This idea isn't exactly new. Nor is it anything radical, but I think it is certainly something worth checking into.

PURPOSE: To explore new methods and offer a less invasive method of leveling.

GENERAL: The idea is that everyone starts out on the same basic level then, based on what a person does the game improves in those areas for the player.

There is a problem persisting in the world of leveling-up that I see as very limiting to the players; it takes time and effort. More than that, it takes know-how. The player must be learned how to level-up. For example, Temple Siege requires players to make selections based on a civ buying system. I think this is crude at best. The solution? A leveling system that requires no effort from the player.

Essentially, the more you do a single task the better you are at it. Using VHP you can calculate how much a single player has killed in terms of HP. The player will then be rewarded in a way that makes killing easier by making his own damage abilities rise. Or, for example, the more HP a player loses the more HP they are given. This can even be combined into more complex accomplishments, such as staying alive and losing HP at the same time being rewarded with tougher HP (armor).

This is mostly for implementation in battle maps (not necessarily AoS), since battle maps such as Alpha Marines usually require the player's full attention most of the time. Ultimately, the goal is to have something requiring minimal or no effort on behalf of the player. HP is automatically leveled and the player is informed. A glance notice at a message ensures more chaotic battles as the player is bombarded with information while battling someone. One of the reasons I believe battle maps are so successful is their stressful and intense nature. There are times when my heart was beating fast in a close fight that went on to tooth and nail between both players. This is the thrill of combat, but turning up the heat it is more enjoyable and fun.

Meaningful play arises from players making meaningful decisions within the world of the game space. To take away a player's field of choices, or to limit, can also limit the meaningfulness of the choices the player can make. What if a player wants to use their bow, but then apply the experience they get into vitality, instead of into using their bow? Maybe they want to increase their mana pool instead of their bow using skills?

A good solution would be to implement something similar to how the original Fable game dealt with experience. You gain general experience you can spend on anything, but depending on how you gained that general experience you also gain specific experience that you can only apply to similar methods to that of how you obtained the general experience.

Let the players use their civs to make meaningful decisions so they more feel like they can impact the game in relevant ways via their decisions, all the while also using your idea to increase specific skills as they use them.

A fully automated game isn't going to produce or allow meaningful play on the player's behalf.

This. In fact, this has given me new ideas for the AoS that I'll be working on while SC2 is down.

Some nice food for thought.

I designed ASL mostly for the type of maps I tend to make, which are very small, very chaotic, and give the player absolutely no time to look away from the screen for any duration of time. A combination of ASL and choice is a very viable option for maps of larger size.

For example, in my map Dodge the Spkes IV (under development), there is an achievement called medic that will regularity heal you and your allies every so often. It is gained by well, being a medic. The thought is, if you've done something enough times doesn't it make sense to become better at that one thing? It doesn't make sense to shoot tons with a bow and suddenly get better at swordplay, you'd just be better at shooting with bows. If you want to upgrade something; use it. It is a very intuitive system.

There is no way you can gain guitar experience by playing the recorder for a year. Same reason why training with a bow shouldn't give experience in anything but that. A prime example of ASL as described by Sacrieur is the leveling system in Runescape. You perform a skill to gain experience in it. Sure, it's boring, but conceptually it makes sense. Sure, there are lamps/tomes/etc. that you can use to put experience into a chosen skill, but the core structure remains that of a use-based experience system.

That is true, however with a massively multiplayer game you need ways of making sure that degenerate strategies are kept to a minimum (EDIT, actually, this applies to all games). A degenerate strategy is usually a boring but extremely effective/repetitive strategy that assures or nearly always assures success. If players in MMORPGs could just level up one skill to the max, then use that specific skill to up everything else, nobody would ever do anything except one specific task. In Runescape you are forced to perform many different tasks as to have all the benefits from each tasks. Also, many tasks are required for other tasks, and all the tasks are intertwined. For example, it's much easier to grind your combat levels up if you can fish for lobster, cook it, then eat it all yourself. This way a single goal of leveling up your combat skills overlaps multiple required skills, thus making the goal of upping combat skills more complex than simply fighting things. However, in the case of a StarCraft map, the content and user base levels required to achieve such a system is a little unrealistic, and a system similar to the one I already suggested seems more effective and reasonable.

One can still use Sacrieur's ASL idea, I'm just giving input on things to consider while creating the system. His system sounds great for the type of map he wants, where he doesn't want the focus of the game to be on reading text information or moving civilians.

Oh and one more thing: Realism isn't always was most fun, and usually game creators want to create what is most fun. Sure in real life I won't get better at finishing Soduku puzzles by shooting a bow and arrow, but in a game the ability to do so might be more fun than not.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jun 8 2010, 10:10 pm by CecilSunkure. Reason: Clarifications.

however, their is the option of making it so that most skills auto level depending on what you do, but then you still get some choices on specialization. (skill branches maybe?)