Linux and Android MMO Launches Kickstarter To Support Gameplay Expansion

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Linux and Android MMO Launches Kickstarter To Support Gameplay Expansion

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 19, 2013 @10:10PM from the kickstarting-universe-2.0 dept.

Incarnate-VO writes "Long running space-MMO Vendetta Online, which debuted with Linux support back in 2002, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to support a major gameplay expansion, including player-owned stations, capships, and territorial conquest. If the Kickstarter succeeds, an upcoming iPad version could also gain some added polish, joining the existing mobile support for Android. (The Kickstarter video is also available on YouTube in HD)."

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Great game, but to expensive for me by Quazion · 2013-01-19 22:45 · Score: 0, Redundant

I have played the game back in 2010, then I thought it was already a great game, but I only play games casually due to the lack of time mostly. Playing 10 dollars each month for only a couple of hours seems pretty steep.
I really like the new MMO business models like Planetside 2, where its free to play, but the paying does not screws the balance of the game, just buys you time or less grind as i see it..
A bit more competition for EVE online by Lonewolf666 · 2013-01-19 22:49 · Score: 5, Informative

The planned changes would bring Vendetta Online closer to EVE in features:
Player-owned capital ships and stations are two things EVE has, as well as benefits for conquering territory.
EVE also has pretty amazing graphics, which is something Vendetta Online could use a bit more of (and it is planned for the Kickstarter). Graphics are usually not the thing I look for first, but in case on Vendetta Online the gap to AAA games is pretty large.
What I really like is the twitch-based combat. A feature I always missed in EVE. Unfortunately, Vendetta Online does have its only server in Milwaukee, which makes the ping times somewhat long for players from Europe like me. When I tried Vendetta Online some years ago, I promptly got my ass handed to me in PvP. I think that was at least partly due to lag.

--
C - the footgun of programming languages
1. Re:A bit more competition for EVE online by J.J.+Dane · 2013-01-19 23:12 · Score: 2
  
  I've been playing VO from Europe (Denmark) for 5 years, my ping's been around 140 pretty consistently, no lag at all. Could be network issues closer to home ?
2. Re:A bit more competition for EVE online by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-19 23:29 · Score: 1
  
  My ping averages 100ms but I still get my ass kicked. I blame lag.
3. Re:A bit more competition for EVE online by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-19 23:39 · Score: 0
  
  My ping is 250 and I kick arse. I blame lame opponents :)
4. Re:A bit more competition for EVE online by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-20 02:33 · Score: 0
  
  My ping is 1372 ms. I blame DSL and oversold pipelines.
5. Re:A bit more competition for EVE online by Patch86 · 2013-01-20 04:38 · Score: 1
  
  What I really like is the twitch-based combat. A feature I always missed in EVE.
  
  That's always been the thing that has put me off trying Vendetta- I always find twitch gaming frustrating. I'm much more of a strategy man than a who-can-move-their-mouse-cursor-the-fastest one.
  Still, any game with Linux support from day 1 deserves praise.
6. Re:A bit more competition for EVE online by Sable+Drakon · 2013-01-20 05:21 · Score: 1
  
  I doubt that CCP is going to loose too much sleep over Vendetta. While the games are both about the same age, EvE is the better of the two just from depth and scale alone. I doubt that VO is even close to being able to support 4K players in the same star system, much less 3000 players fighting it out.
  
  --
  The Amarri pray for god, the Caldari pray for profit. the Gallente pray for peace, but the Minmatar pray their ships hol
7. Re:A bit more competition for EVE online by Bengie · 2013-01-20 09:05 · Score: 1
  
  More than 50ms is laggy.
8. Re:A bit more competition for EVE online by Nostromo21 · 2013-01-20 23:38 · Score: 1
  
  Let me know when EVE aka "Sociopath Ganker Online" goes f2p. So I can still not play it. :)
9. Re:A bit more competition for EVE online by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-21 07:08 · Score: 0
  
  Vendetta Online if to EVE as HALO is to StarCraft.
Hmm by opusman · 2013-01-19 23:45 · Score: 1

What happened to doing work first and then getting paid for it?
1. Re:Hmm by Mike+Frett · 2013-01-20 00:14 · Score: 1
  
  People love to gamble and see what happens later. Kickstarter and others take advantage of that Gambling idea. But if somebody has a great Idea but lacks funds, I think this is a great way to get that Idea into our homes, don't you think?. For me personally, a native WoW client is all I am looking for in the MMO category, Wine doesn't cut it for me.
2. Re: Hmm by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-20 00:16 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  What happened to doing work first and then getting paid for it?
  This more like "shopping for investors" than it is "selling vaporware and then backfilling". They're up front about what they are doing, what they are going to accomplish and how much it will cost. And no one gets charged unless they get enough "investors".
  This approach is certainly better than some products that were sold online and then had endless delays & excuses, never to actually see the light of day.
3. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-20 01:03 · Score: 0
  
  Would you rather them do the work, get paid but have something potentially fail hard which could a) cost them their reputation and b) leave a community high and dry for something they want?
  How about we let a community determine if something is good enough by actually involving them in it's inception? You get paid what you're worth by actually doing and showing the work. Simple enough.
4. Re:Hmm by jnmontario · 2013-01-20 03:55 · Score: 1
  
  I understand your rationale, but with respect - that may work for some crappy ipod app game, but not something like an MMO*. I think it'd be naive to think any truly modern game could be developed w/out substantial investment. There's just way too much overhead in terms of time/effort spent on things that need to be paid for (hardware/graphic designers/audio engineers). Sure you could try taking your life's savings and do it that way, but costs would, I imagine, be so large you couldn't feasibly do that. Kickstarter's just making public the process of gaining VC that has existed since forever (think of the trip to the Americas from Europe as Spanish-funded VC when no other nation in Europe thought Columbus was sane). I think Kickstarter is a fabulous idea, it brings VC out of the hands of the privileged few and to the masses. In a way it democratizes VC making sure that ANY idea gets a chance to get off the ground, not just the ones that make it through the screeners at VC firms. *Minecraft is the only example I can think of....but then again, look at its graphics/sounds. *shudder*
5. Re:Hmm by Pinhedd · 2013-01-20 06:15 · Score: 1
  
  It's called investment.
  Most projects on this planet, whether they be mechanical, research, software, construction, or anything else, would not be possible without some sort of up front financing.
  People need to be paid during development, licences need to be paid for, materials need to be purchased. Companies often incur hundreds of different costs before they ever see a cent of revenue.
  I fully understand the skepticism that gets leveled at certain Kickstarter projects but please understand that Kickstarter simply replaces the venture capitalist with the venture consumer.
  Venture capitalists don't give a shit about the project itself. They only care about whether or not it meets the required return based on the risk that it poses. If they don't think that a project has any earning potential, they won't invest in it. This actually stops a lot of bad ideas from ever seeing the light of day and provides would be entrepreneurs with valuable business insight that new managers typically lack.
  Venture consumers care far more about the project itself rather than the money that they invest in it. They're looking for a return in the form of enjoyment and entertainment ('utility' in economic terms) rather than one that is monetary. Unlike venture capitalists, consumers are often naive about the business world and easily tricked into supporting projects that have no hope of ever seeing the light of day. This has been the reason behind most of the criticisms of Kickstarter, it's too easy to exploit the system.
  Anyone can come up with a half decent idea, but not anyone can come up with a team and business plan to implement it. In this case, there's already a product that's been available for more than a decade and is backed by a capable and proven development team. It's likely that they'd be able to get funding from an external source such as a line of credit or VC but since this is a software project, Kickstarter might offer greater benefits.
6. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-20 08:19 · Score: 0
  
  I've played VO. I've payed for a sub for quite a while. I gave up on waiting for development. The game just wasn't going anywhere. Simple features promised by the devs were taking years to make it to the game. While I understand they don't have a whole lot of muscle behind the game, they also charge more than enough for subs based on the quality of the game and development for it.
  I had fun in VO, but I'd rate it's forward momentum right up there with Minions of Mirth. (Which doesn't charge for subs)
7. Re: Hmm by Jesrad · 2013-01-20 22:17 · Score: 1
  
  I remember playing V-O back in 2004, for several months (as "Sacred Chao"). Back then we were already promised capships, player-owned space stations and sectors, and PVP-determined domination over the war sectors between the blue and red factions. There was some progress, at one point we could land aboard the automated frigates that would tour the galaxy, and man its turrets.
  But, after all these years, there has been no more progress ? I'm underwhelmed.
  
  --
  Maybe we deserve this world ?
8. Re: Hmm by lordofthechia · 2013-01-21 03:35 · Score: 1
  
  It's really skipping the middle man, and players that do want the extra content can put their money where their mouth is. I have two games in my library that only came about by crowdsourced funding (and for that I'm grateful).
  Just wish this existed sooner and with things like TV shows. How many here would have pitched in to fund an extra season of Firefly, Arrested Development, or (insert your favorite cancelled show - 4400 in my case).
  If this sort of thing catches on it can help remove the (sometimes illogical) upper management/funding filter that seems to kill off promising content.
  
  --
  Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
It works by Pecisk · 2013-01-19 23:54 · Score: 4, Interesting

While it is very simplistic comparing to what "Elite: Dangerous" plans to look like, it works (in current state of course) and I paid sub for it for a year (then I ran out of time to play it). On Linux it works on good Intel cards, not mentioning Nvidia and AMD/ATI - and it looks really nice, all things considered. They sure can deliver as coders - look of the amount of porting they have done in the past. And their back story for the game is very well written.
So this is worth to check out and decide is it's worth to support them.

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user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
1. Re:It works by Sigg3.net · 2013-01-20 02:03 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I printed out the entire background and stitched it up, reading through it in a couple of evenings before sleep.
  It's worth reading even for non-players (in fact, I'm still on my trial account).
  
  --
  Defining Statistics and Social Research
Linux and Android by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-20 01:33 · Score: 0

Wait, Android is not Linux?
Here, "Linux" probably means GNU/Linux by tepples · 2013-01-20 10:53 · Score: 1

Desktop PC operating systems marketed as "Linux" have overwhelmingly been X11/GNU/Linux stacks. The only thing the Android platform shares with the X11/GNU/Linux platform is the Linux kernel; the user space has almost nothing in common. And when the product "debuted with Linux support back in 2002", as the summary points out, Android did not even exist.
1. Re:Here, "Linux" probably means GNU/Linux by Sigg3.net · 2013-01-20 22:38 · Score: 1
  
  VO has had an Android client for a couple of years. It was featured in a Linux Action Show episode ~ a year ago.
  
  --
  Defining Statistics and Social Research