I've always had a dream game that I wanted to make. Flying through the stars. Fighting against oppression. Surviving in a harsh world. A place where I could farm animals for a living. Smuggle weapons into oppressed lands. Run from pirates. I've played many MMO's that have and have not tried to accomplish these goals. World of warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies, Eve Online, New World, Guild Wars, Silk Road, Archeage. Many are great games in their own right and certainly scratch the itch. But none have come close to the promise.

I've thought and tried for years. And now, today, with new technologies, I think I am finally able to create what I have always dreamed about. An MMOFPS called SpaceMMO. A sci-fi space sandbox where I can say "Here's a world" and the players take it to the open ended limits. I don't expect to ever have as many players as wow, but if I even get one server populated one time, it will have been worth all the years of dreaming.

There's a couple of design philosophies that I intend to have in the game. I've always tended to play these games as a bloodthirsty thieving pirate. In Archeage I once set up a gang that ran a protection racketeering scheme. We actually got paid occasionally. Basically we would beat up players who wouldn't pay and charge them for protection. The reality was they only got protection from us. We didn't beat them up as long as they paid. There was one knight in shining armor that refused to pay and would come to the aid of our marks. We would have long battles together. I enjoyed it immensely.

This sandbox must support and give the tools to play creatively. If a player wants to run a protection racket, it must be possible in the game. If a player wants to run a casino, it must be possible in the game. Players must be allowed and be encouraged to play creatively. That is what a sandbox is all about.

Always on PvP is a must. Time and time again I watch companies make PvP games and them fall into PvE fenced games. Sea of thieves launched with always on PvP. Today, you can spool up a private server and avoid contact with all other players. Eve Online had decades of always on PvP, and recently they added an entire region of space where PvP is not possible.

High risk for high reward, low risk for low reward. Inspired by New Eden, I intend to use value as a factor in balance, more powerful items are more powerful, but also more valuable. This means that gear and equipment will never be in an entirely balanced state. Some gear will be more powerful, but full loot drop is always on. Seeing a pinata of a player will still be fun, even if that player has extra stats, because you might get their stuff.

There must be available content for all four types of players in Richard Bartle's paper "Players who suit Muds". (https://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm) Achievers, Socializers, Explorers, and Killers.

Quoting a lot from richard here:

"Achievers regard points-gathering and rising in levels as their main goal, and all is ultimately subserviant to this. Exploration is necessary only to find new sources of treasure, or improved ways of wringing points from it. Socialising is a relaxing method of discovering what other players know about the business of accumulating points, that their knowledge can be applied to the task of gaining riches. Killing is only necessary to eliminate rivals or people who get in the way, or to gain vast amounts of points (if points are awarded for killing other players).

Achievers say things like:

"I'm busy."
"Sure, I'll help you. What do I get?"
"So how do YOU kill the dragon, then?"
"Only 4211 points to go!""

There are no levels in my game. I always hated the world of warcraft grind to max level. It wasn't fun and it always just seems to serve to stop me from playing the game how I wanted. Players in SpaceMMO are born with unrestricted access to all the gameworld has to offer. If only they had wealth enough to do it. So what do acheivers get in SpaceMMO? One day, I will literally add a blizzard style achievement system. So players can brag about how much of the game they have completed. In a sandbox however, achievers will have to set their own goals, and set out to achieve them.

"Explorers delight in having the game expose its internal machinations to them. They try progressively esoteric actions in wild, out-of-the-way places, looking for interesting features (ie. bugs) and figuring out how things work. Scoring points may be necessary to enter some next phase of exploration, but it's tedious, and anyone with half a brain can do it. Killing is quicker, and might be a constructive exercise in its own right, but it causes too much hassle in the long run if the deceased return to seek retribution. Socialising can be informative as a source of new ideas to try out, but most of what people say is irrelevant or old hat. The real fun comes only from discovery, and making the most complete set of maps in existence.

Explorers say things like:

"Hmm..."
"You mean you don't know the shortest route from <obscure
room 1> to <obscure room 2>?"
"I haven't tried that one, what's it do?"
"Why is it that if you carry the uranium you get radiation
sickness, and if you put it in a bag you still get it, but if
you put it in a bag and drop it then wait 20 seconds and pick it
up again, you don't?""

There will certainly be mechanics in the game for explorers to find and figure out. One great intention I have is to not drop with guides. Players will be dropped in the world where they must figure out how to live. The playable world is quite massive, approximately 60 times bigger than DayZ's Chernarus. Of course, the world is still a work in progress and can seem quite empty at times. But there are still reasons to go explore and as time goes on I hope to fill the world more and more.

"Socialisers are interested in people, and what they have to say. The game is merely a backdrop, a common ground where things happen to players. Inter-player relationships are important: empathising with people, sympathising, joking, entertaining, listening; even merely observing people play can be rewarding - seeing them grow as individuals, maturing over time. Some exploration may be necessary so as to understand what everyone else is talking about, and points-scoring could be required to gain access to neat communicative spells available only to higher levels (as well as to obtain a certain status in the community). Killing, however, is something only ever to be excused if it's a futile, impulsive act of revenge, perpetrated upon someone who has caused intolerable pain to a dear friend. The only ultimately fulfilling thing is not how to rise levels or kill hapless drips; it's getting to know people, to [understand] them, and to form beautiful, lasting relationships.

Socialisers say things like:

"Hi!"
"Yeah, well, I'm having trouble with my boyfriend."
"What happened? I missed it, I was talking."
"Really? Oh no! Gee, that's terrible! Are you sure? Awful, just
awful!""

Socialization must be a core mechanic to the game. A player must be able to run a bar, restaurant, or club. Food buffs will be a thing, that will be stronger when eaten in a restaurant. There will always be reason to go out to eat to get your buff for the day, socializing a little or simply dining and dashing. Restaurateur should be a valid profession in this game. Players should be able to form social groups and work together to achieve common goals. I want to do away with the traditional party system. Totally eliminating time to find a group. I'm currently exploring ways to mark friendly players in the UI. But I may settle on "communicate well."

"Killers get their kicks from imposing themselves on others. This may be "nice", ie. busybody do-gooding, but few people practice such an approach because the rewards (a warm, cosy inner glow, apparently) aren't very substantial. Much more commonly, people attack other players with a view to killing off their personae (hence the name for this style of play). The more massive the distress caused, the greater the killer's joy at having caused it. Normal points-scoring is usually required so as to become powerful enough to begin causing havoc in earnest, and exploration of a kind is necessary to discover new and ingenious ways to kill people. Even socialising is sometimes worthwhile beyond taunting a recent victim, for example in finding out someone's playing habits, or discussing tactics with fellow killers. They're all just means to an end, though; only in the knowledge that a real person, somewhere, is very upset by what you've just done, yet can themselves do nothing about it, is there any true adrenalin-shooting, juicy fun.

Killers says things like:

"Ha!"
"Coward!"
"Die!"
"Die! Die! Die!"
(Killers are people of few words)."

Richard does not seem to be a fan of killers here and I would contest his point that only the knowledge that a real person somewhere is upset by what the killer has just done is even a main driver of the playstyle. It does feel good to be better, it does feel good to project power, and it does feel good to take the reward of some ones hard effort for yourself. Not something I would ever do in the real world, but roleplay as a pirate in a video game comes off to me as fun as hell. I'm reminded of playing Sea of Thieves and I was sinking someone who had an Athena's chest. He shouted from his boat "Why are you doing this?! Don't steal my stuff! I spent 5 hours doing this!" I remember thinking you downloaded Sea of Thieves not Sea of Friends who respect each others stuff. I ended up inviting him to my crew so he could get the rewards for his work, directly discounting Richards point on killers. I wish I hadn't though as he started talking trash about it was his and he deserved it. Which it definitely wasn't and he definitely didn't because he was unable to protect it.

This play style is certainly accounted for in my always on PvP full loot drop game. Hard to construct something and easy to destroy it.

I have a pre alpha ready to deploy. I'm currently working on about a million small things and am eternally worried about server stability. I invite any one who has read this article to follow this link and download the launcher. The servers may go down, the servers may not work, the servers may randomly change, your progress may randomly be lost. If you are interested in testing an early build of the game. Please download it and remember, have fun.

https://www.newellserv.com/download/launcher.zip