a challenge by game career guide

[Stragomagus]

http://gamecareerguide.com/features/750 ... ating_.php

 

 

 

 

 

[hide=]GameCareerGuide.com's Game Design Challenge is an exercise in becoming a game developer, asking you to look at games in a new way -- from the perspective of a game creator, producer, marketer, businessperson, and so forth.

 

 

 

Every few weeks, we'll present you with a challenge about developing video games. You'll have two weeks to brainstorm a brilliant solution (see below for how to submit your answers). After the two week submission period elapses, the best answers and the names of those who submitted them will be posted, along with some commentary.

 

 

 

The Challenge

 

 

 

Design a social interaction system for a massively multiplayer game featuring friendly characters who can't understand each other.

 

 

 

Assignment Details

 

MMOs are world games; some games, like Final Fantasy XI, operate on global servers. Beyond that, though, they're very often filled with fantasy races of markedly different backgrounds and even physiologies. Most, however, don't play into it very much.

 

 

 

What kind of gameplay system would allow players who can't communicate by typing to interact?

 

 

 

FFXI (pictured) has a simple translation system that functions to communicate set phrases between languages. But it's hardly a core part of the gameplay. What can you do to further integrate communication into the game in an entertaining way?

 

 

 

As part of this competition, you can deliver as much or as little of the MMO's primary gameplay system and mythology as you like -- whatever it takes to get your point across and build on it. But the crucial part of the challenge is creating a communicative gameplay system that will actually entice players to use it, and might even -- best case scenario -- allow players who speak different languages in real life interact meaningfully.

 

 

 

The system should also function for NPC (computer-controlled) characters as well as live players.

 

 

 

To Submit

 

Work on your ideas, figure out your strategy for coming up with a solution, and ask questions on the forum . When your submission is complete, send it to email [email protected] with the subject line "Design Challenge: Creating Fun Communication!" Please type your answer directly in the email body.

 

 

 

Submissions should be no more than 500 words and may contain up to three images. Be sure to include your full name and school affiliation or job title.

 

 

 

Entries must be submitted by Wednesday, June 24

 

 

 

Results will be posted Tuesday, June 30

 

 

 

Disclaimer: GameCareerGuide.com is not responsible for similarities between the content submitted to the Game Design Challenge and any existing or future products or intellectual property.[/hide]

 

 

 

At first when I read this little challenge I thought of a system like quick chat that is already in runescape, but that still would not solve the problem as the players would still be seeing everything in the same language and if the other person can't read that little bit either then the system is useless.

 

 

 

As we all know, trying to communicate across different languages is very difficult, but this idea proposes a whole new way of dealing with other languages in a mmorpg, or any other way for that matter. The crutch of this idea is to have either the server do real-time translations and then send them to any and all within the radius of the text in the persons preferred tongue or have the game-client do the translations in semi-real-time via the game's client. This solves the problem in both instances, but servers today might overheat and explode having to do that many translations at a time so it would be better if the game makers made the translations possible through the game client itself. This would result in quite a few lanaguage packages having to be downloaded, but it would be worth it as communication would no longer be a problem in the game.

 

 

 

 

 

Have a solution to this challenge? Then post away.

[Iamdan]

A quick chat type system, with translations. So if somebody says something in quick chat in english, the german equivalent will show up on the screen for somebody in germany.

 

 

 

That and emotes, which are generally universal.

 

 

 

If speech to text and automatic translators are ever perfected then those could also be used. Microphone > text > translate > foreign text.

[Stragomagus]

If speech to text and automatic translators are ever perfected then those could also be used. Microphone > text > translate > foreign text.

 

 

 

I give it another 20 years before we see a working prototype of something in that magnitude.