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Merchant MMO - Tradewind Cove
JoshWW
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I made sure to get a Mod to allow this thread before posting and looking like a spammer. Captain K was nice enough to allow me to talk about my new creation that is already in the works.
I've been a gamer for years and, like many gamers fantasize, I've always wanted to make my own game. All throughout high school I played with RPG maker and various other do-it-yourself software, but one player gaming seemed to be on its way out, the only remaining contenders being the big classics and some other kitschy games. MMORPGs have taken over, and try as I might, I've never been able to pick up on software programming, much less specific game programming. I turned my coding interests to the web.
It was summer of last year when I had the idea for this game. Starting with the simple idea of creating a browser based MMORPG I began coding and testing, and getting friends to help test. During the testing I had an epiphany. I've never played during a truly growing experience. Granted many MMOs have 'added' content at lump intervals or during large expansions, but even they retain full creative control.
I decided to open the game up as a 'sandbox-beta', during which I would take great care to allow players to develop their characters without the usual risks of rollbacks or glitches, and also take user input to the next level by putting game additions up for a community vote and allowing the players to have their own part in the growing nature of the game.
Now at this point you may be asking, "What is the game?" Well, the way that it has turned out so far is that it is a free economy based game in which you play a merchant in a fantasy trade city. You buy and sell items much like that guy behind the counter in most console RPGs, the challenge though lies in the market. The market materials that the items consist of are valued in a Stock Market type fashion, and the buying and selling of items raises and lowers their collective value. I.E. Buying a steel dagger will raise the overall value of all steel items and all daggers by a small amount therefore allowing others to sell steel at a higher price that would then reduce that material's market value again.
As I said earlier, all additions to the game are made public and though there is a vision for the game, I take more into consideration the players input themselves and often I put large add ons up for a vote.
Screen shots can be found on the main page. Registration and every aspect of the game is currently free and I intend to keep all aspects of the game pertaining to actual gameplay free. I've toyed with the idea of taking donations for cosmetic aspects in the future, but this game is meant to be open and free.
The game manual is still in the works so contact me here or there with any game questions.
So without further ado: http://tradewindcove.com
If you have any questions or comments feel free to post here and I will respond.
Edit:
I've been a gamer for years and, like many gamers fantasize, I've always wanted to make my own game. All throughout high school I played with RPG maker and various other do-it-yourself software, but one player gaming seemed to be on its way out, the only remaining contenders being the big classics and some other kitschy games. MMORPGs have taken over, and try as I might, I've never been able to pick up on software programming, much less specific game programming. I turned my coding interests to the web.
It was summer of last year when I had the idea for this game. Starting with the simple idea of creating a browser based MMORPG I began coding and testing, and getting friends to help test. During the testing I had an epiphany. I've never played during a truly growing experience. Granted many MMOs have 'added' content at lump intervals or during large expansions, but even they retain full creative control.
I decided to open the game up as a 'sandbox-beta', during which I would take great care to allow players to develop their characters without the usual risks of rollbacks or glitches, and also take user input to the next level by putting game additions up for a community vote and allowing the players to have their own part in the growing nature of the game.
Now at this point you may be asking, "What is the game?" Well, the way that it has turned out so far is that it is a free economy based game in which you play a merchant in a fantasy trade city. You buy and sell items much like that guy behind the counter in most console RPGs, the challenge though lies in the market. The market materials that the items consist of are valued in a Stock Market type fashion, and the buying and selling of items raises and lowers their collective value. I.E. Buying a steel dagger will raise the overall value of all steel items and all daggers by a small amount therefore allowing others to sell steel at a higher price that would then reduce that material's market value again.
As I said earlier, all additions to the game are made public and though there is a vision for the game, I take more into consideration the players input themselves and often I put large add ons up for a vote.
Screen shots can be found on the main page. Registration and every aspect of the game is currently free and I intend to keep all aspects of the game pertaining to actual gameplay free. I've toyed with the idea of taking donations for cosmetic aspects in the future, but this game is meant to be open and free.
The game manual is still in the works so contact me here or there with any game questions.
So without further ado: http://tradewindcove.com
If you have any questions or comments feel free to post here and I will respond.
Edit:
Don't know how many people are playing from PA, but I started a PA Guild. If you click on the link Town Crier, it'll take you to the forums. Send me a PM (Envy), and I will include you to the PA Guild. We even have our own forum to post in.
Check out my Browser Based Merchant MMO - Tradewind Cove.
JoshWW on
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Every game needs risk/reward mechanics. You already described an online durable goods market, and that presents possible rewards (financial gain, social benefits like fame and prestige, etc.) when you take risks (buying and selling.) What other risk/reward mechanics are in your game? What are the various things players stand to gain (game-token-wise) from the things they do, and what must they risk to try to get them? Or to look at it the other way, what risky things might the players want to do which might bring them extra rewards?
I don't mean to criticize this as not-novel -- it's a big industry and we're all standing on the shoulders of our peers here -- but when you speak of players adding content to the game, I'm reminded of old-fashioned MUDs, multi-user dungeons. (Anybody remember Elements of Paradox? :-) ) Most interesting game content was textual, so anybody with an imagination and a grasp of the English language could contribute interesting content. Very few functional or scripting elements were needed, and those were usually easy to build.
Players advance in the game, and these mature players are given trial-basis rights to build content, isolated from the rest of the game. Once the content is deemed 'done enough' it is linked to the rest of the game world and players can visit it. As players become wizards and builders, they become more adept at creating things people like to play, and are given more influence and authority in the game.
Do you have something similar to this in mind? Modern game players might demand content richer than a MUD's paragraphs of prose. How do you plan on helping potential contributors grow each-others' skills, review and critique each-others' work, and so on?
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
At the moment, Tradewind Cove has a ranking system that will be broadened to reflect more aspects of the game in the near future. This has more of a personal reward system based on accomplishment over others. Additional types of rewards could be added to the game and suggestoins are welcome as nearly every aspect of this game is up for extension.
As it stand, the actual development, beyond conception) is done solely by myself. This is how I had originally intended it, but as the creation of the game opens up, it may become the case that players can literally add their own content. I do however plan to work from a completely customizable standpoint when it comes to character creation and gameplay.
CAN we sell stuff we have in our inventory?
EDIT: Just read the "About" section and found out you can sell stuff once you reach level 2. Sell stuff without having someone wanting to buy it, I mean.
You might want to change your thread title to be a little more informative, though--it's not instantly clear from the thread index what this thread is really about.
So do the prices in the town square only change when new items are added or do buyers/sellers change their prices as their sales go on?
What do the skills do? I wanna haggle.
And skills are being worked on currently. I want to make sure that everything works and that all skills are implemented at the same time so that no one has an advantage over anyone else. Check the Town Crier forum in the game to see what game updates are coming etc.
Drop some format padding in there and you're golden :^:
*Using IE 7.0 and Firefox 2.0 on Vista Enterprise
edit: also it's javelin not javalin
The items themselves are set to have individual effects when equipped, (mostly on the Apprentice Treasure Hunter which is a big update that will be implemented soon), but right now you can equip at level 2 and the Back Satchel increases your carrying capacity by 10 and the Magic Bag increases it by 20. If you own a Caravan schedule and just have it in your inventory you can see when the Trade Caravan sails into port and you can buy and sell there too. The Caravan has more frequent appearances by more rare items, cost are 10% lower and profit is 10% higher. As more items are added they can have varying effects on game play.
edit: And I could swear I noticed 'javalin' and corrected it before. Thanks, fixed.
PSN: Lqmpley | Steam: TheOne(AndOnly)
Exactly, but nothing is showing up right now, and I got it for 81 gold (they have been going for 90+).
Hey, in a while you are going to wish you had some crappy hats, they be styling, yo!
PSN: Lqmpley | Steam: TheOne(AndOnly)
Can I wear all 4[EDIT: 5] of them?
PSN: Lqmpley | Steam: TheOne(AndOnly)
Yes, very much so.
Also, it would be neat to "bookmark" an specific item you could always jump to, even if you haven't bought it. That way you can determine market values and fluctuations.
An events list is something I've had on my list of things to add for a little while. I could probably have that implemented by tomorrow night.
Specific item that appears often, like a Light Bow. That way, I can track it without having to buy it first.
You mean like a Town Square RSS Feed?
Yeah. Basicially what I am saying is that I could whip up a program in an hour or two which would cosume the Town Square data and make a lot of monies.
Since we're starting off with $500, all of the sub 500 transactions will be looked at like a hawk. It'll just end up being fustrating to the player. Lets say 5 sub 500 listings are up that are actually a profit, you could maybe grab 2 of them in the time you have (between refreshes and other competition), if you're competeting against 10 other level 1's, could make the grind really unbearable.
Maybe look into having different market brackets?