player-created-content
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UemeU shows off concept video and screenshots
If you want to roll your own game these days, you're certainly not lacking in tools to do so. UemeU is another game aimed at giving players the ability to do whatever they want, whether they'd like to build a huge, sprawling online game or just a nice house to settle down and call your own. The official reveal trailer past the break explains the goals of developer Omnigon Games in detail: The game is meant as a sandbox allowing players to create their own servers, structures, rules, and settings as they desire. Lead developer Jeremy Hindle explains that the game will allow players to both create and play, with creation governed by a simple set of basic shapes that can be combined as players wish. Players will be able to create and modify abilities, change the rules for servers, and create a robust series of interactions via the use of action triggers. Check out the full video just past the cut if this sounds right up your alley. [Souce: Omnigon Games press release]
Trove: 'Let everything in the game be made by the community'
User-generated content isn't just a pipe dream of the Trove team; it's the central tenet of its design philosophy. In a new video, the devs talk about why allowing players to design the world, both inside the game and outside of it, is vital to drawing the community into it. One of the results of listening to player feedback is the creation of a new biome called Dragonfire Peaks, which is full of canyons, lava, and most likely heartburn. "We've taken the development cycle and pried it open for everyone to see," says Art Lead Brian Clarke. The team goes on to show off several player-made dungeons and talk about how the community has made better content than the dev team thought possible. We've got the video after the break, so check it out and see if you've got the Trove stuff! [Source: Trion Worlds press release]
Player-driven development at 'core' of SOE's philosophy
SOE President John Smedley is preaching the gospel of player-created content to any and all who will hear, saying, "Our player-driven development process is really at the core of who we are and who we've evolved into." In a new interview with Fortune, Smedley talked about the approach that SOE is taking with its open development, player-created content, and community monetization opportunities. "What we're trying to do is to expose the development process to our players and get them excited, let them see the stuff we're making as early as possible and get their opinions on shaping our games," he said. Smedley praised the "revolution" of Twitch streaming as a communication pathway, saying that it's helped players to truly understand what goes into making MMOs. He also pointed out how free-to-play has finally been embraced by the console crowd: "There's evidence now. It's fair to say that consoles took longer to get to free-to-play simply because the business model has been the same way for quite a while now. But they're seeing this amazing revenue generator from micro-transactions in free-to-play games."
The Game Archaeologist: The persistent worlds of Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2
At the end of next month, dozens of online worlds will flicker and vanish with the flip of a switch. It's a online apocalypse the likes of which we have not seen in quite some time, although you might be forgiven for not having heard of it before now. When GameSpy Technology goes offline on May 31st, dozens of EA games that relied on the platform for multiplayer functionality will lose their online components by June 30th. Because of this, Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2 will find that their persistent player-made and -run worlds are in danger. For over a decade now, players have poured creative energies and roleplaying enthusiasm into these micro-MMOs. Could an era be about to end? Fortunately, players are already swinging into action to work around the shutdown, keeping their worlds alive and detached from GameSpy's umbilical cord. I see this event as a wake-up call for people like yours truly who are acquainted primarily with BioWare and Obsidian's single-player offerings and are ignorant of the larger Neverwinter Nights community out there. Let's take a look at this engrossing online realm and how it came to be.
Trove: You make it, we play it
Trove is growing by pixelated leaps and bounds week after week with the community directly contributing to the game's development, Trion Worlds Creative Lead Andrew Krausnick told us in an interview call earlier today. The title, which is still in deep alpha, has yet to implement core features such as world cycling and additional classes. But what it is adding, day after day, are items and weapons created by fans. Krausnick said that the decision to turn over the item creation toolset to players has been a resounding success, with over 100 weapons created and 10 to 20 player-created items going into the game with each patch. One player even volunteered to create housing trophies for each creature in the game, which the team is now putting in as rare drops. Trion is rewarding players who create chosen designs with credit in a tooltip for their effort, a special hat, and game access if they haven't paid into it yet. That's right: If you want an alpha invite but don't want to shell out cash, then making a good-looking axe could be your ticket into Trove. We've got more to share about Trove's ongoing development and a video walking you through player-designed items after the break!
Blizzard talks procedural and player-created content in WoW
In an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton spoke about the challenges of producing content fast enough to keep up with the rate at which players consume it. Aside from their desire to move up to yearly expansions, one of the things they have had discussions about is adding procedurally-generated content to the game. "People just burn through our content so fast, if we could build enough content, we would," Stockton said. "Procedural content is totally something we've talked about." However, he was quick to point out that randomized content would not replace any of their handcrafted content. Cory Stockton I think what we'd like to do is say we can still have our seven or eight dungeons, but then over here we've got some crazy procedural supplement. Maybe the dungeon is random, maybe the boss is randomized with different [abilities] – how ever we could do that. But I think that'd be a cool supplement to the handcrafted stuff. Because I think that's what sets us apart. source Having dungeons or scenarios change up slightly every time you enter them could certainly make re-running them a little more fun. You could speculate all day about what they could do with this -- alternate paths through a dungeon, dynamic events, randomized trash and bosses, environmental gameplay, and much more.
Shroud of the Avatar unleashes its content creation kit
Richard Garriott's Portalarium may have successfully kickstarted its Shroud of the Avatar project back in April, but that doesn't mean the team is done with the rewards. In last night's dev update, Executive Producer Dallas Snell introduced the Dungeon Kit: a Unity-based content creation tool that is now available to all Developer-Level ($400+ pledge tier) backers. This tool not only lets you build assets for SotA, but it also allows you to build assets for any Unity-based game that you may be working on. Snell reports that this may be the first time that something like this has been made available to other game devs or publishers before the game is even released. Be sure to check out the full update for much more on getting started with the kit, getting started with Unity, and some interesting factoids on how surveyed devs will be using the Dungeon Kit.
ArcheAge player guide shows how to compose your own music
A couple months ago, someone quietly posted a video of folks actually playing music in ArcheAge. As much excitement as that generated for music lovers, not much information was given in that short clip other than a Guitar Hero-style guitar was utilized to create what was heard in the sandbox game. But now, a new player-created video guide walks you through how to create and play compositions in game. What great melodious masterpieces will be arranged using this system? Only time will tell. Until then, check out the guide after the break to see how it's done. Oh, and if you missed that first clip, we've added it as well! [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Star Trek Online's Foundry gets a whole lot more awesome
When Star Trek Online's Foundry system fully comes back online after the next maintenance period, players will be treated to a much more robust system than ever before. In a new dev diary, Associate Producer ZeroniusRex explains what the team's been doing to make creating and using the Foundry all that much more enjoyable. Foundry users will discover that the system now includes a Foundry Spotlight in the mission journal. Foundry missions are nominated by players to be potential spotlight candidates. Players have extra incentive to run spotlight missions, as those will have daily rewards attached. Foundry creators will have a few new tools, such as being able to hide and path NPCs, and will be able to access the Mugato enemy type as well as several temporal ships.
Star Trek Online's player-created content receiving interstellar love
While Star Trek Online players were nonplussed when Cryptic took the Foundry offline for an extended period of time, it should do them some good to hear that the team is committed to improving the mission creation system as the game moves forward. Assistant Producer Zero said that the Foundry has been a strong success for the game, boasting over 60,000 player-created missions so far. To date, Cryptic has added triggers, branching dialogue, costume customization, and Dilithium tips, but Zero says that is only the start. Cryptic's plans for the future of the Foundry include a bevy of tools such as new character behaviors, multi-select, patrols, 3-D image previews, and a more streamlined process for creating new missions. The team's also including several new props and maps from other areas of the game. Finally, Zero says the studio is looking into ways to promote excellent STO player missions even further.
Alpha begins for The Repopulation, first day captured on video
Many sandbox fans have been eagerly anticipating The Repopulation for a chance to take a personal look at the sci-fi game. For a lucky number of testers, that chance is now: The gates have opened and the first wave of alpha testers have ventured in to experience the world first-hand and help test the game as it moves ever closer to launch. In celebration, Above and Beyond Technologies released a short video highlighting footage from the first day of alpha. What activities do sandbox-hungry players do once they get in? Quite a few dive into structure building, while others light up their screens with firefights as they test combat out on various creatures. At least one decides to take a load off and relax by taking advantage of the ability to sit in chairs. For a taste of the alpha action, check out the video after the cut. And for a chance to participate in the alpha, sign up via the application form. [Source: Above and Beyond Technologies press release]
Illyriad's revamp adds friends list, medal designer, and more functional UI
Although some people might argue that "less is more," that don't hold up well when it comes to features in an MMO. Who doesn't appreciate more goodies? Illyriad players were treated to just that this weekend as a major update added new features and improved existing ones. The free-to-play fantasy MMORTS now sports a cleaner, more functional UI, a friends list, and a new Alliance medal design system. Illyriad also released a video dev chat with Community Manager GM Luna and Art Director GM Cerberus highlighting these changes. GM Luna explains that "everything has been 'refreshed' from the ground up... to make it more user friendly." The new UI transformed the Herald into an interactive book where players can read the lore of the game. The friends list, a precursor to private chat, is designed so that players must approve all requests. The medal design feature allows players to create personalized awards and titles for others. The video then ends with a community Q&A. You can watch a demonstration of these features in the dev chat after the break. For more about Illyriad, check out Beau's inside look at the game. [Source: Illyriad press release]
Some Assembly Required: I saw the wilds of Salem (and lived to tell about it)
I spent an hour romping through the woods of Salem last Friday with Seatribe head honcho Bjorn Johannessen. The tiny indie company (current dev population: two) is hard at work on its followup to Haven and Hearth, an acquired taste of a sandbox game notable for its no-holds barred approach that includes permadeath and the ability to summon (and kill) criminal characters -- even while their lulz-loving puppet-masters are offline. Publisher Paradox bills Salem as "the crafting MMO," and boy it's not kidding. Over the course of this particular dev tour, I saw crazy amounts of tradeskill functionality, all kinds of cool world-building stuff, and ultimately, more than enough reasons to spend time with the game when it launches later this year.
Amazing player-animated and -rendered WoW avatar
Mother of sweet things! I saw this on Reddit's /r/wow community a few days ago and realized that I'm kind of a slacker when it comes to my own forum signatures (which is apparently the whole purpose of the project). Thovald, the player responsible for the video, wrote that he did it in 3D Studio Max and didn't actually change the female troll model itself. The big difference is an increased polygon count for the robes and (I would assume) the graphics of the fire spell being cast. It reminded me more than a bit of the perennial favorite Blind, and it's all the more amazing that Thovald is apparently self-taught. We know that Blizzard is working on an update for character models, but it's pretty cool to see what players can do with them in the meantime. They might be old, but as Thovald noted, they're still a surprisingly expressive bunch.
Xsyon tweaks combat, releases new screenshots
It's been quite a while since we checked in with Xsyon, and it's been nearly nine whole months since the game officially launched with its Prelude limited release event. In that time, Notorious Games has been hard at work, and the company has just published a partial listing of all the improvements made to the post-apocalyptic sandbox (as well as a few new screenshots). Tweaks include new twitch-based combat, an enhanced creature system, an expanded construction system that allows for buildings and towns, and various UI improvements. Xyson: Prelude is now available for a $39.99 client fee (which includes one month of free game time) and a $14.99 monthly sub. Have a look at some of the player-created content in our gallery below. [Source: Notorious Games press release] %Gallery-118587%
Storyboard: Navel-gazing cardboard cutouts
When you create a character for roleplaying, most of the time your creation is something of a mess. He or she has a huge pile of issues, regrets, fears, mental blind spots, and possibly even physical ailments that should have a lasting impact on telling stories and creating drama. And your goal as a player is to take all of those flaws into account to tell stories about someone less than perfect, whose imperfections you can hopefully see even if the character can't. Unfortunately for everyone, there are two very compelling ways to do this, and neither one of them is right or wrong or even evident at a glance. It's only by roleplaying with someone for a while that you get a sense of what she's aiming for, and it often turns out to be after it's too late to do anything. You might be going for character arcs or character development, and the two are frequently incompatible over the long term.
Metzen talks user-created content at GDC panel
Blizzard's Chris Metzen was on hand at GDC Online to discuss user-created content for World of Warcraft and how the system just wouldn't fly in WoW's architecture. The logistics of player-created content in a game with millions upon millions of players would, most likely, be too overwhelming for a system and game that thrives on polish and quality control. Don't expect to see user-generated content in WoW any time soon. While I am a fan of this type of content, I don't believe it really has a place in WoW. Azeroth is a much more story-driven, linear experience than most people want to discuss, and Blizzard likes to hold our hands through it all to make sure we're doing things according to plan. I don't think that's a bad thing, just one approach to an MMO's leveling and group content. In games like City of Heroes, the player-created content that was available made sense in terms of logistics and volume. For WoW, I can't even fathom how hard it would be to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Storybricks: Opening the Pandora's box of MMO design
"I could make a better game than this!" At one point or another, we've all said this, usually in disgust after we've become fed up with another tired MMO trope or lazy quest design. Unfortunately, most of us don't have the good fortune to work for a major game studio and thus will never see our brilliant ideas come to fruition. Except that this may no longer be true. Enter Namaste Entertainment's Storybricks, a bold and intriguing concept aimed at putting game design in the hands of Joe and Jane Gamer. Namaste is a small startup that began in 2010 when its team members got tired of derivative titles and mechanics in the industry. Storybricks is the team's first project, and while it's still in its infancy, it's already started to capture the imaginations -- and excitement -- of gamers everywhere. At this past week's GenCon, I caught up with Brian "Psychochild" Green and the rest of the Namaste crew as they publicly demoed Storybricks to the gaming crowd. Hit the jump as we look at why this program may just be the answer to a question you've never fully asked.
One Shots: On a grand scale
Wurm Online is center stage again for today's One Shots, and today's entry illustrates the huge scale available for player-created content. This one is a submission from two Massively readers, Acesfury and Shoden, co-mayors of the city of New Eminence: Sorry I couldn't make it a single screenshot, but it's simply too big a place to fit in one image. New Eminence was constructed at the opening of the Freedom server over two years ago. Myself and two others decided the top of the island would be a great place for our new city. However, going from the bottom to top and vice versa wasn't an easy task. This simple fact required the construction of the Eminence Ramp simply to give us better access. Since we had already planted the city up top we built the ramp from the top down and really had no idea how large it was going to become. The hill side was all forest, you couldn't see how high we actually were. It took over 400hrs by two players over a six-week period to complete the ramp and open up access. The Upper City has gone through many reincarnations and reconstructions finally coming the the final version (shown in screen #2). With the excess dirt being generated at the city by all the changes we carted it down and built the port at the base of the ramp to better store and secure our ships. The port is over 30,000 units of dirt to push the land out into the water and create the wharves shown. The alternate views of New Eminence can be seen after the jump. We've got one day left in Some Assembly Required week, so if you've haven't gotten around to sending an image of your favorite creation, the time is now! Next week's theme is pop culture in MMOs. Developers sneak references in all over games, whether it be via NPCs, quests, or items, and we want to see your favorites. Grab a screenshot, tell us a bit about what it is, and send it to oneshots@massively.com. We'll be featuring the best of these next week.
One Shots: Remembering when
One of the great things about large-scale player-created content is that it continually evolves. Our very own Beau shared an image for today's One Shots that illustrates that perfectly: When I look at this older screenshot of Massively's Wurm Online village, it makes me smile. It wasn't so long ago that the hard working citizens of Hindmania (the official name of the village) planned out a boat dock and started building boats. Now when you approach the village you'll see several huge boats and a lot of lanterns. It's very pretty at night, and makes me feel good any time I return to it after a long voyage. That land in the background is the mainland, and when we want to visit it, the trip might take hours. Now it's your turn to show off your items. This week's theme is Some Assembly Required -- a little nod to the newest addition to our column lineup. Some Assembly Required covers player-created content, so we want to see the best of what you've created. We're preparing for next week's theme too: Pop culture in MMOs. Developers sneak references in all over games, whether it be via NPCs, quests, or items, and we want to see your favorites. Grab a screenshot, tell us a bit about what it is, and send it to oneshots@massively.com. We'll be featuring the best of these next week. %Gallery-112285%
