Designing Game Elements: Game State (Part 5)

Designing Game Elements: Game State

Everything in the game together, including the current player resources and everything else that makes up a snapshot of the game state at a single point in time. 

Since the game is meant to have an MMORPG feel, a database must be used in order to track important details of the final game state whenever ending a session. The database is then used in the following session to continue from where the game was left off.

The following is a list of the Game State Variables that need to be saved:

Player Character Names along with the respective player names must be saved in order for each player to be able to continue playing their characters in future sessions.

Equipment / Items which are equipped by each player must be saved in the database in order not to lose player progression. When players regain their equipment and items in the following session, they will be able to work out their total stats (Max Health / Power).

Gold which the players have been saving up also must be saved, for the same reason as with equipment and items.

Current Zone refers to the highest level zone which is currently accessible by players but is not yet completed. This must be saved in the database in order to keep track of how many zones the players have completed so far. In the following session, the current and all lower level zone decks are made accessible to players but only the boss card of the current zone is added since all previous bosses had been defeated by this point.

Conclusion

At this point, until the game rules are updated, using just these variables will be enough to catch up to previous session's game state.

Designing Game Elements: Resources and Management (Part 4)

Designing Game Elements: Resources and Management

This refers to everything that is under control of a single player. What kinds of resources do the players control? How are these resources manipulated during play?

Resources controlled by the player:

Health Pool is the amount of damage the player can take before dying. This resource can be improved through Equipment / Items.

Damage Taken is the amount of damage the character has taken. This is more of a drain which must be managed. Its purpose is to add danger of defeat while the player progresses. Damage taken must be reset before it becomes greater than the player's health pool.

Power is the amount of damage done when the player attacks. This resource can be improved through Equipment / Items.

Equipment / Items are purchased from the market for gold, but they give bonuses and effects to whom has them equipped.

Gold is earned by defeating enemies and is used at the market to buy Equipment / Items.

Enemies can be encountered while exploring, they are a threat to players because players must take damage in order to defeat them and gain gold.

Designing Game Elements: Rules (Part 3)

Designing Game Elements: Rules

The rules of play refers to three things:

setup (things you do once at the beginning of the game).

progression of play (what happens during the game).

resolution (what conditions cause the game to end, and how is an outcome determined based on the game state).

My goal here is to use the basic rules of the game 'Munchkin', but twisting them to fit the MMORPG
atmosphere I wish to achieve.

In munchkin combat was resolved with a simple comparism of power levels. The team with the highest power level wins the encounter. This is very quick and simple, however I wish to add character customization and longer combat encounters in order to give the game more of an MMORPG feel.

Setup

The database is opened or loaded (using a notebook or spreadsheet).

New players get:

• Name added to the database.

All players are informed of their character's current state (which zones they may access, damage taken and gold).

All players are given the items they owned in their previous sessions (if any).

Players are advised to keep track of their stats in order to help them when they're making decisions (using a paper or notebook).

The 'market' deck is shuffled and placed face down.

All 'zone' decks accessible in the current game state are shuffled and placed face down.

Only the highest level 'zone' deck will contain its boss card.

The turn order is decided and players start taking turns.

Progression of Play

During their turn, the player can choose one of the following actions:


- Teleport to a town and rest

Damage taken by the player is set to 0.

Player may leave the game session while in town.

(Note: Right now when a player teleports to town, they don't lose any progress towards finding the boss. This works against the element of risk and reward and will need to be updated).

- Search the town market

Player draws 3 cards from the 'market' deck and may spend gold to purchase any of them (as long as they can afford it).

Cards that are not purchased are returned to the market deck which is then shuffled.

Player can place the purchased card face up in front of them to show that it is equipped.

Player may only equip 1 item of each type, if the player has more, they must choose which one to equip. The other card is returned to the market deck which is then shuffled.

The bonuses and effects of equipped items and spells take effect during encounters.

Player may only choose this action while in town.

Player may leave the game session while in town.

- Explore a zone

Player chooses a zone deck and draws a card from it. The card can either be an encounter with a regular enemy or with the zone's boss.

If the player is already in a zone, they may only explore the zone they are in.

Whenever a player chooses to explore, other players in the same zone or in town may join the encounter, as long as the explorer accepts their help.

After assisting in an encounter, players must pass their next turn.

*** Handling Regular Encounters ***

Each player in the encounter attacks.

- Attack deals damage equal to the player's power.

When all players have taken their actions, (even if the enemy has taken lethal damage), players taking part in the fight will decide who between them will take the enemy's attack.

After all damage is dealt, check if any players or enemies have taken damage equal or greater to their health pool, these characters are defeated.

Defeated players lose their gold, and are returned to town with their damage removed.

If all players are defeated, the encounter is lost.

If the enemy is not defeated after the first cycle, the same steps are repeated until the players or the enemy is defeated.

When the enemy is defeated the encounter is complete. The gold reward is divided between all participants (rounded up).

The enemy cards are reshuffled into their deck when encounters end.

*** Handling Boss Encounters ***

If players encounter the zone boss, they can take the same actions as with a regular encounter, however any of the players may also choose to teleport to town instead. If all players teleport away, the boss card is then reshuffled back into the zone deck.

If a boss is defeated, all players in the game (including ones currently not playing) gain access to the next level and the boss card is permanently removed from the game.

Resolution

If the final boss is defeated by anyone, the victory condition is achieved for everyone.

Designing Game Elements: Objectives (Part 2)

Designing Game Elements: Objectives

What is the objective of the game? What are the players trying to do?

Following upon the planned theme of Sword Art Online, the common objective of all players is to escape from the game world by defeating its final boss. While the main goal is straight forward, players will first have to complete a number of objectives in order to be able to attempt the final objective.

Breakdown of Objectives in Sequence

Players need to constantly improve their power in order to be successful in completing the following objectives.

• As the game starts, players need to first find the boss room of the first level, allowing them to face the first boss.

• The next objective is to defeat the boss of that level, granting them access to the next level.

• As new levels are unlocked, players will repeat the process for each level, until they defeat the boss of the final level, at which point all players achieve the win condition.