset.

If you could somehow breakdown the components even further, without going all the way down to including a basic pixel-level sprite editor (which I imagine would completely submit ALL creative direction to the users - not neccessarily a good thing)

Simply offer enough planned diversity, that people don't crave more...

...an impossible task?

_

The imaginary 2D RPG style game I keep battering on about is starting to evolve into something. For some reason, the idea of loads of different map rooms with one or two different people in each is starting to remind me of the space ports from the original 'Star Wars' movies. The appearance of people travelling between areas like this would definitely have the feel of commuting and tourism.

Hmmm...

(EDIT)

Just going back to thinking about this;

Assuming all of this was logically applied - what would you say the maximum amount of players your average PC could host for a 2D RPG (porbably with a limited map)?

[Edited by - Turd Burger on November 22, 2008 2:59:25 PM]

Hypothetical idea for multiplayer gaming.

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Hypothetical idea for multiplayer gaming.

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