George Lucas himself has said that part of his inspiration for Star Wars was old Japanese Samurai movies (I believe he specifically mentioned Seven Samurai) and Westerns, which is pretty easy to see. Sci-Fi and Westerns actually mix very well as Firefly/Serenity proved. Claiming that he was "ripping off" Dune is pretty ridiculous and shows a complete ignorance of both Dune and Star Wars... The only thing they have in common is that they are both Sci-Fi, and even then, they are completely different types of science fiction. Frank Herbert built a universe, first and foremost - that's what makes his stories unique. George Lucas was telling a story first and foremost - the setting was secondary to the characters and the moral of the story.
Bits and pieces here and there? Sure, you'll find that in virtually every story ever written. Hell, the Warcraft 3 storyline has a lot in common with Star Wars if you really look.
Granted, I'm not very interested in Star Wars. On the verge of ignorant.
Just a question, in which mayor ways would a Dune MMO differ from a Star Wars MMO? (Note: I never made it through SWG's trial. No idea how it actually plays.)
It's cool that this topic came up, I was just thinking about a lot of this yesterday so I'll share it with you guys. Keep in mind, this concept is about oh.....24 hours old so it's chock full of unfinished ideas and half baked concepts. Might be a fun game though.
yeeaaaa .. no. Aren't you like way off topic not to mention your idea half baked or not sounds more like on of those really bad parady movies where they mix together elements from all the different sci fi /fantasy genre's.
Please Refer to Doom Cat with all conspiracies & evil corporation complaints. He'll give you the simple explination of..WE"RE ALL DOOMED!
As for the topic, the game I MOST want to see made is a High Fantasy-Victorian Steampunk game done in an urban setting. Anyone who has played Troika's Arcanum knows how much potential this type of setting would have. I'm LOVE to see a truly dynamic reputation system based on your allegiance do different factions, your use of Technology/Magic, your race, and your moral leanings.
Another thing I'd love to see is different archetypes (Tank, Rogue, Gunslinger, Mage, Healer, etc) playing the game in different ways. I'd love to see a rogue playing the game like Thief or Splinter Cell; a Warrior like Dark Messiah of Might and Magic or God of War; a Gunslinger like Call of Juarez or Max Payne, etc... It would be nice to truly have a unique experience as well as a unique character.
Granted, I'm not very interested in Star Wars. On the verge of ignorant. Just a question, in which mayor ways would a Dune MMO differ from a Star Wars MMO? (Note: I never made it through SWG's trial. No idea how it actually plays.)
I still think a Dune MMO is pretty much impossible. The story focuses on one all-powerful character, several millennia in the making (and would thus suffer from the Jedi-dilemma x 1000) and one all-important planet that just happens to be nearly uninhabitable. Playing a weak, tertiary character in a world of vastly overpowered main characters is boring as hell because you'll never be one. Furthermore, even though Frank Herbert made one of the most detailed and developed universes in fiction, you wouldn't actually be able to play with it. Once again, making the whole setting moot.
Star Wars was a great setting for an MMO because the characters were weak, flawed, and identifiably human - hence the focus on characters and morality. The setting also lent itself well to an MMO because most of it was assumed to be there, but not shown. You could literally do whatever you wanted with the rest of the Galaxy, because the movies only focused on ONE group of characters in a very small part of the "world." It let you 'be somebody' in the world, so to speak.
Of course, I lay the blame solely with the SWG developers on this one. They had the opportunity to make the mother of all online games, and they dropped the $1,000,000 crystal ball... Now they're just standing around awkward-like wandering what the hell to do with themselves.
Originally posted by Manveru George Lucas himself has said that part of his inspiration for Star Wars was old Japanese Samurai movies (I believe he specifically mentioned Seven Samurai) and Westerns, which is pretty easy to see.
It's actually Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. There's an early version of the script floating around the net where this is more obvious, Luke Skywalker is Princess Leia's general and they're travelling together etc. 3CPO and R2D2 are similar to the greedy peasants in the way that the story is told from the perspective of two fairly unimportant people(/droids) in the big scheme of things.
There really needs to be a victorian steampunk MMORPG. Can anyone even name games with a steampunk theme? The only ones I can think of offhand are Arcanum and Space 1889 (tabletop and a PC game from the early 90's). Final Fantasy and Warcraft series have some steampunk elements but they're not exactly victorian.
I think an original IP for a scifi/alt. MMO would be best, especially for the wallets for the developer's patron company. I mean if you come up with your own IP, it's not as hard as it seems, the hard part is to make it consistent enough to keep people from asking, "Um why X?" X being whatever the inquiry may be.
Dune would be lousy for an MMORPG. All the novels have too much emphasis on key characters and not enough fill-in about what it is to be an ordinary person in the universe described. Exactly the same things were wrong about using Star Wars as an MMORPG basis. Most everyone either wanted to be the fucking hero of the universe, or wanted to kill the fucking hero of the universe.
LOTR can work as an MMORPG basis because of the extensive fill-in and background that allows one to play "one of" the many kinds of people or thing that was represented in the literature as not particularly unique.
Most people think that a Dune mmorpg would fail. I think it would be one of the greatest mmo's of all times, as far as sci-fi genre goes. As someone stated earlier its not just a story, it's a world just as was tolkien's fantasy world. Only this world, had more then one world in it, and instead of elves it had the mystical Fremen, or instead of Jedi if you prefer. The difference and likeness though in all of them elves die (2 towers lotr battle of helms deep), Fremen are killed (maid and others at 2nd battle), and Jedi are slaughtered (arena ATOTC), so the characters don't have to be "all - powerful" alpha classes but can be portrayed in a different way. Obi-wan wasn't always a great Jedi, even Anakin would be a "wiser' one then him per his own words.
That's the entire difference in Star Wars and Dune IMHO. Both are great in their own ways but they are different types of environments as stated. In Dune, you have many worlds that exist, each of these worlds are controlled by ruling bodies and they are pretty detailed how each of these worlds look like, how they act, how their people act and how they look like and react to others.(Atreides/Harkonnen) This is a virtual universe that is great to work with. There's a lot of background, lore and character development to play with. For instance, the House Atreides were cunning warriors from a more naturalistic/organic water planet known for chilvary and their ability to use the werding modules (sorry for spelling). Then opposed to them you had the harkonnen, a Ruthless, militaristic and even sadistic society that's based on an industrial heavily polluted world of technology known to use large number of forces (sudakar elite warrior) if I recall correctly are basically just big dumb arny-type soldiers with BFG's with super-strength.
Then you've got sub-cultures within each of the great houses, starting way up at the Emperor himself and his nobility, the dukes and dutches , the baron's of the houses. Even those general guys who did nothing but fire the cannons as well as their own forces of sudakar (50 legions?). Then the Benny Jesserit mothers with psychic ability etc. Then there's the whole Fremen group not just the hero's of the Fremen but even the lowly maid, she had no special abilities accept for survival in the desert. Then the entire guild and their support gang (humanoids). Various other riff raff.
There's not only just the single Dune itself but as I said a world/universe. There is a Time before and after Dune, children of Dune etc there's a lot to work with in as far as lore and timeline and where a good development team could set a story. Let's say for instance prior to all of the hero's when Emperor was on his rise to power and let's say there was a vie for power among the houses as the last emperor was on his way out and before he got in. That's a lot of conflict right there that can be brought into a game world as good faction pvp play. Exploration, totally covered in all of the various worlds you'd have to look at for the houses and dune itself. Even character customization whether you wanted skills or class. There were doctors, there were generals, warriors, maids, cooks, weapons trainers, scientists (mad ones), creature handlers (milking), even so called shamans (forsee'ers). Entire story arcs could be done with only the fremen, or only the guilds, even just Harkonnen lines or Atreides lines of quests/missions etc, Benny Jesserit quest to advance to the water of life stage? So much to work with and a great work that would be a pleasure to build IMHO.
Dr.Who is way way way too hard to make into an MMO. Granted it would make a very interesting and good MMO, just way too hard to do. I think I remember hearing a couple years ago about a Dune MMORPG. Also Korea has been into Steampunk and Victorian Era games for some time, only a matter of time until they put them together.
Hmm, an interesting concept. However, would it fit a model for a massive multiplayer game? From what i remember of Dr. Who is more or less a solo guy on adventures or the more recent BBC TV series, a few support cast members supporting Dr. Who. Game design could be relatively simple: Instances. (Dr. Who and team enter in their telephone closet and pop into next instance) Character development I guess would be skill based. No formal professions I suppose. What other character customization would you have? Upgrade your time machine? What economy would you have? The challenges you could offer would be more intellectual than weapon combat fights. How is Myst: URU doing as a game?
He he.
Character progression - you could play as a Timelord, as a UNIT soldier, as a Cyberman or as a Dalek.
Economy - it's all about buying parts and decorations for your own personal Tardis or spaceship.
The instances you visit are iconic planets/environments from the series - Skaros, Gallifray and Victorian London (to name but a few).
I picked up a single player real time strategy game called 'Rise of Legends'.
The game itself is same-o, same-o but the backstory and mythos are fascinating:
Leonardo Da Vinci steampunk condottieri vs Magic glass Muslim jihadis vs goild-plated, sun-powered Aztec aliens.
OK, OK, I kind of over simplify but, if you get a chance, google it. The game itself is played just like the old WoW single player strategy games used to play - except there are three factions in RoL. I personally believe it would make a great MMORPG in the future.
Why does it seem the mmos you (by you I mean me or any with like feelings) like or at least are interested in are "in the works". But fantasy mmos get churned out in droves. A steampunk mmo would be interesting, with the others I dunno, known IPs are a bit hit and miss, mostly miss. A curse sounds fun, lets say its a curse.
Some interesting concepts are "in the works" I'm patiently waiting and secretly hoping they don't pull the plug on this and that. Its sad that it seems a miracle that a mmorpg even makes to birth... I'm going to stop there
Mythic needs to dust off Imperator and get it to market!
I'd also like a Dune MMO, a good starwars MMO, preferably both made to be a massive multiplayer FPS like planetside, but with more depth than just a large shooter game.
But honestly, above all, I want some god damn innovation and creativity a lot more than new "themes" pasted on the same old concepts.
Dr Who could work.... considering how many timelords there are supposed to be and how infinite the universe is... Be pretty cool to be able to play a Dalek
Until you came across a set of stairs that is
+-+-+-+-+-+ "MMOs, for people that like think chatting is like a skill or something, rotflol" http://purepwnage.com -+-+-+-+-+-+ "Far away across the field, the tolling of the iron bell, calls the faithful to their knees. To hear the softly spoken magic spell" Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon
Did anyone ever play 'Freelancer'? It was a relatively simple space flight and fight game but the graphics were excellent and the backstory was wonderful. Now why can't they turn that into an MMORPG? It was from, I believe, of all people, Microsoft.
Oh, and I am absolutely with the poster who suggested a game based on Troika's Arcanum. What a wild and wacky and wonderful game that was. It falls into the category of things like 'Tron' that should have had a slew of sequels but just never did. It was as good, in my openion, as the wonderful Baldur's Gate mythos.
Freelancer was excellent... the scale of the Cap ships was breathtaking.
EVE still has a lot of life in it.... the out of ship expansion looks excellent and considering the grafix overall not only look modern but are pretty much still cutting edge, Id say it will have plenty to offer in the coming years. Im still enjoying it immensely.
+-+-+-+-+-+ "MMOs, for people that like think chatting is like a skill or something, rotflol" http://purepwnage.com -+-+-+-+-+-+ "Far away across the field, the tolling of the iron bell, calls the faithful to their knees. To hear the softly spoken magic spell" Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon
I was actually thinking the other day how cool a Dr Who mmo would be. Would definatly have to be before or even set during the last Time War. Races could be pulled from both good and evil. Time lords, Humans, Daleks, Cybermen, ect. Time lords could be both an evil and a good race. The TARDIS could be your ship or flying mount. You should have to be a certain level and finish quests before you have access to your tardis. Not all time lords had access to them. Your Tardis could also be your home, or you could pick up a place somewhere else.
It would be an awesome mmo because it could cover all of the genres, Sci-fi, fantasy, high fantasy, modern, horror, and everything in between. You could also add in some FPS action as well. (Eckelson did kill "all" of the daleks.)Could be set with some worlds/times, and different worlds/times could be added through expansions and patches. You could also be trapped in a world/time until you have paid your pennance for your crimes. (Much like Pertwees incantation of the DR.)
Daleks can get up stairs .. they can levitate and fly.
I think an original IP for a scifi/alt. MMO would be best, especially for the wallets for the developer's patron company. I mean if you come up with your own IP, it's not as hard as it seems, the hard part is to make it consistent enough to keep people from asking, "Um why X?" X being whatever the inquiry may be.
-- Brede
Not using a famous IP means you don't get the free pass on tons of box sales, though.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I think the Korea mmo industry is making motions that they are heading in that direction in reference to VIctorian Steampunk and a Dune mmorpg. However, what you are asking for is a rather expensive venture. The thing about mmos is they are costly because you can't get away with hiding things. If you can see something in the distance, then the player has to be able to reach it. This is why most of an mmo will be outdoor wild areas because they are very easy to produce.
When you are talking about Victorian Steampunk, you are talking about alot of detail and huge areas of human development. When you think about the stabs companies have taken in trying to achieve something similar the results have been wrought with failure. For instance Granado Espada featured highly detailed Baroque style, but the areas ended up feeling small and enclosed. The gameplay also did not help in this aspect. As a result it only made a small splash in the mmo industry.
When talking about a Dune MMO you are once again talking about alot of work. Its not like Victorian Steam punk where all of it will be focused on the art department. A Dune mmo will be concentrated on the programing department because its going to need more then just going out in the desert and taking down giant worms. It will need something never done in the mmo industry and require making political and social gameplay a major part of the game.
If they were to do a Dune MMORPG, which I would be very interested in, I think they would be better off setting it during the reign of Leto II as he was becoming the God Emperor. The 3,500 years in between Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune would be the best setting because there is little known about this time period. There is only one key character that spans this entire time frame and that is Leto II. There would be a lot of free reign for the developers because there is a set beginning and a set ending, everything in between is pretty much free game.
There would be no Sardaukar, but the Fremen might be there. There could be members of the Landsraad depending on how early it is set in Leto's reign. The Fish Speakers would be a definate group because of their importance to the series, being the army of Leto II. Ixian devices could be used instead of the melange dependant space ships. Basically, there is a lot of room to wiggle around in within that 3,500 time period giving any developer the ability to use the large and in depth works of Dune to create a living breathing world.
Comments
Bits and pieces here and there? Sure, you'll find that in virtually every story ever written. Hell, the Warcraft 3 storyline has a lot in common with Star Wars if you really look.
How do you kill that which has no life?
Granted, I'm not very interested in Star Wars. On the verge of ignorant.
Just a question, in which mayor ways would a Dune MMO differ from a Star Wars MMO? (Note: I never made it through SWG's trial. No idea how it actually plays.)
It's cool that this topic came up, I was just thinking about a lot of this yesterday so I'll share it with you guys. Keep in mind, this concept is about oh.....24 hours old so it's chock full of unfinished ideas and half baked concepts. Might be a fun game though.
yeeaaaa .. no.
Aren't you like way off topic not to mention your idea half baked or not sounds more like on of those really bad parady movies where they mix together elements from all the different sci fi /fantasy genre's.
Please Refer to Doom Cat with all conspiracies & evil corporation complaints. He'll give you the simple explination of..WE"RE ALL DOOMED!
Another thing I'd love to see is different archetypes (Tank, Rogue, Gunslinger, Mage, Healer, etc) playing the game in different ways. I'd love to see a rogue playing the game like Thief or Splinter Cell; a Warrior like Dark Messiah of Might and Magic or God of War; a Gunslinger like Call of Juarez or Max Payne, etc... It would be nice to truly have a unique experience as well as a unique character.
How do you kill that which has no life?
I still think a Dune MMO is pretty much impossible. The story focuses on one all-powerful character, several millennia in the making (and would thus suffer from the Jedi-dilemma x 1000) and one all-important planet that just happens to be nearly uninhabitable. Playing a weak, tertiary character in a world of vastly overpowered main characters is boring as hell because you'll never be one. Furthermore, even though Frank Herbert made one of the most detailed and developed universes in fiction, you wouldn't actually be able to play with it. Once again, making the whole setting moot.
Star Wars was a great setting for an MMO because the characters were weak, flawed, and identifiably human - hence the focus on characters and morality. The setting also lent itself well to an MMO because most of it was assumed to be there, but not shown. You could literally do whatever you wanted with the rest of the Galaxy, because the movies only focused on ONE group of characters in a very small part of the "world." It let you 'be somebody' in the world, so to speak.
Of course, I lay the blame solely with the SWG developers on this one. They had the opportunity to make the mother of all online games, and they dropped the $1,000,000 crystal ball... Now they're just standing around awkward-like wandering what the hell to do with themselves.
How do you kill that which has no life?
It's actually Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. There's an early version of the script floating around the net where this is more obvious, Luke Skywalker is Princess Leia's general and they're travelling together etc. 3CPO and R2D2 are similar to the greedy peasants in the way that the story is told from the perspective of two fairly unimportant people(/droids) in the big scheme of things.
There really needs to be a victorian steampunk MMORPG. Can anyone even name games with a steampunk theme? The only ones I can think of offhand are Arcanum and Space 1889 (tabletop and a PC game from the early 90's). Final Fantasy and Warcraft series have some steampunk elements but they're not exactly victorian.
Europa / Siege
I think an original IP for a scifi/alt. MMO would be best, especially for the wallets for the developer's patron company. I mean if you come up with your own IP, it's not as hard as it seems, the hard part is to make it consistent enough to keep people from asking, "Um why X?" X being whatever the inquiry may be.
-- Brede
The reason I never thought of Doctor Who is due to the fact I always think of Battlestar Galactica.
Just popped into my head, what about Sliders or Quantum Leap?
There are only 10 types of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that don't
Dune would be lousy for an MMORPG. All the novels have too much emphasis on key characters and not enough fill-in about what it is to be an ordinary person in the universe described. Exactly the same things were wrong about using Star Wars as an MMORPG basis. Most everyone either wanted to be the fucking hero of the universe, or wanted to kill the fucking hero of the universe.
LOTR can work as an MMORPG basis because of the extensive fill-in and background that allows one to play "one of" the many kinds of people or thing that was represented in the literature as not particularly unique.
Most people think that a Dune mmorpg would fail. I think it would be one of the greatest mmo's of all times, as far as sci-fi genre goes. As someone stated earlier its not just a story, it's a world just as was tolkien's fantasy world. Only this world, had more then one world in it, and instead of elves it had the mystical Fremen, or instead of Jedi if you prefer. The difference and likeness though in all of them elves die (2 towers lotr battle of helms deep), Fremen are killed (maid and others at 2nd battle), and Jedi are slaughtered (arena ATOTC), so the characters don't have to be "all - powerful" alpha classes but can be portrayed in a different way. Obi-wan wasn't always a great Jedi, even Anakin would be a "wiser' one then him per his own words.
That's the entire difference in Star Wars and Dune IMHO. Both are great in their own ways but they are different types of environments as stated. In Dune, you have many worlds that exist, each of these worlds are controlled by ruling bodies and they are pretty detailed how each of these worlds look like, how they act, how their people act and how they look like and react to others.(Atreides/Harkonnen) This is a virtual universe that is great to work with. There's a lot of background, lore and character development to play with. For instance, the House Atreides were cunning warriors from a more naturalistic/organic water planet known for chilvary and their ability to use the werding modules (sorry for spelling). Then opposed to them you had the harkonnen, a Ruthless, militaristic and even sadistic society that's based on an industrial heavily polluted world of technology known to use large number of forces (sudakar elite warrior) if I recall correctly are basically just big dumb arny-type soldiers with BFG's with super-strength.
Then you've got sub-cultures within each of the great houses, starting way up at the Emperor himself and his nobility, the dukes and dutches , the baron's of the houses. Even those general guys who did nothing but fire the cannons as well as their own forces of sudakar (50 legions?). Then the Benny Jesserit mothers with psychic ability etc. Then there's the whole Fremen group not just the hero's of the Fremen but even the lowly maid, she had no special abilities accept for survival in the desert. Then the entire guild and their support gang (humanoids). Various other riff raff.
There's not only just the single Dune itself but as I said a world/universe. There is a Time before and after Dune, children of Dune etc there's a lot to work with in as far as lore and timeline and where a good development team could set a story. Let's say for instance prior to all of the hero's when Emperor was on his rise to power and let's say there was a vie for power among the houses as the last emperor was on his way out and before he got in. That's a lot of conflict right there that can be brought into a game world as good faction pvp play. Exploration, totally covered in all of the various worlds you'd have to look at for the houses and dune itself. Even character customization whether you wanted skills or class. There were doctors, there were generals, warriors, maids, cooks, weapons trainers, scientists (mad ones), creature handlers (milking), even so called shamans (forsee'ers). Entire story arcs could be done with only the fremen, or only the guilds, even just Harkonnen lines or Atreides lines of quests/missions etc, Benny Jesserit quest to advance to the water of life stage? So much to work with and a great work that would be a pleasure to build IMHO.
I likes me some Dune!
http://www.forceofarms.com/index.php
He he.
Character progression - you could play as a Timelord, as a UNIT soldier, as a Cyberman or as a Dalek.
Economy - it's all about buying parts and decorations for your own personal Tardis or spaceship.
The instances you visit are iconic planets/environments from the series - Skaros, Gallifray and Victorian London (to name but a few).
Actually, here is a tip from leftfield.
I picked up a single player real time strategy game called 'Rise of Legends'.
The game itself is same-o, same-o but the backstory and mythos are fascinating:
Leonardo Da Vinci steampunk condottieri vs Magic glass Muslim jihadis vs goild-plated, sun-powered Aztec aliens.
OK, OK, I kind of over simplify but, if you get a chance, google it. The game itself is played just like the old WoW single player strategy games used to play - except there are three factions in RoL. I personally believe it would make a great MMORPG in the future.
Some interesting concepts are "in the works" I'm patiently waiting and secretly hoping they don't pull the plug on this and that. Its sad that it seems a miracle that a mmorpg even makes to birth... I'm going to stop there
~dai
Mythic needs to dust off Imperator and get it to market!
I'd also like a Dune MMO, a good starwars MMO, preferably both made to be a massive multiplayer FPS like planetside, but with more depth than just a large shooter game.
But honestly, above all, I want some god damn innovation and creativity a lot more than new "themes" pasted on the same old concepts.
Dr Who could work.... considering how many timelords there are supposed to be and how infinite the universe is... Be pretty cool to be able to play a Dalek
Until you came across a set of stairs that is
+-+-+-+-+-+
"MMOs, for people that like think chatting is like a skill or something, rotflol"
http://purepwnage.com
-+-+-+-+-+-+
"Far away across the field, the tolling of the iron bell, calls the faithful to their knees. To hear the softly spoken magic spell" Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon
Did anyone ever play 'Freelancer'? It was a relatively simple space flight and fight game but the graphics were excellent and the backstory was wonderful. Now why can't they turn that into an MMORPG? It was from, I believe, of all people, Microsoft.
Oh, and I am absolutely with the poster who suggested a game based on Troika's Arcanum. What a wild and wacky and wonderful game that was. It falls into the category of things like 'Tron' that should have had a slew of sequels but just never did. It was as good, in my openion, as the wonderful Baldur's Gate mythos.
Freelancer was excellent... the scale of the Cap ships was breathtaking.
EVE still has a lot of life in it.... the out of ship expansion looks excellent and considering the grafix overall not only look modern but are pretty much still cutting edge, Id say it will have plenty to offer in the coming years. Im still enjoying it immensely.
+-+-+-+-+-+
"MMOs, for people that like think chatting is like a skill or something, rotflol"
http://purepwnage.com
-+-+-+-+-+-+
"Far away across the field, the tolling of the iron bell, calls the faithful to their knees. To hear the softly spoken magic spell" Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon
I was actually thinking the other day how cool a Dr Who mmo would be. Would definatly have to be before or even set during the last Time War. Races could be pulled from both good and evil. Time lords, Humans, Daleks, Cybermen, ect. Time lords could be both an evil and a good race. The TARDIS could be your ship or flying mount. You should have to be a certain level and finish quests before you have access to your tardis. Not all time lords had access to them. Your Tardis could also be your home, or you could pick up a place somewhere else.
It would be an awesome mmo because it could cover all of the genres, Sci-fi, fantasy, high fantasy, modern, horror, and everything in between. You could also add in some FPS action as well. (Eckelson did kill "all" of the daleks.)Could be set with some worlds/times, and different worlds/times could be added through expansions and patches. You could also be trapped in a world/time until you have paid your pennance for your crimes. (Much like Pertwees incantation of the DR.)
Daleks can get up stairs .. they can levitate and fly.
It would be a skill based game.
Not using a famous IP means you don't get the free pass on tons of box sales, though.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I hate retcons. Daleks with limitations are much more interesting and fun.
As much as I loved the classic Dr Who, I don't think it would make a great IP for an MMO.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I think the Korea mmo industry is making motions that they are heading in that direction in reference to VIctorian Steampunk and a Dune mmorpg. However, what you are asking for is a rather expensive venture. The thing about mmos is they are costly because you can't get away with hiding things. If you can see something in the distance, then the player has to be able to reach it. This is why most of an mmo will be outdoor wild areas because they are very easy to produce.
When you are talking about Victorian Steampunk, you are talking about alot of detail and huge areas of human development. When you think about the stabs companies have taken in trying to achieve something similar the results have been wrought with failure. For instance Granado Espada featured highly detailed Baroque style, but the areas ended up feeling small and enclosed. The gameplay also did not help in this aspect. As a result it only made a small splash in the mmo industry.
When talking about a Dune MMO you are once again talking about alot of work. Its not like Victorian Steam punk where all of it will be focused on the art department. A Dune mmo will be concentrated on the programing department because its going to need more then just going out in the desert and taking down giant worms. It will need something never done in the mmo industry and require making political and social gameplay a major part of the game.
If they were to do a Dune MMORPG, which I would be very interested in, I think they would be better off setting it during the reign of Leto II as he was becoming the God Emperor. The 3,500 years in between Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune would be the best setting because there is little known about this time period. There is only one key character that spans this entire time frame and that is Leto II. There would be a lot of free reign for the developers because there is a set beginning and a set ending, everything in between is pretty much free game.
There would be no Sardaukar, but the Fremen might be there. There could be members of the Landsraad depending on how early it is set in Leto's reign. The Fish Speakers would be a definate group because of their importance to the series, being the army of Leto II. Ixian devices could be used instead of the melange dependant space ships. Basically, there is a lot of room to wiggle around in within that 3,500 time period giving any developer the ability to use the large and in depth works of Dune to create a living breathing world.