I spent the last few weeks trying like mad to find a single player game that I could enjoy. I got bored of my old favorite games quickly. New games don’t fit what I want to play. All of this got me reminiscing of a forgotten project I once tried to make. Forsaken Wars
In the early 2000’s I had an idea for creating my own MMORPG. At the time, there was a game building engine called Realm Crafter. It promised being able to easily build your own 3D games, including being able to create the server software in order to have a fully online experience. A friend gave me the money to buy a copy as he liked my idea for the game. We discussed the possibilities for weeks.
It looked promising. I bought 3D models, downloaded textures and started messing with the example game that was included. Setting buildings up, a few NPC’s, a single zone with multiple music and background sounds as you explored. It was clunky and you could sort of punch chickens. There was a horse, but I never got it to where I could ride it. Though I was excited how well this was all turning out.
However, everything about game mechanics is done through scripting. To move, walk, run… everything is a script. That’s the daunting part. Placing objects, textures and zones was easy. Understanding rigging was harder but manageable. But the scripting killed my dream of making it a reality. I couldn’t get my head into it. I would’ve needed a team of programmers and 3D modelers. Sadly I ended just giving up on it.
However, it’s a game I still dream of and wish would become a reality. I believe I can’t be the only gamer who has thought of these ideas. This is why I love Elder Scrolls Online so much. That world surprisingly looks so much like my vision for Forsaken Wars. At least the world, buildings, trees and environment. Minus the playable races of Lizards and Cats
But that’s only the aesthetics. But here’s the rest of my dream.
Races
Humans, Elves, Halflings, Dwarves, Orcs and Tieflings.
Classes
Warriors, Archers, Sorcerers, Clerics, Rogues, Bards and a basic druid that didn’t transform completely, but aspects of the character would change. Say instead of becoming a bear completely, they would become larger, gain claws and perhaps be more hairy.
Game Play
Originally I was going to go with tab-targeting as that’s what I was used to. Now I’m in love with the combo of action mainly mixed with some targeting such as ESO does. You’d have your standard dungeons and raids. Dungeons can be solo’d or grouped with scaling difficulty and loot tables. Raids would be group only with the best in drops.
Crafting
This would be simplified. No need to endlessly scale your talents. Same basic supplies from the world like wood, grass, flowers, metal and leather and reagents. With a low chance of successfully creating legendary level gear and weapons. So solo players can be able to craft just as good of gear as those who choose adventure in raid groups and world bosses. In comparison, I’ve given up on crafting in WoW. It’s so convoluted. ESO’s crafting is brilliant.
Weather
Random rain, cloudy conditions as well as snow fall in climates or seasons.
Night
Harder mobs = better rewards. This is where my dream began. Actual night. Most all games give you a dimmed night time. I wanted dark and dangerous. I wanted a fear factor. When the sun goes down, new mobs spawn. More dangerous ones. More rewarding ones. At first your character may want to avoid going out after dark. Not going too far from town. Where lights and guards can help you. Unless they have a lot of friends or higher level friends. As a low level, you don’t have much magic. Your gear isn’t nearly as enchanted. So dark is very dark. Except major roads which have torches to light most of your way. Not always. Even then, view distance is short and you need to listen to the sounds of the world in hopes to hear something coming. Maybe a huge dire-wolf prowling. Or the creaking bones of an enchanted skeleton sneaking up behind you.
Also imagine as you venture out into the night, so see lights in the distance. Is it friend or is it foe? All you see is faint colors glowing. Soon you see a few more, but can’t make out who or what it is. But as you get closer it’s a band of higher level players with enchanted gear keeping their group a little more able to light their surroundings. That’s when the skeleton with soft glowing eyes attacks you from behind and kills you. The group avenges your fallen corpse and resurrects you. Adding you to their party. Battles the group of the undead that was behind you. In the end you manage to get some better gear and perhaps gained a few more friends to adventure with. Even maybe invite you to their guild and help you level up for bigger adventures further away from the safety of your village or town you were playing near. The more you level up, the better gear, the greater the adventures and the less you have to fear the dark. One day you too will have more light surround you as your armor’s enchants glow so that one day, you will help another player who isn’t as geared as you.
Goblins
Before WoW introduced treasure goblins, I had already planned a race of goblins in the game. Mainly solitary creatures that spawn anywhere and mainly stay out of sight until the either sneak up behind or engage when the player is in combat with other mobs. They would pilfer small amounts of money and potions and portal away as quickly as they can.
The trick is they would have unique appearance and possibly names. They would also have an inventory that saves the stolen items. As well as a loot table with rare items. So if the player sees one and can attack it, once killed, the player can take all the loot and when the goblin re-spawns, their loot table would reset and would start collecting from players again.
Less Nonsense
Mounts and pets get a little weird in many online games. Horses made of nothing but light and pets that battle. I wanted a less fantasy light show when it came to that. Mainly horse mounts in various real colors and patterns if you will.
Pets would be simply things you could have now, like dogs, maybe pigs, perhaps a couple birds. Just for show. Make it a flex item that’s not easy to get.
Leaving the magical creatures to be be a part of the story and world.
Armor and Weapons
Speaking of magic. This is where the fantasy comes in. Classes and mobs could wield magic. Items could be enchanted and the higher the level of gear, the more effects may show. But not over the top. Like shoulder items could have a slight glow, while weapons have a soft glow that bursts bright when casting or causing damage. This comes into play when it’s night time.
As I mentioned with night actually being dark. Picture your low level character wandering into the world for the first time at night. You leave town and the fire lights fade and you are in nearly total darkness. In the distance you see something glowing coming toward you. Did you wander off the path and an undead skeleton is heading your way with glowing blue eyes? Or worse, did it come up behind you and you didn’t see it until the last moment as you caught a blue glow over your shoulder? Scare factor right? But what if you saw perhaps a slight golden glow with another set of glowing lights in green? As the lights get closer, you realize it’s higher level players coming your way. The green is from the shoulders of druid, while the golden is coming from the cleric’s staff. Making you look forward to leveling up and having cool gear of your own!
Actual Seasons
Along with zones having different climates, I dreamed of having 4 sets of textures for grass, trees and such to change with the seasons in time with real world seasons. Mixed with the weather system would just increase the immersion. Plus, having an actual night time, add in hard rain or snow fall making things even more intense.
World Bosses
World bosses I had in mind with random spawn locations. To actually add interest, have the ability for game masters to actually play the world bosses on occasion. When this happens, you could obtain even better loot and to make the fight more PVP when the boss can fight back with human intuition.
Player Housing
This is something I didn’t consider back then. Though I enjoyed housing in Runes of Magic and ESO. I feel housing in ESO, while amazing, is a huge money sink. I have spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on crowns to have every house in the game. I think I’d rather let players purchase a house and have a portal to go to it with the ability to customize the yard and interior as they like. Kind of like RoM, but you’d get a yard. I never got into housing in Rift and as of this post, have zero experience with the upcoming WoW housing.
Story
You start in the world that has been ravaged by wars, but now the world looks worn and you hear of tales of gods that once cared for the world they created to become bitter rivals. Splitting the factions of the races of the world. Seems though the world is cold and like the gods have gone silent. Darkness in the distance seems to be in control. As you learn about what happened, you want to right the wrong in the world. Stop battling the other factions and focus on vanquishing the dark and evil presence. Find out why the gods no longer listen to their people.
Have questions about my dream? Ask. I’m sure I didn’t think of everything and heck if you want to make Forsaken Wars your own, by all means. I don’t have the skills or money to make it happen. Just give me a free all access account 😉