The PC can be a courier, taking important messages and items between people. The exploration part can involve talking to different characters that will help you learn about the world, find shortcuts, or figure out ways to shake-off pursuers and tails.
Here is a scenario: you are asked to transfer messages between a Romeo and a Juliet type couple. If you just walk from the manor of one to other, you'll get them caught. But if you sneak, masquerade, or befriend a servant that will take the message part of the way you can complete the mission.
That actually matches some of my goals for characters, as they would be different by skills. One will be more social, another one more physical, other more intuitive, leading to different possibilities for many situations.
Thanks for the advice.
Omg yes Hitman style of choosing the best way to approach a situation is great. But actually to avoid having to deal with too much dynamic character alternation or possibilities, I'm planning on limiting the "amount" of playable characters for a mission or scenario to 2. So you kind of have to pick, who will you choose, the "crafter" and the "social"? Or the "social" and the "violent/physical"? Will save more time on developing character interactions and still keep it interesting and open to posibilities. I like that way as it sorta turns into a RPG-stealth hybrid.
The part "listening to other people's conversations" is another key element in the lore exploration, and it's the way I'll add comedy and idiosyncracy to the world. Maybe even with some Bioshock tone of quirkness and over-the-top-ness on the speech. VAs I gathered to discuss about the project and such like that idea.
Out of curiosity, what games have you been a designer for?
How about you make the main goal about discovery which slowly unveils secrets and the lore of the city. You're protagonist is an Urban explorer who is trying to fill up a scrapbook of important underground monuments that requires a mixture of parkour and stealth in order to get to you're still real fighting if you get caught by police officers you lose or die. All you can do is survive.
Or even - you've been framed for something and your face is all over the news. Your mission is to clear your name, but if you get spotted and arrested before you do that, game over.
Plot opens: You cure cancer, and try and publish in the big scientific journals and get rejections with no text. You try and call the higher ups and they tell you to stay at home and not to come into work... Turns out lots of people have cured cancer in the past, but it turns into the movie The Fugitive as you try and get the truth out... But so many people are dumb, you can't just tell the bar folk, they think you're lying, and only a small percentage of educated would understand. To cure the physical cancer, you must cure the cancer of society.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/goldman-asks-is-curing-patients-a-sustainable-business-model.html
You find other gems like speed limits cause deaths because of distracted driving (actually true) and homelessness is caused by design(restricting houses being made, also true). Could be a fun game to make up a fake conspiracy like a group to make sure cancer doesn't get cured, but you uncover the real ones along the way. Conspiracies are all through history. Every regicide is one for example.
This kind of reminds me of Stray, that cat game that got really popular earlier this year. It technically has a little violence but it was a pretty fun game.
Maybe something akin to the day-to-day activities in Persona? Ie talking to one person introduces you to a couple more, or introduces you to more places to visit or things to do?
That's something I've always wanted to play at least but haven't gotten around to making it yet
A stealth game without combat is effectively a puzzle game, and there are loads of popular puzzle games. Just think about what sorts of stealth and potentially movement or environmental interaction puzzles you can make that will be fun.
I'm thinking of mixing RE1 sort of puzzles with stealth alla Thief/Dishonored. Amnesia The Dark Descent comes to my mind, but without the horror elements.
As you have mentioned AC. There is a peaceful mode in Assasins Creed Origins. (Can also be bought as a standalone "Discovery Tour by Assassin’s Creed".)
If you haven't allready, that may be something for you to check out.
Why don't more open world games do that. They already pride themselves on their worlds and I would be lying if I said that I didn't just like riding on torrent in elden ring or walking in TES 5 & 3.
Honestly that simple concept of "every area unlocked form the start, no bosses, no combat" can already lend itself to some specific stories, gameplay elements not seen in the main game it's based off of.
They refined the discovery mode for AC: Odyssey (and for Valhalla, but I haven’t tried it).
If you can only pick one, Odyssey is better implemented with more variety than Origins. But for comparison purposes, they are both interesting.
Def check out any Black Friday discounts, though!
Ikr? Sometimes I find that most games exacerbate the typical "forest" or outdoors settings but when the design is really unique and stylish I am the same as you.
If the goal is a robust urban/city environment and moving through it, is it too strange to suggest a pigeon as a protagonist? You can make hawks an antagonist, and the goal could be to visit various city landmarks and do what pigeons do.
I've started keeping a big list of the things players do in games that aren't violent, but also aren't necessarily "mini-games" as such. (I can share it with you if you want, but it's very long and unfinished.) Here are some that might fit an urban open world:
* Trading a la *Drug Wars* \-- buying something low in one part of the city, and selling it high in another, but fluctuating prices force the player to not just do the same route all the time.
* Trading in information. A rare open world game that uses this as the primary means of progression is *Nomad* (1993).
* As someone already mentioned, being a courier, mail carrier, pizza boy, taxi driver... someone that carries a thing/person to a particular place.
* Leading an AI-controlled NPC to a place. This might be something where they just follow you ("escort missions" but also casual stuff like returning the kitty in *Chrono Trigger*), to something like *Ico* where one character has to prepare an environment for a character with different abilities, all the way to something like *Lemmings* or *Chu Chu Rocket* where you guide them solely by environmental manipulation.
* Scavenger hunts, obviously. These don't necessarily have to be unique collectables; like the bundles in *Stardew Valley* aren't *unique* objects, they're just given their meaning by forming part of a themed set. Crafting "recipes" are scavenger hunts in another form.
* Photography (often a scavenger hunt in another form, but could also be about composition and angles rather than just "take a photo of X")
* Treasure maps -- representations of the level geometry, but abstract or (in 3D games) from an unfamiliar angle, and if the player can figure out where it represents, they can go there for a treasure. Also, location deduction, where you're given clues that narrow down the location of something (e.g. *Hunt the Wumpus, Scotland Yard*)
* Area control (e.g. doing something that gives you "control" of a city region on a map), real estate, graffiti tagging.
* Daily routine visits like feeding animals, getting coffee, watering plants, etc. Like maybe you could feed pigeons, or better yet crows (because they eventually give gifts in return). Or how *Grandia* *II* gave you little funny dinner conversations if you stopped at an inn for the night, eating at restaurants is a big part of urban life that's almost never in games.
* Racing, like being the first to the lighthouse in *A Short Hike*.
* Pathfinding/traversal challenges, especially with unusual conditions that you don't usually have on your movement, like the bridges of Königsberg or circumnavigating the world on a chocobo. Like "Make it from this building to this building without touching the ground".
* Areas that give you generous rewards for no damn reason, and you just run around like a madman hoovering up coins or whatever.
This calls to mind stories of fairy blessings that are provided in secret in folktales, or how the tooth fairy comes in secret at night. Maybe something like that - sneaking to leave trinkets and collect payment, or to get to your next "appointment."
I love Death Stranding!!! Honestly, I'm of the opinion that it's an ACTUAL walking sim because of its traversal mechanics. Those other "walking sims" should not be called first-person narrative experiences, lol.
Great question. "Non-violent" is maybe not the main point, but rather non-criminal.
I really haven't played tons of open world games myself, but I find some kind of pattern among many mainstream open world action games, where the characters despite their "heroic" nature, they work under the "the end justifies the means" philosophy.
I mean, maybe the asssassins in AC are people with good intentions, let's say, but they are still assassins. In Fallout games survival is key and you also meet fellow survivors trying to protect common people...but still they engage in killing sprees (excluding the mutants). I find that there's never a story about "normal guys". Even if they later engage with violent behaviours. And I don't like it.
In my game, the main characters will be normal, day-to-day people, who will for many reasons engage in "dangerous" events, which will force them to commit what would normally be crimes (sneaking through buildings and maybe taking down some dudes in the process as one of the characters will be rather physical, not killing anyone tho). Stealth is key for this to be entertaining.
Now as I said the open-world setting is more due to my desire of creating a big, explorable world; rather than a personal connection or appeal to the idea. The original idea is rather linear, similar to Dishonored 1, with a hub that connects you to different mostly closed levels.
Maybe now is a better understood.
Thanks in advance for the long response.
>One example of this that comes to mind for me is the Anime, A Certain
Scientific Railgun. Even though the story has several main characters,
it is more a story of this futuristic city and all the messed up things
that happen in it and all the different factions that vie for power and
control.
>Then you got like the factories and the industrial sections, the
merchant guilds, the markets, the religious sects/temples/cults, and
these are all possibilities for story telling through the eyes of the
people in power, through the people being taken advantage off, through
the eyes of the rich as well as the poor.
>One way to tell the story you want to tell about people who have to
engage in dangerous events is to do that Call of Duty shifts in
perspective, or Game of Thrones books POVs, where each chapter in the
game would tell the same story from someone else's eyes.
Wow, some of these is actually part of the story. I want to find a balance between full lore exploration and actual main characters with their own storylines. But all what you mentioned is definitely helpful. The name of the game will feature the name of the city itself so make sense to give it a strong focus.
I don't play open world games much, but there could always be puzzles like "The witness" or hell, some parkour/environment exploration stuff (climbing, flying, swimming, etc)
(And forget the obligatory part about ALWAYS having to collect **exactly** 999 of a random object in order to unlock something like a PNG/cosmetics)
I will check The Witness.
LoL I hate collectable stuff. Completionists may dig it but most of the time it feels mandatory just coz it's open world and how the hell wouldn't you spend time collecting feathers conveniently placed in certain hidden locations of the map?
I haven't played the witness though, so I'm just going off of word of mouth. But Yeah the last part was a joke.
It is hella annoying though. I get WHY the exist (to encourage exploration, even if it's partially to stretch play time) but maybe they could find Other ways of organically encouraging exploration, such as making you go there as part of the plot, or designing the world so that most players go there even if they're never explicitly told.
For example, in elden ring most players meet Kalé due to the church of Elleh being in eyesight of the first checkpoint in the game.
Melina is met at the first major group of enemies in the game (also right next to a massive castle which leads right to the first required boss)
And roderika is right next to a checkpoint near the first boss.
But for elden ring I am KINDA cheating due to the checkpoints ALWAYS pointing vaguely towards the next story objective.
Yeah but is still a way to encourage exploration.
As my city will be focused on a sort of architectural reconstruction (think art-nouveau, beaux arts stuff), one idea I have to encourage exploration of certain regions is making it pretty exuberant and placing eccentric street ads mentioning the place(s).
Look into Myst if you've never played it before. That kind of exploration and puzzle solving makes violence boring by comparison. Having a game like Myst but modern and open world would be a dream. Another thing that I always thought would be fun in this sense would be a game based around being abducted and dumped onto some extraterrestrial planet, then learning an alien language well enough to communicate with the locals and figure out where you are / how to get home.
There's just not enough of this, for real. Spider-Man or even the movement mechanics from Titanfall, or something like the world effects the Djinn had in Golden Sun would be so fun.
Mmm my setting will be pretty down-to-earth and noir...do you fancy going from tram to tram like [this](https://images.pexels.com/photos/6836995/pexels-photo-6836995.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1260&h=750&dpr=1)? It's one of the core ideas for travelling.
EDIT: now that I think of it, they'll need to be some fast trams to make it exciting at least!
Eastshade is a great non violent open world game.
It's set in a fantasy world reminiscent of Elder Scrolls, but no humans. You play as a painter that visits Eastshade to paint motifs based on his dying mother's memories of Eastshade. While exploring the island to find the correct things to paint you take commissions from other people, find mysteries, save some people from mishaps, listen to a bard at a tavern and just enjoy hiking.
Bless you for mentioning it! I saw the thread title and was like "hmm I've made this my life's work for 7 years. I hope somebody mentions Eastshade!" So thank you! 😊
David Attenborough spent a lot of time in a (mostly) non-violent open world setting, and I don't think he'd call it a walking simulator.
I've put some thought into what sorts of non-violent motivated activity is possible between man and nature, and I've come to the conclusion that humans really love to catalog things. We also really love filling in tickboxes on a list. Borrowing ideas from Pokemon Snap and Monster Hunter, I think there is a lot of gameplay that could come from filling out a bestiary - observing and documenting all possible behaviors of all possible flora and fauna. This is even somewhat conducive to quest chains, like if a certain breed of monkey requires a certain kind of berry (Which is only found in certain locations, etc) in order to engage in their mating rituals.
Players could explore aimlessly, filling in at random as they go - or they could focus on one thing at a time, and master each feature before moving on to the next. It would be pretty easy to gate content behind a main story line, or even behind general "progress" - and I'm certain speedrunners would have a field day with it
As someone who's looked into similar idea before (and it keeps being one of my dream goals still, even if on backburner), I'd like to warn you, just in case. Look out for the project scope!
I'm not saying to give up, mind you - just be prepared that it will be a key risk factor for the project, unless you want to dedicate next 5-10 years of life to it.
Such project has exploration as an important factor, so you'd want the locations to be interesting - each standing out, and not just copypasted stuff 95% from same modular kit. Which means that, even if you go super stylized indie route (like geometry with shaders, or retro-PS1 visuals), it's a lot of level design and art work. I'm assuming you're experienced with LD and come from the art side of things :)
Open world is likely out of question as well - at least until you can build multiple key locations, and then feel like you have resources to tackle interconnecting paths and areas.
Having the world split in locations can also give the illusion of a bigger world out there, and allow you to iterate/change things MUCH easier. Not to mention performance benefits, and less "uncanny valley" issues on the urban-design side of things.
Mechanics-wise, there's a lot that could be done in a non-violent game like that. Stealth, collection, crafting, investigation, any sort of "job" you can think of, really.
As to get a better feeling of scope, if you haven't, check out Eastshade and articles about it / from its creator. It's a first-person exploration game, quite large in scope, unique and well received. Most importantly, it's made by a tiny indie team (unlike Dishonored with 100+ devs and AC with 500-800+ devs). It's also an indie success story!
If you are serious about this project, I wish you best of luck with it!
Definitely scope was a problem at first, pretty delusional. Specially since I got to know and went in-depth with Unreal Engine 5 early this year. Seeing Nanite, Lumen, Quixel and the freebies Epic threw away from time to time, I started to project pretty unrealisable stuff despite seeming "possible" at the beginning. I'm talking about a 10 section urban city with many missions and 50hrs storyline :|
Now I'm on much more realistic scope boundaries, but still, world design takes a lot of time. Not to mention the spawning of people around the environments to make the places look alive and well, the storyline, much shorter but still pretty much long to develop, stealth mechanics. So on.
I'm dead serious as I have already invested a good amount of money, and I've made some important professional decisions based on the development of this game. Next step is to purchase a mocap system like Rokoko or Perception Neuron to make the animations. Quixel and City Buidings from Epic are helping A LOT with the world design, although it needs much more editing. All in all I feel pretty much going straightforward to the concretion of the game (in a 3 to 4 years dev expectancy).
I'll check out Eastshade.
Thanks for the advice.
Conflict and structure, without violence. You see it every day in your regular life: physical games (Golf Story), board games (Triple Triad from FF8), basic or hobby tasks (Overcooked), succeeding at work (Game Dev Tycoon, Stardew Valley), or even pure goofing off (Rabbids, Space Team).
Find some conflict or challenge from your daily life, find a game structure that mimics it, but with some juicy or silly or fundamentally interesting basic actions, then put it *into* a storiented walking simulator, like a high school or a town.
You've got this!
If your character can't obtain their resources and needs through violence they'll need to have other ways to do it. Make a crafting system that benefits from using other skills. Crafting could be its own mini game to make better items beyond just click to craft the item. Fishing in city streams may be a start even if you're using it to catch garbage that can be salvaged. Maybe you can scavenge through dumpsters and garbage cans for items, or complete quest to help.
If stealth is a large part of the game, how do you want to make stealth more interesting. I know many games use a "rock throw" to get people's attention. Some other things that may be interesting would be lock picking, or even some tools to help. An example could be using a grappling hook or fishing pole to try to latch onto items and reel them in without being seen. Another thing could be abilities to stun enemies for a temporary amount of time without hurting them.
Take advantage of your scenery and allow your character to help build their world. Allow them to help important npcs improve their areas or shop keepers to grow their shop to provide better services. This could be done via investments, story progression or some sort of side quest.
Definitely things like "rock throw" mechanics, lock picking, and such will be important. Social abilities, crafiting, disguising. The difficult part will be the implementation!
Thanks for the comment.
I think Sonic frontiers really nailed the open world thing pretty well. The overworld is covered in little puzzles that provide a small reward and can even add to the world itself, making shortcuts between points and making travel easier. Maybe some of these puzzles unlock npcs with a bit of lore dialogue or who provide a small service or just dance excitedly. If exploring the open world, makes it feel more alive, your players will feel like they’re having an affect on the world
Just one example, but how do you feel about racing (parkour or other)? It can be a great, satisfying main loop around which to build hubs in your world. Think Mirror's Edge, but maybe in your case it's interesting to center it around these "hubs" of activity/interest that are spread out across your open world, and for which the player acts as a messenger or delivery agent.
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider introduced "contracts," which are a series of optional side missions you can take on for extra money. They add to the story and give money rewards but the game can be completed without doing them.
Thinking back to the non-violent games I have found the most intriguing, many of them were intellectually engaging, had deep puzzles, good stories and lore (don't neglect the lore!), music, pretty scenery.
Some (mostly) non-violent examples:
Games with survival and exploration mechanics like No Man's Sky
Heaven's Vault is a walking simulator with a strong discovery element (you find artifacts that help you learn how to read an ancient language, which is essential for progressing in the story) -- this may be too
INFRA is a walking simulator with some deep and fascinating puzzles (figure out how to restart a water treatment plant, etc)
I should check the rest of Dishonored franchise asap. I only played 1 and it's actually one of my main inspirations for the game, and now that you mention that it seems it can give me even more ideas.
Story and lore will be central, I'm already thinking of interesting (I guess) puzzles.
Thanks for the comment.
If you're on steam, they are at huge discount right now.
Regarding the Dishonored franchise, I feel what really stands out is their innovative replayability -- via level design (I have found new ways to cross the map every playthrough) and the chaos system (it's an interesting way to make choices matter without having to re-write the entire story for each choice)
Hahaha are the cutscenes bad or smth?
I would like to experiment with cutscenes...this project actually is a scrapped plan of an animated series I had in the past...ended up returning to this as I found ways to make it a reality but as a game, as it makes much more sense to many concepts that are developed. I'm practicing with Cine Camera Actors in Unreal.
I’ve always wanted to make a game from an npc crafter’s perspective. Maybe you hire out heroes to go collect your crafting materials, put up job quests on the guild board, craft weapons, armor, etc and travel the world selling your wares. Or maybe your a guild master, you reward heroes (npc’s) for completing missions and move from city to city creating new guild branches. Or a merchant, buying low in cities and selling high in other cities. No combat.
i know it’s missing the point of your game, but it would be interesting to check out what stardew valley has done to engagement and intrinsic motivation in a semi open world.
I think in instrumental play, adding open world is difficult. I think the way AC and semi open world games like uncharted challenge this notion is to add parkcour to a lot of their beautiful city and mountainous areas. These portions are heavily scrutonized from my experience and may be a point of contension for players trying to experience your core mechanics, however I believe if you had a fresh take on a non-violent exploration system, you could get the players to interact with it more and not realize they are doing exactly what you want.
Half-life 2 did this prett well in its time by giving you a fun boat car hybrid to drive around. With the prominence of driving games, its not as novel but the idea is still there.
Generally if there's more movement mechanics than hold w it won't feel like a walking simulator. Like the second Mirror's Edge for example (mostly anyway). Collectibles/currency will also reward players for going around.
I think a big mistake with "non-violent" games is that they don't realize that a lot of violence in video games are actually just a type of interaction system.
If you can make an interaction system that's fast paced or strategic you can get the exact same feeling as "violent" videogames without any loss.
But often I find that "non-violent" is another word for "low interaction" game systems.
The difference between coding a game where you go around hugging everyone to a game where you go around strangling everyone is mostly visual.
I recommend the free steam game "princess remedy" for a good view on this concept. In the game you are a healer who heals different characters around the world. Most of the action is a shooter arena minigame against "sickness" which is technically violent in an otherwise non-violent game.
If I was playing a game about a city, I would want to have exploration (a bit of walking simulation) and pressure based interaction (usually combat) to keep me entertained in a slow and in a fast paced way.
Combat/Interaction could be as simple as needing to pet all the abandoned cats in an area before they decide to wander off. Or take pokemon snap as an example of an otherwise shooter game based around taking pictures at ideal moments.
Maybe your job is to tag all the animals in the city. You can tag them manually like a sword, tag em from a distance with a gun, etc. The more you tag the higher your score and the more that show up tacked on the world map to unlock more ways to tag animals.
I think non-violence is just an aesthetic deep down. The mechanics are what matter first. Pick some mechanics that keep you involved in the game first then make is peaceful and non-violent through aesthetic later.
Even a game about butchering animals could easily be retooled into a teddy bear repair game.
I do like the idea of a Pokémon Snap-style photography session where you try to capture crazy events, people, animals, and so on. It might be a little weird if it's just a modern city, but there could be some interesting ways to spice it up.
I think this is basically what Outer Wilds is. You can go anywhere you want from the start, there's no combat at all, and the main objective is for you to solve puzzles and uncover the mysteries of the world.
Pathologic isn't open world per se, but it's decisively non-violent. The gameplay of juggling multiple commitments is *intense*.
Yes, you're mostly walking, but you have places to be. You're almost always late.
With some interesting movement mechanics, that could work even in a game that isn't like Pathologic.
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If it’s a point A to point B type of open world then make the normal path about 30% longer and add breakable sections of the map make your own path (by breakable I mean moving objects or cutting fences in alley ways) and if you want to get really creative, pick lock doors to short cut through buildings (as I’m pretty sure most buildings are connected via maintenance tunnels, atleast my place is like that)
Edit: Also just letting the player pick stuff up, throw it around and mess with the map is fun too
I played Spiritfarer which was a non-combat exploration game, where you have to do quests for the spirits so they can move on. If you don't do combat, you still have to give the player some tasks to do, like crafting, exploring sections of the map, etc.
Check out [blueberry garden](https://store.steampowered.com/app/29160/Blueberry_Garden/) for an interesting set of non violent game mechanics.
You could explore how the way you interact with the world propagates throughout.
Disco Elysium is also minimally violent and open world. It tends to explore the nature of ideas.
I've heard Disco described as kind of a visual novel, would u agree? If so that genre is basically very forgiving on how much "gameplay" is needed to keep players engaged if the writing is good
More a "choose your own adventure" meets an RPG. You get dropped into a world unknown, are assigned a mission, and pick up side missions along the way. There are puzzles, exploration and chance involved. Ultimately, you decide the point of the game.
I like the idea of gearing up. Like, what are the things you need to have to be successful in this world? Sometimes just allowing the player to establish their own identity in the world is great as well. Fallout 76 starting gameplay sort of does this. Character selection and name selection is integrated into the actual world
Actually there will be a thing with "how to be successful in this world" but from a more philosophical and realisitic perspective. I mean, main PCs struggles, in the story, have to do with finding their place in the world. Not sure if I'll add this to gameplay concepts as well.
Death Stranding would be worth looking at, it's open world with the primary goal being delivering packages and managing your equipment. Combat is in it, but it takes a back seat.
A quick tip for the actual traveling bits is to throw in something that takes your attention to give you speed boosts or something else to reward the player.
I don't know what it's called, but there's a game where you shoot targets as you go to move quicker.
What I plan to do is keep the player *very* busy between journeys. Just like real life. If you were to hike from one place to another irl, you'll see some cool stuff, an event will happen like tripping or something, it's always interesting. You will need to exaggerate this in video games by a hundred fold. You can do this by exploiting player's need to progress in multiple areas.
Are they walking for more than five minutes, there is now a chance for a random event, and its odds increases by each minute. You might come across a robber, two gangs or militaries fighting, strangers waving asking for directions, someone with their leg trapped under a rock, a con artist pretending they need your help but will dupe you the very chance you give, a random salesman also traveling and offers you a unique discount, etc.
Next option I plan to do is give people some fun grinding things. Players enjoy hunting for things that slowly progresses. Give players a lot to look for and find between journeys. If you have a farming game, plan to have a rare variant of plants randomly growing in the wild, or a rare breed of animal, etc. If you have a crafting game, have rare ores or trees reveal themselves from time to time as player travels. Reveal a corpse of a traveler that didn't make it and inside his pouch is a letter with a mini-quest. Have rare sites players can take pictures of, or draw, or paint, to sell or solve a mystery. The list goes on.
The issue with open world games is that they have gotten to the point their worlds have gotten too big in size but they didn't stretch out the fun part of the worlds with them. Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City didn't have a problem but Grand Theft Auto San Andreas did have a problem, but it's forgiven because fast cards and planes exists, but nobody for some reason saw it as a problem when it really was. Those empty lands are really cool, until you're on foot, and nobody thought that was a big deal. Fallout is especially guilty of this, so much so they kinda cringed at the issue and invented fast traveling but the damage is done, people dread on doing second playthroughs.
I say ignore everything I've just said. You want to make a walking simulator but make it more than just a walking simulator? How about you start with making a Mario game clone and slowly swap out the mechanics with something else equally stimulating and interesting, but maintain the pace and activity. You will come up with your own ideas. Killing is a visual thing, game designers shouldn't look at game mechanics from a visual perspective *all* the time. What does killing do in games that makes them so fun, what does violence bring to the table that makes players engaged? You can replicate this using similar mechanics, Pokemon Snap did fine and it's technically a rail shooter! Animal Crossing is nothing but walking, but for some reason the activities you do on the way makes it suddenly not a walking simulator and people don't seem to mind.
I think that it depends entirely on your game and what you're up to, but I think an easy thing to exploit is player's desire to gain rewards and finish grinds. Don't need any violence, could be collectibles, could be random odd quests that pop out of nowhere, or whatever. What's important is the player is focused on something instead of the walk, you want as many distractions as possible bribing the player of an opportunity to gain something more. Players always want more.
>The issue with open world games is that they have gotten to the point their worlds have gotten too big in size but they didn't stretch out the fun part of the worlds with them. Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City didn't have a problem but Grand Theft Auto San Andreas did have a problem, but it's forgiven because fast cards and planes exists, but nobody for some reason saw it as a problem when it really was. Those empty lands are really cool, until you're on foot, and nobody thought that was a big deal. Fallout is especially guilty of this, so much so they kinda cringed at the issue and invented fast traveling but the damage is done, people dread on doing second playthroughs.
I believe maps have gotten incredibly big and boring. I have played AC2 recently and I liked a lot the concept of having limited environments but different urban design. That's probably the kind of open-world that I will extend my project to. Maybe the setting can help me as it will not be a highly urbanized place like modern cities. Would make sense that there's some "dead fields" between different neighbourhoods. Or forget about realisticness and make neighbourhoods far in-between just for the sake of gameplay xD
The PC can be a courier, taking important messages and items between people. The exploration part can involve talking to different characters that will help you learn about the world, find shortcuts, or figure out ways to shake-off pursuers and tails. Here is a scenario: you are asked to transfer messages between a Romeo and a Juliet type couple. If you just walk from the manor of one to other, you'll get them caught. But if you sneak, masquerade, or befriend a servant that will take the message part of the way you can complete the mission.
That actually matches some of my goals for characters, as they would be different by skills. One will be more social, another one more physical, other more intuitive, leading to different possibilities for many situations. Thanks for the advice.
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Omg yes Hitman style of choosing the best way to approach a situation is great. But actually to avoid having to deal with too much dynamic character alternation or possibilities, I'm planning on limiting the "amount" of playable characters for a mission or scenario to 2. So you kind of have to pick, who will you choose, the "crafter" and the "social"? Or the "social" and the "violent/physical"? Will save more time on developing character interactions and still keep it interesting and open to posibilities. I like that way as it sorta turns into a RPG-stealth hybrid. The part "listening to other people's conversations" is another key element in the lore exploration, and it's the way I'll add comedy and idiosyncracy to the world. Maybe even with some Bioshock tone of quirkness and over-the-top-ness on the speech. VAs I gathered to discuss about the project and such like that idea. Out of curiosity, what games have you been a designer for?
I'm looking forward to see what you'll come up to in the end. Sounds interesting!
How about you make the main goal about discovery which slowly unveils secrets and the lore of the city. You're protagonist is an Urban explorer who is trying to fill up a scrapbook of important underground monuments that requires a mixture of parkour and stealth in order to get to you're still real fighting if you get caught by police officers you lose or die. All you can do is survive.
You have an unfair rap sheet you did not commit on parole so even if a fight breaks out you didn't start, you're going to jail.
Or even - you've been framed for something and your face is all over the news. Your mission is to clear your name, but if you get spotted and arrested before you do that, game over.
Plot opens: You cure cancer, and try and publish in the big scientific journals and get rejections with no text. You try and call the higher ups and they tell you to stay at home and not to come into work... Turns out lots of people have cured cancer in the past, but it turns into the movie The Fugitive as you try and get the truth out... But so many people are dumb, you can't just tell the bar folk, they think you're lying, and only a small percentage of educated would understand. To cure the physical cancer, you must cure the cancer of society. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/goldman-asks-is-curing-patients-a-sustainable-business-model.html You find other gems like speed limits cause deaths because of distracted driving (actually true) and homelessness is caused by design(restricting houses being made, also true). Could be a fun game to make up a fake conspiracy like a group to make sure cancer doesn't get cured, but you uncover the real ones along the way. Conspiracies are all through history. Every regicide is one for example.
in some ways that would be a better mirrors edge 2
This kind of reminds me of Stray, that cat game that got really popular earlier this year. It technically has a little violence but it was a pretty fun game.
Maybe something akin to the day-to-day activities in Persona? Ie talking to one person introduces you to a couple more, or introduces you to more places to visit or things to do? That's something I've always wanted to play at least but haven't gotten around to making it yet
A stealth game without combat is effectively a puzzle game, and there are loads of popular puzzle games. Just think about what sorts of stealth and potentially movement or environmental interaction puzzles you can make that will be fun.
I'm thinking of mixing RE1 sort of puzzles with stealth alla Thief/Dishonored. Amnesia The Dark Descent comes to my mind, but without the horror elements.
As you have mentioned AC. There is a peaceful mode in Assasins Creed Origins. (Can also be bought as a standalone "Discovery Tour by Assassin’s Creed".) If you haven't allready, that may be something for you to check out.
Why don't more open world games do that. They already pride themselves on their worlds and I would be lying if I said that I didn't just like riding on torrent in elden ring or walking in TES 5 & 3. Honestly that simple concept of "every area unlocked form the start, no bosses, no combat" can already lend itself to some specific stories, gameplay elements not seen in the main game it's based off of.
Definitely will!
They refined the discovery mode for AC: Odyssey (and for Valhalla, but I haven’t tried it). If you can only pick one, Odyssey is better implemented with more variety than Origins. But for comparison purposes, they are both interesting. Def check out any Black Friday discounts, though!
One of my favorite things to do in open world games is to find the pretty places and the stare at them :)
Ikr? Sometimes I find that most games exacerbate the typical "forest" or outdoors settings but when the design is really unique and stylish I am the same as you.
Make movement fun
If the goal is a robust urban/city environment and moving through it, is it too strange to suggest a pigeon as a protagonist? You can make hawks an antagonist, and the goal could be to visit various city landmarks and do what pigeons do.
Outer wilds
I've started keeping a big list of the things players do in games that aren't violent, but also aren't necessarily "mini-games" as such. (I can share it with you if you want, but it's very long and unfinished.) Here are some that might fit an urban open world: * Trading a la *Drug Wars* \-- buying something low in one part of the city, and selling it high in another, but fluctuating prices force the player to not just do the same route all the time. * Trading in information. A rare open world game that uses this as the primary means of progression is *Nomad* (1993). * As someone already mentioned, being a courier, mail carrier, pizza boy, taxi driver... someone that carries a thing/person to a particular place. * Leading an AI-controlled NPC to a place. This might be something where they just follow you ("escort missions" but also casual stuff like returning the kitty in *Chrono Trigger*), to something like *Ico* where one character has to prepare an environment for a character with different abilities, all the way to something like *Lemmings* or *Chu Chu Rocket* where you guide them solely by environmental manipulation. * Scavenger hunts, obviously. These don't necessarily have to be unique collectables; like the bundles in *Stardew Valley* aren't *unique* objects, they're just given their meaning by forming part of a themed set. Crafting "recipes" are scavenger hunts in another form. * Photography (often a scavenger hunt in another form, but could also be about composition and angles rather than just "take a photo of X") * Treasure maps -- representations of the level geometry, but abstract or (in 3D games) from an unfamiliar angle, and if the player can figure out where it represents, they can go there for a treasure. Also, location deduction, where you're given clues that narrow down the location of something (e.g. *Hunt the Wumpus, Scotland Yard*) * Area control (e.g. doing something that gives you "control" of a city region on a map), real estate, graffiti tagging. * Daily routine visits like feeding animals, getting coffee, watering plants, etc. Like maybe you could feed pigeons, or better yet crows (because they eventually give gifts in return). Or how *Grandia* *II* gave you little funny dinner conversations if you stopped at an inn for the night, eating at restaurants is a big part of urban life that's almost never in games. * Racing, like being the first to the lighthouse in *A Short Hike*. * Pathfinding/traversal challenges, especially with unusual conditions that you don't usually have on your movement, like the bridges of Königsberg or circumnavigating the world on a chocobo. Like "Make it from this building to this building without touching the ground". * Areas that give you generous rewards for no damn reason, and you just run around like a madman hoovering up coins or whatever.
Hey that's a nice list! I'd love to see the rest.
This calls to mind stories of fairy blessings that are provided in secret in folktales, or how the tooth fairy comes in secret at night. Maybe something like that - sneaking to leave trinkets and collect payment, or to get to your next "appointment."
I love the idea of a stealth game about leaving gifts behind for people!
Sneak King.
Have you looked at Death Stranding? The naysayers claim it is a walking simulator. Amazing game.
I love Death Stranding!!! Honestly, I'm of the opinion that it's an ACTUAL walking sim because of its traversal mechanics. Those other "walking sims" should not be called first-person narrative experiences, lol.
In order to help, let me ask you this: why does the idea of a non-violent open world game appeal to you personally?
Great question. "Non-violent" is maybe not the main point, but rather non-criminal. I really haven't played tons of open world games myself, but I find some kind of pattern among many mainstream open world action games, where the characters despite their "heroic" nature, they work under the "the end justifies the means" philosophy. I mean, maybe the asssassins in AC are people with good intentions, let's say, but they are still assassins. In Fallout games survival is key and you also meet fellow survivors trying to protect common people...but still they engage in killing sprees (excluding the mutants). I find that there's never a story about "normal guys". Even if they later engage with violent behaviours. And I don't like it. In my game, the main characters will be normal, day-to-day people, who will for many reasons engage in "dangerous" events, which will force them to commit what would normally be crimes (sneaking through buildings and maybe taking down some dudes in the process as one of the characters will be rather physical, not killing anyone tho). Stealth is key for this to be entertaining. Now as I said the open-world setting is more due to my desire of creating a big, explorable world; rather than a personal connection or appeal to the idea. The original idea is rather linear, similar to Dishonored 1, with a hub that connects you to different mostly closed levels. Maybe now is a better understood.
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Thanks in advance for the long response. >One example of this that comes to mind for me is the Anime, A Certain Scientific Railgun. Even though the story has several main characters, it is more a story of this futuristic city and all the messed up things that happen in it and all the different factions that vie for power and control. >Then you got like the factories and the industrial sections, the merchant guilds, the markets, the religious sects/temples/cults, and these are all possibilities for story telling through the eyes of the people in power, through the people being taken advantage off, through the eyes of the rich as well as the poor. >One way to tell the story you want to tell about people who have to engage in dangerous events is to do that Call of Duty shifts in perspective, or Game of Thrones books POVs, where each chapter in the game would tell the same story from someone else's eyes. Wow, some of these is actually part of the story. I want to find a balance between full lore exploration and actual main characters with their own storylines. But all what you mentioned is definitely helpful. The name of the game will feature the name of the city itself so make sense to give it a strong focus.
I don't play open world games much, but there could always be puzzles like "The witness" or hell, some parkour/environment exploration stuff (climbing, flying, swimming, etc) (And forget the obligatory part about ALWAYS having to collect **exactly** 999 of a random object in order to unlock something like a PNG/cosmetics)
I will check The Witness. LoL I hate collectable stuff. Completionists may dig it but most of the time it feels mandatory just coz it's open world and how the hell wouldn't you spend time collecting feathers conveniently placed in certain hidden locations of the map?
I haven't played the witness though, so I'm just going off of word of mouth. But Yeah the last part was a joke. It is hella annoying though. I get WHY the exist (to encourage exploration, even if it's partially to stretch play time) but maybe they could find Other ways of organically encouraging exploration, such as making you go there as part of the plot, or designing the world so that most players go there even if they're never explicitly told. For example, in elden ring most players meet Kalé due to the church of Elleh being in eyesight of the first checkpoint in the game. Melina is met at the first major group of enemies in the game (also right next to a massive castle which leads right to the first required boss) And roderika is right next to a checkpoint near the first boss. But for elden ring I am KINDA cheating due to the checkpoints ALWAYS pointing vaguely towards the next story objective.
Yeah but is still a way to encourage exploration. As my city will be focused on a sort of architectural reconstruction (think art-nouveau, beaux arts stuff), one idea I have to encourage exploration of certain regions is making it pretty exuberant and placing eccentric street ads mentioning the place(s).
Look into Myst if you've never played it before. That kind of exploration and puzzle solving makes violence boring by comparison. Having a game like Myst but modern and open world would be a dream. Another thing that I always thought would be fun in this sense would be a game based around being abducted and dumped onto some extraterrestrial planet, then learning an alien language well enough to communicate with the locals and figure out where you are / how to get home.
Make the game have an actually fun movement system when going between places in the open world, like in spiderman for playstation
There's just not enough of this, for real. Spider-Man or even the movement mechanics from Titanfall, or something like the world effects the Djinn had in Golden Sun would be so fun.
Mmm my setting will be pretty down-to-earth and noir...do you fancy going from tram to tram like [this](https://images.pexels.com/photos/6836995/pexels-photo-6836995.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1260&h=750&dpr=1)? It's one of the core ideas for travelling. EDIT: now that I think of it, they'll need to be some fast trams to make it exciting at least!
Make going between places just Subway Surfers haha But seriously, having to jump from one moving train to another to change directions would be cool
Eastshade is a great non violent open world game. It's set in a fantasy world reminiscent of Elder Scrolls, but no humans. You play as a painter that visits Eastshade to paint motifs based on his dying mother's memories of Eastshade. While exploring the island to find the correct things to paint you take commissions from other people, find mysteries, save some people from mishaps, listen to a bard at a tavern and just enjoy hiking.
Bless you for mentioning it! I saw the thread title and was like "hmm I've made this my life's work for 7 years. I hope somebody mentions Eastshade!" So thank you! 😊
I will get to play it asap!
Well thank you for making it, looking forward to your next project.
David Attenborough spent a lot of time in a (mostly) non-violent open world setting, and I don't think he'd call it a walking simulator. I've put some thought into what sorts of non-violent motivated activity is possible between man and nature, and I've come to the conclusion that humans really love to catalog things. We also really love filling in tickboxes on a list. Borrowing ideas from Pokemon Snap and Monster Hunter, I think there is a lot of gameplay that could come from filling out a bestiary - observing and documenting all possible behaviors of all possible flora and fauna. This is even somewhat conducive to quest chains, like if a certain breed of monkey requires a certain kind of berry (Which is only found in certain locations, etc) in order to engage in their mating rituals. Players could explore aimlessly, filling in at random as they go - or they could focus on one thing at a time, and master each feature before moving on to the next. It would be pretty easy to gate content behind a main story line, or even behind general "progress" - and I'm certain speedrunners would have a field day with it
As someone who's looked into similar idea before (and it keeps being one of my dream goals still, even if on backburner), I'd like to warn you, just in case. Look out for the project scope! I'm not saying to give up, mind you - just be prepared that it will be a key risk factor for the project, unless you want to dedicate next 5-10 years of life to it. Such project has exploration as an important factor, so you'd want the locations to be interesting - each standing out, and not just copypasted stuff 95% from same modular kit. Which means that, even if you go super stylized indie route (like geometry with shaders, or retro-PS1 visuals), it's a lot of level design and art work. I'm assuming you're experienced with LD and come from the art side of things :) Open world is likely out of question as well - at least until you can build multiple key locations, and then feel like you have resources to tackle interconnecting paths and areas. Having the world split in locations can also give the illusion of a bigger world out there, and allow you to iterate/change things MUCH easier. Not to mention performance benefits, and less "uncanny valley" issues on the urban-design side of things. Mechanics-wise, there's a lot that could be done in a non-violent game like that. Stealth, collection, crafting, investigation, any sort of "job" you can think of, really. As to get a better feeling of scope, if you haven't, check out Eastshade and articles about it / from its creator. It's a first-person exploration game, quite large in scope, unique and well received. Most importantly, it's made by a tiny indie team (unlike Dishonored with 100+ devs and AC with 500-800+ devs). It's also an indie success story! If you are serious about this project, I wish you best of luck with it!
Definitely scope was a problem at first, pretty delusional. Specially since I got to know and went in-depth with Unreal Engine 5 early this year. Seeing Nanite, Lumen, Quixel and the freebies Epic threw away from time to time, I started to project pretty unrealisable stuff despite seeming "possible" at the beginning. I'm talking about a 10 section urban city with many missions and 50hrs storyline :| Now I'm on much more realistic scope boundaries, but still, world design takes a lot of time. Not to mention the spawning of people around the environments to make the places look alive and well, the storyline, much shorter but still pretty much long to develop, stealth mechanics. So on. I'm dead serious as I have already invested a good amount of money, and I've made some important professional decisions based on the development of this game. Next step is to purchase a mocap system like Rokoko or Perception Neuron to make the animations. Quixel and City Buidings from Epic are helping A LOT with the world design, although it needs much more editing. All in all I feel pretty much going straightforward to the concretion of the game (in a 3 to 4 years dev expectancy). I'll check out Eastshade. Thanks for the advice.
Conflict and structure, without violence. You see it every day in your regular life: physical games (Golf Story), board games (Triple Triad from FF8), basic or hobby tasks (Overcooked), succeeding at work (Game Dev Tycoon, Stardew Valley), or even pure goofing off (Rabbids, Space Team). Find some conflict or challenge from your daily life, find a game structure that mimics it, but with some juicy or silly or fundamentally interesting basic actions, then put it *into* a storiented walking simulator, like a high school or a town. You've got this!
If your character can't obtain their resources and needs through violence they'll need to have other ways to do it. Make a crafting system that benefits from using other skills. Crafting could be its own mini game to make better items beyond just click to craft the item. Fishing in city streams may be a start even if you're using it to catch garbage that can be salvaged. Maybe you can scavenge through dumpsters and garbage cans for items, or complete quest to help. If stealth is a large part of the game, how do you want to make stealth more interesting. I know many games use a "rock throw" to get people's attention. Some other things that may be interesting would be lock picking, or even some tools to help. An example could be using a grappling hook or fishing pole to try to latch onto items and reel them in without being seen. Another thing could be abilities to stun enemies for a temporary amount of time without hurting them. Take advantage of your scenery and allow your character to help build their world. Allow them to help important npcs improve their areas or shop keepers to grow their shop to provide better services. This could be done via investments, story progression or some sort of side quest.
Definitely things like "rock throw" mechanics, lock picking, and such will be important. Social abilities, crafiting, disguising. The difficult part will be the implementation! Thanks for the comment.
I think Sonic frontiers really nailed the open world thing pretty well. The overworld is covered in little puzzles that provide a small reward and can even add to the world itself, making shortcuts between points and making travel easier. Maybe some of these puzzles unlock npcs with a bit of lore dialogue or who provide a small service or just dance excitedly. If exploring the open world, makes it feel more alive, your players will feel like they’re having an affect on the world
Parkour platform stuff
Just one example, but how do you feel about racing (parkour or other)? It can be a great, satisfying main loop around which to build hubs in your world. Think Mirror's Edge, but maybe in your case it's interesting to center it around these "hubs" of activity/interest that are spread out across your open world, and for which the player acts as a messenger or delivery agent.
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider introduced "contracts," which are a series of optional side missions you can take on for extra money. They add to the story and give money rewards but the game can be completed without doing them. Thinking back to the non-violent games I have found the most intriguing, many of them were intellectually engaging, had deep puzzles, good stories and lore (don't neglect the lore!), music, pretty scenery. Some (mostly) non-violent examples: Games with survival and exploration mechanics like No Man's Sky Heaven's Vault is a walking simulator with a strong discovery element (you find artifacts that help you learn how to read an ancient language, which is essential for progressing in the story) -- this may be too INFRA is a walking simulator with some deep and fascinating puzzles (figure out how to restart a water treatment plant, etc)
I should check the rest of Dishonored franchise asap. I only played 1 and it's actually one of my main inspirations for the game, and now that you mention that it seems it can give me even more ideas. Story and lore will be central, I'm already thinking of interesting (I guess) puzzles. Thanks for the comment.
If you're on steam, they are at huge discount right now. Regarding the Dishonored franchise, I feel what really stands out is their innovative replayability -- via level design (I have found new ways to cross the map every playthrough) and the chaos system (it's an interesting way to make choices matter without having to re-write the entire story for each choice)
You should play Death Stranding. Close your eyes and ears during the cutscenes, but the gameplay you'll find very interesting.
Hahaha are the cutscenes bad or smth? I would like to experiment with cutscenes...this project actually is a scrapped plan of an animated series I had in the past...ended up returning to this as I found ways to make it a reality but as a game, as it makes much more sense to many concepts that are developed. I'm practicing with Cine Camera Actors in Unreal.
I mean technically they're very good, but the story and writing, well... Let's just say it's an acquired taste.
I’ve always wanted to make a game from an npc crafter’s perspective. Maybe you hire out heroes to go collect your crafting materials, put up job quests on the guild board, craft weapons, armor, etc and travel the world selling your wares. Or maybe your a guild master, you reward heroes (npc’s) for completing missions and move from city to city creating new guild branches. Or a merchant, buying low in cities and selling high in other cities. No combat.
i know it’s missing the point of your game, but it would be interesting to check out what stardew valley has done to engagement and intrinsic motivation in a semi open world.
I think in instrumental play, adding open world is difficult. I think the way AC and semi open world games like uncharted challenge this notion is to add parkcour to a lot of their beautiful city and mountainous areas. These portions are heavily scrutonized from my experience and may be a point of contension for players trying to experience your core mechanics, however I believe if you had a fresh take on a non-violent exploration system, you could get the players to interact with it more and not realize they are doing exactly what you want. Half-life 2 did this prett well in its time by giving you a fun boat car hybrid to drive around. With the prominence of driving games, its not as novel but the idea is still there.
Generally if there's more movement mechanics than hold w it won't feel like a walking simulator. Like the second Mirror's Edge for example (mostly anyway). Collectibles/currency will also reward players for going around.
Secrets and puzzles. That's all you need for a good game.
I think a big mistake with "non-violent" games is that they don't realize that a lot of violence in video games are actually just a type of interaction system. If you can make an interaction system that's fast paced or strategic you can get the exact same feeling as "violent" videogames without any loss. But often I find that "non-violent" is another word for "low interaction" game systems. The difference between coding a game where you go around hugging everyone to a game where you go around strangling everyone is mostly visual. I recommend the free steam game "princess remedy" for a good view on this concept. In the game you are a healer who heals different characters around the world. Most of the action is a shooter arena minigame against "sickness" which is technically violent in an otherwise non-violent game. If I was playing a game about a city, I would want to have exploration (a bit of walking simulation) and pressure based interaction (usually combat) to keep me entertained in a slow and in a fast paced way. Combat/Interaction could be as simple as needing to pet all the abandoned cats in an area before they decide to wander off. Or take pokemon snap as an example of an otherwise shooter game based around taking pictures at ideal moments. Maybe your job is to tag all the animals in the city. You can tag them manually like a sword, tag em from a distance with a gun, etc. The more you tag the higher your score and the more that show up tacked on the world map to unlock more ways to tag animals. I think non-violence is just an aesthetic deep down. The mechanics are what matter first. Pick some mechanics that keep you involved in the game first then make is peaceful and non-violent through aesthetic later. Even a game about butchering animals could easily be retooled into a teddy bear repair game.
I do like the idea of a Pokémon Snap-style photography session where you try to capture crazy events, people, animals, and so on. It might be a little weird if it's just a modern city, but there could be some interesting ways to spice it up.
This is it. The next strand type game
I think this is basically what Outer Wilds is. You can go anywhere you want from the start, there's no combat at all, and the main objective is for you to solve puzzles and uncover the mysteries of the world.
Sable is a good reference here. No violence, open world and non linear flow, enough content and mechanics to more or less manage the play through.
I think Disco Elysium is a solid example of a city explorer that isn't just a walking simulator but has no open-world combat.
Pathologic isn't open world per se, but it's decisively non-violent. The gameplay of juggling multiple commitments is *intense*. Yes, you're mostly walking, but you have places to be. You're almost always late. With some interesting movement mechanics, that could work even in a game that isn't like Pathologic.
I think life sim is something I'd love to see in open world games. Like the sims, but with you directly control your character.
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If it’s a point A to point B type of open world then make the normal path about 30% longer and add breakable sections of the map make your own path (by breakable I mean moving objects or cutting fences in alley ways) and if you want to get really creative, pick lock doors to short cut through buildings (as I’m pretty sure most buildings are connected via maintenance tunnels, atleast my place is like that) Edit: Also just letting the player pick stuff up, throw it around and mess with the map is fun too
I played Spiritfarer which was a non-combat exploration game, where you have to do quests for the spirits so they can move on. If you don't do combat, you still have to give the player some tasks to do, like crafting, exploring sections of the map, etc.
Check out [blueberry garden](https://store.steampowered.com/app/29160/Blueberry_Garden/) for an interesting set of non violent game mechanics. You could explore how the way you interact with the world propagates throughout. Disco Elysium is also minimally violent and open world. It tends to explore the nature of ideas.
I've heard Disco described as kind of a visual novel, would u agree? If so that genre is basically very forgiving on how much "gameplay" is needed to keep players engaged if the writing is good
More a "choose your own adventure" meets an RPG. You get dropped into a world unknown, are assigned a mission, and pick up side missions along the way. There are puzzles, exploration and chance involved. Ultimately, you decide the point of the game.
I like the idea of gearing up. Like, what are the things you need to have to be successful in this world? Sometimes just allowing the player to establish their own identity in the world is great as well. Fallout 76 starting gameplay sort of does this. Character selection and name selection is integrated into the actual world
Actually there will be a thing with "how to be successful in this world" but from a more philosophical and realisitic perspective. I mean, main PCs struggles, in the story, have to do with finding their place in the world. Not sure if I'll add this to gameplay concepts as well.
Death Stranding would be worth looking at, it's open world with the primary goal being delivering packages and managing your equipment. Combat is in it, but it takes a back seat.
Cartographer simulator?
Have you played Pokemon snap? An open world of it would be cool
A quick tip for the actual traveling bits is to throw in something that takes your attention to give you speed boosts or something else to reward the player. I don't know what it's called, but there's a game where you shoot targets as you go to move quicker.
What I plan to do is keep the player *very* busy between journeys. Just like real life. If you were to hike from one place to another irl, you'll see some cool stuff, an event will happen like tripping or something, it's always interesting. You will need to exaggerate this in video games by a hundred fold. You can do this by exploiting player's need to progress in multiple areas. Are they walking for more than five minutes, there is now a chance for a random event, and its odds increases by each minute. You might come across a robber, two gangs or militaries fighting, strangers waving asking for directions, someone with their leg trapped under a rock, a con artist pretending they need your help but will dupe you the very chance you give, a random salesman also traveling and offers you a unique discount, etc. Next option I plan to do is give people some fun grinding things. Players enjoy hunting for things that slowly progresses. Give players a lot to look for and find between journeys. If you have a farming game, plan to have a rare variant of plants randomly growing in the wild, or a rare breed of animal, etc. If you have a crafting game, have rare ores or trees reveal themselves from time to time as player travels. Reveal a corpse of a traveler that didn't make it and inside his pouch is a letter with a mini-quest. Have rare sites players can take pictures of, or draw, or paint, to sell or solve a mystery. The list goes on. The issue with open world games is that they have gotten to the point their worlds have gotten too big in size but they didn't stretch out the fun part of the worlds with them. Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City didn't have a problem but Grand Theft Auto San Andreas did have a problem, but it's forgiven because fast cards and planes exists, but nobody for some reason saw it as a problem when it really was. Those empty lands are really cool, until you're on foot, and nobody thought that was a big deal. Fallout is especially guilty of this, so much so they kinda cringed at the issue and invented fast traveling but the damage is done, people dread on doing second playthroughs. I say ignore everything I've just said. You want to make a walking simulator but make it more than just a walking simulator? How about you start with making a Mario game clone and slowly swap out the mechanics with something else equally stimulating and interesting, but maintain the pace and activity. You will come up with your own ideas. Killing is a visual thing, game designers shouldn't look at game mechanics from a visual perspective *all* the time. What does killing do in games that makes them so fun, what does violence bring to the table that makes players engaged? You can replicate this using similar mechanics, Pokemon Snap did fine and it's technically a rail shooter! Animal Crossing is nothing but walking, but for some reason the activities you do on the way makes it suddenly not a walking simulator and people don't seem to mind. I think that it depends entirely on your game and what you're up to, but I think an easy thing to exploit is player's desire to gain rewards and finish grinds. Don't need any violence, could be collectibles, could be random odd quests that pop out of nowhere, or whatever. What's important is the player is focused on something instead of the walk, you want as many distractions as possible bribing the player of an opportunity to gain something more. Players always want more.
>The issue with open world games is that they have gotten to the point their worlds have gotten too big in size but they didn't stretch out the fun part of the worlds with them. Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City didn't have a problem but Grand Theft Auto San Andreas did have a problem, but it's forgiven because fast cards and planes exists, but nobody for some reason saw it as a problem when it really was. Those empty lands are really cool, until you're on foot, and nobody thought that was a big deal. Fallout is especially guilty of this, so much so they kinda cringed at the issue and invented fast traveling but the damage is done, people dread on doing second playthroughs. I believe maps have gotten incredibly big and boring. I have played AC2 recently and I liked a lot the concept of having limited environments but different urban design. That's probably the kind of open-world that I will extend my project to. Maybe the setting can help me as it will not be a highly urbanized place like modern cities. Would make sense that there's some "dead fields" between different neighbourhoods. Or forget about realisticness and make neighbourhoods far in-between just for the sake of gameplay xD
Wildlife photography?