ID:64857
 
Keywords: cyberverse
It's interesting how game concepts tend to mutate in an inevitable direction after awhile.

Start with the concept of remote control universe exploration and base building, make it from an external RTS-like perspective, and inevitably you land on a game about resource accumulation.

The thing is, accumulation for accumulation's sake doesn't entertain me as much as it used to. I outgrew it, I suppose. Perhaps, if I'm interpreting the demographics in Jesse Schnell's Art of Game Design right, that's rather inevitable. A inner focus on "mastery" becomes diminished shortly after one's teen years, perhaps up to the mid-20s, and what is the appeal of the grind if not that?

Now, I'm thinking along the lines of a space role playing game. There's not all that many of them out there, really. Mass Effect was the most recent one, but what came before that? Rare surprises of varying quality such as Starflight, Star Control 2, Megatraveller, Planet's Edge, and Protostar all over ten years old, perhaps reflecting a certain lack of optimism over the last decade.

Then, of course, there's the subtle and vital distinction between space role playing game versus online and persistent space role playing game: how many of those have we had? Nothing really lasting - Star Wars Galaxies and a bunch of indy titles such as Neocron. There's much to master here, on the core mechanic level, where BYOND can operate well.

Even here, there's a bit of inevitability in design to avoid. I punched in "Space Mercs" into Google, and came up with a description of a game I never played that likely would have been pretty much what I came up with.

"The goal of Space Mercs varies depending upon which game set is being used, but usually you are trying to make as much money for your nation as you can. The player that makes the most wins. To make money, your nation has dropped you off into a distant mining zone. You are to scuttle around picking up the ore deposits that appear. After an ore deposit is brought on board, your processing equipment starts refining it. Once complete, the valuable extract is beamed home; your nation cashes in, and rewards you with some credits of your own."

I didn't bother linking it. It's an old mac game that never made it out of beta. (If that: google-fu tended to stumble across a lot of phishing or infected sites. Could it have been bait?)

If I'm not focusing on the accumulation aspect of an RPG, what then? I'm thinking more along the lines of dynamic content (having actual influence on a game universe) and immersion (insofar as it's possible).

So, yes, that's something to be motivated to create.