Armchair Game Design

Up hill both ways in the snow!

2008-10-31T10:49:00.001-07:00

Back in my day....

Any gamer that has been gaming for a few years has fond memories of their first games. For me, I played Ultima on an Apple II. I was able to run it off one of those fancy Floppy Disk Drives and not load from cassette. Your first games, much like your first kiss (or first beer), is remembered with much fondness. Some games stand the test of time, though most really were just okay. So much has improved not only in the presentation (aka graphics) but just game theory itself.

Not only does your first game make an impression, unique games (for their time) also leave their marks. For example. I have many fond memories of Ultima Online and Everquest, but today I would not play them. On one hand the games have change so much that they are almost completely different, but then I would not want to play them in their original format either.

So then we get Sequels. This week Fallout 3 came out. 10 year ago the first Fallout came out and was a seminal game in the CRPG industry. It gave life to the story based RPG market and really allowed a person to play good or evil, or something else. The world did change as you moved though it and what you did had effects in the end. Many games built on those ideas such that now it is required for today's Story based CRPG.

But like any sequel, there is the debate "Is this game a XXXXX?" This could be any game. In this case Fallout but I have had recent arguments over the 4th Edition DnD, as well as others in the pass.

Gamers love to argue.

However some gamers will also dismiss good games because the game isn't what they think it should have been. It is kind of sad, but it does not bother me. I look at each game on its own merits. I have played Fallout 3 for a few hours now, and I have enjoyed it. And being the contrarian that I am, I will happily argue either side of the debate. It does not change the fact that I enjoy this game as it is.

The Summer Repeats

2008-07-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

With AoC being a let down for me, and I have already finished Deus Ex 2 and Mass Effect (both of the fun games, but not much motivation for replay) I am seeing what else I can get for free-ish.

Being the old geek that I am, SOE really likes me. I think have been at the beginning of every game they have except Matrix Online. So right now I have free access to play Vanguard, Everquest and Everquest II, again. And I since they count veteran rewards since initial account creation and not timed played, I have a decent amount of swag waiting for me.

So this weekend I chose Vanguard. Of the games, it has the most interesting "other features" then the basic quest-grind-loot-level. I was a big fan of Vanguard Diplomacy and had a few server and world firsts to my credit when the game came out.

Most of the time was spent figuring out where I was again and what I could do. It took a while to relearn my character's skills, but I seemed to get the hang of it.

However, I realized something. I hate "quests." Well I hate the plethora of quests that are not littered in games these days. I thought it was a good thing when WoW made it possible to "quest" your way from 1 to 50. But then it seemed that was the only way. And with that many quests their importance and significance was diminished. And I felt like I was running around doing errands for just some bits of coin.

Going back I liked the early days of Dark Age of Camelot. There were enough quests to point you in the right direction to hunt at your level, but they were not a major part of your XP. Quests did offer rewards like good pieces of equipment for your level that although they were nice, not needed.

Also I think all "quests" should be solo-able. They are something to give you direction when you are on your own. You don't need a quest to kill and loot the Boss at the bottom of a dungeon. The "quest" reward should be looted there and then using something similar to the DDO treasure method. (Everyone gets an equal share and the "quest" items.")

Bring back the Epicness of quests by making them rarer and more significant. Make it such that you have a choice in how you want to achieve it.

The Story Hook

2008-06-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

I was trying to reflect on recent games and why I get hooked or not.

And for the most part I will stay interested in a game along as I feel like I am progressing though the Story of the game. This goes for both single player and online RPGs. However there must be room for exploration and to go off the beaten paths for a while.

The trick is, I should always be able to jump right back in to the story at any time. Too many games with great story elements built in periods of time where you had to go wandering to collect XP in order to be powerful enough to meet the next challenge. Final Fantasy was very much like this.

This was one of the reasons I did not get hooked in to Age of Conan. Too many times I had to leave the main storyline quest to go "run errands" in order to continue on the main quest. On the other hand, I felt that the side quests in Lord of the Rings Online (for the starting areas) fit seamlessly in with the main story line quests. For the most part, the side quests put you in the same area as you were going to go to as the story quests.

WoW had some story in some of the quests, but it seemed to be an afterthought. Also it suffered from giving the player too many quests at once. So many that it devalued the whole notion of questing.

Going back to EQ, there were very few quests. Yet, I found almost everyone of them interesting. Even the Kill Ten Rats. Why, because there were not that many. Then again I was younger and just playing and seeing the world was new and exciting. I would actaully enjoy making the run from Freeport to Qeynos. Well for the first few times. But then I did not have to do that run often since there were things to do in both areas.

This isn't limited to Online games. CRPGs can do too much. The Elder Scrolls series are prone to being "too big." I played Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion, but I only ever finished Morrowind and that was though sheer force of will just to complete the story. And I did resort to a walk though to keep on track.

On the other hand, Fallout (and its various decedents) were just right in story and exploration. I never felt completely lost from the main line, but I still had time and fun to do other things in the world. Also it had the advantage to affect the game world. Granted you did not know of your importance to all the little areas until after you finished the game.

I have yet to stumble in to a MMORPG that fulfilled my need to be apart of the story and world such that I am compelled to continue to play. Not sure if I ever will, but I keep hoping with every game that comes out.

The Gognard Speaks

2008-06-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Like any good blogging gaming geek, I have a long curriculum vitae of gaming. 30 some years to be honest. So over time, I have seen a lot and at times I get quite amused at where gaming is now. In that what is "new" really was done over 10 years ago by someone else in a different genre.

For example, the whole First Person Shooter came to its own with DOOM. Not that it was the first but it sort of defined the genre. Castle Wolfenstein 3D (also created by id software) was its prelude. Now, I first played Castle Wolfenstien back on my Apple II in 1981 and when I saw the 3D version I was amused and amazed. Being a good computer geek in college, I spent a good deal of time in the computer lab playing a both Wolfenstien and Doom. It did help that I was on staff in the lab as well. (Look ma, I am getting paid while gaming)

My first impression of Diablo was, "Oo, a graphical version of NetHack." And when I was able to ease my way in to Ulitima Online because I played and completed Ultima (before it needed any numbers) and I was a veteran of MUDs.

So for me. There isn't many new things coming out. However, there are many things that are being improving.

Lets take the next big hype: Warhammer

I was playing this 20 years ago in high school. Both the miniature game and the RPG. So I know a bit about this Intellectual Property. So what is new here?

- Crafting: So far it reminds me of The Elder Scrolls system of Alchemy and Enchantment.
- RvR: Well at least they are building off them selves from Dark Age of Camalot
- Class-Levels: Old as RPGs itself.
- Tome of Knowledge: Lord of the Rings had its Deed system, and many CRPGs had various versions of your personal journal and log.
- Public Quests: This is the most evolutionary idea. It is opening up the whole raid idea with out needing the pre-flight logistics. (getting 24+ of your friends together and coordinated)

Now I am not saying anything of this is a bad thing. I look forward to see how they pull this all off. I am wondering if I will ever find an online game that will keep me interested for more than 2 months.

EVE: The Greatest Game I Rarely Play

2008-06-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Though out my postings I will bring up EVE quite a bit. First off because it is unique in that there isn't any online game like it. Also because I think they have shown that a quite few concepts that are tricky to do right can be done, given enough time and dedication.

What did EVE succeed in doing:

1) Create a completely player driven economy. Except for a very limited number of items, like skill books and very basic equipment, everything is player driven. It has either been found/looted by the players or manufacture from other components by players.

2) PvP with meaning. "Never fly anything you can not afford to lose." That is the golden rule of EVE. Because one day, you will lose it. This goes doubly so in PvP. You will lose your ship. It may take a while but one day, someone else will be luckier than you.

3) Free form character growth. You are not stuck in anyone mold in EVE. You can start doing one thing, then over time learn something completely new.

4) Conquest and Player Empires. Over its 5 years, there have been many major alliances and many of them have fallen. At anyone time there are maybe two or three active, and then lots of smaller ones. But over time all the big ones have fallen.

However there is one thing that makes EVE a difficult game to play. It is very slow.

First it takes a long time to figure out what is going on. Fortunately you can't make any mistakes in your first few days of playing that can not be corrected fairly quickly. At worse the skill you though you needed now, you will need later.

Second, it is the type of game where you must think long term. When I log in I not only think about what I am doing today, but what I must set in motion now in order to reap the benefit the next day, week or even month(s). I would spend almost as much time planning what I was going to do as actually doing it.

EVE is not the type of game you can just pop in and do something (other then change skill learning) and pop out. When I was managing a sizable manufacturing operation, I would spend about a half hour a day doing market research, buying supplies, setting up production items and list products. Even then I would still have to spend a few hours one night a week, just to move goods around as needed.

Even my purely combat character. Sure I could just go out and hunt 'rats for a half hour or run a quick mission, but still I would have to spend at least an hour a week doing logistics (suppling, recycling, etc.)

This level of commitment needed to play EVE is also part of its longevity. As you invest more time into the game the more likely you are to want to continue to play.

Every time I think about going back, I look at the fact that it will take me a few hours just to figure out what is going on again and what has changed. Some of that is offline reading, but still it is an investment of time.

Crafting: Buildin the better mouse trap in game

2008-06-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

The Warhammer devs recently released a video podcast on Crafting in WAR.

It is interesting that their two design goals (no grinding useless items, no recipes) are not completely new. They are elements of crafting that are pre-WoW. What is sad is that recent MMOs usually tend to these elements. Lord of the Rings was almost exactly like WoW. Even Vanguard and EQ2 were mostly fixed recipes, you could add some extra bonuses in some items on the fly.

At least with Vanguard and EQ2 there was a bit of a mini-game in actually creating the items and there were various levels of quality.

But putting all that aside, what has and has not worked for crafting in MMORPGs?

The first problem you have to address is which is better. Crafted items or Looted items? For example, why should I spend all my time crafting a sword when it turns out to be a fairly common drop from mobs. Then there is the flip side, why take down bosses for loot if crafting can make a better item.

There are two options to this. First is the EVE and Pirates of the Burning Seas Method. Manufactured items and loot items are the same thing. There is the occasional "named" item that is better, but there is still some rarity.

The second option is to not have the same type items both as loot and crafted. In Star Wars Galaxies, all gear was player created. There was still useful loot like (like dragon pearls and holocrons) but you had no overlap between the two sources of goods.

The second problem is one of over supply. In order to maintain a need for crafting, everything that is craftable must be consumable or destroyable. Much in the same why that you have to regulate the money supply in a game, you have to regulate the item supply.

In EVE, every item can be broken down in to it component parts in order to make different things. Due to built in inefficiencies both in manufacturing and recycling, raw materials are slowly removed from the system with every step. Also every time a ship was destroyed, some of the components would be destroyed as well.

SWG had a fairly aggressive item decay system. Every time you used your weapon it slowly lost durability. The goal here is to make sure that there is enough crafting going on to replace all the decaying equipment at reasonable cost. A player will not spend more money on an item then it will yield in its life time. In fact most players will expect at least a 10:1 if not 100:1 return on investment. For example, If I spend 1000 credits on a rifle, I better be able to make at least 100,000 credits before I have to replace it.

We are all Individuals

2008-06-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

There is a very weird empirical result of online game design:

The more freedom you offer in character creation and customization, the more everyone will be the same.

It is sort of a contradiction, but it is part of the reason why there are so few "classless" MMORPG systems out there. Now this isn't entirely true as there have been successful Classless games. It all has to do with the amount of freedom of character design is useful in the game. Yet, in the last two years, every major MMORPG release has been class-based.

So how do Classless Systems fail? And why are developers cautious around them?

Back in Ultima Online and Asheron's Call, you had the choice of picking any skills you wanted and create your character freely. Over time, it turned out that there was really only one build that the great majority of players used. AC was worse since there were skills that you could specialize in that were in the end completely useless except in the rarest of cases. A player may have an alt for some of the lesser used but profitable trade/craft skills, but for the most part it was one build or death.

Class based systems suffer a similar fate. WoW has all its classes and feat trees, however, there is usually two or three "accepted" builds for each class in order to be competitive. Now for the single/solo/small group player, you can get away a bit from not being optimal. But when the end game is competition with other players (though Raids and PvP) you have to get every last edge you can.

EVE and Star Wars Galaxies (Pre-NGE) were able to have open ended character design with limited similarities.

In SWG you could easily become a Master in multiple professions. And there were usually multiple professions for different tasks. For example, you could become a specialist in pistols, carbines, rifles or heavy weapons. Ideally neither one of the ranged combat groups was always better than the other. Same for the Melee combat groups, and the different Support/Buff, and Crafter Professions. (There also hybrid professions like the Bounty Hunter and Creature Handler, and they had their own interesting bits.)

The problem with SWG is that there was a point that you were "done" improving your character.

EVE has an open ended character creation and it is also functionally limitless. Your character can always learn more.

There are limited number of skills needed create a nice Raven Missile boat with a solid passive shield tank for missions, but a different set of skills are needed to fly an Apoc armor tank. Both ships fit the same general role, and have certain advantages depending on the specific task at hand.

But then if you want to go in to mining that is a whole different set of skills, not to mention manufacturing and a host of other tasks that are profitable in game.

Over time your character can learn multiple different fields and specialties. But what you are doing at the moment depends on the ship you are flying. Your character's combat skills mean nothing when you are piloting a freighter.

In order for a classless system to succeed it needs the following:

1) There are multiple ways doing one thing. With no one way being always the best.
2) There are many different thing that one can do.
3) Ability for continuous growth.

The problem now is make sure that each method of doing something is equivalent. In EVE there are 4 different type of primary weapon systems. Though it took a while for the devs to finally make sure that each weapon system had its place. And no one weapon system was best in all cases. SWG had the same balance problem between its ranged weapon groups at start.

Having many things to do means a lot more design. You can't just create a crafting mini-game to churn out products if those products have no use in the final cause of the game itself. Or what is the point of being stealthy and have the ability to avoid combat if in the end the game is all about combat?

In SWG it was all about the Galactic Civil War. Most professions had something that could directly contribute to the cause. But a few (entertainers) had very little direct impact on the war.

EVE is much more open ended. Your personal goals are yours alone. Though even in the game of alliance domination, everyone is needed. Building a Titian, requires many different professions, not just the industrialists to make them.

Chaging Times

2008-05-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Why should you change a good thing? To make more money!

Well that is the theory.

Next week, Wizards of the Coast will be releasing the new 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. I am a bit older than the original D&D. And I have played them all in some form or another. Since 3rd Edition came out about eight years ago, I have played quite a bit of it and made quite a few new friends. Though I think 90% of all my friends have been though gaming (directly or indirectly.)

The current version of D&D (aka 3.5) is fairly stable game. For a Table Top game, stable means that you can play the game with rules as written without much confusion. Many of the RPGs in my collection have requires some level of house rules to address mechanical problems or inconsistencies with the core mechanic. Earlier editions of D&D required quiet a few. House rules that address flavor (ie, in my world no one can be an Elf) don't factor into the stability of the game.

But it has suffered like any online RPG over the past 8 years. First there was some power creep as the various class books were added to "enhance" the options to character. Then there was sort of a reset when they released 3.5 in 2003. For the most part that was just a big clean up of the first three years. There were changes but for the most part you did not have to relearn everything.

Then over the past 5 years, more "builder books" were published that added more and more options. As more of these options were included more prone the system was for extreme over-powered characters. Some these options devalued some of the core aspects of the game. But since this is a table top, game a DM could easily limit the available options for their campaign.

I had the good fortune to be a play tester for 4th Edition. (I think I can say that now since my name is up on the Wizard's site.) And with out getting into details it is a playable game. Like all games it has its quirks, but for the most part I did enjoy myself. However this game is a radical change from 3rd (and previous) editions in terms of how it plays. This has lead to a Coal Miner's Debate among my local circle on "Is 4th Edition D&D?"

In away I am very much reminded of Star Wars Galaxies. There was the original game. The first major revamp call the Combat Upgrade, and then finally the redo the whole game from a classless system to a level-based system with the New Game Experience. On its own the current version of SWG is a decent game. It is just a completely different game.

Unlike SWG:NGE, 4th Edition D&D will do well. It is a good game. New gamers don't care about the history of D&D. They want a playable and fun game. And over time the majority of 3rd Players will succumb the lure of the new siren's call. In fact it is kind of brilliant for Wizards. There will be a steady selling of the core rule books over the next few years while players slowly change.

Personally, I am happy enough to enjoy a good afternoon/evening around the table playing with my friends. As long as the system does not get in way of the fun, I don't care what I play.

Taking a Break and Going Retro

2008-05-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Recently I decided to tinker with my desktop system and upgrade it to Vista. Now I already work with Vista at work and my new laptop also is running Vista. Needless to say I kind of like it. Unfortunately I had to do a complete re-install and not an upgrade (not big loss, I did back up the important bits first.) Though I am running into a bit of a snag. For some reason I have yet to get the OS to see that I now have 4 GB of memory. It only shows 2GB.

On top of that, I just got a pair of Mini-Dachshund puppies. (One is mine, the other is my GF's) So for now the desktop system is turned off and I will work on it later when I don't have to keep an eagle eye over two very active puppies.

This means I am on my laptop for gaming. I can sit in the living room and watch the puppies while on the computer. As it turns out, my laptop, which I just bought, is at least as good as my desktop system for gaming. I just don't like being cramped up on the keyboard.

Now I have a nice 32" LCD HDTV. So I was thinking of getting a console system for the living room. But with the recent laptop purchase and new puppies, I need to conserve cash for a bit. But wait! New laptop has HDMI out and I have a spare cable. Plug-Plug, Click-Click and suddenly I had a 32" monitor on my laptop. Unfortunately the couch is further away then the cable can reach.

So a quick run to Best Buy and I get myself a wireless XBox controller. Plug-Plug, Click-Click and now I have a hacked together XBox. I have a few games in my stash that were cross released to PC and XBox, like Oblivion. However my Oblivion DVD is scratched so I can not load the game on the laptop.

Quick aside: Even if the game was cross developed for XBox and PC it does not mean the PC version will natively support an XBox Controller. So you will need a intermediate program. So far I like the Pinnacle Game Profiler.

So now I am going into the bargain bin and see what I can find. A while back I got a subscription to Fileplanet (long before the Conan Beta) and it turns out I qualified for a few free games though their HitPoints system . So I downloaded a few to give them a whirl.

The first was Sherlock Holmes: The Awakening. This is a fairly simple puzzle adventure game. Nice to play and I was able to get my Xbox Controller to work with it. It was good to getting used to moving with the controller. However I miss creating my own character.

Next up is Deus Ex: Invisible War. I played most of the original Deus Ex when it first came out. I liked the mix of FPS and RPG. It was also a good story and should kept me interested for a while. It took awhile to get running on Vista since it was made a while back, but it was just setting up permissions and compatibilities. Though I need to tune the controller a bit more.

Lastly, I got Myst III, but I will save that till later. Much like Sherlock Holmes, I know that it is a puzzle/adventure game. I would need to have a walkthough handy when I get frustrated with a puzzle.

There are a few games on my Radar as well. First is Mass Effect from Bioware. A XBox to PC conversion. But Bioware makes very fun CRPGs. And later this year....Fallout 3. I fell in love with Fallout 1 and 2. So I hope it lives up to the hype. Granted it is a completely different set of developers, but so far it looks good.

So time to curl up on the couch. Wrangle puppies and play some old fashion CRPGs and Adventure games.

Crime and Punishment

2008-05-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

One of my issues with most PvP in Online RPGs is the concept of The Gank. In short it is when the attacker has such overwhelming odds that the victim has no chance of winning. In addition, most of the time the Gankers suffer no retribution for their actions. Effectively this is similar to assault and battery in the real world. It is a criminal action with in the context of the game.

Now to be a bit clear, there are two basic types of Gank.

First, there is the Exploit Gank. This is doing something outside the intention of the game design in order to hinder the victim from responding. In Ultima Online you could set up a trap such that the victim would have to load in 1000's of objects to his client thus freezing them in place. During that forced lag, the ganker attacks the victim.

On the other end is the fairly general Ambush Gank. Either a lone powerful character is out sniping victims, or a gang is out terrorizing people, it is all about the same. You over power the opponent so much that it is no challenge at all. This also include those who wait and watch one group of people fight then go in and attack the winners while they are still damaged and weakened.

There is the hybrid Spwan/Load-in Gank. This is similar but not as bad as the exploit gank. The idea here is that there is time between when your character loads in to a new area that the character is there but your client is not ready to respond. From a design perspective, all that is needed is some level of immunity timer to cover that difference. This does not prevent the Ambush Gank, the victim is at least in control of his character before the attack begins. This type of ganking may or may not be an exploit depending on what the developers have done to allow the victim time to respond.

Exploits need to be addressed by the developers themselves to limit the ability to cause such lagging by the players and to punish via account suspension and removal any and all perpetrators of this activity. Using tactics outside the scope of the game world should be punished out side the game world.

Non-exploit ganking should be allowed to happen with in the game to a certain extent. A weaker character or potential victim should be able to have a few options to avoid or run away. In the case of a Spawn camp, the victim should have a window of opportunity to get away before the attackers close in. This should not be guaranteed, but still possible.

But what about in-game consequences for ganking?

Ultima Online had a feature that if you attacked and killed too many people you would be flagged as a murderer. EVE has it that you loose security status and eventually hunted out of some areas of the game. The basic idea is that the more "criminal" you become the more Kill on sight you become in NPC controlled areas.

There are two flaws with this. Death in most games is really just a minor annoyance. Anything that you would lose is replace in a matter of some time. The "good" criminals know how to hedge their losses such that the recovery time is negligible. Death is all the same in most games. So being KoS or even Hunted is just a mild annoyance. To be a punishment, the death as a result of being a criminal has to be more severe than a normal death in the game.

The other flaw is that it punishes the character and not the player. It is still very easy for the player to create another character to take care of any business in areas that the flagged character can not get to. So aside from another minor inconvenience, there isn't any lasting limitations. Any punishment placed on the character is bypassed by the player changing characters. There is very little stopping on character having a host of alts terrorizing the world but never enough by any one of them to get serious in-game sanctions.

In order to get around this, developers and players have to give up the idea of independent alts on an account. There are things that you share among all your characters. For example, you have a global player/account based criminal record. On the flip side you should be freely able to move goods and items between your characters. This will not stop multi-account players, but at least they have to pay something extra.

That new game feel

2008-05-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

It has only been out for just over a week, but I doubt I will be playing Age of Conan for while, if at all. Fortunately Funcom offered the early access along with ten days of play before I had to enter my retail key. I still have my per-order box and key, but I have not activated yet. Maybe later.

So why not?

Very simple. I was not sucked in to the game.

I am a very intensive gamer. With most new games, I will spend a good day or two just playing the game. Now being a responsible adult, I put this in my calendar and make sure that for the first 48 hours I am free of other obligations. In fact I go so far as to inform my significant other of these periods of non-availability. Now a days, this happens about twice a year.

So Conan comes out. I was in the Early Access so I had the opportunity to play during the pre-opening weekend. Granted the servers were down for a good portion of that so I did not get to play. Then when I did set aside time, I just did not care to play for more than two or three hours. (If my client stayed up that long)

But for some reason I was just not drawn in to the game. Sure the combat is different and the graphics are nice, but it is already feeling like most other MMOs out there. Right now there is only leveling and some PvP. And since PvP is unfortunately level based, you must level in order to be competitive.

If I am going to play a level based game again, I don't want to think about what I need to do in order to level. I just want to go and "play" the game and let the leveling happen in the background. I still want to level and get more powerful, but I am not always playing the game to level.

For what ever reason I am already worried about how to level quickly and not just playing the game.

For the record, I don't think Warhammer will be any better in this regard. I might find it more interesting since I have more knowledge of the Warhammer universe than Conan. But how long can newer games hide the leveling from me?

The Mythical End-Game of MMOs

2008-05-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

When EQ first came out there was no formal concept of a Raid. It was all about just enjoying playing the game and getting more powerful to see more wonderful things in the world. Getting to level 50 was a real long term goal.

And it was almost a year before the first great dragon of Norath was finally defeated.

Then it happened. Enough people got to level 50 that the crys for "what's next" were heard. In response the first few real Multi-Group areas (aka Raids) came to light. No instead of needing 6 players, you now need 24 max level players to take on these zones. So these zones were designed to be "impossible" but give enough gamers enough time they will break anything you put in the game. And thus the "End-Game" was born.

Suddenly, the game became a race to level 50 so that your character could participate in these raids. The leisurely journey though Norath was gone. And almost every MMO since then has been built on the idea that leveling was just something to do to get to the "real" game itself.

Now lets go back and forward at the same time. Ultima Online and Asheron's Call never succumbed to the Curse of the End-Game. Ultima Online did not have a formal end game. The power difference between a noob and a fully spec'ed out character was not too great. After maybe a few hours to get your skills up to a basic level, you were only limited by your own fear.

AC Just had more levels. And even then after a certain point the levels had less and less meaning. But you did not have to be max level in order to go anywhere. Two characters of different level could still work together and be productive.

So get rid of the race to max level by getting rid of the concept of the "End-Game." Players should be able to participate at any level. For example, in the pre-CU Star Wars Galaxies, you could start taking a part in the Galactic Civil War after getting a few skills for your character. You did not have to be a Master to be a threat on the battlefield.

Stepping into the Fire: PvP

2008-05-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, Age of Conan opens up. For the first time I will be starting a new game with my main on a PvP server by choice. I don't count Ultima Online or EVE in this since there was no option otherwise. This is going to be interesting as I only kind of know two other people but I have been accepted in to guild before the game starts this weekend. So I have some social group to work with.

I have never been much for PvP in the past. Mostly because I tend to go off and play on my own. And in most PvP worlds loners die often. Having one or two other players guarding each other makes your survivability much higher.

But to be honest, there is nothing like the thrill of a fight with an equivalent player. When there is some sense of loss then the game gets exciting. Now for me, this does not have to be an actual fight. I have done my fair share of blockade running in EVE. It takes planning, intelligence and some quick reactions to make it though some of the more interesting gate camps. I was playing the mouse in a game of cat and mouse.

But Conan will be the first game where I intend to play a more aggressive role. In EVE and UO I spent my time as a industrialist/crafter.

Currently I have one major concern for Conan. How will the developers deal with Spawn Camping. Will there be an area of safety around resurrection points and gate in spots? Spawning is a game imposed mechanic and I don't want to have to die because of a technical issue.

This is one area I think EVE made some good choices. Camping a gate in EVE was fairly common. It was not a guaranteed gank all the time. If you prepared yourself correctly you could sneak though. However there were different types of gate camp set-ups which required slightly different counters. And if you did set yourself up to counter everything, then you may be sacrificing some other function (ie speed or cargo.)

So there are other ways then straight immunity at spawn points. I am curious to see what Age of Conan does.

Introduction and Applogies

2008-05-09T10:22:00.001-07:00

I am not a game designer by trade. Not anywhere in the slightest. I know a few personally and I sort of envy their jobs. If I could afford to cut my salary in half and go back about 10 years, I would consider it.

I am however a gamer geek of many years. My older brothers had the good old Blue Box Dungeons and Dragons set, and I took to the game like a fish to water. What better for a creative nerdy kid to explore is passion. It allowed me to create my stories in my mind, yet there were mechanical rules that satisfied my engineering side for structure.

This blog is combination editorial, review, and technical theory articles. Basically it is a journey of the games that I am playing as well as some reflections on games that I have played. This will not be limited to just computer games, but table top as well. Although my main passion is Role-Playing Games, I will talk about other genres.