Dawnspire Apocalypse- DS2 project Part 1 the brief.

[Persus]

What is this: - A LOST two and a half year old, 100+ page document of ideas and directions to go with DS2.
Why:-            Created to keep me sane while working 70/80 hour weeks with only Word to keep me company at lunch times.
Why now:-      Found the usb stick containing everything. Up till now only had 2 images. It's a talking point.

The Cover

http://i25.tinypic.com/2poa4r7.jpg

Dawnspire Apocalypse Design Brief

Dawnspire Apocalypse is based on the award winning Dawnspire the Prelude. It is an online, 3rd person, tactical, team based player versus player game with multi layered elements of roll play for up to 8 players a side or bot support to fill empty slots. Players will be battle ready from the start. The game has online persistent stats and tracking with a top 100 leader board, Warrior of the day, Warlord of the week and Overlord of the month. Guild versus Guild battles and leagues, multiple path achievements (commendations) in the form of in game missions. A  world map on the website That alters monthly to show the ebb and flow of battle and to take into account guild Standings.

The game will use a fully rotatable 3D engine with a customizable HUD and keyboard layout. Characters will be cell shaded to add a unique graphic touch. The game will play out across the land of Alendere on 20 multi purpose maps used for 4 different game modes which will yield 80 game playing areas in total. The game shall also have a Hub area were players can log in walk around and talk, customize characters or skills, pick up in game missions that lead to commendation/achievements and learn tutorials.

There shall be 4 tutorials one for each game type or these will be incorporated into the single player campaign. The Hub shall also contain an area were players can fight one on one, betting against the out come.

The game will ship with 9 character classes each with between 16 and 20 skills. A tenth class will become available soon after release exclusively from the game store. Players will also be able to buy new weapons, sections of armour and skill packs for each of the classes, and can customise there character to there liking using said purchases. These new items will not effect or influence the game in any way, they are cosmetic only. The game will ship with 4 character slots with more available in bundles from the game store for real world cash.

The game will be server/client based, with all players logging into a master server where all the character and game data is held. There will be no support for Lan play initially to cut down the chances of piracy. This can be implemented at a later date if needed. Players will be able to join one of the official ranked campaign games or start up there own server playing non ranked games as player servers can be sufficiently altered to give unfair ranking advantages. Guild versus Guild games shall be automated and controlled by the master server. Players leaving a game early or quitting a game shall receive no ranking points or in game currency. They will also receive a loss to there persistent stats online.

Ranking will be completely overhauled from that used in the original game to give a more rounded and fair balance to all classes. A player who wins shall receive 3 units of in game currency (Gold). A player who loses shall receive 1 unit of in game currency. There shall be no player to player trade of any sort within the game. The in game currency shall be used to purchase the aforementioned store weapons etc for a short or  infinite period, though gold costs for this will be considerable higher. It shall also be used to reset skills and to bet on the out come of any one versus one matches the players fight in. Possibly also to repair weapons and armour that degrade during battle.

There will also be an 18 level/match single player game lasting up to 4.5 hours approx (16 minutes x 18 games) which will further the story to the point of the Spires opening and give players a chance to test skills against bots. This could also replace/encompass the 4 tutorials from the hub eliminating the need for those elements.

Extra gold can be purchased from the game store for real money. This gold can then be used to buy the weapons and cosmetic upgrades for an infinite period as mentioned above.
Once the game is bedded in and all major bugs and server problems eliminated an expansion shall be released. See expansion section. Followed by an editor so that players can create maps, campaigns or mods for the game

Core Audience: The games aim is to appeal to as broad a section of the gaming community as possible. It is hoped the casual player can be hooked into the game long term through the persistent stats, achievements, elements of RPG, online ranks and the customization options, the 10 classes and the 4/6 exciting game modes themselves. It is hoped the game can hook the hardcore player into long term play through aiming the game at the e-sports market and the Guild versus Guild scene. It is hoped that a GvG community can be built up and sustained through leagues and special challenge competitions and the chance for the top ten guilds to rule a small province on the Dawnspire world map on the website. All 4/6 game modes in the release candidate are ideally suited to the fast paced visually entertaining medium needed for e-sports. Implementation of a spectator mode is also a possibility.

Finally it is hoped that a sustained revenue stream can be obtained by constant updates added to the game store for casual and hardcore players to buy with real world cash.

KEY FEATURES:
10 unique and diverse classes to fight as across the world of Alendere.  
200 different skills for characters to learn.
10 passive skills and a detailed RPG system.
Build complimentary teams based around strategic combinations of individual powers.
20 maps to fight across in 4 exciting e-sports orientated game modes.
Advanced learning AI to fight against in an exciting single player campaign.
Play co-op through the single player campaign for a tougher challenge.
Increased level cap and gain war gear as you level up.
Become Overlord gaining ranking points in battle and show the world your skill.
Free online play.
Form and fight guilds and control the world map or top the guild leagues.
Hangout and relax or gain quests in the in game lobby.
Customize your characters with weapons and armour bought from the in game store.
Skill based combat for up to teams of 8v8
Be battle ready from the start.
Fight against players on Xbox live and PS3.

[Nightmare]

Although I understand why some people want customization options like armor and weapons, I've never liked it myself. For example in GW it was very hard to distinguish allies from enemies because with some bad luck they could end up looking like identical twins. Sure there was the cape to show which one was red and which one blue, but in the midst of 16 players fighting each other and not seeing their backs it wasn't that easy to spot the difference.

So if you want customization then you also need to think of a way to clearly seperate the two sides fighting each other.

[Persus]

One way could be the GW way of making the health bar above the charachter a different colour. In GW one is red and one is blue. Alternatively one team could be covered in a sort of red or blue glow. Again from GW. See below. You would only need to do this to one side.

http://i44.tinypic.com/i1l8jn.jpg

[Nightmare]

Possibly, but the health bars would need to be permanent (which they are not in GW) or in case of the characters glowing (besides, in that picture afair it's not the characters who are glowing but the ground under them) you would have to be very careful not to make the glowing too powerful.

[Persus]

Actually that wasn't the best picture but the characters are actually covered in red. The red glow comes from the area they are in which is seperate from their colour.

[Oynamak]

I don't get it. This is just an idea of you, right?

[Persus]

Yes as It said in the first post I was working 70/80 hour weeks So all you really have time to do is wake up, work, eat and sleep. I did this for 3 months solid. So to keep myself sane during my long empty lunch hours I set about writing back story, skills, everything I thought would make a more rounderd DS2. I then lost the usb only for it to turn up, last week, two and half years later. So I thought I would stick it out there over the coming weeks as a talking point ( we could use those), unabridged with all it's flaws.

Any way below is a better image of what I ment by the red glow.

http://i40.tinypic.com/nyb71x.jpg

[Ghost]

Players will also be able to buy new weapons, sections of armour and skill packs for each of the classes, and can customise there character to there liking using said purchases. These new items will not effect or influence the game in any way, they are cosmetic only. The game will ship with 4 character slots with more available in bundles from the game store for real world cash.

If Dawnspire 2 is set up so that you need to spend real life money to get more than only 4 characters, I'm not playing it. Even Dawnspire 1 had a sufficient amount of 'free' character slots - but there was still an option to buy more if you wanted them. In addition, I don't like having to pay money to play games... I make it a policy not to play any games like that because you buy the cd/software - and now they say that you need to pay like £10 a month or whatever to play it. Whats the point in buying the CD if you have to pay to play it on top?!

If you make dawnspire 2 a 'pay-game' I highly doubt it will get any success.... one of the things that has made dawnspire itself a success is that it was relatively cheap to buy, and free to play in a wide diverse community. Buying armor etc, which I assume will cost real money will defeat the meaning of dawnspire.

Sure, customization would be good in Dawnspire... but only really the colour scheme, otherwise you'd get so many different appearances running around you won't know who's who and what's what. Giving a choice of weapons and armor will turn the game into something similar to so many others, like WoW or Guild wars or oblivion etc etc.

Dawnspire's 'uniqueness' should be maintained in dawnspire 2 should one be made... otherwise it's just one of the same games you can get.

[ReverendLostLamb]

Seconded.

[Persus]

The armour and weapons that I thought would be sold through the store along with character slots and gold were both optional and cosmetic in nature only (they would have no effect on the game). The player could still enjoy every bit of the game without spending any money at all. They could keep the basic look if they liked. The weapons and armour were only if you wished to change your look. There was no compulsion or driving force to make anyone buy anything. But it was an attempt to keep a revenue stream coming in for the game as Servers are not cheap and don't run them selfs.

Looking over what I had put together I had even build in this "Increased level cap and gain war gear as you level up" Which offered armour and weapons to the player at set points as they leveled up. Again the Leveling system as will become apparent has no effect on the game but to aid the player in gaining titles, armour and help with passive skills.

PS What I type this morning read "Increased level cap and war gear to attain as you level up" when it should have read "Increased level cap and gain war gear as you level up". I have amended it to make sense.

[Ghost]

What I type this morning read "Increased level cap and war gear to attain as you level up" when it should have read "Increased level cap and gain war gear as you level up". I have amended it to make sense.

Ah that makes more sense now... I thought you meant that as you level up, it allows for more armor etc to be bought, but the idea of having to buy armor etc was what I was against. If there is 'free' armor given for each level up, or every so often (even as achievement awards etc) - then that will be best. This is because people are not left out if they do not buy armor, and can still aspire to achieve and personalize their characters.

[Persus]

I envisoned both a free piece every 5th level and armour to buy if you so wish. You will be happy to know I did write down that 1 of the 10 classes would be available only through the store. I chose the prowler as it seems popular enough and would mean less of them about. 

[ReverendLostLamb]

buy the prowler for real money? Oh well, I never use it anyways.
Otherwise, I like the idea as a whole, but I think you could have an alternative system of the player being able to gather points which they can spend to buy the prowler or sumthing.

[Faro]

However you set it up, you have to compell people to spend money. The failure of Dawnspire was directly related to a lack of income for the Devs. Either at the front end by making the game itself for sale, or at the back end by making desirable elements for sale.
The devs tried this late in the game by making it for sale, but it sounds like they got a bad deal from their distributor, they also sold extra slots, but by that time I think it was pretty much too late.

[Persus]

buy the prowler for real money? Oh well, I never use it anyways.
Otherwise, I like the idea as a whole, but I think you could have an alternative system of the player being able to gather points which they can spend to buy the prowler or sumthing.

As I stated in the Brief there has to be a sustained revenue stream to keep the servers up, have them maintained and pay for those who would remain on the project to add updates and patches/fixes.