Green Monster Games (Curt Schilling)

[gnomad]

Originally Posted by Ngruk

Getting into details would be pointless at this stage, but needless to say your real world income should not allow you an edge or a better experience in an online fantasy gaming world imo.

Hmm, interesting comment from someone who's real world income is allowing them to create the game they want to play. A bit hypocritical I would say.

I am so sick of the cum-ba-ya socilistic attitude of game designers where it is one big everyone is equal commune.

How about a dose of reality. If I make over a 100K a year and want to spend some of my disposable income on reducing the amount of my time that is wasted so be it. Of course if games were less time sinks and more skill vs looks/level/loot oriented then maybe a person wouldn't have to play 12 hours / day to get something useful in game.

Curt, anytime you want some input from an older cynical cranky gamer with over 30 years in the computer industry who has played just about all the garbage that has been rolled out, drop me a PM.

[Dynalisia]

Originally Posted by gnomad

Hmm, interesting comment from someone who's real world income is allowing them to create the game they want to play. A bit hypocritical I would say.

right..

[Scaffa]

Originally Posted by gnomad

Hmm, interesting comment from someone who's real world income is allowing them to create the game they want to play. A bit hypocritical I would say.

Umm, since when was spending money on a gaming studio, which you hope will make a profit, the same as going on omgWoWgold.com and spending $50?

Get a grip.

[Duppin]

Dear Random Internet Retards:

If you can't post in reply to a game dev/executive/whatever using a modicum of social skills, DON'T FUCKING POST.

I know that Curt can stick up for himself, but holy FUCK I am tired of seeing people here use the relative anonymity of the internet to say things that'd get the fuck beaten out of them in person.

[Ngruk]

Originally Posted by gnomad

Hmm, interesting comment from someone who's real world income is allowing them to create the game they want to play. A bit hypocritical I would say. .

'

I wouldn't. Since when does opening a studio to create computer games enter the same universe as buying virtual gold or items on ebay to progress my character in a game where I don't want to, or can't spend the time everyone else does, to progress in the world? It doesn't.
A game that openly allows people to further their virtual life with real world money is wasting designers time. Oh I know you can't stop it, it will happen, but just allowing it to happen while turning a blind eye is not something I am an advocate of.
Content, for the most part, is created for players to play through, not pay through.
Heck if I wanted that kind of world it'd be a pay to play world.

Originally Posted by gnomad

I am so sick of the cum-ba-ya socilistic attitude of game designers where it is one big everyone is equal commune. .

Sorry to see us lose a customer this early in the life of GMG I don't want to create a world where people's RL income puts them ahead in game, that's what the real world is for. I go to these worlds and play these games for the social aspects of them, I think alot of other people do as well.

Originally Posted by gnomad

How about a dose of reality. If I make over a 100K a year and want to spend some of my disposable income on reducing the amount of my time that is wasted so be it. Of course if games were less time sinks and more skill vs looks/level/loot oriented then maybe a person wouldn't have to play 12 hours / day to get something useful in game.

Well if you look at playing these games as 'time wasted' then you've got other issues beyond this one. If the games make you feel like they contain time sinks and that time's being wasted, then that's the design fault, and your fault for continuing to play. THe challenge is to create a world where you do things without an eye towards the clock or your experience bar. That's the challenge in alot of ways.

Originally Posted by gnomad

Curt, anytime you want some input from an older cynical cranky gamer with over 30 years in the computer industry who has played just about all the garbage that has been rolled out, drop me a PM.

Doesn't look like I have to, looks like you're offering the input anyway I've been a gamer for 25 years, I am pretty comfortable with my views on the gaming world and I certainly don't look at the last 25 years as garbage time, far from it. I'm excited as hell at the history that's in place, and GMGs ability to learn from it and not repeat mistakes that have been made.

It's a huge challenge no question, but certainly not a bigger challenge than I've had to meet and beat before that's for sure. I welcome it and am looking forward to the reaction to this company, and it's people, a few years from now when it's realized who we are and what we are doing. Pretty exciting stuff.

[Soygen]

Gnomad = struck out looking.

I look forward to seeing whatever you guys do. I'm not one to get overexcited for something that isn't nearly about to release, but I'll definitely be following your project.

[Surreal]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Looking forward to what you guys come up with. Having someone as accomplished as RA Salvatore and Todd McFarlane as part of the team gives an opportunity to see something special.

If you ever want to do some market research/focus groups send me a pm, Ill give you a discount from one gamer to another Course Id like to see some artwork or part of the game to get a feel for the project lol

[Faille]

Originally Posted by Ngruk

Why would you make a stand, even later in production, for or against something like that? If it works within the framwork of what you are creating then you use it, if it doesn't, then don't. Instancing, and the arguments for/against, is something that doesn't need a hardcore line in the sand approach to imo, if it works good, if it doesn't fine. Maybe it works within a component of your world, if so cool, maybe it doesn't.



What do you mean by secondary market? That encompasses a ton of potential things, so I am not sure what specifically you are referring to.

Making a stand is probably the wrong term to use. More making a decision, since from many viewpoints it's a decision I think should be made earlier rather then later. At least from a technical standpoint, the decision on which engine to use needs to factor in wether you want instancing or not. Likewise, from a design side, it can influence a lot of how you plan to create the world.

I like Sigil's decision not to have any instancing at all in Vanguard, not because I think instancing is the devil, but because it will show a good modern alternative to having too much instancing, and I think that's good for the genre as a whole.

Personally, I prefer not to have instancing in a game as much as possible, but there's just too many cases where it is a better alternative and provides a better gaming experience to just discount it totally.

That said, any game is going to have a balance of instancing, and I was just curious if any decision had been made by GMG as to what sort of mix they would be aiming for.

[Faille]

Oh, and by Secondary Market, I Was refering to buying and selling in game currency for real money.

Personally I'm against it, but when you make the assumption that it's going to happen no matter what, I prefer to see the game company itself profiting from it rather then some other company.

[Angerz]

If you game makes you use gold like wow does for raiding, please dont hurt the poor chinese farmers.

if its like EQ as far as money spending went, go ahead, ban away.

[WillzZz]

Man.... 27 Pages and the last 10 or so I was weeping openly at the news that it wouldn't be Demonwars.

Also, what Tyen said. wru Fallout?

And lastly: *long sigh at more fantasy*

Atleast take this opportunity to innovate. Wasting all that talent and potential on another sandwich combat game is going to make me puke up way more than I do already. For the love of god, no more Healers -> Main Tank -> Mob <- DPS. Please. Think of the children.

[Utnayan]

I cannot convey more than anyone else here has that middle age D&D has been played out to the extreme. Enough of it. There are plenty of settings that people are looking for that would bring something fresh to the genre. Don't think that other titles, which have outright sucked publisher funding to the bone, did so because of the theme. Anarchy Online had one of the most horrible launches known to man. And while I hear it is a lot better now, you never recover from a shitty launch. Same with Star Wars Galaxies, which just became shittier every month. No one really has yet to put out a great sci fi game with a good launch, and fun gameplay concepts.

Time to think of something else, especially if you want to put your company on the map. Sci Fi, Post Nuclear, Pre-Nuclear, or hell, a completely different Sci fi storyline. Modern, Prohibition era Mafia, western, Roman era, greek mythology, etc. Anything else but Fantasy D&D.

I personally think RA Salvatore is washed up. But if you really think this guy can create something good, then have him do it out of his comfort zone of rehashed D&D and bring something fresh to the genre.

This is a problem with how the industry thinks as a whole though more than you or your company. Think outside of the box and look at common sense. Sci fi themed MMORPG's didn't suck because of the theme, which is the scapegoat everyone uses to save their jobs after they release a pile of shit into the industry. They suck because all we have had so far are poorly thought out pieces of trash made for a dollar not by a dollar. And when these titles fail, big name publishers brand that area of the market as a washout. Instead of pointing the finger at the people who fucked it up.

Bring something better to this industry with your new company than another generic fantasy game. This theme is all played out and quite frankly, just flat out boring after 15 minutes when you realize it's the same thing under the hood with a new coat of paint.

[Surreal]

I agree I would like to see a new genre show up, I love fantasy but its time for something fresh. A Shadowrun type game is just waiting to be made and would extremely successful.

Anarchy Online had a great idea but as mentioned above a horrible launch killed that game.

A few things that kill a game for me are:

1) Piss poor launch. Yeah there might be a bug or two here and there that needs to be worked but Anarchy Online and Shadowbane were the two worst launches Ive ever seen. You have 100K new subscribers in the game on day one, account for the lag in the newbie areas prior to launch!

2) Lack of content. The gamers on this board especially chew thru content extremely fast. For myself I really liked WoW but when Molten Core became a farming zone and new content wasnt close to being released that was the end of WoW for me. I cancelled my account and havent played since. I just cant get back into a game after that happens. Same with DDO, thought it was a fun game that didnt require significant amounts of time to be invested to have fun, finished the content, game over.

3) Have your gameplay/character development finished before release. I loved EQ, played it hardcore for 3ish years, online everyday for hours playing it. I had my levels (I hate leveling) and was enjoying the community and all the raiding. Then they decide to add AAs and that killed the fun for me. Sure it gave you new things to accomplish on your toon but in a hardcore raiding guild there is the pressure to have all your AAs. Had they been in the game at the beginning I wouldnt have minded but damn, dont make me re-level my character 2-3 years into it. Maybe Im in the minority on this one but figure out what you want for character development and have it in the game from day 1.

[Scaffa]

Yep, Shadowrun style mmorpg would be the first thing since Zelda 64 to take cash out of my wallet on pre-order.

[Sharmai]

*In response to buying gold in games...

While I am not an advocate of allowing people to buy gold for cash in online games either we all agree that any form of "currency" that a mmo uses will be exploited buy the likes of buywowgold.com and ige etc.

It seems as if blizzard's approach has only hurt their more diehard fans like us here in that instead of purchasing herbs and potions on the AH for cheap those mass bans cause all prices to skyrocket.

Why we haven't yet tried to use a different system to combat this problem is beyond me but I'm espically suprised no one has mentioned the EVE system.

In EVE farmers can't generate enough isk farming to have a noticable impact on the enviroment so the only way the farmers can get the millions of ISK neccessary to sell for money is to buy 30/90/120 day time cards and then sell those cards to players in exchange for ISK (which EVE fully allows and supports)

When this does is allow a kind of "reward" to the high end and dedicated players by almost giving them free time for all the hard work, time, and effort they put in to get there. It also at the same time allows those who wish to spend insane globs of cash on my a way to do so without significatly hurting the Market.


The players who do buy this gold will go out and buy up all the fun expensive toys and believe they are going to pw3n only to find out that in EVE skill will quickly get the destroyed...


There would have to be some underlying features to get this to work such a exponentialy scaling currency drop (Read: 10 gold an hour by lvl 10 and 1 million an hour by lvl 60) and also Skillsets are goals the required people to reach before they could use that new uber weapon/armor/etc they just bought.