Hello!

Well, here it is. The game design document I have been working on obsessively for over a week now. I realize there are a few holes still left to be filled. Some of them will be filled on the fly and some will be filled in as a I think of them and hopefully some can be filled in by suggestions from helpful folks like yourselves.

I know it's long and involved, but I would be very appreciative if people want to take a look at it and give me some feedback. Does it seem like a game you might want to play? What seems fun about it? What aspects do not seem very fun. What needs to be better thought-out or changed? etc etc.

I also know the name is kind of goofy and will probably be changed. If you have any suggestions for that, send 'em along. :-)

This game is about overcoming the challenges of living in a post-apocalyptic world. It is designed to be challenging and therefore maybe not designed for the casual gamer in mind. Although I hope it's tons of fun.

The specific numbers given through this document are starting points and the real numbers will be determined by testing and creating a balance between fun and challenge.

I hope some people will read it and give me some advice on how to make it the awesome game I envision it being.

Thanks!

hm.... very detailed indeed. Nice work.

What I fear most is that older players will gank lower/newer players. Also if a player is fresh and dies the game would be over (if no other action is taken from the system side).
I guess it would be nice to have a little tutorial around and I do not know rescue a randomly generated NPC which then joins you and is your first family member.

Another point is: the long term player will lose everything when their whole family is murdered. So I am not really sure if that`s the way it should go.

It is not like that I would not play hard games like this but in general if I'd play for let`s say one year and lose everything in a few hours that would be really suck.

Of course I know these are the extreme situations which could happen but both situations would scare players away.

You should also define what is the beginning part of the game (tutorial + starter area for example), leveling part (exploring things, building your family, first pvp actions), end game part (having a big family, defending your property, etc.).

That way you see how the game should progress in the view of a player.

All in all I`d say it is a good game but you should focus on a certain group of players in the first place (casual, normal, hardcore players regarding playtime and game experience). Casual is like <10h/week, normal is 10 - 25 h/week, hardcore 26+ h/week regarding time.

In my view a complex game with these nice features has a lot of potential but you have to focus on one group with game like this because focusing on too many groups (massively multiplayer) will result in a bad endgame situation.
Another option would be that you define servers regarding activity but yeah well you will see that when it comes to that point ^^