I'm not here to steal Ellie's thunder, I swear!
Overview
I want to create an mmo that encourages communication, even if it's archaic in terms of modern MMO design. I also want people to have roles that feel valueable as part of a team. I also understand that there will be many technical limitations to what I can achieve, so I want to design it in a way that makes the burden as manageable as possible. This will alter decisions like what kind of combat system to use, how to interact in the overworld, etc. As childish as "I WANT TO MAKE AN MMO" fundamentally is, I want to keep it as achievable as possible.
Ability Decay/Rustiness: Another part of this system is the way you need to specialise and maintain abilities. It can be imagined like there is an EXP cap, where leveling past an amount of EXP will sap exp from other disciplines. Some abilities may also decay to a point over time, as no one person can be perfect at everything forever, targeting how things work in the real world. This means no single player can max out everything and be the best at it all, it will always be a trade off and thus finding people that synergise with you will be important. Discipline stats are the primary ones that are likely to decay, whereas Basic Parameters are the foundation your character builds upon--they shouldn't decay much, if at all. The scaling here will also be extreme for the EXP sap--getting above a threshold like level 90/100 will mean you lose significantly on other skills, where as only being level 75 would mean you can have multiple other disciplines at reasonable levels at the same time. Ideally, jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none will still be useful for smaller parties.
AFK/Offline functionality: Crafting time is also a big deal. Time is a significant resource, but not in the microtransaction pay-to-skip way. I want adventurers to need people to craft for them as something more than just because they have the level and you don't, but also because they don't have the time. Crafting will also continue when offline, and prevent ability decay, etc. Items can be queued to be performed when offline, and those specialising in crafting disciplines will have access to faster craft times, which will be significant enough to warrant players offering crafting services to others. This is a great option to still be valuable even if you can't spend a lot of time sitting playing in a single session. This leads into trading contracts.
Trading Contracts: Item trading is integral, naturally. This is obviously a requirement, but I'd also like to have trading contracts, where two people can sign a contract and the system will prevent the recipient from doing anything other than crafting with the materials supplied. If the contract lapses the items are returned to the original owner. This is to support item trading for the purpose of running a business without scamming other players.
Merchantry: Merchantry is a bit of a standout. Mechanically, the NPCs won't pay much for players' items. I want to support player driven trading economies, and the Merchantry discipline is designed to support selling player to player, even if it's garbage. Merchants will be able to sell to NPCs for better prices, and they can also open their own stall available to other players. At this point there will be no "Exchange" or "Trading Post", it'll be old-school style. As Merchantry level increases, there is a higher chance of NPCs buying items from your stall, paying your listed price (or above market price). I want people to rely on merchants to sell their items to, rather than going straight to NPCs, again to encourage communication.
Battle System: Active-time battle x Tactical. An ATB where you can also modify your position on the board relative to enemies. This is to reduce animation requirements, but should also provide enough flexibility to be enjoyable. A "regroup" option will likely exist, allowing the battle to pause and party members to discuss tactics during the pause, as all party members control their own character. I'd also like people maining crafting disciplines to be able to participate in combat for fun as well, whether that means I'll need to bias enemies away from them, artificially boost their agility, deprioritise them from AI target selection, who knows. They should be able to perform their craft in combat too, whether its sharpening weapons, repairing armor, healing the wounded, taking coffee orders, etc.
Art style: Time fantasy-esque. I'd like to use something close to the RMXP RTP, but I feel like Time fantasy is executed really well, and reduces pixel art overhead. Battler sprites will be used in the ATB, and these will be generated via 3D model and a shader, allowing for full character customisation and visual equipment. The overworld will have a diluted version of visual equipment, likely limited to hair+colour, eye+colour and armour. Possibly a weapon as well to indicate combat style.
Character physical attributes (aka "Basic Parameters")
These parameters apply across disciplines and are effectively a multiplier for a stat. You can have high proficiency in two-handed weaponship, but if you don't have the strength to back up your combat knowledge, you'll have a hard time. Similarly, if you've been metalworking for your whole life, even at level 1 two-handed weaponship, you should be able to hit harder than someone who's never done any sort of training whatsoever. This is a separation of knowedge vs your actual physical stats.
As such, there will be five main parameters (with regards to combat). These can be leveled up via both combat and crafting disciplines.
Crafting Disciplines
The Basic Parameters are affected by your disciplines. Members from different crafting disciplines will need to work together to build high level gear, as components will be required from more than one high level discipline to craft. There are currently 7 crafting disciplines: Metalworking, Woodworking, Leatherworking, Enchanting, Merchantry, Cooking, Pharmacy. I'd also really like Mining to make an appearance, but having that as a dedicated discipline is probably a bit pidgeonholed without enough area to expand. Perhaps it can be included in Metalworking? It would make sense for it to be based on [dex]+[str] but I'd like dedicated crafting professions to be able to progress in it without relying on the passive [str] and [dex] levels]
Note that these disciplines all have an associated level in the same way as your Basic Parameters. You won't need to only choose one, they will be levelled like any other stat. Gaining EXP in any discipline, whether it's a crafting or combat discipline, will also organically grow your Basic Parameters.
Below is a breakdown of some of the collaborations between disciplines:
Combat Disciplines
Similarly to crafting disciplines, combat disciplines control what weapons you use and how well you use them. I'm not sure yet if the system should bias towards letting you have a crafting and combat discipline, or just let it naturally focus on one. I feel like one would be more cohesive, but that may be too restricting gameplay-wise.
There will also be combat secondary attributes that are calculated rather than levelled:
Overview
I want to create an mmo that encourages communication, even if it's archaic in terms of modern MMO design. I also want people to have roles that feel valueable as part of a team. I also understand that there will be many technical limitations to what I can achieve, so I want to design it in a way that makes the burden as manageable as possible. This will alter decisions like what kind of combat system to use, how to interact in the overworld, etc. As childish as "I WANT TO MAKE AN MMO" fundamentally is, I want to keep it as achievable as possible.
Ability Decay/Rustiness: Another part of this system is the way you need to specialise and maintain abilities. It can be imagined like there is an EXP cap, where leveling past an amount of EXP will sap exp from other disciplines. Some abilities may also decay to a point over time, as no one person can be perfect at everything forever, targeting how things work in the real world. This means no single player can max out everything and be the best at it all, it will always be a trade off and thus finding people that synergise with you will be important. Discipline stats are the primary ones that are likely to decay, whereas Basic Parameters are the foundation your character builds upon--they shouldn't decay much, if at all. The scaling here will also be extreme for the EXP sap--getting above a threshold like level 90/100 will mean you lose significantly on other skills, where as only being level 75 would mean you can have multiple other disciplines at reasonable levels at the same time. Ideally, jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none will still be useful for smaller parties.
AFK/Offline functionality: Crafting time is also a big deal. Time is a significant resource, but not in the microtransaction pay-to-skip way. I want adventurers to need people to craft for them as something more than just because they have the level and you don't, but also because they don't have the time. Crafting will also continue when offline, and prevent ability decay, etc. Items can be queued to be performed when offline, and those specialising in crafting disciplines will have access to faster craft times, which will be significant enough to warrant players offering crafting services to others. This is a great option to still be valuable even if you can't spend a lot of time sitting playing in a single session. This leads into trading contracts.
Trading Contracts: Item trading is integral, naturally. This is obviously a requirement, but I'd also like to have trading contracts, where two people can sign a contract and the system will prevent the recipient from doing anything other than crafting with the materials supplied. If the contract lapses the items are returned to the original owner. This is to support item trading for the purpose of running a business without scamming other players.
Merchantry: Merchantry is a bit of a standout. Mechanically, the NPCs won't pay much for players' items. I want to support player driven trading economies, and the Merchantry discipline is designed to support selling player to player, even if it's garbage. Merchants will be able to sell to NPCs for better prices, and they can also open their own stall available to other players. At this point there will be no "Exchange" or "Trading Post", it'll be old-school style. As Merchantry level increases, there is a higher chance of NPCs buying items from your stall, paying your listed price (or above market price). I want people to rely on merchants to sell their items to, rather than going straight to NPCs, again to encourage communication.
Battle System: Active-time battle x Tactical. An ATB where you can also modify your position on the board relative to enemies. This is to reduce animation requirements, but should also provide enough flexibility to be enjoyable. A "regroup" option will likely exist, allowing the battle to pause and party members to discuss tactics during the pause, as all party members control their own character. I'd also like people maining crafting disciplines to be able to participate in combat for fun as well, whether that means I'll need to bias enemies away from them, artificially boost their agility, deprioritise them from AI target selection, who knows. They should be able to perform their craft in combat too, whether its sharpening weapons, repairing armor, healing the wounded, taking coffee orders, etc.
Art style: Time fantasy-esque. I'd like to use something close to the RMXP RTP, but I feel like Time fantasy is executed really well, and reduces pixel art overhead. Battler sprites will be used in the ATB, and these will be generated via 3D model and a shader, allowing for full character customisation and visual equipment. The overworld will have a diluted version of visual equipment, likely limited to hair+colour, eye+colour and armour. Possibly a weapon as well to indicate combat style.
Character physical attributes (aka "Basic Parameters")
These parameters apply across disciplines and are effectively a multiplier for a stat. You can have high proficiency in two-handed weaponship, but if you don't have the strength to back up your combat knowledge, you'll have a hard time. Similarly, if you've been metalworking for your whole life, even at level 1 two-handed weaponship, you should be able to hit harder than someone who's never done any sort of training whatsoever. This is a separation of knowedge vs your actual physical stats.
As such, there will be five main parameters (with regards to combat). These can be leveled up via both combat and crafting disciplines.
- [dex]Dexterity: proficiency with fine details, required for archery, some magicks, some types of melee weapons that require exceptionally precise movements.
- [str]Strength: strength, acting like a multiplier to melee attacks and for high-powered bows.
- [int]Intelligence: how much you think and how adaptable you are to learning new things. Primarily used for casting magic.
- [vit]Vitality: how weathered and robust your body is. Health and defenses scale primarily off of this stat.
- [agi]Agility: physical agility, factoring into evasion and movement speed.
Crafting Disciplines
The Basic Parameters are affected by your disciplines. Members from different crafting disciplines will need to work together to build high level gear, as components will be required from more than one high level discipline to craft. There are currently 7 crafting disciplines: Metalworking, Woodworking, Leatherworking, Enchanting, Merchantry, Cooking, Pharmacy. I'd also really like Mining to make an appearance, but having that as a dedicated discipline is probably a bit pidgeonholed without enough area to expand. Perhaps it can be included in Metalworking? It would make sense for it to be based on [dex]+[str] but I'd like dedicated crafting professions to be able to progress in it without relying on the passive [str] and [dex] levels]
Note that these disciplines all have an associated level in the same way as your Basic Parameters. You won't need to only choose one, they will be levelled like any other stat. Gaining EXP in any discipline, whether it's a crafting or combat discipline, will also organically grow your Basic Parameters.
Below is a breakdown of some of the collaborations between disciplines:
- Bladed weapons: Metalworking + Woodworking
- Light armor, Robes, bags: Leatherworking
- Heavy armor: Metalworking + Leatherworking
- Jewelry: Metalworking
- Staves, bows: Woodworking
- Enchanted gear: Enchanting
- Food: Cooking
- Potions: Pharmacy
Combat Disciplines
Similarly to crafting disciplines, combat disciplines control what weapons you use and how well you use them. I'm not sure yet if the system should bias towards letting you have a crafting and combat discipline, or just let it naturally focus on one. I feel like one would be more cohesive, but that may be too restricting gameplay-wise.
- One-handed weaponry: swords and shields, maces. Utilises [+str][+dex]
- Dual-wielding: sword/knife, knife/knife, etc. Utilises [+str][++dex]
- Two-handed weaponry: Greatswords, greataxes, spears. Utilises [++str][+dex] for heavy weapons or [+str][++dex] for spears, etc.
- Archery: Bows, crossbows. Utilises [++dex][+str]
- Harmony magic (name tbd): Healing and utility. Utilises [++int][+dex]
- Chaos magic (name tbd): Damage and destruction. Utilises [++int][+str].
There will also be combat secondary attributes that are calculated rather than levelled:
- [crit]Critical chance: Chance to critically strike. This is calculated based on gear and skills, not a levelled stat. Dexterity may influence this value.
- [spd]Speed: Similar to crit chance, move speed (used for determining distance to move on the board + affects turn timer) is calculated based on player Agility, gear and skills. Movement speed cannot be levelled outside of increasing Agility, but it doesn't map directly.
