Figured I better post a few more ideas so we can start to compare and contrast : )
Ok, idea number 2:
My second idea is another multiplayer game that follows a Unreal-style death match. Players start off as tiny little critters that can't hurt anything, break anything or even move very fast. For the start the players just run around eating other smaller critters which gives them evolution points. These points can then be spent on, say, four different stats. For example: strength, speed, stamina and acrobatics. Of course, the more points in each stat the stronger, fast, healthier, or more acrobatic they are. At the start, the major focus is finding and devouring as many of these tiny animals you can and collecting points. Having better stats obviously helps you to more quickly collect more points but no one stat has any advantage over the other, at least at the start. Example: high acrobatics lets you jump high and get to platforms with animals on them, while high speed obviously helps you search faster.
After acquiring enough points in one stat (say 5) the player character then evolves into its second stage based on that stat. Example: a player with 5 speed turns into a super fast wolf-like monster, while a player with high stamina turns into a massive rhinoceros-like monster. Of course, monster designs would have to be more unique than that : P.
But yeah, once the second tier of evolution is reached, players can start the fight. They generally attack each other with ranged or melee attacks (I'm thinking some creatures wouldn't have ranged attacks and some wouldn't have melee). Players continue to collect points but can now receive them from killing enemies .
Player's can also eat larger critters now which 'merge' with the player character, giving them special traits. For example, eating a bat gives the player character bat wings and allows them to glide, while eating a chameleon gives them the ability to turn invisible temporarily.
After spending enough points in another stat (say 10) the player then evolves to the third tier of evolution (I'm thinking they'd look more human-like). The second tier evolution determines the third tier evolution. For example, a speed-focus second evolution will have a different strength-focus third evolution than a player who'd chosen to have a stamina-focus second evolution. Basically, the third tier is a combination of the second tier focus trait and the third tier focus trait e.g. a strong and fast character. This means a total of 21 characters (including the first little critters), more if we have time. I think the benefit of this is that it's easy to lay down another few models with changed variables and make it possible to evolve in different strains.
When a player dies, they restart at first tier but have, say, half the evolution points they had collected before dying. That way, there's a penalty to dying but players don't have to start from scratch. They also get to try a different evolution strain if they want : D.
I'm thinking this could be good as a Team Fortress-style capture the flag type thing. Each player would no doubt be focusing on different traits and would end up being quite different from other player's, allowing teamwork to be fun and interesting. I like the idea of a fast creature stealthing past the enemy team's guards using a chameleon-trait : P.
Anyway, I wrote this pretty hastily so there's probably a lot of things I've missed. You guys can point out my many mistakes : P
Comment away!
whoa nelly,
ReplyDeletei was going to comment on this the other day but it seems i forgot.
this idea reminds of the game where you are a fish and have to eat smaller fish while avoiding bigger fish, or more specifically spore.
actually this is exactly like the more fun parts of spore but applied in what appears to be a much more entertaining way.
the weakness i see in this idea however is that in the fish game or spore, there was always something bigger than you. with this idea at its current development, it seems that one player will very quickly gain the upper hand on the other players by being larger and eating them before they get a chance.
taking a page out of spores book a way i believe we could balance this out would be to have an island as a level. on this island there is a multitude of AI creatures. rather than players simply fighting each other, they compete for territorial dominance. this way players could just have at each other as per above, or could go after weaker AI creatures to better themselves, or larger AI creatures to take more territory (which would offer some kind of special reward, possibly unlocking a new evolution path?). This way there is little benefit for a player who levelled up fast to just go tearing down their weaker opponents, as there wouldnt be much to gain. rather they tackle a much larger opponent for territory and great rewards.
im also trying to plot out herbivore and carnivore paths in my head, herbivores may be able to use more indirect attacks like acid spit or something and have the option of taking territory by 'co-existing' with larger creatures by offering large amounts of food or something.
I agree entirely with everything in the first paragraph : P. I originally got the idea from a Spore-like game that I played, was before Spore though I think. And I agree the weakness is player advantages. I tried to incorporate the whole half exp when respawn idea so losing player's would still have a chance, but I think it needs a lot more.
ReplyDeleteFrom what you're saying that idea seems too much like Spore for my liking : s. It's also really far away from my original fast-paced, deathmatch-like idea; probably a bit too far. It's a very different game and I think we'd have to spend much more time on the mechanics. I don't think it'd end up being as fun in a multiplayer sense, either. Even if we got everything working I think I'd prefer running around attacking friends to taking an A.I.'s territory so I can be better than my friends. Dunno, seems more like a one-player game to me.
Still, maybe write it up on a different post. I think it's a good idea, but it'd be better if it wasn't trying to work with the original one...if that makes sense : /
But yeah, I think we should work to keep the more head-on attack style gameplay but maybe work in other features? Like players can evolve into smaller creatures that can sneak through special paths, or, like I said, gain stealth abilities from eating a chameleon.
If it's a capture the flag-like scenario, a lot of the player advantage stuff won't be a problem. Fully evolved, strong players can work to protect the smaller players or those who don't have good attack or defense. So one team could back off and stick to defense, building up an attack force while the other keeps trying to sneak in and grab the flag with tiny, invisible creatures. So yeah, tactics : P.
I like herbivores and carnivores, that could add some spice to the gameplay. Different attack methods, different evolution methods, that kind of thing. I think it could be a whole other layer to the game : )
ok having teams changes everything, i was thinking in a more classic death match style scenario.
ReplyDeletea way i can see this working is when a carnivore player gets a kill, they gain, for example, 50 'DNA' (using spore as a reference) to spend on their 'evolution tree'.
Now there is a corpse of the downed enemy left remaining.
The player being a carnivore may now feast on this corpse, restoring health and providing a further 50 DNA, however leaving themselves vulnerable to attack.
The player may also choose to allow weaker carnivore players to feast on the corpse while they protect them, this would increase teamwork, and allow players who have little value for DNA (due to increasing upgrade prices) to share DNA with their team mates.
Another option would be to leave/protect the corpse the corpse, allowing for a fruit plant to emerge from the body. While this would be a longer process (maybe 20-60 seconds) it would provide 3 pieces of fruit at 50 DNA a piece, which can be used by herbivores.
Another idea to add on to of that is a class development system. At the beginning of the game you could choose herbivore or carnivore.
herbivore would have more support, defence and ranged attack based abilities where carnivores would have more direct, offensive and melee attack types.
When a player gains enough DNA they may upgrade traits based on their class (i think it would be cool if this went a bit elemental here), but they would only be able to follow one branch of the tech tree.
This changes however, when a player feasts on a corpse or fruits of a corpse. When this happens, all branches of the tech tree followed by the devoured player become available to the player devouring them. They will still cost DNA to upgrade, but the tech tree widens allowing players to combine abilities.
This also opens up the possibility of players becoming an omnivore.
A player who chooses to switch to the omnivore path has the stats of all abilities halved however they gain DNA much faster (due to having more sources of DNA) and are able to combine abilities from both the herbivore and carnivore tech trees.
Wow, this is good stuff. I think this shows the potential of the idea.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, corpse eating and plant growing for DNA is a great idea. I think a lot of this would take a lot of balancing and working through but it would be worth it, plus easy enough to implement.
That's what I was thinking when you mentioned herbivores and carnivores: choosing either one at the start of the game and having that affect your evolution chains. I think that'd be good fun : )
I don't know so much about the omnivore idea, seems a bit unnecessary and just about every player would end up being an omnivore. I think the herbivore/carnivore thing adds a nice dividing line that players could easily understand. However, if omnivore was an ability you could get from eating one of the A.I. creatures, that would be cool ; )
Gaining all the branches of the tech tree might cheapen the tech tree, unless we have a reeeaallly big tech tree. I suppose it really depends on how often we're expecting the player's to be eating corpses and fruits, but it's something we'd have to think about.