Underlight is a really old game. It might be over 20 years old at this point which is pretty remarkable. Unfortunately, its age has started to show. I don't mean in the graphics: the graphics have always been crappy, but these days I don't think it matters so much. We're never going to be on the next id engine, or on CryTek or anything like that. And, in fact, I don't think it would matter if we did: you'd be putting a prettier face on the game but it wouldn't change the fact that the game itself is old. The gameplay mechanics, the fundamental ideas behind the game are dated. And I'd like to start thinking about sweeping, massive changes. Let's assume that the graphics will remain the same: it would be great if we could update them, but it's not actually the engine that's the problem. It's redoing the textures, the levels, the models and everything else that's hugely time consuming. The levels won't just "convert." The models won't either. You need brand new everything, and for that you need a huge time investment, not to mention a major infusion of capital. Let's assume that's off the table.
Here are some of the problems I see with the current gameplay. I will also try to introduce solutions, because I think listing problems isn't useful if you can't offer some solution, even if it's a terrible solution.
Reliance on GMs
This falls, broadly, into two categories:
- Reliance on GMs for RPs
- Reliance on GMs for character advancement
My solution to the former -- and, incidentally, to the latter -- is to create a StackOverflow-like reputation system. Either we let players perform raw emotes at a cost of X RP Points, or we grant certain players the ability to perform raw emotes full stop, or to perform them for some limited period of time. This makes normal PCs "mini GMs", thus allowing them to drive the plot of the game along without requiring GM involvement. Obviously raw emotes would have to be pored over meticulously by the team to ensure that they were driving the story of Underlight forward and not being abused, but I think that that can be done at the GM and the community level.
Also, players can be given the ability to modify a room's description thus effecting change upon a level without requiring level changes. Alternatively the ability to dynamically alter levels in some very limited scope would be really nice, but I think that might be quite difficult. That being said it's certainly something that can be explored.
Similarly, for advancement, I think player teachers -- maybe uber-master teachers, or a very select few selected as representatives to the conclave -- should be granted the ability to plat Train (but not grant it), and to train teachers in Sphere. This would create a relatively self-sufficient community, thus broadening the number of those who can plat train.
Top-Heavy Playerbase
There are a significant number of very high-leveled dreamers. In fact I'd say the overwhelming majority of the active playerbase is orbit 50 or above, thus putting them in the "top half" of the advancement scale.
At first I wondered if this was really a problem, but I think that it is. If you're a real, true, new player and you start playing and everyone around you is a tank it becomes really discouraging. I'm not sure what to do about that here, though. On the one hand there's very little incentive to advance past 7th sphere: I mean, sure, you get more dreamsoul and such, but there's no new arts past orbit 70, and certainly by then it's slim pickins anyway. There is the dual focus rest at orbit 89, which temporarily drops you back to orbit 1. That being said it's very temporary. I'm not really sure what to do about this one. Certainly I don't want quotas or anything like that. I think we might need some more original content at lower levels and loads more at upper levels to pique interest and motivate people to advance.
Guild Motivation
Outside of roleplayed beliefs there's no incentive for guilds to battle and nothing to gain by winning a war -- or losing it. Similarly, despite the PT cost to forge, there's not enough motivation for players to join houses, and not enough motivation for a house to actively recruit freespirits (or poach players from other houses).
Here a lot can be done. I wrote up a whole proposal for how war can be made more systematic and fun in Underlight. It boiled down to the following points:
- War has a cost: it costs X strength / day to be in a war. (Actually it costs X strength / day to be a house, and that amount is multiplied during a war)
- The first to run out of strength loses the war.
- You gain/lose strength as a function of being in the war and also as a function of being collapsed by your enemy faction while at war. That is: if it's DoL vs HC and they start at 30K and 50K strength respectively, they'll both lose, say, 5% strength a day just by being in the war, but then they'll lose, say, 500 strength for each ruler collapsed, 250 for each guardian and 100 for each initiate collapsed by their enemy.
- Spheres can only be lost by a player in a warring faction.
- Players in a warring faction gain 2x the amount of XP per nightmare collapsed.
- Losing a war some number of times enables the victor to self-knight into the loser's house and/or ascend from knight to ruler.
I think if you incentivize war but make it so that it's hard for you, as a controller, to lose a huge amount of XP as a result (thus the nightmare buffs), and also if you make it so it's only possible for war to last so long you can create an environment where you have a mixture of roleplay and battle.
I've got more -- lots more -- but as I was typing this I got lazy, so I'm posting this. This is a work in progress so I'll post replies with more thoughts. I hope you all will do the same.