Concept Thinking of using this method to design difficulties of my zones

[Fournote]

So I just started getting into developing my own games with this. I've used RPG Maker for years now and I'm happy to see that while the interface is a little different, the methodology is about the same. Right now I'm designing each zone for my game. I want to do something different in terms of difficulty. It seems that in most modern MMOs, the starting zone is usually the easiest difficulty for low-level players, whereas adjacent zones are for slightly higher level, then the zones further out are for more intermediate players, and so on until you get to the edge of the map where those zones are for the highest level players.

 

For my game, I want to construct the difficulty differently. The starting zone will be directly in the center of the map and will be for the lowest level of players. But then the zones will be laid out almost like spokes on a wheel. So the top path may start as an extremely low-level area, but as you travel further up it, it will get slightly harder until you reach the end. Then the path to the right of the starting area will have zones starting out for players that should have completed the previous "spokes," getting slightly harder as it goes along. And so on. So some paths leading straight out from the main starting area may be for extremely high level players, just on a different "spoke."

 

Why am I doing this? Because I want to focus on long-form questing in my game. So instead of "kill 5 wild boars," you'll have to go on long adventures from the main village to faraway places at the edge of the map, having many sub-adventures as you go, but I want those kinds of quests to be accessible to players of all levels. Thoughts on this kind of difficulty layout?

[Shaunfroggydog]

The long and high content quest sound awesome. I think the wheel idea could work as long as it's obvious that some zones are tougher by the way the look. Such as the low-level spoke is like a friendly forest area. Whereas the highest-level spoke is like lava with rocky spikes everywhere.

[WereAlpaca]

The whole idea reminds me of Realm of the Mad God. Suggest spending a few hours on that game if you want a general vibe of how it feels. Otherwise, it's a solid plan and sounds like it would make level design more straightforward.