Game Design Ideas - Wizards and Warriors: Massively Multiplayer Online Game Creation - page 285

The Council has already begun setting up population centers on nearby planets
such as the Moon and Mars. Further bases are coming online.

You are at launch site Alpha 1. This is the staging area for travel to the outer
reaches of the universe.

Background: A simple idea can grow into a very complex and useful
game mechanic. From this story, we have already established that the planet
has no more resources, and that the Earth Council is opening up new planets
and locations. These two concepts provide the core mechanics for the MMO as
well as a reason to be doing certain things within the game. You now have a
reason for collecting resources, resource management, and item creation. This
gives the players a reason to play the game, but also a good reason why they
will need to do the things that many consider in MMOs, such as

mining or collecting 20 arrows, and so on. Giving the players a background as to
why they need to do something is very important in preventing them from
getting bored.

“ grinding �

As the Council is in charge of the routes in the game, you can have a reason why
a place is not yet navigable within the game. It

s very much a game-play
technique as seen in normal AAA games such as Grand Theft Auto. For
example, you are in a city and you can get half way over a bridge but it

'

s
currently closed for repair. On the radio the player is being told that the repair is
ongoing and they will open it up shortly. This is providing the players with
knowledge of the game world and they know that at some point they will be able
to travel to the next area. This is a useful concept to use for MMOs. The players
can see that in the future they can travel to another location, but you must
ensure that the players are aware (via news or reports) that this location is going
to open up sooner or later. This gives the players incentive to keep moving their
characters forward to see what is on the other side of that bridge, or in the Space
Flight game idea, what is behind the next space travel route.

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The spaceport can be the starting location for the game, and provide some
simple straightforward quests such as getting the relevant papers and equipment
before transferring to the Moon base. You could also get the players to reach a
particular training level and skill. All people leaving Earth must be suitably

trained and equipped before leaving for the Moon.

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