With Dev Spy working and usable, I've started on a new venture. This one is back in the realm of web-based games. I'm still in the early stages of the idea, but basically it is: Multiplayer, Exploration focused, hex grid world. I've been pondering a question this week...
What limits should be placed on player activities?
Activities being actions they take in game, like moving, building and so on. I've come up with threee options.
No Limits. This would be akin to the common MMO. Players can log-in and do whatever they want for how long they want. Usually it ends up being a mix of grinding and waiting. For my project, I don't really think this is a feasible approach. The game would would have to be enormous. There would also have to be a lot more to do than I could possibly provide.
Resources. With this model, players would have a pool of 'action points' which are spent doing things in the game. Once exhausted, the player would have to wait until they get a new allotment or they can purchase more from a store. This one seems to be pretty common among free to play games. I am not really a fan of it though. It seems too focused on player purchases than gameplay.
Time. Every action takes X amount of time to complete. For example, it may take 30 seconds to travel from one hex to another. This is the option I have implemented so far. I'm not a huge fan of making players wait, but this seems like the least intrusive. I can also provide tools, like pathing, that let players queue up actions for when they log off or do something else.
So right now, it looks like option #3. Did I miss some better ways of handling the problem?
