How to design MMO character customization correctly (according to someone who is not a game dev lol)

Tags

customization, game design, game dev, MMO, mmo character, mmo character customization, mmo characters, mmorpg, mmorpgs, mmos, probably bad ideas

This post was inspired by a question posed by Mark Yetter, the director of Riot Games’ developing Runeterra MMO, and on the face of it the question sounds a little silly. In the tweet, Yetter ponders “what can be done to encourage players to try new things and differentiate their looks,” eliciting a bunch of people referencing systems already done by various other games as well as some concern that Yetter has never seen the inside of an MMORPG. That said, I’m not sure that’s what he’s asking for here. I think what was intended is ways to incentivize and reward creativity. So that’s what I’m going to try and focus on in this post.

Hardspace: Shipbreaker and the impact of visual storytelling

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audio storytelling, blackbird interactive, design, early access, focus interactive, game design, hardspace, hardspace shipbreaker, narrative, single player, steam early access, story, storytelling, visual storytelling

I’ve got a new gaming obsession. It’s Hardspace: Shipbreaker, a game where you play the role of a Cutter that chops up derelict spaceship and repurposes the various components, either by refinement or straight-up salvage. It’s already a brilliant and unique bit of gaming and is only just in early access, meaning that its already impressive gameplay can only grow from here on out.

I could write up plenty of effusive praise on this game as it is, but I’m not really here to write a review on the title as a whole. Instead, I want to focus on one aspect of this one that it absolutely nails: telling a story without outright writing one out.

Stop Survival, Start Life

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design, game design, games, MMO, mmorpg, open world, sandbox, sandbox mmo, sandbox mmorpg, survivail, survival sandbox, survival sandbox mmo, survival sandbox mmorpg, world, world building

The MMO genre is in a pretty fascinating place right now, and that’s an opinion I still maintain to this day regardless of what I write beyond this lead-up. That said, I’m beginning to see something of a bothersome trend in the form of the survival sandbox MMO, and I’m not really a big fan.

Allow me to elaborate on why survival sandboxes aren’t just boring and lazy, but they’re missing the point of the MMO genre and further making things more disjointed.

“No sir, I don’t like it.”

Wolfy’s Dream MMORPG

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dream game, dream mmo, factions, game design, MMO, mmorpg, rvr, sandbox

So a little while ago, the Newbie Blogger Initiative Discord chat – specifically the talented and likely far prettier than me Faeldray – offered a writing prompt about what would be our dream game. Any genre, any type, money no object. Pure, self-indulgent awesomeness.

If you know anything about me and chicken wings, self-indulgence is my thing.

With my head rolling about the question for a few days now, I think I can commit my ideal MMORPG to digital paper. To later be ruthlessly torn asunder by the reality of logistics. But please, wait until the end of the post before getting out your hacksaws, and let a guy dream for just a moment.

The Convenience Store MMO

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convenience, focus, game design, MMO, mmo design, pve, pvp

Convenience stores are kind of awesome, right? Where else can you get fuel for your car, band-aids, headache medicine, copious amounts of beef jerky, beer and cigarettes all at the same place? And within a reasonable amount of time to boot? They’re pretty fantastic. But the design model of a convenience store has its flaws, and those flaws are inherent in MMO’s that follow the same sort of model.

R. Mika’s Ass

Tags

anatomy, avatars, character design, game design, men, models, power fantasy, sex, sexuality, women

About maybe a week or so ago, it came to my attention that there was some uproar amongst players of the coming Street Fighter V concerning one Rainbow Mika.  In specific, the camera angle when she engages her super move, which starts on a super-tight shot of her spanking her ass before twisting her upper torso in a way that makes owl necks jealous as she dares you to have a staring contest between her eyes and her buttocks.  The angle in question was adjusted to hide the smacking animation, obscuring the no-doubt years of work getting the BootyPhysX engine showcased, as evidenced below

“What? NFL players psyche each other up this way all the time!”

Like most videogame-related crises, this is much ado about nothing, blown up in to astronomical proportions, but(t) it still got me thinking about why this stuff becomes such a big deal.  It got me thinking about the idea of war on sensuality.  And, as a male, it got me thinking about sex.  So it’s time to write about my thoughts!