Game Features

[Rhadamanthos]

Complete Sandbox Gameplay

-Factions is acompletely different style of MMORPG. Where most MMOs follow the same tried and tested pattern of pre-made,story-driven content. Factions strives to provide a completely unique experience. An almost completely untapped game play style in the Fantasy MMO genre.

-Some "sandbox" games promise open-ended game play, only to be upset by the lack of essential sandbox features like the ones explained below. Factions strives to appeal to the niche gamer who craves a morerealistic open-ended fantasy MMO. It will not appeal to every joe schmo and their sister as other mass market games attempt to do.

-Factions allows the player to play whatever role they choose. Whether youare more interested in combat, crafting, faction and/or town management, building a business empire, or any combination of these things, you will be able to play how you want to.



Full featured faction system

-Traditional 'guilds'have been replaced with the 'factions' concept.

-Factions can control territory,build towns, and wage war against rival factions.

-Rules can be established to control how your faction is governed, how it interacts with other individuals and otherfactions, and how it handles infractions on its sovereignty.

-Factions (and even powerful and well developed individual players) can hire NPCs to perform duties around theirtowns. Manning a guard post, farming afield, providing vendor services for your goods, acting as an auctioneer for your town, and more can all be handled by NPCs. They will require upkeep in the form of pay and food from your fields.

-Borrowing concepts from RTS games and possibly even City-building games, buildings can be erected to serve purposes (silos for food storage, walls for defense, forges to melt the hardestmetals, mills to process the strongest of woods, machines to make mass quantities of the most mundane parts). Towns with the best infrastructure and resources will be the lifeblood and work-horses of well-off factions.



Fully dynamic world

-One world (oneshard) for all players, no portals to go through to reach other areas, no instancing, no static pre-made "theme park" destined to be the same experience for each player.

-Everything from the plant life to groups of monsters is generated in the world and evolves with theworld.

-If a tree is cut down, it will not grow back. If a monster is killed, itwill not respawn. If a mineral depositis mined, it will not return. etc... etc...

-Some threats will need to be dealt with before they become too big a threat. For example, if a faction's territory is on the edge of wilderness it will become necessary to wonder out into the wild to destroy gathering threats before they encroach on their lands. Saythat an ogre camp has been established deep in the woods, far outside the screaming distance of any man. The camp may start out with a single tent and a couple of ogres which are a nuisance to the local deer and rabbit population. In a few days they may establish a larger foothold, start a campfire, and erect a few more tents. Some more powerful ogreswill join them. Given a few weeks theymay be strong enough to send dozens of marauding warriors to bring back needed supplies to their foothold in the wilds; a small faction's town may be ill-prepared for such an invasion.



Completely player driven economy

-Nothing will have apre-set price in the game and all materials and products will be worth only what the buyer will pay.

-There are no gear vendors with gear that spawns out of thin air. If you see a NPC gear vendor, he is hired by a player or faction, told where to stand and who to sell to, and his stock is provided by that player or faction. Infact, if the vendor was killed, the stock could be looted.

-There is no 'starting area', as a new player you have the choice of starting in the wilderness alone, or starting in a faction that welcomes new players (you will be able to choose which of these factions to start in). When you first spawn, you will have only the rags on your back and a small bag, it will be up to you to work, adventure, beg, borrow, or steal to secure your spot in the world.

-There is still a missions system,with all missions being provided by the players. A small list of mission scenarios can befound below:

-Escort mission. A player may hire other players to escort him to a far away place to protect a cart full of expensive wares. Or a player may need protection while mininga large iron deposit far off in the wilderness. Or maybe the player just needs a player who has access to a larger wagon to haul his goods?

-Bounty mission. A player may decide to put a very large sumof money on an opponent's head. Or possibly a very valuable piece of armor was lost to an enemy in battle and the vanquished player will pay handsomely to have it returned to him.

-Collection mission. A wealthy player may need 50trees worth of lumber to complete his new house, he may decide to hire someoneelse to do the work so he can focus on obtaining the marble stone from a far away town... Or maybe he'll hire someoneto go pick that up for him as well?

-Kill count mission. The constant incursions from the local giant bear populations may be starting to effect the farm production,a player may be hired to kill 20 of them to stem the attacks.

-Production mission. The faction leadership maydemand a stone wall be erected around the town instead of the old wooden palisade. A player may request 500 bolts be produced.

-These are just some of the scenarios which may prompt a player or faction to post a mission. Missions can be posted on inexpensive boards in a faction's town, or can be left with an NPC.



Nearly everything is player created with a rich, deep crafting system

-Just about everything that would naturally need to have been created, has been created by a player. Gone are the days of finding a piece of armor dropping from an alligator or a snake-like monster with no arms wieldinga two-handed sword. You willfind, however, alligator bones on every alligator and snake skin on every snake.

-As mentioned previously, there areno pre-built cities or towns or buildings or NPCs. The entire world will be shaped by the player's actions.

-It is possible that a player may reach an extremely high skill level in a specific trade skill and may be able to create things only dreamed of by other players (think nearly one-of-a-kind items like an Excalibur sword).

-Most complex items will require many different skills to create. While it is possible that one player posses all these skills, it is very unlikely. Cooperation will be required to create items like buildings and armor/weapons of high quality.

-Mounts, pets, and companions willneed to be tamed or raised by someone skilled in such an art.

-Crafted items will not always turn out with the exact same specs. Forexample, if a sub-par lumberjack cuts down a tree and damages the wood, and then a sub-par Fletcher creates a "Longbow Arrow Shaft" from that lumber, it may provide a damage increase of +5. Whereas if a lumberjack cuts down a higher quality tree and then anexpert Fletcher uses that wood to create a "Longbow Arrow Shaft" it may provide a damage increase of +20.

-Town management will be a craft initself. To ensure efficient food production, building upkeep, and NPC management, the town management will needto keep a close eye on the workings of the town, faction, and its players.



Ability based skill system

-No one is tied downto any specific class any longer. Players will build their character to precisely what they envision by using Factions deep ability system.

-While more powerful abilities do have pre-requisites, for example, to be able to hurl a ball of fire at another player, you must first learn how to create magical fire and then learn how touse it against another player whom you can touch, then you may be able to learn how to project it distances.

-The ability system will allow very extreme combinations such as a marksman who can stealth or a plate armor healer. But these combinations would bein vastly different areas of the tech tree and would take a long time to obtain such terrific combinations.

-Each ability in the game has a skill level, so while your shield block ability may be available to you, it will take a very long time until it 100% effective.

-Abilities take time to acquire. Even while you are logged off of the game,you can continue accumulating points towards learning the ability of your choice.

-Abilities must be learned from other players with the exception of one ability per week which can be chosen by the player without having to learn it from another player.

-Trade skills and crafting will be included in this ability system.

[Rhadamanthos]

Figured I would post this here for people who happen upon this forum and not on our other posts. Please keep in mind nothing here is set and stone and could change as we make progress.

[thekroge]

Thanks for the in-depth explanation of the game! I just have a few comments and questions.

First, when you say that monsters will not respawn, mining deposits will not regenerate, etc, does this mean that the world will have a pre-set amount of materials and monsters? If you could outline how the monsters will regenerate, as well as materials, I would be very interested in that.

Also, as far as the economy goes, the way I understand it, it will be player-driven in the sense that people will naturally make things that are rare much more expensive. Will NPC's have any say in the economy as well? One of the best game economies I have experienced was in Guild Wars. When the game first came out, there were a few defaults, but for the most part there was an empty slate. As the game got older though, certain items changed prices and helped keep a check on the economy so it wouldn't get out of control. For instance, black dye was a prized commotity in the game, and there was always a lack of supply and high demand, so it was expensive. But to keep the players from using this to destroy the economy, the NPC's always had a similar offer in case the prices were getting jacked up too high, so the NPC's kept the players in check and vice versa.

Also, you mentioned how there will be no pre-set quest system, and that it will be driven by the players. Have you considered designing a story-line of some kind that would give players a direction and ultimate goal, or do you plan to make it an ongoing life-like experience in which players simply get enjoyment out of playing. I think the latter would work, as other similar games have succeeded (minecraft, runescape, etc), but in an MMO sometimes it is also nice to have a goal in mind or you won't know what to do at times. This is just a thought, as we won't know how driven the missions and quests will be by the playerbase until they are playing.

Other than that, I think the very open feel of the game is awesome and completely unique. Building a stronghold and protecting it from attacks, whether player or monster driven, is really great and entertaining, and I can't wait to see how it plays out. I'll probably post again with thoughts in a bit, but I have some "quests" of my own to accomplish right now, so I'll be back later!

[TheeLord]

Dec 30, 2011 12:24:59 GMT -6 thekroge said:

Thanks for the in-depth explanation of the game! I just have a few comments and questions.

First, when you say that monsters will not respawn, mining deposits will not regenerate, etc, does this mean that the world will have a pre-set amount of materials and monsters? If you could outline how the monsters will regenerate, as well as materials, I would be very interested in that.

Also, as far as the economy goes, the way I understand it, it will be player-driven in the sense that people will naturally make things that are rare much more expensive. Will NPC's have any say in the economy as well? One of the best game economies I have experienced was in Guild Wars. When the game first came out, there were a few defaults, but for the most part there was an empty slate. As the game got older though, certain items changed prices and helped keep a check on the economy so it wouldn't get out of control. For instance, black dye was a prized commotity in the game, and there was always a lack of supply and high demand, so it was expensive. But to keep the players from using this to destroy the economy, the NPC's always had a similar offer in case the prices were getting jacked up too high, so the NPC's kept the players in check and vice versa.

Also, you mentioned how there will be no pre-set quest system, and that it will be driven by the players. Have you considered designing a story-line of some kind that would give players a direction and ultimate goal, or do you plan to make it an ongoing life-like experience in which players simply get enjoyment out of playing. I think the latter would work, as other similar games have succeeded (minecraft, runescape, etc), but in an MMO sometimes it is also nice to have a goal in mind or you won't know what to do at times. This is just a thought, as we won't know how driven the missions and quests will be by the playerbase until they are playing.

Other than that, I think the very open feel of the game is awesome and completely unique. Building a stronghold and protecting it from attacks, whether player or monster driven, is really great and entertaining, and I can't wait to see how it plays out. I'll probably post again with thoughts in a bit, but I have some "quests" of my own to accomplish right now, so I'll be back later!

For resource and monster regeneration, the respawns will be based on the "biome" of the area and what else is in the area. For example, if a player or a group of players clears out all of the wolves in a small valley and destroys the wolf den and then builds their house in that valley there are not likely to be any wolves there in a few hours when the player returns. However if the player was to kill all the wolves and not build anything in that area there is likely to be a couple wolves when he returns a few hours later. There probably won't be a wolf then there until later. Once the wolf den is there more powerful wolves may be spawned and the wolf den will grow bigger over time.

The types of monsters and resources that spawn are pre-set and different areas may create different resources and different monster types. There will also be roving monsters (mostly humanoid types) which move their camps around and provide more of a threat to players and their towns / camps.

I will respond with more later to your other inquiries

[TheeLord]

Dec 30, 2011 12:24:59 GMT -6 thekroge said:

Thanks for the in-depth explanation of the game! I just have a few comments and questions.

Also, as far as the economy goes, the way I understand it, it will be player-driven in the sense that people will naturally make things that are rare much more expensive. Will NPC's have any say in the economy as well? One of the best game economies I have experienced was in Guild Wars. When the game first came out, there were a few defaults, but for the most part there was an empty slate. As the game got older though, certain items changed prices and helped keep a check on the economy so it wouldn't get out of control. For instance, black dye was a prized commotity in the game, and there was always a lack of supply and high demand, so it was expensive. But to keep the players from using this to destroy the economy, the NPC's always had a similar offer in case the prices were getting jacked up too high, so the NPC's kept the players in check and vice versa.

Also, you mentioned how there will be no pre-set quest system, and that it will be driven by the players. Have you considered designing a story-line of some kind that would give players a direction and ultimate goal, or do you plan to make it an ongoing life-like experience in which players simply get enjoyment out of playing. I think the latter would work, as other similar games have succeeded (minecraft, runescape, etc), but in an MMO sometimes it is also nice to have a goal in mind or you won't know what to do at times. This is just a thought, as we won't know how driven the missions and quests will be by the playerbase until they are playing.

Other than that, I think the very open feel of the game is awesome and completely unique. Building a stronghold and protecting it from attacks, whether player or monster driven, is really great and entertaining, and I can't wait to see how it plays out. I'll probably post again with thoughts in a bit, but I have some "quests" of my own to accomplish right now, so I'll be back later!

The economy will be completely player driven, there will be very very little that is not player created. Only raw materials and the simplest of objects will be found in the world. NPCs will not have any say in the economy, there are not even the tradition MMO concept of NPCs in Factions. NPCs must be hired by players to perform specific tasks for the player (manning a shop, dealing out missions, guarding a location, escorting a player, patrolling a trade route, farming a field etc...

Factions is not going to include any pre-made missions, there will be a slight backstory, but nothing beyond that. The story of the world will be entirely in the players hands, and they will have all the tools necessary to create a rich world full of challenges, triumphs and excitement.

Factions will truly be a unique experience, we strive to provide a gaming experience that is more open ended then any other MMO available now, yet give the players enough tools to govern themselves where they do not feel like they are taking part in an exercise in anarchy.

[thekroge]

Dec 31, 2011 0:05:04 GMT -6 TheeLord said:

Dec 30, 2011 12:24:59 GMT -6 thekroge said:

Thanks for the in-depth explanation of the game! I just have a few comments and questions.

Also, as far as the economy goes, the way I understand it, it will be player-driven in the sense that people will naturally make things that are rare much more expensive. Will NPC's have any say in the economy as well? One of the best game economies I have experienced was in Guild Wars. When the game first came out, there were a few defaults, but for the most part there was an empty slate. As the game got older though, certain items changed prices and helped keep a check on the economy so it wouldn't get out of control. For instance, black dye was a prized commotity in the game, and there was always a lack of supply and high demand, so it was expensive. But to keep the players from using this to destroy the economy, the NPC's always had a similar offer in case the prices were getting jacked up too high, so the NPC's kept the players in check and vice versa.

Also, you mentioned how there will be no pre-set quest system, and that it will be driven by the players. Have you considered designing a story-line of some kind that would give players a direction and ultimate goal, or do you plan to make it an ongoing life-like experience in which players simply get enjoyment out of playing. I think the latter would work, as other similar games have succeeded (minecraft, runescape, etc), but in an MMO sometimes it is also nice to have a goal in mind or you won't know what to do at times. This is just a thought, as we won't know how driven the missions and quests will be by the playerbase until they are playing.

Other than that, I think the very open feel of the game is awesome and completely unique. Building a stronghold and protecting it from attacks, whether player or monster driven, is really great and entertaining, and I can't wait to see how it plays out. I'll probably post again with thoughts in a bit, but I have some "quests" of my own to accomplish right now, so I'll be back later!

The economy will be completely player driven, there will be very very little that is not player created. Only raw materials and the simplest of objects will be found in the world. NPCs will not have any say in the economy, there are not even the tradition MMO concept of NPCs in Factions. NPCs must be hired by players to perform specific tasks for the player (manning a shop, dealing out missions, guarding a location, escorting a player, patrolling a trade route, farming a field etc...

Factions is not going to include any pre-made missions, there will be a slight backstory, but nothing beyond that. The story of the world will be entirely in the players hands, and they will have all the tools necessary to create a rich world full of challenges, triumphs and excitement.

Factions will truly be a unique experience, we strive to provide a gaming experience that is more open ended then any other MMO available now, yet give the players enough tools to govern themselves where they do not feel like they are taking part in an exercise in anarchy.

Awesome thanks. Just a comment, maybe something you have thought about but didn't expand on, if you want your economy to evolve you are going to need some NPC involvement or else it could spiral out of control. For instance, you didn't mention how exactly the NPCs will charge for their services, whether they are building something, guarding something, etc. So from what it looks like, they will either charge randomly for their services, or will have a set charge for their services. If the commodity that they charge happens to be in high demand in the community, and they are charging a lot of that commodity, then people won't be able to hire that NPC. Or in the opposite, if they are charging very very little for their services, people could abuse this and hire 100's of NPCs and make a really good penny before it is sorted by some outside force (or if ever).

The solution for this is to keep track of how much certain commodities are worth and have the NPCs charge accordingly. I understand you guys want complete freedom for the community, but that will involve a good NPC system so that resources can be pulled out of the game world and inflation won't occur.

A good example of this is gold in Diablo 2. This was obviously meant to be a prized commodity, but because there was no place for people to pool their gold and take it out of the system, it became worthless. If this were to happen to all of the games resources, it would be pretty catastrophic for the economy, and the community would not be able to do anything about it.

Other than that, I really like the idea of complete player driven "quests" and "missions". If I wanted to plan for my town to go attacking another town, I wouldn't have to worry about not keeping up on "farming" items or "grinding" levels, so I would be able to exactly what I want, when I want. THAT I think needs no tweaking

[Rhadamanthos]

Dec 31, 2011 14:22:49 GMT -6 thekroge said:

Awesome thanks. Just a comment, maybe something you have thought about but didn't expand on, if you want your economy to evolve you are going to need some NPC involvement or else it could spiral out of control. For instance, you didn't mention how exactly the NPCs will charge for their services, whether they are building something, guarding something, etc. So from what it looks like, they will either charge randomly for their services, or will have a set charge for their services. If the commodity that they charge happens to be in high demand in the community, and they are charging a lot of that commodity, then people won't be able to hire that NPC. Or in the opposite, if they are charging very very little for their services, people could abuse this and hire 100's of NPCs and make a really good penny before it is sorted by some outside force (or if ever).

We plan on having many other things other than just NPC's to regulate the amount of currency in the game. There will be costs to maintaining your faction, factions will be able to tax their members, therefor removing more gold from the players. I believe NPC's will have a set charge price, not a price that is determined by how many people do or dont need their services. An example we have discussed is with the missions, if you would want to have it posted in several towns, you would have to hire a courier NPC to travel and post them for you, charging based on the distance he would have to travel.

Inflation is definitely a big issue in many MMO's. It is definitely a big concern for us to keep and eye on. But we don't want to have it complete controlled through NPC's. Our goal is to make NPC's really a secondary part to the game. They will only be there when they player has a need for them rather than always there whether they are still needed or not.

[thekroge]

Very good, thanks for the clarification. I was also under the impression that there would be no currency, only commodities, so that makes much better sense as well. Keep up the good work guys, sounds like you have a lot of bases covered, and I'm excited to see where this goes!