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What do you think about Mobile and Cross-Platform MMORPG?
ShadowLegend
Member Posts: 13
We are working on a cross-platform MMORPG that you play both on PC and on smartphones and PDAs (Shadow of Legend, www.shadowoflegend.com). I would like to know how many people are interested in this kind of online game. I think the key questions are:
1. Does the capability of playing a high quality mobile MMORPG mean a lot to you?
2. What do you think are the key factors that make a cross-platform MMORPG successful?
3. If you like the idea, would you prefer the subscription model or the free but pay for in-game items model?
4. If you can play the game both on PC and on mobile devices, how many hours per week will you play on PC and how many hours per week will you play on mobile devices?
5. If PC version has to be made simpler to balance PC players and mobile players, would you still like to play it on PC?
Any feedback and comments are highly appreciated.
Comments
1. Does the capability of playing a high quality mobile MMORPG mean a lot to you?
not not realy.
2. What do you think are the key factors that make a cross-platform MMORPG successful?
I would not play a mmorg on a console or pda, I want to keep my tv free for watching tv and a pda has far to small a screen for me to find it interesting.
3. If you like the idea, would you prefer the subscription model or the free but pay for in-game items model?
I alway prefer a subscription model, I do not like item shop mmorpgs.
4. If you can play the game both on PC and on mobile devices, how many hours per week will you play on PC and how many hours per week will you play on mobile devices?
I would only play it on a pc.
5. If PC version has to be made simpler to balance PC players and mobile players, would you still like to play it on PC?
I would not play this mmorpg if that was the case.
------------------------------------------------------
Do I ever sleep?
Not sure...
Probably not the playing but keeping in touch with guildmates might be interesting.
The same things that make a normal MMORPG good in my eyes:
Developers that stay true to their vision but still stay in touch with their community.
Subscription hands down.
Cant really say... Depends on the game.
Probably 80% PC
Depends...
Probably not. I would have rather a mobile version with reduced functionality.
As for a cross platform MMO.... We already have MMOs that run on PC, Mac, and Linux. You mention PDAs, but I know too many indie developers that have been burned trying to get into that market. Here are a few bullets about PDA development:
- Symbian blows! You could use mobile Java, but not all PDAs support this.
- A very limited user base. While almost everyone has a cell phone these days, only a select few people have PDAs. Of the people that have these devices, most are simply buying them as status symbols and the rest are in the hands of technophiles that MUST have every science fictiony doo-dad they can get their hands on.
- Cross platform programming isn't really cross platform. Even a simple Java applet needs considerable tweaking to get it to run exactly the same on the PC, Mac, and Linux. Now think of how many thousands of different PDAs have been made. The bugs begin to snowball really quickly. BTW, WAP has this same problem.
Now I realize that many cellphones are starting to include things like two-way keyboards and large touch screens, but these are still a niche market as of yet. As it is, I would actually have to buy a PDA, or PDA-like cell phone, just to play this game on the go. That price is just too damn steep.Making console MMORPGs has been somewhat debated here. Do a search for those threads and read them very carefully. Having said that, I'd like to add that not all console are created equal when it comes to communication. The XBox 360, PS3, and PSP have communication limited to voice over IP. The Wii and Nintendo DS are actually more friendly to typing messages. I've gotten pretty handy at typing stuff on the software keyboard with the Wiimote. Typing is also pretty fast on the DS. The Ds also has a built in microphone for voice over IP with your current group or guild if you wanted to go that route.
At any rate, playing an MMO on the go requires that you rethink how MMOs work. The player has to be able to turn on the game and play in some incredibly short sessions, usually 5 to 10 minutes. That time has to include log on and log off times. Furthermore, the player will have to feel some sense of challenge and accomplishment in that amount of time. Take a look at some of the most popular portable games and you'll see exactly what I mean. Meteos, Mario Kart DS, Starfox Command, Trauma Center: Under the Knife, all of these games allow the player to move through an entire segment of the game in less than 10 minutes. Usually by imposing time limits and some pretty heavy difficulty. The typical "Kill monsters, get gold, buy better stuff, to kill bigger monsters, get more gold and even better stuff for 16+ hours a week" just doesn't fly in a portable environment. Of course, you are making a PC client so I'll assume that you're catering to people that want to make the most efficient use of their time to level. Going to the bathroom, going to work, and waiting at stop lights and lines at the burger hut are a terrible drain on a player's ability to reach the level cap and raid for gear. If a player is at this level, however, they should probably seek professional help.
On thing I noticed about your game is that while you show screenshots, you don't distinguish whether those screens are from the PC or mobile version of the game. I'm assuming that they were all from the PC client. You need to give people a sense of what the game will look like on a PDA or cell phone. From the looks of things, you're just going to be an MMORPG version of Diablo and God knows we already have to many of those.
I really think you are making a mistake. It seems you are trying to please too many different kinds of people.
You cant please everyone and if you try you end up pleasing no one.
One day (maybe) all the different types of gamers my join hands and sing cum ba yah, but that day has not arrived. You are trying to please 3 different types of people. I am sure there are some that like all types of gaming platforms but they are not very common. The online games are with a few exceptions PC games.
Also a lot of gamers who don't want to mess with a 2nd platform will feel that those who can work on their game while eating lunch have an unfair advantage.
Again I dont see this working but I am not a developer or a marketing type. Just my own personal feelings.
Thanks everyone for the comments. They will certainly help us make the game better. Here are some of my thoughts:
1. From my personal experience of playing the alpha version of the game, the QVGA screen size used by most smartphones and PDAs today does not necessarily make the game less interesting. In fact, the graphics of our moible version is more visually appealing than the PC version due to the smaller pixel size.
2. Most people have the perception that mobile MMORPGs are low quality games that would not generate enough interests. And we hope Shadow of Legend will change this perception.
3. Shadow of Legend will not be a WOW clone. From the start we know a mobile and cross-platform MMORPG will have to be different. We have to make the game easier to operate, we have to make short sessions enjoyable. Also, SOL is less about grinding and raids, but more about intellectual elements, virtual life and virtual community. Overall, we want to make the game less stressful so people can be more relaxed while playing on mobile.
4. A mobile MMORPG is not for everyone. Through SOL we try to reach a group of people that would otherwise not have the time commitment to play a MMORPG. If you stay at home most of the time and can spend most of your time at home playing MMORPG, then you probably do not need to play a mobile MMORPG. But if you are like me, who travels a lot, and barely have any free time at home, then a mobile MMORPG is an ideal choice to kill some time at airports, restraurants, etc.
5. While the mobile MMORPG market is tiny at this moment, it is potentially a very big market in a couple of years. Mobile devices will be cheaper, faster, wireless data service will become more affordable. There are already over 10 Million smartphone users in the US alone. And this number will grow substantially in the comming years.
6. Cross-platfrom MMORPG is certainly a big technological challenge and I don't have to tell you how many late nights and weekends we put in to make this possible. Our game is not based on Java, it is based on C++ and our cross-platform virtual OS. The current version only runs on Windows Mobile, but we will port to more platforms later this year.
Just my 2 cents. Any comments or feedback are welcome.
By the way, here are a few not so well taken photos of SOL running on mobile devices:
http://shadowoflegend.com/web/news.aspx?id=46
Forget marketing to this bunch. Many of us here have been there and done that twice. The "core" MMORPG player is not your market. The casual player and the retired MMORPG player seem to be your market. The casual crowd can be won with solid gameplay alone. The retired crowd will only be won if you can make good on your community building. The only truly casual MMORPG that I can think of at the moment is Puzzle Pirates. I know that your gameplay will be completely different, but have your dev team play this game for a couple of months and take notes. I know some retired MMORPG players (grew up, got jobs, got married, had kids, and lost their free time) that swear by this game.
BTW, since you're placing this on a cell phone (I noticed the T Mobil logo on one of the screens) you probably don't want to go with a monthly fee of anything over $5 a month and that should be optional. The reason I say that is because when they first started offering games on cell phones, most users surveyed said that they would be uninterested in games if it was charged as an add on to their service. If you're going with the monthly fee, cell phone users are going to look at that as an extra charge to their cell phone and immediately get turned off.
i like the idea, it just means more players
and i belive that more and more MMOs will become twitch based, so playing with a controller wouldnt be too wierd (actually beneficial possibly)
i really think that people overhype the whole "omg if consoles start to have MMOs then they will ruin our games"
i mean consoles today are just gaming computers with a different opperating system