Green Monster Games - Curt Schilling

Cybsled

Cybsled

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Innovation and differentiation are concerns only where lack of creative genius is involved.
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That is true, but there is a large leap between generating ideas and actually implementing them in a workable fashion. An idea is like clearing the land for a house that you have envisioned. The tricky part is getting all those programmers, developers, and artists to build the house you had planned and make that house work properly
 
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Ngruk_foh

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Cybsled said:
That is true, but there is a large leap between generating ideas and actually implementing them in a workable fashion. An idea is like clearing the land for a house that you have envisioned. The tricky part is getting all those programmers, developers, and artists to build the house you had planned and make that house work properly
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It"s not a tricky part if everyone in the company knows from day 1 that is a goal. Thinking outside the box is a must and doing so within the confines of designing a game is a skill needed to be part of this.

I am not trying to make it sound easy, because I know it is not. But when you look around you can see so much that is not out there.

I also understand that there are alot of ideas and concepts that are not original to us, they just haven"t been done for one reason or another. Some of those reasons are incredibly stupid and simple, while others have firm technical reasoning behind them being omitted.

So far what"s gone on has been incredible and exciting, and with the first GMG employees arriving in office this week it"s only getting more nerve wracking, exhilarating and fun at a frantic pace.
 
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Duppin_sl

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While I have a lot of faith in the team you"ve assembled, I"m just not sure that there"s much left unexplored in the high fantasy gamespace.

Even before MMORPGs came around, we had countless single-player games all in that same space as well. It"s just tapped out.

If that"s the direction you"re taking your project in, I hope you"re able to prove me wrong. But the proof will be in the pudding.
 
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Kildace_foh

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While it"s true that most MMO players are currently playing a high fantasy MMO and therefore that developping one is a sure-fire way of attracting a lot of people, I still am convinced that it would be a 100 times easier to build hype on a MMO that distances itself from that setting. Plus, you have to ask yourself another question : out of those 93.5% people, how many are playing a high fantasy game by default because, beside EVE every decent MMO that has been released in the past 5 years was high fantasy, and how many would be willing, hell, eager to jump ship if a *well engineered* different MMO came along?
I know I would.

Edit: I"m not trying to discourage you or anything, I realize that the design doc for your game is probably in the making and that the high fantasy stuff is already set in stone. This post is more like a plea to devs everywhere: please release something different and good, thanks.
 
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Frax_foh

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Ngruk said:
Isn"t it always?
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No doubt. The MMO industry is littered with the corpses of shadowbanes and Asheron Call 2"s. How far away is any kind of announcement on the title or genre ? Any answer of "More on this soon" and McQuaid might sue for infringing on Sigil"s trademark :p
 
Cybsled

Cybsled

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Initial interest in SWG showed that a sci-fi MMO is indeed viable...what killed that interest and momentum was horrible design, lag, and bugs.

I can almost guarantee you that if Blizzard released World of Starcraft instead of Warcraft, it would have done about the same in terms of success.

I think there is alot of interest in the non-fantasy genres, it just has to be done right. And even if you stay in fantasy, there are many options for that as well. You could employ a FF7/8/10 "sci-fi fantasy" setting, you could employ a heavy steampunk setting, you could employ an "evil" fantasy setting. Anything but the vanilla fantasy trappings you see all too often. WoW"s fantasy setting alone isnt a high fantasy setting...its like part fantasy, part steampunk, with a dash of sci-fi. I"d rather have the setting of Chrono Trigger then Ultima 3.
 
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Zawicki_foh

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Duppin said:
A baseball MMO would be really strange and probably not that much fun.

I think the market for non-fantasy games in the MMO market is wildly underestimated. 93.5% percent of the MMOG subscribers play fantasy MMOs because that"s where the best made games currently are. The fantasy theme probably helps to a certainly extent, but people will go where the good games are.

Look at (to pull an example from RTSes) Starcraft. It"s one of the most popular games ever, and it"s not based in a fantasy world. People like it because it"s a well-made game.

Pretty much every non-fantasy MMO game so far has either been a deeply flawed game, or designed to appeal to a certain very specific niche.

Games I"d put in the former category:
-Anarchy Online (turned out to be better later on but had an abysmal launch)
-Earth and Beyond (had an abysmal launch AND never ended up being a good game)
-Neocron (see above)

Games I"d put in the latter category:
-EvE Online (designed for hardcore PvPers and/or people who want a sandbox-style world with no real established objectives)
-Planetside (MMOFPS/squad combat in an MMO setting)

Frankly (and this isn"t a dig at you specifically, more the game publishers in general) I think we keep getting all of these high fantasy games because it"s relatively "safe". I"d like to see someone who is well-funded and who wants to push the envelope really do something innovative.

There isn"t much left to innovate in high fantasy. As an example, let"s compare WoW classes with their EQ "equivalents":

-Warrior: Warrior
-Rogue: Rogue
-Druid: Druid (this is a bit specious because the playstyles do differ somewhat)
-Shaman: Shaman (see above)
-Warlock: basically a Necromancer with some additional toys
-Mage: Wizard
-Hunter: Ranger
-Priest: Cleric
-Paladin: Paladin

Yes, you can tear the above bit apart somewhat because the classes do play differently. I acknowledge this. My point is more about there only being so many different archetypes for fantasy classes, and stylistic differences are all that are left to do.

edit: I apparently fell in love with the word "genre".
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While I agree with you on the class aspect, there are only so many different archetypes. Why not make a game that breaks out of the Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings mold and create something new? I personally would love to see something other than a warrior/healer/debuff the enemy/damage setup that we have in the MMO realm today.

LISeru said:
How about an Ender"s Game MMO?
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While I LOVE the Ender series, and I am a fan of Orson Scott Card"s writing overall... He would never allow a MMO based upon Ender"s world...or I very seriously doubt it.(money can talk loud enough sometimes to pursue decisions that people wouldn"t normally make)

Done right an Ender MMO is something I would love to see.
 
Eomer

Eomer

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It doesn"t even have to be Fallout licensed. Any sort of modern, semi-modern, or sci-fi post apocalyptic world setting would make for a great MMOG I think. Rifts would probably be the absolute ultimate MMOG license for such a game.
 
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Ngruk_foh

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Well I can assure you it won"t be BSG. It won"t be western, it won"t be space, it will be cool though!

Things are progressing at an incredible pace right now as well. All the things you don"t take into account when you sit around and say "How cool would it be....." are in play now.

The business aspects of everything are in the works and being completed. Matching 401ks, dental, vision, etc. etc., all the things you have to address with every bit the focus you want to put into the game if you want the worlds best and most creative talent to work with/for you have to be taken care of and paid attention to.

Our HQ is leased and ready! We even have employees on the ground running!!

It"s getting fun, and staying terrifying at the same time.

Going to look back on these past few weeks in about 5 years and say "Wow, remember when......" and laugh.
 
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Kuro_foh

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Ngruk said:
Well I can assure you it won"t be BSG. It won"t be western, it won"t be space, it will be cool though!

Things are progressing at an incredible pace right now as well. All the things you don"t take into account when you sit around and say "How cool would it be....." are in play now.

The business aspects of everything are in the works and being completed. Matching 401ks, dental, vision, etc. etc., all the things you have to address with every bit the focus you want to put into the game if you want the worlds best and most creative talent to work with/for you have to be taken care of and paid attention to.

Our HQ is leased and ready! We even have employees on the ground running!!

It"s getting fun, and staying terrifying at the same time.

Going to look back on these past few weeks in about 5 years and say "Wow, remember when......" and laugh.
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Can I be a Cyborg Ninja Pirate Riding a T-rex into battle against Napoleon?
 
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Lost Ranger_sl

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Man0warr said:
Since Salvatore is involved I hope its FR setting.
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I dont. Not because I dont like FR, I really like the FR setting but if its FR then the game is already limited in what they can do with it. We have all seen the high fantasy thing done to death and if they pick FR then we are just going to see the same thing again... and in a world most of us know because we have read books/PnP whatever.

If they want to go with fantasy then whatever... I have hopes that someone will show some balls and stop following the crowd like the rest of the lemmings. I cant take anymore fucking elves :p
 
Cybsled

Cybsled

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I dont. Not because I dont like FR, I really like the FR setting but if its FR then the game is already limited in what they can do with it.
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Ironically, that probably would have helped DDO ;(
 
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Man0warr_foh

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I think it would be a good thing. DDO failed because they used the most obscure and unpopular setting, Eberron.

Toril without Drow Elves, or atleast without good drow elves, would be sweet. Or we would have a ton of Drizzts. So many good starting races/cities.
 
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Lost Ranger_sl

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Yeah maybe. Ill admit one of the things that puts me off about a FR based MMO is dealing with all the unoriginal wannabes that you KNOW will be around. Every other halfling will be some form of Regis, every other Drow will be Drizzt... human rogues will have 1000 different Artemis ect.

Its amazing how much Drizzt related material you see in games that have nothing to do with him. In EQ2 I couldnt believe how many Dark Elfs on the RP server tried to roleplay the loner dark elf who turned good. Reading their background stories in their profiles was like reading Salvatore everytime. I can only imagine how bad it will be if its in a real Drizzt setting.

I see pros and cons I guess.
 
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keflex_foh

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Ngruk said:
Well I can assure you it won"t be BSG. It won"t be western, it won"t be space, it will be cool though!

Things are progressing at an incredible pace right now as well. All the things you don"t take into account when you sit around and say "How cool would it be....." are in play now.

The business aspects of everything are in the works and being completed. Matching 401ks, dental, vision, etc. etc., all the things you have to address with every bit the focus you want to put into the game if you want the worlds best and most creative talent to work with/for you have to be taken care of and paid attention to.

Our HQ is leased and ready! We even have employees on the ground running!!

It"s getting fun, and staying terrifying at the same time.

Going to look back on these past few weeks in about 5 years and say "Wow, remember when......" and laugh.
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i"m not very fond of the EQ playstyle (which it sounds like you"re partial to), but good luck to you and your endeavors -- this world needs more good developers.
 
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