This is probably quite unnecessary, but I noticed a lot of people really latching onto MikeyQuest (let me remind you, it's not under construction, and quite likely never will be! It's just one of many millions of game ideas floating in my brain soup), and at least half of them seem to have a very wrong idea of what it is. So I thought I'd communicate it more clearly, especially because I keep thinking about it more.
MikeyQuest is
not a user-editable game. I know those are good, and really spark lots of involvement, but that's very definitely not what this particular game is about. Suggestions that users could have their own worlds to edit and that sort of thing just don't make sense in the context. As far as players are concerned, it's a straightforward action-RPG game. If you think of it like that, you will understand it better.
So it's just an action-RPG. Say it's Loonyland 2 again, just with a different plot and characters (the gameplay would in fact surely be quite different, but that's irrelevant like an elephant). The only thing that's different is that when it first comes out, it's a very teeny tiny game. You can only level to about level 5 or something, and only play as one or two classes. But gradually over time, more and more content appears, and the maximum level increases. That's all there is to it from your perspective (so suggesting there should be a huge level cap doesn't help you, since there'd be nothing to do once you leveled higher than me).
It's only uniquely fun and exciting from
my point of view! For me, I am gradually adding the new content as I play it, so it's always new and interesting for me. This does have repercussions for you as well. Besides the obvious fact that it means you can't level faster than me or finish any quests or kill any bosses before I do (and I will be rather slow, since making that content will take a while...), it also means that your suggestions and ideas could easily be incorporated as it moves along. So that's kind of fun.
Anyway, I hope that is much clearer. On another note, I invented a nice simple plot for it that makes it all make sense! Somewhat. Some guy somewhere has opened the Gates Of Oblivion, which is understandably something that is generally frowned upon. As a result, darkness has flooded over the world, eating everything. When the game begins, all that's left is one tiny village, where the Great Wizard is furiously chanting and whatnot to push the darkness back. He's the only thing holding it from completely engulfing the world. This explains why only that tiny bit of game exists initially. It's just darkness beyond. What's interesting is, rather than having the things I create just appear, it can be a 3-stage process:
The wizard asks you to do quests for him, or maybe there's just a generic thing - the more Light Crystals you bring him, the more power he has, something like that. Once you achieve the next level of that, a new section of darkness is pushed back (and of course, you can only reach each next level of Light Crystals/Wizard Quests once I have created the content that goes under that darkness).
But wait! This is bad darkness, not just night time. So once it is gone, the land is still corrupted and ruined. So phase 2 is to go to where the darkness has been removed and restore it by smashing dark crystals or killing monsters or something. As you do that, the land is cleansed bit by bit, until at last you see that new area as it was meant to be - a typical fantasy world, with people offering you quests, and ordinary non-dark monsters to slay.
So the third stage is usual RPG fare. "Now that the darkness has lifted, I can return to my home! Thanks! But our crops have all died, so can you get me 12 Zagnut Seeds to plant?", etc. I guess maybe their souls were in stasis in the darkness and now they come back to life once you fix it, because they couldn't all have been staying in the one remaining village.
I think that sounds very cool to me, because it adds extraneous 'arcade-style' gameplay to the game (i.e. not doing a specific quest, but just accomplishing something because it's the general thing you are supposed to do... if that makes sense). It's also cool in that it not only explains the world starting out tiny, but lets you personally unlock the extra world that appears, rather than just saying "wow, that tree wasn't there yesterday!" Maybe each time I finish an area, it could have a big notice "A new Light Crystal has grown!" and you have to go find it, and know that getting it will get you some new gameplay.
A very appealing game idea to me. Maybe I ought to stop slacking off on weekends and just mess around with that instead! Beh, sounds like work.
