Shintolin: a turn-based MMORPG about settlement-building

Iiis

Hey, been a long time since I posted here.

I've been working on a browser based MMO for the last few months. It's an MMORPG, so you only control one character, but players can work together to build villages and towns. Every building in the world is player made, and most items are player crafted - the only things that are not are items that can be found naturally, such as food, sticks, and flints, which must be then crafted into more complicated things. The only NPCs are animals.

The game is still in development, so don't bother trying it just yet if you want a fully fledged game (I'll post again when it's more complete). Also, it's a turn-based game, and the graphics are very minimal, it's more of a text game with a visible map of the surrounding. If you've played the games Urban Dead, Nexus War, or Shartak, it's very similar to those. This is the only way I've been able to develop the game indepently and in a short space of time, allowing me to add some interesting new elements.

Some features of the game:

- Trade system, where players can barter items. This will hopefully be the backbone of an entirely player run economy.

- Forests can be cleared. Fields can be dug. If an area is over-gathered, search rates will decrease and it will eventually turn to dirt. After a while, they gradually recover.

- Four different XP tracks, so healing people does not improve your fighting skills, and attacking people does not improve your crafting skills.

- Settlement system. All settlements in the game will be entirely player built and run, and can be conquered or destroyed. This will hopefully lead to a truly dynamic world.

Some new features I hope to add over the next few weeks:

- Farming

- In-game support for clans

- Auto-defence when players are logged out

- Mining, and the use of iron and bronze tools for more advanced settlements

- AI villagers that are attracted to settlments based on the quality of life, which can perform simple jobs

- Increase the size of the map, and add new buildings, items and skills

Any feedback or ideas would be greatly appreciated; contributing to the game forums, rather than here, would be best. I'm very open to well-thought-out suggestions, and I'm trying to build up a good community around this game as it develops.

The website is at www.shintolin.co.uk

Airspell

interesting, i shall try it.....later

Pretty nice for that type of game. More closely related to that pirate/solider/native game , forget the name. 

Iiis

Seriously, I get a reply after 6 minutes, then nothing for 2 days? I mean, I know this isn't a chat room, but ... It says at the top there's a million registered users...

LynxJSA

It struck me as interesting for a few reasons

- It makes an attempt to drop me into a story... a time and place.

- It doesn't immediately tell me to go smash things, rather offers avenues of exploration, through both the game world and its skills.For me, that's an important one. I like games that ask me what i would like to do next over games that tell me what I need to next.

- It reminds me of the old Infocom games in its design

One suggestion: Get a web guy to pretty it up. A neater and more organized interface is more user friendly and intuitive

 

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses!

 

Iiis

Lynx, thanks, glad you liked it.

 

I agree that getting the interface right is very important. Web dev stuff is totally new to me, but I know one or two people we have some experience so I'll try asking them. Did you have any particular improvements in mind with the interface?

Airspell

Don't worry bout the pretty too much.  Just make it simple and easy to look at. One of the most popular games of it's kind Urban Dead has a very minimilastic approach , think Google basically and not mmorpg.com lol.

Rikimaru_X

That main page needs more info. Like some screenshots or something.

Iiis

Added some information about the game to the front page. I'll polish it up some when I've got the time to design a nice layout and some fancy graphics and logos.

 

I might post this in another section, I seem to remember lots of people discussing ideas for dynamic worlds and closed encomies on this site, would really like to hear some of their feedback on the gameplay.

Reanemeiko

Hmm. that game sound interesting.. I like a turn based game thoguh... When will be the released of that game.. is that a free to play like what I'm playing Atlantica online?

 

vonkeitz

me too i like playing atlantica it is really cool.. i like the turn based system. i hope it will be like atlantica where yu can pvp to other players.. and i hope it is free to play too

Iiis

Yes, free to play. I've added farming, a bunch of new items and skills, and the map is now twice as big as when I started this thread. A lot of the core features are in the game now, so now's the time to start...

 

There's already three villages in the world (Eudaimonia, Citrus Hill, and Woodia Eschate - all built and named by players) so sign up now to join one of those, or set off into the wilderness to build your own.

 

It's a bit different to Atlantica, as it's not just turn-based combat, everything is turn-based. This makes it good for casual gamers as you can play for just 10 minutes a day. Alternatively, a lot of people are getting involved in the community, so if you've got time to spare you can get involved in settlement life and try organising other players... or get to the top of one of the leaderboards... or get rich by crafting or trading... or set of on a war of conquest... The choice is yours.

 

Edit: And yes, P v P is in there. You can attack anyone, any time, so you need to make sure you always have weapons and friends to defend you if you want to stay safe.