Dr. Murphy
Level: Disabled
Rank Points: 46
Registered: 08-11-2009
IP: Logged

Okay, scrap my last idea. An MMORPG may not be the best thing for DROD. Here is another idea:

Cooperative DROD sounds good, but it would need its own two-player puzzles. Not easy.

What about a live Smite to the Death battle where 2, 3, even 4 players can get together an battle against each other in various scenarios? A certain amount of time is allotted for every "force turn". If all players have made their move, the turn passes without the cooldown ending. If not all players have made their move, the timer activates and the players who haven't moved either make their move or be forced to wait.

If a player dies, he is out of the game until another player on that same team steps on a checkpoint. The player will rise up from his last position and fight again. If all the players on a certain team dies, they will stay dead until the battle is over.

The game's purpose is to beat other players mainly by manipulating the elements around him. If playing on a team, various tactics to either swarm an opponent or trap him in a dangerous situation until either side is dead.

Communication is incredibly important for the game. In the theory I'm proposing here, the need for communication may be faster than typing speed, requiring players to speak with each other out loud. A whisper in the game is quite literal; speak only to a select few people. A chat system may still be necessary for those without microphones.

I have a few more ideas that exploit the human's strange psychology. Odd things like mere rank to show the player's kill count and things like that. It may not seem effective at first glance, but never underestimate the quirks of the human mind.

It wouldn't be a very large game, so it might be attached to an official release as an added bonus. Who knows? There might be more people playing the game for the STTD (Smite to the Death abbreviation, not to be confused with STD) than for the official hold!

Comments, criticism, and death threats are all welcome here!

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[Last edited by Dr. Murphy at 08-19-2009 02:57 AM]

AtkinsSJ
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 107
Registered: 12-23-2005
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Dr. Murphy wrote:
If a player dies, he is out of the game until another player on that same team steps on a checkpoint. The player will rise up from his last position and fight again.

What would happen if that square is already occupied, or is now a pit, or something? There probably needs to be a backup place to respawn or something.

Otherwise, interesting idea. I'd thought about multiplayer DROD before but hadn't figured-out how to stop it being like fighting a slayer, where you can't win. Having teams, and the environment set-up to create traps, seems like a good way to go about it.

halyavin
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 52
Registered: 02-20-2006
IP: Logged

How about assault mode? Where one player need achieve the goal but the other player (who can be not only a smitemaster but control room in some other way instead) tries to stop him. The player who achieves the goal faster wins. Co-op 2x2 games also possible. The only real problem - perfect strategies will be determined very quickly. So we need to change rooms quickly (once a week at least) and so those who can play and investigate new room at home more will have great advantage.

The second idea is make the game like Spore GA. Let architects make non-standard goals and rules for rooms in order to create small (and simple!) but interesting quests. Then, the competition is for creating the most interesting quest.