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A MMOG That Could Have Been
Grimwell has up the first in a series of articles from a Massively Multiplayer game that underwent development but was never published. Entitled The Colonies, the game was intended to provide a massive world space where repercussions from player actions could be felt and maintained. From the article: "'It's been 500 years since 1957.' That phrase is what I've always used when describing where the game was to take place. 1957 was the hopping off point to a future that never happened, one that could be seen then. Today we see post-apocalyptic grunge with worn down leftover implements of civilization or we see high technology sterility. In 1957 technology was still magical and the future was an exciting place to be going to. So imagine 500 years post 1957 as seen in magazines like Astounding or in B-Movies of the period. That one simple phrase hints at the tone and style of the game. The name tells you the rest." Update: 06/11 20:58 GMT by Z : Added link. sigh.
A book I didn't write.
A soda I didn't drink.
A car I didn't drive.
And, finally a hat I didn't wear.
What the hell is the point of this story?
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
but some linkage would be good?
stored on computers from birth to the grave
The article sounds interesting, but where's the link?
http://www.grimwell.com/index.php?action=fullnews& id=287
perhaps this is a anti-/.ing measure?
Why not fork?
Since Zonk didn't bother to link it
Was there supposed to be a link for this story? The idea for an MMORPG sounds like an interesting one, and I was expecting to read about why it never panned out.
- Did a high level manager can it?
- Is the MMORPG field too crowded?
- Did production start and the company folded?
- Did the initial testers hate it?
"Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
The Article
Click ME!
It sounds like 10six.. And we all know how well that did.. Oh, wait.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
I love the "retro-futuristic" angle, but from what I can tell, it looks like development was never even started on this game. This is like reminiscing about how great that hockey game you didn't go to was.
Ask and you shall recieve.
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
I think theres as many MMOGs that weren't finished as there are 1% of the total population of programmers. I know I had 2 MMOGS that underwent development and didn't finish. One was being written before Ultima Online came to be.
God spoke to me.
In all games, players have some sort of effect on the world. How far they can influence/affect the world and/or other players, is up to the designers. A player always wants to be able to affect the world substancially, though I don't think it's a good idea. It can have many unwanted sideffects, and could even turn away new unskilled players. Balance is more appropriate.
Heh, good luck with that! Why do i feel that the design goals are not design goals but what a player wants to hear? This is impossible. The world will eventually feel small to seasoned players, no matter how big the world is. Even our real world feels small to people who travel alot.
Also games that try to be everything to everyone are bound to fail. This is where game design comes in, so your game does *not* try to do that.
Hmm, sure you could provide access through a browser or even through WAP. Many games have done that, and it didn't really make a difference for the game.
It's a nice plus for a game, but rarelly the sole reason to sign up on one.
A tried, tested and proven concept. Works for almost all games.
This is what every player will ask for before they play the game, and what every player will dislike when they play it. Sometimes players think they know what want, but they are mistaken. They will ask for unlimited options, because they forget the unlimited complexity that comes with it. Case proven with Masters of Orion 3. The game was so complicated, noone could play it.
Plus, if your game needs unlimited options/items to be good, there is something wrong with your game design.
Is that ingame money or real world money? If it's ingame money, it's almost impossible to make players feel they don't really need it, since it will be a part of your game and one that improves gameplay. Unlikely that any player wouldn't want the resources he's playing for in the first place.
If it's real world money, mixing gameplay with real world money(eg. pay £100 for your new sword +5) is a major game design failure. And one that will turn players away from the game.
Nothing new there. Some games work this way, some don't.
To sum up, I didn't see any real game design there, no concept art, no technology preview, no indication of what has been accomplished so far. All I saw was yet another "game idea". I don't doubt his desire to make one, however, game/dev boards are full of similar "I want to make an MMOG, I have a great idea, would you like to for me?" posts. Game ideas worth nothing until you actually have something.
VStrider.
"Entitled The Colonies, the game was intended to provide a massive world space where repercussions from player actions could be felt and maintained."
Eve is a massive world in space and it's entirely pvp based with pvp occupations other than fighting. Has a playerun economy with prices that fluctaute based on player supply and demand (also greed :p).
Stated goals from site:"1 Create a world in which the players had genuine effect on the worldspace. 2 Create a world large enough that it would never feel small. 3 Enable game world interaction beyond the 3-d game client. 4 Encourage a sense of ownership in the player. 5 Develop a crafting system that would allow seeming limitless invention and creation of items. 6 Develop a real money transaction system that would allow players to make money but never cause players to feel that they had to spend money to play. 7 Create a story arc that would lead naturally to expansion."
Can players effect the world? Yes player run economy. Is it large? It's fucking huge. It could take me literally a real life day to go from one end to the other in a slow ship. But it's not so big that you're spending all your time traveling since most of the action takes place in the centerish. Interaction beyond the game client? I'm not sure what that means, if you aren't playing the game you aren't interacting with it and that takes a client.
Encourage a sense of ownership? Yup. This is MY ship, MY blueprint, MY resources, MY station, MY space, MY market etc. The crafting system is the only thing it doesn't quite meet. It works and is functional but to there is no true invention. You can modify blueprints so they are more resource effiecient etc. but you can't create your own item. #6 balance between earning $$$ and the need to have $$$ to play? It's there. Because skills train in real time you should never need more money then you can spend (no point buying a battleship if you can't use it for another month). #7 does it have a good story that we can mess with? Yes Right now we just finished a story arc involving a stolen dreadnought.
I'm betting it was never published because they realized it already exists and unlike traditional fantasy mmorpgs a game like this is a niche game so it wouldn't have trouble competing.
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