Considering Existing Games as a Starting Place

Introduction

As stated in my proposed title, I would like to make a Non-Digital Asynchronous Multiplayer Game, with the purpose of testing methods which would motivate players to play together in an environment similar to an MMORPG.

As mentioned in the feedback from my proposal, it might be very time consuming to start designing such a game from scratch, so it might be a good idea to instead find an existing game that has its own working economy and mod it to fit my requirements.

Deciding on the Starting Place

During our Game Design Degree course, we have been encouraged to pay more attention to non digital games as it is a good method of inspiring and understanding game rules design.

Quite a few games have been inspiring, two of which have interesting characteristics that I should consider using in my game.

1. Munchkin

This game puts several players in the shoes of typical fantasy RPG characters and gives them a simple goal to reach level 10 before the other players. Players want to achieve the goal alone, but can utilize help from other players in order to gain an advantage. On the other hand, players must always be aware that there are no true friends, other players will suddenly turn on you once they no longer need you to reach their goal.

The game is amusing due to the high amount of interaction between players, but what I liked in particular was how the game gave a very similar feeling to progression based RPG games. The reason for this is because players customize their characters' equipment and become more powerful as they get closer to their goal. 

Equipment is represented through the cards players have placed in front of them, each of which granting their own bonus to the player. Random cards are acquired as they progress towards their goal by 'kicking down dungeon doors' which is simply represented by drawing a card.

I think a similar system to this would work nicely for my game: The player has cards displaying their new-found powers and exploration is represented through drawing cards from a deck.

Something interesting I noticed when looking back at this game, is that while players can get very far ahead of others, no matter how weak a player was, they would still feel involved because at times they can still be the deciding factor of whether an encounter by the strongest player would be successful or not.

2. Pandemic

Pandemic was the first non digital game I had experienced where the players are playing entirely on the same team with a common goal and a common enemy: The game itself.

The game has more power than each individual player can handle on their own, thus players are naturally brought together and interact with each other to be as helpful as possible for the sake of their own survival. Same as with munchkin, the 'enemies' of the players (infections and such) are brought into the game through a card draw each turn.

Just as mentioned in a previous post, this technique where power is taken away from players to bring them together is an effective way to enrich the social experience of a game. The issue I can see with this system is that it is balanced around simultaneous play from the start until the end, and would become unbalanced the moment the number of players changed.

In an asynchronous multiplayer game where players can join and leave at any point, I want players to be able to contribute towards their common goal just like in pandemic, however I will need to avoid having a possibility of defeat based on another player's actions while you aren't involved. This means players will need to face challenges based on their own choices.

Theme of the Game

Just as any game, I will have to think of a theme to use for my game in order to help immerse players into the game world and giving them a purpose and motivation to overcome the obstacles and reach the goal.

An animated series called 'Sword Art Online' was rather inspiring from the perspective of a game designer and along with several other friends of mine, I thought it would be nice to be able to play in an MMORPG using its setting.

A summery of its setting is that several players are trapped inside the game world of a fantasy MMORPG called 'Sword Art Online'. Everyone is unable to leave until someone manages to clear the highest level dungeon in the game world - at which point, everyone would be free to leave the game. However players are given very good motivation to want to become stronger as they are told that if anyone was to die in the game world, they would also die in real life.

This setting can work well to give players a common goal like in Pandemic, then using Munchkin's mechanics as the start point for the economy would give the game the fitting RPG feeling I am looking for.

Next Step

Now that I have chosen my starting place, I will next need to go into a bit more depth about several game elements: Players, Objectives, Rules, Resources, Game State, Information, Sequencing, Player Interaction and Theme. I will need to make decisions, building upon the economy of Munchkin, the team play of Pandemic and the setting of Sword Art Online.