Guess I'll explain my server concept to see if I get any positive feedback. My biggest worry is spending an extraordinary amount of time creating it to find either the player-base doesn't exist, or they simply don't like my concept.
My server/module concept is a recreation of a war between dark elves and dark dwarves in the tunnels and chambers of a dead volcano. It would not be set in Forgotten Realms, the two races having their own unique concepts.
At the beginning of the game, using the NWNX_Area module, the server would generate a three-axis game grid from instances of a large sample of pre-made areas, and place the capitols of each side randomly somewhere within.
Where each capitol is in relation to the other and even in relation to the game-grid itself would be unknown - to prevent a player from switching sides and using the coordinates of the other side against them.
The areas making up the game grid would all be subterranean, and sealed for the most part, against easy passage. Players, or agents of the players, would 'mine' through these area, creating there own tunnels, and expand the territory of their kingdom.
Mining would be achieved by making the areas a gird of small 1x1 tile rooms with a door on each side. Destroying a door would simulate the growth of a tunnel in a particular direction. The creation of T-sections and cross ways of tunnels would be limited, to prevent players from just mining every available tile.
Mining players would come across precious metals, minerals, and gems that would be sent back to their capitol to be used to expand various resources the players have to use against their other side. Random monster lairs would also dot these rocky landscapes, keeping the players on their toes.
There would be, of course, lots of variation withing the areas, having various chambers hidden within them.
Some areas would have special 'boss monster' that if and when defeated, would grant the winning side a special power, resource, or ability. Most of these bosses would require the players to utilize special tactics to over come them.
There woud be random events, and cave-ins would be a constant danger to those that didn't spend resources shoring up their tunnels with extra support.
Players would not be able to choose feats or skill rank upgrades on leveling up. Instead, players would be presented with career paths that grant them specific feats and skills. Customization would be based on the which branch a player chooses. This will allow me to make sure there is no such thing as a 'bad build' and that regardless the choices a player makes, they will always fulfill some sort of useful niche on their team's side.
I intend to make all new classes specific to each side, elven and dwarven (i.e. there will be a ranged dwarf unit that throws beer mugs).
Crafting would be done on a team wide basis. Instead of a PC spending time developing a particular craft, players choose how resources are spent to expand guilds within their city, granting new abilities to that team as whole. As an example: if the dwarves decided to expand their brewing capabilities, new alcoholic beverages would become available (dwarven potions basically) and their Ale Tosser class would gain new alcoholic abilites as well.
Combat would be based on the Warhammer online model, where there would be less focus on AB vs AC and more on damage mitigation. classes would each have a special energy source, generated differently per class, that would be used to power their special abilities. Ideally, there would be no 'healer' class, each PC having a unique ability to heal themselves in various ways.
What I can and can't do is still sketchy and requires more experimentation, and would probably be altered over time after test playing and player feed back.
Once a capitol was destroyed, and hopefully I would be able to gives players many different ways to defeat their opponents, the game would end and start over with a brand new world generated and all players starting over.
Later expansions, if the server did well, would add NPC underground races (Mind Flayers, Aboleth, Deep Gnomes..etc) that could be convinced to choose a side and assist in the war.
At first, the server would require no haks, but being that I am a 3d artist, and the former lead of Project Q, my intention, if people kept playing the game and it enjoyed a semi-large playing base, would be to replace all the artwork with new custom art (like a tileset with doors that actually looked like a cavern wall, for example).
So thats my idea. An epic war between two sides, each with questionable morality, that minimizes grinding as much as possible, and reset every couple of hours or so.
Modifié par Morikahn, 13 septembre 2011 - 12:18 .
