This is one of my favorite Warhammer 40k videos of all time:
This, combined with all the trailblazing Helldivers 2’s made regarding community-driven meta-narratives in live service games (In Ogryn Terms, what we do make story happen) made me think:
We should have a War Map that reflects the progress of the war in real time.
So at the beginning of the game’s lifespan, we only have access to a handful of zones, but as we complete missions in said zones, this contributes towards the war effort, opening up adjacent zones and more missions therein. It also tracks incursions and records player effort both in real-time and historically, creating a lasting documentation of the community’s progress.
As a bonus, the enemy could “Retake” conquered zones, opening up new missions that need to be completed to repel enemy advances.
Now, this is something that likely needs to be planned out a bit, hence why I say for DT2. But I’d like to discuss it now if you’ll indulge me.
“This would greatly increase development cost”. ~Not necessarily. During the first phase (release), most of the content would have already been made, but the presentation would make it seem like content is being quickly added in as the war progresses. In this phase the map acts more as a “Global Progression System”, where unlocking specific zones could also unlock gameplay features (Clearing out a zone with an armory in it could give more weapons, a manufactorum could allow us better crafting, etc) There’d be choices to make as a community, but they’d mostly be all smoke and mirrors, affecting more narrative elements than mechanical/gameplay ones (Flavor text, for example, can be more easily changed to reflect community actions), even if the story beats/brass tacks are static. The story itself should also have a satisfying-ish conclusion created in advance (We clear the last zone and defeat the big bad, scattering their armies into splinter factions and the like).
But winning a war is never that simple.
Phase 2 would consist of ongoing incursions that occur as new missions/zones/modes are made, slowly revealing over the course of potentially many years greater threats and unforseen complications presenting a tangled web of intrigue and mystery. Here the map itself would likely change, expanding to reveal new areas or gaining additional accoutrements to manage new modes. During this period the choices the community made in phase 1 start having real impact on the development of the game as new content is made to explore the consequences of those choices. Then the choices made there impact the content made after, so on and so forth (With enough of a lead to prepare, so year 1 choices impact year 3 development, year 2 impacts year 4, etc)
Phase 3 would be just to preserve the legacy of the game, since nothing lasts forever and by this point the developers want to move onto other things. It’d consist of making all cosmetics available for purchase, reopening/recycling any previous events, and setting it all up on a schedule to loop indefinitely. Here the map becomes a way to traverse the history of the conflict and relive past glories.
All this is much easier to do if incorporated into the plan from the beginning.
