Idea, Concept, Artwork needed for new Sci-Fi MMORPG

[j1j2j3]

Hello. This may not be the approriate forum(if not could a mod please move it wherever approriate) for this topic. Nor am I sure that this sort of
fishing for ideas' is acceptable(If not please just delete post).

First some background. It's been 3 years since I've gotten a job at Nexon. Nexon is an online game developer that you may have heard of; we develop and market over 25 online games. I've joined a new team that is developing an MMORPG in a sci-fi setting, and I thought SDnet would be just the place to gather ideas and input in our development process.

The server will be based on Xera server engine(for speedy development). Alex Garden(homeworld developer) - who works at Nexon, Canada will have input on client design - client interface will be similar to the homeworld interface allowing for full 3D space combat.

The concept is as follows.

- Space Wars(development title) -

- Three playable races with different game mechanics.
- You are in control of a ship either as a mercenary or part of your races warfleet.
- You may trade, upgrade, purchase ships weapons, defenses, etc and customize your ship as you wish with in game credits.
- Credits can be earned by doing in game missions(running freight, defence or attack missions, etc) or by market economics(selling , trading in game commodities).
- Space station(required to stash items or extra spaceships) purchase system(static housing - similar to Ultima Online)
- Free gaming(payment for special warships, housing, or other special extras)
- ONE global server(divided into subservers) with different quadrants allowing for full global interaction.



Before I continue I must add that :

-Any ideas or artwork submitted and consequently used will be the sole property of Nexon.
-No royalties or payments shall be made for use of submitted ideas or atwork.
-Any ideas or concepts may be tandem submissions from other places or creative content developed in house.

-You MAY get recognition in in-game credits at the discretion of Nexon.
-You MAY get merchandise, online credits, beta testing oppurtunites, and/or a 'thank you' payment at the discretion of Nexon.
-You MAY get preferetial job oppurtunities for placement at Nexon at the discretion of Nexon.

[bilateralrope]

In other words, you want to use our ideas for free ?

[j1j2j3]

- More background -

Internal meetings have decided that drastic differences should differentuate the three races.

We currently have 3 playable candidate races : Humans , Greys , Monsters. With a fourth unplayable race - Bugs.

Humans
- standard humans , similar to Terrans from Starcraft.
- technologically , mechanically , financially balanced form.

Greys
- similar to Asgard from SG1 , Protoss from Starcraft, aliens from ID4
- technologically advanced, reliant on technology. Expensive and less numerous.

Monsters
- Similar to Klingons from Star Trek, Kilrathi from WC
- Less advanced then other races, cheaper and more numerous.

[j1j2j3]

In other words, you want to use our ideas for free ?

More or less, yes.

I'm sorry that I cannot compensate for any ideas, concepts or artwork. But I just thought that some people(me included) would enjoy having input in the development process.

There may be some form of compensation(internally approved) but most likely it will be E-credits when game is launched or recognition in game credits.

[bilateralrope]

Actually, can you prove that you even work for Nexon ?

Your english is much better than the phrasing in Maple Story.

[j1j2j3]

First topic :
- FTL drives -

We feel that FTL drives should be completely different from one another for different strategies and play 'feel' between the three races.

Our current thoughts are :

Humans
-Similar to Trek warp drive
-More expensive drives take up more internal space but give better thrust(higher speeds)
-Thrust/Weight ratio = speed
-Any ship(even starter small ships) can have warp drive
-Relatively slow - Should take 10~15 minutes to cross known space - resulting in slow reactions
-Can engage anytime(even during battle)

-Medium speed sublight drive


Greys
-Similar to Star Wars Hyperdrive
-Requires calculations to engage(seconds to tens of seconds)
-Cannot engage while taking fire
-Instant teleportation after engagement(several seconds).
-Cannot be installed on small vessels. Smaller vessesl must dock with bigger ship before jumping.

- Low speed sublight drive

Monsters
-Wormhole technology
-Requires Wormhole generator ship at Both ends(Imporatant race infrastructure already has wormhole generators in place)
-Generated wormhole lasts several minutes.
-Any ship can go through wormholes allowing for whole fleets to come through wormholes
-Wormhole generator drones can be remote launched and remote activated

- undecided 1 way or 2 way travel

- High speed sublight drive



Any input/discussion will be greatly appreciated! And remember to take game mechanics into account. Thank you!

[j1j2j3]

Actually, can you prove that you even work for Nexon ?

Your english is much better than the phrasing in Maple Story.

Thank you. Still English is a second language, so sorry if I get anything wrong.

I don't know how I would prove it. I could send you a business card or a company FAX if you have a phone number.

Or you could e-mail me at my nexon E-mail : gaga@nexon.com

But I'm sure anything could be faked.

I'm sorry but all I'm doing is fishing for ideas and nothing hinges on my employment status.

I'm sorry. Thank you.

[bilateralrope]

A photo showing your face and business card should be enough. Though to prevent you using one you found, having something handwritten saying that you are the poster j1j2j3 at stardestroyer.net would help.

It doesn't need to be high quality, just readable.

[j1j2j3]

This is going to look extremely stupid, but here it goes.

Fresh from camera - check meta tags - http://www.j1j2j3.com/IMG_0126.JPG

[Jon]

- Three playable races with different game mechanics.
- You are in control of a ship either as a mercenary or part of your races warfleet.
- You may trade, upgrade, purchase ships weapons, defenses, etc and customize your ship as you wish with in game credits.
- Credits can be earned by doing in game missions(running freight, defence or attack missions, etc) or by market economics(selling , trading in game commodities).
- Space station(required to stash items or extra spaceships) purchase system(static housing - similar to Ultima Online)
- Free gaming(payment for special warships, housing, or other special extras)
- ONE global server(divided into subservers) with different quadrants allowing for full global interaction.

Sans the 'free gaming' point and one less race, this could almost be a description of EVE online?

I like the idea of different races utilisting slightly different major technologies for concepts such as FTL as you have suggested in your later post, but how else would the overall concept be differentiated from what is probably the most dominant Sci-Fi MMO on the market right now?

[j1j2j3]

- Three playable races with different game mechanics.
- You are in control of a ship either as a mercenary or part of your races warfleet.
- You may trade, upgrade, purchase ships weapons, defenses, etc and customize your ship as you wish with in game credits.
- Credits can be earned by doing in game missions(running freight, defence or attack missions, etc) or by market economics(selling , trading in game commodities).
- Space station(required to stash items or extra spaceships) purchase system(static housing - similar to Ultima Online)
- Free gaming(payment for special warships, housing, or other special extras)
- ONE global server(divided into subservers) with different quadrants allowing for full global interaction.

Sans the 'free gaming' point and one less race, this could almost be a description of EVE online?

I like the idea of different races utilisting slightly different major technologies for concepts such as FTL as you have suggested in your later post, but how else would the overall concept be differentiated from what is probably the most dominant Sci-Fi MMO on the market right now?

To be honest, not much. It could be a clone with slightly different mechanics.

Talking heads upstairs have decidec to develop a sci-fi MMORPG. We're just trying to differentuate it as much as possible coupled with a new business model.

[bilateralrope]

Sans the 'free gaming' point and one less race, this could almost be a description of EVE online?

I like the idea of different races utilisting slightly different major technologies for concepts such as FTL as you have suggested in your later post, but how else would the overall concept be differentiated from what is probably the most dominant Sci-Fi MMO on the market right now?

I get an impression from the Eve forums that a lot of players don't really like the non-consensual PvP, but stick around because there aren't any other good space MMOs. So they would probably check this game out.

On the other hand, Maple Story is pretty crap. So I don't expect many of those players would stay.

And that's if we ignore the hacker problems Maple Story has. Including a recent hack allowing the hacker to boot random people out of the target players guild, which only makes sense if the server was being hacked (as opposed to a crucial calculation being made client side where it is much easier to alter).

[NecronLord]

I really can't see why anyone would want to give ideas and concepts (let alone artwork) to a corporate entity for no pay or even official recognition.

[Zixinus]

- Space Wars(development title) -

If you are going to make space wars, don't take the brainbugs and cliches, use other planets then habitable ones. Jupiter Moons, Mars and even Venus can supply interesting and challenging places.

Also, the rings of Saturn would be a really great place for such a setting. Nyrath talks about this here: http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3s.html

We currently have 3 playable candidate races : Humans , Greys , Monsters. With a fourth unplayable race - Bugs.

I would advice towards this, genetically modified humans:

Humans: ye oldie Earth humans feeling pretentious and egoistical as always.

Spacers/Marsians: High technology but physically weak. Low numbers.

Heavy worlders: Relatively low technology but physically strong.

I would advice taking a look at Nyrath's site: http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/index.html all around. He has plenty of suggestions and clarification for sci-fi.

For ideas, I don't know much beyond that unless you tell me how the game plays in the first place. I don't play MMO's, including EVE online.

Also, please don't fall into the "biological ship" brainbug or at least make sure there is a good twist to it.

[Zixinus]

Actually, as a whole:

There are some things called Space colonies. Essentially small countries made out in space. A bit like a Dyson sphere, but on a much, much smaller scale. Its hard to find information on it but I am sure that some members here can talk about it.

Stuff like this:

http://www.spaceref.com/tools/vi.html?i ... smallimage

And these:

http://www.orionsarm.com/civ/Habitats.html

Don't just think habitable planets and moons with occasional space stations. Try to explore other avenues.

[j1j2j3]

I really can't see why anyone would want to give ideas and concepts (let alone artwork) to a corporate entity for no pay or even official recognition.

You are absolutely right. Noone has any incentive to really help. I'm sorry.

We do have a creative team in place, so any discussions on our in house developed concepts would still be appreciated.

Also, if you do have anything substantial to offer, we are offering in-game recognition and other forms of compensation, just nothing concrete.

[j1j2j3]

Don't just think habitable planets and moons with occasional space stations. Try to explore other avenues.

Thank you. I've just submitted this to our creative team.

Which brings us to the point of - how many habitable worlds would be a realistic AND manageble amount for interstellar warfare between three races + mercenary potential?

[Lagmonster]

I would suggest that the primary motivation for giving away good ideas is to see those ideas come to life. I for one would happily give away good ideas if it meant getting to play a game I could never design myself.

That said, I'll give you some feedback shortly that'll fill in the 30-40 demographic.

[j1j2j3]

I would suggest that the primary motivation for giving away good ideas is to see those ideas come to life. I for one would happily give away good ideas if it meant getting to play a game I could never design myself.

Thank you so much. These are my sentiments exactly.

The only reason I moved to this new sci-fi MMORPG team was that I got to work on a genre that I enjoyed - even though this means less pay for me compared to my previous position.

Also target demographic is 20-35. Which means more complexity compared to our kiddy games(Maple story et al.).

[NecronLord]

Which brings us to the point of - how many habitable worlds would be a realistic AND manageble amount for interstellar warfare between three races + mercenary potential?

As many as your servers/software/staff can support, really. Unless the FTL's notably slow.

But I'd give serious thought to doing radically different worlds, too. There's no reason you can't throw in lifeless rocks like Mars, or hostile enviroments like Venus.

And then there's the space colonies bit above (which might be easy to do, perhaps; they'd be, I imagine, no more difficult to manage than large, rotating ships) as well as whatever other spacegoing objects of interest (asteroid colonies?) you put in.

I'd try to avoid ice planets, desert planets, and ocean planets; though technically, there's a good chance of all these one note ideas existing. There's ice moons and deserts in the Solar System, after all.

[j1j2j3]

As many as your servers/software/staff can support, really. Unless the FTL's notably slow.

Actually the problem is more of population density. We want what worlds we have bustling with life, we don't wan't 400 ghost towns.

Which actually dictates that each race should have less then double digit worlds.



Also, space combat is centered around orbital/deep space/resource point warfare, so environments of planets don't matter much.

Yet again, we will try to diversify our worlds but basically they are going to just be pretty backdrops.

Thanks!

[Axiomatic]

15 minutes to cross all of known space is SLOW?

[Zablorg]

Hrm. I might be able to provide some ideas but they would require some info on the scale of the space combat. For instance, could players organize their own small fleet, similar to a "guild" found in many other online games? How would the warfleet battles occur? (for instance, would you receive pleas for assistance from ongoing fights, or would you simply follow the warfleet around and fight whatever it decides on?)

[Zixinus]

Which brings us to the point of - how many habitable worlds would be a realistic AND manageble amount for interstellar warfare between three races + mercenary potential?

Planets with actual life would be rare, realistically speaking.

Otherwise it really depends on how much time and energy did these races spend on terraforming and making habitats before the war.

Space habitats/countries/whatever have a good chance to be built around asteroid belts or in more nasty solar systems where the planets are generally too dangerous but the moons offer plentiful of resources.

Remember the sense of scale: we are talking about entire solar systems. Our own is fairly average while there are solar systems that most likely have a shitload of planets.

Actually the problem is more of population density. We want what worlds we have bustling with life, we don't wan't 400 ghost towns.

Again, there is no reason why a "dead" planet would be not inhabited.

Underground moon bases ring a bell? It actually makes more sense to build underground then on the surface on some planets, like our very own Luna.

And don't be too afraid of ghost towns: what would you do if you give the option to the player to establish their own bases on designated spots on otherwise empty planets?

After all, a good deal of fun from MMORPG's is socialising and having your own moon base can be pretty dandy.

Have you people thought of procedure generation? An example: http://anywherebb.com/noctis.html

The game is small, free, no installation required.

[Lagmonster]

This might sound really, really unusual, but...why not create a more aggressive motivation for racial differences? Say you divide your three player races up so that they have a specific goal, which becomes reflected in their gameplay, skills, and equipment. For example:

Humans: Galactic newcomers, their main concern is territorial expansion. It's hard to mess up humans, they're the 'balanced' race and usually the good guys.

Greys: Isolationists. Say that they had some sort of religious motivation or fear of the expansion of other races, and had been for millennia using their advanced technology to keep any and all other races from leaving their homeworlds, often creating armies of robotic machines to try to restrain or block the advance of other starships. Their goal can be a crusade to push back the advance of any other races. These would be, ideally, much faster than others, and more powerful one-on-one, but expensive and hard to advance in levels (since they're already so technologically advanced to begin with).
As the technologically dominant race, this can be reflected in any number of ways on both the galactic economy or control of territory, especially if your economy was separated into galactic and racial subsets, with each racial economy dependent on the number or types of territories controlled by that race, and the galactic economy dependent on inter-species player traders.

Monsters: Predators: Say that they actually hunt other races for biomass. Literally, they eat you. Say that their rapid breeding creates a situation where they cannot produce enough food for themselves and, as carnivores, they go out into space and hunt for it. The would be slower travelers, being technologically inferior, but be able to advance in levels faster than other races via hunting bonuses.
This can be reflected in stealth and hunting skills, powerful interdiction and boarding tactics, and benefits from raiding biomass from defeated enemies. Imagine playing a race where you weren't just at war - you were finding lunch, and got stronger after a good meal. This would make this class a legitimate threat as well as an interesting outlet for players looking to be the bad guys.