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Black Prophecy: GDC 2010 Preview
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood sat down with Gamigo's Patrick Streppel to talk about Black Prophecy at this year's Game Developers Conference.
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Black Prophecy is a new sci-fi MMO coming from Reakktor Media and now being brought to the Western Market by the good people at Gamigo. Here at the 2010 Game Developer’s Conference I had the opportunity to sit down with Gamigo’s Patrick Streppel to talk about the upcoming game.
For those who might not know, Black Prophecy is an action-oriented space based sci-fi F2P MMORPG, with players flying and battling ships in various sectors of space, in both PvE and PvP and in instances and a larger persistent world.
Read the full preview here.
Comments
Since this is going to be an item shop funded MMO, that immediately kills any chance of decent pvp. I just don't see this being more than a small niche MMO for that reason.
Wow, I had no idea it would be F2P. I don't think that really impacts my decision to play or not. I'm really looking forward to this game, if for no other reason than twitch based controls and a chance to dust off my joystick.
Prax
This. Those who can afford to play (50 bucks a month? More?) will dominate, and everyone else will just return to Eve.
And 6 years later, Jumpgate: Evoluton will come out.
The development philosophy where this is concerned for Black Prophecy players to be able to earn in-game almost everything that is available in the items shop with the exception being aesthetic items.
Basically, what this says is that while you can grind PvE instances for hours on end to get that single laser you need to upgrade your ship, you could just BUY 6 of them to fully outfit your ship all at once for a low low price of $5.99. Of course, these are destroyed when your ship is, and there is no insurance... (just a guess on my part).
I'm still scratching my head as to how this one ended up F2P. It was one of the MMOs I was most looking forward to playing this year, and I was quite willing to go the monthly sub route. I've never tried a F2P game before so I guess this will be my first. Maybe it won't be as bad as everyone is predicting.
This is primarily a result of the publishing industry. If you want to go P2P, and do in store boxes, you basically have to sell your game to a big publisher, and then do what they tell you. If you want to go F2P, and do free downloads, and direct sales, you get to call the shots yourself, and you basically pay a publisher to do the front end work for you. The third option is to self publish, which takes a lot of cash, and usually results in lower results, so you have to cut corners just to survive the first few years.
It does make sense here, as much of the 'content' for this game is created by player interaction, and more players means greater interaction... and success.
I'm not familier w/ Gamigo. Are they rapists like gPotato? It'd be a shame to see all that work go down the crapper b/c of greed. Like we're seeing with people's disinterest in Allods. After glowing early reviews, and even after the dmg control change to the shop. People just don't trust them, no matter how polished the game is.
Free to Play
In discussing any F2P title, it is important to ask the developers about their plans for the game’s item mall. The development philosophy where this is concerned for Black Prophecy players to be able to earn in-game almost everything that is available in the items shop with the exception being aesthetic items.
If this is truly the case, then maybe it won't destroy PvP. We'll see I guess.
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I'm not sure I understand this paragraph
"In discussing any F2P title, it is important to ask the developers about their plans for the game’s item mall. The development philosophy where this is concerned for Black Prophecy players to be able to earn in-game almost everything that is available in the items shop with the exception being aesthetic items."
So, did you ask this or not? What is the answer? Did they actually say all store items would be available in game, or are you just stating this is important to the players?
Did Jumpage Evolution Die? What the crud is this?
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Blarg. I was hoping they'd go pure Freemium based on DDO's reported subscription numbers (double what they had during their sub model time). I wouldn't think you'd need an item shop if you could have 2x as many subbed players using a F2P model.
Good journalism Jon. What I came away with was some simple math.
(EVE + FPS) x (F2P + MMO) = BP
Am I in the right neck of the "woods" here?
With my multiple eve online accounts there is no way I would fork over more cash to a subscription for either jumpgate or bp. With this going f2p I can easily juggle both games and just play bp in spurts. Still always nerve wracking watching a game you have alot of interest in and just waiting to see how the item shop affects it all. Can't wait to get in his game at the end of year though.
I'll look forward to trying this. Item shops when done poorly, result in a cheap experience, but if there isnt anything that is stat-enhancing or skill-enhancing, it could be interesting.
Striving for Silver Stars since Gold is so effeminate.
I was following BP for a while until mid summer as of last year, now I find out it is a F2P.
-sigh-
I just pray it isn't a gpotatoe "rape" model similar to allods online.
DDO reminded me how F2P CAN work as a business model, so I still have hope for BP, it just isn't as strong as before. What ever happened to Jumpgate Evo? Im dying for a space mmo more action packed than Eve Online. Albeit I do enjoy Eve Online for many years, I just want something more fast-paced and twitch combat.
I wish the Item Shop part of the industry would just realize that it doesn't need any fancy powerful must have stuff to convince people to buy stuff...
just look at DDO and SoEs marketplace...
DDO sells aesthetic items, vanity stuff, exp potions and thus certs for higher lvl that you can also get for doing the questlines.
The Marketplace offers house items, aesthetic clothing and pet-a-morph wands, character transfers, race change etc and some EXP potions for leveling and crafting...
nothing game breaking and nothing you absolutely HAVE to buy (perfume in Allods anyone?). Just some fun stuff and a few things to "ease" the game for casual players...
and guess what? people buy the stuff.... even EQ // EQ2 players who already pay for a subscription spend EXTRA money on the item shop because they want the fun stuff...
If Reakktor understands that - they'll have a successful title on their hands, with lots of happy customers who will gladly spend their money in the CS... if they don't they'll probably end up in the same place as Astrum Nival with Allods...
Basic Rule of Selling: Happy Customers spend more!
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This game looked pretty good until I saw "F2P".
Not interested anymore. I dont like item malls.
Ditto !!!!
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Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
F2P on its own doesn't bother me. DDOU showed that F2P when done right is just fine.
Also, Jumpgate isn't dead, they just posted this on their official forum:
OK, in the spirit of some form of information here is at least a few of the things we are working on/thinking about now. All subject to change, insert standard disclaimer here.
-"Battlespace" returning to more of its simulator roots from Classic, really a place to practice not advance. I know this will make some of you happy in that advancing will only happen in "real" space not instant action type playing. I still hope to have some achievements/leader board materials form here but not likely to have any equipment or pilot advancing type effects.
-Lots of work on missions. With the new design team map layouts, mission stories, the types of things you do in missions, etc is all MUCH more interesting and varied than ever before. The kinds of things we can now do is very advanced.
-Better faction definition. The stories in the game really tell all about your faction and why you are at war with the others. The story is also darker than before with many of the missions you fly feeling more gray than the typical black and white always doing the good thing type story.
-PvP. Lots and lots of work on systems for PvP, new maps, new game play, new forms of advancement, player built battle stations, capturing sectors, etc. The scope and feel of the massive space battles you will be taking part in against other players will be, IMHO, what really sets us apart.
-AI functionality. Tons of work on making the AI both the right difficulty (it was way to easy before) and also varied in behavior.
Once we have more solid information we'll share it.
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I'm looking forward to both BP and JGE. It's almost a matter of whichever game comes out first at this point.
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I discovered from this article that they changed the payment system.
It originally would be subscription based, and now... F2P with cash shop.
They gave no details, werent open to discussion and a trying to control the players reaction to it saying that, only cosmethical items wont be available in-game for free players...
but this means that, everything else that IS NOT COSMETHICAL, YES THEY WILL EXIST, wich is implicit, will be available in-game, but this doesnt mean shit.
What if an item that cost $10 bucks, requires a crap load of time to acquire? This still sucks and counts as abusive cash shop.
Majority of items in the mall will be only for visual effects. Any other items than the visual effects are obtainable in-game. Just think Maplestory in space. Want red paint on your ship...buy it in the mall, that's basically it.
I can't wait to play it, I hope my Saitek Pro Flight Yoke can be used
just FYI it's the best flight sim controller ever, I love it 
http://www.amazon.com/Saitek-Flight-Three-Lever-Throttle-PZ44/dp/B000TCD1UK/ref=sr_1_3/175-7002699-2941726?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1268269776&sr=8-3
....I was looking forward to this game so much!!!
GG cash shop and crappy F2P models.
Uhh... what?
This will be a fun one to screw around on. Honestly, the F2P model doesn't bother me with this game.
There are WAY too many people knocking on free to play games with no quantifiable reasons. They've not even announced specifics and they bitch and moan.
I don't like the idea of it being f2p . I still may try it anyway since p2p games are starting to have item shops also.
I guess i should wait to see what happens, but my experience with F2P = crappy
Uhh... what?
I generally don't like item malls. Anyone who knows me will likely be aware of this. I make an exception with Gamigo. They don't do RMT like anyone else I've seen.
If I choose to buy an item, I'm purchasing the licence to use it for a specific amount of time. If during that time period, the item doesn't work, or gets altered in any way, I can get a refund on the time that is left on my licence.
Most RMT MMOs tell me that I'm paying for an item, but this doesn't give me any any rights to it. If it doesn't work, gets nerfed or even deleted outright, that's just tough luck for me. Gamigo is different. I know exactly what I'm getting, and for how long. If I'm not satisfied, I get my money back. That's the way all RMT shops should be run imo.
Also, this is not subscription plus RMT, it's RMT only, and that's the way it should be. Multiple layers of fees in an MMO are a non-starter for me. If I pay a subscription fee, then all the best features should be included. I shouldn't have to pay extra for the newest gear (e.g. StarWars Galaxies TCG loot items), and I shouldn't have to pay extra for starting races with unique stats (e.g. StarTrek online). I also shouldn't have to pay extra for respecs (Champions online).
I beta tested Gamigo's Pirate Galaxies because of the way they do business. I liked it. I'm still playing it now. I had one glitch in the game and got excellent customer service. I sent a ticket, and the next time I logged in, the issue was resolved and I had an email explaining the nature of the problem and solution. The only thing I would say about it is that I think it would run better on a newer machine.
The folks at Gamigo seem to know what they're doing, and that's refreshing.