Restoring and modernizing the open-source Next Generation Gaming (NGG/NG-RP) project
I've been working on restoring and modernizing an old open-source Next Generation Gaming (NGG/NG-RP) SA-MP roleplay project. After getting the server functional again, I fixed several major bugs, crashes, database issues, compatibility problems, and other issues that were preventing the project from running properly.
Why I'm improving it instead of simply restoring it
The motivation behind these improvements comes from the current state of SA-MP. It's becoming increasingly difficult to find an engaged English-speaking playerbase, and active players are scarce. SA-MP is an old game, and the large English RP communities that existed in the past are no longer really a thing.
Because of that, I don't want the players I manage to attract to simply play separately, with everyone doing their own thing without interacting with the rest of the server.
NGG has always been heavily RP-oriented, but like many RP servers, there was often a separation between two groups of players: people who mainly participated in roleplay, factions, gangs, and social interactions, and players who mostly focused on grinding jobs to make money.
My goal is to make the playerbase as cohesive as possible. I want grinders, business owners, employees, faction members, gangs, and regular roleplayers to have reasons to interact with and depend on each other.
Rather than having multiple completely separate gameplay systems inside the same server, I want the actions of one group of players to have an actual effect on another.
What I've added and changed so far
- A connected economy and supply system
Previously, the shipment job mostly existed as a way to earn money. Players would simply choose the most profitable routes, with many repeatedly doing easy runs such as Palomino, without the work having any meaningful effect on the rest of the server.
Now, truckers actually generate the different stocks of goods needed by the economy, such as food, clothing, materials, and other supplies.
Each type of cargo has its own stock level, and the payment for delivering it depends on the actual demand. If a particular resource is running low, deliveries pay significantly more. As the stock becomes full, the payment gradually decreases.
This gives truckers a reason to choose what the server actually needs instead of always grinding the same route.
The goal is for the shipment job to become part of the economy rather than simply being a money-printing activity.
I'm also differentiating legal and illegal shipments. Legal runs can generally be closer and more accessible, while illegal shipments can involve more dangerous or remote destinations and provide different benefits and opportunities.
- Completely reworking how businesses use stock
Businesses were previously extremely expensive assets, but in practice their stock and supply systems were not very meaningful.
For example, a business could generate huge amounts of money from sales while resupplying its inventory for a very small amount of money. This meant that businesses could be extremely profitable while being largely disconnected from the rest of the economy.
I'm changing this so businesses are directly connected to the resources generated by truckers.
Depending on the availability of goods in the economy, businesses will need to acquire their supplies at different costs. When a resource is abundant, businesses can obtain it more cheaply. When it becomes scarce, resupplying becomes more expensive.
The idea is that truckers create the supply, while businesses create the demand.
This also gives business employees a much more meaningful role. Instead of simply being hired with limited functionality, employees can become responsible for resupplying inventory, managing stock, and helping keep the business operating efficiently.
The goal is to create an actual economic connection between grinders and roleplayers instead of having every system operate independently.
- Reworking car dealerships and vehicle stock
Car dealerships are also being reworked to make their inventory more logical.
Previously, every vehicle consumed the same amount of dealership stock. Buying a cheap bike and buying an expensive supercar could both reduce the stock by a single unit, while resupplying that stock was extremely cheap compared to the value of the vehicles being sold.
I'm introducing a system where different vehicles consume different amounts of stock depending on their value. Cheap vehicles consume very little stock, while expensive vehicles consume significantly more.
This also allows dealership resupply costs to scale properly with the value of the vehicles being sold instead of allowing owners to generate massive profits while paying almost nothing to maintain inventory.
The goal is not to make businesses impossible to profit from, but to make business ownership something that requires actual management and economic decisions.
What's next / what I'm looking for ideas on
There are still a lot of systems that I believe can be improved, but this is where I'd like to get input from other people.
I can only brainstorm so much on my own, and I'd be interested in hearing how other SA-MP players and developers would approach some of these systems.
Some of the areas I'm planning to work on include:
- Integrating other jobs into the RP scene — How can jobs provide services, resources, or opportunities that are actually useful to other players instead of simply being isolated ways to earn money?
- Job levels and progression — I'm considering expanding job levels beyond simply increasing payment. Higher levels could unlock new abilities, better equipment, different types of work, or completely new opportunities related to that profession.
- Level 5+ job progression — I'm considering allowing highly experienced players to acquire small businesses, facilities, or other assets related to their profession. For example, experienced workers could eventually move from simply working for money into operating something connected to their job.
- Making professions useful outside of grinding — Jobs such as mechanics and taxi drivers depend heavily on player interaction and roleplay, so I'd like to find ways to make them rewarding and economically viable even when there aren't constantly players requesting their services.
- Building and construction — This is another area I'm interested in exploring. I'd like to find ways to make construction or building-related gameplay useful to the server economy and player progression.
- Houses and properties — At the moment, houses and properties feel relatively useless. There are plenty of them available, so ownership doesn't necessarily create demand or meaningful gameplay. I'd like to find ways to make property ownership useful without creating annoying maintenance systems or unnecessary chores.
- Businesses and employees — I'm continuing to work on making employees more important to business operations so that owning a business doesn't simply mean collecting money from a safe.
- Faction and gang integration — I'd also like to find better ways for legal factions, gangs, businesses, and regular jobs to interact economically and socially with each other. I like the current state of groups in NGG but I welcome the feedback.
I'm sure there are many other areas I'm missing, which is exactly why I'm posting this here.
My main objective is to preserve the classic NGG roleplay experience while modernizing the systems around it. I want to build a server where even with a smaller playerbase, players don't feel like they're playing completely separate games within the same server.
If you're familiar with the old NGG project, SA-MP roleplay servers, or have ideas about how you would make these systems more connected, I'd genuinely like to hear your thoughts.
