A little thought.

[InverTed]

Move this if it's placed improperly, but ive been having a thought.

When you make a game, what is your influence? What makes you want to create a game, and how do you go about it? I think something that needs to be said is many people have gotten into this because they think it's an easy money fix. A large amount of games being released, with half realized content. By half realized content i mean one thing: Most don't put a lot of thought into the content and just slam some stuff hoping it'll stick. I want to maybe give these people words of encouragement, and maybe a little guidance on to why they might be failing.

First and foremost, stop copying. If you are copying all of your ideas from other games, those ideas are not that original, and mashing a bunch of random ideas together can only do one thing: Cause chaos. Players like simplicity and easy to understand things, but if its too easy to understand and too easy to play, it's really a boring experience. Copying other games will give you that affect, and you might be alright for a while, but i promise choosing that will definitely define the shelf life of the game. BE ORIGINAL IS THE POINT HERE.

Secondly, interact with your players, don't cater to them. If you don't know by now; in this world if you allow someone a foot, they are gonna try taking a mile. Speak with your community, but don't allow them to talk you into stupid ideas. Some players will view you as someone who shows favoritism, and that can kill a game too.

Third, not ALL of your ideas are GOOD ideas, i have seen to many game runners add things that make zero sense to their list of things to do. They have no hook and they effect none of the game, everything needs a place, rhyme and reason. Think logically, not idealisticly, unless you have ways that that particular feature can play a part.

And last, STAY COMMITED AND HEAD STRONG, creating a game worth its weight is NOT an overnight project, so please people stop treating it as such. These things take time, money, and hard work. If you can't do it alone, then find someone you trust! 

If this seems like a rant, quite frankly, it probably is. But if you take this advice and carry it through, your game will not only have a higher chance of success, but you'll draw a larger crowd. This community works well, and although i've only experienced working with a few of the people currently still using MWG, it's a very powerful tool to have at your disposal. Use it, ask for help. Pride is something that should be set aside if you really want to make what you want happen.

[Sim]

Very nice ".article".

Unfortunately, a lot of people do like simplicity. :). But only long term players like strategy. There the ones I'd like to keep anyway.

[InverTed]

It really doesn't even have to be so much strategy, as enough content to keep them going. Heres a way to think about it:

Say i spend 80 hours adding content, the most time this content will probably get me per character is about 60. And that's if its interesting enough. So my thought is, don't think short term, think long term. I think a large problem is when games are released, theres enough content to play for a couple of days probably at most, then its rinse and repeat til new content comes out, which in most cases its filtered out slowly. I however plan on having enough content to give me time to plan content, instead of having to keep adding stuff to keep people playing. Your game should be able to be self sustaining if you plan correctly.

[Sim]

I know I mentioned this before, but in don't plan on releasing my game till I know I don't have to touch any content for a month. That means me playing for a month grinding. To be sure there is enough new content.

[InverTed]

I don't want any one person to think i made this post about them, I mean while it may sound like im speaking directly at whoevers reading it, I'm not. It's basically an in general kind of deal. There are people that know those facts and there are those that have no freaking clue.

[KyleMassacre]

I think one of the biggest game killers is probably an inflated economy. You can have tons of content, and a good story line but have too much money in the game to where people can buy anything and everything which kills the fun. Bottom line, create some sort of currency pit. 
 

I am also a huge fan of having almost everything locked unless they meet certain criteria. You could have some sort of flag in your database that decides if they can get/use X. Even if my last point is not taken into consideration, at least they have something to look forward to. 

[InverTed]

I was honestly thinking about making a flexible economy for KOL, floating costs up or down as the economy grows. Will just about force player to player bartering. Im thinking something kinda like this:

If the games current total value is let's say... 100 million and after a reset it goes up to lets say, 125 million. So that would obviously be a 25% increase to the economy, i would raise the economy at a mere 2.5%. After players start to realize that the cost of things is rising, they will have to make the decision to either cut down on how much each member in their guild should have stored in their inventory.

This could start the cycle of recycling gear to the newer players, or adds a potential into making professions a very major part of the game. 

I keep rambling and i'm probably giving too many ideas away but creating a successful floating economy in a game is something I've envisioned for years and figuring the best way to go about it is difficult. It's a make or break kinda thing.

[Killmonger]

On 7/15/2020 at 6:48 PM, KyleMassacre said:

I think one of the biggest game killers is probably an inflated economy. You can have tons of content, and a good story line but have too much money in the game to where people can buy anything and everything which kills the fun. Bottom line, create some sort of currency pit. 
 

I am also a huge fan of having almost everything locked unless they meet certain criteria. You could have some sort of flag in your database that decides if they can get/use X. Even if my last point is not taken into consideration, at least they have something to look forward to. 

That is very true!

[SwiftGameR]

On 7/15/2020 at 11:42 PM, Sim said:

I know I mentioned this before, but in don't plan on releasing my game till I know I don't have to touch any content for a month. That means me playing for a month grinding. To be sure there is enough new content.

Worst thing you can do is roll out a new module / content before all other issues have been tracked down and fixed. What a lot of developers or new coders chuck up games that are full off security issues / poor coding / broken modules players will just leave and never come back. 

I have been working on my Mobsters Online - Have you got what it takes to be  #1 and the Feared Mobster to survive at the top. 

for a very long time now its built from GRPGv2 but I have stripped out / Revamped the features I wised to keep.

Have moved all casino / daily's into its own separate file for better finding a mini-game if some issues where to arrive..

Revamped the crime system so it runs kinds like RC engine (You start out with 10 and the more crime experience you gain from doing crimes then you can go higher crimes.

Design is all in place header / staff / main menu with a custom design.

Made some minor changes to the game stats file.

16 hours ago, Killmonger said:

That is very true!

I have a custom class Kyle creator which lets me control my inflation and I always try to introduce new features which is requiring the user to spend / invest his money.

But yeah inflation is hard to control but if you can manage it correctly its not so bad its just getting your members to stay.

Just go to make sure there is no security issues which can cause the users to get the funds but i track everything that the user does on my game from banking money to transferring it gaining it from crimes / attacks.

[newttster]

A lot of players like to sell off their donator items for in-game cash. 

I've found that games that have more than 1 type of currency , such as gold coins, cash and then the donated items, creates a rapidly increasing economy. Some ideas to slow the economy.

1) Limit it to, as an example, just cash.

2)Put a minimum and a maximum amount that players can sell their donator items for.

3)Donator items purchased from other players become fully the purchasers item and cannot be resold.

4) (My favourite) Let players who can afford to donate, buy the donator items for friends.