Game design is not something I only do when at school or work. In my free time I enjoy doing design projects that I create for myself. This is something that helps me try new things and get more experience writing informative and clear documents. This section features side-projects and other game design work I have done on the side.
mmo_project.pdf
A close friend and I are developing the technical and design framework for a full scale Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). It is an exploratory exercise in crafting a game within a genre we are both passionate about. It is also a lot of fun to discuss and fine tune the games systems, story, and innovations. Our experience with MMOs has given us a close look at what works and what needs improvement within MMO titles currently on the market.
In these early stages we are exploring platforms for prototypes and proof of concept work. On the design side we are compiling all ideas and detailing some of the games meta-dynamics such as travel, trade, interaction, factions, and world layout. At present, we lack the funding and time to make this exciting project our main focus, however it is still something we both hope to see through to completion one day.
Design document samples will be forth coming as they are deemed acceptable to share.
As a design exercise I sometimes create mock-up quests that one might find in a role-playing game. These are unrelated to my above project and are not in reference to any specific game. I challenge myself to create new and different quests with each pass. Additionally I sometimes try to replicate the structure of a quest I have come across in a game but put my own spin on it, taking a proven form and making it more interesting or fun.
I further attempt to exercise my creative muscles by creating an image of the quest giver in the cases where there is one, as well as to read the quest as this entity. Images are created with GIMP 2 and my voice is edited using Audacity.
Audio clip
So you've come. News of your deeds in the Highlands has even reached us here at the brink of these harsh wastes, and it has not only fallen on the ears of those of us who would aid you. Perhaps you have come to liberate these lands; to spread hope and usher in a new age. You will find that there is little left alive in this realm to save.
The lands before you were once not so different from the Highlands. Evil has twisted the land into its current form, known now as the Ashen Plains. Daemons now wander the realm, daemons that do not require the life-force that has long since bled from this place.
I do not mean to despair. Though I have said that the living of this place are few, the dead are many and they require salvation. Souls swim the rifts of this realm eternally fighting a war that will never see an end. Perhaps you can bring them peace. Perhaps peace is something even the dead can never find on the Ashen Plains.
It was not long ago that a group of lesser adventurers made camp and began an expedition into the wastes. They are lost. Their broken bodies are now the wards of the daemons. Foolish as they may have been they deserve a less gruesome fate. Strike out at the daemons. Let them witness the strength of the Champion of the Highlands firsthand. Cut down the fallen warriors lashed to the daemon wards so that they may know peace.
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Watchman Persons bids you kill 15 Ash Clan scouts, 5 Ash Clan Strikers, and destroy 10 Highland Wards.
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0/15 Ash Clan Scouts slain
0/5 Ash Clan Strikers slain
0/10 Highland Wards destroyed
