game development
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Group seeks to turn Illadelph into 'the Hollywood for video games'
Like the smattering of American states and, umm, international unions that have already begun financially incentivizing game development, a few Philadelphians hope to convince the city's legislature to do the same. Philadelphia's City Paper reports that the Video game Growth Initiative recently presented its case for economic growth through game development to "representatives from state government and city economic groups."Though the representatives suggested the re-packaging of "already existing business incentives," the group has bigger plans for its ideas, saying, "That's still not enough, it's not like other cities don't have these kinds of incentives." For now, the VGI is preparing a website that will enlighten tentative game studios to the "already existing" financial reasons why they should move to the City of Brotherly Love. Personally, this writer thinks the incredible food, amazing selection of beer, and Joystiq's own Chris Grant would be incentive enough. [Image credit] [Via GamePolitics]
China's gold farming ban not really a ban
The other day, we reported on China's recent ban on trading real currency for virtual goods, and it was hailed as the end of gold selling in the MMO world. Unfortunately, it may not actually play out that way. While this would put a stop to some gold selling, it won't stop all of it thanks to a convenient little loophole.That loophole is the fact that their law has no jurisdiction over foreign transactions. While it absolutely can put a stop to these transactions on Chinese soil using Chinese servers and Chinese currency, Chinese goldfarmers can still happily (well, probably not happily) scrounge up gold on American realms and sell it to American players. Most likely, this new law won't have an impact on the gold selling industry whatsoever. The people being impacted are those crafting their games on a model of microtransactions rather than a subscription model. Developers, not gold farmers, will be harmed by this. A game like Free Realms is no longer a feasible option in China.
Texas Gov. signs game developer tax break bill into law
When he's not busy keynoting major industry events and extolling the virtues of his state, Texas Governor Rick Perry is a swell guy. Further incentivizing the aforementioned game industry types, Mr. Perry just recently signed into law a bill that will extend the 2007 initiatives, according to the San Marcos Daily Record. House Bill 873 looks to increase state grants available to a variety of digital mediums, including games, film and other commercial prospects. The state is hoping the bill will encourage game development companies and film studios (among others) to bring their work to Texas, which Perry backed up by saying, "We are strengthening our state's investment in a vital industry that not only shows off our state to the rest of the world, but also draws investment and creates jobs for Texans." Considering the poor economy and tightening budgets, we're fairly certain this bill will work as intended.[Via GamePolitics]
ESA Canada employs games to push anti-piracy legislation
In an effort to ... ahem ... coolly persuade Canadian members of Parliament towards passing future anti-piracy legislation, the Canadian ESA hosted 10 "MPs" this past Tuesday in Ottawa. With the intention of "updating politicians on the condition of the Canadian gaming industry," the event showcased a variety of games developed in Canada and helped to educate lawmakers on the effects Canadian game development has on the country's economy, according to Canada.com.Danielle Parr, executive director of the ESAC, told the MPs that Canada is the, "third-largest game developer in the world, behind only the U.S. and Japan" and urged them to pass legislation banning the sale of mod chips, apparently still not illegal in the country. In hilariously stereotypical fashion, MP Mike Lake "took a break from playing the popular video game NHL 09" and spoke to the event's cause, saying legislation should be passed "in this Parliament," which is to say by 2010. This is a decidedly different tactic than those employed in the past by the ESAC and seems to be significantly more effective, no?[Via GamePolitics]
GDC09: How HeroEngine revolutionizes MMORPG game design
Let's be frank, MMOs are a pain in the rear to design. You have large teams working collaboratively to build huge expanses of terrain, hundreds upon thousands of objects in the world that players can interact with, server architecture to worry about, and even more in-depth things that the standard player may not even notice or consider.But if you've been on the site recently and have been checking out our coverage of the GDC, then you may have heard us and developers talking excitedly about HeroEngine, the new MMO developing tool from Simutronics. HeroEngine is powering games like The World of Gatheryn and this funny Star Wars game from those BioWare people, as well as other companies that haven't announced their new projects as of yet.So why is HeroEngine so amazing? Well, we got the inside scoop straight from Simutronics as we visited their booth at the GDC.
MMO! Pokemon does not choose you
If you've been waiting for a Pokemon MMO to come out, we're afraid we've got some bad news for you. In an interview with What They Play, Pokemon series director Junichi Masuda confirmed that they're not considering going in the MMO direction at this time. As he stated in the interview, "Trading is a core concept of Pokemon. So when you're trading, you meet with a friend and decide which one you want and which one they want. I would like to emphasize real-world communication. You don't see each other online." That said, we've heard rumblings from some of our readers about Ether Saga, which appears to be based on a pet-collecting and fighting system - although we'd note we haven't played it and can't judge just how similar the two might be in practice. Perhaps the creators of Pokemon will reconsider their no-MMO decision down the road. Sure, you may not see people face-to-face when it comes to online gaming, but handled properly, MMOs can be a great way to meet new people and potentially make friends you wouldn't have met otherwise. [via GamesIndustry]
SXSW 2009: Games By the People, For the People
So you enjoy playing video games, right? That's what probably brought you to Joystiq in the first place. But have you ever thought about making your own? Right now you're probably thinking, "But, Kevin... doesn't that take millions of dollars and a huge development team?" Well you happen to be in luck, because the answer is no. You can pretty much do it all on your own for pennies. But what's the secret to making it awesome? 5 out of 5 panelists agree: you need to have a good story, or a really interesting idea. Simple, right? Start thinking, and find out more after the break.
'Beat World of Warcraft' a game developer resolution for 2009
GameDaily has put together a short piece titled "Game Developers Resolutions for 2009", which is essentially a look at the state of the industry and how they think it can improve. While the piece focuses on video games in general, it does fire a shot at the MMO industry specifically -- namely its dominance by one company, and one title. GameDaily's fourth resolution it hopes the gaming industry adopts is: "Beat World of Warcraft." They're not knocking the game when they say this. In fact GameDaily says, "World of Warcraft is great, and deserving of its status as the 900-pound gorilla of the gaming world. But as fans of video game football can tell you, competition is a good thing, and it's not healthy for the massively-multiplayer online RPG arena to have one name dominant for this long." One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Move over Austin; Georgia aims to be the next big thing for game studios
When you think of game development meccas, your mind immediately points to Austin or San Francisco, right? You might even think of Seattle, or Boston too, but what about Georgia? That's right, the state most commonly-known for The Dukes of Hazzard, Jimmy Carter and peaches is fast becoming quite a hub for gaming technology and development studios lately.Not only does the state play host to gaming services such as Gametap and lottery giant Scientific Games, but they also house online gaming companies such as Hi-Rez Studios, Cartoon Network's latest online project and the North American divisions of CDC Games and EVE Online's CCP, who recently merged with Georgia's own White Wolf Studios. Electronic Arts operates an R&D lab in one of North America's premiere design schools: Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah, Georgia. In fact, you may be surprised to hear that Georgia's video game industry is currently 60-companies strong, employing approximately 2,000 game professionals.
AGDC: Interview with Brett Close, CEO of Curt Schilling's 38 Studios
It's no secret that baseballer Curt Schilling is a huge MMO fan, but you might not know much about his 38 Studios game development company, formed with artist Todd McFarlane and fantasy writer R.A. Salvatore. They've been working on a massive MMO code-named Copernicus, which they haven't said too much about yet. This week at Austin GDC, Vivox announced that it would be providing the voice application inside the game, and five pieces of key concept art were released at Comic-Con earlier this summer.We sat down with CEO Brett Close in Austin to find out what we could about Copernicus, and what's in store for the new company. Check out the full interview after the break.%Gallery-32294%
Polarbit makes Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D for the iPhone
Of all the racers we've seen for the iPhone so far (and there are quite a few), this might be the one I'm most interested in -- Polarbit, who've already dipped into the iPhone's racing game capabilities with Raging Thunder, is working on a Crash Bandicoot-branded kart racing game for the iPhone (video here). And it sounds like it's got everything you'd want in a kart racing game on a console, much less on a smartphone platform -- twelve tracks, lots of characters, lots of weapons and powerups, and configurable controls. There are going to be a ton of racing games out when the App Store drops, but something silly and fun like this, crafted by a developer who knows their way around the fledgling platform, will probably be very near the top of the list.Can't wait to play it. No exact word on when Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D is coming, but it can't be too late after the App Store releases, and we'd guess $10 for a price, since that's what most of these things will be going for. Definitely looks like it might be a standout among the plethora of accelerometer racing games we'll be sure to have.
The Daily Grind: Are hardcore players skewing game development?
Brace yourselves for a shock, True Believers: some people don't want to raid. Some players aren't enticed by PvP. For some, it's all about exploration and an individual experience, not level grinding, getting better loot, or running with a guild. In short, there is a section of players -- possibly larger than one might think -- who care nothing about high-level content.Yet in update after update, what developers tout is how much more epic gear is dropped by the now-more-formidable bosses in the 25-man-specced raid instance. Now, there's absolutely nothing at all wrong with wanting to please the audience that has stuck with your game long enough to get to these lofty heights, especially as they're the ones who have kept your game an ongoing concern. At some point, however, it becomes a case of self-one-upmanship, with little true innovation. Why not broaden the low-level content as well, and bring in new customers at the same time? Is the purpose of an MMO merely to ramp up to a plateau and then go static? Is catering to the demands of the hardcore bad for game development?
Player vs. Everything: The retention game
The conventional wisdom in any service-driven industry is that it's far, far cheaper to retain an existing customer than to recruit a new one. This is especially true in the MMOG industry, where your business model is largely dependent on maintaining a long-term subscriber base. The concept also applies to transaction-driven and episodic games, where you need your customers to want to stick around and continue spending money. Box sales are great, but ultimately they're pretty useless except as an indicator of how many people actually bought the game -- returning players are the bread and butter of the MMO world. In fact, that's exactly why companies are so interested in finding out why you're quitting their game. If they can fix issues that are making a lot of people quit, they can retain more customers and drive up their revenue. Surprisingly, Blizzard is the only company I know of which actually makes people fill out an exit survey in order to cancel a subscription. It's not that annoying and it gives them great information about how to make their game better for you (so if you're adamant on copying Blizzard, that's a good thing to copy). Unfortunately, Blizzard keeps notoriously quiet about their internal numbers like that. So why exactly do people quit MMOGs, and what can and should game companies be doing to keep you interested?
NYC game development community slowly growing
The Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based think tank, has a report on New York's growing games industry. GameDaily reports that Take-Two and Atari, along with 30 game development companies and some 55 firms related to the industry, have a presence in the city that never sleeps. The size of the community is way behind cities like Seattle, San Francisco and LA, but there are approximately 1,200 people working within the industry around NYC.IGDA Executive Director Jason Della Rocca says that although one would think NYC would be an "ideal place" for game developers, he points out that even Boston has a larger community. He explains that five or six years ago there has almost nothing in NYC, but that some casual game firms and a couple major studios have changed that. (Forgive us for what we're about to write.) So, start spreading the news, game developers are longing to stay. They want to be a part of it ... New York, New York.
Open-source MMO engine updated
The Torque MMO kit, first published last year by Prairie Games and GarageGames, has recently announced their newest version of the open-source engine which developer TalentRaspel describes as "completely revised". In this version 1.1 SP3 of the engine, TalentRaspel is proving that their continued support of this product since they took it over late last year promises a step in the right direction for independent game developers.Not only that, but this could be good news for those smaller companies looking to spend more resources on other aspects of running an MMO, and kicking it off with an established, well-maintained engine. The Torque MMO kit engine was first responsible for powering Minions of Mirth, which is said to have 70,000+ users. Plus, with a price tag of $199 to $999 (depending on sales expectations) for the kit combined with Faust Logic's Arcade FX effects library, you just can't beat that.
The Gaming Iconoclast: Whither Shortcomings?
Many MMO aficionados cut their roleplaying teeth on one of the many pencil-and-paper titles that formed the early generation of multi-player gaming. In addition to rolling (and rolling, and rolling, and rolling) some dice to come up with their basic stats and traits, character generation involved a lot of "wet work" when it came time to acquire skills. Often, players would bargain with their Game Master to get special dispensation for pushing the envelope.Player: I want to run this adventure as a zombie elf with three arms.GM: Okay, but if you do that, none of the other characters will trust you. Also, you will spend 50% more on shirts and body armor. Still want to do it?Thus, the mechanic of trading character flaws for enhanced abilities was born. One of the hallmarks of tabletop gaming is this trade-off -- saddling yourself or your character with a shortcoming in order to obtain an advantage elsewhere, either as a skill, or a talent, or just another way to go about Min/Maxing. The huge number of available options in some games (Vampire: The Masquerade, for instance) ensures that any player, with only a few minutes' consideration, will have an almost absolutely unique character, fully their own creation.And yet, almost without exception, the online iterations we all enjoy seem to have omitted this altogether. We are an immense legion of perfectly-formed, mentally-stable, socially-adept übermensch. Even the so-called "ugly" races -- World of Warcraft's Forsaken or Tabula Rasa'sHybrids -- don't explore the depth and breadth of this concept too deeply. Racial traits and differentiation are the merest tip of this particular iceberg.Why does this rich milieu, this fecund ground of roleplay fodder and character diversity, languish? (And who left this thesaurus on my desk?)
Player vs. Everything: When will the players leave WoW?
I always think it's interesting when I hear developers talk about how World of Warcraft opened up the MMOG market for new entrants. We have all these new and exciting games coming out: Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, The Chronicles of Spellborn, and plenty more. However, the overwhelming response that I get from WoW players when I talk about these games is a blank stare and something along the lines of, "Okay, that sounds all right... but why would I ever want to leave WoW?" I think that developers tend to underestimate how attached people get to their MMOG of choice. There are now over 10 million World of Warcraft players. The question is, do they even want something different? I've read a number of bloggers in the past few months and talked to a number of players who claim that they're only playing WoW right now because "it's the best thing out there." They're yearning for something else. Not something totally different, mind you, since they obviously have a blast in Azeroth. But something fresh enough to be new and exciting without bastardizing the game style they know and love. However, I've noticed something interesting. This breed of player tends to overwhelmingly be comprised of people for whom World of Warcraft was not their first MMOG. Otherwise, people just want WoW to put more content in and are willing to make do with what they have until then. I think there's an intriguing bit of psychology there that's worth examining.
Building a better MMOusetrap: To topple the King!
Can WoW be killed? This is the question on the tongues of my WoW playing friends since the announcement of FunCom's upcoming title Age of Conan has been pushed back another 8 weeks. Some think it's to polish it just that extra little bit, so that they can come out of the gates running, but honesty I think they just want to make sure they are putting out as high a quality game as possible. Really this idea of a WoW Killer, has been going around for a long time, and frankly I think the whole idea is a bit silly. Like my compatriot Kevin Stallard states on a recent edition of 'Ask Massively', there are games like Ultima Online that have been plugging strong for over a decade now, without any real notion of stopping soon.Certainly over the years MMO's have risen and fallen from the top spot, it started off with UO holding the torch, then moved along to EQ and pretty much since it's launch WoW has held fast and continued to gain popularity. And with ActiBlizzard's recent announcement that the World of Warcraft has just broken the 10 Million subscriber mark, it's unlikely we're going to see them toppled any time soon. To take a moment and put those numbers into perspective, 10 million subscribers would be like if every man, woman and child in Belgium did nothing but play WoW all the time. I know I'd certainly take the next flight out to Bruges, and settle in next to the Muscles from Brussels playing my Shaman for the good of mother Belgium!But really, I don't think that there is any risk of a WoW killer, not because I don't think that AoC and EA Mythic's Warhammer Online aren't going to be 'as good' or even be able to compete against WoW, but because frankly I don't think it matters. From what I've seen so far from both of these titles, neither one is trying to be a WoW clone, and I think that's the rub right there. Nothing is going to "beat" WoW, just like nothing beat UO or EQ, they simply lost subscribers to the new evolution of the genre. There are still a great deal of people who play the older titles, things like FFXI, UO, EQ, and so on, but most MMO gamers aren't tied to a single title. I bet you that of those 10 million WoW subscribers at least 30% play at least one other title, and most of them have probably taken part in at least one beta test for another game.
As the Worlds Turn: What if?
Richard Garriott did it. A critically acclaimed game designer, whose previous modus operandi regulated itself to PC and console games, created a successful MMO in a market overshadowed by Thrall and Co. Some say that his only claim to fame is the Ultima series but then again, those that say such things, their only claim to fame is a blog read by their mother and a few old college buddies. Big names attaching themselves to MMO projects are becoming commonplace. With 38 Studios making the news and podcasts these days, with starry-eyed fanboys salivating over visions of Drizzt vs. Spawn in an MMO that may or may not contain baseball, one wonders: who else might throw their hat into the MMO ring? Of course, each such entry runs the risk of the 800-pound gorilla, with epic gear, stomping it into oblivion. But what if ...
As the Worlds Turn: Ramblings of a mad man
In case you missed it while madly dashing about for your festive hat, 2008 has arrived. Since it is the New Year, we have all seen the articles making predictions and projections of what is to come in the following months. Some of these articles are great while others seem lacking. My problem with all of them is that they are too firmly grounded in reality. That's about to change. Several hours of sleep depravation, a couple candy bars, and the last few drops of that glorious orange liquid called "Game Fuel" have lead to the following list of wishes that I would like to see granted in the next 12 months. So, game companies, get out your barbed whips and chain your developers to their desks! You've got a lot of work ahead of you.
