player-made-content
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TUG puts out the call for fan-made music
The game of TUG is all about user creations. The entire concept behind the game is making a world in which players can shape land and social structures according to their desires. So it makes sense that the game is looking to see if the more musically inclined community members would like a chance to get their compositions into the game. Because even if the game has plenty of songs for play, there's always space to fit in some talented fan productions. Currently the team at Nerd Kingdom is gauging interest in the idea, which would play a random selection of fan-made music on the game's menu screen. The piece played would include the composer's name, the title, and a link to where more of the composer's music could be found. It's not payment, but if you think you'd benefit from the exposure, feel free to take a look and express your interest.
Everything you wanted to know about Neverwinter's Foundry but haven't asked
Neverwinter has some pretty big shoes to fill. More accurately, it has some pretty elaborate shoe-making tools that it needs to allow players to fill. After all, it's part of a franchise that's legendary for its player-created content. The Foundry system is aimed at giving players all of the user-generated content they could ask for, all of the tools necessary to make great missions, and all of the possible options to get players into player-made content quickly. How will all of this happen? Why, it's outlined in this new development blog! Players will be able to incorporate missions into the overall game world seamlessly or place them in instanced areas depending on the creator's intent. The system will also give players several means of getting into these missions, both from a UI feature showing off popular player-made missions and NPCs highlighting player-made content in any given area. Creators, meanwhile, will receive all the necessary tools to create new maps and new missions even with a minimum of experience. Time will tell how successful the system is in implementation, but it's certainly aiming in the right direction.
Champions Online adds housing via new hideout feature
Cryptic Studios is adding another feather to its player-generated content cap via a new Champions Online feature called the hideout. As per the Champions website, "every hero should have a place to call home," and hideouts are "themed environments that allow you to choose and customize your own bit of Champions Online real estate." In other words, welcome to the superhero version of player housing. Each hideout is an account-wide perk with a variety of customizable features (including access to a tailor and a Socrates crime computer terminal). Hideouts also come in four flavors: the basement, cave, moon, and Sanctum varieties. Head to the official Champions website to read more about each option and find out how to unlock hideouts on your account. Also, don't forget to check out the video preview after the break.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Sandbox or themepark
Lately I've had some great conversations over on the Runes of Magic forum that have me thinking about what type of MMO Runewaker has created. Every MMO eventually gets stamped as either sandbox or themepark, depending on whether it has an open-ended environment or is filled with directed activities. RoM is packed with minigames, quests, dungeons, housing, pets and guild content. RoM's minigame, Malatina's Course of Terror, can be taken at any level and yields the same possible rewards to all players. Yet the devs are constantly adding quests, dungeons, and other high-level content, all of which requires a player to level in order to take part. What kind of MMO is RoM? Do these terms shape your opinions of what you want to see added in the game? And does any of this matter?
The Daily Grind: What game would you like to see go open source?
For a game long known for its emphasis on player-created content, mods, and even skills, the big Ryzom announcement perhaps should have been expected. But the revelation that the game was going into the murky waters of open source, albeit with a few omissions such as height maps and sound files, is a far-reaching one for almost any game not wholly built around user generation (a la Second Life). And it naturally leads to the question: what other games would be nice to have access to from the source code up. It opens a huge number of doors, everything from private servers to full-on rewrites of the game as a single-player experience. For knowledgable coders, it turns every single patch and design decision into something that can be modified by the players. The breadth of options is almost overwhelming. Of course, Ryzom is a niche title with a strong emphasis on these kinds of innovations, so in a way it's to be expected. But it's the closest we've seen to a mainstream game going this route -- so what would you like to see? An older game that could benefit from the publicity? A newer game you feel could be improved? Or a sadly-cancelled game whose source code could be used as a resurrection?
Why You Should Be Playing City of Heroes: Content on demand
With all the talk about the Skirmish system in Lord of the Rings Online and the World of Warcraft dungeon finder, it's hard to argue that people don't really like having the option to simply pick up and start playing something. Both of these systems thrive on the strength of their pick-up-and-play nature -- you don't have to wait to find a group, you just jump right into content without any slowdown. The obvious question, then, becomes "why didn't someone notice that people like to just jumping in and playing the darn game?" Of course,the full answer is a bit less obvious but no less true: someone did. Several someones, in fact. Paragon Studios and Cryptic before them both realized how much people like to just pick up and go. That's why City of Heroes currently sports three different systems to allow you or a full team access to content quickly, ranging from reliving your character's greatest triumphs to fighting Nazi vampires on the moon.
