Projects & explorations

MMORPG Development

Concept stage

Explore an original shared world connecting adventure, skills, trade, kingdoms, diplomacy, and conquest.

MMORPG Development project image — Original concept artwork; not a completed product or existing facility.

The vision

The duniya in your palm: a living world that players can explore and influence. The balance between character-based role-playing and kingdom strategy remains to be decided.

Design references

Majesty, Age of Empires, RuneScape, World of Warcraft, and Skyrim are inspirations. Bannerlord, Crusader Kings III, Albion Online, and EVE Online offer further systems to study. The goal is an original world and identity, not a reproduction of those games.

Game research program

I study how games connect exploration, progression, construction, strategy, and cooperation. Focused play, demonstrations, and gameplay analysis will inform original design decisions and small experiments for the Robotics Laboratory MMORPG project.

This catalog identifies research candidates, not completed studies. The games span several genres; each offers a particular system to examine.

Eight starting references

Age of Empires III · Portal 2 · Autonauts · Factorio · Space Engineers · Guild Wars 2 · EVE Online · Screeps: World.

Research method

Use 30–45 minutes of focused observation or play, followed by five minutes of written or voice notes. Record the mechanic, why it works, its weakness, and an original experiment to test.

Choose one question before the session.
Observe the instructions, decisions, feedback, and results.
Record what was engaging, confusing, or frustrating.
Translate the observation into a small original prototype idea.

Research catalog

Open a category to explore its games and study questions.

MMORPGs & shared worlds (8 entries)

World of Warcraft: Character roles, quest introductions, dungeons, and guild cooperation.
Guild Wars 2: Exploration and public events that encourage cooperation.
EVE Online: Player organizations, manufacturing, trading, and economic interdependence.
Final Fantasy XIV: Storytelling, crafting professions, and gradual introductions to complex systems.
Old School RuneScape: Skill progression, resource gathering, and memorable quests.
Albion Online: Equipment-based roles, crafting, trade, and territory.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Environmental storytelling, exploration, and voiced quests.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Character identity, dialogue choices, and companions.

Robotics, programming & automation (11 entries)

Screeps: World: Programming autonomous units in a persistent online world.
Factorio: Production chains, bottlenecks, automation, and logistics robots.
Satisfactory: Factory construction integrated with exploration.
Autonauts: Teaching robots repeatable tasks through approachable programming.
Desynced: Programmable robots, automation, and base management.
Dyson Sphere Program: Production and transport across planets.
The Farmer Was Replaced: Learning programming through automation.
Human Resource Machine: Programming logic through puzzles.
7 Billion Humans: Coordinating multiple agents with shared instructions.
SHENZHEN I/O: Circuit programming, constraints, and documentation.
Opus Magnum: Designing and improving mechanical production processes.

Engineering, construction & simulation (9 entries)

Space Engineers: Modular machines, vehicles, bases, and engineering constraints.
Minecraft: Creative construction, crafting, and redstone logic.
Scrap Mechanic: Mechanical inventions and moving parts.
Trailmakers: Vehicles for different environments and challenges.
Kerbal Space Program: Design, testing, failure, and revision.
Besiege: Solving objectives through mechanical construction.
TerraTech: Modular vehicles and resource gathering.
Stormworks: Build and Rescue: Vehicle systems and practical rescue missions.
Oxygen Not Included: Heat, gases, power, and interacting resource systems.

Strategy, research & infrastructure (12 entries)

Age of Empires II / III: Resources, development stages, and economic choices.
Warcraft III: Hero progression alongside specialist units.
StarCraft / StarCraft II: Distinct unit roles, clear feedback, and factions.
Command & Conquer: Generals / Zero Hour: Base construction, production, and unit functions.
Red Alert 2 / Yuri’s Revenge: Visual identity and unusual mechanics.
Age of Mythology: Faction identity and progression paths.
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance: Automation, logistics, and strategic interfaces.
Civilization VI: Research trees and long-term development.
Anno 1800: Supply chains, population needs, and industrial growth.
The Settlers series: Workers, production buildings, and transport.
Sid Meier’s Railroads!: Transport networks and industrial connections.
OpenTTD: Network capacity, routing, and infrastructure.

Exploration, missions & progression (11 entries)

Portal / Portal 2: Teaching mechanics through sequenced puzzles.
Subnautica: Discovery-driven research, crafting, and base development.
Half-Life 2: Environmental storytelling and physics-based interaction.
Diablo II: Equipment, specialization, and reward pacing.
Titan Quest: Combining skills into character builds.
Gothic / Gothic 3: Immersion, factions, and progression.
Mass Effect series: Specialist companions and mission choices.
Horizon Zero Dawn: Machine behaviors and recognizable robot silhouettes.
No Man’s Sky: Exploration, resources, bases, and discovery.
Outer Wilds: Progress through knowledge and curiosity.
BioShock: Architecture, atmosphere, and narrative.

Cooperation, communities & team missions (7 entries)

Deep Rock Galactic: Complementary roles and cooperative industrial missions.
Left 4 Dead 2: Team dependence, rescue mechanics, and pacing.
Warframe: Modular equipment, missions, and customization.
Destiny 2: Cooperative objectives and coordinated encounters.
Sea of Thieves: Shared vehicle operation and player-created stories.
Valheim: Cooperative settlement building and exploration.
Monster Hunter: World: Preparation, equipment crafting, and readable encounters.

Robotics-focused design experiments

One direction to test is an engineer character who establishes a laboratory, builds robot companions, and completes practical missions in a shared world. This is a proposed design branch within the broader world-building project.

Robot behavior: Collect components, return when cargo is full, and recharge when power is low.
Laboratory systems: Connect energy, manufacturing, research, and transport.
Player cooperation: Exchange components, share blueprints, and complete infrastructure missions.
First prototype candidate: One laboratory, one customizable robot, and a mission to collect materials and repair a machine.

The first experiment should establish an enjoyable core loop before expanding to cooperative play or a persistent multiplayer world.

Reference starting points

Future research

Character progression, quests, crafting, economies, guilds, territory, diplomacy, multiplayer persistence, and fair opportunities for new players.

Deferred design work

Maps, cultures, characters, creatures, equipment, lore, and architecture will be developed later. Exploratory artwork is visual inspiration, not a finalized map or playable game.

Next milestone

Define the core player experience and a small prototype scope before selecting technology or promising a massively multiplayer release.

Project record: October 20, 2026. Plans and research directions may change.

All new explorations Business foundations