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Make My MMO: Crowdfunding November 3 - 16, 2013
A quiet fortnight in the land of crowdfunding these past two weeks have not been. In fact, with the popularity of this funding model, it may never be quiet again. The past two weeks have had their share of campaigns starting, campaigns closing, and campaigns obliterating goals and funding records alike. Three new prospective games have popped on the radar (including one for those with impeccable manners!), and one has disappeared. But even that game isn't gone for good; although pledges had climbed to over $86K, Trials of Ascension canceled its campaign in order to "regroup, rework, and return." Another title, City of Titans, is taking its place among the fully funded crowd. And there there is Star Citizen, which proved that a single fortnight can't go by without the game's gathering another million or two. All that information and more can be found here in Make My MMO!
EVE Evolved: Ghost Sites and PvE goals
PvE in most MMOs revolves around killing hordes of NPCs for currency, XP, tokens, or loot, and EVE Online is no exception. Players can hunt for rare pirate ships in nullsec asteroid belts, farm Sansha incursions for ISK and loyalty points, or team up against Sleeper ships in dangerous wormhole space, but most prefer the safe and steady income of mission-running. Missions are essentially repeatable quests that can be spawned on request, providing an endless stream of bad guys to blow up in the comfort of high-security space. Completing a mission will earn you some ISK and a few hundred or thousand loyalty points, but most of the ISK in mission-running comes from the bounties on the NPCs spawned in the mission sites. Similar deadspace sites with better loot are also distributed randomly throughout the galaxy and can be tracked down using scanner probes. But what would happen if the NPCs in these sites were a dangerous and unexpected interference that could get you killed, rather than space piñatas ready to explode in a shower of ISK? This is a question CCP plans to test with the Rubicon expansion's upcoming Ghost Sites feature, which promises to introduce a whole new form of high-risk, high-reward PvE. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at EVE's upcoming ghost sites and explain why I think its goal-oriented approach to PvE should be adopted in other areas of the game.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding October 20 - November 2, 2013
The news meter for crowdfunding keeps right on ticking. The last two weeks have seen a score of changes in the realm of community funding initiatives, with some titles experiencing success, others not meeting their goals, and even more joining the ranks. One big name in gaming, Brad McQuaid, is even planning on launching a campaign in the near future. The zombie-centric The Living was unsuccessful, and Story Quest Online failed for a second time. Mixmaster Online removed itself from the field and canceled its campaign. On the other hand, 8BitMMO met its first stretch goal, ensuring that a Mac edition of that game will be available for players. And then there's City of Titans, which is climbing closer to doubling its goal with only two days left. Finally, there are all the progress updates for those already-funded campaigns, conveniently rounded up right here for you in Make My MMO.
The Mog Log: Understanding Final Fantasy XIV's markets
There are lots of ways to make money in Final Fantasy XIV, but the fastest way to increase your riches comes from smart use of the market boards. (Yes, you're not creating new money to enter the system; there are a lot of ways to do that, too. Go do some leves.) This is why I'm baffled at how many people understand the principle but don't understand how to sell things on the markets. Some of this probably comes from the fact that the system is never explained in great depth, but it doesn't help that the system isn't set up to work like many auction systems in other MMOs. So while some of you already grasp this and are enjoying the singular fun of being locked into a pricing war with three other people, others aren't sure how to get their Fleece to sell. Let's talk about some market truths you might not have realized.
New Greed Monger screens show character creation
All's been quiet on the Greed Monger front lately, but some new screens have surfaced for the crafting-centric sandbox that show off the character creation system. The four new screenshots released on the game's Facebook page show off male and female models as well as various facial and body features that can be affected by 46 different sliders that adjust the details of your avatar. These screenshots also show a slightly different system than the Unity avatar building system that players have been able to mess around with since June (although you can still make an amusing she-hulk-monkey-girl there). See what you think about the new system in our gallery below.
Tamriel Infinium: Does The Elder Scrolls Online revolve around PvP?
At the conventions this summer, the ZeniMax staff gave us only a taste of what The Elder Scrolls Online will offer us in the PvE department. Massively's staff appeared to enjoy that PvE side of the game well enough, but why didn't ZeniMax show off PvP? Probably because that part of the game is not complete enough for public consumption. But if rumors are to be believed, beta testers have begun testing the PvP systems that will eventually appear in the launched game. And developers have begun to talk about the ESO PvP systems extensively, although we still don't know a whole lot. After examining our limited knowledge of ESO PvP, I have to wonder whether PvP is still the primary focus of endgame (though even if it's not the primary focus, it will likely consume a large chunk of development resources all the same). We already know many of the systems coming at launch and one that will be introduced shortly after, so let's break them down a bit.
The Daily Grind: Would you rather use mats to craft or make money?
With each new MMO that I dig into, there's always that looming question I must address from the start: Do I want to pursue crafting or just be a gatherer-supplier? Crafting has a lot going for it: delayed gratification, potentially big rewards, self-reliance, and satisfaction for making your own gear. It's also not a terrific money-maker in most games in the beginning (in fact, it's often a money pit), it takes a long time to do, and sometimes it's just easier to farm or buy gear elsewhere. I usually choose to gather and sell materials to make money, because then I can just buy what I want. Plus, I like being well-off in games -- you never know when you'll need a huge chunk of cash for that tempting purchase! What about you? Would you rather use mats to craft or make money? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding October 6 - 19, 2013
This was quite a fortnight in the realm of crowdfunding, and for once we don't mean just Star Citizen news! More than one game met its funding goals, with one title proving that fans can be a very passionate lot: City of Titans reached its lofty goal within days. On top of that, two other games joined the fight for funding. Conversely, Alteil Horizons pulled its campaign at literally the last minute to avoid the stigma of an unsuccessful stamp and plans to launch again. Want the scoop on all these stories and many more? Learn the latest right here in Make My MMO.
Tamriel Infinium: Selling your wares in The Elder Scrolls Online
When it comes to the economy of MMOs, I usually run the other way. I admit that I'm not an economist, nor would I consider myself a crafter by any stretch. But I'm not completely ignorant of how important in-game trading is for the overall health of an MMO. If the auction house or player stores are consistently stocked, then there is an organic element to the larger game. I find that exciting, and despite my aversion to crafting, I do enough material-gathering and playing the trading game to appreciate the finer details of a healthy, growing game economy. Until recently, we have heard only bits and pieces of how the Elder Scrolls Online economy will work. Developers claim to have a robust crafting system, and given the history of the single-player Elder Scrolls games, I can accept that. But how do I get my wares into the hands of other players? Gameplay Designer Nick Konkle spoke to Shoddy Cast about that very thing. Surprisingly, he revealed quite a bit, and although it's a very interesting listen, I don't think any MMO has tried anything like it. I'm scared and very intrigued.
Ask Massively: The dilemma of the free-to-play sandbox
Reader Sharvis recently emailed the Massively Speaking podcast with a question I felt deserved more than just a quick verbal reaction on the 'cast. That, and we just discovered that the ask@massively.com email address went dead approximately three weeks ago, and I've not been receiving your letters there (so send 'em again!). In the meantime: Sharvis. What makes a sandbox so susceptible to its business model in comparison to a themepark? I'm not experienced with sandbox titles, and I can only guess on some of the implications. For example, selling boosters in a themepark is fairly acceptable, but in a sandbox, as Jef pointed out [in his ArcheAge column earlier this summer], that'd be cutting into one of the main features of a sandbox. I'd guess it has to do with these sort of MMOs being more player-centric, and that's a very delicate system to be messing with. See? I told you this was a juicy one.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding September 22 - October 5, 2013
Not all games that turn to crowdfunding need a boost to get off the ground. In fact, one new addition to our column this week -- 8BitMMO -- is utilizing this avenue to help accommodate the exponential growth it has experienced over the last couple of years. The other newcomer, however, is actually trying to build from the ground up; City of Titans wants to give displaced City of Heroes fans a new home. In other news, Star Citizen was the news! Videos, interviews, new goals, and more poured forth from this crowdfunding giant this week. We also heard from Embers of Caerus (which has been pretty quite for a long while). Even Neo's Land chimed in with a new demo. And you can get the whole scoop here!
The Mog Log: You've got to make a living in Final Fantasy XIV
There's a lot of stories to be told about Final Fantasy XIV now that I'm back up at the endgame. Amdapor Keep is an interesting dungeon, for example, and the mechanics of tomestones as a whole are fascinating to me. But it also brings me within spitting distance of what some have described as the true weakness of the game, which is that there's no way to actually make money in the endgame. That your repair bills mount and you don't get any further money to back you up, thus opening a drain that never really closes. I honestly find this kind of amusing, because I've made more money since the relaunch than I had when it started. And that's with buying relic precursors, gear, repairs, and so forth. There are some issues with the game's economy, definitely, but some of those issues simply come from people being unfamiliar with how the game handles things like making money. The past several years have taught us how to make money in an MMO, but Final Fantasy XIV doesn't back those ideas up. It's a different paradigm here.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding September 8 - 21, 2013
In the oft changing world of crowdfunding hopefuls, faces come and faces go... and sometimes they come back again. If one of the newcomers to this edition of Make My MMO looks familiar, that's because the game ran a shorter, unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign last July. With a longer run this time around, perhaps Story Quest Online will fare better. On the flip side, one campaign flipped sections: We congratulate StarCraft Universe on meeting its goal and joining the ranks of the fully funded. Plenty of other news came from the funded ranks as well, from the crowdfunding king hit more funding goals (again) to progress reports and new feature reveals. You can catch all the details right here.
Some Assembly Required: Community dictates development path of Neo's Land
Sandbox aficionados, are you ready for another contender in the fight to be your next virtual world? Well, ready or not, here one comes! And now that the cat (or Kickstarter, as it were) is officially out of the bag, we can take stroll through this new development project and see just how things are shaping up. The name of this virtual playground-to-be? Neo's Land. With the number of crowdfund-hopefuls coming and going, you might be wondering what -- if anything -- distinguishes this game from all the others also vying for your attention and support. What exactly makes this project different and worth a look? It's not the various sandbox features like skills, an open world, and building homes; you can find those in other games that are out there or in the works. No, what sets Neo's Land apart is the different approach to development it is taking. Instead of building a game using the studio's ideal features, NeoJac Entertainment is quite literally soliciting the feature set directly from the players before implementing. In this case, Some Assembly Required also refers to the game itself! Can it be done -- can a game truly be built to honest-to-goodness player specs? During an exclusive interview with CEO and President Jacques Rossouw, I got to walk along the development path of Neo's Land and see what the game is about.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding August 25 - September 7, 2013
If you build it, they will come. While that adage hold true for baseball diamonds in cornfields, it's a little bit different for MMOs. If you're set on developing a new virtual playground, you get them to come so you can build it! That's the philosophy behind crowdfunding, anyway, and many are latching onto it. So how fare the fields of crowdfunding lately? New projects (Alteil Horizons, Epic Space) sprouted up, one took root and grew stronger (Divergence), and others (Project Snowstorm, Realms of Creation, Enspira Online) withered away from lack of nourishment. See how your favorite projects are growing right here in Make My MMO.
Ascended crafting and account magic find set to shake up Guild Wars 2 economy
ArenaNet's resident Guild Wars 2 economist John Smith and game designer Linsey Murdock posted a detailed dev blog today outlining big changes to the game's magic find and crafting systems. The first big change comes in the form of account magic find -- Magic find will be granted only by guild buffs, utility infusions, and consumables and will be account-wide and permanent (up to 300%). Magic find on existing items will be replaced with the option to select stats for that item. Ascended weapon crafting is the second big change. Players will be able to level their crafting skills to 500; the professions that produce weapons will make use of a new refinement system and ascended inscriptions to create new ascended weapons. Ascended armor crafting is due later this year. Both changes are expected to have a big impact on the Guild Wars 2 economy, with Fine and Masterwork salvaging items seeing increased importance due to account magic find and the value of weapons and armor fluctuating thanks to ascended crafting. Smith noted that ArenaNet doesn't intend to apply such big modifications to the Guild Wars 2 economy very often but that some features are worth adding due to the value added for players.
The Mog Log Extra: Tips for a Final Fantasy XIV beginner
We're all kind of beginners with the new version of Final Fantasy XIV. Some of us have high-level characters already, but none of us has years of experience with the game. At best, you have memories of how things worked in the last beta test or two. But there's still a difference between having a character from version 1.0 dripping with high-level items and having a fresh guy or gal stepping off the boat into Limsa. Fortunately, the game's tutorials now do a solid job of introducing you to how the game works. But there are still some tips and tricks to consider, and it's with that in mind that I present this column. If you're new to the game completely or even just an occasional dabbler in the previous beta tests, here's some advice to help you out during your first steps.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: 3D-printed car, Coca-Cola Life and a supermaterial stronger than graphene or diamond
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Does the idea of driverless cars make you queasy? Better get used to it: Researchers are predicting that more than 95 million autonomous cars could hit the road by 2035. But, speaking of cars we actually want to drive, Tesla Motors continued its banner year, as the Model S earned the highest safety score of any car ever tested. In other green transportation news, KAIST unveiled a new folding, electric micro car that can fit into just about any parking space. Copenhagen announced plans to launch the world's most high-tech bike-sharing program, which will include bikes with GPS-enabled Android tablets. A grad student at the Royal College of Art recently produced plans for a 3D-printed car concept that actually assembles itself. But the form of urban transportation that looks like the most fun to ride is the Scrooser, a foot-powered scooter with an electric motor that zips around town at speeds of up to 15 MPH. And Vanmoof is set to release a new electric bike in 2014 that is already being billed as the world's most intelligent commuter bike.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding August 11 - 24, 2013
Just when you think it will be a quiet couple of weeks on the crowdfunding scene... it isn't. Crowdfunding hopefuls seem to be following the advice of The Gambler this week: Know when to hold them, when to fold them, when to walk away, and even when to run! The funded crowd is holding steady with only a few bits of news, but two projects are on the brink of folding as they are both far short of their goals. Legends of Firestorm, on the other hand, didn't just walk away -- it high-tailed it out of Kickstarter without a word of explanation. In the meantime, thwo new projects (StarCraft Universe and Enspira Online) have joined the scene, and another project resurfaced. Check out the details right here.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding July 28 - August 10, 2013
Ah, the joys of bringing more games into the fold. Sadly, we don't know whether this will be just a brief passing in the night or a more permanent stay; that all depends on how newcomers Project Snowstorm and Legends of Firestorm do on their respective Kickstarter campaigns. Will the community help them make their MMOs? We'll keep watch and keep you informed. Speaking of keeping informed, a few of the funded projects found themselves in the news lately -- and we mean more than just crowdfunding king Star Citizen! And we've got it all rounded up right here for your perusing pleasure.
