Explorers : Telling Your Story Online

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Brainstorming

• Players will have an in-game diary that they can optionally use to tell as much of their tale as they wish.
• Players can choose to publish their in-game diary to the community website.
• The community will be given an option to report entries they find objectionable to help weed out entries done in poor taste.
• Each explorer will have their own page on the website which will give their name, portrait, nationality, and other vital statistics. Players will be able to fill in details for their explorer, including a biography prior to starting as an explorer.
• The current state of the explorers map will be published either during regular intervals and/or when the player publishes a diary entry.
• Logging each expedition will be key to creating a rich history of each explorer. Who you meet, where you travel, what you find in terms of natives, natural resources, and riches will all be logged. Disastrous expeditions will also be logged, including notes on losses due to combat, disease, starvation, and crashing of ships marooning the explorer will all be detailed.
• When filling out your diary entry, we will automatically save off the map of your explorations at that time so that we can match them up both in-game and online.
• We will show both the world as it is known at the time of a diary entry, and we will keep track of each of your expedition paths and allow you to view them on a map later.
• We will generate diary entries once a week for the player. These will include basic data and possibly flavor text. Basic data such as the world map as you know it, attrition and morale of the troops, and major events that occurred during the previous week such as finding an ancient ruin or a new gold mine. Flavor text might optionally be included similar to what is found when successfully trading with the natives.
• Part of the diary entries will be occasional events that are primarily flavor text. The king has died, his nephew is on the throne now. Spain has gone to war with France. These will add some immersion at the least, and may also tie into the gameplay itself. For instance, the new king has required your presence in Europe, so you must make haste to return and be accountable for your actions.