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设计师笔记:关于MMO游戏“The Blitz Online”的构思

发布时间:2011-04-17 11:22:37 Tags:,,,

游戏邦注:本文原作者是游戏设计师Ernest Adams,他以伦敦大轰炸这一历史事件为故事背景,提出了一个可教育和娱乐大众玩家的新型MMO游戏的设想。

在线游戏世界很精彩,但它们基本上缺乏完整的故事背景。大多数情况下,这类游戏只会给玩家分配大量的任务,包括造东西,卖东西,杀戮,搜集物品,探索,参与社交等等。

通常来说,有一件事情却是玩家永远做不到的,那就是改变整个游戏世界,而这却正是拥有故事背景的游戏对玩家的要求。假如你接受了一份崇高的任务,结果却只是去消灭一个卑鄙的小角色,但它几分钟后就会再次重生,而你还在想,何必要这样自找麻烦。

在许多游戏世界里,唯一能改变的只有玩家本身——比如玩家可以获得经验值和宝物。(游戏邦注:当然也有例外,比如《沙漠传说》和《挖矿争霸》)。

更复杂的故事情节是关于英雄改变自己,而不是改变世界,所以这里的概念也比较模糊;但是如果想感受像小说一样的故事情节,英雄们就必须进行一系列独立的探险。

即使你知道周围有成千上万的玩家也在追求同一个目标,你的个人的经验值正在不断增长,这对你来说也没有太大的意义。

在许多游戏中,总会有些恐怖麻烦的任务出现,玩家可以选择接受或者拒绝。可以自己安排时间克服困难,或者中途放弃任务,总之无论他们如何选择,都不会产生什么后果。

游戏世界本质上是静态的(游戏开发者的持续更新除外), 所以玩家不会有多少紧迫感,即使是参与时效性的任务也是如此,因为在这个世界中的失败并不需要承担后果。

说到现在,我想制作一款有始有终的MMO游戏。在游戏中,每个玩家都有自己的故事情节, 每个玩家的经验都是独一无二的, 每一个行动也都尤为重要。至于其中的一些内容,我稍后会做解释。

我将它设计为有教育意义的、基于历史现实的MMO游戏,叫做“The Blitz Online”(游戏邦注:The Blitz即伦敦大轰炸),它以二战初期为背景,简述了希特勒试图通过向平民进行炸弹突袭来迫使英国投降的故事。当然希特勒最终失败了,因为他们弄巧成拙,不分军民地轰炸,却没有集中火力摧毁工厂和机场。

人类很伟大, 造就了一种传奇—一“闪电战精神”,英国政府极力推广和宣扬这种英国人民不会亡的信念,英国人民也挽起袖管,齐心协力,发扬了爱国主义和沉着应战的精神。

但事实远超人们的想象,他们的这种英雄主义和自我牺牲精神绝非政治宣传所能激发的情感。在那时候,邻居们互相帮助和共享稀缺资源,这种毫不利己的精神足以让今天所谓的“生存主义者”无地自容。

另一方面,法律也难阻止相当数量的趁火打劫行为。在宵禁的情况下,因为许多警力被征到前线,小偷小摸开始猖獗,当然也有不少被炸毁的房屋财物失窃的现象。

这场混乱而持久的闪电战为MMO提供了完美的故事背景。我要开发的这款游戏会再现闪电战的挑战和社会现状,以有限而虚拟的方式,告诉大家这场战争的真相。

blitz_fire

blitz_fire

游戏玩法和目标

The Blitz Online是一款非暴力游戏,至少从玩家行动来看属于这种情况(但从其它方面来看,它其实是极度暴力的游戏)。每位玩家都将完成各自的民防工作,理想情况下是在第一人称的3D环境下进行。游戏的共同目标是保持高昂的斗志让希特勒放弃他的平民轰炸计划。

玩家拯救越多生命和建筑,希特勒就会越早放弃轰炸。它在这方面不同于其他的MMO游戏,它的游戏进程并非无休无止,即使士气下降,这场闪电战也会有最大限度的延续天数,至于延续多久我还没有决定。

这场比赛将包括佣金(“任务”)以及临时挑战,还有一个关键原则就是每个人物,只有一次得到佣金的机会。这确保了该游戏的独特性,即让每个玩家都有自己特定的冒险经历。玩家将不止一次的执行某些日常任务,但我希望随着袭击的不断降临,让任务产生新的障碍以增加不同的玩点。游戏中不会有“搜集15件物品”这类机械化的重复任务,但也有一些玩家的职业会要求他们搜集废铁等物品。

在游戏的第一天结束后,新玩家就不能加入游戏过程中,这是The Blitz Online另一个与其他游戏的不同之处。它只能支持几百或几千玩家(但不能达到上万人)同时参与游戏,这样才能保证每个玩家都能执行独特的任务和获得奖励。游戏中总有各种各样的任务要做,如果未能完成某项任务就会产生某些后果——这主要根据游戏机制来决定,而不是按预先设定的情节来进行。

临时性任务通常都需要协同合作,就像更传统的MMORPG的那种定期公会活动一样。当需要召集部队或者需要建立一个移动厨房时,玩家则需要到达现场,合力完成任务。他们的行动越有效率,任务做的越好,结果就会越好。 我希望这场游戏感觉像是一个旷世巨作,每个人都肩负着自己的责任,只有大家齐心协力才能造就游戏的胜利。

故事背景

因为著名媒体人Edward R. Murrow所提供的部分著名的照片和收音广播信息,伦敦成了公认的闪电战标志性城市。但是对于像考文垂,赫尔,伯明翰,贝尔法斯特,利物浦,布里斯托尔和其他许多受到严重轰炸的城市来说,它们却没有获得足够的关注,这也正是这些城市的人们感到不快的原因。 但这个游戏必须设置在某个城市,很显然,与众不同的建筑使伦敦成了最理想的选择对象。战争结束后的伦敦郡议会编纂了一系列被炸毁地区的地图,它对确定重灾区及其破坏程度具有无可估量的价值。

玩家将分散到整个城市的各个地点,并且被指派到特定的工作区域去完成任务。当然他们也可以随心所欲地四处闲逛,但是这些玩家如果擅离职守,他们所负责保护的地区就有可能面临噩运!

我希望这场闪电战给人的感觉就是,好像没有一个地方真正安全。玩家可能有家可回,但它就像伦敦的各个角落一样,随时都有被轰炸的可能。即使空袭避难所也不是100%安全,而且在多数情况下,玩家基本上没有什么机会躲到那些安全地带。

时间设置

游戏中的时间比实际时间要快一些,在这类游戏中很正常,但这款游戏的活动主要发生在夜间。这座城市在每个夜晚都会经历一次空袭,但强度和持续时间各不相同。在警报解除声音结束后会转入黎明,玩家可以继续火拼和开展拯救行动。

为了保持游戏的新鲜度,它不会按照真实的伦敦大轰炸安排游戏进程,这些轰炸的强度和地点与历史情况相似,但发生的时间却并不相同。当瞬间转入白天时段时,玩家们会自动获得食物并进入睡眠状态(但这些条件永远无法满足他们的需求)。

人物属性

这场闪电战将会包括一些多数无法改变的人物属性。每一步行动都会消耗一定的能量,玩家永远都是超负荷的,这一点与《模拟人生》中的角色极为相似。

在玩家能量值比较低的时候,有些活动没法执行,有些任务极有可能会失败。获得食物和睡眠是恢复能量的首要方法,但这两种能量都供应不足。玩家的短暂小憩一般发生在白天,不过这并不是游戏的一部分,所以不会有什么影响。在某些晚上空袭时间持续不长的时候,玩家也会有更多的时间用来补充睡眠和休息。

这里没有人物等级,但是玩家可以通过他们的行动来获得良好的声誉,尤其是玩家很有效率和表现英勇的时候。那些获得良好声誉的玩家,可能获得提升或是有机会去更换职业,不过这种情况很少发生。而且从游戏玩法上来看也不会有太大的意义,因为玩家更换的只会是更危险,劳动强度更大的职业。

玩家也会因为逃避自己的职责或表现很差而丢掉声誉。严重无法完成任务的话,玩家就会被解雇(因此被踢出这个游戏)。玩家只能在开始阶段加入游戏,如果一个被解雇的玩家想再次加入,他将不得不重新参与一个新游戏,这一点多少会令玩家感到沮丧。

还有另外一个特点,就是游戏不赞成盲目追求荣耀。玩家如果一味的追求他们的个人声誉,最终只会失去所有的荣耀(他们也有可能会被杀掉)。英国人素来不喜欢爱出风头、自我膨胀的那种人,这种表现在战争中反而达不到预期目标。

游戏中的职业

这里只有一个种族:就是人类。在闪电战中,男女老少都要各司其职,只是有些工作是局限于男人或者女人。工作类型包括:

救援工作者:就像在自然灾害中, 不管受害者是死是活,救援人员都要尽量把他们从废墟中挖出来。他们也要加固建筑(如果建筑摇摇欲坠,他们的任务就是毁坏它们)以确保人们的安全。这项工作只适用于男性。

救护车司机:许多由于体格原因而无法参军的人员会被暂时征用为救护车司机。这些人必须到被炸弹摧毁的街道和废墟中去营救伤员,然后将其送到已经超负荷的医院。这项工作,男女通用。

空袭预警员:在平静时期,他们会上街巡逻,以确保每家都已熄灯关门闭户。他们也要实时汇报即将来袭的飞机和炸弹袭击的地点,标注未引爆的炸弹,还有清除燃烧弹。多数人是可以选择避难的,但空袭预警员却不得不在外站岗。这项工作,男女通用。

消防队员:这是项超级累的工作,当炸弹落下后,他们要做的是去扑灭熊熊燃烧的大火。与救护车驾驶员一样,他们的卡车也总会被碎石挡道,更困难的是有些自来水管都已损坏,根本无法使用。这项工作,只适用于男性。

警察:他们负责维持社会秩序和防止抢劫行为。他们夜间巡逻,逮捕轻微作恶者,引导人们去避难所,训斥那些不带防毒面罩的人。该角色不向女性开放(当时英国只有300名女警察,而且她们不用巡逻)。

妇女志愿服务者:这个唯一的女性团体将负责各种各样至关重要的服务,尤其是为伤员、无家可归者提供食物、衣着以及避难所。她们也建设移动厨房,以食物和水支援消防员和救生员。

对每个人物的能量等级来说,食物是至关重要的因素。妇女志愿服务者是提供食物的主要来源。不要简单的认为这项工作只是端茶倒水,她们实际上要冒着很大危险做许多事情。这项工作所提供的佣金最多。

我发现这里只有三种职业适合女性:救护车司机、空袭预警员和妇女志愿服务者。它反映了那个时代的社会现实,我觉得让现代玩家理解这一点很重要——记住,这是具有教育意义的真正闪电战。我也欢迎(甚至鼓励)玩家去转换性别来体验这款游戏。

与其它MMO游戏一样, 玩家们会花大量的时间不停地奔波——我有意挑选了一些角色来执行这种任务。我也有考虑增加自行车快递员来传达信息,这样就能穿越那些机动车辆无法通行的地区。

在这里,我没有将医生和护士考虑入列,因为他们大都待在医院里头(我们都知道,当时并没有医护人员,救护车司机也仅仅是司机而已)。医务人员在游戏中将作为NPC角色出现。

除此之外,我还漏掉了三个军事角色:防空枪手,战斗机飞行员和拆弹工兵。防空枪手是个太死板的工作,另外,在闪电战初期,这个职业几乎没有用处,因为他们的枪没有雷达火力控制。你会看到和听到防空重炮,但是无法参与其中。

在战争初期,英国几乎没有夜间战斗机,而驾驶战斗机在我看来也是一项很孤单的工作。战斗机飞行员的贡献将主要体现在减少空袭炮弹的数量这一点上。

历史实情是,当时的工兵伤亡最为惨重。他们的工作极为重要也相当危险,但我们仅通过鼠标点击的方式,很难再现他们技术含量极高的工作内容。同理,我还没有将公共设施(水、煤气、电和电话)维修人员考虑入列,就像医护人员一样,我也只是把他们创建为NPC角色。

死亡

这是个比较棘手的问题。炸弹从空中落下,人物自然会面临死亡的危险。但从另一方面来看,让玩家随时遭遇灭顶之灾的做法也是个糟糕的设计。所以我会让大量的NPC先死去,但会让玩家角色免受炸弹的死亡威胁。然而,当他们遇到第二次袭击的时候,就会很容易死掉——例如进入一栋燃烧或者摇摇欲坠的大楼,或者在黑暗中开快车掉进弹坑。

大多数RPG游戏中的瞬间回复体力的机制,并不适用于这种类型的游戏。如果因玩家受伤而适当限制他们的行动,游戏也就没有那么好玩了,所以我不打算考虑健康值的问题。人物如果死掉(或者因不称职而被淘汰出局)就会永远离开游戏,没有生还的机会。不过他们会转变为新的角色,或者获得一个不同的职业以继续体验游戏。

最后有一个血腥场景的问题。在闪电战中,每天都在上演耸人听闻、惨绝人寰的事件。游戏中将有多少血腥恐怖描述,取决于它适合儿童的成分有多少,这些我还没决定。

如果是这样,我可能会倾向于保守一些,不会显示出那些斩首或者掏挖内脏的情节。但如果这款游戏是为成年人设计的,那就不妨揭露这个丑恶的真相。今天的媒体,以保护死伤者隐私为名,掩盖了战争的事实,但我认为这只是一个站不住的借口。作为民主国家的公民,我们怎能不去真正的思考一下,战争究竟给人们带来了什么影响呢?

结局

真正的闪电战的最后一天,也是最糟糕的一天。我想在结尾略微加强游戏的难度,也许会每天报告掉落炸弹的吨位或发现的轰炸机数量。玩家可能会觉得越来越难,如果他们能坚持到底,希特勒将会感到无能为力而结束这场战争。

在游戏结束的时候,我想让每个玩家都看看自己的活动日记,了解自己每天都做了什么、统计自己的个人成就和收集的物品。在游戏过程当中,他们看不到这些个人统计,因为我不想让玩家以游戏的心态来了解The Blitz Online的系统,但觉得在游戏结束后,让他们了解情况也是个不错的想法,而且也会对他们有所启发,这些内容包括玩家拯救的人数、消除的火灾、找到的未爆炸的炸弹、照顾的伤员数量等等。总之,我希望玩家在玩游戏过程中了解在当时那种恶劣情况下,民防组织日复一日的工作实况。

当然,这只是一个理想化的概念,并不是已成形的设计方案。它会成为热门游戏吗?我不知道。这里有一些技术上的难点,因为要再现被真实炮弹所摧毁的建筑很有难度。我们无法模拟一个拥有860万人口的完整城市,或许只能选择某个特定区域来创建游戏。

在创建游戏玩法这一点上,我还不是一个富有经验的MMO游戏设计师,但是我认为The Blitz Online将会是一款惊心动魄、具有挑战性、感人而富教育性的游戏。幸运的是,我不需要担心它的运营模式。简单一句话,我缺的就是资金和一个完美的开发团队!(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

The Designer’s Notebook: Introducing The Blitz Online

[In this installment of the long-running design column, author and game designer Ernest Adams sketches out a design for a new kind of MMOG -- one which takes a specific moment in history and hopes to educate and entertain audiences by bringing it into the light and building sensible, accessible play mechanics around it.]

Persistent worlds are great places to play around in, but they’re problematic venues for storytelling. Most of them let players do a vast number of things: make stuff, sell stuff, kill stuff, collect stuff, explore, socialize, and so on.

The one thing players can’t generally do is change the world forever, and that’s something that storytelling games need. Most persistent worlds are full of opportunities for interaction, but they offer no sense of agency, of doing something that matters in a visible way. If you accept a noble quest to go kill a vile doom-chicken, it’ll only respawn a few minutes later, leaving you wondering why you bothered.

In many persistent words, the only thing that changes permanently is you — you gain experience points and treasure. (There are exceptions, such as A Tale in the Desert and Minecraft.)

More sophisticated stories are about the hero changing himself rather than changing the world, so there’s a vague similarity; but for this experience to feel story-like, the hero must engage in a series of adventures that are unique to him.

It’s not the same if you know that thousands of people around you are marching along the exact same path to enlightenment. Nor does it feel meaningful if your personal growth is expressed entirely in numbers.

In many persistent worlds the whole universe is alleged to be in some kind of dire trouble, but the player can accept or reject quests, take as much time over them as he wants, or abandon them in the middle, without any consequences.

Because the world is essentially static (apart from infrequent updates by the developers), the game creates little sense of urgency. Time-based quests don’t solve the problem either, because failure has no consequences for the wider world.

I want to make an MMOG that tells a story with a beginning and an end. In this game, every player participates in a single global storyline, each player’s experience is unique, and every action matters. For this to work it needs to depart from many of the usual conventions, and I’ll explain how and why later on.

I propose to make a quasi-educational, free, historical MMOG called The Blitz Online. The Blitz was a period early in the Second World War during which Hitler tried to break Britain’s spirit by mass bombing raids targeted at civilians. It failed, and in the end it proved to be self-defeating because attacking civilians diverted the bombers from attacking factories and airfields.

But the human price was terrible, and it gave birth to a legend — the “Spirit of the Blitz” — an idea, actively promoted and ardently prayed for by the British government, that the people of Britain could not be broken; that they rolled up their sleeves, pulled together, and came through it united by patriotism and a stiff upper lip.

The truth was both less and more than the legend suggests. People went to extremes of heroism and self-sacrifice beyond what any propaganda machine could dream up. Neighbors helped each other and shared scarce resources in a way that should make today’s so-called “survivalists” ashamed of themselves.

On the other hand, there was a fair amount of profiteering, in spite of the laws against it. In the blackout conditions, and with a police force reduced by conscription, petty crime thrived, and of course there was some looting of bomb-damaged buildings.

The chaotic circumstances and limited duration of the Blitz make it ideal for a storytelling MMOG. I want to make a game that reproduces some of the challenges and social conditions of the Blitz, to let people get a sense — in a limited, virtual way — of what it was like.

Gameplay and the Object of the Game

The Blitz Online will be non-violent, at least so far as player actions are concerned. (In other respects it will be extremely violent.) Each player will perform a civil defense job, ideally in a first-person 3D environment. The collective object of the game is to keep morale high so that Hitler abandons his strategy of civilian bombing.

The more lives and buildings that the players save, the sooner Hitler will give it up. In this respect it differs dramatically from most other persistent worlds, which go on indefinitely. Even if morale drops, The Blitz Online will last for a maximum number of days, which I haven’t yet decided on.

The game will include commissions (“quests”) as well as ad hoc challenges, but I have made it a key design principle that every commission will be playable only once, by one character. This guarantees a unique story-like experience for each player. Players will perform certain routine duties more than once, but I expect these will feel different as the continuing bomb damage throws up new obstacles to completing them. There will be no grinding — no commissions of the form, “Go find me 15 of these objects,” although in some jobs there will be value in collecting things like scrap metal.

Players won’t be able to join a game in progress after the first day has ended, another difference from most persistent worlds; and a given instance of the game will support only a limited number of players — hundreds or thousands, but not tens of thousands. This guarantees that there are enough unique jobs and commissions for everyone. There will always be too much to do, and failure to get something done will have consequences — determined mostly through the mechanics rather than a prefabricated plot.

The ad hoc play will often be collaborative, like raiding in a more conventional MMORPG. When a fire crew is called out or a mobile kitchen needs to be set up, the players will have to cooperate to get to the site and do their work. The more efficient they are, the better the work will go and the better the results. I want the game to feel like one giant common enterprise, in which the players have individual responsibilities but all contribute to its success.

Setting

London is the iconic city of the Blitz, thanks in part to famous photographs and the radio broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow. This isn’t fair; Coventry, Hull, Birmingham, Belfast, Liverpool, Bristol, and many other cities were severely damaged by the bombing, and their citizens often resented all the attention that London got. But the game has to be set somewhere, and the distinctive buildings of London make it the obvious choice. After the war the London County Council compiled a series of maps of the bomb damage, which will be invaluable for determining the areas hit and the extent of the devastation.

Players will be dispersed all over the city and in many jobs they will be assigned specific regions to work in. This won’t prevent them from wandering elsewhere if they want to, but heaven help the character who is AWOL when something bad happens in the area he is responsible for protecting!

I want The Blitz Online to feel as if no place is truly safe. The player may have a home to go to, but it’s at risk of bombing like every other place in London. Even the air raid shelters aren’t completely safe, and in any case the players will have few opportunities to use one.

Time

Game time will run faster than real time, as is normal in such games, but the game will take place primarily at night. Each night the city will experience an air raid, and these will vary in intensity and duration. Play will continue after the all clear sounds and into the early daylight hours so that players can continue to fight fires and rescue people.

In order to keep the game fresh, the air raids will not follow the exact historical sequence of the original raids. They will be similar in magnitude and location, but take place on different nights from the originals. During the daytime, which passes instantly, the players will automatically get some (but never enough) food and sleep.

Character Attributes

The Blitz Online will include few character attributes and most of them will not change. There will certainly be no buffs apart from drinking tea. (Tea is more than just a mild stimulant to the British; it has psychologically restorative effects on them that other people do not feel.) Every action will have an energy cost, and players will always be somewhat overworked, rather like the characters in The Sims.

At low energy levels, some activities will not be available and others will be more likely to fail. Obtaining food and sleep are the main ways to recover energy, and both are in short supply. What little sleep there is takes place during the daylight hours that are not part of the game. On some nights the air raids won’t last as long and players will get more sleep before the next night.

There won’t be any character levels, but players can earn a good reputation through their actions, especially if they are efficient or heroic. Those with a particularly good reputation might get a promotion and the opportunity to change jobs, which isn’t normally available. This won’t mean much in gameplay terms — just more danger and work.

Unlike conventional experience points, players can also lose reputation if they shirk their duties or perform them badly. Severe incompetence will cause a player to be fired (and thus kicked out of the game). Since players can only join at the beginning, if a fired player wants to play again he will have to join a new game from scratch. This should keep the griefing down somewhat.

One more peculiarity: glory-hunting is frowned upon. Players who consistently seek to maximize their reputation will eventually start to lose it instead. (They’re also likely to get killed.) The British don’t like pushy, self-aggrandizing people, and that kind of behavior is counterproductive in wartime.

Jobs in the Game

There will only be one race: human. Both men and women were active workers during the Blitz, although some jobs were confined to one gender or the other. The jobs will be:

Rescue workers. Just as in natural disasters, rescue workers try to dig victims, alive or dead, out of the rubble. They also shore up buildings (or tear them down if they’re teetering) to make them safe. Only men did this job.

Ambulance drivers. Many people who were not eligible for military service for medical reasons were pressed into service as ambulance drivers. These people have to negotiate bomb-blasted streets and fallen masonry to get to the injured and take them to the overburdened hospitals. Both men and women drove ambulances.

Air Raid Precautions wardens. They patrol the streets during quiet periods checking to make sure that every window is blacked out and no lights show anywhere. They also report incoming aircraft and bomb strike locations, mark unexploded bombs, and dump buckets of sand over burning incendiary bombs. While most people were getting under cover, ARP wardens had to stay outdoors. Both men and women worked as ARP wardens.

Firefighters. Horrendously overworked, they put out burning buildings as the bombs fall around them. Like ambulance drivers, their trucks were often blocked by debris, and their job was made more difficult by broken water mains. This was a male-only profession.

Police. They keep order and prevent looting. They walk their beats at night, arrest petty criminals, guide people to shelters, and reprimand anyone who comes out without a gas mask. Not open to female characters. (The entire nation only had 300 women police officers, and they didn’t walk beats.)

Women’s Voluntary Service. This female-only organization performed a wide variety of critical services, particularly in providing food, clothing, and shelter to people who had been bombed out. The volunteers also set up mobile kitchens to feed and hydrate the fire and rescue crews.

Food will be a critical requirement for every character’s energy level, and the WVS will be the principal source of food. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this job is just about making tea, however; they did many different kinds of things, often in dangerous conditions. This job will offer the largest number of commissions.

I realize that this leaves only three jobs for female characters: ambulance drivers, ARP wardens, and WVS volunteers. It reflects the social realities of the time, which I think would be important for modern players to understand — bear in mind this is supposed to be an educational game about the real Blitz, not a fantasy. Players would of course be welcome (even encouraged) to gender-bend.

As in other MMOGs, players will spend a lot of time on the move — I have deliberately chosen roles that require it. I’m considering adding bicycle couriers to carry messages when the phone lines go out. These teenage boys and girls could get through areas that were impassable to motor vehicles.

I didn’t include doctors and nurses because they mostly stayed in their hospitals. (Paramedics as we know them today did not exist. Ambulance drivers were just that: drivers.) Medical personnel will appear in the game as NPCs.

I’ve also left out three military roles: anti-aircraft gunners, fighter pilots, and the sappers who defused unexploded bombs. Anti-aircraft gunnery is too static a job, and besides, at the beginning of the Blitz it accomplished almost nothing because the guns lacked radar fire control. You’ll see and hear AA gunnery, but won’t participate.

Britain had few night fighters early in the war, and flying a fighter plane is too solitary an activity for what I have in mind. The contributions of the fighter pilots will be modeled as a reduction in the number of bombs dropped.

Realistically, the sappers are the biggest loss. Their work was vital and horribly dangerous, but there’s no good way to convert its intricate nature into mouse clicks. I haven’t included utility (water, gas, electricity and telephone) repair crews for the same reason. Like the medical personnel, I’ll build them in as NPCs.

Death

This is a tricky one. With bombs falling out of the sky, the characters are naturally at risk of death all the time. On the other hand, it’s bad design practice to kill players off at random. Large numbers of NPCs will die, but I’m inclined to make player characters invulnerable to actual bomb blasts. They will, however, be vulnerable to death from secondary causes that they have some control over — entering a burning or unstable building, or driving at speed into a bomb crater in the dark.

The instant healing found in most RPGs is inappropriate for this kind of game, and a character who is properly limited by his injuries won’t be much fun to play, so I’m inclined not to bother with health points at all. A character who dies (or is invalided out), leaves the game permanently; there’s no respawning. However, the player will be given a new character, possibly in a different job chosen for her, to play in the same instance of the game.

Finally there’s the question of the gore factor. During the Blitz, people saw unimaginable horrors on a daily basis. How much gore the game will depict depends in part on whether it’s intended for children, something I haven’t decided.

If it is, I might be inclined to keep some blood but not show the more appalling injuries such as decapitations and disembowelments. If the game is for grown-ups, well, one may as well tell the whole ugly truth. Our media today insulates us from the dreadful realities of war in the name of preserving the privacy of the injured, but I think that’s a cop-out. As citizens of a democracy, how can we make informed judgments about war without having some sense of what it really does to people?

The End

The last day of the real Blitz was one of the worst. I would like to ratchet up the game’s intensity right to the end too, probably with a daily report of bomb tonnage dropped or bombers sighted. Players will be able to feel that it’s getting harder and harder, and if they can just hold out long enough, Hitler will call it off as a hopeless effort.

At the end of the game I would like each player to see a daily diary of what she’s done, and statistics about her personal achievements as well as the collective ones. The personal statistics won’t be available during play because I don’t want the players trying to game the system, but I think it would be nice — and informative — to know the numbers of lives saved, fires suppressed, unexploded bombs marked, people fed, and so on after it’s all over. Above all I want the players to end the game with a sense of what the civil defense forces really did, day after day, under appalling conditions.

Of course, this is just a high concept, not a design document. Will the game work? I don’t know. There are major technical challenges, since the buildings must deform and degrade realistically under fire and blast effects. We wouldn’t be able to model the entire city of 8.6 million people, and might have to choose specific areas to construct.

So far as the gameplay is concerned, I’m not an experienced MMOG designer and I realize that I’m flying in the face of an awful lot of conventions. But I think The Blitz Online can be exciting, challenging, moving, and informative all at the same time. Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about a business model.

All I need now — easily said! — is some money and a development team.(source:gamasutra


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