Tag: customization

Target Audience: For the Developer

Target Audience: For the Developer

by Rebecca M. Horner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

The target audience of Mystic Riders is a female gamer ages 12 to 16 with the optimum target market going as low as 10 to as old as 25. The content and story of the game is geared towards teens. From issues they face to the genre tropes they adore, we’re writing with them in mind and what they enjoy. Mystic Riders is being approached from a unique standpoint in the gaming industry—it is built narrative first! It’s meant to be a ‘safe’ game and steer away from excess skin, common fears and phobias, politics, religion, and sex. (While all sexualities and skin tones should and will be represented in the game, the story doesn’t hinge upon the player being a lesbian for example.)

In basic mechanics, Mystic Riders is a standard MMO, farming, puzzle, and racing game. We’re aiming for girl players, thus why the Main Character is a female-only option. There is a distinct lack of games that target girl gamers, even now, for a real gaming experience. Most games fall under boy-centric or gender neutral in terms of tone. What few girl games there are tend to fall into gendered “safe” types, so basically makeovers, fashion, and playing house like cooking and home decorating. There isn’t much investment in other types of games because girl gamers are seen as a group who don’t spend money, which creates a chicken-or-the-egg problem. Girls don’t spend money on games because there aren’t any good games for them, so no one makes a good game deliberately for girls.

If boys want a horse game, they have Red Dead Redemption (2). It’s past time that girls got something with that amount of investment and care put into it.

This means that Mystic Riders needs to take the next step forward in MMO gaming by focusing the mechanics on games that girls like to play that are catered to mostly by the mobile market. This means featuring mini-games seamlessly into game play (instead of making them different screens). Mini-games like trace the pattern, clean the screen, falling objects, follow the keyboard pattern, red light green light, bubble shooters and matching color patterns, etc. are a very large part of Mystic Riders along with actual jigsaw style puzzles and environment puzzles that involve magic or using pets.

Mystic Riders is an MMO Racing Game that is stepping towards platformer gaming style mechanics. Whether it is having the player change size, or jump from “platform” to “platform.” Mystic Riders is set up to be a multi-level map with places that are exclusive to certain “class” types. At the same time, it is also a horse competition game, and the mechanics of the races are geared towards the players using skill to hit the buttons at the right time and using the correct speed to make it over obstacles or do the right steps.

There is even a choose-your-own-adventure feel to the game as the story is set up for the player to be able to choose sides at several points in the game. As a result, there are 8 different ways the story can play out. We want the player to be able to play past story lines, and have extra character slots in order to be able to play the game all 8 ways if they choose.

Because Mystic Riders is aiming for an older audience, at least in terms of where normally girl-exclusive games stop, the graphics are chosen to appeal to that older player by being more realistic. We desire the graphics to be in the vein of Black Desert Online, Moonlight Blade, or Guild Wars 2. This will make the game stand out from competitors like any Barbie horse game or Star Stable Online. The level of graphics in Ostwind are about par for what we are looking for.

Being just a game in today’s 24/7 social media atmosphere isn’t possible. That’s why Mystic Riders is geared towards being highly merchandisable from dolls, make-up, clothing, to notebooks and calendars, to novels, comics, and webisodes. We understand that to survive in an over-saturated market, you have to be a brand.

Mystic Riders is a brand created by female story driven gamers for female story driven gamers. That is the market we desire to tap.

Target Audience: For the Player

Target Audience: For the Player

by Rebecca M. Horner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Mystic Riders is designed to be enjoyable for the person who loves horses no matter what their age. We want this game to be enjoyable and relatable for tweens, teenagers, and young adults to the older adults who are young at heart by providing an enjoyable story with challenging puzzles and things for players to do simply to relax.

We are you. We love Miraculous Ladybug (at least the first season), Love Live, Sailor Moon, and PreCure. We adore Ever After High and Monster High. We get tempted by the Bayer horses every year until we remember cats will destroy them. (Ginny at least played with Barbies the way they are supposed to be played with, and wishes they’d go back to some of the older style merchandising. Becca collected the horses more than the dolls.) We play horse games and farming sims and get lost in a good story about teens in impossible love. (Give us all the fanfic! Give. Give now!) We have a weakness for sparkly and pretty things. And to us, pink is just another color in a huge rainbow of colors. (Bring back Lisa Frank!)

We’ve created this game for people no matter their gender or age who love exploring, story based play and have a spirit of competition. If you like games like Barbie Horse Adventures and Star Stable Online, we hope that you’ll like our game—a game where your main character (MC) can ride and take care of a horse in a huge open-world-style map that includes mini-games like Disney Princess games, platforming elements like Sly Cooper and Okami, farming and building elements, dress-up, and as much customization as we can stuff into a game.

Customization is important. Your MC is a girl. There is no one type of girl. There is no one right way to be a girl and we want to provide enough options that everyone has a way to show who they are and be represented in the game! (Even if some of it may have to wait for expansions. Fingers crossed.) Representing the incredible rainbow of who we are as people is important to us. Prep. Goth. Boho. Retro. Punk. Hip Hop. Country. We’ve got you covered.

There’s a lot more to Mystic Riders than caring for and racing horses. There are friendships to be made, a world to save, and a huge mystery to solve. Do things have to be the way they are? Can everyone get along? Who is Rose Neptuna really? And why does Bence have to be so cute anyways? Questions like ‘who am I?’ and ‘what am I going to be when I grow up?’ are balanced with silliness and fun. (Who knew that goats love pajamas?) And let’s be honest, sometimes those questions don’t go away even when you’re an adult. (Ginny can attest to this.)

There’s so much more to the story that it can’t all be contained in the game. There’s more to Mystic Riders (or what we want of Mystic Riders) to be more than just a game. We want books and webisodes and merchandise. Not to say that the story in the game won’t be complete, but who are Vesper Leilament, Charlotte Mistwaltz, and the other mentors? How did they come to Astranar? What are they up to behind the scenes?

And who doesn’t want a bit of their game to sit on their shelf? Dolls and horse figurines, outfits, make-up, and notebooks can mean that every player can have a little bit of Astranar and Mystic Riders in their day to day life. And given that Ginny is a fashion designer, well, maybe, if we’re lucky, there will be clothes from the game in stores with pockets (because clothes should be both pretty and functional). (Ginny and Becca are both serious about this pocket thing.)

Mystic Riders is a game created by those who love horses and are young at heart for those who love horses and are young at heart.

What is Mystic Riders MMO?

What is Mystic Riders MMO?

by Rebecca M. Horner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Who do you want to be when you grow up? A jockey, a police officer, a fashion model? What can you do in your wildest dreams? Do you want to fly, read minds, create illusions, and draw power from the elements themselves? Or do you want to explore the vacuums of space, the nightmares of others, and use the darker powers of Nature?

In Mystic Riders, the choice is up to the player for their character’s fate.

Set on the continent of Argentum, the main character (MC), is visiting the country of Astranar for the summer. Famous for their music and equestrianism, the MC is one of several recruits offered a chance to train at the riding camps scattered throughout the countryside. The reward for all this hard work is extremely valuable—a full scholarship to the country’s academy. The Royal Riding Academy is one of the most elite boarding schools in the world.

Astranar is more than just a haven for horse lovers. Magic is tied to the MC and to these lands. The MC will have to learn how to use their magic, choose a side. While magic is supposed to be in harmony, the light and the shadow aspects have gotten jarringly out of tune. To bring them back together, the MC will have to shed light on ancient secrets.

There’s also fun to be had along the way! Meet new friends (on either side of the feud) and explore the varied lands of Astranar. Find hidden treasures, lost adventurers, and maybe even a pop star! Your MC’s appearance is highly customizable, including a variety of skin tones, body shapes, and hair/eye color. There are a variety of horses to ride, different styles of riding, gear and clothes, and not to mention all the food. You can also build and customize your own farm and stable.

Plus there is a mysterious boy who seems tied to the MC…

An urban fantasy MMORPG, Mystic Riders is a non-combative, PvsE play game, with optional elements of cooperation and competition between players. Players have a high level of choice in the game, with two possible endings and eight ways to get there. Crafting and customization is encouraged, and cooperation is the name of the game – the only best that matters is your best.

The player is often face with ethical dilemmas and choice. These are challenges designed to immolate the fears, responsibilities, and excitement of growing up. From choosing sides, helping or not, and even making tentative steps towards a career, the player will transition from childhood to the world of a young adult. Not only that, but there are mechanics built into the game that can help encourage the player to find a healthy work-fun-life balance.