MMOFPSRPG

Due to a series of events elsewhere on the Internet, I am attempting to conceptualize a Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter Role Playing Game. Having hit a wall working on it alone, I am bringing it here in the hopes of having new life breathed into it.

Here's what I've got so far:

• BASIC PREMISE:
  • There are no in-game factions or organizations, everything is done through Player Guilds. The game is nigh-impossible to play solo, as it is built entirely around team-based combat.
  • Player-made factions (currently called 'Teams') construct, maintain, and defend colossal fortresses; they compete with rival Teams for resources and prestige.
  • Aesthetic calls back to old-school shooters like Doom and Quake; that is, a garish combination of punk industrial, grim medievalism, and dark fantasy/horror. Despite it's superficial Grimdark-ness, In-game dialogue and textboxes display a distinct lack of brooding, scowling 'adult' personalities, instead coming across as if the setting was Lighter and Softer than it actually is. Some good comparisons I can think of are Border Lands and Brutal Legend. It's basically a word of sociopathically violent and blood-thirsty Perky Goths.

CORE MECHANICS:

• ARMOR: Armor decreases damage taken, but as armor is damaged the amount of protection it provides goes down.
  • LIGHT ARMOR: 100 Maximum Armor Value, 0% Fire Resistance.
  • MEDIUM ARMOR: 150 Maximum Armor Value, 15% Fire Resistance.
  • HEAVY ARMOR: 200 Maximum Armor Value, 25% Fire Resistance.
  • SUPER HEAVY ARMOR: 300 Maximum Armor Value, 45% Fire Resistance.

• WEAPON TYPES: Weapons are divided by type of ammo used.
  • BULLET WEAPONS: Your standard middle of the road weapon type. Good rate of fire, average spread, roughly equal amounts of armor damage and health damage.
    • PISTOL: Quick to draw and aim, limited by damage dealt and bullet spread over long distances.
    • REVOLVER: Slower rate of fire and smaller clip size than the pistol, but much higher damage.
    • SMG: Bigger clip than the pistol, higher rate of fire, and more damage, but bullet spread makes it ineffective at long range.
    • BATTLE RIFLE: Great damage, little initial spread, and excellent clip size. On the other hand, rate of fire is slow (either single shot or burst), recoil increases spread, and is heavy and slower to bring to bear than the previous guns.
    • SNIPER RIFLE: Insane damage and range. Cannot be fired while moving or standing, user must crouch behind Low Cover and brace the rifle against it. Accuracy and damage increase the longer the user stays in Scope Mode.
    • MACHINE GUN: The first of the 'Heavy Weapons' available in the game, the Machine Gun is unique in that it is the only one that does not require a secondary ammo type to operate. In exchange, it has a lower firing rate than most of the others.

  • NAIL WEAPONS: Nails are more accurate than bullets and penetrate armor better, but they do less health damage and fire at a slower rate.
    • NAIL GUN: It's basically an SMG with less spread and a slower rate of fire.
    • HEAVY NAIL GUN: More damage and a firing rate comparable to other weapons, but it fires two nails at a time, so you go through your clips faster.
    • SUPER NAIL GUN: A minigun that launches four-inch long metal spikes at a rate even higher than the machine gun. Requires Fuel Cells to function though.

  • SHELL WEAPONS: Damage dealt is multiplicative based on number of pellets to actually hit the target. Great at close range against unarmored targets, but pellet spread prevents long range use and does poorly against armor.
    • SHOTGUN: It's a shotgun, I'm not really sure there's anything else to say about it.
    • HEAVY SHOTGUN: Two barrels and increased damage, but uses two shells per shot instead of one.
    • ASSAULT CANNON: It's a sawed-off minigun made out of shotguns and it needs Fuel Cells.

  • EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS: These require Explosive Ammo. Several also require Fuel Cells.
    • ROCKET LAUNCHER: Uses Explosive ammo and Fuel Cells. Extremely low rate of fire and is not a hitscan weapon, it makes up for this by doing lots and lots of damage all at once. Blast Radius and other aspects of the resulting explosion are determined by what kind of rocket was fired.
    • INCENDIARY CANNON: A junior-sized rocket launcher that can only fire warheads that don't actually explode, they just ignite the air surrounding you and in your lungs. Needs Fuel Cells.
    • GRENADE LAUNCHER: Launches grenades, does not need Fuel Cells.
    • MINES: Mines need to be set up ahead of time, but they don't need to be manually detonated, nor do they need Fuel Cells.
    • HAND GRENADES: Various sorts, your selection depends on your chosen class. Includes Frag, Concussion, Smoke, Incendiary, and Gas.
    • MORTAR CANNON: Very large, very heavy single-shot grenade launcher. DOES require Fuel Cells, and cannot be fired while standing or moving, seeing as how you have to set it up on the ground before firing it.

  • FUEL CELL WEAPONS: Exclusively use Fuel Cells, they do not deal the usual kind of damage.
    • FLAMETHROWER: Actually has some range to it, the fire also 'splashes', allowing for indirect firing. Additionally, the fire is persistent, granting the user the ability to block off routes of escape. Apart from the damage dealt, it also sets people on fire for additional Do T.
    • CHEM CANNON: Sprays a stream of caustic acid. Deals less damage than the Flamethrower, but it also damages Armor at the same time. Unlike the Fire Do T, however, the Acid Do T decreases with each 'tick' instead of remaining at a constant amount.
    • CRYO BLASTER: Can slow enemy movement and even freeze them in place, it ignores the static Fire Defense Value of the target's Armor. Sadly, it deals less damage than the Flamethrower.
    • LIGHTNING GUN: Can jump from target to any nearby enemies and locks them in place while in use, it does no Do T and less DPS than the Flamethrower unless the target is in water.
    • PLASMA CANNON: Melts through armor and flesh near instantaneously, but due to it's physical properties it can't be 'splashed' or used to 'paint' escape routes. Burns through Fuel Cells faster than the others.
    • HEAVY FUSION CANNON: Requires Fuel Cells for both of it's Ammo Types, this ridiculously expensive weapon produces what is essentially a cone of fiery death. The visual effect is somewhat reminiscent of certain kinds of volcanic eruptions, mixed with a solar flare.

CHARACTER CLASSES:

There are ten Character Classes, divided into five groups of two. These are OFFENSE, DEFENSE, SUPPORT, ENGINEERING, and SPECIAL.

• OFFENSE:
  • SOLDIER:
    • Above average health
    • Below average speed
    • Can wear Medium or Heavy Armor
    • Can equip Rocket Launchers, Shotguns, Heavy Shotguns, Heavy Nail Guns, and Battle Rifles
    • Can take Frag, Flash, and Concussion Grenades
  • ASSAULT:
    • Average health
    • Above average speed
    • Can wear Light or Medium Armor
    • Can equip Flamethrowers, Chem Cannons, Cryo Blasters, Lightning Guns, Plasma Cannons, Incendiary Cannons, Shotguns, Heavy Shotguns, Nail Guns, and SM Gs
    • Can take Frag, Flash, and Incendiary Grenades

• DEFENSE:
  • GRENADIER:
    • Average health
    • Average speed
    • Can wear Medium or Heavy Armor
    • Can equip Grenade Launchers, Mortar Cannons, Mines, Shotguns, and Nail Guns
    • Can take Frag, Smoke, and Concussion Grenades
  • HEAVY:
    • Highest health
    • Lowest speed
    • Can wear Heavy or Super Heavy Armor
    • Can equip Machine Guns, Heavy Shotguns, Assault Cannons, Heavy Nail Guns, Super Nail Guns, and Heavy Fusion Cannons
    • Can take Frag, Concussion, and Flash Grenades

• SUPPORT:
  • RECON:
    • Low health
    • Highest speed
    • Can wear Light Armor
    • Can equip Pistols, SM Gs, Shotguns, Heavy Shotguns, and Nail Guns.
    • Can take Frag, Smoke, and Concussion Grenades
  • MARKSMAN:
    • Below average health
    • Average speed
    • Can wear Light or Medium Armor
    • Can equip Pistols, Revolvers, SM Gs, Battle Rifles, and Sniper Rifles
    • Can take Frag, Smoke, and Flash Grenades

• ENGINEERING:
  • SAPPER:
    • Average health
    • Average speed
    • Can wear Light or Medium Armor
    • Can equip Pistols, SM Gs, Shotguns, Heavy Shotguns, Nail Guns, Heavy Nail Guns, and Battle Rifles
    • Can take Frag, Smoke, and Gas Grenades
  • MECHANIC:
    • Below average health
    • Average speed
    • Can wear Light Armor
    • Can equip Pistols, Revolvers, SM Gs, Shotguns, and Nail Guns
    • Can take Frag, Smoke and Flash Grenades

• SPECIAL:
  • MEDIC:
    • Below average health
    • Average speed
    • Can wear Bio Armor (Class Unique Variant of Light Armor)
    • Can equip Pistols, Revolvers, SM Gs, and Nail Guns
    • Can take Frag, Smoke and Gas Grenades
  • AGENT:
    • Below average health
    • Average speed
    • Can wear Light Armor
    • Can equip Pistols, Revolvers, SM Gs, and Nail Guns
    • Can take Frag, Flash, and Concussion Grenades

BATTLEFIELD ROLE:

• SOLDIER: Front Lineman. Balanced and versatile, leaning towards frontline combat. Second tankiest class. Active Abilities and Passive Skills based on increasing damage, increasing reload rate, and group buffing teammates offensively.

• ASSAULT: Front Linebreaker. Second fastest class and average health and defense balanced by extremely limited effective range. Flanks the enemy position, gets in close, and kills them all horribly. Unlike Soldiers, Assaults are extremely dependent on speed and surprise to work.

• GRENADIER: Demolitions and Explosives expert. Can wear Heavy Armor, but average health pool prevents tanking. Offensively limited to Grenade Launcher and Mortar Cannon, excellent at defense thanks to wide array of placeable mines.

• HEAVY: THE tank. Tremendous health, tremendous damage, atrocious movement. Works best when the enemy comes to them. Skills and Abilities based on increasing bullet sponge capacity and disrupting nearby enemies.

• RECON: Fast and frail hit-and-run skirmisher. Aids beefier allies by harassing the enemy and disrupting their battle plans. Can mark important targets on the map for other classes, and can pick up and carry large amounts of Ammo, Health, and Armor for teammates. Skills and Abilities built around increasing mobility, decreasing damage dealt, and increasing amount of disruption caused.

• MARKSMAN: Operates as Squad Sharpshooter or as long-range Sniper. Skills and Abilities are about shooting better and being more perceptive.

• SAPPER: Wide range of weapon options hampered by near total lack of Skills and Abilities based on combat. Primary function is to survey territory, mine resources, and build structures for multiple purposes. Can drop cover for teammates and attempt to dig trenches to bypass enemy fire.

• MECHANIC: Sappers make buildings, Mechanics fill them with the machinery necessary to do their job. Combat duties are providing long-range artillery and building, maintaining and operating the Team's Motor Pool.

• MEDIC: Frail and poorly equipped for direct combat, capable of healing and buffing teammates while debuffing the enemy as well as causing Do T with bio-toxins and lethal pathogens. Unique Bio Armor renders this class immune to both their and their enemy counterpart's skills.

• AGENT: Stealth expert, can turn invisible. Specialties include Assassination and Sabotage. Combat Role is to create havoc behind enemy lines to allow teammates to push.

edited 20th Jun '15 1:08:14 PM by Gralien2

I have 3 suggestions: Give the Recon class the ability to call in an airstrike via an cumbersome backpack radio (this is optional to prevent flame bait). Add in APCs and some tanks.And I would like to throw in an EMP grenade that temporarily paralyzes most forms of machinery.

Otherwise, most of the game's mechanics seems legit. Wait...Why not add in a Quartermaster who keeps refilling his faction's health/ammo with his unique ability?

^ APCs and such were what I meant by the Mechanic's 'Motor Pool' abilities; I guess I wasn't very clear. Tanks would only be at the very high character levels.

Isn't Planetside kinda like that already?

Also, another major issue about such games is that they're absolutely dependent on the clan being constantly committed... which most players often aren't. It might work if players are given more options for an isolated playing session if they want, or if matches played similar to World of Tanks: ex, 15vs15 players, each with their own classes and roles trying to destroy the enemy team's base.

edited 20th Jun '15 10:45:34 PM by SgtRicko

As much as I want to be a part of an greater cause, I need my alone time as well. But then again, being in a clan has it's own social benefits (or penalties)

And there are flaws on relying solely on Pv P combat as well: Low server populations, griefing. Why not let them fight alongside bots, an mode that's built for a larger than average team slaughtering a few waves of them, or a PvE raid boss?

Or have a wilderness area of some kind around the 'civilized' portions of where people live. Some kind of orc or bug or the like NPC race that players can go on solo hunts (or in smaller squads) against in the name of keeping them in check so they don't move in on all the people that would rather be fighting other human beings.

There's another game that comes to mind that tried a similar concept. Line of Defense was supposed to have both ground and space combat on 3 different planets and also allow players to build their own bases or personal outposts, and was an FPS. The bad news though (or good, if you're actually planning on becoming a competitor in the MMOFPS field) is that the guy making the game has a really shady reputation and the game is taking forever to reach completion.

I actually thought up a possible solution to the 'not enough teammates online at once' problem.

Well, I didn't really think it up, I just stole it from somewhere else.

Team members of sufficiently high rank could post a public job application, and players (not affiliated with any Team currently set as a rival) could sign up as a 'Mercenary'. They'd basically be getting paid to act as temporary members of the team, but the majority of perks from actual team membership would be unavailable to them.

Another issue... a lot of those classes are going to end up being unused. The moment the playerbase figures out which class gives the best overall equipment loadout and utility, they're gonna end up playing that one more than anything else.

Best example I've seen would be the Engineer from Battlefield 3. Not only could he use Anti-tank weaponry, but he could repair vehicles and had automatic carbines as his primary weapons tree. Said carbines are barely weaker than the assault rifles, their key flaws being lesser bullet velocity, damage and range. Thus, it was quite easy to use the Engineer class in almost any situation, since he could handle the constant threat posed by enemy vehicles, shoot his way out of a situation, AND repair his own if necessary.

The only other class with such flexibility was the Support class, since he had the powerful LM Gs, an infinite supply of ammo kits, and C4 explosives, which were effective anti-tank weaponry (if you could get up-close). But even then, the Support class had to sneak up or make a mad dash towards enemy vehicles in order to use the explosives, which was often suicidal.

Therefore it might be more sensible to give each class a degree of overlap, or make certain abilities universal, especially the ability to repair vehicles or heal. It'll allow players to buff up a class the with a playstyle they like and allow them to respond to a variety of threats and never feel useless.

Well, all of the equipment would have a Durability level that would need to be refilled by using Maintenance Kits, and those wouldn't randomly drop. Players would have to either purchase them from Vendors or make them by hand if you had the right Abilities.

The same goes for things like ammo and grenades; you eventually have to return to civilization to restock and repair your stuff.

Since the idea is to promote group playing over solo, none of the classes are meant to be capable of functioning independently for very long. While the Engineering classes have the most Logistical Abilities, they're poor combatants. The others are the opposite; they fight well but can't take of themselves very effectively.

Then I guess the next question is: what type of gameplay style is it going to use? Will it be confined to a single map until the end of a round, as in your typical FPS match? Or will it be a wide open MMO world, with one huge map to play on? That's gonna make a huge difference, because then you have to factor in whether a base can be attacked 24/7 or not, whether the world will be reset every month or so, where to locate the "safe zones", etc. Might be easier to just allow players to duke it out in matches selected at their own time, and not force them to schedule their defenses or deliberately plan attacks when they know the enemy team might be asleep in the real world.

The ideal is a Wide-Open Sandbox MMO FPS RPG set in a persistant world where everything is player-driven; the economy, the politics, and so on.

However, having thought about it I realized I only have one point of reference for this model; Puzzle Pirates, a kid-friendly MMO stuffed with mini games and colorful graphics.

To be fair, they do manage to make a lot of this stuff work. Player Guilds, called 'Flags', can rule one of the limited number of islands in the game world, and in doing so control the island's resources and it's economy. Everything is made at stores owned by the ruling Flag or individual Players (usually members of the Flag), but what makes it work is that Players can put in Orders for certain items at any point (and that they can afford) and the Owner of the shop can do the work to produce the item next time they're online, but Players can also do 'part time work' at shops, getting paid to provide labor for anything the shop has Orders for. Likewise, the Flag that owns the island can set it's policies to determine how it runs without their constant, direct involvement. Other Flags can challenge them for ownership of the Island, but they have to Issue a Formal Challange and gather enough money to create a War Chest, they can't just wait until the other Flag's members are all offline and then rush in.

Granted, Puzzle Pirates is neither an FPS or an RPG (in the usual sense), but I think a lot the ways they handle these issues could be adapted for this game-concept.

edited 21st Jun '15 9:19:00 AM by Gralien2

I can see the Recon dude actually guiding the Mechanic's artillery pieces or being a spotter for the designated marksman, but what's the reward? Increased damage on marked targets? But the drawback should be a (small) payment to the Mechanic for calling in something that powerful.

And the name "Sapper" isn't that appealing to me. I'm thinking Engineer since he builds fortfications instead of debuffing the enemy.

Another idea is to give the Grenadier a Ao E ability that buffs siege warfare damage.

Interesting idea.

I assume you have no desire to actually make this though, right? Because I've run the numbers with this site, and it's looking like it'd run around, oh, $4,100,000.

But still, it's nice to dream, I suppose.

edited 21st Jun '15 1:07:29 PM by Thnikkafan

Well there's Kickstarter, but...

I like to think of it as being ready should the opportunity arise.

edited 21st Jun '15 2:43:04 PM by Gralien2

x2 People overestimate just how much Kickstarter can give you. 4 million bucks? Not happening.

Out of curiosity, what opportunity is that? Divine intervention?

We all have big ideas - one game idea I have that I like is a Titanfall-like FPS taking place in, on, and around giant (as in "each of these is the size of a small office building") battling Spider Tank mechs, that are in fact players of a different game/mode that plays like your standard MOBA.

But I know that that isn't going to happen. So I focus on fleshing out and working on my smaller game ideas, the ones that I am capable of actually producing. That way, I get a nice product at the end of it that I can release to the public.

About that 'Sapper' thing... The only viable options are 'Pioneer' or 'Miner', 'Engineer' is too vague on it's own.

I should probably mention, all of the weapons and armor in the game would have their own Levels, stats, skills and abilities, and how they develop is determined by the player. In keeping with the 'industrial punk and fantasy-horror had a high speed collision' aesthetic, this would be explained in-game as the items having their own souls and being 'alive' in a sense. This would also be used to explain why you can't steal other Player's stuff; their items wouldn't work for you anyway.

One way of explaining how weapon abilities work is to think of them like the unlock able weapons in Team Fortress 2, except you get to choose what they are.

That's gonna lead to balancing problems. Newbs going up against those who are fully decked out is gonna hurt since they'll lack the additional HP and damage said leveled up gear would bring.

Yeah, I'm still trying to figure that particular problem out.

I would say install an matchmaker, but that's for an different genre.

You said that this an open-world environment right? If so, there should be an series "gates" or "realms" of some sort that seperates regions of the game by level. Or prevent unfair fights by letting only the newbs fight in their corner of the map (mandatory, well-written tutorial missions in every class) then push them out into the wild with an level-based title that limits who they can Pv P with.

You're still working your butt off thinking about this?

Bless your heart.

I'm thinking melee combat should be as big a thing as the ranged combat, instead of an afterthought like in so many other FP Ses.

It would also expand the possible roles for characters to have and would be less class-restricted than the ranged combat mechanics.

Currently, I'm thinking:

• Five kinds of Melee Damage: Unarmed, Piercing, Slashing, Rending, and Crushing.
  • Unarmed: Bare fists and kicks. Basically does Crushing-type damage except weaker and faster. Also gives access to special moves designed to trip up the opponent.

  • Piercing: Very fast stabbing. Can apply Bleed to the target. This damage type is the only kind dealt by Daggers and Spears, while Swords are also capable of Slashing.

  • Slashing: Deals more damage than Piercing and can also apply Bleed, but Slashing weapons take longer to use and need a bit of space to be effective. Swords are capable of Slashing and Piercing, while Sabres can only do Slashing damage.

  • Rending: A vicious and brutal form of damage dealt by Axes and Cleavers. Someone who has been Rent will both Bleed and lose partial functionality of a limb until Dead or Healed. On the other hand, Rending weapons are unwieldy and unsophisticated, taking longer to draw and reset than any other weapon type.

  • Crushing: The Damage domain of Maces, Flails and Hammers, slower than Piercing or Slashing and can't apply Bleed. However, it is faster than Rending, partially ignores Armor Value, and can possibly apply the Fracture and Stunned effects.

• One-Handed and Two-Handed: One-Handed weapons are faster than Two-Handed ones and allow you to take a Shield or second weapon, while Two-Handed weapons deal a hell of a lot more damage on a successful hit.

• Shields: Shields provide additional defense during melee combat at the cost of reduced movement and one less weapon to kill people with. The amount of speed lost is dependent on what kind of shield it is.
  • Buckler: Small enough that you can use it while wielding a Two-Handed Weapon; small enough to not actually be all that helpful.

  • Medium Shield: Balance of defense and slowness.

  • Large Shield: A metal wall strapped to your arm. Whatever you do, do not drop it on your foot.