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Speaking With the Designer of an Indie MMO Project

Posted by Soulskill on from the quite-ambitious dept.

PsxMeUP writes "Love is a persistent online first-person shooter that will let players build structures, permanently manipulate the environment and share resources — all in real-time. Action will be similar to a real-time strategy game as seen through the eyes of a grunt. The game is being completely designed by a man named Eskil Steenberg, and GameObserver had a chance to interview him. Steenberg talks about how all MMOs offer an egocentric experience where character growth is the most important aspect, and how he intends to change that. He also explains how mainstream MMOs have too many players, which basically trivializes accomplishments that have an impact on the entire server. 'If you imagine Civilization where you invent your stuff or build new stuff, imagine playing one of those characters on the ground doing that. And being able to do something minute in your world and see that impact in the major world,' Eskil explains, when asked what his game will be like. 'I want to scare people in a direction that is different from this sort of "me-centric" style of games. It feels that pretty much all games are going into that Diablo direction of collecting and building up my characters, and it's all very egocentric about creating your own powerful character,' he clarifies when asked how his game will be different from other MMOs. Love is well into development, and Steenberg has already posted some incredible gameplay demos. Levels, for instance, are all procedurally generated. The game also offers open-source tools, like UV editing — not a small feat considering the whole thing was designed by one man."

19 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Good luck! by negRo_slim · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sounds like the first Communist MMO! But more power to him, I just don't see how one guy is going to put out a game changer, these games tend to be "mecentric" for a reason. People want to see that last boss, kill that god, but not everyone is willing to put in 40 hours a week.

    --
    On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
    1. Re:Good luck! by Yokaze · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > People want to see that last boss, kill that god, but not everyone is willing to put in 40 hours a week.

      Procedural content wouldn't change that much. In fact, it would allow you to kill your personal final boss, not the same one everyone else has slain, and make you wait with twenty other people which are currently also waiting for it to respawn.

      > these games tend to be "mecentric" for a reason.

      Yes, but a different reason you cite. It is terribly hard to automatically generate content, which is actually diverse, interesting, consistent, good, and bug free, especially if it is in persistent world. But if you want a persistent world, procedural content is a must.

      --
      "Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
    2. Re:Good luck! by xappax · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think he's re-envisioning the reward system and the meaning of "success" in his game. In a game like WoW, you're l33t if you managed to accumulate the most epic loot for yourself. Success in WoW is making your toon uber-powerful, or doing something that nobody else can.

      In Love, it sounds like success is much more based around your personal relationships with other players - success is measured in how much respect and "props" you get from your fellow players. Players are competing not for shiny loot which they can hoard, but for the opportunity to help their peers and earn a good reputation.

      Kind of reminds me of the warez scene, actually. Everyone is hyper-motivated and competitive about doing a good job, even though ultimately all they're doing is sharing with each other. It's competition to show who's the best at sharing.

    3. Re:Good luck! by genner · · Score: 3, Funny

      Or German, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesundheit

      I see your sarcasm detector is working at peek efficiency today.

    4. Re:Good luck! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sounds like the first Communist MMO! But more power to him, I just don't see how one guy is going to put out a game changer, these games tend to be "mecentric" for a reason. People want to see that last boss, kill that god, but not everyone is willing to put in 40 hours a week.

      It depends on what you mean by "game changer". At it's most successful, it's not going to reinvent the standard MMOG, but it could very well find its own audience who wouldn't be interested in WoW, or play WoW not for the "mecentric" elements as much as the crafting or other social aspects of the game. Those players won't find such aspects to be very strong in WoW, but they might find them in Love. A Tale in the Desert is an example that has found a strong audience for itself without taking the online gaming market by storm. If Love is a game changer, it will be by showing how some gameplay ideas can work online, such ideas may be adopted by other games. For the most part, online game playing will be egocentric - the larger audience plays for escapist fantasy, and they want to "see that last boss". There's room for both, just as there is for action adventure movies and dramas. Also, I've played on small population servers ("The 4th Coming"), and have seen first hand that smaller populations foster a slight sense of community among the players. Also, his News page is terrific reading, which adds to my interest.

    5. Re:Good luck! by scubamage · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You realize the term toon has existed since the early days of MUDs, MOOs, and MUX's, right? I've yet to see someone get insulted for using it. I think you're a fibber.

  2. Love by Korbeau · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Love is a persistent online first-person shooter ...", try explaining THAT to my girlfriend!

  3. My ten year-old loves this idea by PIPBoy3000 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have no idea why my son is so excited about this particular game, but every month or so he keeps asking if it's out yet. We saw some of the demos and evidently it stuck with him. I think he likes the idea of being able to change the world.

  4. yeah but by JustNiz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Even playing WoW often gets to be too much like work.

    I can see how this might be a better approximation of real society or have better ideals or whatever than WoW etc, but WILL IT BE MORE FUN?

    Honestly I dont care about the humanist validity of a game. I only want to play it if its an enjoyable and escapist experience. In fact deliberate unrealism is often more entertaining.

    Do I want to have more "realistic life issues" thrown at me for pleasure? no. Its for that reason I already hate all reality TV shows.

  5. I remember another game written by one man by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Derek Smart. BattleCruiser 3000AD

    Production was always moving along and there were videos and screenshots of the game, but for the longest time there was simply no game for anyone except Mr. Smart to play.

    Sadly to say, for all the people eagerly anticipating BattleCruiser 3000AD, the game sucked.

    Let's hope Steenberg and his little game are headed in the right direction.

    1. Re:I remember another game written by one man by megamerican · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Rollercoaster tycoon was written by one person. Almost all of the code was written in assembly. It was one of the most fun games I've ever played.

      --
      If you have something that you dont want anyone to know, maybe you shouldnt be doing it in the first place -Eric Schmidt
    2. Re:I remember another game written by one man by sammyF70 · · Score: 2

      Incidentally I argued yesterday with him (D.Smart) on the board for one of his two new games, and I must say he really lives up to his reputation : he is quite in love with himself and unable to accept the least criticism and remarks about bugs in his games. ("Don't make a judgment about my game by trying out the demo" was worth a good laugh though)

      From what I've read, Steenberg does seem to have more skills and less attitude

      --
      "DRM is like the Ford Pinto: it's a smooth ride, right up the point at which it explodes and ruins your day."-C.Doctorow
  6. Art by Drakin020 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I like his idea, but I want to touch on his game for a moment.

    It seems that he has an interesting way of doing the game art or graphics.

    http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/screen_shots.html

    --
    The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
  7. Eskil Steenberg is a genius by Qbertino · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This guy is the upper league. I met him a few times at the Blender conference. He's on the OpenGL Standards Team and has forgotten more about coding than most of us will ever learn. Just watching him demonstrate his 3D tools is jawdropping. Listening to him when he talks about 3D and real-time multi-user networking is a feast. He's in the upper league of coding *and* in the upper league of taste and design. If anybody can pull something like this through it's him. Go and watch the demos if you don't believe me.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  8. ATITD or Slave Labor by Marc_Hawke · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This kind of collaborative building effort was done in ATITD. (A Tale in the Desert.) It was really great, but an interesting thing happened...

    Guild houses and other structures require LOTS of raw materials. Gathering these were very labor intensive. The 'less dominant' personalities were relegated to these tasks while the Type-A guys did fun things like detail-work and planning. There were players who literally logged in and spent hours making bricks or gathering straw. They'd hand these off the the guild leaders when they were done and start over.

    The only reason this wasn't slave labor is that there was no coercion, it was just a class system based on your personality, your 'need to be accepted' and your willingness to do the grunt-work. The social dynamic of the whole thing was one of the most interesting parts of that game.

    --
    --Welcome to the Realm of the Hawke--
    1. Re:ATITD or Slave Labor by Vrallis · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I also played ATITD for a while. It's a shame that the pace and timeline of the game was so closely driven by Teppy as opposed to by the players. The Second Telling was more or less killed off by a combination of Teppy releasing Tests at too slow a pace and, of course, the release of WoW.

      Up until then though, the large community efforts were impressive. Hundreds of people involved in digs (with some people making shovels for everyone, people cooking stamina food). The nearly region-long Acro lines, etc.

      After I left, I tried to keep up with news on ATITD. Apparently the Second Telling took so long to progress in the end that Teppy made a bunch of changes to speed up the conclusion--sounding more like cutting his losses and wanting to just get started over again with the Third Telling.

      Unfortunately the last time I checked in on the Third Telling the population was so low that the game just isn't the same anymore. There aren't enough people to form any of the large community events anymore that made the game so much more enjoyable.

      (Though I have to admit, when it comes to repetitive behavior...I wore out the left mouse button on two high-end mice in less than 6 months of play there.)

  9. I wouldn't call this an MMO by Arykor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He also explains how mainstream MMOs have too many players

    The MM in MMO stands for Massively Multi-player! If the servers are limited to 200 registered players averaging 50-70 online most of the time (as stated in TFA), I wouldn't call it an MMO. I've played on wolf-et servers with more than 70 players.

  10. Instant Rimshot by zooblethorpe · · Score: 2, Funny

    At least post the link... ;)

    Cheers,

    --
    "What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
    "A four-foot prune."
  11. definition of risk by j1m+5n0w · · Score: 2

    Just because no one is going to lose tens of millions of dollars in venture capital if Love fails doesn't automatically make it low-risk. Love is high risk for the developer, Eskil, who is spending several years of his life with no income to write a game that may or may not be successful. It is high-risk in the sense that it employs some unique game mechanics that haven't been copied from other large, successful games.