Hi,
Currently, the main focus of the project is to validate the proof of
concept - mission system, missions content, context - and to expand it
with new missions.
Xavier is on the front line on this, gathering feedback from players and
discussing improvements regarding interface / mission system (chat for
instance), new ideas for missions (like geocaching, video surveillance),
look&feel of the game, etc (see uservoice for the list of current ideas
: http://feedback.farsides.com/forums/90557-humanity-project-accessibility).
What I would like to start in parallel is a discussion regarding the
other macro-features that you think would be important for the next
steps of the game dev. These macro-features would not be developed
immediately, we would probably wait for more feedback from the players
and validation of the potential of the current proof of concept, but I
think it's interesting to already start the discussion.
I'll list here the two main points that I have in mind, and I 'll start
thinking about them - please feel free to comment.
1) Levelling
* This includes the trust level management and missions.
* Example of what could be done : there are different level of trusts.
Among each level, a set of missions is available. Some missions are one
time only, and must be completed before the player can reach the next
level (i.e. they are part of the main quest, and teach the player about
critical elements of the context and some new gameplay concepts
associated to the level). Some other missions are not necessary to move
to the next level (i.e they are side quests), they are repeatable or not
according to the type of mission. But necause they also provide trust
points, it is necessary to do some of them in order to climb to the next
level. In other words, the condition for climbing to the next level is
to finish all the compulsory missions of the level, and earn enough
trust points through completing compulsory missions and some side missions.
* Some other possible next steps related to this :
Campaign of missions : several missions related to each other. In order
to start the mission n°2, the n°1 must be completed, etc.
Items : some missions provide items on top of the trust points. These
items can for instance be buffers for the trust gauges; maintaining
these gauges at a high level so that the trust points are earned
quicker. This is also a good first step i think towards introducing
virtual currency.
2) Multiplayer
Big one this one :)
* We could start with adding multiplayer in the missions :
Missions that the Gaia one, where player review actions performed by
other players
Missions that involve collaboration : for instance, two players must
perform complementary actions in order to validate their own missions.
Or missions that involve more players collaborating, for instance by
winning at a mini-game a certain number of times in a given period, this
number requiring at least n players playing during the same day in order
to attain the number.
Missions that involve competition : through mini-games, or through
spying the actions of another player, etc.
* In order to contextualize the implementation of these multi features,
we could relate them to the departments of the humanityproject
organization : these departments can collaborate or be rivals, depending
on the situation. And each mission is related to a given department.
Then, completing missions for a department A which is rival of
department B would justify that if I focus on A missions and another
player focuses on B missions, he and I will have the opportunity to play
some competitive missions together.
Some players don't like some of these aspects, such as competitive
multi, so I think that the mission description should display if it is
multi and how, so that the players can have a choice.
* Then, as a next step, I'd really like to see factions in the game,
that the player can join after some time. Will these factions be
departments of the organization or other organizations, I don't know.
I look forward discussing these ideas with anyone interested.
D
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