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#1 2020-01-01 18:01:31

Gogo
Banned
Registered: 2019-10-11
Posts: 589

Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

When it comes to multiplayer all I played was FPP's. What you guys recommend? What I'm looking for is basically what OHOL lacks, game similar to OHOL where I can interact with every objects, but with currency, professions, also social structures would be nice. All I can think about is something like... Ultima Online? Is it good or bad example? I mean a game where I can be a baker, but also a warrior who kills monsters/other ppl.

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#2 2020-01-01 21:27:37

DestinyCall
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Registered: 2018-12-08
Posts: 4,563

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

You should try Spacestation 13.  https://spacestation13.com/about/

  It is pretty awesome and probably the most complex and interesting game I've ever played.   It is an old multiplayer game, but still has a robust community and multiple active servers.   It is also free to play.   You just have to download the Byond client and make an account.

On Spacestation 13, you can be a sushi chef, a spacepod pilot, or a mime.   As an engineer, you will be fixing hull damage and setting up an engine powered by a  man-made singularity.    As a doctor, you will be curing diseases, performing surgery and cloning the dead.   As a shaft miner, you will be fighting space monsters and gather precious minerals. 

There are about thirty or forty unique jobs, a very deep crafting system, and various complex systems to simulate atmospherics, drugs, and even gravity.    There are player-controlled antagonists that try to cause problems while you do your best to finish your job without getting set on fire or sucked into the void of space.

Fair warning - the controls are pretty complicated.   Lots of keyboard shortcuts and layered menus.   And the servers are closely moderated to prevent griefing, so be sure that you read and understand the rules before you play.   But SS13 is a very cool game once you get your space legs.

In my dreams, I imagine what OHOL could be like if it borrowed some of the depth and complexity that SS13 already has.   It would be epic.

Last edited by DestinyCall (2020-01-01 21:47:04)

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#3 2020-01-01 23:41:48

Kinrany
Member
Registered: 2018-01-22
Posts: 712

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

I hope we'll eventually see games like SS13 and OHOL spawn a whole new genre.

I think the main blocker right now is that making such a game is pretty hard. They're multiplayer, but at the same time they need tons of content. So you have to isolate the game logic from the other hard parts like networking.

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#4 2020-01-02 00:28:35

jcwilk
Member
Registered: 2017-12-20
Posts: 336

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

Kinrany wrote:

I hope we'll eventually see games like SS13 and OHOL spawn a whole new genre.

I think the main blocker right now is that making such a game is pretty hard. They're multiplayer, but at the same time they need tons of content. So you have to isolate the game logic from the other hard parts like networking.

Content is trivial, getting the mechanics right is the challenge. I think sandbox pvp mmos are by far the most difficult to design because of how complex all the permutations of play are. OHOL kind of cheats the challenge by making wipes a regular thing and by moving people around and sidestepping the ownership complexities, imagine how much more complex things are when people expect to have some mechanic to hold on to a piece of the world without blocking others from being able to play.

Check out haven n hearth, it's similar in a lot of ways to ohol but a lot more hardcore and no family stuff just wilderness survival, town building and defense, etc. I think it's still got some momentum but it's been around for awhile and has gone through a few iterations.

I haven't actually played it myself but played its sister game, salem, extensively which is a slightly more hardcore pvp oriented spinoff which eventually got bought by the clan that was dominating it so hard it made the Chinese government look friendly and good natured in comparison. Sadly they stopped development on it a couple years ago so it's quite dead now.

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#5 2020-01-02 02:31:24

Dantox
Member
Registered: 2019-04-28
Posts: 213

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

Kinrany wrote:

I hope we'll eventually see games like SS13 and OHOL spawn a whole new genre.

There is obviously a gap on the market, its only a matter of time i suppose


make bread, no war

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#6 2020-01-02 19:26:43

WomanWizard
Member
Registered: 2018-05-11
Posts: 212

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

Eco maybe? I really only play it with close friends and family, so I haven't seen too many of the society mechanics in play, but it has currency, laws, professions, etc. I'm pretty sure you can't kill other people, but you can work your way up different skill trees if you want and be a hunter/baker/mason, or whatever combination of professions you're interested in.

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#7 2020-01-02 19:37:50

Kinrany
Member
Registered: 2018-01-22
Posts: 712

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

jcwilk wrote:

Content is trivial, getting the mechanics right is the challenge. I think sandbox pvp mmos are by far the most difficult to design because of how complex all the permutations of play are. OHOL kind of cheats the challenge by making wipes a regular thing and by moving people around and sidestepping the ownership complexities, imagine how much more complex things are when people expect to have some mechanic to hold on to a piece of the world without blocking others from being able to play.

Is content really trivial? OHOL has a custom engine that is often quite limiting, and SS13 is made on top of a MUD engine that was made specifically for this kind of game. Both isolate game logic from networking, both require the game art to be really easy to make compared to other games.

Personally I'm perfectly fine with regular resets in one form or another. It's nice to have some persistence, but it can be very restricted.

One of the great things about SS13 is that they have no idea what they're doing in terms of game design. They're brute-forcing the problem by throwing cool stuff at the game and seeing if it works.

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#8 2020-01-03 01:45:37

pein
Member
Registered: 2018-03-31
Posts: 4,335

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

online? rpg? I can't think of any

maybe Albion online has similarity to that with different professions, cause it's a huge tech tree where you need to choose in order to make anything good

Online multiplayer browser: the west. Back in 2006ish was fun, I played travian and clan wars and was refresshing to go to a semi casual style, but you get bored of it quick I guess.

Single player: there is a point and click game which is quite similar to ohol, virtual villagers. It was even free on giveaway sites. It's just a few puzzles but you can have 4-5 professions and figure out puzzles. It's real time progression with a few modifiers like how fast and how hard it is.
There s some other game I forgot where you could have a few skills and buy stuff, have a wife, then play as your own son/daughter to finish the missions, each tile stepped was a year and you had some genetics too.

So far my personal favourite sandbox is Mount and Blade Warband. You got a huge world which simulates on it's own, every action has a consequence, even without you. Then you try to earn money, gather an army, help others to reach their goal and each relation with the lords has an effect, you either get attacked for your past sins or get off the hook by your friends, there is a complex ever-changing commerce (there are some easy patterns tho)


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Playing OHOL optimally is like cosplaying a cactus: stand still and don't waste the water.

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#9 2020-01-03 03:41:24

jcwilk
Member
Registered: 2017-12-20
Posts: 336

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

pein wrote:

online? rpg? I can't think of any

maybe Albion online has similarity to that with different professions, cause it's a huge tech tree where you need to choose in order to make anything good

Online multiplayer browser: the west. Back in 2006ish was fun, I played travian and clan wars and was refresshing to go to a semi casual style, but you get bored of it quick I guess.

Single player: there is a point and click game which is quite similar to ohol, virtual villagers. It was even free on giveaway sites. It's just a few puzzles but you can have 4-5 professions and figure out puzzles. It's real time progression with a few modifiers like how fast and how hard it is.
There s some other game I forgot where you could have a few skills and buy stuff, have a wife, then play as your own son/daughter to finish the missions, each tile stepped was a year and you had some genetics too.

So far my personal favourite sandbox is Mount and Blade Warband. You got a huge world which simulates on it's own, every action has a consequence, even without you. Then you try to earn money, gather an army, help others to reach their goal and each relation with the lords has an effect, you either get attacked for your past sins or get off the hook by your friends, there is a complex ever-changing commerce (there are some easy patterns tho)

Haven't played mount and blade but heard great things. It inspired the combat system in Life is Feudal which is also a good rec for the thread. Survival game with quite good pvp although the property management was a little iffy

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#10 2020-01-03 05:04:42

Kinrany
Member
Registered: 2018-01-22
Posts: 712

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

Mount and Blade also had a terrific genre of multiplayer mods with persistence. Persistent Kingdom was the first; Persistent Frontier was my favorite. They were also very close to OHOL and SS13: sandbox and simulation with complicated crafting, survival in the free-for-all sense, and enough people and mechanics for temporary bands and clans to form.

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#11 2020-01-03 17:41:43

Legs
Member
Registered: 2019-07-12
Posts: 376

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

Warband was one of my all-time favorites. Speaking of mods, there was a cRPG mod where all of the lords, traders bandits etc on the overworld map were player parties. In battles each individual unit would be player controlled so you'd have actual people coordinating formations and charges and stuff in huge 2 hour long 64 vs. 64 player battles. Castles and towns would be owned by player factions and these clans would negotiate with each other, go to war, make trade agreements etc. Since your faction's territory is safer but trade is more profitable at distant locations you'd have to balance the risk of carrying tons of valuables with no reinforcements nearby vs. rewards of making a ton of money selling to a distant faction.

The mod's dead now but it was really unique and fascinating at the time. This cool mix of grand strategy, real time strategy and action where things are player directed every step of the way. It had the same kind of emergent player-driven stories that ohol does. The donkey crew that developed it are making a new version when bannerlord comes out in march, so keep an eye out for it if you're interested.


Loco Motion

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#12 2020-01-04 14:00:40

Gogo
Banned
Registered: 2019-10-11
Posts: 589

Re: Similar game to OHOL with economy / professions / social structures?

Thanks for all examples! When I have time I'll check them.

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