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PAX Prime 2014: Paying a premium for Pathfinder Online
Would you pay to get into an alpha test? Well, would you continue to pay a monthly subscription to keep on playing a title that's not yet launched? If you've answered "yes" to these questions plus the special one that I ask at the end of this article, then you're one of the folks that Pathfinder Online hopes to recruit for early enrollment come September 15th. I sat down with Goblinworks CEO Ryan Dancey and Game Designer Stephen Chaney at PAX Prime yesterday to talk about this next big step for the game. Pathfinder Online is still far from feature complete, but the team considers it done enough that it can monetize the game in the form of a monthly sub. The 20,000 or so folks who will be admitted into early enrollment play (a number that includes the 7,000 Kickstarter backers) are expected to pay $15 a month as the team continues to develop the title. In exchange, characters and progress will not be wiped, and players will get to see the game take shape around them. Goblinworks' philosophy is to have a robust game design first and then wrap the rest of the game around it afterward. Dancy said that the monetization is necessary to keep the lights on and the development rolling. The budget for a finished Pathfinder Online is $5 million (89% of which is salaries), but only $1.4 million has been raised so far. Being only passingly familiar with Pathfinder Online, I asked why the MMO with its territory control seems so different from the small party, adventure-oriented tabletop game. The reason for this is that the pen-and-paper game doesn't completely translate to software boundaries, plus it draws from an adventure pack that Paizo tested a while back that went on to become one of its best-selling products. In both versions of Pathfinder, the long game is to rule the land and establish a legacy, not merely fill up a bag with XP and loot. So is it worth it to you to pay a full subscription price for a half-finished game? That's up to you.
Obsidian rolls critical success, acquires Pathfinder RPG license
Good news for tabletop roleplaying fans who enjoy using a controller as much as rolling a 20-sided die: Obsidian, developers of South Park: The Stick of Truth and the upcoming Pillars of Eternity, have entered into a licensing agreement with publisher Paizo Inc. to produce games based on the Pathfinder tabletop RPG. Don't rush to the Arms & Equipment chapter to start preparing for an epic quest just yet though, as the first game will be an adaptation of the Pathfinder Adventure card game, where one to four players take on the role of classic fantasy RPG archetypes like fighter, rogue, wizard and cleric as they work together to defeat enemies. An associated press release notes that the game is in development for tablets, but does not specify which, nor does it give an expected release window. Pathfinder Online, the Pathfinder-based MMO, will stay with developer Goblin Works. [Image: Paizo]
Pathfinder dev blog details the building of Fort Inevitable
If you're looking for a little insight into the creative process behind Goblinworks' crowdfunded Pathfinder MMO, look no further than the latest dev blog by designer Rich Baker. After a brief intro by producer Ryan Dancey, Baker delves into the nuts and bolts of building Fort Inevitable, which will likely be "one of the major NPC towns and a potential starting area for new characters in the Pathfinder Online game." The blog post is pretty long, so bring your own caffeinated beverage. It's an interesting peek behind the development curtain, though, and you can find it at the Goblinworks website. [Thanks Matixzun!]
An interview with Pathfinder Online's Ryan Scott Dancey
Pathfinder Online is an ambitious new sandbox MMO that is making quite a stir lately. The development team at Goblinworks began its spotlight rampage with an initial Kickstarter project raising money for a tech demo and is currently running a new Kickstarter project to raise enough money to make the game bigger and better with a faster release date. Of course, it helps that the Pathfinder IP has enjoyed wild success through its Pathfinder RPG, but a massively multiplayer online version is an interesting concept. Add to that the fact that Goblinworks is made up of a few industry vets like Ryan Scott Dancey, Mark Kalmes, and Lee Hammock, and you've got yourself a winner. We sat down with Goblinworks CEO Ryan Scott Dancey to discuss the project, the game, the IP, and more. [Update: Clarified that the second Kickstarter project isn't to complete the game. Wowza, people.]
Pathfinder Online will let players run the kingdom
If you've played the Pathfinder tabletop game that Pathfinder Online is based upon, you know that you need to have grouping. After all, the former is all about bands of adventurers exploring the wilds. So it's fitting that the most recent developer blog is all about the game's methods of managing groups and playing in different numbers. And this isn't just a matter of parties or solo play -- at the high end, players can be running entire kingdoms as a social unit. Solo play is meant to be somewhat discouraged, as the blog notes it will be a much more difficult road for a dedicated lone wolf. Parties will be the next step up, holding an undetermined number of players (the working target has about 24 players at the high end). Above those are chartered companies, settlements, and as mentioned, entire new player-run kingdoms. It's going to produce some interesting dynamics to have player organizations in such abundance, but the developers seem to have some confidence in their initial designs.
Pathfinder Online promises to let players stumble into adventure
Pathfinder Online is still too early in the development process to do much more than talk about principles, but said principles are certainly of interest to fans. The most recent development blog about the project discusses that game's PvE arm, which is meant to be an important part of the game without being the sole driving force. Instead of the game being driven by players going, gathering quests, and then going out to kill monsters, the development team hopes to create an environment where players go out to do something and then find themselves in the midst of a quest. Four basic types of interconnection are outlined, ranging from wandering monsters to potential beasts attracted by overharvesting an area. (Cut down too much wood in an area and wood-dwelling creatures my start attacking lumberjacks... or some nasty flying monsters might decide the cleared area would make for an excellent nest.) It's certainly an interesting set of principles going into design, making the entry well worth a read for sandbox enthusiasts.
Pathfinder Online takes a look at death
No matter what happens, sooner or later you're going to die in an MMO. It's pretty much a given. So it's probably for the best that the fourth developer blog on Pathfinder Online is all about death -- what happens when you die, what happens when another player kills you, and what you can do about it. The death system is reminiscent in some ways of what would happen on death in EverQuest. You respawn at a predetermined location, and while you keep any equipment you were wearing, the rest of your inventory is on your soulless husk of a body. Retrieve it first and you get everything back. If someone else loots your body first, though, he or she gest a random assortment of items from your inventory and the rest are destroyed. The blog entry also covers the issue of bounties, player-killing, and attempting to dissuade others from killing players in lawful regions. Players can set bounties on their killers, potentially refreshing the bounty each time said killer is successfully killed in retaliation, making a bounty hunter or group of same very rich indeed. Those interested in Pathfinder Online should check out all the details and keep watching as the game moves through development.
