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Let's say I have a game that's finished and shipped, what would be the approach that is typically taken in regards to future content such as expansions? I'm not talking about programmatic implementation. I'm talking about how to integrate it to the base game, especially for multiple expansions.

If I finished making Expansion Pack 1 which adds new locations, new quests that tie in to the base vanilla game, etc, and then later down the line, I finish Expansion Pack 2 as well, how do I handle if the player only bought Expansion Pack 2 without making it feel disjointed in relation to the lack of Expansion Pack 1?

Or should I make all older expansions mandatory before being able to use the latest one?

In short, I'm trying to wrap my head around implementing multiple expansions without any of the expansions being mandatory but at the same time, I don't want them to feel "tacked on" to the base game as a side content (meaning, they should be integrated into the game's world). I want them to feel like an actual part of the world. Just that they're optional.

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There is two models possible ; both exists and work in the World. You have :

  • the layer model, applied to every MMO out there, where every expansion is added on top of the previous one and all are required to move on ;

  • or you can do parallel extensions that doesnt interlap, like the Skyrim / Fallout 3-4-NV ones, where each is a pack of new quests in new locations, with featurzs and item usable on the core game.

They sound quite opposite, and it is somewhat true. It is almost by definition that something not mandatory is, well, side content.

It really depends, in the end, of your game, and what is packaged in those extensions.

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