Hey there, you fantastic Minecraft community! I'm brand spankin' new to these forums and, as such, this is my very first post. I felt compelled to join after I thought up a nifty idea that I had the audacity to believe other people would care about. So without further delay:
I love Minecraft. I love its boundless potential, aura of creativity, and its sandboxiness in general. But I can only aimlessly build for so long without yearning for a little something more, so I did my best to imagine what a future Minecraft could be whilst still retaining its sandbox roots.
What I came up with was a simple point-based system. Virtually anything and everything you do in-game will net you a set amount of points depending on the level of difficulty or rarity involved. For example, each block of stone you mine would score you a measly point gain compared to an ore that actually takes some form of effort to locate. Let's say stone is worth 1 point and coal is worth 50, iron maybe 100-200, and so on and so forth. Crafting would earn you points, building structures would earn you points (If it's even possible to have the game recognize what a 'structure' could actually be), and killing various beasties would earn you points.
Now these points would just silently amass themselves over time as you go about doing your thing, building towns, hollowing out the planet, cowering in the shadows of creepers, etc. But when a certain threshold is met, the game would allow you the option of progressing to the next 'Age'.
This transition, I'm sure, would be similar to what you're imagining right now. A new age would allow the player access to new, more advanced crafting recipes, it would add new environmental features to the world, more menacing creatures would spawn to further challenge you (and keep the survival aspect intact), and feats that were impossible in a previous age are now within your ability. An example of that could be that the deeper you dig, the more dense the rock becomes. Thus requiring newfangled mining technology to penetrate it.
In a nutshell, as you progress from age to age after meeting point quotas, the game will throw increasingly difficult challenges at you in the form of collecting rare materials from deadly locales, fending off ever more bloodthirsty and intelligent enemies, building greater and greater feats of architecture and engineering, until you reach the pinnacle of godliness (cleanliness?) and lord over your impenetrable, chrome sky-city or whatever it is that tickles your fancy.
And, again, keep in mind that progressing to a new age would be entirely optional. In a sandbox game, freedom is king. So a player is free to stay in any particular age as long as they wish. I would also intend for these point thresholds to take a good long while to reach. What's the point of passing into a new age if you can't stick around for a while and enjoy it?
With a system like this, Minecraft's sandbox theme would remain untouched. You would still be exploring, building and mining to your hearts content, but now with the added incentive and motivation of the shiny goodies of a new age to keep your truckin' along when you might otherwise have lost your sense of purpose or direction. It would reward your time spent playing with the promise of new toys to unlock, pushing the scope of possibilities further and further.
Of course, this is still a fairly vague idea open to tweaking and varying interpretations. Maybe age progression doesn't have to be linear and your actions or playstyle can lead your world in different directions. Maybe ages will require a few set goals along with the general point hoarding. What I provided was the most basic idea.
And that's all I got. Thank you kindly, dear reader, for taking the time to skim over my ramblings. Comments and such concerning thoughts/feelings are more than welcome.
Well that's debatable, BUT this system is actually closest to what Minecraft already is. In essence, you collect materials and craft items that enable you to collect rarer materials and craft more complex items. The idea is already there, my idea just expands it further and creates long-term incentive.
You create so that you may reach a goal and gain access to more complex creations. Any "RPG" elements you're picking up on are already present in the game. It's all about perspective.
I state no here. It is human nature to be completionist to some degree. An idea like this would quite literally force players to have game-made objectives, even if it wasn't the intention.
Any expansion of technology has taken root in Minecraft through the location and use of naturally found and harvested resources such as redstone, iron(especially), and diamonds. Any further expansion needs to be performed in the same fashion.
I am not against the increase/improvement of technology, but it has to occur based off of items on-hand.
Of course, it's not my intention to limit anyone's gameplay.
I've simply felt for a long time that Minecraft could use some form of long-term goal to keep the player looking to the future. Sure I could occupy myself building a massive mountain fortress, but once it's complete what's the point of it? It protects me from the elements of the game world no better than a small mud hut would :smile.gif:
I might feel good having built it and haunt its halls for a while, but, ultimately, it serves no real purpose. I guess I'm just a guy the craves functionality, haha.
I know Notch has expressed a desire for Minecraft to have multiple modes of play. This idea would definitely be geared to a more storyline or adventure based mode. I wouldn't dream of encroaching upon straight up sandbox mode.
No thank you. The idea of minecraft is that you will advance in ages as the game already is, collecting more and more materials, which allows you to eventually build giant computers which can solve addition and play the 28 Weeks Later soundtrack simultaneously. Disallowing people from doing this until they had completed a series of arbitrary tasks which would ultimately only be time-fillers would make the game crap.
Could make a good mod, though.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quote from Ygdrasel »
I don't know sled teams but I do know I put my dog on an electric treadmill once and dangled a chicken leg. Treadmill puppy ensued.
Right, this idea is already very similar to how vanilla Minecraft operates. I'm not saying we take what we already have and stretch it out over multiple ages, but that everything that is currently part of the game could be all a part of the first age. You would want enough to occupy you without feeling like you're being held back because you haven't "done enough" to warrant moving on.
So I suppose seamless progression such as that wouldn't necessarily require a point tracking system. But what it does require is more to progress TO. It feels like the technological pinnacle is reached far too quickly. Hopefully future additions alleviate that because I am aware that we're still in beta.
That's not to say I want a grind either. I feel there needs to be more to look forward to and that some of the later inventions should allow extraordinary possibilities. But I want to feel like I actually worked hard enough to earn those privileges instead of just throwing it together after 30min to an hour of material gathering.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I love Minecraft. I love its boundless potential, aura of creativity, and its sandboxiness in general. But I can only aimlessly build for so long without yearning for a little something more, so I did my best to imagine what a future Minecraft could be whilst still retaining its sandbox roots.
What I came up with was a simple point-based system. Virtually anything and everything you do in-game will net you a set amount of points depending on the level of difficulty or rarity involved. For example, each block of stone you mine would score you a measly point gain compared to an ore that actually takes some form of effort to locate. Let's say stone is worth 1 point and coal is worth 50, iron maybe 100-200, and so on and so forth. Crafting would earn you points, building structures would earn you points (If it's even possible to have the game recognize what a 'structure' could actually be), and killing various beasties would earn you points.
Now these points would just silently amass themselves over time as you go about doing your thing, building towns, hollowing out the planet, cowering in the shadows of creepers, etc. But when a certain threshold is met, the game would allow you the option of progressing to the next 'Age'.
This transition, I'm sure, would be similar to what you're imagining right now. A new age would allow the player access to new, more advanced crafting recipes, it would add new environmental features to the world, more menacing creatures would spawn to further challenge you (and keep the survival aspect intact), and feats that were impossible in a previous age are now within your ability. An example of that could be that the deeper you dig, the more dense the rock becomes. Thus requiring newfangled mining technology to penetrate it.
In a nutshell, as you progress from age to age after meeting point quotas, the game will throw increasingly difficult challenges at you in the form of collecting rare materials from deadly locales, fending off ever more bloodthirsty and intelligent enemies, building greater and greater feats of architecture and engineering, until you reach the pinnacle of godliness (cleanliness?) and lord over your impenetrable, chrome sky-city or whatever it is that tickles your fancy.
And, again, keep in mind that progressing to a new age would be entirely optional. In a sandbox game, freedom is king. So a player is free to stay in any particular age as long as they wish. I would also intend for these point thresholds to take a good long while to reach. What's the point of passing into a new age if you can't stick around for a while and enjoy it?
With a system like this, Minecraft's sandbox theme would remain untouched. You would still be exploring, building and mining to your hearts content, but now with the added incentive and motivation of the shiny goodies of a new age to keep your truckin' along when you might otherwise have lost your sense of purpose or direction. It would reward your time spent playing with the promise of new toys to unlock, pushing the scope of possibilities further and further.
Of course, this is still a fairly vague idea open to tweaking and varying interpretations. Maybe age progression doesn't have to be linear and your actions or playstyle can lead your world in different directions. Maybe ages will require a few set goals along with the general point hoarding. What I provided was the most basic idea.
And that's all I got. Thank you kindly, dear reader, for taking the time to skim over my ramblings. Comments and such concerning thoughts/feelings are more than welcome.
You create so that you may reach a goal and gain access to more complex creations. Any "RPG" elements you're picking up on are already present in the game. It's all about perspective.
Any expansion of technology has taken root in Minecraft through the location and use of naturally found and harvested resources such as redstone, iron(especially), and diamonds. Any further expansion needs to be performed in the same fashion.
I am not against the increase/improvement of technology, but it has to occur based off of items on-hand.
Again, politely
Do not approve
OFFICIAL POSTING/REPLYING GUIDELINES
UNOFFICIAL POSTING GUIDE (PRT)
UNOFFICIAL REPLYING GUIDE (FTC)
No it isn't.
Incompetence is a plague. I am the cure.
For all your wolf suggestion needs, I present the WOLF MEGATHREAD!
Stories: A Miner's Chronicle, The Lost Chronicle [Entries 32-2, 33-1, and 33-2 out!]
I've simply felt for a long time that Minecraft could use some form of long-term goal to keep the player looking to the future. Sure I could occupy myself building a massive mountain fortress, but once it's complete what's the point of it? It protects me from the elements of the game world no better than a small mud hut would :smile.gif:
I might feel good having built it and haunt its halls for a while, but, ultimately, it serves no real purpose. I guess I'm just a guy the craves functionality, haha.
I know Notch has expressed a desire for Minecraft to have multiple modes of play. This idea would definitely be geared to a more storyline or adventure based mode. I wouldn't dream of encroaching upon straight up sandbox mode.
No, it doesn't. Also, OP made no mention of guns, stop trying to sabotage his post. He spoke of goal-based unlock systems to improve technology.
OFFICIAL POSTING/REPLYING GUIDELINES
UNOFFICIAL POSTING GUIDE (PRT)
UNOFFICIAL REPLYING GUIDE (FTC)
Could make a good mod, though.
diamond anything is already OP. research and age up to call of duty 4. get guns. win.
So I suppose seamless progression such as that wouldn't necessarily require a point tracking system. But what it does require is more to progress TO. It feels like the technological pinnacle is reached far too quickly. Hopefully future additions alleviate that because I am aware that we're still in beta.
That's not to say I want a grind either. I feel there needs to be more to look forward to and that some of the later inventions should allow extraordinary possibilities. But I want to feel like I actually worked hard enough to earn those privileges instead of just throwing it together after 30min to an hour of material gathering.