Review: Game Design of Lord of Ultima

It is a shame to say I haven’t played this game, and doesn’t plan to because I don’t feel it fits my gaming style (I hate waiting game which require me to login every now and then, it’s a disturbance to my life) and it’s doesn’t get more fun to play as we progress (it’s irony with longer building time and increased micro management of cities). But I feel I could learn a few game design ideas from Lord of Ultima (which is similar to the Haypi Kingdom I played on Android) based on reviews from MMO Hut and Unreality.

The God Oldies
It followed a traditional but workable gameplay, where you build buildings, generate resources, train troops, go to war and repeat again. I was hoping for some innovation or simplification to make it more fun and less repetitive. It does offer a civilization kind of resources where you build woodcutter house next to forest and farm next to river for better bonus; sadly some player said it’s more efficient to bulldoze the land so that you can build more building to generate the resources (protect the natural resources!).

Tutorial Quest
After the tutorial, a series of quests give players a sense of direction, which is like Haypi and its good for beginner. It “teaches” us to build various building, upgrade them, recruit army, form alliance, rise in rank and “reward” us with some goodies. The quest might be boring, but it’s actually a form of tutorial with reward.

It’s a waiting game
The problem with most casual online games are the time mechanics, where it might require a few minutes to do something in the beginning, eventually it will require a few hours or days to perform an action (upgrade building or moving troops). I am free on weekends and would like to play more, but there isn’t much to do except to wait. I am busy on weekdays, but I still have to login now and then to micromanage my cities. I don’t want the game to control my life; I want to play whenever I feel like it, and the my city should grow passively and slowly if I don’t login (the worst is when I go to vacation, it feels like leaving a baby at home).

Why games become boring and tedious as time goes?
The irony with many games is that the best part is always the beginning, where we explore new things and are given new tools or unit and everything goes at a much faster speed (level faster, more upgrades, etc.). Then building take longer time to complete, and there are no more new surprises except some new unit or building (which still function pretty much the same, just slightly more powerful; disruptive or special unit perhaps?), and it get more tedious as we need to micro manage more cities (more boring and repetitive work). Romance of the Three Kingdom (RTK2) has the same problem when we have to conquer china with 40+ provinces, but we can delegate the cities to AI and send in the lower ranking officer. Let me focus on the frontline and go to war! Capture the land, capture great generals, and capture more women and treasure!

Problem of a physical map
There is a great problem about online strategy game with a physical map: we are fixed at a specific location, and our neighbors and resources around are fixed as well. If we have a very powerful neighbor around us, then we are at disadvantage; we shall be picked on, or we have less space to expand even though he is our ally; and we prosper if we are surrounded by weaklings or people who abandoned the game. If we invite a friend to join the game, he might be a few thousand miles away and can’t be of much help.

We can lessen the effects by allowing greater mobility: allow faster travel time by taking train, using magic or portal. Or we can create a virtual space, where you don’t have immediate neighbors; thus eliminating the concept of distance (or distance separation by provinces or continents).

PVP
I am not a big fan of PVP. I like RPG where PVP is optional, or contained within an Arena (which make it more fun and engaged when I am ready). In strategy game, we attack other for greater rewards; and our city is opened to attack when our army leaves the fortress. Even if my army never leave town, I could still be swarmed by a massive army (during clan war, etc.). What is the fun if I don’t attack others? There aren’t much of viable options except to engage in PVP to gain more cities and more resources; and offence is the best defense. We are afraid to lose our city yet happy to gain another; and we worry about losing our new and old city since we need to protect both. I can agree with high risk and high return; but I have to say anxiety might be bad for game as well. In online strategy game, PVP is not optional; it’s the only way to win (together with alliance).

There seems to be only one way to win: expand with more cities, and the powerful will become more powerful. Can I choose to grow only one city into a legendary city instead, without going into war? Can I make ally with NPC natives, thus I shall be protected when I am attacked? Can I offer the best quality iron in the whole continent, where everyone trade with me and protect me?

Money: The root of evil
The free to play model is a double edge sword; it made it easy and cheap to start, yet hard to prosper without throwing in some real cash. The game is painfully slow pace as we progress, thus we have to buy minister to speed up things; or buy more resources. Money should not upset the balance of the game, nor purposely make the game painful and offer solution to ease the pain by pouring in money (that is against the spirit of building a good game).

I know this is hard issue to tackle: motivating player to pay without upsetting the balance. The ideal thinking is that player would want to become a “philanthropist” by donating through in-game payment to support a good and free game; top 100 philanthropists in Caledonia or a Mount Rushmore for you on the map. Or perhaps you can buy your way to become a counselor (like United Nation), where you get to vote for province/building/unit name, controlling policy to control which foreign force be allowed to trade with Caledonia and etc. Of cause you could pay to repaint your city with your own design or create your own flag. Perhaps a luck potion, where the dice you role slightly in your favor for a short duration of time.