Thanks for spending the week with Asymmetrical Representation.

Today I want to push asymmetry in another direction. In an earlier discussion about expanding the scope of the game world, I proposed a persistent online world, accessed by a variety of game clients of varying genres.

Today the idea is a persistent online world in the mold of the classic MMO. Today’s SHOCKING TWIST; the single MMO has clients on a variety of hardware platforms, and each client has a unique window on that world, and a unique set of characters and abilities to choose from that play to the strengths of the individual platforms.

Imagine a Space Opera MMO. Here is a breakdown by platform of possible world representations.

Game Boy Advance

The Hacker interface, computer intrusion. Steal information and skill upgrades, attack opponent computers, liberate and redirect funds. Largely logic games, characters are disembodied AIs. The environments are schematic, abstract. Puzzle Pirates meets Tron.

Nintendo DS

The Star Command/Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space interface. The featured character class is a free-trader, and the focus is not combat but trade-runs and deals, and interstellar navigation in star-map mode using the stylus.

Sony PSP

Fighter Jock, a single seat fighter that takes advantage of the analog controller. The first platform to share a pure visual representation of interstellar space in the first person, at reduced LOD. Might be able to support character avatar in controlled player-density environments (outposts, large ships).

Nintendo Revolution

One and two man frigates, with the wand as the flight stick for pilot and targeting system for the gunner. If the space saga involved some form of sword play (just saying) the revolution would be the platform for that character class as well. Supports the character avatar in larger numbers.

XBox 360

Large multi-crew fighters and freighter, the gun-wielding smuggler class, and merchants who can sell you stuff with real-world micro-payments. Supports planetfall for ships and player-avatars

PS3

Planetary Air and Ground combat vehicles; character avatars in high player-density areas. Melee combat characters available.

PC

Capital ships with complex control scheme, hotkey and mouse intensive. Player avatar optimized for FPS style combat.

Cell-Phone

Player Character vendors, and in-game stock and real estate speculators.

How would something like this ever be built? In all probability, it wouldn’t. But if you were to try, the approach would be to build it a piece at a time. Build out the XB360/PS3 elements and roll them out as something akin to Planetfall, then add clients that focus on the space combat elements, a platform at a time.

Should someone rush out to develop a 12 client multi-platform MMO? I doubt it. But I can see a scaled down version of this that plays as a DS/Revolution pairing, or a PSP/3 pair, or a XB360/Live Arcade pair, or a Nokia game where each client is a different flavor of cell-phone, or a PC game with an asymmetrical web client and a small cell-phone component.

Why is this a good idea? You create a single persistent world, then provide the player a multitude of avenues to immerse themselves in a persistent world, and not coincidentally a multitude of avenues to pay for the experience, and the option to participate in the world at a number of levels of immersion and in a number of venues, home, mobile, DS/PSP LAN party. It feels like there is something interesting there.

-game over-

GDC is over, and I’m spending a long weeked in the San Francisco area. Updates are not gauranteed until Wednesday, but hope springs eternal.

Thanks for reading another action-packed installment of Design a Day. For background on the Design A Day challenge, take a peek here and here.