EDIT: I am not advocating RPG elements!!! Only story telling, no levels, no classes, no currency, no XP, no stats, I'm talking about a dynamic DM
Ok now I know this is going to be similar to other ideas so bare with me, it's not as simple as just having a bunch of quests. (Maybe it is, but it's not how I envision it).
My favorite aspect of MC is the randomly generated world, it gives limitless potential for exploration and adventure (my favorite aspects of the game) but I think that it could do something that no other game has ever done before, create a randomly generated story for the player as well.
RPG's are built around quests, you find NPC A and go kill or gather 10 of something then move onto town two and repeat, and it's always from the starter area to area 2 then area 3 and so on. Since MC doesn't have levels, there is a huge advantage, there doesn't need to be a structured progression, you just go from point A to point ?
If MC can generate a world, why not a town (mods have shown it can be done, along with NPC's), towns can generate quests but the complexity of those quests can be interelated with other towns besides from the basic hunt and kill A. Let's say that town A is at war with town B, and they want you to destroy the town. First you need to find town B which could be anywhere, then when you get to town B maybe they will offer you a diamond to destroy town A. So you go destroy town A and return to B. In this instance alone look at all the potentials that took place...
1) You could do as asked destroy B and save A, or vise versa.
2) Do nothing, the game will keep on going
3) Destroy them both, removing two randomly generated towns, and let's say that towns grow if there isn't another within a given number of blocks, so maybe C just turned into a castle town.
4) In looking for B you had reason to explore and maybe found C in the process
The point being that since there is no set world, the rules of story telling don't have to be set either. In a game like Oblivion no matter what you do, the towns will still be there, and the same quests will still give either outcome A or B or C, following a script, in MC the script is yours to write. A lot of RPG's have a set story with the good ending or the bad ending based on the choices that you decide, but it's all on rails, MC isn't tied to rails.
Who is to say that you couldn't find a town, build a castle and marry an NPC and become king of all you survey. Only to then have an NPC army spawn to challenge your rule because you did A, B, and C while playing.
In the end I'm not looking for quests to give me something to do, I'm looking at what I do create quests to keep the game moving forward in an endless RPG that is truely unique. Oh and since it's never been done before, I don't imagine that it's easy to accomplish.
Have you not seen the posts for "Why RPG'S will/will not work"?
Plus... Towns have been suggested more times than then number of my posts.
I did and I disagree with the posters opinion that it can't work. Keep in mind that I didn't bring up classes, leveling, currency, as far as civilization and NPC's, both work in my idea.
Civilization - The poster brought up that no one would be able to agree on the size and scale, you don't need to. You don't need a deep cultural history all you need are independent city states.
NPC's - They have purpose if you can click on them and they either give you a quest or useful information on where town quests are located at in order to be completed. A very key thing here is that quests aren't a checklist of things to do, they are just suggestions on what you can do, they don't drive "A" story, they drive "your" story.
Money - you don't need it, you trade item A for item B in one town and another item in another town, maybe 2 per town.
All of the above ideas are already possible via mods so the tech to do them exists.
My point of all of this is that MC can change the very definition of what an RPG is because nothing in it is set in stone, not the world, the story, the NPC's. Instead the game could be programmed with triggers that are activated by the players actions. Kind of a DM AI.
Also I'm talking about story here, nothing to do with stats, weapons, levels, skills, classes, or anything else associated with what RPG's have become known for.
I stopped paying attention when you started mentioning RPG elements.
However, you gave me an idea.
"Day 44: The lone wanderer discovered a rainforest. (discover a rainforest biome) He began building. (place 50 manmade blocks)"
"Day 89: The lone wanderer discovered obsidian. (create/discover obsidian in the earth)"
"Day 644: The lone wanderer got lost in the desert. (move X blocks for an entire day without managing to leave the biome) He found a portal to hell. (walk within 5 blocks of a hellgate)"
You get the picture. This is much better. This would be some nice **** to add to the title screen or something.
Go back and read it then, I'm actually very against RPG elements
I like this. Let's face it. Mine craft doesn't have enough non-player made structures to make exploration over worth the distance. and building up an entire world can become tedious.
the dungeons we do have are very simple rooms that spawn mobs infinitely, but beyond that, doesn't offer much challenge beyond the obvious finding and looting. There are no real NPC that aren't animals or monsters to speak of, and we lack a mob that has some vague form of civilization to speak of.
so here's what I'll keep and add to you're original idea, hopefully help flesh this out more and make it more interesting.
1) first, we need better dungeons. it wouldn't be too hard to program in a procedurally generated dungeon at or below ground level. These dungeons need to include multiple rooms, as well as puzzles and mobs to fight. this alone would make the adventurer really happy, and make dungeon diving more enjoyable. It would be great if dungeons had a more "predictable" appearance, as in signs to let a player know one is around. ruins with entrances into multi level dungeons, caves in which the walls become more "worked" as they start to form the entrance to dungeons. maybe even some decorative elements like torches, altars, and skull totems to ward away unwary people.
dungeons can rang ein size from four to five rooms, too five level labyrinths.
2) ruins. a lot of people, my self included want to see remnants of "man" made structures lying about the world. it would give a great since of exploration and discovery. it would also make for interesting landmarks to judge distances and ways back home. players can set up excavations, or rebuild old ruins as a new place for them to visit. A player can even lead nomads to these villages so that they have a home to call their own and tend to the land. Ruins can range in size from towers, to full cities.
3) villages/cities. lets face it. mine craft is a lonely world. with the exception of your faithful wolf companion, you got wild life, and monsters to keep you company. Having neutral mobs that are just as capable as you are would add a since of depth in the world when you realize that you have other people to both work with and compete against. This would introduce new mobs that won't always be hostile, and who have technological abilities.
As the OP had said, these could be small villages with a few huts, and primitive people, to larger cities and castle structures. procedurally generated to make each one unique in both construction material and layout. The new mobs could be pig men, elves, goblins, or what ever weird creature that would fit. they would have limited resourcing ability, and would have some construction abilities, most notably, setting torches and rebuilding their own structures from damage. they should also have a slow and limited "city expansion" capabilities, which allow them to grow as you help them grow their resources and help them in general. most of these mobs would just perform basic tasks like coal mining, smithing, farming, herding, merchants, or guard duty.
keep the interaction interface simple and you have mobs that you can work with and who can help you out as well. merchants would exchange items based on value equivalence, and would be a great place to trade in unused or useless materials for something you are having trouble finding.
As far as the "story" aspects. some simple dialog, maybe having the NPCs respond to the health and condition of their town, and you got quests(basically, suggestions on what you can do to help them or yourself.) Throw in some rewards for performing certain tasks, like smithing new tools, making a building or gathering resources for them they normally won't have access to and you got your self a nice role playing system that doesn't involve making level progression, skills, or any of the other non-mine craft game mechanics that many RPGs use. We don't need classes, or skills, or levels to still get some depth and role play into our games. and as the OP stated give us as sense of direction for our worlds.
cities would range in size from small village to large city (maybe a castle surrounded by farms and a few shops and houses.) they would grow, but not to large, and they would be places the player could take over. Build a fort or castle next to a city, and they might start working on your property. they can even fill you chest full of items. though the other powers might have something to say (or do) against such intrusions. the smaller the city, the easier it is to "conquer"
4) Mobs. the neutral mobs should have purpose. They need to be task oriented, and yet have the ability to change gears when the need arises. attacking a village will cause all mobs to become hostile and take up arms against you (or the attacker). they would have the ability to mine for coal in caves, harvest crops, smith at their smithies, trade at the merchant stands, patrol around their village, and even have have a head figure (like a king.)
If you set up a place next to these mobs, they would come work for you. smelting blocks like iron ore and gold ores, working the fields for food. and maintaining a defense with weapons and armor you leave in a chest. they should be able to build predetermined buildings when they see enough resources available and there is no such building already there. (most notably, housing.) they would have limited functions of the player, but allow the player to interact or use such mobs to his benefit.
5) Story. the great thing is, now you are telling a story, with out having it to be scripted, simply because you now have things that respond to you. wipe out a village and others might fear you. give aid to a village and they will help you out. set up a village and lead nomads to it, and you can start towns. all with out forcing the player to do anything, and with out having scripted events. As the Op was getting at. you are telling the story, like we always have, but now, we have more to tell, and more to do.
I support this guys idea, and would love to see more refinements and suggestions get filled. And hopefully, when all is said and one, we see this implemented into Minecraft. And all with out some lame leveling system, or class system that is unnecessary for this type or RPG.
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Ok now I know this is going to be similar to other ideas so bare with me, it's not as simple as just having a bunch of quests. (Maybe it is, but it's not how I envision it).
My favorite aspect of MC is the randomly generated world, it gives limitless potential for exploration and adventure (my favorite aspects of the game) but I think that it could do something that no other game has ever done before, create a randomly generated story for the player as well.
RPG's are built around quests, you find NPC A and go kill or gather 10 of something then move onto town two and repeat, and it's always from the starter area to area 2 then area 3 and so on. Since MC doesn't have levels, there is a huge advantage, there doesn't need to be a structured progression, you just go from point A to point ?
If MC can generate a world, why not a town (mods have shown it can be done, along with NPC's), towns can generate quests but the complexity of those quests can be interelated with other towns besides from the basic hunt and kill A. Let's say that town A is at war with town B, and they want you to destroy the town. First you need to find town B which could be anywhere, then when you get to town B maybe they will offer you a diamond to destroy town A. So you go destroy town A and return to B. In this instance alone look at all the potentials that took place...
1) You could do as asked destroy B and save A, or vise versa.
2) Do nothing, the game will keep on going
3) Destroy them both, removing two randomly generated towns, and let's say that towns grow if there isn't another within a given number of blocks, so maybe C just turned into a castle town.
4) In looking for B you had reason to explore and maybe found C in the process
The point being that since there is no set world, the rules of story telling don't have to be set either. In a game like Oblivion no matter what you do, the towns will still be there, and the same quests will still give either outcome A or B or C, following a script, in MC the script is yours to write. A lot of RPG's have a set story with the good ending or the bad ending based on the choices that you decide, but it's all on rails, MC isn't tied to rails.
Who is to say that you couldn't find a town, build a castle and marry an NPC and become king of all you survey. Only to then have an NPC army spawn to challenge your rule because you did A, B, and C while playing.
In the end I'm not looking for quests to give me something to do, I'm looking at what I do create quests to keep the game moving forward in an endless RPG that is truely unique. Oh and since it's never been done before, I don't imagine that it's easy to accomplish.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0OtPNZX22RvZVeq4-dHa8GYKOc5lojKX
Plus... Towns have been suggested more times than then number of my posts.
I did and I disagree with the posters opinion that it can't work. Keep in mind that I didn't bring up classes, leveling, currency, as far as civilization and NPC's, both work in my idea.
Civilization - The poster brought up that no one would be able to agree on the size and scale, you don't need to. You don't need a deep cultural history all you need are independent city states.
NPC's - They have purpose if you can click on them and they either give you a quest or useful information on where town quests are located at in order to be completed. A very key thing here is that quests aren't a checklist of things to do, they are just suggestions on what you can do, they don't drive "A" story, they drive "your" story.
Money - you don't need it, you trade item A for item B in one town and another item in another town, maybe 2 per town.
All of the above ideas are already possible via mods so the tech to do them exists.
My point of all of this is that MC can change the very definition of what an RPG is because nothing in it is set in stone, not the world, the story, the NPC's. Instead the game could be programmed with triggers that are activated by the players actions. Kind of a DM AI.
Also I'm talking about story here, nothing to do with stats, weapons, levels, skills, classes, or anything else associated with what RPG's have become known for.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0OtPNZX22RvZVeq4-dHa8GYKOc5lojKX
Go back and read it then, I'm actually very against RPG elements
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0OtPNZX22RvZVeq4-dHa8GYKOc5lojKX
the dungeons we do have are very simple rooms that spawn mobs infinitely, but beyond that, doesn't offer much challenge beyond the obvious finding and looting. There are no real NPC that aren't animals or monsters to speak of, and we lack a mob that has some vague form of civilization to speak of.
so here's what I'll keep and add to you're original idea, hopefully help flesh this out more and make it more interesting.
1) first, we need better dungeons. it wouldn't be too hard to program in a procedurally generated dungeon at or below ground level. These dungeons need to include multiple rooms, as well as puzzles and mobs to fight. this alone would make the adventurer really happy, and make dungeon diving more enjoyable. It would be great if dungeons had a more "predictable" appearance, as in signs to let a player know one is around. ruins with entrances into multi level dungeons, caves in which the walls become more "worked" as they start to form the entrance to dungeons. maybe even some decorative elements like torches, altars, and skull totems to ward away unwary people.
dungeons can rang ein size from four to five rooms, too five level labyrinths.
2) ruins. a lot of people, my self included want to see remnants of "man" made structures lying about the world. it would give a great since of exploration and discovery. it would also make for interesting landmarks to judge distances and ways back home. players can set up excavations, or rebuild old ruins as a new place for them to visit. A player can even lead nomads to these villages so that they have a home to call their own and tend to the land. Ruins can range in size from towers, to full cities.
3) villages/cities. lets face it. mine craft is a lonely world. with the exception of your faithful wolf companion, you got wild life, and monsters to keep you company. Having neutral mobs that are just as capable as you are would add a since of depth in the world when you realize that you have other people to both work with and compete against. This would introduce new mobs that won't always be hostile, and who have technological abilities.
As the OP had said, these could be small villages with a few huts, and primitive people, to larger cities and castle structures. procedurally generated to make each one unique in both construction material and layout. The new mobs could be pig men, elves, goblins, or what ever weird creature that would fit. they would have limited resourcing ability, and would have some construction abilities, most notably, setting torches and rebuilding their own structures from damage. they should also have a slow and limited "city expansion" capabilities, which allow them to grow as you help them grow their resources and help them in general. most of these mobs would just perform basic tasks like coal mining, smithing, farming, herding, merchants, or guard duty.
keep the interaction interface simple and you have mobs that you can work with and who can help you out as well. merchants would exchange items based on value equivalence, and would be a great place to trade in unused or useless materials for something you are having trouble finding.
As far as the "story" aspects. some simple dialog, maybe having the NPCs respond to the health and condition of their town, and you got quests(basically, suggestions on what you can do to help them or yourself.) Throw in some rewards for performing certain tasks, like smithing new tools, making a building or gathering resources for them they normally won't have access to and you got your self a nice role playing system that doesn't involve making level progression, skills, or any of the other non-mine craft game mechanics that many RPGs use. We don't need classes, or skills, or levels to still get some depth and role play into our games. and as the OP stated give us as sense of direction for our worlds.
cities would range in size from small village to large city (maybe a castle surrounded by farms and a few shops and houses.) they would grow, but not to large, and they would be places the player could take over. Build a fort or castle next to a city, and they might start working on your property. they can even fill you chest full of items. though the other powers might have something to say (or do) against such intrusions. the smaller the city, the easier it is to "conquer"
4) Mobs. the neutral mobs should have purpose. They need to be task oriented, and yet have the ability to change gears when the need arises. attacking a village will cause all mobs to become hostile and take up arms against you (or the attacker). they would have the ability to mine for coal in caves, harvest crops, smith at their smithies, trade at the merchant stands, patrol around their village, and even have have a head figure (like a king.)
If you set up a place next to these mobs, they would come work for you. smelting blocks like iron ore and gold ores, working the fields for food. and maintaining a defense with weapons and armor you leave in a chest. they should be able to build predetermined buildings when they see enough resources available and there is no such building already there. (most notably, housing.) they would have limited functions of the player, but allow the player to interact or use such mobs to his benefit.
5) Story. the great thing is, now you are telling a story, with out having it to be scripted, simply because you now have things that respond to you. wipe out a village and others might fear you. give aid to a village and they will help you out. set up a village and lead nomads to it, and you can start towns. all with out forcing the player to do anything, and with out having scripted events. As the Op was getting at. you are telling the story, like we always have, but now, we have more to tell, and more to do.
I support this guys idea, and would love to see more refinements and suggestions get filled. And hopefully, when all is said and one, we see this implemented into Minecraft. And all with out some lame leveling system, or class system that is unnecessary for this type or RPG.