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Seriously, Why no wild west?
christosNoir
Member Posts: 6
I'm a big fan of MMORPGs but why do all these developers have such a narrow focus on "fantasy" it's almost always sword and sorcery stuff and that's a bit "been there done that" now.
Why isn't there even one that deals with something like the wild west? I would sincerely love to play one in that setting, it could even be a fantasy, with dragons and other such beasties but with guns and cowboys instead of swords and barbarians. Even a direct recreation of the times would be exciting, with possees and bandits and the like.
Imagine being able to play a game that had a similar set up to the first release of SWG but set in some kind of frontier town.
Comments
There was Priest, which had a Wild West theme, but it was cancelled.
Bit difficult to play then :P
Why no Wild West MMORPG?
Because to play a western hero type, it takes sand. When was the last time you saw any "catass" gamers with sand?
might do okish in the states, but in europe... forget it. the far east? not so much...
dwarves with beards and elves with chainmail bikinis sell units.
Well i'm English.
I agree it probably wouldn't do WOW numbers, but you have to admit the "COWBOY" is a fairly big icon and most people like them, kind of like superheroes. It could possibly do similar numbers to COH/V.
I think some "fantasy wyld west", such as werewolf Wyld West, would definitely be good. But wild west alone...not sure.
See, most wild west fans would accept a variation, even fantastic...and this fantastic variation is necessary to get a LOT more peoples.
WereWolf Wyld West FTW! Protecting Gaia!
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Westerns just aren't popular now. The last truly great western movie was Unforgiven.
Second, you really only have two factions: Cowboys and Indians. Both Human.
Third: There's not a lot of variety in weapons. Rifle, Pistol, Knife, Tomahawk.
Fourth: The American West isn't full of dangerous monsters. PvE wouldn't be that interesting.
The only way to really get over these issues is to inject a lot of fantasy into it.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Actually, that would be realyl cool. Maybe no Wild West alone (and no wild west with werewolves..) but maybe a Cowboys and Indians game.
The general landscape of the game could be sand (of course) with many salons and such as shops. Basically like a Faction Vs Faction game, the cowboys and the indians. They can fight in big PvP battles. Whatever.
Theres just one problem with my idea. No one would be Indians for the reasons that in real life, the indians lost. Kind of a dead end idea cause the game would always be the same at endgame, indians losing.
You know, this idea wasn't very good. Forget everything I wrote.
Here are some links to tickle yer fancy ...
http://news.mmosite.com/content/2006-09-25/20060925232932330,2.shtml
http://www.wildwestsim.com/
That being said. I suspect a true historical western type mmo would be hard to design in the typical way we are used to playing one. Now a FPS might be more feasible.
I suspect an innovative developer would have to mix some sci fi and fantasy to make the game
Remember Arcanum? http://www.terra-arcanum.com/sierra/
That could be a reasonable setting.
Another could be http://wildwildwest.warnerbros.com/ .
The wild arms series of games would make a perfect setting for a mmorpg western. Take a look at this link perfect canidate
Just some stray thoughts along this thread. Innovation of the designer is obvious. But perhaps you could incorporate a wild west theme with reasonable content.
Setting : Old American West
Professions: (if this would be the standard class based game)
Soldier - This is your standard trained Federal Militiaman - Proficient in rifles, revolvers, artillery and some blades
Gunslinger - A ranged marksman with proficiency in handguns, lasso and thrown weapons, brawling
Monk - think Kung Fu 's Far East traveller visiting or escaped from from slavery. Martial arts skills with some herbalism
Indians - Ranger types with skills in nature, bow and hatchets.
Medics/medicine men - healers of these factions. Except It aint no point and click. Healing in this age is like crafting. Your instrument table is the wounded player. Your knowledge and skills are necessary to keep that player from dying. Forget the in the heat of battle healing stuff. You can only support your "gang" via first aid measures in the heat of battle. You really shine in downtime.
Engineer - while mostly a crafter type, If you take the wild wild west movie into account, you could incorporate some steam based mechanical marvels to assist your endeavors.
Obstacles to overcome: Local wildlife, npcs, disease, etc.
Mounts - yes
Build / Manage a town - yes become a Sheriff to protect it from Outlaws or other players from robbing your bank. Keep your economy going with funds from cattle trading, booze, women, etc.
Potential is there
It was accepted as a Multiverse partner project 6 months ago, but he just lacks the funds to make it.
Man i wish he would get funding though. I think his ideas are supreme for a Wild West MMO.
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Bought my Powerball ticket. Heres to hoping
Ages ago I heard that Teppy of ATITD had plans to make Alvin's World. Not really Wild West, but American pioneer days except where folk magic is real. Would fall probably in the 1810s to 30s I'd guess, so equidistant from the American Revolution and the real Wild West. I read the book series it would be based on, Alvin Maker by Orson Scott Card. It would be a niche game, but probably wildly successful among its niche, like atitd is.
I would definitely watch a Wild West style game also, I could see the Firefly one doing ok if it was made right. It will be a tough line to walk, with the space theme and wild west as well. Firefly pulled it off well with the backstory though, so I would definitely give it a try.
Maybe a very grim game set in 1860-70 and the American Civil War never started. The Native Americans have gathered into a coalition that rules the West Coast and some of South America, as they came up with cures for diseases brought by Europeans. Africa's being abused and fought over by just about everyone. China and Japan have managed to hold back "globalisation". The Arab slavers are doing great due to everyone wanting slaves to work in extremely bad industrial conditions.
The cowboys could hang out in the U.S (or perhaps even C.S
Medical dogmas would be disregarded and Darwin's observations have led to excessive abusive medical and technological research of the human body, creating mutant and cyborg humans.
So you'd have:
-Multiple factions ("Free" Americans(or maybe even a remaining connection with France and Great Britain... or both), Latin Americans+Spain&Portugal, Native Americans, Chinese and/or Japanese and/or Koreans, The Arabs, Russia... And then there's of course a lot of other colonialist European countries: Holland, Germany, Italy) The easiest thing would be to combine countries into names that aren't real countries as not to offend existing places.
-A lot of options on where to take technology.
-The Wild West thing.
-Pretty much every kind of landscape on the planet
You could go a lot of interesting places with the technological revolution. The Wild West is quite a small theme.
It would require quite a good team and quite a few history enthusiasts to sew it all into a cohesive and immersive setting, but I think it could be possible.