Hello Gamedev, I would like to talk about a topic that interests me very much, and that in my opinion goes overlooked some times.

With the advent of Minecraft, people in general started to really notice the survival/sandbox genre, in where you collect things to survive and modify the world around you to fit your needs. As in other similar games, the gameplay revolves around building, resource gathering and fighting. This in my opinion spawned a lot of things to focus new games on, allow me to bring some examples to the table:

In Terraria, the focus was changed to accomodate to people who liked adventure games in the style of Castlevania and Metroid, but still mantaining building as one of the core mechanics.

King Arthur's Gold focuses more on PVP combat, while again; maintaining platforming building and resource gathering.

The game Don't Starve took out the "Endgame" part of the Sandbox, and brings you an adventure in where you are always at the verge of dying, because you can never do an impenetrable fortress as in Minecraft, for example.

So as you can see, we have games focusing on aspects that, don't misunderstand, Minecraft did not invent by any chance, but that made the general public turn towards to more than before, one focusing on combat, one on adventure and fighting mobs, and one in surviving.

But what about Resource Gathering?

I may be part of a very small niche, but the very fact that you must search for, collect and organize small bits of useful stuff makes the game very fun to me. Is it possible, at least in theory, to come up with a game in where resource gathering plays a big role?

My bet would be that it is, but the focus would in this case be economics. Real economics based on simple supply and demand, or any other method (I apologize for my lack of knowledge in the area). Is it possible to play the role of the citizens of your average RTS in where you are tasked to collect things just to sell them back to a big pool of player-earned coin?

What are your thoughts? If you wish to support the discussion, I would be very glad if you could answer some of these questions:

1. Would it require a big number of players to maintain a less-fluctuating economy?
2. Would it be better with a final goal? or just making the personal enrichment of the player the final goal? (A lot of people have this one in real life so...)
3. And most importantly: Would it be fun?

Whatever point you can bring to the table will be most appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

My bet would be that it is, but the focus would in this case be economics. Real economics based on simple supply and demand, or any other method (I apologize for my lack of knowledge in the area). Is it possible to play the role of the citizens of your average RTS in where you are tasked to collect things just to sell them back to a big pool of player-earned coin?

In real economics, the management of gathering and giving is what improves the economy, both local and national. Hording or saving without spending or giving slows the economy. This can be caused by greed, fear, habit, or all of the three.

I would love to see your game concept involve rewards for giving and spending as well as gathering, because that brings joy in life more than keeping things. "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

What are your thoughts? If you wish to support the discussion, I would be very glad if you could answer some of these questions:


Would it require a big number of players to maintain a less-fluctuating economy? People love the unexpected in games, right? AI and randomized event scripting can fill the lack of players. In the case of randomizing the event scripting, this is easier in general than creating AI.

Would it be better with a final goal? or just making the personal enrichment of the player the final goal? (A lot of people have this one in real life so...)I feel that personal enrichment is shallow without giving or contributing value. Perhaps the goal would be acquiring things to give the most at the end. Small achievement could mean only reaching the end but great accomplishment means that you saved the village and made everyone's life better in various ways.

And most importantly: Would it be fun? If it is well made with surprises and "feel good" things, yes - this sounds good to me.

Whatever point you can bring to the table will be most appreciated.



Thanks for your time.

Game to real life discussions fascinate me. I like to dabble into the "psychology" of game development.

Clinton

City builder games somewhat work with economics. Gathering resources exists as a critical mechanic in many game genres. They generally aren't very popular compared to FPS themepark MMO RTs and RPG games.

Personally, I enjoy MMORPG with have a well-structured economic system since I enjoy trading in game. Buying and selling items as well as giving finding ways and means to earn more money such as buying items beforehand and wait till an event which increases the demand starts so that I can earn a lot of money.

Atlantica Online and Goonzu Online by nDoors have one of the more interesting economic system in my opinion. In Goonzu, you can somehow trade with other players from other servers. Atlantica Online has an elaborate crafting system which helps to create a dynamic economy.

However, I feel that players generally do not enjoy the economic principle of the game. They would rather grind to earn the money, maybe it is just faster in the short term and require less thinking as well.

Fluctuation is an inevitable part of an economy. I feel that how serious it becomes depend on how well structured the economic system is.

Personally, I enjoy MMORPG with have a well-structured economic system since I enjoy trading in game. Buying and selling items as well as giving finding ways and means to earn more money such as buying items beforehand and wait till an event which increases the demand starts so that I can earn a lot of money.

Atlantica Online and Goonzu Online by nDoors have one of the more interesting economic system in my opinion. In Goonzu, you can somehow trade with other players from other servers. Atlantica Online has an elaborate crafting system which helps to create a dynamic economy.

However, I feel that players generally do not enjoy the economic principle of the game. They would rather grind to earn the money, maybe it is just faster in the short term and require less thinking as well.

Fluctuation is an inevitable part of an economy. I feel that how serious it becomes depend on how well structured the economic system is.

Hadn't heard of those games before.

Events that change the cost of items sound like an interesting mechanic to keep the players' attention span and decision making.

I am sad to hear that you feel players generally don't like the economics in a game, but I have to agree. I do not have a problem with grinding, in fact, I see it as one of many ways a developer can show the world to a player, the problem is that it has been overused to the point in where people want change.

@3DDreamer: I would guess the "feel good" mechanics of the game would depend on the game itself. I wonder if one can run a game based solely on this; merchants trying to cover their routes, perhaps the action comes when bandits try to rob you.

Another point I find interesting is how some games manage to keep the resource and money gathering through a different approach, I.E. most facebook games. The fact that you can just come back after a few hours to loot the results of your previous work (like in Farmville) and repeat the process, while decorating your environment sounds like a good idea. Sadly enough, it doesn't seem to fit correctly in a real-time environment.

Thanks to everybody who replied, and if you wish to keep talking about the subject just keep posting i guess.

I doubt if this involvement of 'invisible hand' in game makes sense. It makes people to await for 'unnatural' changes to make profit without a reason.

What I will use in my game to counterbalance lack of a proper economy due to low number of players will be a game controlled seller bound by simple laws of trade as well. This seller will ensure availability of all items (at a higher cost so players can easily compete) and prevent other players from spoiling 'scarcity rent' too much.

And for making resource gathering the center of gameplay, I think it broadens your target players unless you invent a way of making resource gathering more sophisticated and fun.

"Make a game that focuses heavily on resource gathering"

You just listed some there, Terraria, Don't Starve and Minecraft all rely very heavily on resource gathering. The reason the games aren't defined as such is because resource gatherings is only considered part of games no matter how big a part. Instead, they are given the label "survival", which means pretty much the same thing. Survive by gathering resources is the basic concept of well...every survival game out there basically.

Creating a game that is ONLY about resource gathering would be boring. So I rather enjoy what we have, that resource gathering-holic fun with the survival concept to keep you intrigued.

Or, in other words, survival sandboxes.

Now I am ranting.

I must stop doing that.

Well, gathering games are essentially farming games where you don't choose the crop.

They are the indiana jones "adventurer-style" of the farming game.

The resources you harvest are not those you planted, but those you find and choose to pick up.

Not only is it a viable type, but it already exists, in a number of occurences.

I've personally played 4 or 5 titles on Kongregate that dabbled with this concept and nothing else.

I remember one of them being digging the ground, buying upgrades to dig faster, deeper, etc. All in all, you just dug all the time and took resources, and it was fun. The exploration part was important though. A big part of minecraft is uncovering wonders. Before villages, wonders were the natural cave you found at an unlilely place, or the large lava network exposed at some place, or the odd cliff, etc. They are the places you wanted to focus on because the scenery was interesting.

Hmm, I like resource gathering for the purpose of crafting with the resources, like in A Tale in the Desert, Wurm Online, and Stranded II, but I don't think gathering resources to sell is satisfying; for example in Skyrim I rarely bother harvesting crops or chopping wood.

[quote name='Lexadrik' timestamp='1357596221' post='5018767']
@3DDreamer: I would guess the "feel good" mechanics of the game would depend on the game itself. I wonder if one can run a game based solely on this; merchants trying to cover their routes, perhaps the action comes when bandits try to rob you.
[/quote]

There are many ways to add action without bandits. Life is full of unexpected things.