What kind of rpg map do YOU like

i want to know what everyone wants in a multiplayer open rpg map, so i can create a really really good map :P

I voted other, what I like to see in a good multi-player rpg is not just the amount of things that are in it, but how it is presented as a whole. The more subtle things such as balance and good terrain design and aesthetics make an rpg fun to play. The type of terrain design I like is one that is spacious enough to move around in, not to bland and flat, and at the same time not packed with flower doodads and bushes. If I had to pick one of the other options on the poll I would choose lots of quests. An open rpg is not replayable if you can win and complete all the quests in one sitting.

I like starting with a hero and making a town, then big battles, so i voted big battles.

I vote other, mt real vote Freedom, but nor too much. Let the players do what they want, but still give them goals, just very loose ones.

A point. Most RPG quests involve walking on a predefined path from Town A to Town B. Occassionally, you might find some grimy peasant that asks you to go on a sidequest for him that probably only nets you some items, but mostly it's all about killing every single monster that was pre-placed in your path.

Dull. Why should monsters sit around waiting for you to show up and kill them? Why should peasants wait around for the chance that a hero shows up and wants to help them?

I've tried to put in both reasons for monsters and personalities for the civvies in my RPG (shameless plug, check out the beta) -- the more reason there is for everybody to be there, the easier it'll be to write a story around those reasons.

My 2 cents, anyhoo.

Being a maker of an RPG myself (another shameless plug :P)... I think what Biflspud said is the biggest problem im trying to defeat. Having peasants do their own thing while you do yours. They don't stand around, they dont do nothing day and night. for example, a villager in the closest village to your starting location spends the days usually farming and then going to bed at night. If you stick around, every couple of nights a thief pops up and steals from his grain storage, which you find he complains about the very next day... while not specifically asking you to do a quest, if you catch the thief if you do and prove it, he'll give you a nice treat :P

The world should be open and busy, not frozen. You shoudl have tradesman wondering the open lands delivering messages and resources, villagers will work, hunters will hunt, etc.. and the baddies can go wherever they want to, not sit in the same spot waiting to be killed. Because of the open form, quests will adjust themselves according to a hero's level, otherwise youll find your hero starts an impossible quest for a level 3.

But the biggest of all problems is being too freeform. Its good and all to have an open world, but this world will go to no use if there is no incentive for the player to explore it/save it/etc...

just my 2 cents :P

an rpg needs open lands. it needs to be based off how you use the skills of a hero, not what skills he has.

items should matter, but only as 1/4 of the hero's str. 1/4 should be level, 1/2 should be the players skill.

Hey, there's nothing wrong with that! 8))


And that's a really excellent point, and gets at what Earth-Fury was getting to about player skill. The thief, presumably, won't be any real match for the hero in one-on-one combat. But he doesn't have to be a badass; he's stealthy, showing up when people aren't guarding their stuff. If you're waiting for him to appear, you're using your skills as a player, not whipping off a level 3 Flame Strike on his ass as soon you bump into him on your linear stroll through town.

By making some of the villains show some strategy, it becomes something other than a monster trawl. You're the hero; monsters should know better then to fight you, because heroes always win. Monsters do much better to pick on the weak civvies; they're soft, pink and tasty. Your job, as a hero, is to track down these opportunist monsters in the act of causing trouble, not blundering into them while they stand around in the open.

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But the biggest of all problems is being too freeform. Its good and all to have an open world, but this world will go to no use if there is no incentive for the player to explore it/save it/etc...

Agreed. You do need to drop hints. I've seen a few good attempts at this (floating text pops up, reading "You hear a howl in the distance..." and you can either proceed or ignore these messages as you see fit), but ultimately, if it hasn't got any purpose, players are just forced to blunder around and hope they find a trail of monsters to follow.

Some NPC somewhere should know a part of the plot, and be able to relay information to the players as they progress.

I haven't even voted for this because i just haven't.

My concept upon how to balance how to give the quests is alot more defined than Biflspud and KillaFish, If you don't officially be given quests then half the time you wont know what to do (depending on how well it is done), however if you decide weather you want to take the quest or not when it shows up you will relieve confusion.

The design that i have envisioned is main quests get given in groups to players after they complete a group of quests. The reason why i say group of quests is to allow they to not do the quests if they don't want to, have 2 quests is every group mandatory, then have another 3 that they need to complete at least 2 of the 3 to beat the quest group. Every quest gives more experience than random creep killing, giving incentive to not kill random creeps for experience. Thats the basic of it, and this isn't a plug because i haven't officially stared anything, and its just to proove that there are many solutions you can try to get around the boring random creep killing.

I suggest not giving too much freedom, allow them to do anything that they want, but don't expect them to entertain themselves.

Hehe I like RPGs like Zelda series, they are nice and challenging with dungeons, riddles, problems and other tricky stuff for you, gosh I love playing zelda games so much makes me wanna turn on my gamecube and play Zelda Orcania of time...

I like lots of everything on the pole

Secret_jer had an extremely well articulated statement of what i had in mind. Ill also agree with Sopho, i love the zeldagames and a map should consist of a good balance between the monsters you fight and the puzzles you have to solve. I love puzzles :ggani:

And one other thing, i really like games where you can build your own town and build towers to kill off monsters.


Just my two cents, i suppose.

these are all very good ideas, but i dont perfer building huge kingdoms, but i will try to make a city building feature but a way around killing anything in your path, like i could make big clearings where you build a town hall and villagers come (that do not belong to you) and when you have enough money, you hire guards (that dont belong to you) but there will however be a limit to guards and villagers that come, to prevent getting crouded, and 50 gaurds=killing anything, get my point?

sounds good :D

you will also however have to build Granarys to feed your villagers, and Houses to shelter them, if you do not do this people will leave or just plainly wont come.

if you want guards, you will have to build Armorys and Mines to collect ore and iron and turn it into armor.