Game Design Ideas - Wizards and Warriors: Massively Multiplayer Online Game Creation - page 291

The game could allow the players to take the role of a robot or a human
character. There could also be groups of robots that have decided that they do
not want to attack humans and want peace; these could be elements of a robot
resistance (much like the resistance in the TV show V, in which not all the aliens
want to destroy humanity).

Movies:

n Terminator series

Screamers

n

I, Robot

n

TV:

n Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
n V (original and new TV series)

Note

I have suggested Vas a show that is worth watching to get ideas for Robot Empires. V is a show
about aliens and humans, in which the aliens want to use the humans for resources. There are no
robots, but this doesn

t contain elements that are useful to your game.
Always investigate ideas that are linked to your game idea; in this case it

' t mean one story doesn '

s the alien resistance that
wants to help the humans, which would work perfectly well in the Robot Empires game. Don

'

t
think that you have to watch just cop shows to get ideas to put into a cop-based MMO; look
further afield than that if you want to make a good game.

'

Plague
Story: It started as a small cough, and within 24 hours they were dead. A
combination of bird and swine flu resulted in an illness that was more deadly
than the bubonic plague. With international travel and large population centers,
it wasn t long before all corners of the world were feeling its effects. It seemed

there was a 5% chance of immunity, and while many of the world

'

s services fell
apart, the survivors were having their own problems, dealing with a lack of food
and rioting from those yet to get infected.

'

Background: Although the subject matter may not be to everyone s liking,

disaster stories and stories of survival generally make for interesting games. It

'