Dev Notes - Building a Survival Game

I've been playing a bunch of survival games recently, and have noticed some great features that the games in the genre implement. It's unfortunate, however, that most of survival games put emphasis on some parts of the great survival game formula, but not all or even most of them. To be clear, I'm not claiming that the notes I am proposing for building an awesome survival game are the template every survival game must follow, but they are definitely things to consider. The focus of the notes is more so to make the single-player experience compelling. Co-op and multiplayer is not covered here, and is a different sort of beast to handle.

The Importance of Game Design

It seems that game design is underplayed in its importance in the video game development process and many newbies don't even understand what it is and why a game designer is necessary. Let's take a quick look at the consequences of bad and good game design.

No Man's Sky - Constructive Criticism

I haven't actually played No Man's Sky, but from the negative feedback that I've seen towards it and the gameplay and review videos that I've watched, I can compile a way to address the game's issues and to improve upon the gameplay. I was inspired to write this after a conversation with a friend about the game's shortcomings and potential.

Infinite Story-Driven Sandbox RPG - Game Concept

This is an idea I thought about a year ago and indirectly discussed it on Reddit. I figured I should revisit it and provide more details, as this is a very intriguing concept that would be exciting to see implemented when voice recognition software, AI, and text-to-speech voice fluency technologies have had significant advancements.

My Sandbox MMO - Game Concept

Here is a sandbox MMO idea I have come up with about a year ago. The details have been stripped for IP protection and the headings were left to give you an idea of the many unique game features.

The main purpose and difference of this MMO idea is to create a living and growing world that a server-full of players can inhabit and interact with. The story is created by the players and the dynamic world, not theme-park MMO writers. I strongly believe that a sandbox MMO must be very dynamic and player-driven in order to truly be a sandbox. It should not have theme-park storytelling and quests that limits narrative content and sets a false purpose of playing the game; vertical character progression and levels that introduce the need to grind; game-economy restrictions that specify the minimum and maximum item prices; established and unchanging settlements that keep the world static; and a clear separation between PVE and PVP that creates unrealistic safe zones and undoes the purpose of a dynamic, player-driven MMO.

I am sharing this idea here to hopefully inspire some game/MMO developers. 

Enjoy!

Feature Test - Class Switching

Character classes have been a common convention in RPGs and MMOs since the beginning. However, there has been little deviation from the standard "one character can only have one class" formula. Major MMOs that have been released since 2010 like Wildstar, Elder Scrolls Online, Guild Wars 2, TERA, Star Wars The Old Republic, Rift, and Dragon Nest have all followed the standard formula. 
In this post, I would like to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of having a class switching feature and provide some examples of its successful implementation.

Realism in Games - Equipment Skins

Equipment skins, transmogrification, costume items - this game feature goes by many names. It is when an equip-able item, that has its own look when worn, changes its appearance while keeping the benefits of wearing the item. In other words, if you want to combine the protection of full plate armor and the fashion of a party dress you like, which would be impossible in real life, you can do so with this game feature. Here are some reasons for why I think this is a great feature to have in RPGs and especially MMOs even though it may be unrealistic.

ANFSCD - Monster Poem: Sea Serpent King

And now for something completely different: a monster poem I wrote for an assignment in high school. I know it has nothing to do with gaming, but I thought I would post it on the blog to share it since I think it is fairly good. Enjoy.

Assassin's Creed: Unity - Constructive Criticism

This time we will take a look at Assassin's Creed: Unity and its gameplay-related issues and design decisions that I disagree with.

Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor - Constructive Criticism

I found Shadow of Mordor to be a very enjoyable game. However, despite its innovative features and fun combat, I have found some things to question and dislike. Let's discuss them.
P.S: For the sake of simplicity, I will be calling Uruks - Orcs.

Realism in Games - Looting

Looting corpses of freshly slain enemies has become a major part of most RPG and Dungeon Crawler games. However, I have been wondering for quite a while, why isn't loot that "drops" from opponents sensible and more realistic in its contents? Let me explain.

Realism in Games - Leveling

Level-based progression is often seen in RPG and MMORPG games. Role Playing Games, as a genre, are known for their interactions with NPCs, story-lines, and character progression. In these games, character progression often relies on a system where each level gives a character a boost to attributes and new skills. However, I do not believe that this is the best character progression system, especially for MMORPGs. Make sure to follow the hyperlinks throughout the post to familiarize yourself with the concepts I am referencing.

Realism in Games - Armor

When developing a game, often a major question arises: how realistic should the game be? In other words - how close to real life should the game play to keep it fun? A game being "realistic" is often associated with the game being difficult, hardcore, and not for casual players. Instead, what I will be discussing and comparing here is game features that are realistic and those that are not, and what kind of impact they have on games.

This post will be focusing on armor.

Borderlands 2 - Constructive Criticism

Admittedly, I did not do a thorough playthrough of Borderlands 2, nevertheless, I found a few issues that stood out to me. However, instead of blowing our brains out like the psycho above, lets indulge in some constructive criticism.

Watch Dogs - Constructive Criticism

While playing Watch Dogs by Ubisoft, I have encountered many game aspects that seemed repetitive and under-developed. It is time to call the fixers for some constructive criticism.

Video Games and Piracy - How to make gamers buy your games

Video game piracy is one of the largest problems that game developers face in the age of widespread sharing of files and cracking of code. Established and indie developers lose a lot of their revenue to cracked and torrented copies of their games. However, there is a simple way to prevent gamers from pirating games. The answer lies in online content.

We need more Sandbox MMOs

MMORPG games have been following the same formula since the time World of Warcraft showed it to them. Hoping to ride WoW's train of success, these games have not risked deviating from the formula by much. The setting might change, the graphics, the style, the animations, but its still a "theme-park" - a linear game experience tailored by the developer and not the player.

Wolfenstein: The New Order - TL;DR Evaluation

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, PC

Developer: MachineGames

Publisher: BethesdaSoftworks

Playthrough Completion: 13 hours

Genre: FPS

Modes: Singleplayer Only