Digital Dave

I’m not typically this vocal about things, but I love MMOs, and I ESPECIALLY love the EverQuest brand.  I mean, it’s MMOs that really, really got me wanting to do game development.  I don’t get to play nearly as much as I’d like these days, but one disturbing trend is rearing its head over the mountain top.

Yesterday, Sony released a new system within EverQuest and EverQuest II which allows players to morph real money to game currency.

This is ridiculous on many levels.

The game is now restricting what we can access, and, more importantly, devaluing our net worth as a character. Now, our gold has to compete with real world currency. Now, we have to compete with Joe Smuckateli and his hoard of cash he makes through his job.

I don’t understand the logic in this beside that it is for Sony to make money (bzzzt. shock).  But they are just not making money off of this, they’re making money off of the $15 monthly fee as well.   It’s business in a hard economy, yes. But it’s also my immersion at stake. RMT has no place in the fantasy realm unless you give an option to keep it off of my server.  I applauded the ban-hammer, but now the hammer is tainted itself.

This game is for the players more so than the company. We provide the life to the business model. Without us, the game wouldn’t exist. Funny how companies seem to forget that and the principles which they begun this adventure on.  Even Smedley said he wouldn’t go RMT… Then likened RMT to the in-game card system (Psst… completely different!), and now poof, we have this.  It’s all a progression.

It’s not what is happening right now that matters (fluff items.. wooptie), it’s the fact that I know this is a prelude to something much more grand (see: prior paragraph). Introduce the concept at a weak level (pots, misc crap), then slowly turn up the heat. This implementation should have stayed away from the game.

Not only this game, but all games.  Give us a choice.  You can make a server RMT based with other servers that are not.

Yesterday, Star Wars: The Old Republic announced that it would be FREE TO PLAY, but MICRO-TRANSACTION based.

We do not know the specific details, but it receives a sigh anyway.  At LEAST the game will start that way.  I can stay away from it much easier now.

Update: “Electronic Arts has responded to Shacknews, reiterating that “no statements have been made about the Star Wars business model,” and attributing Mr. Riccitiello’s comments to a misunderstanding.”

I’m done with EQII.

Edit: Reports are coming out noting that WAR has 500,000 subscribers registered in just a week.  The real test will be to see if those players like it enough to stay (I’ll be bailing out).

Playing this game reminded me how much I really enjoy playing MMOs, but made me realize how much time I don’t have to devote to them.  I guess the only possible way to fix this craving is to find a MMO company to work for. But then the entire atmosphere and exploration element would be spoiled. Well, considering the size of these games, maybe not.  It’s one thing to make these sort of games, but its something else to actually play them — I imagine.

If I had the time, I would probably invest it in this game… Actually, I would probably still be playing Age of Conan.  There’s nothing really exciting about WAR for me.  I do like PVP elements, but they really need to be mingled between several systems for it to work right. Players still need options.

But, EQ2 Shadow Odyssey is coming out pretty soon, and I rather not try to detail my love for the content that is being brought back to the world.  Let’s just say, I f’n love Frogloks, I miss the Guk and I’ll be bringing my bad ass Templar back into the world.

Before reading too much into some of this stuff, mind you, I am only rank (level) 9 with a renown rank (pvp) of 7…The good thing about the game is that the levels progress slowly, and not blazingly fast.

Public Quests

I was somewhat confused when I first heard about these.  Here is an example:

• You adventure into a Public Quest designated Area
• A quest like box comes up on your screen which tells you the current requirements needed
  • Stage I: Kill x/100 of MOB Y                (You could just solo this, easy)
  • Stage II: Kill x/10 of MOB Z                 (You could still solo, hard)
  • Stage III: Kill 0/1 of BOSS                    (You will need some help)
• Every kill, you begin filling an influence bar which eventually gains you specific rewards
• If all stages are cleared
  • A window pops up with all of the names (of the people who are still in the area, helping) and computes a random number as a base value
  • Adds into it a contribution number (shown as a gold, silver, bronze medal)
  • If the player has lost out on a reward for a few rounds, they get a bonus added
  • Players are rewarded a pouch (common, rare, depending on final winner placing), where they can choose a reward from (once taken, it won’t show in the pouch again)

So these can be pretty cool. The loot is actually pretty good, especially if you can manage to get a rare loot bag.

Crafting

?! Afterthought.  I haven’t dove into it, because I haven’t been introduced to it. Not that there is a whole lot to even do…  I haven’t ran into an NPC that said, “Hey! Come here! Want to learn how to craft?” And I’m not wasting my time running around looking like a goof trying to figure out how.

The Story

Once you begin, you are thrown into the story.  You complete quests in the area that you are in, and then you work through toward a new area.  Which, in itself isn’t bad, but it’s extremely linear for an MMO… Which is surprising.  You go to camp A, work toward B, C, D, E, F… Clash with PVP at the end?

While the good and evil side have a home city, you’re not even introduced to the city right away.  You have to find some specific NPC that flys you to it.

Achievements 

I love reward systems, and they could be much MUCH better in MMOs. I’m still waiting for an MMO to do something that I’ve always wanted; Medals, ribbons – in a fantasy sense.

Now I LOVE achievements.  But in an MMO, they really need to be a little challenging.  I mean, it’s an MMO. You’re average gamer plays the game for much, much longer than the average 8 or so hour single player game.  This is a great step, but the way it’s implemented makes them a bit goofy and irritating.  I mean, in one realm versus realm battle, you might see 10 achievements unlocked, blinking all over your screen, because of the extremely basic nature of them. Like… Being killed 1 time by another race nets YOU a “You Suck” award.

Uh, what?

There’s a lot of other’s.  Like dieing 10 times… 100 times… Clicked on yourself 100 times… Looted 10 times, destroyed 10 items.  You can get more of an idea by checking out this list.

The Interface

Needs some mod work done to it.  It’s got experience bars all over the place.  This feels surprisingly daunting at first by making you realize that there are several layers to the game.

If I’m not in a PVP area, do I really need to see my renown rank experience bar?  Granted, I know you gain some while you are not in a PVP area, but it’s not common enough to plaster it on my screen.  If I’m not in a PVP area, make it go away. If I gain some, blink it on my screen once or twice.

Is there a reason to put my influence experience bar on the screen if I’m not doing anything related to influence? Like, nowhere close to being in a Public Quest area?

Why can’t I zoom in on my global map?

Why can’t the quests show more detail on the map without being so damn cluttered?

Why in the world do the icons in my bar do a mind warping fading affect when I hit one of the buttons?  That’s surprisingly distracting, and makes my head hurt.  Simple fade, fade in, blink one color to bring my attention to a button…  There’s no reason to go nuts with it.

I could go on, but those are just a few off the cuff.

Guilds

The guild management tool is really decent for what they’ve got.  I really, really like the in game calender for scheduling events. REALLY.

The PVP

As far as the basic mechanics of it all goes, it looks just fine.  Reminds me of watching my friends play battlegrounds in World of Warcraft (Nope, I never played).   I’m sure this gets really exciting later on.  But all in all, once that later on arrives, that’ll be most of everything that exists for people to do.  I’m not sure how that’ll be received by the people. You can jump into PVP whenever you want to do a little “battlegrounds” type of event, or you can try to take over areas in the PVE world that is contested.

First, I must thank Darius for directing Jeff toward my prior post.  From cross-posting that question to GDNet (thread&journal), IGDA, and LinkedIn, that was by far the most thought out and helpful response.  Thanks a lot.

So, my impression of Spore.

I haven’t been looking forward to this game like some people have, in regard to time at least (I <3 simulations, though).  I only really started following it about a year-and-a-half ago.  Apparently, it’s been in development for much, much longer than that… And has been delayed like any other game that wants to do well in this doggy-dog game market.

I was actually pretty excited to see another IP come out from Maxis.  Granted, it’s based on a prior IP if you consider “The Sims” aspects, but I thought it would still offer something really unique.  And it does.

The perspective.  Going from a awkward looking 2D cell, eating and surviving, eventually moving yourself in to an intergalactic bonanza at an incredibly fast pace.

But they seemed to forget the most essential part of the game… Not the tools… Not the glamor….  The… Gameplay.  What brings me back for round 2, if round one only took me a few hours?  They focused hardcore on the tool and building aspect of the game, and while I absolutely have a blast (along with my fiancee) building various creatures (not so much the buildings, ships, and boats), I don’t want that to be ALL I do for a $50 game.  The single player mode is a complete breeze (seems to be a common trait with really pretty games), and my fiancee does not like going past the creature stage because she thinks the game gets boring after you stop managing your own creature.

It’s a fun game the first run through. It should be, everything is new and pretty.  It’s semi-challenging because you’re still trying to get used to the way things work.  But by the time the honeymoon is over, nothing really drags you back into the game for a second run through… Unless you’re like my fiancee who love the first two stages.  When a game progresses so fast, replayability is essential.  I’m not buying an episodic game.

Beyond that, I don’t really have any reason to play it again.  I got my XBOX 360 power supply back from being replaced, and there are some goodies on that one.  Braid, Castle Crashers, and Geometry Wars 2 (awesome sequel!), Fable Pub Games, cheaper than Spore, and offers many  more rewards and replayability.

I’m not trying to be harsh.  I definitely recommend trying Spore. It’s an awesome concept and implementation.  It just needed more.

And, why in the world would you release a PC game in different markets on completely different dates? Pirates really bit them in the ass for that decision.  I looked on Friday and there were 30,000+ leechers/thiefs at the time.  ;\  The people who would have happily ran off to the store on launch day suddently didn’t have the option, but was taunted anyway.

Imagine… What would it feel like if you went swimming in an MMO and a god like creature came out of it like the picture above? Yeah, I can’t wait until the technology reaches that milestone… It’ll take the “Oh Shit” factor up a few thousand notches. >:oD

So, yeah. I seen the second installment of the Chronicles of Narnia movies last night. Even though I’ve seen several reviews that didn’t rate it too hot, I really enjoyed it. I would say I enjoyed it a bit more than the first one (watched it again tonight, just because I couldn’t remember some of the references in the second movie), but not by a whole lot. They’re both pretty good in my mind.

Also, yesterday, the early access for Age of Conan began. I’ve been looking at this game for quite some time, especially since the fall of Vanguard (Hopefully, things are better now). I haven’t played a whole lot, but the first impressions are decent. It’s incredibly new for me to watch my girlfriend create a new character, in an MMO, and then begin to run around in circles without a top on — boobies everywhere. *laughs*

I’m still trying to get used to the chat. For some reason, it doesn’t come as natural as the other MMO’s that I’ve played.

I’m on the only RP server, which just happens to be a PVP server (Cimmeria), which also happens to be my first time playing PVP since the first EverQuest (1999, and for a few days).  Uh, I’m not sure what to think about it.  I’m not a cruel person, by any stretch of the imagination.  But when I have level 13s and 15s that are grouped, and for no reason, come over to kill me — a level 6 — it blows my mind.  I brush it off, but a part of me really wants to put them on my guilds kill list.  I’ll probably get into it a little more once I get used to the character.

I definitely recommend trying it.  Try a friends account or splurge.  It really satisfies the need for a good realistic fantasy MMO.  People cry that there are way too many fantasy MMOs, but there is definitely a void for a really great realistic fantasy MMO.  I’m not sure AoC will do it, but it’ll satisfy for now.

I have one more shot for an internship this summer.  It’s for a local independent game development company, which is rather new (I think), and can’t afford to pay (Ah, the life of an indie!!!).  I’m actually really excited to learn a bit more about it.   I have a lunch meeting this Tuesday, and hopefully, we’ll find an area that I can tackle.  The position is for a mechanics programmer, so I’ll be dealing with the control system, database integration, and some other things. We’ll see how it goes.

If I can’t manage to lock on this internship, I’ll be going forward with my plans to concentrate, full time, on a demo.  After a heap ton of advice from people at gamecareerguide.com, igda.org, and my developer network, guided me, I’ll be concentrating on learning more 3D and putting it into a packaged demo.  Implement, polish, polish some more, and move to something new.

Bring it on, Summer!

I made a couple changes to Reaching For Stars.

This concludes the 2 weeks that I intended on spending on this project, which ultimately ended up being about 5 nights of actual work. Overall, if you understand another programming language, coming to AS3 will not be any issue. Like they all say (books, friends, instructors), once you learn one language, learning another is a matter of syntax. Coming from C++ and Java, this wasn’t an issue for me. If you have a background in Java, coming to AS3 definitely won’t be an issue. The syntax is scary similar.

Play Final Version of Reaching For Stars

I’m not sure there is anything I can say about GTAIV that hasn’t been written, throughly, through several reviews, but this game is pretty slick. The storyline, especially, has incredible depth, which I’m having a blast with. Not to mention, all of the other side quests and things that you can do… I haven’t tried the multiplayer aspect of it, but I hear that’s another bag of treats. Overall, it’s an awesome game. No, this wasn’t a review… Consider it a reassurance of excellence. ;p

While the Wii is an awesome system, it just couldn’t hold up to my wants all around.

Not only that, but the hate toward the PC never has sat well with me.  The whole exclusive titles being distributed to the console systems, and THEN, the PC gets a newer, enhanced experience, isn’t fun.  That’s six months, or even longer, down the road.

The release of GTAIV made me jump over the line.  I’ve been teetering with the idea of getting a more hardcore console, and I wanted to wait until I actually got a job at the end of the year, but I decided to go for it anyway.  You probably notice the GamerTag to the right.  Yep, I decided to run around in a circle (Loving Consoles, Loving the PC, and back to Enjoying Consoles (minus love, I still love the PC)).

So yeah.  Games. XNA. Networking Fun. Yay.

If you haven’t seen this, use caution, it’s pretty addicting.

http://play.typeracer.com/

 I’m sitting at 22 Tries, 87 WPM, High 110 WPM

After a few tested rounds, the fan base over in the goo world enjoyed my entry a little more than the others, and I get to take home the cake.  It looks like the developers will be working to put the design in the game, so that’s pretty exciting.  I’m sure I’ll keep my blog posted when the real level gets put in the game.

Well, first… Activision Blizzard? I can’t say that the name has a nice ring to it, and I’m pretty confident in saying that this merger surprised everybody. I hold no regression on mergers like this, due to the fact that I don’t like to jump to conclusions. I hope for the best for the merger, and with that, there is a Goliath that will be up right next to Electronic Arts now.

But, really… Activision Blizzard? I completely understand name branding, but… Oh, well. Let’s see what games come out of this.

I saw Stephen King’s The Mist this weekend. Somebody really needs to make a game with all of the crazy ass creatures that Mr. King has thought up… That would be one horrifying game… Oh, and the movie? I’d at least recommend watching it once. It’s not your typical movie with your typical ending, which is good.

So, in my continuing effort to become a game developer (programmer, designer, cola boy) some day, I thought I should start experiencing an area of gaming that I have really lacked playing. Board Games. Brenda inspired me the other day when she compiled a list of favorite board games that her users recommended in a prior post (before I found her blog). I saw that list, and was dumbfounded. There were a LOT of games that I never touched.

It’s never to late to do anything in life. I picked up Carcassonne, and the girlfriend and I are having a blast with it.

I’m making slow progress on the Networking game. I’ve put in the ability to start a server, connect to a server, send data, receive data. I just need to get them all to work together now, nicely. More on this soon.

I ended up getting some inspiration after viewing somebodies portfolio website, and decided to use what I found to, hopefully, better future visitors experiences.

For the games/applications that I developed, I decided to capture a demonstration of going through the gameplay/application, and then I uploaded it up onto YouTube. So you don’t have to mingle your way through my development page, here is a glimpse of what I did. This was more of a pain then I thought it was, so I do hope that you find them semi-interesting to watch!

This should definitely be nice for those that can’t actually download onto the computer that they are using, or if they are curious to see it in action, but don’t really want to take the time to download.

View Demonstration of Breakout Returns on YouTube!

View Demonstration of Ascending Order on YouTube!

View Demonstration of a 2D Map Development Tool on YouTube!