Game Design Challenge: Inappropriate Title

[cnutt]

Results are live!

http://gamecareerguide.com/features/...me_design_.php

[Retro]

I'm thinking of adapting an idea from a previous challenge that I decided not to use, but I would like a ruling on the approach before I begin.

The challenge rules state "We want you to pick a game title for an already existing game which you feel does not describe the game, and then come up with a game design for one that does."

How free are we to decide whether the game fits the description or not? I was thinking that "World of Warcraft", despite being a game where players explore a world in the Warcraft universe, does not actually fit the established Warcraft series; it's an MMORPG instead of a Real-time Strategy game. That is, World of Warcraft is more like Everquest with a fresh coat of paint than an actual Warcraft RTS. If you had never heard of WoW before but had played previous games in the series, what you'd end up buying has very little in common, at least from a gameplay perspective, with the other Warcraft games.

What I'm basically thinking is, a Massive Multiplayer Real-Time Strategy game; truly a World of Warcraft that plays like the rest of the series but features elements that make it worthy of the 'World of..." description.

Thoughts? I'd like to know if this meets the criteria of the challenge before I do more than internally bounce ideas around.

[Adrir]

Originally Posted by Retro

World of Warcraft is more like Everquest with a fresh coat of paint than an actual Warcraft RTS. If you had never heard of WoW before but had played previous games in the series, what you'd end up buying has very little in common, at least from a gameplay perspective, with the other Warcraft games.

Back in the day, when I first heard about WoW, I actually thought it was going to be a MMORTS.

[Retro]

Originally Posted by Adrir

Back in the day, when I first heard about WoW, I actually thought it was going to be a MMORTS.

Same here, and I've always felt like the end result would have been much more interesting. That's why I was hoping I could explore that angle with this challenge.

I don't exactly need a challenge to work on a given concept, but the feedback is better / faster on this forum, and it has a built in deadline and size constraint to keep things focused.

[cnutt]

I think if you feel comfortable with the fact that your idea meets the requirement, then you've hit it.

When writing about this challenge in a Gamasutra news story, I thought of a more succinct way to state it, and it aligns nicely with what you're suggesting:

What kind of game would you imagine Vagrant Story to be if you'd never heard of it before, and weren't able to see screenshots or game art?

[Retro]

Originally Posted by cnutt

I think if you feel comfortable with the fact that your idea meets the requirement, then you've hit it.

When writing about this challenge in a Gamasutra news story, I thought of a more succinct way to state it, and it aligns nicely with what you're suggesting:

What kind of game would you imagine Vagrant Story to be if you'd never heard of it before, and weren't able to see screenshots or game art?

Right, in which case, that fits perfectly... If you'd never seen WoW before, how would you know it isn't an RTS? All of the other Warcraft games were.

Thanks for the reply, I'll tinker with things and post some thoughts later... nobody else seems to have any thoughts on this challenge, I hope that changes soon.

[Isaak]

Originally Posted by Retro

nobody else seems to have any thoughts on this challenge, I hope that changes soon.

I woke up one day, thought it was freaking awesome, replied, then found out I actually only replied in my mind and now I'm writing this.

-ahem-

I think this is freaking awesome, time to scour the web for weird names.

[jkavalier]

Count me in, I didn't have time for the iPad challenge (so I miss writing 500-word blocks), and the current one is VERY inspiring

I'm already browsing lots of names, very hard to choose just one!

[Isaak]

A top 50 of Worst Game names.

For inspiration.

[Retro]

Just a little post in case anyone is curious as to how my submission is going.

The core idea is a Massive Multiplayer Real-time Strategy game; lots of players logging in to a persistent world where they bump into each other, with various results of cooperation or carnage, all managed from the overhead perspective and familiar interface.

I'm retaining the basic Horde vs. Alliance factions, rather than the separate factions that Warcraft 3 had. That makes it easier to divide the groups and their mechanics along familiar lines.

The gameplay will revolve around players forming their own small groups, determining the units that make up their army by spending points. As you complete missions or perform various tasks, you earn experience, level up, and get more points to spend on new units. Pretty simple way of addressing things, but one which still allows a new player to still contribute.

Grouping will be based on the number of points represented, not the number of players. A mission might have a limit of 20 points, so maybe you have 2 players with 10 points each... they can both drop 2 points from their army so that a third, newer player (with only 4 points) can come along.

Building will still be essential; lots of missions will have you building structures in the persistent world that will remain until demolished.

The mission structure is set up to allow players to pick their own path within the game's world. You might show up in town, talk to the mayor, and pick from two different missions; a really super hard one or a bunch of necessary but less difficult tasks. The missions are set up to have branching paths, based on which missions you take or which objectives you decide to fulfill. Your choices lead to different rewards; if you do the super hard quests, you become that town's "Heroes", and gain access to really cool rewards for your troops. If you decide to do the less difficult tasks, you become the town's "Soldiers", and gain access to things like extra training, standardized equipment (less impressive than the stuff Heroes get, but more of it), etc.

All of this is persistent, of course, so if you roam into an Orc town, build up their defenses, and start plundering nearby resources, players of the opposite faction will start getting missions to halt your gatherers, take out your defenses, and raze your orc town.

Since things are point-based rather than level-based, it's worth the trouble for a 'high level' player to come back to 'low level' areas and defend them. Instead of a few players showing up to defend a lowbie town because they're bored, are role-playing, or take the game seriously... a small skirmish between new players can have huge armies marshaling for control of any location at any time.

Still a work in progress, but those are the general ideas so far.