Morden - A Lone World - Game Idea.
Author
I have dreamt about a game that allows you to manipulate the world itself, to be allowed to travel virtually anywhere, and do whatever you'd like. I intend on making this possible in the game here: Morden - A Lone World: This game is set in a dark manner, a very dark one, almost everybody is dead, and you have no idea where you are. You have no idea what to do, what to say, and what to think. My thoughts being, you will be able to do virtually anything you want. Oh, I forgot to mention, this will be a zombie game. But it will not be that obvious. Different zombies will have different behaviours, I intend on making the player be able to interact in a violent and or not violent way towards these creatures. Also, there will be other struggles within, the struggle to find food, water, and everything a living thing needs. If you find any flaws in this idea, please tell me, and if you like where this idea is going, please contact @ maxmordolm@gmail.com or my blog http://mordolmsworld.blogspot.com/
Some parts of the game need to be bright and happy to make the dark and evil more scary. It could start with a family that loose their baby.
"I want a game where the user can virtually do anything!"
You have no idea how many times us gamers, and game designers alike, have heard people exclaim such. Yet reality is harsh.
You will find that the time to do such a thing will go beyond what you could ever achieve by yourself. This means you have two choices:
- get a bigger team
- make a small world
Choice two is literally destroying your game, and has been done too many times. Choice 1, while the better choice, is very hard to do. Even then, after achieving such a team, you will find a stump. The actual programming to implement a world where the user can do anything is past the capacity of humans and their software/hardware.
A game that "the user can do virtually anything" on the other hand is plausible. Virtually, this word is key. You will not be able to make a world where the user is free of any restrictions, but if you can make it close to such and immerse them into the world in such a way that they don't even notice the restrictions, well, that I would pay for.
I know I'm being harsh, so let me stop for a second and say thankyou! You did not ask for money at all in your statement, something that makes me respect you. I am sick of the people who state a game concept, and tell people they should throw their money at them for the "chance" of such a game being created, and being up to hype.
While I do hate such things, I suggest if your serious about this that you should set up a donation area. Somewhere where people who are interested in the game and where it's going can donate their money to. Being a choice, I feel no wrong in it.
So therefore your focus should be on this:
- Gathering like-minded individuals who are willing to go all the way for this
- Setting up a donation area in order to achieve the money that you will need. trust me, you'll need money later on.
- Acquiring experience on such games, and delving away from the un-original concepts. Yes, these things have been thought up before. What makes yours original.
I could go on and on, but this is all you need to know. I hope it helps.
You have no idea how many times us gamers, and game designers alike, have heard people exclaim such. Yet reality is harsh.
You will find that the time to do such a thing will go beyond what you could ever achieve by yourself. This means you have two choices:
- get a bigger team
- make a small world
Choice two is literally destroying your game, and has been done too many times. Choice 1, while the better choice, is very hard to do. Even then, after achieving such a team, you will find a stump. The actual programming to implement a world where the user can do anything is past the capacity of humans and their software/hardware.
A game that "the user can do virtually anything" on the other hand is plausible. Virtually, this word is key. You will not be able to make a world where the user is free of any restrictions, but if you can make it close to such and immerse them into the world in such a way that they don't even notice the restrictions, well, that I would pay for.
I know I'm being harsh, so let me stop for a second and say thankyou! You did not ask for money at all in your statement, something that makes me respect you. I am sick of the people who state a game concept, and tell people they should throw their money at them for the "chance" of such a game being created, and being up to hype.
While I do hate such things, I suggest if your serious about this that you should set up a donation area. Somewhere where people who are interested in the game and where it's going can donate their money to. Being a choice, I feel no wrong in it.
So therefore your focus should be on this:
- Gathering like-minded individuals who are willing to go all the way for this
- Setting up a donation area in order to achieve the money that you will need. trust me, you'll need money later on.
- Acquiring experience on such games, and delving away from the un-original concepts. Yes, these things have been thought up before. What makes yours original.
I could go on and on, but this is all you need to know. I hope it helps.
I have to disagree with Shifty here - I think that it is too early to be fundraising or putting a team together.
What you have posted here is a solid high-level concept for a game. Many of us have dreams of the perfect open-ended zombie survival game. However, I think that the idea needs to be fleshed out considerably before we can give any real constructive feedback on the design.
You mention the player being able to manipulate the world... How? In what ways can the player interact with the world? Can they dig and sculpt the terrain? Pick up and combine items? Build structures? If the player wants to barricade a door, do they click 'combine wood with door', or do they place individual planks and nails with realistic physics?
It is these rules/mechanics/details which define the game - without them you don't actually have a game design to comment on. It is also impossible to estimate the amount of time and effort required without some details in your design, and so difficult to put together a team or raise money.
It may be that you have thought about some of this already. I wonder:
* How large and detailed is the world? A building/town/city/island/continent?
* How does the player control their character, move through and navigate the world?
* How can the player build or destroy parts of the environment?
* What kind of objects can the player interact with? * In what ways can the player use and combine objects?
* Is the focus on killing hordes of zombies or scavenging, survival and building defenses?
* If you were to create a super simple prototype to demonstrate the essence of your idea, what are the absolute minimum features you would need to include?
It also might be worthwhile to think about how your game would be different from others like Project Zomboid or Dead Island. Were you inspired by another game? Were there things which impressed or bugged you about other zombie games?
What you have posted here is a solid high-level concept for a game. Many of us have dreams of the perfect open-ended zombie survival game. However, I think that the idea needs to be fleshed out considerably before we can give any real constructive feedback on the design.
You mention the player being able to manipulate the world... How? In what ways can the player interact with the world? Can they dig and sculpt the terrain? Pick up and combine items? Build structures? If the player wants to barricade a door, do they click 'combine wood with door', or do they place individual planks and nails with realistic physics?
It is these rules/mechanics/details which define the game - without them you don't actually have a game design to comment on. It is also impossible to estimate the amount of time and effort required without some details in your design, and so difficult to put together a team or raise money.
It may be that you have thought about some of this already. I wonder:
* How large and detailed is the world? A building/town/city/island/continent?
* How does the player control their character, move through and navigate the world?
* How can the player build or destroy parts of the environment?
* What kind of objects can the player interact with? * In what ways can the player use and combine objects?
* Is the focus on killing hordes of zombies or scavenging, survival and building defenses?
* If you were to create a super simple prototype to demonstrate the essence of your idea, what are the absolute minimum features you would need to include?
It also might be worthwhile to think about how your game would be different from others like Project Zomboid or Dead Island. Were you inspired by another game? Were there things which impressed or bugged you about other zombie games?
I have dreamt about a game that allows you to manipulate the world itself, to be allowed to travel virtually anywhere, and do whatever you'd like...
[snip]
...My thoughts being, you will be able to do virtually anything you want.
These are easy words to type, but as a game designer you will need to think in a bit more detail about what your features actually mean. There will be limitations imposed by the game engine, the user's interface with the game, the hardware available, etc. You need to identify what is important, figure out how that all fits together, and cut the rest.
The mythical all singing, all dancing uber-game where "you can do anything" is just not feasible.
Author
I appreciate all of the advice, I think I'm going to go change the theme now. lol, thanks guys.
I have to disagree with Shifty here - I think that it is too early to be fundraising or putting a team together.
ahhh, sorry, didn't I explain properly? I didn't mean to start off with, just that those two things should be what he's aiming to get after he's started the game progression. Since that type of game is so huge, he'll need it.
Generally your idea is nice, but that is all what an idea can ever be.
The question you should ask yourself is "What makes your game fun?" What kind of experience should your game be? A shocker, a scary game, an intriguing story teller?
Nobody plays Super Mario for it's amazing plot twists, nobody plays Pokemon for it's ability to scare the shit out of you.
When you start to see the direction you are going with your game, you can ask the question "How". How do you want your game to be "a zombie game that isn't obvious", how do you want to make it feel dark, how do you want to make it SEEM like you can do anything?
All those questions are essential for your game and cannot be answered easily. Those are the fun questions to discuss about ;)
The question you should ask yourself is "What makes your game fun?" What kind of experience should your game be? A shocker, a scary game, an intriguing story teller?
Nobody plays Super Mario for it's amazing plot twists, nobody plays Pokemon for it's ability to scare the shit out of you.
When you start to see the direction you are going with your game, you can ask the question "How". How do you want your game to be "a zombie game that isn't obvious", how do you want to make it feel dark, how do you want to make it SEEM like you can do anything?
All those questions are essential for your game and cannot be answered easily. Those are the fun questions to discuss about ;)
Well, I gotta agree with nearly everyone here; you're aiming pretty dang high and in my opinion, the best remedy for such thinking is to limit the player.
Limiting the player is a way of enforcing rules onto the player; making them do what you want to progress the game and if done right, makes them think it was their idea in the first place.
Take a look at the Holder Series. Its a "creepy-pasta" that's been around the internet for years now and follows a formula. They're directions to an other-worldly, some times hellish place to endure torture and be gifted monstrous, super-natural items that may or may not bring about the end of the world.
The reason I'm telling you about it is because you said you want to have a dark atmosphere while interacting with the dead and to have the player feel like they can do anything. Now if you made one the Holder instructions into a game, it'd be short and linear, but it may give you some ideas. Like the player can cross a bridge made of bones that is hidden deep under an old, haunted mansion, but what the player doesn't know is that if they try to cross back on the same bridge, it comes to life, wraps around the player and kills them. This would essentially block the player from going back that way and force them into a path you decide while providing them a valid enough reason why they can't go back that way. (Unlike invisible walls or "leaving mission area" splashing onto the screen as seen in so many modern games from Skyrim to CoD.)
Actually, another good example of giving the illusion of freedom is Black Ops 2: Zombie Mode. When you run into the fog, there are little goblins that jump at and on the player and will attack and kill them. A skilled player can make it around the full map, but they will be pursued by the goblins and never get a chance to rest and really discover all the places that they can't go. If you apply something similar to your game, by creating a certain level of pressure on the player, they won't have a solid opportunity to notice what they can't do because they'll be focused on what they need to do.
But yeah, like others have said, if your going at it alone or even building up a team, you might considered paring some of the scope back.
Hope I was some help.
Limiting the player is a way of enforcing rules onto the player; making them do what you want to progress the game and if done right, makes them think it was their idea in the first place.
Take a look at the Holder Series. Its a "creepy-pasta" that's been around the internet for years now and follows a formula. They're directions to an other-worldly, some times hellish place to endure torture and be gifted monstrous, super-natural items that may or may not bring about the end of the world.
The reason I'm telling you about it is because you said you want to have a dark atmosphere while interacting with the dead and to have the player feel like they can do anything. Now if you made one the Holder instructions into a game, it'd be short and linear, but it may give you some ideas. Like the player can cross a bridge made of bones that is hidden deep under an old, haunted mansion, but what the player doesn't know is that if they try to cross back on the same bridge, it comes to life, wraps around the player and kills them. This would essentially block the player from going back that way and force them into a path you decide while providing them a valid enough reason why they can't go back that way. (Unlike invisible walls or "leaving mission area" splashing onto the screen as seen in so many modern games from Skyrim to CoD.)
Actually, another good example of giving the illusion of freedom is Black Ops 2: Zombie Mode. When you run into the fog, there are little goblins that jump at and on the player and will attack and kill them. A skilled player can make it around the full map, but they will be pursued by the goblins and never get a chance to rest and really discover all the places that they can't go. If you apply something similar to your game, by creating a certain level of pressure on the player, they won't have a solid opportunity to notice what they can't do because they'll be focused on what they need to do.
But yeah, like others have said, if your going at it alone or even building up a team, you might considered paring some of the scope back.
Hope I was some help.
Author
Very true all, I am currently having second thoughts on this project, if anyone here is knowledgeable in C++ or other languages, I'd like to talk with you about creating an engine for a more simple factored game.
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