You know 50 million isn't enough anymore to make an MMO that you are describing right? Hell, and MMO needs 50 million just to market itself if its a major release!
I wouldn't even dream of making most of theings described here until I had at least a hundred million to burn, and a publishing deal
Yet, all the best and most successful MMOs were usually made with much less money, and with 30 developers... Big money means big failure, gets too caught up with the suits who don't know anything.
Really? WoW had over two hundred people (all told, cg, qa, support, tech plus production) many of them for over six years while it was produced (look at the credits), that game easily cost 50 million before they spent a dime marketing it.
Sure original EQ, UO and AC may have been semi-cheap, but those days are long gone. EVE for example admited they spent 8 million+ a year just on advertising and that is a seven year old game!
I would make a wager that fifty million wouldnt get most of your ideas out of the door, unless you accepted it was going to be niche, ala Fallen Earth, which is really the last 'independant' style game to get out sucessfully and that still cost around 15-20 million. These games are way more expensive to produce than you think, that is why the genre is really struggling now in terms of new titles and innovation.
Most game companies nowadays have big budgets and fail hardcore, look at Tabula Rasa and AoC. One shut down, the other went bankrupt. You can do a LOT with 50 million, you just have to hire competent people and know what you're doing. If I'm running the show with my 50 million, things won't get bogged down by suits who don't know how to run games, I'll be able to make a solid game much more efficiently. Those DAYS aren't long gone, just those COMPANIES are long gone. Good games will get around via word of mouth, look at Eve and Minecraft. Hell, the DAoC logo alone would pull in tons of people. WoW is never a good example, it is the outlier, the exception to every rule. It is a fluke that will never happen again.
So they are bankrupt now ? Can you give us a link .
When Age of Conan launched, they had to fire half their staff, and their subsidiary/partnership companies went bankrupt. Then they merged the servers. Age of Conan was a financial failure and no amount of "It's stable now" is going to fix that. Vanguard is stable now too, but no one is talking about that as if it were a success.
Basically I would create an old school EQ (before POP) but with new improvements.
[...]
Not bad.
Not bad at all.
But I would drop the "classes only do one thing well" part, because that is, to be honest, boring.
I was impressed by Vanguard where my healers had so many options available. Things to do other than just watching hitpoints all the time.
I agree that revamping EQI is an excellent idea for 50million (if you could get the license itself cheap enough -- which you couldn't sady).
As to the classes. Pure and Simple EQ-I had the very best variety and style of classes I've ever played. Most of them were truely unique from one another and had their own unique charm to them. I would add to them to make them even more interestingly different with both useful and quirkily unique capabilities from any other, but I would not reduce the classes as much as EQII or even Vanguard did. Both of those revamps lost the basic charm of what EQ-I offered.
As to what I'd do with 50million -- I can only say if I ever hit the lotto that is exactly what I plan to find out. Well I'd need 10million in my pocket to keep me happy for life -- the rest would be for the mmo.
Unique charm, yes, certainly.
But after Vanguard, I'll never again play a game where the healer has to passively sit down to regenerate Mana faster.
And if there is one thing that wasnt lacking in Vanguard, then it was variety among the classes. Even different healers played very differently. The only classes where I felt they played like subclasses of each other where the tanks.
I would make a $50 web browser game and then pocket the rest.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
I would make a "gaslight fantasy" world — somewhat 18/19 (and early 20) century but in a free-form kind of way in the same way as traditional fantasy treats the middle ages. There are Golems alongside Automatons (think Droids, Warforged, classic Golems). There are working-class Orcs shoveling coal into forges. There are Elf mages with an air of stage magician. There are thugs with steel jaws and prosthesis limp shaped like an iron lobster pincer.
It have a decend amount of Cloak & Dagger and Pulp Adventure style to it, intrigues, espionage, secret societies (a kind of church versus freemason-type of beliefs, magi orders — you name it). I would take inspiration from pre-Tolkien fantasy works, Alice in Wonderland to Wizard of Oz, but adapted and modernized. It's a world where your awesome fantastic guild Zeppelin (fully mobile guild hall) can be attacked by Winged Monkeys. Throw in some Lovecraft as well, and Crimson Skies for good measure. It would have a "used" look to it, like the old Star Wars movies. I'd also like some Jim Henson "cute but creepy" elements. I know it sounds like a Terry Gilliam fantasy and it might become a little quirky, but I think that this can be made extremely cool. I'd take some inspiration from this looks as well. It won't be too dark visually, rather keeping it varied, but the lore would explore dark topics as well (also looking at modern fiction like Harry Potter or Star Wars, which I see as dark storytelling while still being acceptable as mainstream). That would be plain awesome, to me at least
The game play would include some action-adventure elements, mirroring the lore. Your guild or group would frequently travel with a zeppelin or submarine and try to get rid of terrors of the deep, cultists, church zealots or powerful villain tycoons trying to setup a base in antarctica. There is a nazi inspired evil empire, with plenty of mooks (troopers) to battle as well. Other encounters range from massive black tanks equipped with flame throwers to weird wild-west inspired Gunslingers.
Finally, I'd also throw in lots of easter eggs, secrets rooms with treasure and pop culture references. The classes are stuff like Rocketeer, Gunslinger, Vigil, Magician etc.
Oh, that's easy. For 50 million I would create a mmorpg of people playing a mmorpg. Both mmorpg's would function, so I'd actually be makimg two games but the one played by the players would probbaly be simpler.
Oh, boring? Not at all. Because the game you play is all about hacking and cheating and gaming the mmorpg that you play in the game. Other cool stuff would include choices of being a "good" player, a hacker, a whining PVE player who complains about PVP and getting ganked, a virtual money seller/player, pure griefer, and of course a GM.
It would be called simply: The Game.
Kindly send the 50 million to my Swiss bank account. Thank you. I'll contact you when the beta is ready.
It would be focus on faction based PvP with three playable factions:
1. the exiled humans
2. the intelligent generally peaceful intelligent indigenous beings (this would vary depending on the planet)
3. the bane type collective of autocratic world destroyers
-more player customization - entirely skill based with caps
-more vehicles ground and air
-more than one planet
-PvE would include invasions a la Tabula Rasa of NPC but it might be from any faction
- territory capture would be more persistent and there would be mechanics to encourage guerilla warfare in captured zones (e.g. vehicles wouldn't be able to make it into a zone controlled by the opposition and/or NPC patrols would be more centralized to bases during occupation)
- Partial loot (able to steal from players killed, but they get items 'reissued' at a friendly base after a delay. idea being they earned the skill to use it and their army wants them to have the best gear they are qualified to use, but getting the provisions make take some time)
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
System specs: This mmo will push the envelope for the future and set a new standard in the game (MMO) industry. Keep in mind the development time vs hardware requirements.
- First 64 bit only game.
- Cryengine3.
- DX11.
- Pushing six core chips at 90%.
- Minimum four gigs of ram.
- Minimum Nvidia 480GTX or ATI 5970.
- Broadband connection only. 56k days are over.
All in a Shadowrun world done right. The game has all the elements in place to make one of the best MMO's.
- Focus on gameplay. That's the key.
- 5-10-20-40 player raids.
- Pure PvE game. You can do so much more.
- Solid solo play.
- Focus point on Seattle, Washington and the surrounding area only.
- Living city. If a dragon lands in the street whips his tail and takes out a corner of a building, then smashes another building half way down. Fly's off or maybe he lites up the entire block, it's dynamic. Then I expect the street to be sealed off with EMT's and doc wagons with miltary backing. While this is happening I want to see t.v coverage on the monitors in a club so I can watch the entire thing go down with out having to run across town. Then the next day when I login. I expect to see a clean up crew. After they are done, I want to see a construction team fixing it. Small details make it so much better.
I can only dream a little dream, but that dream is real to me.
or a real comedy based MMO called WTF Online. Your objective is to run through "similar" games you have played online but to overcome them in humorous ways. You can play in three "time" zones. Fantasy - Setting in the Asseroth time period. You can play in the Millennium time period which mirrors contemporary times and the last time period just Labeled time 0,0.
Examples of gamplay could include: You fight a giant boss dressed in dominatrix black with fairy wings and naughty whip. Calls herself Onxyeeah. Only way to defeat her is to find a way to spank her a lot.
In the Millennium period you can enjoy life as a normal (enjoy the fated APB/ Spy lifestyle, supernatural (spin off superhero games) or unnatural (horror style). Overcome challenges like Dr. Destructo who like to make robots for pleasure, but the Robots wanna see other people - and eat them. You need to overcome these hurdles with guile like finding the right electric cord to unplug these menaces or using a remote control with the proper frequency. Universal remotes are so rare you have to buy them in the cash shop to win.
In 0,0 when you log in you die immediately from enemy gunfire. Fortunately in this area every 5 minutes there is a lag spike, so if you respawn you get a chance to move to safety. Goal number one is search for a tutorial. After that you search for floating dna debris that was off deceased captains so you can actually construct an avatar of your own choosing. Raid a Kleenex outpost and win one for your Ferdenation or find a popular Katrina and build a thriving criminal enterprise selling female slutty aliens for shameful acts of pleasure....
Hmmm, well, I'd like some kind of MMO that has a lot of elements from Borderlands in it. Like, that'd be just AWESOME. Freeroam capabilities, fo shao. Spacebar makes you jump. That is a must. Graphics like Gears of War 2, similar "over the shoulder" view, as well. Also, instead of just shootin at stuff, why don't we add in some melee components, too? Multiple classes, for sure. Theres the typical Shooter/Ranger type, with guns/arrows/facekicks to those who get too close. Then there's the Fighter/Tanker type, who can take those headshots like an Irishman can take normal shots, and of course he can get some speed upgrades so he can actually TOUCH a sniper. That can be expanded more, later. Oh, thirdly, gotta have some magical-types, with the fyerballz and the lightningz. Oh and maybe an Engineer/Sabatour type who can throw a grenade so far, he can hit himself in the back of his own head. Gotta have an Assassin/Ninja/OMFGBEHINDYOU type, although I think that he shouldn't have too many speed upgrades, because then he's just a WoW Rogue pwnin the ship outta everyone with his stealth. Lastly, this world has to be IMMENSE. Like, I'm talkin Fable 67 huge. HUGE HUGE. This project would take DECADES to code, but, you gotta admit, this is an epic idea. It's pretty much Borderlands Online with Graphics of War. Immense solo capabilities, and Immense Raid and PVP capabilities. This game just seems to be Immense. Oooh, name. Oh, one more thing. This game shouldn't rely too much on numbers and stats; not like most of these other MMO's, anyways. Think Soul Calibur II. This game should be more like a game of skill and careful planning than yet another math lesson. I just wish I knew how to speak C++ or something, then I'd start making this dream game of mine. Ah well...
As the title says: if someone offered you 50 million dollars and the dev team needed to create a MMORPG, what would you make?
And what kind of gameplay features and mechanics would you design to be in it?
Come on, this is easy. I would make PONG, the MMORPG. After $50M and 8 years of my life (will release it when it is done, no sooner), this game would feature lifetime PreOrders of only $500, sell 1M copies, and then after 30 days of operation, close due to bad design choices (who would have thought that people dont like amber screens anymore).
Comments
Most game companies nowadays have big budgets and fail hardcore, look at Tabula Rasa and AoC. One shut down, the other went bankrupt. You can do a LOT with 50 million, you just have to hire competent people and know what you're doing. If I'm running the show with my 50 million, things won't get bogged down by suits who don't know how to run games, I'll be able to make a solid game much more efficiently. Those DAYS aren't long gone, just those COMPANIES are long gone. Good games will get around via word of mouth, look at Eve and Minecraft. Hell, the DAoC logo alone would pull in tons of people. WoW is never a good example, it is the outlier, the exception to every rule. It is a fluke that will never happen again.
Funcom went bankrupt ? I thought they had profits in 2009 according to this http://aocblog.com/2009/05/funcom-q1-2009-financial-report.html
So they are bankrupt now ? Can you give us a link .
When Age of Conan launched, they had to fire half their staff, and their subsidiary/partnership companies went bankrupt. Then they merged the servers. Age of Conan was a financial failure and no amount of "It's stable now" is going to fix that. Vanguard is stable now too, but no one is talking about that as if it were a success.
In July, Plutolife, a subsidiary of Funcom N.V., was
sold to Jumbuck Entertainment Ltd. Funcom had a
74,98% stake in Plutolife AS. The acquisition
consists of an initial consideration of TUSD 3.700 in
cash payments phased over the next 12 months,
TUSD 600 of which is an injection of working
capital. The activities of Plutolife are consolidated in
Funcom’s Q208 financials.
http://www.funcom.com/funcom/frontend/files/CONTENT/Funcom_Q208_report.pdf
Is this the subsidiary you are talking about ? Which is this report .
Hmm I don't see a link to your bankruptcy claims. Companies fire people often these days. Where is the proof they went bankrupt?
Psshh ... like id tell you :P
imagine ME2 + EvE + SW:TOR
that's what i will do
So What Now?
Unique charm, yes, certainly.
But after Vanguard, I'll never again play a game where the healer has to passively sit down to regenerate Mana faster.
And if there is one thing that wasnt lacking in Vanguard, then it was variety among the classes. Even different healers played very differently. The only classes where I felt they played like subclasses of each other where the tanks.
Hmm OK can you elaborate ?
Those are all SF games, but otherwise they are quite different.
First one is a shooter, second one is a trade game with pvp, third one is star wars with, for a MMORPG, rather extreme focus on story.
I would make a $50 web browser game and then pocket the rest.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
GTA online...
I wish people stopped posting such b*s* postings.
If someone offers you 50 Mio for creating a MMO, they will check every single dollar you spent, when and how and why.
I will make a Twilight romantic MMORPG for chicks.
Left for Dead MMO.
Zombie/horror mmo. Something we don't have.
Veritas Vos Liberabit- The truth will set you free.
I would tell them $50 million isn't enough nowadays to develop a successful MMORPG.
And they will find it in my bank account nearly the second they gave it to me through a wire transfer because I'm a greedy bastard. :P
I certainly would point out the finer qualities of Wow... I can't think of any! Guess I don't get the 50 million in insentives... Who does?
Played Wow, D and L, AOC, GW, Eve, Rift and many more insignificant games.
I would make a "gaslight fantasy" world — somewhat 18/19 (and early 20) century but in a free-form kind of way in the same way as traditional fantasy treats the middle ages. There are Golems alongside Automatons (think Droids, Warforged, classic Golems). There are working-class Orcs shoveling coal into forges. There are Elf mages with an air of stage magician. There are thugs with steel jaws and prosthesis limp shaped like an iron lobster pincer.
It have a decend amount of Cloak & Dagger and Pulp Adventure style to it, intrigues, espionage, secret societies (a kind of church versus freemason-type of beliefs, magi orders — you name it). I would take inspiration from pre-Tolkien fantasy works, Alice in Wonderland to Wizard of Oz, but adapted and modernized. It's a world where your awesome fantastic guild Zeppelin (fully mobile guild hall) can be attacked by Winged Monkeys. Throw in some Lovecraft as well, and Crimson Skies for good measure. It would have a "used" look to it, like the old Star Wars movies. I'd also like some Jim Henson "cute but creepy" elements. I know it sounds like a Terry Gilliam fantasy and it might become a little quirky, but I think that this can be made extremely cool. I'd take some inspiration from this looks as well. It won't be too dark visually, rather keeping it varied, but the lore would explore dark topics as well (also looking at modern fiction like Harry Potter or Star Wars, which I see as dark storytelling while still being acceptable as mainstream). That would be plain awesome, to me at least
The game play would include some action-adventure elements, mirroring the lore. Your guild or group would frequently travel with a zeppelin or submarine and try to get rid of terrors of the deep, cultists, church zealots or powerful villain tycoons trying to setup a base in antarctica. There is a nazi inspired evil empire, with plenty of mooks (troopers) to battle as well. Other encounters range from massive black tanks equipped with flame throwers to weird wild-west inspired Gunslingers.
Finally, I'd also throw in lots of easter eggs, secrets rooms with treasure and pop culture references. The classes are stuff like Rocketeer, Gunslinger, Vigil, Magician etc.
Oh, that's easy. For 50 million I would create a mmorpg of people playing a mmorpg. Both mmorpg's would function, so I'd actually be makimg two games but the one played by the players would probbaly be simpler.
Oh, boring? Not at all. Because the game you play is all about hacking and cheating and gaming the mmorpg that you play in the game. Other cool stuff would include choices of being a "good" player, a hacker, a whining PVE player who complains about PVP and getting ganked, a virtual money seller/player, pure griefer, and of course a GM.
It would be called simply: The Game.
Kindly send the 50 million to my Swiss bank account. Thank you. I'll contact you when the beta is ready.
Asheron's Call remake.
I'd make a Tabula Rasa + Planetside style MMO...
It would be focus on faction based PvP with three playable factions:
1. the exiled humans
2. the intelligent generally peaceful intelligent indigenous beings (this would vary depending on the planet)
3. the bane type collective of autocratic world destroyers
-more player customization - entirely skill based with caps
-more vehicles ground and air
-more than one planet
-PvE would include invasions a la Tabula Rasa of NPC but it might be from any faction
- territory capture would be more persistent and there would be mechanics to encourage guerilla warfare in captured zones (e.g. vehicles wouldn't be able to make it into a zone controlled by the opposition and/or NPC patrols would be more centralized to bases during occupation)
- Partial loot (able to steal from players killed, but they get items 'reissued' at a friendly base after a delay. idea being they earned the skill to use it and their army wants them to have the best gear they are qualified to use, but getting the provisions make take some time)
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
System specs: This mmo will push the envelope for the future and set a new standard in the game (MMO) industry. Keep in mind the development time vs hardware requirements.
- First 64 bit only game.
- Cryengine3.
- DX11.
- Pushing six core chips at 90%.
- Minimum four gigs of ram.
- Minimum Nvidia 480GTX or ATI 5970.
- Broadband connection only. 56k days are over.
All in a Shadowrun world done right. The game has all the elements in place to make one of the best MMO's.
- Focus on gameplay. That's the key.
- 5-10-20-40 player raids.
- Pure PvE game. You can do so much more.
- Solid solo play.
- Focus point on Seattle, Washington and the surrounding area only.
- Living city. If a dragon lands in the street whips his tail and takes out a corner of a building, then smashes another building half way down. Fly's off or maybe he lites up the entire block, it's dynamic. Then I expect the street to be sealed off with EMT's and doc wagons with miltary backing. While this is happening I want to see t.v coverage on the monitors in a club so I can watch the entire thing go down with out having to run across town. Then the next day when I login. I expect to see a clean up crew. After they are done, I want to see a construction team fixing it. Small details make it so much better.
I can only dream a little dream, but that dream is real to me.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
True Blood Online?
or a real comedy based MMO called WTF Online. Your objective is to run through "similar" games you have played online but to overcome them in humorous ways. You can play in three "time" zones. Fantasy - Setting in the Asseroth time period. You can play in the Millennium time period which mirrors contemporary times and the last time period just Labeled time 0,0.
Examples of gamplay could include: You fight a giant boss dressed in dominatrix black with fairy wings and naughty whip. Calls herself Onxyeeah. Only way to defeat her is to find a way to spank her a lot.
In the Millennium period you can enjoy life as a normal (enjoy the fated APB/ Spy lifestyle, supernatural (spin off superhero games) or unnatural (horror style). Overcome challenges like Dr. Destructo who like to make robots for pleasure, but the Robots wanna see other people - and eat them. You need to overcome these hurdles with guile like finding the right electric cord to unplug these menaces or using a remote control with the proper frequency. Universal remotes are so rare you have to buy them in the cash shop to win.
In 0,0 when you log in you die immediately from enemy gunfire. Fortunately in this area every 5 minutes there is a lag spike, so if you respawn you get a chance to move to safety. Goal number one is search for a tutorial. After that you search for floating dna debris that was off deceased captains so you can actually construct an avatar of your own choosing. Raid a Kleenex outpost and win one for your Ferdenation or find a popular Katrina and build a thriving criminal enterprise selling female slutty aliens for shameful acts of pleasure....
Seriously, WTF??
Finally - Best site for Chuck Norris
http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/
Hmmm, well, I'd like some kind of MMO that has a lot of elements from Borderlands in it. Like, that'd be just AWESOME. Freeroam capabilities, fo shao. Spacebar makes you jump. That is a must. Graphics like Gears of War 2, similar "over the shoulder" view, as well. Also, instead of just shootin at stuff, why don't we add in some melee components, too? Multiple classes, for sure. Theres the typical Shooter/Ranger type, with guns/arrows/facekicks to those who get too close. Then there's the Fighter/Tanker type, who can take those headshots like an Irishman can take normal shots, and of course he can get some speed upgrades so he can actually TOUCH a sniper. That can be expanded more, later. Oh, thirdly, gotta have some magical-types, with the fyerballz and the lightningz. Oh and maybe an Engineer/Sabatour type who can throw a grenade so far, he can hit himself in the back of his own head. Gotta have an Assassin/Ninja/OMFGBEHINDYOU type, although I think that he shouldn't have too many speed upgrades, because then he's just a WoW Rogue pwnin the ship outta everyone with his stealth. Lastly, this world has to be IMMENSE. Like, I'm talkin Fable 67 huge. HUGE HUGE. This project would take DECADES to code, but, you gotta admit, this is an epic idea. It's pretty much Borderlands Online with Graphics of War. Immense solo capabilities, and Immense Raid and PVP capabilities. This game just seems to be Immense. Oooh, name. Oh, one more thing. This game shouldn't rely too much on numbers and stats; not like most of these other MMO's, anyways. Think Soul Calibur II. This game should be more like a game of skill and careful planning than yet another math lesson. I just wish I knew how to speak C++ or something, then I'd start making this dream game of mine. Ah well...
Fo Shao
Come on, this is easy. I would make PONG, the MMORPG. After $50M and 8 years of my life (will release it when it is done, no sooner), this game would feature lifetime PreOrders of only $500, sell 1M copies, and then after 30 days of operation, close due to bad design choices (who would have thought that people dont like amber screens anymore).