I beleive that was me you were reading
Basically it's a game I've wanted to play since spring 2004. At first I just wanted to find a game like that to play. As time grows and I couldn't find anything even remotely like that (a few links later on) I've become increasingly ravenous. If I ever reach a point with Darwinbots where I feel good to take a long break, that's probably what I'd start working on.
There's three ideas I'm balancing in my mind. Sometimes I confuse them, but I think they're really somewhat different:
1. Procedural world generation, perhaps even generating a universe of billions of stars with realistically scaled planets you can explore on foot (it's technically feasible, games like
Noctis do it). Such a game would be primarily about exploration.
There
aren't any games that are really about exploration except maybe Noctis and the old school Commodore 64 game 7 Cities of Gold (where you were a spanish explorer).
When I was growing up we lived behind Edwards Airforce Base, which was surrounded by wilderness. A kind of miny forest. I loved just exploring the forest as a kid.
With a sophisticated procedurally generator you could create a world of sheer aesthetic beauty, that's a joy just to be in.
2. Survival. Stay put in the same couple square kilometers and survive starting with absolutely nothing. Like being dropped naked in a virgin landscape. In some ways this is sort of similar to River World or Hatchet.
This is something I'd sort of like to do in real life, but really don't have the time for (well, I could probably make the time...)
What I find most alluring is building up some sort of technology level from nothing. Start with some flint and bones and build up rudimentary technology. A house, etc. Master the elements, so to speak.
If this is in an MMO setting, it would be interesting to watch and see if things like currency can develop on their own. What sort of society rules develop. And developers should take a non interference role, and just let society go all to pot if that happens.
The basic point is that you can die at any moment. You can't really "level" your character. A rock to the head can kill Samson as easily as Goliath. Your character could be hundreds of days worth of work when he falls victim to food poisoning and dies. Or he could slip and fall off a cliff. Or he could drown when he tries swimming too far. You want the death to be directly a result of the player's actions (instead of just random), but you want it to be permanent.
And then you start over.
The closest game I've found like this is
UnReal World, which is unfortunately quite dated (and the guy is something of a copyright Nazi, refusing to release either source and still expecting to be payed for this old game. I'm not against programmers getting payed for a game, but this game is seriously old). Though it's still fun, I'd like to see a game like this expanded and refreshed. A game where you can just live another life.
3. A "living" world - I don't mean what modern games call living. I don't mean a static world with maybe a couple of semi-intelligent NPCs going through the motions of life.
Things should matter. If enough people kill enough deer, deer populations should begin to dwindle, which should effect the behavior and number of wolves. Maybe wolves begin raiding towns and attacking people and rummaging through garbage.
If I cut down a tree that tree shouldn't regrow in 10 minutes, or 10 hours, or any time. It's dead. New trees might grow in its place slowly, having trouble as the ground is chocked with the dead tree's roots. The process should be long. If I clear cut an entire grove, it should stay dead. If I plant an entire grove of trees they should live and grow and reproduce.
The idea is that actions matter, they have some lasting consequence. Nothing in the world is permanent. Take Morrowind for instance. You can't break through walls. You can't set a bomb and destroy the Temple of Vivic unless it's part of the story. Even in a "free form" game like that the world feels very static. I can't get a shovel and dig a hole, or build a dam in the river. Admitedly that's not the game's point.
Or take most modern MMOs. You kill an orc in a cave and a new one just appears out of nowhere. I'd like to see orcs needing to be born from an Orc daddy and an Orc mommy. And when they get hunted to extinction there's no magic resurection. You kill all the orcs in the world and orcs are extinct. You're not going to see another one.
You clear cut all the world's trees and it's an Easter Island/Lorax disaster. No game developer is going to plop another one down for you. Tough luck bucko.
Alot of these things are rather far fetched in some ways. The technology for doing alot of these things is still in its infancy. I'm willing to see compromises. Heck, use old 2D graphics, I don't mind. Music can be old Midis. Sound effects can be little beeps and boops.