Epiphany

[ClymAngus]

Ok a bit of free form thought here, what elements are critical to give YOU a gaming Epiphany?

This may seem like a silly question but personally if you welded phantasy star online onto a elite like engine then it would be getting there. Maybe a bit of intricacy. Mix this and that to make a new thing. Maybe slots and the like, skill sheets, ability bonuses. All that. I just lap that right up.

I'm not interested in logistics or manufacturing here. So what gets your game juices flowing?

It troubled me that no-one has yet made the perfect game, as a thought experiment if you found out what people wanted from a game then you could better cater for and design it. Is it like music? Personal taste? Or is there an underlying human need that will bring satisfaction? What do you think? What do you look for?

[Lestradae]

For me?

A cross of Oolite, the X-games, FFE's detailed planets, but if you land somewhere and exit your craft, a scenario like oblivion (sci-fi-style, though).

And all of that oolite-moddable.

Yes. That would do it for me. I would become addicted. And not exit the game easily again

[ClymAngus]

So a persona, and then a ship persona? Sort of like a second life kind of thing (maybe a little more restricted) but with guns and sh*t!

You see I liked what they tried to do with eve but the level of ship complexity was just one step beyond. Don't get me wrong I love customisation but still, spare me the power supply limits. Create a one maybe 2 level system? Anything more than that, players start killing themselves.

Vercitility is the key not complexity. To my mind anyway.

[Lestradae]

So a persona, and then a ship persona? Sort of like a second life kind of thing (maybe a little more restricted) but with guns and sh*t!

Yup, exactly.

The whole tycoon thing of X series without the ten-menues-deep approach, plus Oolite with everything in (nothing new there), plus the quasi-realistic planets/sizes of FFE plus the persona that can get out and go to the bar at the coriolis station and talk to blue fat frogs there or land on a planet and inspect their mining equipment etc. ... all of that together with a seed-system like Oolite's but with a whole universe, and galaxies with hundreds of billions of systems, fractal-like, now that would be my thing, ultimately.

I do agree, such a level of complexity would have to have a very simple but powerful menu/switches system, simple enough to stay intuitive.

[JazHaz]

For me it'd have to be a massively multiplayer Oolite! But thats not going to happen!

[Disembodied]

I posted some of this a few weeks back in another thread, but this is what I'd like to see in my perfect space-trader game:

Flight characteristics: as per TIE Fighter. A great balance of twitchy dogfighting with a subtle blend of tactics as you shunt energy around between engines, shields and weapons. Perhaps for warping between systems you could add a little arcadey element, where you have to negotiate a short wormhole ride: the better you are, the smoother and quicker the transition. A similar effect could be used for an in-system Torus drive analogue.

Universe layout: clumps of star systems linked by "warp channels" (or something). Basically laid out like Escape Velocity. But a crucial aspect would be exploration: not all jump routes are known at the beginning of the game, and whole new clusters could be opened up by the player.

Star systems: big and sprawling, with planets made actual size (i.e. vast). A gas giant should be GIANT. But players can shuttle around at a-little-bit-faster-than-light, as per the Torus jumpdrive, masslocks (or equivalent) included. Planetary landings would be nice – and could allow for the occasional first-contact scenario, too

Money and trade: I'd start players out, not with a small amount of money, but with a whacking great overdraft. I'd make debt a fundamental part of the game, from banks all the way to loan sharks and mobsters. Clearing out your loan would be a major goal. Trade, meanwhile, would be much more specific. Generally I'd avoid generic items and let players hunt around for elusive big scores. I'd also include opportunities for haggling and barter.

Ships: tinkerable. I'd let players fiddle with their engines and power conduits and the like, and give them the chance to buy (or find, or steal) all manner of gizmos and widgets which they can try out wo twek the performance of their ship – sacrifice a bit of power for more cargo space, or tougher shields for a slightly reduced speed, etc. And endlessly reskinnable, too.

Moddable: let the public work for you! Have the game built ready to accept plugin expansions. Microtransactions, where people pay to download expansion packs (as per Elder Scrolls: Oblivion) would mean that the game could continue to produce an income stream. Expansions would include new ships, stations, colonies etc. – but primarily they would include clusters of new star systems for players to explore.

Sendraks added

Missions/Quests - lots of em (and the playerbase can add more). Some would be like the endlessly recycling RH, GN, Trading, Passesnger missions, but others would be story arcs that give particular systems, planets or stations, a real personal flavour. I really like games that have quite intense mission hubs that really tie you to an area for a length of time, so you learn its quirks and it feels like home. So moving to a new area eventually feels like a bit of a wrench to leave home.

Epic Spacefights - these do happen in Oolite sometimes, although I haven't been in any recently, where you get involve in a fight between a big ass Thargoid/Pirate fleet and a whole mess of Gal Navy craft up to and including Behemoths. These shouldn't be common place, but would be nice to have in mission arcs and also as part of occasional random pirate/alien/oppposing force attacks on whatever system you're in.

which I fully agree with, although I'd keep the epic battles to a severe minimum and I wouldn't let any of the missions take over the game: I want a sandbox where I can build my own world, not some (usually lame) plot cooked up by the designers. I'm not sure about giving in-game characters "skills". I prefer these to be developed by the player through getting better at the game; but they might work for things like fiddling with your ship's engines.

I look for immersion, really. I want to lose myself in the game universe. For that it's best if, like Oolite, most of the background supporting material happens inside the players' heads.

[Hawk]

I am a natural explorer. I like to try out everything a game has to offer, finding things that are new and unique, trying out every style of play, learning how the game works and refining and perfecting strategies. However, when I feel I have exhausted all of the possibilities of a game I tend to get bored and stop playing. The only exceptions to this are MMORPGs, if I find a good team/faction/guild etc and stay for the sake of the people, or if the game is sufficiently random that the experience is never quite the same each time. One of my all-time favourite games, besides Elite/Oolite, is Master of Orion (the original) for PC/DOS. I haven't found a strategy game since that can match it for replayability.

[Corny]

In short, a vital world with unique, convincing characters, diverse areas and gaming styles.

Long version: A bunch of unique, reappearing NPCs with voice acting, animation and all. Different missions like escort, exploration, bounty hunting etc, but not interchangeable and randomly generated (like in Freelancer, for example), but one-of-a-kind. Maybe co-op mode. I'd happily just play in half of Gal 1 and be limited to four ships, or even only the Cobra Mark III.
It wouldn't be much like Elite, but I'd like it

[Cmdr Wyvern]

Oolite has already achieved what I look for in a game, and then some. The one-stop shop, no need to look further.
All hail Lord Giles!