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Master of Magic and Sandbox games

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larienna
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I have been hearing the idea a couple of times that some people would like to play master of magic as a sandbox game. I don't know much about sandbox games, I know that mine craft is such type of game and there is a huge fad around it. There is also project spark demoed at e3 that could be a kind of sand box game. I trying to see if the concept of sand box could be applied to a master of magic video game and/or board game.

Sandbox games seems to fit more for the wanderer type of players that will play games with a lot of freedom and lack of objectives. Those kind of games would like games like The Sims, Grand Theft Auto.

The main element of a sandox game could be the lack of objectives, since the players define their own, and the fact the gae never ends. Personally, I don't really like games that never end, I prefer have an ending and start again, that play indefinitely.

So an idea could be to have a MOM game with no objectives but that would feel flat. So I was thinking more about a game where you do have objectives, but you have no competing players. So only the real player can "Finish" the game, the other factions are only there to entertain the player. That could be something interesting, because sometimes I hate racing against the computer. (In my current game, I have "Nodemastery" (power x 2) and some AI manage to have 5 times more power than I do).

One of the interest of the sand box games is the lack of artificial intellegence. In fact, there will be an AI, but it would be more a minimalist AI which would be more event based, a bit like an RPG, rather than a strategic AI that needs to know how to win the game. I was thinking lately about the kind of strategy video game I could make that have little AI, and it used a more RPG random encounter structure, rather than a strategic structure. So in this case, the same concept could be applied of MOM.

The concept of sandbox could also be used to playtest my board game in design as a single player game Since I was thinking to use non player puttet factions in my game.

So besides the non-competitive objectives and the advantages of a thin AI. So you have any other ideas that could be imported from a sandbox game and implemented into master of magic without breaking too much the master of magic experience?

pelle
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Some of what you say applies

Some of what you say applies to solitaire games in general (AI discussion, playtest, winning without opponents) and is unrelated to if a game is a "sandbox" or not. Not that it is not interesting, but to avoid confusion I will focus this comment on the sandbox part.

As far as I can remember, the Master of Magic computer games (I never played your boardgame I'm afraid) were pretty much sandboxes, at least the one (MOM3) I played. There were probably some main story with some quest you should complete to end the game, but the game (like many other CRPG) was more about exploration and completing small quests to improve your stats (learn skills and level up) and find magic items. I don't see why that would not work in a boardgame (and in MOM3 the AI as I can remember it was pretty much non-existing anyway; they spawned and attacked).

Did you see the Fabled Lands gamebooks? I have been playing the first two of them in the last months. It's a series of six (of planned twelve) gambeooks that connects and lets you freely move around and solve small quests and level up and trade, with no end (except when you die). A CRPG implemented as a series of paper books (although there are now digital versions as well). I think if a sandbox can be done that well using only books (plus 2d6 and a pencil) it should be possible in a boardgame too, especially if state that has to be kept on a table is kept to a minimum so the game can be easily stored away between sessions.

pelle
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mom

Duh. I was thinking about Might and Magic (the original games, not Heroes of Might and Magic). Got it confused with Master of Magic. But I can see how MoM would also work as a sandbox game, like any civ game could. My RPG examples might apply a bit less, but I have been doing some design on something similar to Fabled Lands but including more politics and war, less RPG, and probably a game board too, so that would make it more similar to a civ game (like Master of Magic) in a sandbox, and I have looked at the design enough to believe it can work.

larienna
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Of course, those kind of

Of course, those kind of games are mostly single player games.

heroes of might and magic has some similarities with mom but it's more focused on the heroes than the civ building.

I was thinking of using an event based system as a substitution to AI. Even for my board game idea, the non playing factions could be resolved with an event card that affect other players.

That could be an easier way to implement AI for non-player factions. I could make various deck of devents according to the personality of the faction.

Note: In my board game, there is always 10 factions, some are played by players while the rest by an AI. But since it's a board game, I am somewhat limited in what an AI can do. So this is why event cards could be interesting.

TwentyPercent
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Sandbox Games

Another feature that lends itself to a sandbox game are the mechanics and what options the players have. This is highly dependent on the style of game. I am currently working on a sandbox style RPG board game. The reason it is sandbox is that there are tens of thousand character/player options. There are no classes, but skills. Characters can spend experience gained to learn any skills (that they don't already know), with no limitations or training progressions. I consider this sandbox because the game is completely open to the players to design whatever character they want. A good example of this style of sandbox is Skyrim.

This is different from other styles of sandbox. Look at D&D. This is a sandbox game as well, but characters' abilities are fairly limited, based on their preset class. Yes, there are "skills" and "feats" to make each character unique, among other character assets, but even those have their own limitations. What makes D&D sandbox, though, is how the adventures and quests have no limitations, but are designed by the Dungeon Master. This is simply a different form of sandbox game.

Just wanted to point out that that "sandbox" can have very different meanings and come in different forms. The game's story or adventure can be linear, but the game still be "sandbox", or the game's character development could be linear, with a "sandbox" setting or developing plot.

Hope this helps! Good luck!
Twenty Percent

larienna
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Quote:Just wanted to point

Quote:
Just wanted to point out that that "sandbox" can have very different meanings and come in different forms.

Of course, but by leaving it vague, I get different point of view and I can see what people can expect from such game.

Knicksen
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Master of Magic Board Game?

Have I missed something...

Oh, and have you seen this;
http://www.wastelands-interactive.com/index.php/games/worlds-of-magic

larienna
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Is it a game in

Is it a game in development?

Most screenshots seems to show the tactical battles only.

Knicksen
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It was a recent Kickstarter...

@Larienna

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/304725524/worlds-of-magic-a-new-clas...

So have I misunderstood, or do you have a MoM Boardgame on the go?

larienna
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I do have a MOM board game in

I do have a MOM board game in development.

http://bgd.lariennalibrary.com/index.php?n=GameIdea.GameIdea201003240528PM

You could consider this game my life quest. (^_^)

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