(Preface: this is all written taking 1.8 survival gameplay into account - food bar, abandoned mines hence finding wood underground, whatnot)
SUMMARY: I believe that implementing scenarios into the game would:
1) Make it easier for the new or casual player to enjoy puzzle, if you will, maps**
2) Provide non-random maps with specifically designed challenging areas
3) Add even more challenge with scenario-specific item restrictions.
4) Diversify the game experience, adding yet another layer of replay value to Minecraft.
(**When I first started playing it took me probably a month before I even found out what seeds were. If provided a list of levels that are quickly accessible, new and casual players would have an easier time discovering them)
END SUMMARY
I read about a 1.8 seed ('suavebaby') which spawns the player on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere with only 1 tree and some sugarcane to get them started.
This got me thinking: What if Minecraft had scenarios in the fashion of say, RollerCoaster Tycoon?
Survival mode as it stands now would be referred to as Survival Random. The new mode would be separate and referred to as Survival Scenario.
There wouldn't have to be mission objectives that upon completion would end the game, rather, the whole objective could simply be tosurvive given a particularly tricky environment, for example, the deserted island.
To clarify quickly, the seed system would remain intactand would stay a part of Survival Random (Survival as it stands now).
Survival Scenario maps would be predetermined - the creator of the scenario would function as a sort of puzzle maker, designing difficult situations for the player to try and solve.
Examples of Survival Scenario:
1) Tiny Deserted Island (1.8 seed 'suavebaby') - Find a way to survive out on a tiny island being given only a single tree and sugarcane to work with.
2) Eternal Underground - You wake up in a dark room with wooden floors and stone walls. Little do you know, there is no above ground - your entire experience will take place underground. Try and find mushrooms and zombie flesh to stay fed!
3) Find The Hidden Treasure! - (Perhaps note cards could be implemented as items) Solve the riddle on your starting Notecard to locate the next Notecard, finally leading you to the lost treasure! (Notecards could have some cryptic poetic nonsense which hint towards a small X marks the spot sort of location, could be very clever)
Perhaps the challenge could be taken a step further in Scenario mode - maybe certain limits could be introduced per scenario, for example, perhaps a player wouldn't be able to access certain items, or certain animals wouldn't spawn - perhaps a scenario where food/pre-cooked-food dropping animals don't spawn at all, forcing the player to explore for mushrooms within the natural time limit of their food bar.
That all being said, here's how I would imagine it looking like for SP and MP:
Singleplayer - Gives the list of already created worlds, and upon choosing options for a new world, the option of Creative, Survival Random (how Survival is now, also giving access to seed input), and Survival Scenario; if the latter is picked, the game would then provide a dropdown list of scenarios.
Multiplayer - Clientside: Server browser would list servers as expected, but would also list which scenario is being played if the server is playing Survival Scenario.
Serverside: Creation of a new world will prompt the administrator with Creative, Survival Random, and Survival Scenario, and if Survival Scenario is chosen, would then prompt for a selection of scenario. Admin chooses one, world is created, and perhaps (bear with me, not a tech guy) the world folder could contain some sort of 'Scenario Rules' information which the client software would read and interpret, denying access to certain items. (Yes, this could be done with any of the various Permissions plugins, but these Scenarios would be hard-wired to be immediately playable with no setting up - for the sake of consistency, and for the new and/or casual player) (I'd leave this part to the more technical minds to imagine.. just putting the basic idea out)
A counter to this idea could perhaps be that the seed system already provides my idea sufficiently, but I believe that implementing scenarios into Create World would:
1) Make it easier for the new or casual player to enjoy puzzle, if you will, maps
2) Provide non-random maps with specifically designed challenging areas
3) Add even more challenge with scenario-specific item restrictions.
4) Diversify the game experience, adding yet another layer of replay value to Minecraft.
I hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, if I am, oh well, at least I tried! I hope you all enjoy my idea!
EDIT: Thought I'd throw in that I realize there are already puzzle maps accessible with seeds, so if my idea is considered to be already available, my suggestion would be to remove these puzzles from being accessed by seeds and to add a dropdown box to the GUI with thumbnails for each in Create New World to select these different puzzle maps, making them accessible as Survival Scenario maps, making it easier for new players to discover them. Once this groundwork is placed, scenario specific rules could be set to make the gameplay more interesting.
Survival Scenario: Siege. Have X amount of days to build and collect, then your building is actively attacked by mobs.
Only get one "life". End game "you survived X days, killing X creatures"
I like this idea alot... IF it gets implemented it would be cool for like a server event but not much else. Like I dont see it be coming a playable MP thing more SP but if you or notch found a way to do it better with MP I would be pretty excited
Survival Scenario: Siege. Have X amount of days to build and collect, then your building is actively attacked by mobs.
Only get one "life". End game "you survived X days, killing X creatures"
I love the sound of that! This is ultimately the kind of scenario I'd want, but I feel like to ask for that much would be reaching.. it sounds like it would be a bit trickier to code? Scripted events? Hm, I don't know though. I would've mentioned something like that, but it sounded a little too complicated to hope for, but hey I really don't know in that department so I'll shut up haha!
If it'd be a burden on development time, perhaps they could release some sort of official scenario editor program with at least very basic scripting and goal creation features, inspired perhaps by the Starcraft and Warcraft map editors?
A savvy player might design this Siege idea! (Or even Mojang if I'm wrong about it being too hopeful to want that sort of more advanced scenario)
Having a scenario editor would also take strain off the developers to also create scenarios amongst everything else they are doing, although there should be at least 10-20 official scenarios that new players can access without downloading external scenarios.
Isn't that what puzzle and adventure maps are for?
Puzzle maps: Please clue me in if you could, are you referring to static maps created from seeds such as "suavebaby" and "Relentless"(can't remember exactly) that start you off in unique situations, such as being stuck on an island or in a cave? Or are you referring to something else?
Adventure maps: Do you mean randomly generated Survival worlds? If so, what I'm getting at is an added, optional depth to Survival.
Survival without a seed on an entirely random map has an unlimited sandbox feel to it, starting you off in a completely random area - where your adventure goes is completely unknown.
However, in say, the Island seed, you always have that initial situation of "I'm stuck on an island", or on the Cave seed, "I'm stuck in a cave." If these are the puzzle maps you were talking about, then my idea would be to take the puzzle seeds and streamline them into the GUI as Scenarios, and leave seeds with the sole purpose of giving players the ability to share their randomly generated Survival Random worlds with friends, instead of also being used to access the "Puzzle" maps ('suavebaby', 'relentless')
SUMMARY: I believe that implementing scenarios into the game would:
1) Make it easier for the new or casual player to enjoy puzzle, if you will, maps**
2) Provide non-random maps with specifically designed challenging areas
3) Add even more challenge with scenario-specific item restrictions.
4) Diversify the game experience, adding yet another layer of replay value to Minecraft.
(**When I first started playing it took me probably a month before I even found out what seeds were. If provided a list of levels that are quickly accessible, new and casual players would have an easier time discovering them)
END SUMMARY
I read about a 1.8 seed ('suavebaby') which spawns the player on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere with only 1 tree and some sugarcane to get them started.
This got me thinking: What if Minecraft had scenarios in the fashion of say, RollerCoaster Tycoon?
Survival mode as it stands now would be referred to as Survival Random. The new mode would be separate and referred to as Survival Scenario.
There wouldn't have to be mission objectives that upon completion would end the game, rather, the whole objective could simply be to survive given a particularly tricky environment, for example, the deserted island.
To clarify quickly, the seed system would remain intact and would stay a part of Survival Random (Survival as it stands now).
Survival Scenario maps would be predetermined - the creator of the scenario would function as a sort of puzzle maker, designing difficult situations for the player to try and solve.
Examples of Survival Scenario:
1) Tiny Deserted Island (1.8 seed 'suavebaby') - Find a way to survive out on a tiny island being given only a single tree and sugarcane to work with.
2) Eternal Underground - You wake up in a dark room with wooden floors and stone walls. Little do you know, there is no above ground - your entire experience will take place underground. Try and find mushrooms and zombie flesh to stay fed!
3) Find The Hidden Treasure! - (Perhaps note cards could be implemented as items) Solve the riddle on your starting Notecard to locate the next Notecard, finally leading you to the lost treasure! (Notecards could have some cryptic poetic nonsense which hint towards a small X marks the spot sort of location, could be very clever)
Perhaps the challenge could be taken a step further in Scenario mode - maybe certain limits could be introduced per scenario, for example, perhaps a player wouldn't be able to access certain items, or certain animals wouldn't spawn - perhaps a scenario where food/pre-cooked-food dropping animals don't spawn at all, forcing the player to explore for mushrooms within the natural time limit of their food bar.
That all being said, here's how I would imagine it looking like for SP and MP:
Singleplayer - Gives the list of already created worlds, and upon choosing options for a new world, the option of Creative, Survival Random (how Survival is now, also giving access to seed input), and Survival Scenario; if the latter is picked, the game would then provide a dropdown list of scenarios.
Multiplayer -
Clientside: Server browser would list servers as expected, but would also list which scenario is being played if the server is playing Survival Scenario.
Serverside: Creation of a new world will prompt the administrator with Creative, Survival Random, and Survival Scenario, and if Survival Scenario is chosen, would then prompt for a selection of scenario. Admin chooses one, world is created, and perhaps (bear with me, not a tech guy) the world folder could contain some sort of 'Scenario Rules' information which the client software would read and interpret, denying access to certain items. (Yes, this could be done with any of the various Permissions plugins, but these Scenarios would be hard-wired to be immediately playable with no setting up - for the sake of consistency, and for the new and/or casual player) (I'd leave this part to the more technical minds to imagine.. just putting the basic idea out)
A counter to this idea could perhaps be that the seed system already provides my idea sufficiently, but I believe that implementing scenarios into Create World would:
1) Make it easier for the new or casual player to enjoy puzzle, if you will, maps
2) Provide non-random maps with specifically designed challenging areas
3) Add even more challenge with scenario-specific item restrictions.
4) Diversify the game experience, adding yet another layer of replay value to Minecraft.
I hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, if I am, oh well, at least I tried! I hope you all enjoy my idea!
EDIT: Thought I'd throw in that I realize there are already puzzle maps accessible with seeds, so if my idea is considered to be already available, my suggestion would be to remove these puzzles from being accessed by seeds and to add a dropdown box to the GUI with thumbnails for each in Create New World to select these different puzzle maps, making them accessible as Survival Scenario maps, making it easier for new players to discover them. Once this groundwork is placed, scenario specific rules could be set to make the gameplay more interesting.
first
Only get one "life". End game "you survived X days, killing X creatures"
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I love the sound of that! This is ultimately the kind of scenario I'd want, but I feel like to ask for that much would be reaching.. it sounds like it would be a bit trickier to code? Scripted events? Hm, I don't know though. I would've mentioned something like that, but it sounded a little too complicated to hope for, but hey I really don't know in that department so I'll shut up haha!
If it'd be a burden on development time, perhaps they could release some sort of official scenario editor program with at least very basic scripting and goal creation features, inspired perhaps by the Starcraft and Warcraft map editors?
A savvy player might design this Siege idea! (Or even Mojang if I'm wrong about it being too hopeful to want that sort of more advanced scenario)
Having a scenario editor would also take strain off the developers to also create scenarios amongst everything else they are doing, although there should be at least 10-20 official scenarios that new players can access without downloading external scenarios.
Not to stray too far though...
Puzzle maps: Please clue me in if you could, are you referring to static maps created from seeds such as "suavebaby" and "Relentless"(can't remember exactly) that start you off in unique situations, such as being stuck on an island or in a cave? Or are you referring to something else?
Adventure maps: Do you mean randomly generated Survival worlds? If so, what I'm getting at is an added, optional depth to Survival.
Survival without a seed on an entirely random map has an unlimited sandbox feel to it, starting you off in a completely random area - where your adventure goes is completely unknown.
However, in say, the Island seed, you always have that initial situation of "I'm stuck on an island", or on the Cave seed, "I'm stuck in a cave." If these are the puzzle maps you were talking about, then my idea would be to take the puzzle seeds and streamline them into the GUI as Scenarios, and leave seeds with the sole purpose of giving players the ability to share their randomly generated Survival Random worlds with friends, instead of also being used to access the "Puzzle" maps ('suavebaby', 'relentless')