So I had this idea for a video game basically based around the idea of Valhalla (Nordic idea of where warriors go if they die in battle). Basically its an after life that belongs to only Earth's most violent souls. In it, people have separated themselves again into their corresponding earth clicks. Gang bangers, soldiers, terrorists, hitmen, etc. Those would be the factions. It would be a pretty heavy PVP MMO, but I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to work crafting and other such stuff into it. Oh, and important is that when you get killed, you would just reappear in the spawning zone (everyone spawns in the same place) as though it were your first time entering the game. You would have all the earthly possessions you originally died with (your gun, a bomb, knife etc). The only way to effectively take someone completely out of the game would be to capture them and saw off their limbs. Keeping them alive would be the only way to kill them. In the game, it would be an immensely difficult thing to do. As for single player, the idea was to use the same world but instead have it play through like a story. Your character would be a random guy who died but does not belong there. He was a decent person like you or me. The he gets there and it turns out its his job to correct the whole place, or something. Not really sure, but it would involve unraveling the mystery of exactly what that place is. The single player game would have things like rescue missions, in which the player and some others would break into an enemy fortress and shoot all the prisoners in the head, then shoot themselves. That would essentially be like freeing a captive, since they would spawn again with their limbs back. "Always keep one bullet in the chamber. Never forget that. No matter what." hehe What do you guys think of these two ideas? Which is better? Why wouldn't each work?

I really like you idea as a whole, right off the bat. All iterations of Valhalla ever in video games have been really, really, bad. The set up has been you are a viking, go kill everything. Very rudimentary and Hack and Slash.

To your two ideas,

The MMO you've come up with has a few problems with it. Though they could be easily changed.

Having everyone spawning at the same point when they die could get very messy. Having all of those people in one room, it could be hard for peoples computers' to process, and it may be difficult for people to see. From a hardware standpoint, your servers might not be able to handle all of those separate entities moving around in one room. And also, since everyone spawns in the same spot, it wouldn't be too difficult for factions to coordinate spawn killings.

Also, having the ability to kidnap someone and completely prevent them from playing is really going to turn people off of your game. How would you feel if your first time playing a game, you got hijacked, mutilated, then thrown into a cell, permanently?


Your single player idea sounds cool. And a very unique story element by killing the people you are trying to save. I like that.

I'd like to hear more of your idea, if you have any.

And also, I hope you don't hate me for criticizing your ideas too much.

No actually, I'm really pleased that you took the time to think up legitimate criticisms. I hate when people FAIL to say anything of substance.

You're right about the server issues, and about the spawn killing, I had considered that and just said to myself that you could probably give people a one hour safe period after spawning.
Still, pretty messy.
And your mentioning of people getting turned off by the kidnapping... that would essentially be like having your character die in Everquest. Except it would be nearly impossible to do. You could also make it so no one under a certain level could be kidnapped, to prevent noobs from getting destroyed.

As far as more ideas, I hadn't really bothered to develop the idea very much because of the amount of work it would take. Both versions would need dozens, maybe even a hundred character models. And those take a loooot of time to make.

One question that had arisen during consideration for the game is how the land would work. Would people make weapons or would all the weapons in the game just be a matter of what is brought into the world?
What kind of technology is available? Is the place like an undeveloped earth?
What kinds of fortresses have people built and with what have they built them?

It's tough to get a solid answer to these that I'm happy with. You risk either limiting the gameplay too much or sacrificing the atmosphere.

In that case I guess the best thing to do would be do some research on Valhalla, other Norse mythology and Norse buildings.

Come up with a bunch of different combinations of ideas and see what works for you. And if you want any feedback I've always got time.