Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
that offered players the chance to not only explore the universe, but also to
create new worlds. It impressed the industry guests I brought in as boss mobs
enough that they were interested in actually making the game.
Quests in the class were again presentations: solo, pick-up groups from different
guilds, and guild presentations. The pick-up groups were important. Because
they were undertaken only by players in different guilds, they were an
opportunity for players to work with other players they were not used to.
This helped foster a sense of community in the class as a whole. Community is a
very important word in MMO design.
Also, guild quests did not require all guild members to participate. One member
could have presented, and all guild members would have shared in the XP. No
guild has ever chosen to do any variation of this in any of the multiplayer classes.
All guilds chose to evenly divide up the labors. Whether this was due to the
attitude,
“
If I have to do this, we all will.
�
Or if was from a sense of fairness or
solidarity, I don
'
t know.
In MMOs, players will discover a new technique to defeat a difficult mob, the most
lucrative items to craft and sell, the location of NPCs necessary to complete a quest,
and so on. They will then share this information either within the game or on
Internet forums dedicated to the game. In the
“
Theory and Practice of Game
�
Design
class,Iplannedtohidesomequizanswers, taped to the bottom of chairs in
each zone. Students would still have had to match the answers to the questions, but
they would have been encouraged to trade the information with one another. I felt
this would foster classroom discussion and interaction, even from those who would
not easily take part. Plus, it would aid in general community building.
Some torn ligaments prevented me from getting across campus from my
screenwriting class to
fast enough to
beat the students to the room. If anybody saw me planting clues, the game would
have been up, so I tabled the idea. I have yet to try this again, but I think it would
reward the effort required.
“
Theory and Practice of Game Design
�
Quizzes and Innovative Presentations
I allowed the class to vote on the type of random mob reading quizzes they
wanted. PvP, with the guilds taking turns answering questions selected by a die
roll, was preferred by the class to the usual solo written quiz, with only one
Search WWH ::




Custom Search