Re: Design assistance for space game

From: Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>

Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 09:29:11 +0000

Agramen7 wrote:

> I was thinking about an open ended game. Though should i do that?:) I want to
> attact players who are into "diplomacy" and the detalis of such...Yet i guess
> that is hard to come by.

I hope other people here will join in, 'cos I can't claim any special
expertise. But I'm all for open-ended games. You could call it a power game or
an empire-building game if you want to attract players who enjoy diplomacy.
Give them incentives to get in touch with each other - trade is a good one,
establishing factions is even better. Work out how to introduce new players
later on in the game, so they're not heavily penalised by joining later.

> And shouldnt players be grateful? Well its seems that the case is probably not
> at all. Ive asked for assistance and some ideas and well grateful responses
> just dont happen:)

You'll get support if your game works well, which is inspiring, but it's
important not to be discouraged by criticism and initial dropouts. Dropouts
always happen.

> Id love to play my game but player involvement is something that is really
> lacking. Is it the rules? well ive seen worse rules and many people come to
> play the game.

Players seldom play a game quite how the designer expects them to! Maybe you
could personalise the game more than you do at present? Can they name things
- their leaders, planets they discover, colonies they settle, ships they
launch? Do you have league tables in the game? Could you run a competition
(maybe with the players all voting for a  winner)? Ask them their favourite
sf books, films etc?

> Pleasing everyone is the problem for sure:)

And impossible. Aim to please the nice guys, who are likely to have friends
they'll bring in ;)

Um, one thing that's a good idea is to do a bit of market research - try
the best games that are already running. Not to copy their ideas or to
steal their players, but to give some idea of what to aim for.

Carol

References

Re: Design assistance for space game
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Mon, 26 Nov 2001 09:37:42 +0000
Re: Design assistance for space game
agramen7@cs.com (Agramen7)
Mon, 26 Nov 2001 16:20:46 +0000

Referenced By

Re: Design assistance for space game
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Mon, 26 Nov 2001 09:37:42 +0000
Re: Design assistance for space game
agramen7@cs.com (Agramen7)
Mon, 26 Nov 2001 16:20:46 +0000