Промоакции для игроков не только в шутерах — воспользуйся промокодом Vavada от наших партнеров и получи бонусы, которые подарят азарт и атмосферу, сравнимую с игровыми победами.
.Ok, I started this a long time ago and I got a lot of great commentary and feedback from everyone. I thought I would bring it up again, but with a little twist…what is the ONE thing you just HAVE to have in your Perfect MMORPG?
Sound off here in the forums…
~ Robert / Nicodemus
PS I decided about bringing this topic back up because of Zubon’s post about game features. Kill sheets are pretty cool by the way.
We have a forum, here. Call it an experiment. I think there are already too many forums, but I wanted to have some place less informal to do things like offer invites or talk about movies. I’ll get rid of it, if it gains no interest.
– Ethic
[Eternal Lands] Yesterday, people were lining up to tell me that a feature I always wanted in a game already exists in various forms and is slated to be implemented fully this year. Later that day, WorldIV pointed me to a game that has another feature that I have always wanted.
Eternal Lands is a bagatelle of an online game that is in beta and feels like it. It has some interesting ideas, insane lore, and graphics akin to ATitD; I can review what I have seen if there is interest. What excited me is that it has a kill sheet.
Since I played a lot of Warcraft 3 tower defense last week, I got to wondering why MMOs are not like this. The bulk of MMO play is attacking hapless, inoffensive enemies. We are the aggressors. The only things we build are characters and weapons for destroying things. Where is building and defending?
I want PvE enemies who will bring the fight to me. I want to build my own castle, hire NPC archers, and defend the battlements. I want to band together with my friends in defense of our community, not just to go blow up someone else’s community. Give me a little bit of Civilization and SimCity in an MMO. At least that is what I want this week; players are fickle.
The topic of conversation in one of my other posts has meandered around to the art of crafting a game instead of the industry of manufacturing (“makingâ€) a game. Julian over at bettergame reposted some pretty in-depth comments originally written a few years ago about the topic as well.
I have suggested (and ranted for years) that the game industry has focused too much on flash (particularly graphics) and neglected substance. Publishers have eschewed adventure games for years now, story is relatively non-existent in nearly every game on the market (a “setting†does not count as story or plot), and the few attempts at creating a rich and evocative game with depth and complexity have usually ended up being overly complicated and confusing.
Story (not setting) is incredibly important to crafting a great game. What do you have without it? Imagine a movie with the most impressive and high-tech graphics and visuals you have ever seen…add in sound and effects so real, you literally feel like you are right in the middle of the action. But what if the movie is simply about two people sitting at a table eating Doritos? Sure, the killer trailer got you to open up your wallet and go to see the movie, but so what? Without story, dialogue, plot, character development, conflict, content, and interaction, you leave the theater with an empty feeling that is easily forgotten.
I have been thinking about reactivating a few games in order to do a mini-review on any changes that may have occurred. The two games are Auto Assault and Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. Oddly enough, both games have offered free reactivation for this weekend (actually Auto Assault is giving 10 days).
Roughly sequential musings from a gathering of friends this weekend:
Today’s friendly thought for gamers comes from Robin Hanson at the incomparable Overcoming Bias blog:
I was a shy young nerd and thought I was an introvert, but eventually learned that I was reacting to the fact that other people didn’t like to be around me. Once I found people who liked to be around me, I loved to be around them too…
: Zubon
(Warning, late night rant)
I have so many pet peeves about the game industry I should probably start selling a few. Buy a “Peeve™†now for only $19.95. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m going to stick a “Peeve™†in the next RPG I work on and make it one of the most irritating mobs ever. Just watch me.
In our happy little game industry, evil and radical elements have been striving for years for our downfall. Of course this sort of thing is a constant element in politics, education, and the youthful culture of today. The weapons of choice of these dastardly agents of destruction include obfuscation, misdirection, redefinition, outright lying (the word “leading” in front of “developer” or “game” is used so much my eyes bleed when I see it), and of course “baffling with bullshit” and “dazzling with drama”. The one I want to address today is redefinition.
What does it mean to be an independent studio or “Indie� Can a volunteer or indie studio make a MMORPG? How do you get a studio funded? Do you really need a publisher?
I get the feeling that many people think that “Indie game development†means a group of people volunteering their time to work for free to work on a game…I think that they are wrong and we need to redefine or at least clarify what it means to be an indie studio…