Impswitch Development Thinking

On the Move!

2008-05-02T15:23:00.001-07:00

Well, I've finally taken the plunge. I've been spreading myself far too thinly for a long time, so I'm bringing all my points of access into one location.

If you want to read the kinda blogs you read here, then you'll have to turn your RSS feeds and bookmarks to: this link.

If you want it all, aim at my blog.

You will find all parts of my efforts combined into a big mixed blog. The categories will separate it into the old familiar content streams, so take your pick.

This is one of my first php-based web design efforts, so expect a little rough on the edges. I've integrated a blog, a forum and a wiki (as well as I could) to allow a better place for feedback rather than blog comments and to have a place where explanations can grow and evolve as my understandings of the world do.

I hope you like it and humbly invite you to join in the fun!

Fang

Hiatus

2007-11-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

I'm going to take a little time off to write the first draft of Scattershot. If you want to follow my progress, check here regularly.

Fang

News on Other Fronts

2007-10-07T15:48:00.001-07:00

I'm really excited about what's happening over at Metaplace.com. If that works out, this project could become mostly an 'I can do it!' self-test. I hope it goes well over there!

F

Big News!

2007-09-19T15:51:00.000-07:00

Boy, progress on this project is anything but linear.

Big News!

I finally brainstormed a small-scale test that plays upon my own preferences. I'm going to put up a version of the MMORPG browser. I'm going to model it on...wait for it!

Six sprites walking in only four directions. Click to move. Maybe a 'talk' ani in two directions. Six props that can be pasted (cleverly) onto these sprites (Disgaea style). I can even start with a simple two-dimensional play area (which is quite limited).

Then I can start scaling up. First walls, then furniture, in the setting department. I can add expressions for all the sprites and begin fluffing the chat part. Then I can create the rest of the browser screen.

Perhaps, by then, I can get people to help with graphics and maps. Who knows.

The two best things about this mode is that I can perform alpha testing for crucial feedback (not working in the dark until it's debugged) and it's a game that I really like (and will be attracted to succeeding at as well as have fun playing millions of times).

Email me if you have any suggestions, no matter how small, trivial or overwhelming at DevilsAdvocacy (at the big) gMail (period) C0M.

Fang

Fresh Details

2007-08-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

I'm probably going to have my son or daughter whip up some quick sprites for the first iteration. Maybe late into the prototyping, I might try mixing up the dress of the sprites.

I'll only be using a small number of Georges Polti plots to work from. A later iteration will all these to be combined into sub-plots. Even farther on, I'll apply the tension scaling factor. Having more plots factors up how much work it will take. The primary reason for this test is to settle on some habits for when I scale up to the whole list of 37.

An interesting problem I'm having at the start is how to involve 'you' in the plot. It isn't as simple as randomly placing you in the triad, you have to suit the position and harder still, you must be 'introduced' to it by the sprites. For example; it wouldn't work for you to be the father of the missing daughter in a kidnap plot; nor could you be the unwitting kidnapper. (Or maybe you could?)

What I'll mostly be working on at this stage is 'skinning' the dialogue, Mad-Libs style. I need to figure out how to set up the array of possible lines based on who is speaking them, what plot is involved and who 'you' play.

In other big news, we are reformulating the mystic aspects of the imps. We're going for fewer. (Rather than 35!)

See you 14!

F

Fresh Ideas

2007-07-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

So I've got this idea to demonstrate the Theme Engine on the small scale. I'm going to put a web page with four characters at the top. When you click on one, it will pull up a chat with them. As you chat through them, in any order you please, they will guide you though a simple plot.

Think of it as a rudimentary prototype.

F

Back in Bidness!

2007-07-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back!

I've gotten my act together. (Thanks to GTD and RtM.)

And we're starting to work out our first steps. On project line is the Browser-Based Play Area.

We've recently had some good luck working out how to have a game without levels. Not even those 'disguised' levels called 'skill-based systems.'

Here's it in the rough: you either have a skill or you don't (much like my old Scattershot spellcasting system). To have a certain skill, you need to have gained one or more prerequisites. Yeah, I know; sounds like a level system with names instead of numbers (although that, alone, might be enough to 'not be' a skill-based system). For example, in order to drive a team of horses, you need to know how to drive a horse-drawn vehicle, you need to know how to ride a horse, you need to know how to keep horses, and so on. (Trust me, I've practiced balancing just such a system, so I know I can do it.)

However, that alone would suffer from exactly the same problem skill-based systems do: exploits. Perfectly balanced, you wind up with nothing but jacks-of-all-trade otherwise you have a particular build (or two) that works off specific inconsistencies; either way, everyone winds up playing the exact same character.

In simpler games, and those with many Advanced Dungeon & Dragons artifacts in them, they employ a class-based system which creates niches that force teamwork. Now I'm all for teamwork, but we have a different idea.

What if the qualities of one kind of skill-set interfered with the capability in another? For example, our horse driver above would find it hard to practice sensual massage with those calloused hands of his (the exact interaction need not be this practical or visible). Now some will boost others and some will penalize others. If I'm on my game, design-wise, I should be able to create a few 'sweet spots' that work just like classes yet still offer a fair amount of niche protection.

It even affords the possibility of a more skilled player being a guide into dangerous territory for their lesser skilled compatriots. And so on.

I think. Still need to prototype it. And the Browser-Based interface. And the Theme Engine. Where to start?

See you in 11!

Fang

Big Evil = Levels

2005-12-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

If you know me, you probably realize that I'm really against designing MMORPGs with levels. (I'd like to rant about these D&D artifacts, but this isn't the time.)

Adam Dray recently distilled an article by Raph Koster about the purpose and problems of levels:

Essentially, levels are great for a few reasons:
Levels push towards cooperative rather than competitive play
Levels provide random reinforcement, Skinner-box style (conditioning)
Levels provide a ladder that players feel they have to finish off(commitment)
Levels are a marker for social validation
Levels are the exclusive "velvet rope" that make you want to see what is behind the door
Levels supply additional power and thus validation from the game itself
Levels are a content multiplier
Levels suck for a few reasons:
Levels require content developers to provide their content in bands
Levels prevent people from playing with each other
Raph sums up:
The things [levels do] that have been listed throughout this article are:
Feedback for achievements
Public status based on achievements
Gated communities that require special status to enter
The lure of power based on significant achievements
Regular changes or variation in the challenges undertaken within a given playstyle
Cozy worlds created with players segmented based on when they entered the game and the rate at which they leveled; or self-selected by players
Bottom line: none of these need hit points to go up. None of these need the traditional notion of levels as we know it, actually. Nor do they need any of the other sorts of "levels-in-disguise" things like skill trees, actually. Power can be satisfied with a number of things, including collection mechanics, customization, and...

Now all I have to do is work this into Impswitch (much I already have).

Fang Langford