Original Post
Hi,
I'm jotting down ideas for a text based MMORPG, and I've come to choose a setting for it.
It's fairly hard to find something that hasn't been done to death before, let alone, something that hasn't been done before - but I want something really unique and original.
I want the game to be fairly sandbox, in that the player is left to discover several linked stories instead of clumsily being ushered around a linear narrative. To aid this, I'm going to include fairly open sci-fi and fantasy lore as part of the game. The reason I mention all of this, is that I really like how fiction that is set modern day tends to handle typically medieval fantasy lore (gothic, gritty aesthetics blended with fantasy), it also gives you the opportunity to throw in science and technologically feasible fantasy too.
I want to keep these advantages, without going with the everything-from-Buffy-to-The-Matrix style post 90's cliché. I would also like a setting with lots of identity which can potentially be communicated in the game's artwork, ala "Fallout" but am in no way interested in ripping off that series' 40's/50's aesthetic.
I've come up with an idea I'm proud of though, I want to look to 70's America for my game's setting. I think that the graphic design could be great fun, the game would be text based - so the NPC lingo could reflect 70's dialects and the pool of story line imagery to draw on is really deep. I would be tempted to come up with a collection of fictional states to give me a bit of wiggle room - but I'm really excited about this. To my knowlege, not that many games have done this era; "The Warriors" game did tenuously, but that's just because it was based on a movie made in the 1970s (and right at the end of the 1970s for that matter).
I'm certainly not familiar with any sci-fi/fantasy games set then. The feel I'm going for is normal life in the 70's, but with a hidden, seedy underbelly populated by cults, monsters, the paranormal, criminals, extra terrestrials etc...
It would be too easy to make this game cheesy and goofy, but really rewarding and immersive to reveal the dark side of the 70's.
There's the potential for lots of cool research in this one.
-
The graphical style will also inform and influence the interface of the game in some ways, so aswell as your opinions on my idea for a setting - I'd also be interested to hear what your preferences are when it comes to the layout and features in a text based MMORPG.
I'm jotting down ideas for a text based MMORPG, and I've come to choose a setting for it.
It's fairly hard to find something that hasn't been done to death before, let alone, something that hasn't been done before - but I want something really unique and original.
I want the game to be fairly sandbox, in that the player is left to discover several linked stories instead of clumsily being ushered around a linear narrative. To aid this, I'm going to include fairly open sci-fi and fantasy lore as part of the game. The reason I mention all of this, is that I really like how fiction that is set modern day tends to handle typically medieval fantasy lore (gothic, gritty aesthetics blended with fantasy), it also gives you the opportunity to throw in science and technologically feasible fantasy too.
I want to keep these advantages, without going with the everything-from-Buffy-to-The-Matrix style post 90's cliché. I would also like a setting with lots of identity which can potentially be communicated in the game's artwork, ala "Fallout" but am in no way interested in ripping off that series' 40's/50's aesthetic.
I've come up with an idea I'm proud of though, I want to look to 70's America for my game's setting. I think that the graphic design could be great fun, the game would be text based - so the NPC lingo could reflect 70's dialects and the pool of story line imagery to draw on is really deep. I would be tempted to come up with a collection of fictional states to give me a bit of wiggle room - but I'm really excited about this. To my knowlege, not that many games have done this era; "The Warriors" game did tenuously, but that's just because it was based on a movie made in the 1970s (and right at the end of the 1970s for that matter).
I'm certainly not familiar with any sci-fi/fantasy games set then. The feel I'm going for is normal life in the 70's, but with a hidden, seedy underbelly populated by cults, monsters, the paranormal, criminals, extra terrestrials etc...
It would be too easy to make this game cheesy and goofy, but really rewarding and immersive to reveal the dark side of the 70's.
There's the potential for lots of cool research in this one.
-
The graphical style will also inform and influence the interface of the game in some ways, so aswell as your opinions on my idea for a setting - I'd also be interested to hear what your preferences are when it comes to the layout and features in a text based MMORPG.
