MMORPG Tycoon 2 has quite an interesting, and addicting, gameplay loop. The goal in this game is to make money by building a successful MMO. But rather than the typical business sim where you just watch dots fill up, you actually build the game world. There are many aspects to manage here. As you grow your game, things might start getting a little complicated. There’s a lot to learn about this game, and this guide will help with that.
MMORPG Tycoon 2 Beginner’s Guide
There are many different things to learn about this game. MMORPG Tycoon 2 makes players manage regions, NPC locations, monetization, and so much more. This guide won’t focus on too much at once to avoid overwhelming the reader. For now, let’s just talk about the basics. This first rundown will talk to you all about how to actually manage your new MMO project.
Stats And You
Like many other games, you have statistics to manage. Players will earn skill points as they get more players and make money, and that will allow you to spend points on various stats. As you spend points, you will see more players of different types spawning in.
Astroturf – This is the relative rating of advertising impact for your game. The more points you have in this stat, the more likely your advertising is to be effective. You will see each ad dollar spent yield more interested players over time if you put more points into Astroturf.
Fluff – Fluff in a game is a basic rating for how engaging your MMO’s lore and the story are. With higher scores in Fluff, you’re more likely to attract players after a grand adventure who wan to be immersed in your world. This will encourage players to explore your world more and more, so focus on hiding quests and encounters in many regions to maximize the use of these points.
Hugs – Hugs increase the social appeal of a game. This is more focused on getting casual players into your game. The higher this score, the more likely you are get these types of players to come back and play regularly. This will help with making money if you can monetize it effectively.
Bling – Bling affects the actual loot players earn in-game. The higher this rating, the more likely you are to attract “munchkin” hardcore players who are just in it to find the greatest items and spells. If you want to the MMO those hardcore raiders would jump at to play, this is the stat to focus on.
Gibs – Gibs is effectively the combat rating for your game. Paired with a high Bling score, these are a measure of how fun it is to fight stuff in your game. The higher the stat in Gibs, the more fun players will have in fighting each individual encounter.
There are a couple of other ratings to keep track of. There are negative stats that you want to minimize instead of increase. Managing both the positive stats above and these negative stats is key to making a successful MMO.
Overcrowding is basically how full your region is. Since your MMO is made up of many smaller regions, each one can only support so many players. If the areas within a region experience overcrowding, players stop having fun as they hit login queues and other slowdowns. Having too much of this will then affect the other downside stat in the game: Unsubbing.
The amount of Unsub players you have will tell you how many players have been turned off by some aspect and stop playing. If it’s not being caused by overcrowding, you might have too much monetization. If that’s not it, check out the time players spend traveling for quests. If it takes too long to find stuff to do, players will leave.
What Topic to Pick?
The type of MMORPG you make is entirely up to you. You will then need to focus on a few areas for your new game to thrive. The starting topic will have its own attached stats, as more immersive MMOs will want to focus on lore and story to pull players in.
So the type of MMO you want to make doesn’t affect your gameplay that much in the long run, but early on it can be a pretty decent difference. There are 7 different starting type MMOs you can pick from when you make your game. Each topic has two primary stats, as well as some bonuses. It’s best to prioritize design that enhances those 2 core stats.
Combat
- Primary Stats: Bling (#1) and Gibs (#2)
- Starting Tech: Badges (Gives +5 Bling at the start)
- Focus on: Make your combat as engaging as possible. Lotsof challenging mobs and places to loot cool gear should be the goal here. Prioritize quests that reward combat-first playstyles.
Story
- Primary Stats: Fluff (#1) and Hugs (#2)
- Starting Tech: Flight Paths
- Focus on: World building and immersion. Make many little areas to explore and focus less on combat. Quest that push the player to find hidden things are better in Story MMOs.
Role Playing
- Primary Stats: Hugs (#1) and Fluff (#2)
- Starting Tech: N/A
- Focus on: Always go for a themepark experience here. A good mix of combat and exploration, with tons of ways for players to play together. Promote players spending time in towns and have good theming. Have some regions that focus heavily on a core theme, and stick to it. Also, don’t be afraid to ban cheaters and toxic players here.
Player v Player
- Primary Stats: Gibs (#1) and Bling (#2)
- Starting Tech: PvP Duels
- Focus on: this is a subset of the Combat MMO, and you will want to allow for some level of competition. Implement resource scarcity in some areas to encourage toxic players. In this game, you want those toxic players to fight it out.
Casual
- Primary Stats: Hugs (#1) and Astroturf (#2)
- Starting Tech: N/A
- Focus on: Making a social environment with a lot of advertising to pull players in. Rather than making an entirely cooperative MMO experience, focus a bit more on making zones that prioritize combat even less than a Role Playing MMO. This is the purest themepark you can make. Make what combat there is much easier than you normally would.
Social
- Primary Stats: Hugs (#1) and Astroturf (#2)
- Starting Tech: Friends List (+5 Hugs at the start)
- Focus on: This is somehow even more casual than Casual-type Topics. There should basically be no competition or combat here, or at least a very small amount. You can push advertising as one option for a secondary stat, as it’s really the only one that fits. Just make your hubs in each region massive, with tons of things for players to mess around with.
Free To Play
- Primary Stats: Astroturf (#1) and Hugs (#2)
- Starting Tech: N/A
- Focus on: This is the ultimate evolution of the casual MMO. This topic is all about just getting players in. Your goal here should be to focus on getting players in and finding creative ways to charge them money. Finish your zones with a mix of combat and exploration, but make it challenging by adding a real-world cost to various items and mechanics. If player want to progress in this game type, they need to pay for the privilege.
Laying Out Your World
When laying out your worlds, you need to think about the bigger picture. When you’ve chosen a starting Topic, you have your overall heading, but how will you achieve that? Just plopping stuff down randomly inside a region will shatter the immersion of your story-focused players; and combat fans will quickly get bored. You need to make your world conducive to player behavior.
Players move around the world by mostly using preset paths. When you lay down a road, players will mostly use it. Use this to funnel players on a path you want them to take. Be sure to place quests, respawns and other necessary infrastructure along these paths. Make sure to augment the Beauty rating of your zones within a region by adding Scenery.
Don’t Forget About Servers
The one thing that will limit player counts more than anything else is not having enough servers. When you have the cash, invest in new servers to handle more load. Uplinks are important as well. These network nodes allow you to support more players in each region. Place a couple in your starting zone to get that initial rush of players, then place more in subsequent regions. And speaking of new regions, don’t forget about progress.
Let’s say you built an incredible starting area with quests and bosses, but there’s nothing else to do. You need to make more higher level zones to attract players who progressed to level 2 and beyond. Having both the gameplay content and backend infrastructure to support these new zones is key to getting more players.