A few weeks ago I found a game called Fair Exchange on Facebook. I think I found it on insidesocialgames.com. It was described as a game where buy and sell resources to build your town. That intrigued me. I've been a fan of such games since back in the day with games like M.U.L.E., Elite, Escape Velocity, etc. I love that kind of thing.
When I joined the game it started in a very promising way. It asked me if I wanted to be a goblin, elf, dwarf, or troll. Each specializes in a different type of resource and lives in a different area of the realm. My head spun with the possibilities this choice could mean for my gameplay!
Well, it turns out that that choice is meaningless. It does determine which resource you can harvest, but as it turns out the only thing you do with resources is sell them. Wheeeee....
The game basically consists of harvesting resources (which happens automatically. You just have to log in and collect them.) You sell those resources at a market for gold. Then you go to your town and upgrade your buildings using the gold which leads to increasing the resources you can collect. Wheeee...
There are five buildings in your town (although one of them is just a mailbox and can't be upgraded.) The first is your resource center. You collect resources here by building mines. This takes gold and "rumors" (see below.) Upgrading it lets you build more mines.
Then there is the town hall. This is where your achievements are stored (90% of which give you money.) Upgrading unlocks more achievements (like "Upgrade your Inn to level 5" and "Build another mine!")
There's the inn where you come every day to collect rumors. The only purpose of rumors is as a resource to build mines. It also holds your energy (more later) that you can spend on adventures (more later.)
Last there is the magic tower which says "Coming soon." You can upgrade it, though.
The only other significant mechanic is adventures. As explained above, the elves, dwarves, trolls, and goblins each have a section of the world and produce resources there. You can spend your energy to go on adventures (I've never gotten anywhere close to spending it all.) You get rewarded with resources from the region you adventure in. There are several problems, however. First, all you can do with those resources is sell them. Second, and more importantly, the adventures require a number of people to go on them. These people are drawn from your friends who are playing the game, however each friend can only go on one adventure with you per day. So as you do adventures your friends get used up and you soon find you can't do adventures that require people other than yourself. In addition each realm only offers one adventure at a time and if you can't do it, too bad. You quickly use up your friends and then have nothing to do. The only solution is to have a ton of friends playing this game. Hahahahahaha.
OK, the point of all of this is the game is disappointing, but really it's that there is so much potential here that is being wasted! This could be a great game. Here are the changes I would make to it.
* First and foremost, make the resources useful! Require them to build your town. Make players trade them. Make them want to adventure to get resources their realm doesn't provide.
* Give players a persona. Technically there is a leveling system, and everything you do gives you XP, but it's really just a score of how much time you've put in. Make it important. Require levels to unlock things. Make your race important. Make goblins good at fighting and elves good at bartering for goods in the market.
* Make a crafting system. Take resources and make stuff. Make your town as I say above. Make stuff for your character.
* Expand the adventure system. Make them feel more like quests. Add some story. Add some rewards other than resources. Make sure the player always has something to do.
The may be working on all of this, but I just hate to see all that potential wasted in a game I would enjoy otehrwise.
When I joined the game it started in a very promising way. It asked me if I wanted to be a goblin, elf, dwarf, or troll. Each specializes in a different type of resource and lives in a different area of the realm. My head spun with the possibilities this choice could mean for my gameplay!
Well, it turns out that that choice is meaningless. It does determine which resource you can harvest, but as it turns out the only thing you do with resources is sell them. Wheeeee....
The game basically consists of harvesting resources (which happens automatically. You just have to log in and collect them.) You sell those resources at a market for gold. Then you go to your town and upgrade your buildings using the gold which leads to increasing the resources you can collect. Wheeee...
There are five buildings in your town (although one of them is just a mailbox and can't be upgraded.) The first is your resource center. You collect resources here by building mines. This takes gold and "rumors" (see below.) Upgrading it lets you build more mines.
Then there is the town hall. This is where your achievements are stored (90% of which give you money.) Upgrading unlocks more achievements (like "Upgrade your Inn to level 5" and "Build another mine!")
There's the inn where you come every day to collect rumors. The only purpose of rumors is as a resource to build mines. It also holds your energy (more later) that you can spend on adventures (more later.)
Last there is the magic tower which says "Coming soon." You can upgrade it, though.
The only other significant mechanic is adventures. As explained above, the elves, dwarves, trolls, and goblins each have a section of the world and produce resources there. You can spend your energy to go on adventures (I've never gotten anywhere close to spending it all.) You get rewarded with resources from the region you adventure in. There are several problems, however. First, all you can do with those resources is sell them. Second, and more importantly, the adventures require a number of people to go on them. These people are drawn from your friends who are playing the game, however each friend can only go on one adventure with you per day. So as you do adventures your friends get used up and you soon find you can't do adventures that require people other than yourself. In addition each realm only offers one adventure at a time and if you can't do it, too bad. You quickly use up your friends and then have nothing to do. The only solution is to have a ton of friends playing this game. Hahahahahaha.
OK, the point of all of this is the game is disappointing, but really it's that there is so much potential here that is being wasted! This could be a great game. Here are the changes I would make to it.
* First and foremost, make the resources useful! Require them to build your town. Make players trade them. Make them want to adventure to get resources their realm doesn't provide.
* Give players a persona. Technically there is a leveling system, and everything you do gives you XP, but it's really just a score of how much time you've put in. Make it important. Require levels to unlock things. Make your race important. Make goblins good at fighting and elves good at bartering for goods in the market.
* Make a crafting system. Take resources and make stuff. Make your town as I say above. Make stuff for your character.
* Expand the adventure system. Make them feel more like quests. Add some story. Add some rewards other than resources. Make sure the player always has something to do.
The may be working on all of this, but I just hate to see all that potential wasted in a game I would enjoy otehrwise.
I joined and began play when you did. I posted on their wall asking if this is 10% or 90% of the game. It's apparently 90%. Wizard tower enabling is going to be it.
Your ideas are very good.
I, too, felt it had potential. I can't explain why it's not being developed further. Then again, I can't explain why The Settlers - My City has become so focused on being a Make a Pretty Town game rather than being a The Settlers game.
That's sad to hear. The were probably just testing their tech and will implement it in another game or something. Sigh.. such potential.