Which game concepts in MoM are broken?
Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 7:41 pm
After reading through several threads over concrete game balance issues here on forums, I thought I'd put up a thread focusing on the the game concepts more generally.
The MoM tries to create an icredibly vast and rich universe and introduces several strategic levels, which could sometimes make a separate game of its own: wizard selection, physicall combat on a special map, spell combat side with several tactical level of its own, city management, race relations, spell research, mana distribution, diplomacy and wizard relation system, gold income and tax rates, terrain related city development, army food management, overland map spellcasting, global spellcasting, unit experience system, fame-related hiring of heroes, artifact creating. Inside these bigger levels there is a plethora of small game concepts, sometimes spaning over those different strategic levels (such as unit health - healing - regeneration).
Now, while the programmers did an exceptionnally good effort to bring in ALL THIS and inter-connect such a vast number and level of those concepts, it seems that it inevitably ended as a story of "too many oranges in one basket". Some of those concepts were left half-way (a simple comparison of city management with a Civ1 game shows it), some of those remained in an embryonic stage and are more or less complicating the game (or interface) without contributing anything special to the game itself (endless city popups as a somewhat simplish example).
A lot of these concepts (and here I finally come to the core theme of the thread), although they represent excellent and enriching ideas, have been left in a broken, unfonctional, or marginal state. Sometimes it si down to their inner malfunction, sometimes (many times?) down to their interconnection with other areas of the game. I'd like to discuss them and see what is the general meaning and how / whether they could be repaired, simplified, deepened in a future of the game.
Feel free to add your suggestions and ideas.
Please note,
- that the concepts are not equall to single problems the game balance offers, so for instance, don't write here 'Paladins are too strong', but instead try to discuss (as an example) the overpowered end-stage units concept.
- that I do not intend to discuss the things broken due to the poor AI, that's broken AI. Instead I'd like to think through those concepts that would be broken or would not (more or less) fonction in a normal game, let's say in a mulitplayer.
Thanks.
The MoM tries to create an icredibly vast and rich universe and introduces several strategic levels, which could sometimes make a separate game of its own: wizard selection, physicall combat on a special map, spell combat side with several tactical level of its own, city management, race relations, spell research, mana distribution, diplomacy and wizard relation system, gold income and tax rates, terrain related city development, army food management, overland map spellcasting, global spellcasting, unit experience system, fame-related hiring of heroes, artifact creating. Inside these bigger levels there is a plethora of small game concepts, sometimes spaning over those different strategic levels (such as unit health - healing - regeneration).
Now, while the programmers did an exceptionnally good effort to bring in ALL THIS and inter-connect such a vast number and level of those concepts, it seems that it inevitably ended as a story of "too many oranges in one basket". Some of those concepts were left half-way (a simple comparison of city management with a Civ1 game shows it), some of those remained in an embryonic stage and are more or less complicating the game (or interface) without contributing anything special to the game itself (endless city popups as a somewhat simplish example).
A lot of these concepts (and here I finally come to the core theme of the thread), although they represent excellent and enriching ideas, have been left in a broken, unfonctional, or marginal state. Sometimes it si down to their inner malfunction, sometimes (many times?) down to their interconnection with other areas of the game. I'd like to discuss them and see what is the general meaning and how / whether they could be repaired, simplified, deepened in a future of the game.
Feel free to add your suggestions and ideas.
Please note,
- that the concepts are not equall to single problems the game balance offers, so for instance, don't write here 'Paladins are too strong', but instead try to discuss (as an example) the overpowered end-stage units concept.
- that I do not intend to discuss the things broken due to the poor AI, that's broken AI. Instead I'd like to think through those concepts that would be broken or would not (more or less) fonction in a normal game, let's say in a mulitplayer.
Thanks.