2009-06-05, 01:57 PM
So anyway, for those who don't know, I was a GM for two AD&D groups (First Edition FTFW) over the 12 years before I started playing MS, though I also played some console RPGs as well. And for those who haven't heard, I've also given up on the all-jobs video and am seriously considering giving up on my FF6 romhack, as 3000 lines of dialogue is just too much for a guy with writer's block. This means I now need some new creative idea to get myself going again, and I've still got my five-year writer's block so novels aren't a possibility yet. But for a while, I've had an idea for a new game - one I've had since before MMOs existed, that itself actually is a MMO. Basically, here's how it goes.
In most MMORPGs, you play as the human, humanoid or demi-human "heroes" that go into monsters' lairs and overcome them to gather treasure and experience. Occasionally they attach a tiny bit of justification, such as "the monster threatens the land," but even then the heroes don't really make sense as heroes on the level of, say, console RPGs or D&D campaigns. So... what happens if in this case, the monsters themselves are the victims and the "heroes" are the bad guys? That's my theme: the monsters are the heroes.
In my game idea, instead of humans, demihumans or humanoids, you get to play as the monsters. Depending on your choice, you live in a lair, colony, sometimes even a township of similar monsters, and there would also be neutral townships, as well as villainous towns of humans and other beings. You'd get to choose to be various types of monster, such as a dragon (good mob-fighting and HP but always has an elemental weakness), a lycanthrope (combines a human class during the daytime with massive one-on-one DPS and speed as a werewolf/bear/tiger/etc. at night), a giant (highest HP and defense but low speed and accuracy), and undead (various sorts that have diverse skills and many immunities, but low HP and holy defense). As you move through the game there would be a class-change system similar to that of games like MS and Seiken Densetsu 3 (the game would probably also use SD3's top-down perspective, or maybe 3-D but I don't really like those much). As you gain levels your attributes automatically increase depending on your class, and in addition you would get a point or so that you could choose to add to any stat. This way, there's some customization, as all stats are useful to all characters. You could also attribute your ability points as you see fit to various buffing skills, abilities, and attacks. Attacks would require points in a few areas, such as proficiency (similar to Mastery in MS), efficacy (the power of the attack), and economy (determines how much energy you use per attack). As you advance to new jobs, you can learn new skills based on how high each of your stats get. But there could only be nine of the second-last job advancement and one of the final, so as a weaker job you would have to challenge and defeat one of those in fully PvP, one-on-one combat to job advance if those slots are already filled.
Basically, playing as the monsters, you would train by fighting other wild monsters and human/demi-human "heroes," and the jobs would all have diverse combat systems such as fighting combos, spellcasting or breath weapons. However, levels themselves would play a relatively small role in the game, so it wouldn't exactly take a no-lifer to master it. Occasionally, your lair could probably also be invaded, and there would also be incentives for some "monster nations" to invade others. This would be a fully separate, PvP, mass battle system in which tactics rather than pure power would play a great role, as you would be commanding an army of followers in addition to the characters in the colony. Therefore, this would be a very event-heavy game, and highly competitive. I would also probably build a strong story around the villainous bosses, who would mostly be very powerful human-type characters, some based on my D&D villains like an ultimate Mage named Amathar.
I personally think it's a sure win. But I have no idea how to contact a company that produces games or who in the company to contact, or even which company I should contact. If anyone knows, or wants to give feedback on this idea, please respond. Thanks in advance for anything helpful.
In most MMORPGs, you play as the human, humanoid or demi-human "heroes" that go into monsters' lairs and overcome them to gather treasure and experience. Occasionally they attach a tiny bit of justification, such as "the monster threatens the land," but even then the heroes don't really make sense as heroes on the level of, say, console RPGs or D&D campaigns. So... what happens if in this case, the monsters themselves are the victims and the "heroes" are the bad guys? That's my theme: the monsters are the heroes.
In my game idea, instead of humans, demihumans or humanoids, you get to play as the monsters. Depending on your choice, you live in a lair, colony, sometimes even a township of similar monsters, and there would also be neutral townships, as well as villainous towns of humans and other beings. You'd get to choose to be various types of monster, such as a dragon (good mob-fighting and HP but always has an elemental weakness), a lycanthrope (combines a human class during the daytime with massive one-on-one DPS and speed as a werewolf/bear/tiger/etc. at night), a giant (highest HP and defense but low speed and accuracy), and undead (various sorts that have diverse skills and many immunities, but low HP and holy defense). As you move through the game there would be a class-change system similar to that of games like MS and Seiken Densetsu 3 (the game would probably also use SD3's top-down perspective, or maybe 3-D but I don't really like those much). As you gain levels your attributes automatically increase depending on your class, and in addition you would get a point or so that you could choose to add to any stat. This way, there's some customization, as all stats are useful to all characters. You could also attribute your ability points as you see fit to various buffing skills, abilities, and attacks. Attacks would require points in a few areas, such as proficiency (similar to Mastery in MS), efficacy (the power of the attack), and economy (determines how much energy you use per attack). As you advance to new jobs, you can learn new skills based on how high each of your stats get. But there could only be nine of the second-last job advancement and one of the final, so as a weaker job you would have to challenge and defeat one of those in fully PvP, one-on-one combat to job advance if those slots are already filled.
Basically, playing as the monsters, you would train by fighting other wild monsters and human/demi-human "heroes," and the jobs would all have diverse combat systems such as fighting combos, spellcasting or breath weapons. However, levels themselves would play a relatively small role in the game, so it wouldn't exactly take a no-lifer to master it. Occasionally, your lair could probably also be invaded, and there would also be incentives for some "monster nations" to invade others. This would be a fully separate, PvP, mass battle system in which tactics rather than pure power would play a great role, as you would be commanding an army of followers in addition to the characters in the colony. Therefore, this would be a very event-heavy game, and highly competitive. I would also probably build a strong story around the villainous bosses, who would mostly be very powerful human-type characters, some based on my D&D villains like an ultimate Mage named Amathar.
I personally think it's a sure win. But I have no idea how to contact a company that produces games or who in the company to contact, or even which company I should contact. If anyone knows, or wants to give feedback on this idea, please respond. Thanks in advance for anything helpful.
