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EVE Evolved: Designing EVE Onland, part 2
When it comes to living sandbox MMOs, there really isn't a bigger name than EVE Online. Throughout its decade-long history, EVE has produced some huge gaming headlines, delivered record-breaking in-game thefts and heists, and played host to the complex political machinations of dozens of warring alliances. EVE's sandbox design has even made it remarkably resistant to changes in the market, with subscription numbers remaining relatively stable in the face of new releases and the free to play phenomenon. It comes as no surprise then that the sandbox genre is seeing a triple-A revival, with games like Star Citizen, EverQuest Next Landmark, and Camelot Unchained on the way. With the sandbox genre due to explode back onto the fantasy scene, I've been left wondering how much of the core gameplay that makes EVE tick could be easily adapted for an avatar-based game on land. Even features such as EVE Online's trademark territorial warfare and player-run economy have roots in classic fantasy MMOs like Ultima Online, so they should be easy to convert to modern fantasy equivalents. Last week I started this game design thought experiment with a territorial warfare system and free-for-all PvP with harsh consequences for attackers, but there's a lot more to a good sandbox than smashing people's heads in. In this week's EVE Evolved, I delve into the hypothetical world of EVE Onland again and tackle issues of realistic world scale, exploration, economics, and the evils of global banking.
Ultima Forever arrives on iOS
Avatar! Get out of bed, put on some clean underwear, and leave a note for your mom -- there's adventuring that needs doing! Mythic's Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar is out for the iOS and can be played on the iPad 2, iPod 5, and iPhone 4S or higher. Mythic had recently held Ultima Forever back to fiddle with its economy and fix bugs, but it seems as though everything is solid enough for the studio to finally pull the trigger and launch it worldwide. Ultima Forever is free-to-play with optional in-app purchases. Mythic is working on Android and PC versions as well. It's a whopping 881 MB to install, so make sure you have the room before you check out this latest chapter in the Ultima series!
Ultima Forever wants you to learn about yourself
Mythic Lead Designer Kate Flack has an interesting interview up on Gamasutra about her experiences with developing MUDs and how she's rejecting the industry standard when it comes to crafting Ultima Forever (legal disclaimer: This online multiplayer title is not an MMO, but hey, it's online Ultima so shh.). Flack says that because most MMOs are based on a DikuMUD standard, they all more or less play the same. She says that there's a freedom to starting from a different standard and developing from there: "It's a way of playing that doesn't necessarily have the same assumptions underlying them. It gives you a breadth of background and heritage that you can pull from. Just because it's always been done that way doesn't mean I have to do it the same way." Part of this design shift is in asking "sophisticated questions about ethics" to players, which is a vital part of the Ultima franchise. Flack says that Ultima Forever will be more nuanced and involve tough choices that will make a personal impact on gamers: "I want to make you stop, think, and go, 'Huh!' and then learn about yourself, because games can do that."
First impressions of PlanetSide 2 through the eyes of an FPS noob
Rather than give anyone the wrong impression, let me begin by saying that first-person shooters are far from being my thing. I don't pant in anticipation for the latest Battlefield or Modern Warfare game. I do, however, like my share of third-person shooters. Global Agenda and the Mass Effect series come to mind immediately. So what in the world would make someone like me interested in Sony Online Entertainment's latest craze, PlanetSide 2? RPGs are my thing, and I have always had respect for SOE as a developer. Despite some obvious mistakes the company's made when under the umbrella of large intellectual properties like DC Comics and Star Wars, SOE has handled its own IPs very well. It was also one of the first Western AAA studios to step into the world of free-to-play (with Free Realms, which continues to perform well). And now PlanetSide 2 proclaims that online FPS titles can not only provide exciting vehicle combat but do so in a persistent world. So when SOE invited Massively to join Game Designer Margaret Krohn on a guided tour of PlanetSide 2, I thought, "Why not? At least I'll get to shoot some people in the face."
MMO Blender: Larry's old-school 16-bit MMO
In August of 1991, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System launched in North America, kick-starting what would eventually be the biggest boom in console roleplaying games. Granted, some of us had been playing RPGs on consoles like the original NES, but RPGs didn't see as big a console boom as they did on the SNES. In fact, console RPGs haven't seen the same level of popularity since the SNES. A quick jump over to VGChartz shows us that out of the top 50 games sold world-wide on any individual console, RPGs on the SNES dominated the NES, the Playstation, and even the Nintendo DS, boasting titles like Dragon Quest VI, Final Fantasy III, and Super Mario RPG. If you take into account some adventure games that should be considered RPGs, like Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, then you have arguably the best platform of all time for the genre. Nowadays, with online gaming and indie companies sprouting up all over the place, a 16-bit online RPG would probably sell really well, especially if it took some of the best elements from the classic console RPGs of the NES/SNES era. Isn't that right, Cthulhu Saves the World? Let's see what I can throw together from some of my favorite 8- and 16-bit games.
Why I play Star Wars: The Old Republic
I believe I'm like most people when I say that I cling to nostalgia. I love it when parts of my adolescence are made into movies or video games. Yes, despite it being an explode-y Michael Bay movie, I loved Transformers, and I can't tell you how many times I watched Lord of the Rings when Peter Jackson adapted J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece into a blockbuster. But despite Ghostbusters' status as my favorite single movie of all time, the original Star Wars trilogy had more impact on my childhood than anything else in my life. I still get childhood chills when I think about it. From the music to the action figures, I loved them all. I still have a picture of me at six years old riding an AT-AT. Yes, even at six, I knew exactly what an AT-AT was. And although I called a lightsaber a light-saver, I grew up with Star Wars entrenched in my psyche. It was only natural that when the video games revolving around the series came out, I would take up that cause. You guys remember the crazy wireframe Death Star trench arcade? You'd better believe I was there playing that. When Star Wars entered the MMO space, I was there with bells on. But it's not just this longing to recapture my childhood that propels me to that galaxy far, far away in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The spice addiction runs quite a bit deeper.
Meet the guild that's lasted over 16 years
Guilds are a dime a dozen in MMOs today, be they small social guilds or hardcore groups that collect a few hundred players together. Most guildmates you play with will eventually leave the guild, making way for new members giving the game a try. But what if your guild could transcend the game it was formed in, creating a community that stayed together and moved from game to game? The Syndicate is one such guild, boasting a membership of 1,200 players and a 95% retention rate. The organisation celebrates its 16th anniversary this week, having been born as an online community before the release of Ultima Online. The Syndicate is currently active in Ultima Online and World of Warcraft, having previously been active in EverQuest, Shadowbane and other games. All members agree to follow a charter that forbids stealing, cheating, non-consensual player-killing, and immature behaviour. The Syndicate takes its identity so seriously that it's even trademarked its name and has worked with MMO companies to rename guilds using it. Developers have in turn taken advantage of The Syndicate's huge community size and code of conduct to beta test upcoming games. With its 16th birthday behind it, the guild predates most MMOs on the market today and is still going strong.
The Daily Grind: Would you buy an advanced character?
For many years, Ultima Online has offered an advanced character microtransaction. Well, the term "microtransaction" may be stretching it -- originally priced at $30 a pop, it's more like a macrotransaction. The advanced character token allows you to boost the skills and stats of a single character according to a preset template. It won't give you a capped Bard, Treasure Hunter, or Animal Tamer overnight, but it will get you a big chunk of the way there. And for skills that are notoriously hard to train .1 by .1 all the way to 100 or 120, advanced character tokens can be a huge boon to players who've been there and done that and just want to skip the early grind. UO's not alone in this; other games, such as Dark Age of Camelot, allow players to jump past some of the early game on their alts once they've capped a toon and proven they know the ropes of the game. Of course, those games aren't charging for the pleasure. So what do you think: Would you buy an advanced character from a game company? Or do you think you're cheating yourself and those around you by not grinding up the old-fashioned way? 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!
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite item-quality system?
Grey, white, green, blue, purple, gold. World of Warcraft may not have invented what's become the standard colors for item quality, but it's surely cemented the hierarchy in gamers' minds. Last week, Raph Koster suggested that these tiers of items are part of the "yuck" that leads to the loss of immersion across the games industry. I think he's right. I miss the days of Ultima Online (which not coincidentally was Koster's baby), when players geared up with basic platemail of invulnerability, chainmail of fortification, and katanas of vanquishing. Halfway through UO's lifespan, that system was gutted in favor of a Diablo-esque item that turned wearables into a numbers game. The charm of my deadly poisoned kryss made by a Grandmaster Blacksmith was gone, replaced by a few dozen stats to juggle. Do you agree with Koster? Are color-coded item tiers a design shortcut that contributes to the loss of immersion in MMOs and other games? What game has your favorite item-quality system? 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!
Lord British still likes WoW
Rich Garriott, aka Lord British, aka one of the grandfathers of MMO gaming and even gaming in general through the Ultima series, has fallen on some tough times lately. His latest attempt to re-enter the MMO market, Tabula Rasa, was recently cancelled, and with that, so was his job at NCSoft. Still, according to computerandvideogames.com, he says he's ready to bounce back and get right into the gaming market. But on a more topical note, he says something in the article about World of Warcraft, praising them for their phenomonal growth and saying that they have "shown us all what good game development is about." Certainly, most of us here, I would think, would strongly agree with that statement. But it is fun to compare and contrast this statement to somewhere around a year ago. Back then, he said that he didn't believe WoW would hurt Tabula Rasa's sales, because MMORPGers generally play a game or two at a time and move on after a year or so.
Massively looks at MMOG's most influential moments
The MMO genre has come a long way in a very short time, but it's still important to look back at the events which brought us to where we are today. Michael Zenke over at Massively responds to MMOCrunch's list of MMO's most memorable event by citing what he feels to be its most influential, from the high points (Toyota's World of Warcraft commercial), to the lowest (the spontaneous and unannounced addition of New Game Enhancements to Star Wars Galaxies).Were there any obvious milestones in MMO history overlooked in these articles? Were you there when Lord British was assassinated in Ultima Online? Were you or someone you love affected by the Corrupted Blood plague of 2005? Let us know in the comments.
Lord British likes WoW
Well, okay, maybe he doesn't *like* it like it, but Richard Garriott (aka Lord British) certainly appreciates the existence of the World of Warcraft. In an article I came across over at the WoW Vault on IGN, the creator of the Ultima series, and the Ultima Online MMO, discusses his feelings on the juggernaut that is WoW. The article quotes an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, where Garriott states, "We commonly get the question, is World of Warcraft a big competitor that might hurt our sales? It really turns out to be quite the opposite." He then goes on to comment that MMO players typically will only play a game or two at a time, but then move on after a year. I've been happily playing WoW since February of 2004, so I'm into my third year of the game, and nothing else has caught my eye in the MMO market. There are a couple of games on the horizon, but of the folks I'm playing WoW with, the majority have been around from the get-go. Are we just crotchety old-timers who won't admit that the average player only sticks around for a year? Is what Lord British says true? Did any of you ditch other MMO's to come to WoW, or have you ditched WoW for other MMO's after playing for a year?
EA Mythic loads up Ultima Online and Dark Ages for road trip
Are you an old-school Ultima Online or Dark Ages of Camelot player that has yet to be consumed by World of Warcraft or other modern creations? Have you always wanted to put your rant about Dread Lord status to the test against the developers who stole it away back in high school? Are you just looking for an excuse to break out that custom set of chain mail armor you had crafted? Well, load up the van with Cheetos and don't forget your +2 silver kryss! You've got a fan gathering to attend!Littered across nine US cities, the two games will be sharing venues albeit holding their own respective events. Players will finally have an excuse to make a trip to visit guild mates while the developers behind the titles will be hosting panels and generally picking at the brains of their fan base. Schedules for both the Ultima Online and Dark Ages of Camelot events are available and east coast heavy.
