GameCareerGuide: MMO Results, Heavy Rain Challenge

Author: by Staff

Gamasutra's education-focused sister site GameCareerGuide has announced the results of its MMO based challenge, and revealed a new one which asks readers to design a game using the Heavy Rain engine. Challenge: MMO-OFF GameCareerGuide's most recent completed challenged tasked readers with designing an MMO that limits the amount of time players spend online. Many argue that users often spend too much time playing too much time playing these games, which often require hours upon hours from a player if they wish to make progress. Readers submitted scenarios that to this problem, while still offering content that lives up to contemporary standards. Here are our top picks. Mark Venturelli, Designer Residing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Task-Based Progression The task-based progression system ties overall progression to tasks that can only be completed on a daily or weekly basis, controlling how and when players can advance through the game. Christian Syvertsen, Student at The Norwegian School of Information Technology, Tri-Play System Christian Syvertsen's Tri-Play system divides a game into PVE, PVP, and Profession aspects, and implements a system that encourages regular rotation of activities and proper time management. Kris Kamfield, Sr. Ringtone Recorder, Window of Opportunity Kris Kamfield proposes a system that provides incentive to play at certain times, and offers rewards for players who limit themselves accordingly. The full results, and many runners-up, are available at GameCareerGuide. Challenge: Heavier Rain At the same time, GCG opened up its latest challenge, inspired by Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain: Imagine that you got hired by Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream and given the task of coming up with an original game design that would fit in with the game engine the team had already created for the adventure title. Theme, story, graphics, characters, and music are all up to you. But you are not able to add any new gameplay. Use the tools that already exist, the sorts of interactions that this technology enables, and come up with an entirely new design. Think about how the game makes every interaction, whether it's small and subtle (like tucking in a child at night) or big and bold (like a car chase), equally important in the context of its gameplay. Also think about how the game engine allows for seamlessly branching story choices. The full details of the challenge and how to enter are now available at GameCareerGuide.