January 2008

• no levels / temporary levels Timothy Dang
• • no levels / temporary levels Sean Howard
  • • no levels / temporary levels Chris Laponsie
  • no levels / temporary levels cruise
  • no levels / temporary levels Peter Harkins
• The Illusion of World Size (Was: Player Choice - How Much is Too Much?) Christopher Lloyd
• • The Illusion of World Size (Was: Player Choice - How Much is Too Much?) cruise
• [Design] Non-cliche content creation Mike Rozak
• • [Design] Non-cliche content creation cruise
  • • [Design] Non-cliche content creation Damion Schubert
      On Jan 4, 2008 9:23 AM, cruise <cruise@casual-tempest.net> wrote:
      >
      >
      > If players are to care about the personality of the game-world, rather
      > than the mechanics of the game, then the game itself has to care. Quests
      > in current MMOGs (and most RPGs, sadly) only affect the game in pre-set
      > ways (if at all), and aren't unique to the player. The player isn't
      > actually important to the NPC giving the quest, and the quest is
      > important to the game. So why should either matter to the player?
      >
      > Quests have to reflect the game, and it's current state. Quests have to
      > matter to the NPC. The world has to matter to the NPC.
      >
      > My current r&d effort (outside of metaplace) is creating a system to
      > produce npcs that can interact and spontaneously produce quests and
      > missions - from the simple "I need 10 loaves" to "kill my rival for the
      > throne".
      >
      
      My contrarian thoughts:
      
      1) The number one problem with interesting quest/NPC generation is the cost
      in development and QA of content generation.
      2) Algorithmic content is never as compelling as hand-crafted content.
      If you're not moved by handcrafted content, it's badly written hand-crafted
      content. But almost no one is moved by randomly generated quests.
      3) Shared content gets a bad rap. Shared experiences are powerful -
      BECAUSE they are shared. People can compare experiences and share
      hints, and people don't get jealous that they never had an opportunity to
      kill the king.
      
      --d
    • • [Design] Non-cliche content creation Mike Rozak
      • [Design] Non-cliche content creation cruise
      • • [Design] Non-cliche content creation Damion Schubert
        • • [Design] Non-cliche content creation cruise
          • • [Design] Non-cliche content creation Joshua Clausen
            • • [Design] Non-cliche content creation Richard Boehme
              • • [Design] Non-cliche content creation Joshua Clausen
              • [Design] Non-cliche content creation cruise
        • [Design] Non-cliche content creation Richard Boehme
• Specialization Damion Schubert
• • Specialization Sean Howard
  • • Specialization Damion Schubert
    • • Specialization Sean Howard
      • • Specialization Damion Schubert
        • • Specialization Raph Koster
          • • Specialization Sean Howard
            • • Specialization Raph Koster
              • • Specialization cruise
                • • Specialization Sean Howard
                  • • Specialization Michael Hartman
                    • • Specialization Michael Hartman
                    • Specialization cruise
                    • • Specialization Sean Howard
                      • • Specialization Roger Hicks
                        • • Specialization Sean Howard
                        • Specialization Michael Hartman
                        • • Specialization Sean Howard
                          • Specialization Justin Coleman
                      • Specialization Fred Pseudonym
                      • • Specialization cruise
                • Specialization Sean Howard
                • • Specialization Michael Hartman
                  • • Specialization Sean Howard
                    • • Specialization Michael Hartman
                      • • Specialization Sean Howard
                        • Specialization Victor Pellen
                    • Specialization Peter Harkins
                    • • Specialization Michael Hartman
        • Specialization John Buehler
        • • Specialization Sean Howard
          • Specialization cruise
          • • Specialization John Buehler
            • Specialization Sean Howard
  • Specialization Timothy Dang