I just sent out a mass email, inviting a bunch of folks to check out the blog, and if this happens to be you, welcome!
At the bottom of the page is a link to "older posts" that'll take you to my first posts, or there is a link (idea archive) on the right side of the page, the bottom entry "the basics" being the first.
Feel free to leave as many devastating comments (that prove this is a terrible idea) as you can!
Thanks for visiting.
The music is cool no matter what you say.
5/30/08
5/28/08
Level Playing Field
The interesting thing I did when playing WoW was to create random characters of different races to see what their starting areas were like.
One thing I think Blizzard does well is flesh out the racial motivations for progressing through the game.
Case in Point: The Undead race has escaped the control of the Lich King, and they are basically trying freedom on for size, and demanding their own legitimacy. Well, this is a good noble motivation.
But from the Human side, the undead are infecting the land and need to be destroyed.
So these conflicting motivations (are supposed to) drive the actions of each.
Either way though, you start out killing 8 of x, then collecting 4 of x, etc.
In my noir mmo, this could be fleshed out as well. If you started as a Chinese male, there would be the motivation of actually owning your own property (since they weren't allowed in many places in the 30's/40's), but if you progressed enough in the game you would be able to get into real estate.
Essentially, I would like to take realities from the era and tweak them to fit a racial quest line. If we were to balance it right, there would be ample reason to choose to be Chinese despite being unable to own property from the beginning.
Granted evolving morality will not let us tackle certain realities from the era. The overt racism, terms like "chink", "nigger", "spic", etc. were common place, and didn't generate the pained flinch it does now.
There is an Irish character in GTA who says "niggers" at one point, and my flinching made me miss half of what he said. I know that people say the word, and racism is still a big problem, but it's encouraging to know that to me the "n" word seems out of place.
The other option would be to make this a Mature rated game, and deal with it. It would give us a bit more freedom in creating the hard-boiled story lines. From a creator's perspective, of course I would prefer this. But what about the children?? Oh yeah, because soooo many kids wanna be Marlowe these days....
The Goldilocks place for this mmo would be a viable business at around 100,000 people playing.
ok, if 100k people payed $15/mo, that would be $18 mil a year. If they payed $50 for the game in the first place, that's another $5 mil.
So could this game get made for $23 mil?
Would 100,000 people really want to play it?
What would level the playing field for small business MMO's like I'm suggesting?
One thing I think Blizzard does well is flesh out the racial motivations for progressing through the game.
Case in Point: The Undead race has escaped the control of the Lich King, and they are basically trying freedom on for size, and demanding their own legitimacy. Well, this is a good noble motivation.
But from the Human side, the undead are infecting the land and need to be destroyed.
So these conflicting motivations (are supposed to) drive the actions of each.
Either way though, you start out killing 8 of x, then collecting 4 of x, etc.
In my noir mmo, this could be fleshed out as well. If you started as a Chinese male, there would be the motivation of actually owning your own property (since they weren't allowed in many places in the 30's/40's), but if you progressed enough in the game you would be able to get into real estate.
Essentially, I would like to take realities from the era and tweak them to fit a racial quest line. If we were to balance it right, there would be ample reason to choose to be Chinese despite being unable to own property from the beginning.
Granted evolving morality will not let us tackle certain realities from the era. The overt racism, terms like "chink", "nigger", "spic", etc. were common place, and didn't generate the pained flinch it does now.
There is an Irish character in GTA who says "niggers" at one point, and my flinching made me miss half of what he said. I know that people say the word, and racism is still a big problem, but it's encouraging to know that to me the "n" word seems out of place.
The other option would be to make this a Mature rated game, and deal with it. It would give us a bit more freedom in creating the hard-boiled story lines. From a creator's perspective, of course I would prefer this. But what about the children?? Oh yeah, because soooo many kids wanna be Marlowe these days....
The Goldilocks place for this mmo would be a viable business at around 100,000 people playing.
ok, if 100k people payed $15/mo, that would be $18 mil a year. If they payed $50 for the game in the first place, that's another $5 mil.
So could this game get made for $23 mil?
Would 100,000 people really want to play it?
What would level the playing field for small business MMO's like I'm suggesting?
5/27/08
The Diplomatic Route
Granted this blog is a real scatter-shot way to design a game, but really it's for me to look back and see what i was thinking. I'm saying that basically I'm not doing this for you. lol? ok, whatever.
But one thing I really liked about the now NMMO (not massive multi-player online) game Vanguard, was the Diplomacy mini game. Granted it was done with cards (kinda lame) but the concept of including the tactical art of diplomacy is a good idea. And I think it should be in my noir mmo.
You could try to convince me otherwise, but you would need +5 speechcraft.
But one thing I really liked about the now NMMO (not massive multi-player online) game Vanguard, was the Diplomacy mini game. Granted it was done with cards (kinda lame) but the concept of including the tactical art of diplomacy is a good idea. And I think it should be in my noir mmo.
You could try to convince me otherwise, but you would need +5 speechcraft.
Additions
You may have noticed a few additions to the blog:
1) An "Acronym Key" on the right that will help non-mmo folks with common terms.
2) And you may hear the music from the proper era... should help you get in the mood.
more additions slowly coming, so stay tuned out there in blog-land!
1) An "Acronym Key" on the right that will help non-mmo folks with common terms.
2) And you may hear the music from the proper era... should help you get in the mood.
more additions slowly coming, so stay tuned out there in blog-land!
Nouns and Verbs
So how would our items and actions be implemented in my noir mmo?
Lets start with items:
Clearly we would need to plumb the depths of 30's & 40's fashion which many have to make movies like L.A. Confidential, etc.
There would be Fedoras, Dungarees, Overalls, Pinafores, Jumpers, Cami Knickers, Mackintosh, Frocks, etc...
As well as various shoes and boots ... Jackets, and Formal wear.
But here's a cool thing: People in the 30's bought "Patterns" for clothes (my dad actually made us winter jackets from these patterns while we were living in Alaska), which are rice paper-like thin sheets with dotted lines detailing where the fabric should be stitched, and little marks for inserting pins.
This continued into the 40's because of war rationing. Unlike today (despite being in a war), people were encouraged to repair their clothing, not continue to spend freely.
Now we've got Tailoring as an historically apropos profession, and one that spans the 2 decades.
These Patterns ("recipes" in WoW) can be bought and sold, learned by tailors, etc.
But I think it would be cool to have non-tailors be able to learn low-level patterns not unlike how the "First-Aid, Cooking, and Fishing" professions are implemented in WoW.
Tailors, on the other hand, could em beau their creations with added benefit to the wearer: Shoes with increased Speed, Fedora with increased Diplomacy, Overcoat with added intimidation.
Other items would of course include weapons.
Pistols: Derringers, old Peacemakers, pocket model Smith & Wesson .22, and many more...
Shotgun: yes, they had sawed-off shotguns then, and lighter models like the 4-10.
Rifles: Remington, Winchester, etc.
So Gun-smith should be a playable profession.
But here's where it could get real interesting: In the war years, people often remember seeing trucks loaded with anti-aircraft guns and other large-caliber stationary munitions traveling through town.
I can picture a mob related mission to steal one of these things and use it to take out a rival's hide-out, or yacht...
Other items: books, magazines, newspapers, cigars, cigarettes, pocket-watches, monocles, wrist watches, rings, suspenders, cuff links, ties, eye glasses. And each of these things can be "enchanted" to boost a players abilities.
Other thoughts?
Lets start with items:
Clearly we would need to plumb the depths of 30's & 40's fashion which many have to make movies like L.A. Confidential, etc.
There would be Fedoras, Dungarees, Overalls, Pinafores, Jumpers, Cami Knickers, Mackintosh, Frocks, etc...
As well as various shoes and boots ... Jackets, and Formal wear.
But here's a cool thing: People in the 30's bought "Patterns" for clothes (my dad actually made us winter jackets from these patterns while we were living in Alaska), which are rice paper-like thin sheets with dotted lines detailing where the fabric should be stitched, and little marks for inserting pins.
This continued into the 40's because of war rationing. Unlike today (despite being in a war), people were encouraged to repair their clothing, not continue to spend freely.
Now we've got Tailoring as an historically apropos profession, and one that spans the 2 decades.
These Patterns ("recipes" in WoW) can be bought and sold, learned by tailors, etc.
But I think it would be cool to have non-tailors be able to learn low-level patterns not unlike how the "First-Aid, Cooking, and Fishing" professions are implemented in WoW.
Tailors, on the other hand, could em beau their creations with added benefit to the wearer: Shoes with increased Speed, Fedora with increased Diplomacy, Overcoat with added intimidation.
Other items would of course include weapons.
Pistols: Derringers, old Peacemakers, pocket model Smith & Wesson .22, and many more...
Shotgun: yes, they had sawed-off shotguns then, and lighter models like the 4-10.
Rifles: Remington, Winchester, etc.
So Gun-smith should be a playable profession.
But here's where it could get real interesting: In the war years, people often remember seeing trucks loaded with anti-aircraft guns and other large-caliber stationary munitions traveling through town.
I can picture a mob related mission to steal one of these things and use it to take out a rival's hide-out, or yacht...
Other items: books, magazines, newspapers, cigars, cigarettes, pocket-watches, monocles, wrist watches, rings, suspenders, cuff links, ties, eye glasses. And each of these things can be "enchanted" to boost a players abilities.
Other thoughts?
5/26/08
Class Struggle
In The Black Dahlia James Ellroy's character "Bucky", an ex-boxer turned police detective, gives me a good idea for a profession/class connection in my noir mmo.
It seems Bucky came to the attention of the police force because he'd been a prize fighter and done pretty well, well enough to get noticed, anyway.
So I'm thinking there could be 2 paths into the police class:
1) You take some performance test (starting at lvl whatever) to enter the academy, then progress normally doing low level police missions ("quests" seems like the wrong word), until you gain faction and promotions, etc.
OR
2) You gain faction via a Boxing PvP (Player verses Player) arena. You have to perform at a certain level, like x amount of wins, or x global ranking before you are approached by a police rep who wants you to join the force at an elevated level.
It seems Bucky came to the attention of the police force because he'd been a prize fighter and done pretty well, well enough to get noticed, anyway.
So I'm thinking there could be 2 paths into the police class:
1) You take some performance test (starting at lvl whatever) to enter the academy, then progress normally doing low level police missions ("quests" seems like the wrong word), until you gain faction and promotions, etc.
OR
2) You gain faction via a Boxing PvP (Player verses Player) arena. You have to perform at a certain level, like x amount of wins, or x global ranking before you are approached by a police rep who wants you to join the force at an elevated level.
5/22/08
Whether to weather the storm
GTA IV has incredible weather.
I'm sure WoW has better weather then what can run on my system...
Today here in CA there was a tornado, rain, and lightning ... and it made me think about how weather has played a role in movies... BESIDES the crappy love stories at the end of the 2nd act when she leaves to go back to her old tobacco-chewing boyfriend who doesn't really love her....
See in old detective movies there might be a little rain when we're supposed to be puzzled... like we're a little out of our element or caught off-guard (or as an excuse to share a paper cup of rye with the hot bookseller chick across the street - who looks great with glasses too - while staking out the underground stag shop).
All this to say, there should be hot bookseller chicks in my noir MMO.
I'm sure WoW has better weather then what can run on my system...
Today here in CA there was a tornado, rain, and lightning ... and it made me think about how weather has played a role in movies... BESIDES the crappy love stories at the end of the 2nd act when she leaves to go back to her old tobacco-chewing boyfriend who doesn't really love her....
See in old detective movies there might be a little rain when we're supposed to be puzzled... like we're a little out of our element or caught off-guard (or as an excuse to share a paper cup of rye with the hot bookseller chick across the street - who looks great with glasses too - while staking out the underground stag shop).
All this to say, there should be hot bookseller chicks in my noir MMO.
5/20/08
The Race Card
Possible Races in My Noir MMO:
Black
White
Chinese
Hispanic
American Indian
Armenian
So the touchiest subject could be race. Here's why:
You can make an orc be stronger than an elf because neither exist, and there won't be an offended party.
But you do an MMORPG with real races...what do you do?
Chinese get a +3 agility?
Blacks get +3 badassery?
Whites a +3 winning smile?
It's a real problem, especially because if realism is what you're going for, you failed because Chinese people aren't genetically more agile than American Indians, etc...
So you start everybody at the same ability level.
Ok.
Maybe you gain abilities depending on your play style. Is this possible? If you're a "bust down the door & start shooting" kind of player, your stats build more strength and stamina, and if you're a "sneak around back & cold-cock 'em" type player, your stats build agility, subtlety... that could be cool.
One of the cool things you can do in Star Wars Galaxies is become mayor of a player-created city.
I love that idea, but in America in the 1940's it was pretty damn rare (if it happened at all) that a black man (not to mention woman) could be mayor of a huge city like LA.
Should the game be adjusted to be fair?
Or do we make a mature-rated MMO?
Those don't seem to fly too well.
Black
White
Chinese
Hispanic
American Indian
Armenian
So the touchiest subject could be race. Here's why:
You can make an orc be stronger than an elf because neither exist, and there won't be an offended party.
But you do an MMORPG with real races...what do you do?
Chinese get a +3 agility?
Blacks get +3 badassery?
Whites a +3 winning smile?
It's a real problem, especially because if realism is what you're going for, you failed because Chinese people aren't genetically more agile than American Indians, etc...
So you start everybody at the same ability level.
Ok.
Maybe you gain abilities depending on your play style. Is this possible? If you're a "bust down the door & start shooting" kind of player, your stats build more strength and stamina, and if you're a "sneak around back & cold-cock 'em" type player, your stats build agility, subtlety... that could be cool.
One of the cool things you can do in Star Wars Galaxies is become mayor of a player-created city.
I love that idea, but in America in the 1940's it was pretty damn rare (if it happened at all) that a black man (not to mention woman) could be mayor of a huge city like LA.
Should the game be adjusted to be fair?
Or do we make a mature-rated MMO?
Those don't seem to fly too well.
A Touch of Class
Choosing a "Class" in an MMO seems like the 2nd most psychological decision the player makes. The first is "Race". I want to talk about class first, because race gets a little dicey when we're talking about the 1930's and 40's in America. How much realism do you really want, right?
Ok so the classes in My Noir MMO could very well be:
Detective (of course)
-Private
-Pinkerton
-Police (Ranked)
Street
Patrol
Detective
Deputy DA, etc.
-Mob (Ranked)
Errand Boy/Girl—the Don
-Merchant (Ranked)
Street—Large Corp manager
- Movie personnel (Ranked)
Key grip—Mogul
-Newspaper Personnel (Ranked)
Paperboy/girl—Editor
etc...
Or maybe these are just professions one can choose and there is another "Class" distinction....
I don't know.
Ok so the classes in My Noir MMO could very well be:
Detective (of course)
-Private
-Pinkerton
-Police (Ranked)
Street
Patrol
Detective
Deputy DA, etc.
-Mob (Ranked)
Errand Boy/Girl—the Don
-Merchant (Ranked)
Street—Large Corp manager
- Movie personnel (Ranked)
Key grip—Mogul
-Newspaper Personnel (Ranked)
Paperboy/girl—Editor
etc...
Or maybe these are just professions one can choose and there is another "Class" distinction....
I don't know.
Let me count the ways...
I was thinking of doing a "it's like WoW, but..." section, but rather than get too involved, I'll just list a couple of things I like about WoW:
- talent system
- detailed lore
- balanced leveling system
- tongue-in-cheek approach
- limited professions
probably much more....
I think these could translate to the Noir universe quite easily.
* I should be clear: I don't have any technical programming knowledge, so when I say something stupid like "this could be done easily", I only mean conceptually. I can't even fathom the immense amount of work Blizzard coded...just so we're on the same page.
Limiting aspects of WoW:
- very limited customization
- no residence ownership
- Very little creative input from players (recipes are static and cannot be altered). For example, even if you have the recipe for "Blue Linen Shirt" which calls for linen cloth, course thread and blue dye, you cannot make a "Red Linen Shirt" by simply buying red dye. You have to have the recipe for "Red Linen Shirt". A little more experimentation would instill greater ownership.
btw, low level stealth for the rogue class sucks.
- talent system
- detailed lore
- balanced leveling system
- tongue-in-cheek approach
- limited professions
probably much more....
I think these could translate to the Noir universe quite easily.
* I should be clear: I don't have any technical programming knowledge, so when I say something stupid like "this could be done easily", I only mean conceptually. I can't even fathom the immense amount of work Blizzard coded...just so we're on the same page.
Limiting aspects of WoW:
- very limited customization
- no residence ownership
- Very little creative input from players (recipes are static and cannot be altered). For example, even if you have the recipe for "Blue Linen Shirt" which calls for linen cloth, course thread and blue dye, you cannot make a "Red Linen Shirt" by simply buying red dye. You have to have the recipe for "Red Linen Shirt". A little more experimentation would instill greater ownership.
btw, low level stealth for the rogue class sucks.
First things First
I don't have a name for this game. Team Bondi and Rockstar are working and on a single-player game called L.A. Noir, which has nothing to do with this. That is a real game, this is wishful thinking. Despite how excited I am for the game to come out, I'm a little disappointed in the title...I mean, the term "noir" wasn't used then to describe itself, and since you're asking the player to immerse him/herself in the character of the time, it seems odd to misrepresent the era that way, but whatever.
The point is I need a name, and clearly it shouldn't have the word "noir" in it.
Ok, the history of the word begins in the 50's in France (hence the french word...yeah), with writers like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut who weren't filmmakers yet, just brilliant journos. This is their description of an American Cult film that was NOT a genre. Odd, but true. Probably is now, I guess.
So the entire scene requires/is defined by an outside perspective. Interesting. Something we'll revisit.
The point is I need a name, and clearly it shouldn't have the word "noir" in it.
Ok, the history of the word begins in the 50's in France (hence the french word...yeah), with writers like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut who weren't filmmakers yet, just brilliant journos. This is their description of an American Cult film that was NOT a genre. Odd, but true. Probably is now, I guess.
So the entire scene requires/is defined by an outside perspective. Interesting. Something we'll revisit.
The Basics
Let me start off by saying that I know, realistically, a MMO based in the noir universe will probably never be made. There are too few people who participate in "study groups" interested in this era. This is just a guess, but accurate, I think.
That said, I don't give a crap. My hope is that anyone who reads this blog will think this could be a great idea as well. We'll see...
Southern California in the 30's and 40's was a story factory. Not only did a whole lot of crazy shit happen, but there were people paid to write about it, embellish it, and sell it. This was the first taste of candy to the baby... and Hollywood was the center of that universe.
Now, to get in the proper mood I suggest watching The Big Sleep. Very important.
Both versions: 1945 and 1946.
The '45 version for the extra scenes with the DA (not Bacall's caught-in-the-net face wrap), and the '46 version, to see the changes (including removal of the infamous fishnet face wrap). And you should watch The Maltese Falcon.
>> I will have a section dedicated to listing cool noir-ish stuff to keep you inspired as we go along.
I will try to relate my ideas in terms current MMOs use (i.e. talent tree, xp, etc). I may over explain things a bit, because of my own lack of knowledge, and the fact that most people I point to this site won't be lvl 70 warlocks with 4 billion hp.
So that's it for the first post. I'll be back with more posts that are actually about the game.
That said, I don't give a crap. My hope is that anyone who reads this blog will think this could be a great idea as well. We'll see...
Southern California in the 30's and 40's was a story factory. Not only did a whole lot of crazy shit happen, but there were people paid to write about it, embellish it, and sell it. This was the first taste of candy to the baby... and Hollywood was the center of that universe.
Now, to get in the proper mood I suggest watching The Big Sleep. Very important.
Both versions: 1945 and 1946.
The '45 version for the extra scenes with the DA (not Bacall's caught-in-the-net face wrap), and the '46 version, to see the changes (including removal of the infamous fishnet face wrap). And you should watch The Maltese Falcon.
>> I will have a section dedicated to listing cool noir-ish stuff to keep you inspired as we go along.
I will try to relate my ideas in terms current MMOs use (i.e. talent tree, xp, etc). I may over explain things a bit, because of my own lack of knowledge, and the fact that most people I point to this site won't be lvl 70 warlocks with 4 billion hp.
So that's it for the first post. I'll be back with more posts that are actually about the game.
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