This is from february 2012, where the main programmer joined EQNext from EQ. That's only a year and a bit ago.
The development on the game started 3 and half years ago. Some of the work was scrapped, but by the time the game releases it will have been worked on in some form or another for 4 years or so.
There's also more to making a game than programming (though that's obviously a core part of it).
But there's also all the GDDs that have to be made up, detailing all the mechanics and systems. There's also art (concept, 3d modeling, animation, etc), then there's also having writers do dialog, lore, etc...
Also nothing says that other programmers can't work on the project and someone else performing the tasks of lead programmer until the position was filled....
But work on EQN started about 3 and a half years ago.
Originally posted by wr75 The reason for the secrecy is so that they can have a comfortable lead before Blizzard finds out and steals/copies everything.
Lol, why do you think Titan was put on hold around the same time that EQN was being touted as "The next big mmo"?
Probably because with current tech EQN will be same old same old and Blizzard did not want to release some boring crap like EQN will be and draw what they have from WoW.
Lads we have caught a big one, someone get the net.
Originally posted by wr75 The reason for the secrecy is so that they can have a comfortable lead before Blizzard finds out and steals/copies everything.
Lol, why do you think Titan was put on hold around the same time that EQN was being touted as "The next big mmo"?
Probably because with current tech EQN will be same old same old and Blizzard did not want to release some boring crap like EQN will be and draw what they have from WoW.
Lads we have caught a big one, someone get the net.
Do not be angry that Blizzard can out market and produce then SOE. You mad bro? Blizzard watches and waits like the spider...SOE throws crap out and hopes it sticks. Not that Blizzard always wins, but WoW has been a beast by watching the market. Innovation is great and fun, but really what does SOE have to innovate with at the moment. Is there some great AI to make PvE awesome yet....no. Is there anything other than what is already out there, but in a new shiny wrapping for PvP...not really. Blizzard would have been stupid to release competition against itself with nothing new to be the big draw. SOE is hoping to get something going because they are way behind at the moment.
Originally posted by wr75 The reason for the secrecy is so that they can have a comfortable lead before Blizzard finds out and steals/copies everything.
Lol, why do you think Titan was put on hold around the same time that EQN was being touted as "The next big mmo"?
Probably because with current tech EQN will be same old same old and Blizzard did not want to release some boring crap like EQN will be and draw what they have from WoW.
Lads we have caught a big one, someone get the net.
Do not be angry that Blizzard can out market and produce then SOE. You mad bro? Blizzard watches and waits like the spider...SOE throws crap out and hopes it sticks. Not that Blizzard always wins, but WoW has been a beast by watching the market. Innovation is great and fun, but really what does SOE have to innovate with at the moment. Is there some great AI to make PvE awesome yet....no. Is there anything other than what is already out there, but in a new shiny wrapping for PvP...not really. Blizzard would have been stupid to release competition against itself with nothing new to be the big draw. SOW is hoping to get something going because they are way behind at the moment.
This is from february 2012, where the main programmer joined EQNext from EQ. That's only a year and a bit ago.
The development on the game started 3 and half years ago. Some of the work was scrapped, but by the time the game releases it will have been worked on in some form or another for 4 years or so.
There's also more to making a game than programming (though that's obviously a core part of it).
But there's also all the GDDs that have to be made up, detailing all the mechanics and systems. There's also art (concept, 3d modeling, animation, etc), then there's also having writers do dialog, lore, etc...
Also nothing says that other programmers can't work on the project and someone else performing the tasks of lead programmer until the position was filled....
But work on EQN started about 3 and a half years ago.
This could also have been when they decided to scrap their older design, and brought in new programmers for the new build/new design direction.
Originally posted by wr75 The reason for the secrecy is so that they can have a comfortable lead before Blizzard finds out and steals/copies everything.
Lol, why do you think Titan was put on hold around the same time that EQN was being touted as "The next big mmo"?
Probably because with current tech EQN will be same old same old and Blizzard did not want to release some boring crap like EQN will be and draw what they have from WoW.
Lads we have caught a big one, someone get the net.
Do not be angry that Blizzard can out market and produce then SOE. You mad bro? Blizzard watches and waits like the spider...SOE throws crap out and hopes it sticks. Not that Blizzard always wins, but WoW has been a beast by watching the market. Innovation is great and fun, but really what does SOE have to innovate with at the moment. Is there some great AI to make PvE awesome yet....no. Is there anything other than what is already out there, but in a new shiny wrapping for PvP...not really. Blizzard would have been stupid to release competition against itself with nothing new to be the big draw. SOE is hoping to get something going because they are way behind at the moment.
AI you say? StoryBrick was aiming to build the best artificial intelligence (AI) engine for online games by giving characters emotions — and licensing this engine to third-parties. And now it seems that Sony Online — specifically EverQuest Next — will be the first title to benefit from Storybricks’ AI boosting technology.
Blizzard pushed back it's Titan release because it needs time to steal ideas from EQ. Again.
As for SOE, they're not behind on anything. They have huge numbers of players. Like 9 million on the Free Realms game. Then they got EQ, EQ2, Planetside 2 and DCUO all making lots of money for them.
And now they're going to be releasing what it set to be the only real AAA Sandbox MMORPG on the market, with no competition in sight (Archeage and Black Desert are no where near ready for US release)
Basically, Blizzard would probably have lost this round, so they decided to pull back, wait a few years, then release their game far away from EQN's launch.
It was a smart move, because they would have gotten stomped
Originally posted by wr75 The reason for the secrecy is so that they can have a comfortable lead before Blizzard finds out and steals/copies everything.
Lol, why do you think Titan was put on hold around the same time that EQN was being touted as "The next big mmo"?
Probably because with current tech EQN will be same old same old and Blizzard did not want to release some boring crap like EQN will be and draw what they have from WoW.
Lads we have caught a big one, someone get the net.
Do not be angry that Blizzard can out market and produce then SOE. You mad bro? Blizzard watches and waits like the spider...SOE throws crap out and hopes it sticks. Not that Blizzard always wins, but WoW has been a beast by watching the market. Innovation is great and fun, but really what does SOE have to innovate with at the moment. Is there some great AI to make PvE awesome yet....no. Is there anything other than what is already out there, but in a new shiny wrapping for PvP...not really. Blizzard would have been stupid to release competition against itself with nothing new to be the big draw. SOE is hoping to get something going because they are way behind at the moment.
AI you say? StoryBrick was aiming to build the best artificial intelligence (AI) engine for online games by giving characters emotions — and licensing this engine to third-parties. And now it seems that Sony Online — specifically EverQuest Next — will be the first title to benefit from Storybricks’ AI boosting technology.
Blizzard pushed back it's Titan release because it needs time to steal ideas from EQ. Again.
As for SOE, they're not behind on anything. They have huge numbers of players. Like 9 million on the Free Realms game. Then they got EQ, EQ2, Planetside 2 and DCUO all making lots of money for them.
And now they're going to be releasing what it set to be the only real AAA Sandbox MMORPG on the market, with no competition in sight (Archeage and Black Desert are no where near ready for US release)
Basically, Blizzard would probably have lost this round, so they decided to pull back, wait a few years, then release their game far away from EQN's launch.
It was a smart move, because they would have gotten stomped
I lean toward believing that Blizzard pushed it back for this reason, also. They love to "borrow" ideas and refine them.
There's a high chance it's a total failure of a game and they're just throwing something out there hoping it sticks.
A game that stands on it's own doesn't need any hype, it will hype itself, Smedley has done nothing but hype this game.
Then there's the weird preview MMORPG and TTH got and they gave it rewards without anyone seeing it. You would think the first people you show the game would be your fans...why was this done in total secrecy?
Then there's the weird E3 preview that only let in a very few people.
And just the fact they released nothing about this game. They said it will be playable at SOE Live in 2 weeks...and they have shown nothing.
Altogether, extremely weird behavior for a gaming company.
There's a tiny bit of hope for me that this game will be amazing, but it's tiny. I'm not going to get hyped over something I know nothing about at all.
It all makes sense if you know the background.
First of all, they have been working on the game since at least 2009, possible before that, but 2009 is when we heard the first rumblings. Now, as many know they scrapped 2 previous designs. That doesnt mean they scrapped all the work they had done, that means they scrapped the "ideaology" of the game, they still had all the art assets, all the model assets, etc etc that could be reused.
Secondarily the secrecy is on purpose. If you watch the Georgeson interview from a couple months before e3 (its here on mmorpg.com it was with an mmorpg.com person) he specifically states the reason they are keeping hush hush is because they feel like the ideas they have created are so game changing that they dont want to tip their hand to the rest of the industry and get copied.
Basically he is talking about Blizzard. Blizzard have absolutely no ethical qualms with copying features from another game and trying to get it implemented in their own game before said game releases. The best example of this was the Tome of Knowledge from Warhammer Online, which is now common place in MMOs, but, as soon as videos and info came out about the tome of knowledge in Warhammer Online, all of a sudden 2 months later in a patch Blizzard adds in their own version of the tome of knowledge and tries to claim innovative credit for it.
Edit: I forgot to mention, i personally feel like the news of blizzard delaying Titan had everything to do with EQ:Next. It was just too shortly after EQ:Next was announced. I personally think they want to see what cards SOE is holding so they can make sure and steal all the best crap and put it into their own game. Thats motus operandi for blizzard.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
Originally posted by wr75 The reason for the secrecy is so that they can have a comfortable lead before Blizzard finds out and steals/copies everything.
Lol, why do you think Titan was put on hold around the same time that EQN was being touted as "The next big mmo"?
Probably because with current tech EQN will be same old same old and Blizzard did not want to release some boring crap like EQN will be and draw what they have from WoW.
Lads we have caught a big one, someone get the net.
Do not be angry that Blizzard can out market and produce then SOE. You mad bro? Blizzard watches and waits like the spider...SOE throws crap out and hopes it sticks. Not that Blizzard always wins, but WoW has been a beast by watching the market. Innovation is great and fun, but really what does SOE have to innovate with at the moment. Is there some great AI to make PvE awesome yet....no. Is there anything other than what is already out there, but in a new shiny wrapping for PvP...not really. Blizzard would have been stupid to release competition against itself with nothing new to be the big draw. SOE is hoping to get something going because they are way behind at the moment.
AI you say? StoryBrick was aiming to build the best artificial intelligence (AI) engine for online games by giving characters emotions — and licensing this engine to third-parties. And now it seems that Sony Online — specifically EverQuest Next — will be the first title to benefit from Storybricks’ AI boosting technology.
Blizzard pushed back it's Titan release because it needs time to steal ideas from EQ. Again.
As for SOE, they're not behind on anything. They have huge numbers of players. Like 9 million on the Free Realms game. Then they got EQ, EQ2, Planetside 2 and DCUO all making lots of money for them.
And now they're going to be releasing what it set to be the only real AAA Sandbox MMORPG on the market, with no competition in sight (Archeage and Black Desert are no where near ready for US release)
Basically, Blizzard would probably have lost this round, so they decided to pull back, wait a few years, then release their game far away from EQN's launch.
It was a smart move, because they would have gotten stomped
If Blizzard were so very far ahead, then they wouldn't currently be looking to implement the micro-transaction store, like all the other games have already done. The fact is, Blizzard is just extremely slow at everything they do. I don't think they stopped Titan because of EQN, that just seems like a silly assumption to me. But, they probably are hesitating to see which direction the fickle market goes with the new wave of MMO releases.
Or, maybe their Titan project just sucked and they realized it was wasteful to continue with it.(I mean have you guys seen their recent projects - hello D3)
This is a free to play game so you cant complain for having bought bugs on a dvd. Anyway I think they have dunn several tests involving thousunds of players they can trust not to tell anyone. Maybe some of those anyway did leak some info to blizzard wich might be the reason why blizzard more or less have canceld Titan?
As a programmer, it's my opinion that StoryBrick is nothing actually special. It is a nice and fine graphical wrapper for indie developers and wannabe-game-producers, and it simplifies things for them, but it's nothing that couldn't be done and was done, multiple times, by programmers before.
As long as you have time and resources to develop your own system of npc interaction, you can do it better and with more nuances tailored for your own game that what StoryBrick does. Of course, your own system can't be used successfully by a random guy from a street, like StoryBrick can, and kudos for StoryBrick for that; but for programmers, I was not impressed.
There's a high chance it's a total failure of a game and they're just throwing something out there hoping it sticks.
A game that stands on it's own doesn't need any hype, it will hype itself, Smedley has done nothing but hype this game.
Then there's the weird preview MMORPG and TTH got and they gave it rewards without anyone seeing it. You would think the first people you show the game would be your fans...why was this done in total secrecy?
Then there's the weird E3 preview that only let in a very few people.
And just the fact they released nothing about this game. They said it will be playable at SOE Live in 2 weeks...and they have shown nothing.
Altogether, extremely weird behavior for a gaming company.
There's a tiny bit of hope for me that this game will be amazing, but it's tiny. I'm not going to get hyped over something I know nothing about at all.
Yeah.. cause that is what they do with Everquest games. They throw them out and have just about zero support/expansions and the like. It really makes me angry that they make these hollow shell like products with nothing of substance and expect us to play it. For shame. I would still be playing eq1 if they gave it like ANY support and made a damn expansion from time to time. Jeez.
AI you say? StoryBrick was aiming to build the best artificial intelligence (AI) engine for online games by giving characters emotions — and licensing this engine to third-parties. And now it seems that Sony Online — specifically EverQuest Next — will be the first title to benefit from Storybricks’ AI boosting technology.
Blizzard pushed back it's Titan release because it needs time to steal ideas from EQ. Again.
As for SOE, they're not behind on anything. They have huge numbers of players. Like 9 million on the Free Realms game. Then they got EQ, EQ2, Planetside 2 and DCUO all making lots of money for them.
And now they're going to be releasing what it set to be the only real AAA Sandbox MMORPG on the market, with no competition in sight (Archeage and Black Desert are no where near ready for US release)
Basically, Blizzard would probably have lost this round, so they decided to pull back, wait a few years, then release their game far away from EQN's launch.
It was a smart move, because they would have gotten stomped
I think SOE bought StoryBrick, but I could be wrong about that.
Anyways, yes it's confirmed that EQNext is using it.
I also agree with you that EQN is why Titan got scrapped, but obviously that's just conjecture. I always thought that these companies have moles working in each other companies. It's interesting to me that Titan's announcement of pushback comes right after EQNext is revealed to SOE staff at large. lol like I said, there's no proof of it though - so only a fun hypothesis to throw out there.
Originally posted by wr75 The reason for the secrecy is so that they can have a comfortable lead before Blizzard finds out and steals/copies everything.
Lol, why do you think Titan was put on hold around the same time that EQN was being touted as "The next big mmo"?
Probably because with current tech EQN will be same old same old and Blizzard did not want to release some boring crap like EQN will be and draw what they have from WoW.
Lads we have caught a big one, someone get the net.
Do not be angry that Blizzard can out market and produce then SOE. You mad bro? Blizzard watches and waits like the spider...SOE throws crap out and hopes it sticks. Not that Blizzard always wins, but WoW has been a beast by watching the market. Innovation is great and fun, but really what does SOE have to innovate with at the moment. Is there some great AI to make PvE awesome yet....no. Is there anything other than what is already out there, but in a new shiny wrapping for PvP...not really. Blizzard would have been stupid to release competition against itself with nothing new to be the big draw. SOE is hoping to get something going because they are way behind at the moment.
AI you say? StoryBrick was aiming to build the best artificial intelligence (AI) engine for online games by giving characters emotions — and licensing this engine to third-parties. And now it seems that Sony Online — specifically EverQuest Next — will be the first title to benefit from Storybricks’ AI boosting technology.
Blizzard pushed back it's Titan release because it needs time to steal ideas from EQ. Again.
As for SOE, they're not behind on anything. They have huge numbers of players. Like 9 million on the Free Realms game. Then they got EQ, EQ2, Planetside 2 and DCUO all making lots of money for them.
And now they're going to be releasing what it set to be the only real AAA Sandbox MMORPG on the market, with no competition in sight (Archeage and Black Desert are no where near ready for US release)
Basically, Blizzard would probably have lost this round, so they decided to pull back, wait a few years, then release their game far away from EQN's launch.
It was a smart move, because they would have gotten stomped
"WAS AIMING TO BUILD" does that mean it is out there to see. Or does that mean that the cost of computing power was too high at the moment for a really good AI. Or was there something to see this great AI. Hey I am working on a flying car. I can not show it to you, but I am working on it.
More tears for Blizz crushing EQ2 please.
They are behind. Till they release a universal hit. Have a few quality games with mediocre numbers does not make one the top dog. And where do your numbers come from.
The good part about such a short time period between us being shown and the game releasing is the hype wont wear off. Probably have pre-orders shortly after it's shown. Hype will still be really really strong, so lots of pre-orders to get access to the beta, etc.
Originally posted by Riposte.This The good part about such a short time period between us being shown and the game releasing is the hype wont wear off. Probably have pre-orders shortly after it's shown. Hype will still be really really strong, so lots of pre-orders to get access to the beta, etc.
Originally posted by Riposte.This The good part about such a short time period between us being shown and the game releasing is the hype wont wear off. Probably have pre-orders shortly after it's shown. Hype will still be really really strong, so lots of pre-orders to get access to the beta, etc.
Pre-Orders? Game is going to be F2P.
I bet they'll sell survival packs and the like though for launch.
As a programmer, it's my opinion that StoryBrick is nothing actually special. It is a nice and fine graphical wrapper for indie developers and wannabe-game-producers, and it simplifies things for them, but it's nothing that couldn't be done and was done, multiple times, by programmers before.
As long as you have time and resources to develop your own system of npc interaction, you can do it better and with more nuances tailored for your own game that what StoryBrick does. Of course, your own system can't be used successfully by a random guy from a street, like StoryBrick can, and kudos for StoryBrick for that; but for programmers, I was not impressed.
I was kind of wondering about that myself. I couldn't see what was so special about StoryBricks when I watched a video on it. It looked like a typical scripting system with a user-friendly interface. I only watched a single video and read an article or two about it, so maybe I just haven't researched it enough, but I pretty much got the impression you did about it being more focused on wide-spread general use than actually being anything revolutionary.
But, I'm no programmer, so maybe there's something I missed or just haven't looked into it enough. Maybe there's something useful about it that they just haven't shown off yet, who knows?
Originally posted by Riposte.This The good part about such a short time period between us being shown and the game releasing is the hype wont wear off. Probably have pre-orders shortly after it's shown. Hype will still be really really strong, so lots of pre-orders to get access to the beta, etc.
Originally posted by Riposte.This The good part about such a short time period between us being shown and the game releasing is the hype wont wear off. Probably have pre-orders shortly after it's shown. Hype will still be really really strong, so lots of pre-orders to get access to the beta, etc.
SWTOR all over again.
Nah, Plenty knew SWTOR was going to be crap. The IP is what drove that hype, not the game itself. This time we'll have to see what the game actually is to see if the hype actually transition over into launch. Right now the Hype is about August 2nd and what is going to be announced.
As a programmer, it's my opinion that StoryBrick is nothing actually special. It is a nice and fine graphical wrapper for indie developers and wannabe-game-producers, and it simplifies things for them, but it's nothing that couldn't be done and was done, multiple times, by programmers before.
As long as you have time and resources to develop your own system of npc interaction, you can do it better and with more nuances tailored for your own game that what StoryBrick does. Of course, your own system can't be used successfully by a random guy from a street, like StoryBrick can, and kudos for StoryBrick for that; but for programmers, I was not impressed.
As a programmer myself I was pretty impressed with the ideas and systems they came up with.
NPCs that understand the emotions you're conveying, react to those emotions and then remember how you treated them in the future?
I'm sorry but that's cool, imo. You're entitled to your opinion, but this is new stuff we haven't seen before in any games and a step in the right direction to make the world feel more alive and realistic.
As a programmer, it's my opinion that StoryBrick is nothing actually special. It is a nice and fine graphical wrapper for indie developers and wannabe-game-producers, and it simplifies things for them, but it's nothing that couldn't be done and was done, multiple times, by programmers before.
As long as you have time and resources to develop your own system of npc interaction, you can do it better and with more nuances tailored for your own game that what StoryBrick does. Of course, your own system can't be used successfully by a random guy from a street, like StoryBrick can, and kudos for StoryBrick for that; but for programmers, I was not impressed.
I was kind of wondering about that myself. I couldn't see what was so special about StoryBricks when I watched a video on it. It looked like a typical scripting system with a user-friendly interface. I only watched a single video and read an article or two about it, so maybe I just haven't researched it enough, but I pretty much got the impression you did about it being more focused on wide-spread general use than actually being anything revolutionary.
But, I'm no programmer, so maybe there's something I missed or just haven't looked into it enough. Maybe there's something useful about it that they just haven't shown off yet, who knows?
Think of it in terms of other games like Skyrim. You get an assignment to get money out of the local shop owners in town for the thieves guild by any means you want. So you go to one guy, and you threaten him, and he pays you. Immediately aftewards, you guys are best friends "Hey Friend! Come look at my wear!", he's not afraid of you. He doesn't remember what you just said.
Then you go to the next person and beat them until they give you the money. You talk to them again right afterwards and they're all "Hey how are you!? Want to check out my shop?"
It's things like this. It's not realistic. With the Storybricks AI system, you can treat NPCs how you want(freedom to be overly nice, mean, neutral, etc), they react to the way you treated them and they remember how you treated them like real people.
I don't see how you can have played other MMORPGs with lifeless, emotionless NPCs and say you don't see the benefit in this kind of AI system.
Originally posted by Riposte.This The good part about such a short time period between us being shown and the game releasing is the hype wont wear off. Probably have pre-orders shortly after it's shown. Hype will still be really really strong, so lots of pre-orders to get access to the beta, etc.
SWTOR all over again.
For some, maybe. But it was quite clear it was more of the same, with voice added.
Originally posted by Riposte.This The good part about such a short time period between us being shown and the game releasing is the hype wont wear off. Probably have pre-orders shortly after it's shown. Hype will still be really really strong, so lots of pre-orders to get access to the beta, etc.
SWTOR all over again.
Nah, Plenty knew SWTOR was going to be crap. The IP is what drove that hype, not the game itself. This time we'll have to see what the game actually is to see if the hype actually transition over into launch. Right now the Hype is about August 2nd and what is going to be announced.
So the IP here is not driving the hype. Yeah right.
Comments
The development on the game started 3 and half years ago. Some of the work was scrapped, but by the time the game releases it will have been worked on in some form or another for 4 years or so.
There's also more to making a game than programming (though that's obviously a core part of it).
But there's also all the GDDs that have to be made up, detailing all the mechanics and systems. There's also art (concept, 3d modeling, animation, etc), then there's also having writers do dialog, lore, etc...
Also nothing says that other programmers can't work on the project and someone else performing the tasks of lead programmer until the position was filled....
But work on EQN started about 3 and a half years ago.
Legends of Kesmai, UO, EQ, AO, DAoC, AC, SB, RO, SWG, EVE, EQ2, CoH, GW, VG:SOH, WAR, Aion, DF, CO, MO, DN, Tera, SWTOR, RO2, DP, GW2, PS2, BnS, NW, FF:XIV, ESO, EQ:NL
Lads we have caught a big one, someone get the net.
Do not be angry that Blizzard can out market and produce then SOE. You mad bro? Blizzard watches and waits like the spider...SOE throws crap out and hopes it sticks. Not that Blizzard always wins, but WoW has been a beast by watching the market. Innovation is great and fun, but really what does SOE have to innovate with at the moment. Is there some great AI to make PvE awesome yet....no. Is there anything other than what is already out there, but in a new shiny wrapping for PvP...not really. Blizzard would have been stupid to release competition against itself with nothing new to be the big draw. SOE is hoping to get something going because they are way behind at the moment.
It's bigger than i thought, all hands on deck.
This could also have been when they decided to scrap their older design, and brought in new programmers for the new build/new design direction.
We first heard about it being worked on in 2009, in some form.
AI you say? StoryBrick was aiming to build the best artificial intelligence (AI) engine for online games by giving characters emotions — and licensing this engine to third-parties. And now it seems that Sony Online — specifically EverQuest Next — will be the first title to benefit from Storybricks’ AI boosting technology.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/24/everquest-next/
Blizzard pushed back it's Titan release because it needs time to steal ideas from EQ. Again.
As for SOE, they're not behind on anything. They have huge numbers of players. Like 9 million on the Free Realms game. Then they got EQ, EQ2, Planetside 2 and DCUO all making lots of money for them.
And now they're going to be releasing what it set to be the only real AAA Sandbox MMORPG on the market, with no competition in sight (Archeage and Black Desert are no where near ready for US release)
Basically, Blizzard would probably have lost this round, so they decided to pull back, wait a few years, then release their game far away from EQN's launch.
It was a smart move, because they would have gotten stomped
Legends of Kesmai, UO, EQ, AO, DAoC, AC, SB, RO, SWG, EVE, EQ2, CoH, GW, VG:SOH, WAR, Aion, DF, CO, MO, DN, Tera, SWTOR, RO2, DP, GW2, PS2, BnS, NW, FF:XIV, ESO, EQ:NL
I lean toward believing that Blizzard pushed it back for this reason, also. They love to "borrow" ideas and refine them.
It all makes sense if you know the background.
First of all, they have been working on the game since at least 2009, possible before that, but 2009 is when we heard the first rumblings. Now, as many know they scrapped 2 previous designs. That doesnt mean they scrapped all the work they had done, that means they scrapped the "ideaology" of the game, they still had all the art assets, all the model assets, etc etc that could be reused.
Secondarily the secrecy is on purpose. If you watch the Georgeson interview from a couple months before e3 (its here on mmorpg.com it was with an mmorpg.com person) he specifically states the reason they are keeping hush hush is because they feel like the ideas they have created are so game changing that they dont want to tip their hand to the rest of the industry and get copied.
Basically he is talking about Blizzard. Blizzard have absolutely no ethical qualms with copying features from another game and trying to get it implemented in their own game before said game releases. The best example of this was the Tome of Knowledge from Warhammer Online, which is now common place in MMOs, but, as soon as videos and info came out about the tome of knowledge in Warhammer Online, all of a sudden 2 months later in a patch Blizzard adds in their own version of the tome of knowledge and tries to claim innovative credit for it.
Edit: I forgot to mention, i personally feel like the news of blizzard delaying Titan had everything to do with EQ:Next. It was just too shortly after EQ:Next was announced. I personally think they want to see what cards SOE is holding so they can make sure and steal all the best crap and put it into their own game. Thats motus operandi for blizzard.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
If Blizzard were so very far ahead, then they wouldn't currently be looking to implement the micro-transaction store, like all the other games have already done. The fact is, Blizzard is just extremely slow at everything they do. I don't think they stopped Titan because of EQN, that just seems like a silly assumption to me. But, they probably are hesitating to see which direction the fickle market goes with the new wave of MMO releases.
Or, maybe their Titan project just sucked and they realized it was wasteful to continue with it.(I mean have you guys seen their recent projects - hello D3)
As a programmer, it's my opinion that StoryBrick is nothing actually special. It is a nice and fine graphical wrapper for indie developers and wannabe-game-producers, and it simplifies things for them, but it's nothing that couldn't be done and was done, multiple times, by programmers before.
As long as you have time and resources to develop your own system of npc interaction, you can do it better and with more nuances tailored for your own game that what StoryBrick does. Of course, your own system can't be used successfully by a random guy from a street, like StoryBrick can, and kudos for StoryBrick for that; but for programmers, I was not impressed.
Yeah.. cause that is what they do with Everquest games. They throw them out and have just about zero support/expansions and the like. It really makes me angry that they make these hollow shell like products with nothing of substance and expect us to play it. For shame. I would still be playing eq1 if they gave it like ANY support and made a damn expansion from time to time. Jeez.
I think SOE bought StoryBrick, but I could be wrong about that.
Anyways, yes it's confirmed that EQNext is using it.
I also agree with you that EQN is why Titan got scrapped, but obviously that's just conjecture. I always thought that these companies have moles working in each other companies. It's interesting to me that Titan's announcement of pushback comes right after EQNext is revealed to SOE staff at large. lol like I said, there's no proof of it though - so only a fun hypothesis to throw out there.
"WAS AIMING TO BUILD" does that mean it is out there to see. Or does that mean that the cost of computing power was too high at the moment for a really good AI. Or was there something to see this great AI. Hey I am working on a flying car. I can not show it to you, but I am working on it.
More tears for Blizz crushing EQ2 please.
They are behind. Till they release a universal hit. Have a few quality games with mediocre numbers does not make one the top dog. And where do your numbers come from.
Killing dragons is my shit
SWTOR all over again.
Pre-Orders? Game is going to be F2P.
I bet they'll sell survival packs and the like though for launch.
I was kind of wondering about that myself. I couldn't see what was so special about StoryBricks when I watched a video on it. It looked like a typical scripting system with a user-friendly interface. I only watched a single video and read an article or two about it, so maybe I just haven't researched it enough, but I pretty much got the impression you did about it being more focused on wide-spread general use than actually being anything revolutionary.
But, I'm no programmer, so maybe there's something I missed or just haven't looked into it enough. Maybe there's something useful about it that they just haven't shown off yet, who knows?
Pre-orders? it's suposed to be a free game.
Nah, Plenty knew SWTOR was going to be crap. The IP is what drove that hype, not the game itself. This time we'll have to see what the game actually is to see if the hype actually transition over into launch. Right now the Hype is about August 2nd and what is going to be announced.
As a programmer myself I was pretty impressed with the ideas and systems they came up with.
NPCs that understand the emotions you're conveying, react to those emotions and then remember how you treated them in the future?
I'm sorry but that's cool, imo. You're entitled to your opinion, but this is new stuff we haven't seen before in any games and a step in the right direction to make the world feel more alive and realistic.
Legends of Kesmai, UO, EQ, AO, DAoC, AC, SB, RO, SWG, EVE, EQ2, CoH, GW, VG:SOH, WAR, Aion, DF, CO, MO, DN, Tera, SWTOR, RO2, DP, GW2, PS2, BnS, NW, FF:XIV, ESO, EQ:NL
Think of it in terms of other games like Skyrim. You get an assignment to get money out of the local shop owners in town for the thieves guild by any means you want. So you go to one guy, and you threaten him, and he pays you. Immediately aftewards, you guys are best friends "Hey Friend! Come look at my wear!", he's not afraid of you. He doesn't remember what you just said.
Then you go to the next person and beat them until they give you the money. You talk to them again right afterwards and they're all "Hey how are you!? Want to check out my shop?"
It's things like this. It's not realistic. With the Storybricks AI system, you can treat NPCs how you want(freedom to be overly nice, mean, neutral, etc), they react to the way you treated them and they remember how you treated them like real people.
I don't see how you can have played other MMORPGs with lifeless, emotionless NPCs and say you don't see the benefit in this kind of AI system.
Legends of Kesmai, UO, EQ, AO, DAoC, AC, SB, RO, SWG, EVE, EQ2, CoH, GW, VG:SOH, WAR, Aion, DF, CO, MO, DN, Tera, SWTOR, RO2, DP, GW2, PS2, BnS, NW, FF:XIV, ESO, EQ:NL
For some, maybe. But it was quite clear it was more of the same, with voice added.
So the IP here is not driving the hype. Yeah right.