Keen and Graev’s blog has been doing a bit of introspection about MMOs – how they are moving backwards in terms of design and how nostalgia is a great thing. It’s a common cry in discussions about MMOs – today’s titles aren’t as good as the previous ones – but the interesting defence here is … Continue reading
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Trivial Things I Hope Don’t Happen In 2010
Star Trek Online launches too early. I know I’m going to be disappointed here. Cryptic Studios announces another title in development. Seriously, work with the ones you’ve got for 12 months. The “Barbarella” remake happens. Dear me, but I HATE that movie so much. “Iron Man 2” isn’t as good as the first one. It … Continue reading
The Failure of Beta – Testing and Marketing
The whole alpha / beta situation around MMOs is an interesting one. It’s a critical area of both testing and marketing for any MMO which is a curious place to be since ‘testing’ and ‘marketing’ are really at opposites ends of a gaming scale – testing is about fixing bugs and dealing with a rough … Continue reading
The Trials of UnSub: Ultima Online (Stygian Abyss)
One thing I did back when I was blogging on MMORPG.com was challenge myself to trial 12 MMOs in 12 months. I failed in terms of quantity – I only trialled 8 games in 2008 – but the experience was overall positive, even if I played a game I didn’t like. It let me see … Continue reading
We Do It To Ourselves, We Do – Why MMOs Are as They Are
Psychochild made an interesting post recently – why haven’t MMOs lived up to their early potential? Why hasn’t the early potential of games like Ultima Online or Meridian 59 with all their freedom and player-driven worlds been built on? Why have more controlled experiences like Everquest 2 or World of Warcraft dominated the genre? Some … Continue reading
Truisms in Game Development: Someone Always Loves The Status Quo
Chris Bruce, Senior Lead Animator/Visual FX artist on City of Heroes / Villains and frequent forum poster made this observation the other day: “And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the time I’ve been here it’s that any change will be perceived by some people as a good change, others as a bad change, … Continue reading
Cryptic’s 100k Plan?
This could just be an interesting coincidence, but I also think it answers a number of questions about Cryptic’s MMO development strategy. In July 2009, G4TV asked Cryptic’s Chief Creative Officer (and fan favourite punching bag) Jack Emmert how many players Champions Online needed for success: G4: Speaking of it being successful, when you’re launching … Continue reading
Looking Back At Advice on a Star Trek MMO
Way back in the dark mists of January 2008 Eric Heimburg, who was Perpetual’s Lead Systems Designer on Star Trek Online back before that company folded, wrote a few points out to Cryptic / whoever might get the Star Trek MMO. With Cryptic’s STO launching just a few short months away in February 2010, I … Continue reading
How Many Players Bought Champions Online At Launch?
Massively.com recently asked the question about how important subscription numbers are to consumers. On an immediate level they probably aren’t vital, but longer-term they point to a game’s survival and potential to be a success. This is especially true for MMOs launched since 2008 – their typical active player numbers have seen sharp declines since … Continue reading
Game Devs Don’t Understand Players – Aion and Medals
Recently announced in Aion is a new reward system. A player distributed reward system. Taken off the announcement: “3) The most recent patch notes for 1.5.1 show that defending legions can now gain medals for successfully holding a fortress but many people feel this will not be enough incentive for fortress defense. Can you clarify … Continue reading
World Class Villains 