Post by rob on Dec 12, 2012 15:03:28 GMT -5
Hey all,
Although while we are testing at small scale there is only one world, we are planning to have multiple concurrent worlds someday. You might find that there are 2 or 10 or 100 worlds going on at the same time. Some might be brand new, with just Origin, while others may be huge with 100 or 200 or more cities. You'll be able to choose which world you want to play in. Maybe there will be a way to choose a favorite world or two. Maybe clans can have home worlds in which they have priority logins. Eventually, some old worlds will be "won" and new worlds will spring up.
We need the game rules to work in this environment. One thing that this setup precludes is the reward rate varying over time. If players were able to build structures that improved the rate of gridshard collection on a world, then everyone will want to play on old worlds only, and the new worlds will be left empty unless the old worlds were full.
This is a major design constraint, because it means that player-built structures cannot affect the rate of reward collection. Player combat power buffs, loot bonuses, enemy debuffs -- all of these make it more attractive to play on servers that have the bonuses.
We can have player buildings that increase the final rewards given out on completion of the map, regardless of whether the rewards were earned before or after the building was constructed. Player buildings can point out strategic targets, or unlock content (eg, an enemy behind an impregnable forcefield). We can also design things such that as a server ages it becomes harder to play on, and player buildings bring the server back to parity -- for example, enemies farther from origin may be buffed, and player buildings can eliminate that buff. Or maybe there is a limit to how far you can teleport, unless you build teleport enhancers.
I really appreciate all the input. Keep it coming!
Rob
Although while we are testing at small scale there is only one world, we are planning to have multiple concurrent worlds someday. You might find that there are 2 or 10 or 100 worlds going on at the same time. Some might be brand new, with just Origin, while others may be huge with 100 or 200 or more cities. You'll be able to choose which world you want to play in. Maybe there will be a way to choose a favorite world or two. Maybe clans can have home worlds in which they have priority logins. Eventually, some old worlds will be "won" and new worlds will spring up.
We need the game rules to work in this environment. One thing that this setup precludes is the reward rate varying over time. If players were able to build structures that improved the rate of gridshard collection on a world, then everyone will want to play on old worlds only, and the new worlds will be left empty unless the old worlds were full.
This is a major design constraint, because it means that player-built structures cannot affect the rate of reward collection. Player combat power buffs, loot bonuses, enemy debuffs -- all of these make it more attractive to play on servers that have the bonuses.
We can have player buildings that increase the final rewards given out on completion of the map, regardless of whether the rewards were earned before or after the building was constructed. Player buildings can point out strategic targets, or unlock content (eg, an enemy behind an impregnable forcefield). We can also design things such that as a server ages it becomes harder to play on, and player buildings bring the server back to parity -- for example, enemies farther from origin may be buffed, and player buildings can eliminate that buff. Or maybe there is a limit to how far you can teleport, unless you build teleport enhancers.
I really appreciate all the input. Keep it coming!
Rob
