It would be a great game except for the "first influx of players" part and the "Players that discover these recipes, some more rare than others, would be able to teach them to other players. If things aren't passed down they will eventually fall into disuse and potentially may no longer exist within the game world." part. I love being a survivalist and explorer, but I hate if other players can use up/monopolize content before I get there.

i actually had an idea like this, where everyone owned territory, could shape it as they wished and hide secrets throughout. players got rewarded with more land, customisation objects and bigger rewards as they explored other lands

@Caldenfor
I believe it would most likely end up in a few players discovering everything that is to discover very fast. Pherhaps there would be a few things undiscovered, but the chances for a casual player discovering one of these would be like winning the lottery. Same goes for crafting.

Let's say you have 1000 players a day and you want to let everyone find out 1 thing each day (so very low exploration rate). A year has 365 days, which means you need 365000 unique things to discover, per year (yep, you have to recreate it each year, so in 5 years you will need 1825000 unique discoveries).

How are you gonna create that content?
How are you gonna assure that this content is unique enough (not like a Goblin boss that has +0.01 to fire resistance than the next one)?
Even if you manage to solve all above, how players are supposed to remember/connect/share/talk about hundreds of thousands discoveries? Human's brain is not capable of this.

I'm working on something similar, but instead of just having a world that is unknown and ready to explore it will also change. If you discover a town of NPCs one day you could come back a week later and find that it's been destroyed by goblins. I think this helps circumvent the problem of only the first players getting to really explore by ensuring that there is always new things to find in an already explored area.

Of course the major downside is that my solution is heavily AI based and will require much more from a hardware standpoint than a traditional MMO.

If I were to make a discovery MMO, I would probably do it this way:
* The game last for a month or two, then everyting is reset and start fresh (I feel that without this restricution it is pointless to even discuss such game).
* There are 5 factions (groups), players belong to one. Discoveries are made in behalf of a whole group not an individual.

There are total 7 main storylines ("The dragon", "Tomb of the fallen paladin", "Missing princess", "Insane wizard", "Moonshine prophecy", "Goblins invasion", "Fountain of youth"), 3 are used during a round (choosen randomly). Also 2 are used as "fake rumours" (you can follow that storyline for a while but it is a dead end). Each storyline has 3 variants (small things like "you need a magic sword to kill the dragon" or next time the the same storyline will have "you need a fire protection armour to kill the dragon"). All these are hand made (nothing generated).

There are 5 predefined bosses for each storyline (3 will be used). I guess these could be partially shared among some storylines (as long as these are uniquely distributed during a round), this should reduce a bit of content.

There are 12 cities and 25 secret locations. Each city will have 1 secret location (so 12 used). Each city has a different probability of a secret location based on theme (like: Ancient dvarven city will have a high chance for underground golem factory).

Plus a bunch of boring traditionally generated sidequests/sidelocations.


When players explore they generate clues/exploration points for their faction. When a certain thereshold is reached a faction discovers the secret.
A faction that first discover a secret gets a bonus (like if they discovered the underground golem factory they can build golems there at 20% discount). When 3 factions discover a secret that secret become public and available to all factions. Optionally, top 100 players with highest exploration score in that secret get a bonus after the secret has been discovered (regardless of faction).

It would be a great game except for the "first influx of players" part and the "Players that discover these recipes, some more rare than others, would be able to teach them to other players. If things aren't passed down they will eventually fall into disuse and potentially may no longer exist within the game world." part. I love being a survivalist and explorer, but I hate if other players can use up/monopolize content before I get there.

Content can be recycled over time, not all, but most. Big events that affect the entire server will be more limited, I.E. race unlocks, but there can be content that is able to be "rediscovered". The aim is to provide enjoyable content over a long period of time rather than instant gratification and mass discoveries. The content just won't be sitting there waiting for EVERYONE to be able to do as they see fit. If it is available, anyone can do it, but the availability will be the limiting factor.

i actually had an idea like this, where everyone owned territory, could shape it as they wished and hide secrets throughout. players got rewarded with more land, customisation objects and bigger rewards as they explored other lands

When Faction play is opened up the hope would be to provide PvP with incentives. The three factions could control territory via villages/cities they build, defend, and maintain. It would be similar to what non-faction players can do, but as you take on the risk of joining a faction, you have a chance at different rewards.

@Caldenfor
I believe it would most likely end up in a few players discovering everything that is to discover very fast. Pherhaps there would be a few things undiscovered, but the chances for a casual player discovering one of these would be like winning the lottery. Same goes for crafting.

As I hinted above, things wouldn't have to be stagnantly sitting there waiting to be discovered. It wouldn't always be first come first serve and some things could be harder to discover than others. I feel this is a type of game where puzzles could be used well.

Let's say you have 1000 players a day and you want to let everyone find out 1 thing each day (so very low exploration rate). A year has 365 days, which means you need 365000 unique things to discover, per year (yep, you have to recreate it each year, so in 5 years you will need 1825000 unique discoveries).

How are you gonna create that content?
How are you gonna assure that this content is unique enough (not like a Goblin boss that has +0.01 to fire resistance than the next one)?
Even if you manage to solve all above, how players are supposed to remember/connect/share/talk about hundreds of thousands discoveries? Human's brain is not capable of this.

I wouldn't want everyone on the server to find something every day. While discoveries are an important part of the game, it won't be the only part of the game to participate in. The eventual goal is to have many activities to participate in that aren't driven by any one goal. Animal tamers can return. Treasure hunters. Thieves. Collectors.

Content design will be a monumental task, no doubt, but I hope you aren't expecting each and every player to be given their own personal content. That isn't the goal. There will be encounters that are very similar, and to an extent repetitive if you so choose, much like other MMORPGs.

Truly special things discovered by players will be able to be displayed in their home/shop. Some can be worn, but the majority of collectibles will be in display form. I wouldn't expect everyone to remember everything. Do you remember everything that has happened in your world with the people around you? Unique experiences while playing a game =/= unique content for every player.

I'm working on something similar, but instead of just having a world that is unknown and ready to explore it will also change. If you discover a town of NPCs one day you could come back a week later and find that it's been destroyed by goblins. I think this helps circumvent the problem of only the first players getting to really explore by ensuring that there is always new things to find in an already explored area.

Of course the major downside is that my solution is heavily AI based and will require much more from a hardware standpoint than a traditional MMO.

I would hope to have a continued struggle of those that become pushed out by players. They will still have the goal of eradicating the existence that players have tried to reestablish so raiding parties/armies would form at strongholds and march out to strike specified targets. Cities can fall into ruin if players are incapable, with NPC guard assistance, to defend them from invasion. Providing incentive to prevent this rather than letting them fall to be recaptured later is going to take some work.

My basic thought would be to have the entire force behave as one object. If you attack it and pull some off, they don't all chase, those that survive return and the object moves on. I look at it as a larger form of the typical escort quest in WoW/Rift, except the main target is an evil army not just one NPC.

If I were to make a discovery MMO, I would probably do it this way:
* The game last for a month or two, then everyting is reset and start fresh (I feel that without this restricution it is pointless to even discuss such game).
* There are 5 factions (groups), players belong to one. Discoveries are made in behalf of a whole group not an individual.

There are total 7 main storylines ("The dragon", "Tomb of the fallen paladin", "Missing princess", "Insane wizard", "Moonshine prophecy", "Goblins invasion", "Fountain of youth"), 3 are used during a round (choosen randomly). Also 2 are used as "fake rumours" (you can follow that storyline for a while but it is a dead end). Each storyline has 3 variants (small things like "you need a magic sword to kill the dragon" or next time the the same storyline will have "you need a fire protection armour to kill the dragon"). All these are hand made (nothing generated).

There are 5 predefined bosses for each storyline (3 will be used). I guess these could be partially shared among some storylines (as long as these are uniquely distributed during a round), this should reduce a bit of content.

There are 12 cities and 25 secret locations. Each city will have 1 secret location (so 12 used). Each city has a different probability of a secret location based on theme (like: Ancient dvarven city will have a high chance for underground golem factory).

Plus a bunch of boring traditionally generated sidequests/sidelocations.


When players explore they generate clues/exploration points for their faction. When a certain thereshold is reached a faction discovers the secret.
A faction that first discover a secret gets a bonus (like if they discovered the underground golem factory they can build golems there at 20% discount). When 3 factions discover a secret that secret become public and available to all factions. Optionally, top 100 players with highest exploration score in that secret get a bonus after the secret has been discovered (regardless of faction).

An MMO lasting only two months a go would not work. Casual players would be irate and for good reason.

Faction based play, just three factions though, would have it's own form of discoveries that would be used to benefit the faction.

The intention for the game wouldn't be to provide mass amounts of quests that have come forth in recent MMORPGs. There will still be some, but they will be more meaningful to undertake and not available to every player.

There is room for a cumulative aspect to discoveries, but I don't want to provide too many incentives to an aspect I don't want people to grind. Discovery is great, but if you make it too important players will go out of their way, even more so, to try and find them. Probably something that should be avoided to a degree.

Maybe post an example of a discovery, I don't get what you mean by it...

Like: You encountered a black knight in a forest, duelled and won, then you got an armour of the black knight and put it on display so you can brag about it, no one ever again will encounter the black knight.

Maybe post an example of a discovery, I don't get what you mean by it...

Like: You encountered a black knight in a forest, duelled and won, then you got an armour of the black knight and put it on display so you can brag about it, no one ever again will encounter the black knight.

Like:
Ability Example: You delve deep into the enemy stronghold. The stronghold was once a great city where scholars would pilgrimage to study in the great library. Over the years the city has been corrupted by the taint and documents had been pillaged and since disappeared from the known world. Due to it's nature there would be a very limited supply of these scrolls. You discover one of these documents, a scroll perhaps, where if you have the proper understanding(skill requirement) you can learn the knowledge of the scroll and gain access to a new ability. The ability would then need to be refined(skilled up) to make it more effective/useful. In essence some abilities do not exist until they are found and they won't be commonly found. You could also have it that if you have the required knowledge to study it, abilities cast against you can be learned through experiencing them. It wouldn't be instantaneous, but after several run-ins with the spell you could learn a very basic version of it and practice it to improve it.

Crafting Example: You are working diligently on making a weapon. You start to make a dirk and your crafting skills are sufficient enough where you, unintended by the player, create a very very basic curved dagger, which is unusable in combat. You can then study the curved dagger to unlock it as a future craft recipe. Once you unlock/discover it, you can craft curved daggers, low quality to begin, but better the more times you make the item.

There could also be non-skill/item related discoveries, such as securing a city and by doing so discover the dwarfs that once lived there, thus unlocking them as a playable race. It is pretty much a world where players are uneducated and through study, discovery, and practice, they can relearn the world of which they exist. Potentially even creating things that never existed before in the world, inventors.

The options are limitless, but I am trying not to get too "out there" to make it too difficult to actually make. A more basic discovery is being the first to attain any specific type of raw resource. You won't get a badge of honor, but you will have something more important, a very rare raw resource.