Text Based Browser Games

tikkus · 02-06-2009, 11:53 AM

My company has currently allocated me and a few other developers a number of hours to make a browser based game (In the vein of AstroEmpires, TribalWars, PimpWar, etc). I'm here to ask the Uberworlds community what features you like/dislike in these types of games and why. I'd like to make something that really sets us apart from other games of the genre.

PM me also if you'd be interested in BETA testing the site. We won't be in that phase for a number of months but I'll keep you in mind.

Thanks in advance.

MrGraham · 02-06-2009, 12:02 PM

Two dislikes -

Repetitiveness. This is very hard to combat since you don't want to constantly add new content and you can't be that dynamic in a browser game. FallenSword was the prime example of repetitiveness for me.

Catching up. Games with the occasional reset appeal to me personally more as a lot of these games make it impossible to catch up once they've been going for more than a week.

Tavik · 02-06-2009, 02:52 PM

I've been playing Mafia Live on my iPhone lately and after about 2 weeks, I've gone from obsessively playing and doing missions whenever I can, to not giving a fuck and deleting the game because the game doesn't go anywhere. In WoW, I can level and change zones and get more/different lore, get items that have a meaningful effect on my play, etc. In the mafia game, I earn money by mugging someone, I use the money to buy a bigger gun, and then I can use that gun to hold a cop ransom. I use the ransom money to buy a car so I can do driveby shootings and earn more money. The fact that this is all text based means that instead of pressing buttons 1 and 3, i'm now pressing 2 and 4.

I'm assuming that your game will be more engaging than a random iPhone mafia text game, but the fact that it would still be a text game limits your possibilities. You can't run around a capital city showing off your new items/mounts, you can't change zones and see trees or deserts or mountains, and you can't tell the difference between fighting a huge fucking dragon or an evil butterfly other than the game saying so in text. Everything gets repetitive and mundane for this simple reason. You can't visually tell the difference between events 1-3 and events 4-6, and that is the difference between someone sticking with the game or dropping it.

MrGraham · 02-06-2009, 03:09 PM

Honestly I'd take a look at popular MUDs and rip off from them, since a MUD and a browser game have similar capabilities.

Faille · 02-06-2009, 03:33 PM

My friends are hooked on fishing wrangler on facebook which is sort of a text based game. Seems to be fairly popular with 20k concurrent users playing it.

Personally I think you should aim for a game that people only need to log on one a day for 5 to 15 min as a minimum to keep progressing, but allow for much more.

Zarcath · 02-08-2009, 08:02 PM

put in daily quests/events

I personally like in-game commodity systems, no one really seems to do them anymore though.

tikkus · 02-09-2009, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zarcath

put in daily quests/events

I personally like in-game commodity systems, no one really seems to do them anymore though.

Can you elaborate on this?

Zarcath · 02-09-2009, 01:18 PM

old mud Dragonrealms used to have a class called Trader. They could rent/buy caravans and at each city there would be a commodity exchange house. They'd buy and sell items based on what the NPC would offer them. I think that space mud had a commodity exchange too.

Traders would "hire" other players to guard their caravan when they went into dangerous areas. The commodity items have no innate worth to players, it's just speculative buying/selling to NPCs.

Sulrn · 02-10-2009, 07:41 AM

When in doubt, praise the LORD!

Text based doesn't necessarily mean no visuals.

Take some of the high points from LORD:

Set amount of actions/time per day
Multiple Outlets for getting in another player's face
Multiple Routes of Advancement(Levels,Equipment, Paths/Specializations, etc)
Comunal systems(mail, town crier, etc)

Just my two cents...

Lost Ranger · 02-10-2009, 04:44 PM

The biggest thing I can think of is give the players something to fight for. It is the one thing Tribal Wars lacked that would of made the game so much better. EVE has the right idea and it can be put into a browser based game easily. Make certain regions of the map rich with the best resources in the game and players/guilds will fight to control it. I played a game called Space Merchant years ago and it had this in place and it was a blast. Our guild held a valuable section of space and we constantly had conflicts over it.

Games like Tribal Wars are fun for a while but the end game always gets stale because the big guilds have little reason to fight each other. Boredom sets in and people either quit or suicide all of their towns and then quit. Guild I was in for TW got so comfortable with their holdings they didn't want to fight because no one wanted to lose their stuff. The Sims: Browser Edition is not a recipe for success.

Dinthug · 02-10-2009, 09:33 PM

Used to love playing Utopia. Great game, surprised it's still running.

Dr. Funkenstein · 03-24-2009, 12:11 AM

Played Dragonrealms before playing EQ. For some reason I started playing again and am actually enjoying it. Won't make it past the 30 day trial...no way I'm going to pay $15 per month for a text based game...

02-06-2009, 03:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
Faille Fires of Heaven Officer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,370 +25 Internets	My friends are hooked on fishing wrangler on facebook which is sort of a text based game. Seems to be fairly popular with 20k concurrent users playing it. Personally I think you should aim for a game that people only need to log on one a day for 5 to 15 min as a minimum to keep progressing, but allow for much more. __________________ Faille Fires of Heaven http://www.fohguild.org/forums/uberw...lopment-forum/

02-08-2009, 08:02 PM	#6 (permalink)
Zarcath is a little tea pot. Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Carlsbad CA Posts: 6,466 +75 Internets	put in daily quests/events I personally like in-game commodity systems, no one really seems to do them anymore though. __________________

02-09-2009, 01:18 PM	#8 (permalink)
Zarcath is a little tea pot. Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Carlsbad CA Posts: 6,466 +75 Internets	old mud Dragonrealms used to have a class called Trader. They could rent/buy caravans and at each city there would be a commodity exchange house. They'd buy and sell items based on what the NPC would offer them. I think that space mud had a commodity exchange too. Traders would "hire" other players to guard their caravan when they went into dangerous areas. The commodity items have no innate worth to players, it's just speculative buying/selling to NPCs. __________________

03-24-2009, 12:11 AM	#12 (permalink)
Dr. Funkenstein Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 1,172 -34 Internets	Played Dragonrealms before playing EQ. For some reason I started playing again and am actually enjoying it. Won't make it past the 30 day trial...no way I'm going to pay $15 per month for a text based game... __________________ America is dead, Long live America!

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02-06-2009, 12:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
MrGraham The Next Orange Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,324 +11 Internets	Two dislikes - Repetitiveness. This is very hard to combat since you don't want to constantly add new content and you can't be that dynamic in a browser game. FallenSword was the prime example of repetitiveness for me. Catching up. Games with the occasional reset appeal to me personally more as a lot of these games make it impossible to catch up once they've been going for more than a week.

02-06-2009, 02:52 PM	#3 (permalink)
Tavik Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Seattle Posts: 70 +1 Internets	I've been playing Mafia Live on my iPhone lately and after about 2 weeks, I've gone from obsessively playing and doing missions whenever I can, to not giving a fuck and deleting the game because the game doesn't go anywhere. In WoW, I can level and change zones and get more/different lore, get items that have a meaningful effect on my play, etc. In the mafia game, I earn money by mugging someone, I use the money to buy a bigger gun, and then I can use that gun to hold a cop ransom. I use the ransom money to buy a car so I can do driveby shootings and earn more money. The fact that this is all text based means that instead of pressing buttons 1 and 3, i'm now pressing 2 and 4. I'm assuming that your game will be more engaging than a random iPhone mafia text game, but the fact that it would still be a text game limits your possibilities. You can't run around a capital city showing off your new items/mounts, you can't change zones and see trees or deserts or mountains, and you can't tell the difference between fighting a huge fucking dragon or an evil butterfly other than the game saying so in text. Everything gets repetitive and mundane for this simple reason. You can't visually tell the difference between events 1-3 and events 4-6, and that is the difference between someone sticking with the game or dropping it.

02-06-2009, 03:09 PM	#4 (permalink)
MrGraham The Next Orange Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,324 +11 Internets	Honestly I'd take a look at popular MUDs and rip off from them, since a MUD and a browser game have similar capabilities.

02-10-2009, 07:41 AM	#9 (permalink)
Sulrn walking candy dispenser Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Upper-Middle Class America Posts: 84 -3 Internets	When in doubt, praise the LORD! Text based doesn't necessarily mean no visuals. Take some of the high points from LORD: Set amount of actions/time per day Multiple Outlets for getting in another player's face Multiple Routes of Advancement(Levels,Equipment, Paths/Specializations, etc) Comunal systems(mail, town crier, etc) Just my two cents...

02-10-2009, 04:44 PM	#10 (permalink)
Lost Ranger Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 3,005 -3 Internets	The biggest thing I can think of is give the players something to fight for. It is the one thing Tribal Wars lacked that would of made the game so much better. EVE has the right idea and it can be put into a browser based game easily. Make certain regions of the map rich with the best resources in the game and players/guilds will fight to control it. I played a game called Space Merchant years ago and it had this in place and it was a blast. Our guild held a valuable section of space and we constantly had conflicts over it. Games like Tribal Wars are fun for a while but the end game always gets stale because the big guilds have little reason to fight each other. Boredom sets in and people either quit or suicide all of their towns and then quit. Guild I was in for TW got so comfortable with their holdings they didn't want to fight because no one wanted to lose their stuff. The Sims: Browser Edition is not a recipe for success.