Good Game Idea = $50,000

[FrostyBoy]

So the MDA of Singapore (Media Development Authority) is offering $50,000 just for a "good game idea". Now, in Singapore, people are unimaginative, and Kiwi's, are known for being overly imaginative. So I have a good chance of getting this money.


But seriously now, I have long wanted to break into the gaming industry. From my knowledge and experience so far, I have learned that the actual development is not the main problem - it is in fact the person who is designing the game, the ideas man, the lead designer. He/she is the one who will craft the game, the difference between a crap game and a good one. Programmers are plenty [insert Asher counter-argument here, then ignore] and artists are fairly plenty too, but Ideas Men are not.

Anyway, people (in Singapore) who apply for this grant, will most likely be submitting boring ideas for mobile phones and web-based flash games. *yawn*.

I will be proposing an MMO, and with strong argument to back it. Now, let's all have a laugh first since we all know $50,000 isn't anywhere near enough to cover the expenses of an MMO. Ok, now that we have had a laugh, let me remind you, the grant is for the IDEA not the creation. Ok now we can continue to the point of my thread:

What do you think would make a good MMO?

[Wiglaf]

One where you kill yourself.

[FrostyBoy]

AoC covers that already.

[SlowwHand]

50,000 wouldn't do him a lot of good. I guess it would someone.


How about one where you put Wiggy in St. Louis with 5 cannibals in New York. Wiggy is racing for San Francisco, the cannibals are racing for Wiggy.

You could use in settings. Put him in Detroit, or Philly, or some other country with obstacles.

[Lancer]

That's actually not a bad idea. Consider a game like Civ IV. Good game right? Now, imagine that the next game you start, if you lose or quit some nice man from the government of Singapore would come by your house and cut off...oh say a toe...well that would be a really interesting game.

[FrostyBoy]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
50,000 wouldn't do him a lot of good. I guess it would someone.


How about one where you put Wiggy in St. Louis with 5 cannibals in New York. Wiggy is racing for San Francisco, the cannibals are racing for Wiggy.

You could use in settings. Put him in Detroit, or Philly, or some other country with obstacles.

Well you're not far from an idea I am throwing up in the air.

I want to create an MMO that is based on our current time, with major cities (world wide) towns, villages. In this world you can purchase cars (mounts) and drive from one place to another, or buy flight tickets to travel to further places.

Basically:
1. You will start off as a young adult, you never know where you start, (you don't get to choose your parents in real life), you take several paths, life of a gangster, work your way through to mafia, triad, etc, work your way up to government level, or just be a freelancer or whatever. High level players will be given the opportunity to take the place of a gang leader, these 'gangs' will act like guilds.

Manage to reach near the top? You can try to run for president, (based on votes), attack other cities, or whatever. It would be great to have a living, ever changing world, a world that is changed based on all the players actions. If you don't want anything to do with the leadership race, you don't have to, you could just be a nobody doing casual stuff, or maybe you happen to be good at assassin jobs, you could be hired by gang leaders or even the government to carry out certain kills.

I'm not sure yet how quests would be inserted into the game.. just throwing up ideas.

[LordShiva]

How about a TBS? We can call it "Humanitas?"

OK, you're right, that's ridiculous.

[snoopy369]

You could make it like Machiavelli : the MMO...

[FrostyBoy]

Sorry LS, I know you wanted it badly, but it's just too much for two guys to carry out, but I do plan to flesh it out a bit more and present it as my 2nd idea for a game.

[Aeson]

Pong.... in 3D... MMO... 'nuff said

[LordShiva]

qft

[notyoueither]

Whatever you do, place the most important bits in Chicago and make people find things like the Tower or Piccadilly.

[FrostyBoy]

Ok, i'm gonna go with that "Real World" MMO.

With all creations, you must start somewhere, which is usually really stupid.

First of all, what I have done is split the world up into 9 "Areas". These are NOT zones. Think of them as either of the two islands in WoW. They are big!




A close up of the Oceania Area:



Each of the coloured zones in this picture are the Zones. Each Zone is quite larger than your usual sized zones in WoW. There are 5 zones in Oceania. There are two main cities, Sydney and Auckland.

Only via main cities can you fly
All small cities and main cities have highways connecting them.
Some places provide ferries, some places require them (Port Moresby for example).

You can travel by driving, hitching, coach or simply walking (which I imagine would take a long time and could possibly kill you if you were to cross deserts).

I'm going to continue doing the other Areas, then I will break down the Main cities and then the small cities.


I'm still trying to figure out exactly how quests are going to work.

[FrostyBoy]

COUNTRIES (AREAS)
North America
Mesoamerica
South America
Africa
Europe
Mesopotamia
Russia
Asia
Oceania

MAIN LOCATIONS (ZONES)
Great Bear Lake, Baffin Island, Alaska, California, Texas, Montana, Illinois, New York, Florida
Mexico, San Salvador, Cuba, Jamaica
Columbia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina
Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Madagascar, Sahara Desert
Great Britian, Scandanavia, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Greece
Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran
Siberia, Eastern Russia
Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Nepal
Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, New Zealand, Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales

MAIN CITIES
Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York, Washington
New Mexico
Rio de Janeiro
Cape Town, Cairo
London, Paris, Berlin, Rome
Jerusalem
Moscow
Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Kolkata, Hong Kong
Auckland, Sydney

SMALL CITIES
Vancouver, Ottawa, Goose Bay, Portland, Houston, Denver, St Louis, Boston
Kingston, La Habana, New Mexico
Santiago, Buenos Aires, Tucuman, Brasilia, Sao Paulo, Cuzco
Rabat, Abuja, Antananarivo, Dodoma
Athens, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, Oslo, Amsterdam, Vienna, Stockholm, Helsinki, Monaco
Ankara, Baghdad, Dubai, Tehran, Lebanon, Yemen, Pakistan
St Petersburg
Seoul, Kyoto, Taiwan, Xi'an, Kunming, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Philippines
Perth, Melbourne, Christchurch, Alice Springs, Darwin, Port Moresby

[Kontiki]

Er, what's up with your cities list? Some of those are countries, some are states and some of your "main cities" are pretty small compared to your "small" cities.