Dev Update 22-Nov-2016
While I was poking around the games story I figured that I need to change the games current progression system to fit new requirements. What I had was one lobby/hub level where players could join the game and from where they could choose from a set of game levels. Once you solved all the levels, you solved a stage. Once a stage is solved, you get a new set of game levels to choose from:
Thing is that this system gets in the way a lot when you want to write a story for a game, because in most cases it just doesn’t work out without a change of location.
Now I redesigned the game management so it supports multiple lobby/hub levels which are chained linear or even non-linear. Now I’m able to build a much more interesting game flow like so:
Multiple scenarios here:
- Multiple levels in a row that connect to a new lobby. This is pretty useful if I want to connect levels that have different themes.
- Choose from a set of levels that unlock the way to the next lobby. Imagine you need to complete a set of mission objectives, like say powering a door and additionally find a keycode to unlock it.
- Forking parts are also totally possible. This also adds some more replayability.
Needless to say this also affects how the save system works. The game progress and the players inventories will be saved on all clients whenever the players successfully complete a level. If the players fail, the server will reload the last savepoint and the players restart from there.
December 3, 2016 at 9:18 pm
Hi Philipp! I have no idea about the level structure but is this similar to guild wars? This is an MMORPG who starts in a city and the outside is likely open world, but when you came to the next city. Are these full of other players, which you can join them to a group and play the next quest together. When you go out of the city, there is only this group of people.
December 4, 2016 at 12:37 pm
Hello Panty! No, this game won’t be a MMO. It will rather be a more lone, desperate, survival focused experience. Technically speaking, you can either play together locally on a single machine (full gamepad support) and/or by meeting online, 4 players max. You can create new matches or join existing ones. Currently the main menu has a server browser. There, existing matches can be filtered by name and are optionally password protected, so you can easily play with your friends. Chances are that I will integrate steamworks later, so hence it’s going to be a steam game you can also invite friends from your steam friend list. The hub/lobby sections are meant to be savepoints. When you stop playing in the middle of a playthrough, you can always come back later instead of having to start all over again.
December 4, 2016 at 8:47 pm
I have meant with my hint to Guild wars, wether is the same game structure. But I think I understand now. And you have answer many other questions with your statement.