Creativity at a critical level in eclipse games

[Zyvo]

Seriously, sometimes I see no Creativity in these MMO's on here. every other person uses the same char types and either has a game that takes place in the Midevil era or somewhere arround that time, or In a time after Nukes went off.

Make a creative game someone.
–------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Isn't it time for people to make games that don't sound relatively close to anything anyone's ever heard of?

I mean, I see the same classes over and over in eclipse:
Warrior
Wizard
Mage
Archer

Isn't it time for people to start creating new Names for these thing?

Example:
I'm going to be working on a game as soon as EE3.0 comes out called Projects Online. Classes are basically the same as in any other MMO, but the difference is the names aren't even Remotely similar to anything I've or possibly anyone's ever heard of for class names.
Class Names:
Personal
Stealthbug
Defender <== that one is the only one
Sourcecode
Databreaker

See?

If anyone has any other Examples of ACTUAL creativity please post.

[Admiral Refuge]

Please tell me, how are following games in development NOT creative?

[Squiddle Online – The most creative game on these forums](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,35043.0.html)

[Kitten Online – A game where you control kittens](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,47363.0.html)

[Sonic Online – A side-scrolling sonic the hedgehog game](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,46267.0.html)

[World's End – A war sidescroller RPG](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,44788.0.html)

[Post Nuke – Speaks for itself, a game about post-nuclear war](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,15183.0.html)

[Retarded Online xD – Do I really need to put a reason?](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,36901.0.html)

[Stickworld: The Quest for Color – A game based around stick-people, with some very epic gameplay](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,45838.0.html)

[Farm Life – A game that has entirely to do with farming](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,46278.0.html)

[Harvest Moon: New Generations – Another farming game](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/board,329.0.html)

[Lostica Online – It's a sidescrolling/platform MMO, jumping and all](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,29678.0.html)
[Duckyz Online! – It's creative enough, I'll give it that :rolleyes:](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,43701.0.html)

[zade_o]

well I"m gonna make a game where you have to draw symbols on the screen to do damage. is that creative enough?

nobody steal that idea… clearly if you do, you took it from me because that's not a very common thing -.-

[Owen F]

My game, which is on hold to 3.0, is set from the first year of Bacterial life to the time as a human, in the year 3000\. It'll be hard, so im waiting for 3.0.
It was called Such is Life, but now it is Evolution - The game. I havnt updated my profile yet, but yeah. You can find the link in WIP some time.
Classes are like
Good
Evil
Balance
And weapons arent just like swords and guns and shit
things like
Sticks
Rocks
Branches
Logs
And magic summons 'plagues' e.g locusts to attack, frogs to trap, and so forth. Creative enough?

[Keebler Elf]

I had this cool idea ill look for the post i had about it so you can read.

Here it is.

[http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,38320.0.html](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,38320.0.html)

[balliztik1]

Simply calling a class something different, while it does makes things different, is not the sole identifier of creativity. Look at successful MMOs out there. There are successful MMOs using these "uncreative" names that are raking in players by the thousands. How is this so? You've got mages hurling fireballs, warriors doing melee combat, archers and rangers firing from a distance, and priests and clerics healing in HUNDREDS of games, yet it still works. These typical classes have been around for years. Why? Because in game development there's a certain element called archetypes. In MMOs especially, where party combat is prevalent, there's a need for a few main roles:

-Tanks, to take damage
-DPS or Nukes, to deal fast damage
-Healers, to heal party members

These roles were established long ago, in the first RPG games. It just makes sense. Plus, everyone understands right from the get-go. Looking over your classes, I have no idea what a "personal" is. If you told me that you had a wizard class in your game, then yes, I would be able to relate to that and know what to expect from that class. It's not what things are called. It's how they are handled. I don't see how you are arguing whether calling a healer a priest versus something rare like a theurgist is "creativity at a critical level". If they're filling the same role, the only difference is that you'll teach your players a new word.

As far as creativity goes, we're an MMO community. I don't think we CAN come up with a purely new idea. Everything's really been done, except maybe trying to make an awful game - Admiral wins there. There's only so many genres available, and odds are that it's been put into game form at one point or another. All we can really do is adapt our gameplay and execution to deliver a fun finished product as best we can.

In my game, currently reserved to notebook development until 3.0, most of the stereotypical classes are there. It's how they are implemented that I think gives my game a creative side.

Rant over. Sorry.

EDIT: Nope, rant not over. I have an example.

Nickkos uses fairly unique class names in AST. My character is a Blademaster. But as far as its merits go, the Blademaster is no different than the hundreds of other melee classes. However, Nickkos manages to pull off a successful product by other means. His classes have nothing to do with why his game is fun.

[Kusy]

Oh yeah… changing names - that's creative.

If we are talking about creativity maybee let's start with
-half of the games are using RPGmaker graphics. When I see a wip thread with those I visit it only once and never again.
-Fangames - don't do it. Pokemon, Harvest Moon, Yu Gay Oh, Naruto... just don't.
-If people tell you that your maping is bad - it probobly is. Someone to map is easy to find here... but most of those 'mapers' aren't amy good.
-Oh did I mention RPGmaker graphics? DON'T FUCKING USE THEM.

[azkanan]

@Kusy:

> Oh yeah… changing names - that's creative.
>
> If we are talking about creativity maybee let's start with
> -half of the games are using RPGmaker graphics. When I see a wip thread with those I visit it only once and never again.
> -Fangames - don't do it. Pokemon, Harvest Moon, Yu Gay Oh, Naruto... just don't.
> -If people tell you that your maping is bad - it probobly is. Someone to map is easy to find here... but most of those 'mapers' aren't amy good.
> -Oh did I mention RPGmaker graphics? DON'T ducking USE THEM.

I agree with you on the RPGM graphics, I only look at it once. Fangames… sometimes they work, most time they don't. Agreed also with the mappers, I don't consider myself a mapper, even after years of doing it. :P

@INH:

> My game, which is on hold to 3.0, is set from the first year of Bacterial life to the time as a human, in the year 3000\. It'll be hard, so im waiting for 3.0.

Spore.

@Ghost:

> well I"m gonna make a game where you have to draw symbols on the screen to do damage. is that creative enough?
>
> nobody steal that idea… clearly if you do, you took it from me because that's not a very common thing -.-

Harry Potter on the Wii.

–-------

As for the main post... Name me one game/movie/book which isn't based off of previous productions. Everything is a copy of everything, sometimes with a twist. About 5%-10% of productions are at least 90% completely their own.
There is no such thing as a "Whole New Game", because everything has already been done before.

[Drummerpete]

I think eclipse IS creative..

Lostica.
Post nuke.
Retarded Online.
Ambardia.
Aphelion Online.
World's end..

Hell, NONE of the eclipse games in WIP or Active are really similar.

[Keebler Elf]

Everything has been done at some point. It isent the exact idea it is how good you can do it.

[Kusy]

90% of fantasy games are based on Tolkiens's realm but Tolkien wasn't really that orginal either - he was ripping off mythologies. Does that make LOTR anything less than one of the most important fantasy books writen?

D&D is a rippoff from Tolkien and other mythologies - does that make it anything less tna one of the most popular RPG systems?

Nope. The problem is not laying in the names… sure it's annoying to see all the games with Dwarfs, Elves Orcs, Angels and other crap like that. And devs should try to change that. I'm planing to get rid of some overused things in my game but that doesn't mean I'm going to change the most basic things.

Like sayed before - changing the most basic aspects of the game makes the player confused.

[jdf318]

@Zyvo:

> Seriously, sometimes I see no Creativity in these MMO's on here. every other person uses the same char types and either has a game that takes place in the Midevil era or somewhere arround that time, or In a time after Nukes went off.
>
> Make a creative game someone.
> –------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Isn't it time for people to make games that don't sound relatively close to anything anyone's ever heard of?
>
> I mean, I see the same classes over and over in eclipse:
> Warrior
> Wizard
> Mage
> Archer
>
> Isn't it time for people to start creating new Names for these thing?
>
> Example:
> I'm going to be working on a game as soon as EE3.0 comes out called Projects Online. Classes are basically the same as in any other MMO, but the difference is the names aren't even Remotely similar to anything I've or possibly anyone's ever heard of for class names.
> Class Names:
> Personal
> Stealthbug
> Defender <== that one is the only one
> Sourcecode
> Databreaker
>
> See?
>
> If anyone has any other Examples of ACTUAL creativity please post.

If it's not broken, don't fix it.

I am finished.

[Robin]

Creativity isn't a problem if you can pull it off with style.

Give it some fancy text effects, a glossy website and a fantastic sprite set and you can get away with the biggest clichés around.

I think the creativity problems in Eclipse aren't with the design and balancing, but with the user interfaces and the over-use of the RMXP resources.

[Anna Comnena]

Star Jumper is really cool.

If Eclipse could handle firearms, and ranged-attack NPCs, you could do a lot more.

[chrisaub]

mines creative

[Keebler Elf]

@chrisaub:

> mines creative

In what way. Dont just say it is creative. Give us a example or maby a link to that example.

(and mods im not trying to do your job im actualy asking a question, since i always get like +30 warning for this i thought id tell you this time :( )

[Mr. Bob Firefarter]

Is the [Kittens MMO concept](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,47295.msg483297/topicseen.html#new) creative enough?

[Hippoman789]

@Desiderium:

> I think eclipse IS creative..
>
> Lostica.
> Post nuke.
> Retarded Online.
> Ambardia.
> Aphelion Online.
> World's end..
>
> Hell, NONE of the eclipse games in WIP or Active are really similar.

HELL YES! im mentioned!

[Squiddle]

What about Squiddle Online? I don't think you can get any more original then that =p. I can't beleive nobody mentioned it yet XP.

[Keebler Elf]

We dont have to mention it. We all just know it in our subcounsious.

[Drummerpete]

@Hippoman:

> HELL YES! im mentioned!

2D WWII Sidescrolling Shooter MMORPG..

Of course it has to be mentioned.

[Owen F]

what about Kittens MMO, not creative????

[emblem]

@Ghost:

> well I"m gonna make a game where you have to draw symbols on the screen to do damage. is that creative enough?
>
> nobody steal that idea… clearly if you do, you took it from me because that's not a very common thing -.-

There's a DS RTS game about that.

And about classes, take a look at the class names for .hack
They're so unique:
Wavemaster
Twin Blade
Heavy Axe
Harvest Cleric
Long Arm
Arch Ranger.

Ok, I added the arch ranger but you get the point

[Antidote]

@Emblem:

> There's a DS RTS game about that.
>
> And about classes, take a look at the class names for .hack
> They're so unique:
> Wavemaster
> Twin Blade
> Heavy Axe
> Harvest Cleric
> Long Arm
> Arch Ranger.
>
> Ok, I added the arch ranger but you get the point

Exactly.  But they're not way out-of-the-way.  I realize that a Twin Blade will probably be a fast, dual-sword wielding character and a Harvest Cleric will probably heal people.  The names aren't the same old same old, but it's still clear enough for the new players.

I think that a lot of the games on here are more creative than you realize, but at the same time, you **can't** make a totally original game.  Everything's been done before, and it's only a matter of time before it's re-done.  It's not the actual idea that makes a game work or not work, it's the way that the game is layed out, presented, and played. 

If all you do is walk around killing stuff and getting more experienced, that sounds retarded and time-wasting, yet look at how successful the Diablo series was.  It's the way that the game was layed out and played that made it so successfully addictive.

I could go on and on, but you get the general gist of what I'm trying to say.  It's not the originality of the idea, but rather the way the idea is presented and put together.

[Patrick]

@Admiral:

> Is my game creative enough? XD

Tsk Tsk no.

Mine is. Come on a duckyz limping around with a mega mcnugget as a weapon?