Op Ed

[Nov 26, 2012, 11:13 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

TechCrunch - The Gameplay Is The Gameplay. Always. Thanks Ant via Slashdot.
The fun factor is about more than making a game is amusing or full of pretty rewards. If your game is a dynamic system to be mastered and won, then you can go nuts. If you can give the player real fun then you can afford to break some of those format rules, and that’s how you get to lead rather than follow the market. If not then be prepared to pay through the nose to acquire and retain players. Your format strategy won’t matter as your game will lose users regardless of what you do.

games.on.net - Ten lessons that other MMO developers must learn from the death of City of Heroes.
As somebody who purchased the City of Villains Collectors Edition at full retail price back in the day, the transition to free-to-play left me less than impressed. My main character, a Mastermind class with a sweet personal army of ninja, was locked out to me… because I hadn’t purchased the ability to have Mastermind characters. Yet my (many) alts were available to ‘unlock’ simply because they were non-paid classes.

#AltDevBlogADay - What they DON’T tell you about being a game developer.
Because of this unique perspective of having a relatively successful title (despite not yet being released) on my first ever attempt, I haven’t yet developed the pessimism that often comes with being an experienced indie game developer. This has led me to want to write this new thought piece, which goes into all of the things that they DON’T tell you about being a game developer. If you want the short and sweet version, feel free to skip to the end.

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Re: Op Ed

Nov 26, 2012, 17:14

The Half Elf

Cutter wrote on Nov 26, 2012, 12:06: Not only does the game let you make your own costume(s) and bases, but you can also design your own missions. And let people play in them. Why isn’t this more of a thing yet? Why are we still waiting on Neverwinter to come along, and having our minds blown at the very concept of an MMO toolset that allows you to create your own content? Why is this even a thing? Heads-up, developers: people love user-generated content. That, among other reasons, is why Minecraft is so successful and still selling something like a thousand copies a day: because people like to see what other people have made. Especially if they can walk around in it and play with it, and fight against it or blow it up. I know you want to spend your publisher money on a huge world and scripted cut-scenes and a story that — let’s be honest, not many people will really pay attention to — but let’s try something different and give players the keys to the kingdom. Hell, why do you think people still play the original Neverwinter Nights online? Hint: it’s not for the graphics. A-fucking-men. It boggles the mind there isn't a new NWN style game out and that MMOs don't come standard with game editors for user created content. And yes, they should also take a page from CoXs character creation too. That was the absolute best part of the game! Und wir sind dann Helden! Für einen Tag! The begining of the downfall for City of Heroes was allowing Farming End Game (at the time) and then allowing people to make their own missions to farm even worse. Go into a mission sit by the exit and in a few hours be max level. But still has the best character creation/costume system (still better then Champions Online).

Re: Op Ed

Nov 26, 2012, 15:13

DeadlyAccurate

Prez wrote on Nov 26, 2012, 14:06: I read the indie dev blog first - it was okay. Mostly it struck me that this person must have been extremely young and/or extremely naive to have only discovered some of these "epiphanies" after starting his career as a developer. Most of what he leaned along the way ought to be common knowledge to anyone before they ever consider a career in games. It's not like there isn't thousands of testimonials about it by people who have already been there. He left out one. It's going to get hard. Very hard. There will be times you won't want to do it. The difference between having a published game and wanting to have a published game is that the first person actually buckled down and finished it. Sounds obvious, but so many people jump ship to a cool new idea when the current idea starts to sound stale and never actually finishes something. I've written (to completion) many books, and every one of them reaches a point where there's a better story I could be writing at that moment. I have a lot of published and unpublished writers on my Twitter feed, and every one of them reaches that point, too. Many times. I also disagree with his suggestion to work on a small project before tackling a large one. I know why he's suggesting it, and it's not without merit. But it's similar to the suggestion that if you want to write novels, you should practice on short stories. If you want to write novels, practice by writing novels. Short stories are a different beast. And if you want to make a sprawling, open-world 3D RPG, why spend time on a 2D platformer? Sure, it's going to be very hard to complete that RPG, but it was always going to be hard. Go ahead and make the game you want.

Re: Op Ed

Nov 26, 2012, 14:29

Cutter

Ozmodan wrote on Nov 26, 2012, 13:52:
Only need two lessons for COH, don't associate with NCSoft, they shut games down for the stupidest things. You also have a limited audience with a superhero game.

As to Neverwinter, complete waste of time, number one it is being done by Cryptic, it's idea of UGC is pathetic and you have to pay for it beyond the first few iterations. Secondly it is PW and anyone who has played a PW game knows what I am talking about.

If you are holding out for Neverwinter you are going to be majorly disappointed.

No, I don't mean the crap Cryptic is putting together under PW - that seems like a guaranteed fail right there. I mean a new NWN game or something akin to it - CRPG creator as it were. But you're wrong about a limited audience for a superhero game given the upswing of superhero movies. It's just we haven't seen a really good superhero game yet. If someone builds it, the masses will buy it. Damn fine idea for a KS project there.




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

Re: Op Ed

Nov 26, 2012, 14:06

Prez

I read the indie dev blog first - it was okay. Mostly it struck me that this person must have been extremely young and/or extremely naive to have only discovered some of these "epiphanies" after starting his career as a developer. Most of what he leaned along the way ought to be common knowledge to anyone before they ever consider a career in games. It's not like there isn't thousands of testimonials about it by people who have already been there.




Prez on Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=604888

Re: Op Ed

Nov 26, 2012, 14:03

Darks

Ozmodan wrote on Nov 26, 2012, 13:52: Only need two lessons for COH, don't associate with NCSoft, they shut games down for the stupidest things. You also have a limited audience with a superhero game. As to Neverwinter, complete waste of time, number one it is being done by Cryptic, it's idea of UGC is pathetic and you have to pay for it beyond the first few iterations. Secondly it is PW and anyone who has played a PW game knows what I am talking about. If you are holding out for Neverwinter you are going to be majorly disappointed. Oh what little faith you have. Seriously have you even seen Neverwinter or played it? I did at E3 and it is a really well done game. The Beta is going to be starting up next month and I’m on it. But you my friend are complete off base in your assumption and opinion about this game. I know cryptics track record in the past has not been great, but all the reviews of this game have been very positive. I for one can’t wait for this game to be out.

Re: Op Ed

Nov 26, 2012, 13:52

Ozmodan

Only need two lessons for COH, don't associate with NCSoft, they shut games down for the stupidest things. You also have a limited audience with a superhero game. As to Neverwinter, complete waste of time, number one it is being done by Cryptic, it's idea of UGC is pathetic and you have to pay for it beyond the first few iterations. Secondly it is PW and anyone who has played a PW game knows what I am talking about. If you are holding out for Neverwinter you are going to be majorly disappointed.

Re: Op Ed

Nov 26, 2012, 12:06

Cutter

Not only does the game let you make your own costume(s) and bases, but you can also design your own missions. And let people play in them. Why isn’t this more of a thing yet? Why are we still waiting on Neverwinter to come along, and having our minds blown at the very concept of an MMO toolset that allows you to create your own content? Why is this even a thing?

Heads-up, developers: people love user-generated content. That, among other reasons, is why Minecraft is so successful and still selling something like a thousand copies a day: because people like to see what other people have made. Especially if they can walk around in it and play with it, and fight against it or blow it up. I know you want to spend your publisher money on a huge world and scripted cut-scenes and a story that — let’s be honest, not many people will really pay attention to — but let’s try something different and give players the keys to the kingdom.

Hell, why do you think people still play the original Neverwinter Nights online? Hint: it’s not for the graphics.

A-fucking-men. It boggles the mind there isn't a new NWN style game out and that MMOs don't come standard with game editors for user created content. And yes, they should also take a page from CoXs character creation too. That was the absolute best part of the game!

Und wir sind dann Helden! Für einen Tag!




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

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