Looks Fun: Epic Tavern
Many years ago I had this idea to make a game where you run a tavern. I think I even wrote about it once or twice here on the blog.…
Many years ago I had this idea to make a game where you run a tavern. I think I even wrote about it once or twice here on the blog.…
Crazy week of 14 hour work days and trying to get a few projects off the group for my little startup project I'm doing. Starting a business is a lot…
A couple of you have asked for my opinion on the recent successful lawsuit against a Kickstarter campaign. I think we're finally seeing what should have already been a well-established…
Looks like we can add another to the 'saw that coming a mile away' pile. Pathfinder Online joins the growing club of failed crowd-funded games. Members include similar games such as…
Yes, yes, yes, yes, YESSSSS! Spiritual Successor to Banjo-Kazooie? Awesome, but back to the roots of what made N64 platformers amazing? Heck yeah! Just a quick look at the video…
Camelot Unchained is getting closer to their goal, but even closer to their deadline. I've pledged, and I think a lot of our readers have pledges as well. CU's building,…
The Camelot Unchained Kickstarter is coming along nicely. They broke a $1,000,000 two days ago, and tomorrow they should be announcing their stretch goals which I hope (and believe) will increase the number of pledgers — pledgers actually being the issue and not the amount they pledge since the average donation is quite high. I’m rooting for them!
What I really want to write about tonight is the little teaser from Mark and CSE. You can see the image on the right. I’m thinking it’s going to be some sort of mystical realm or area unlocked by winning the ‘realm war’, mirroring the Darkness Falls mechanic from DAoC. Essentially whichever team owns the most territory gains access to this highly coveted spot. In DAoC, Darkness Falls was home to fantastic PvE leveling and gear for most players. In CU, however, there is no PvE progression — what will get players fighting to gain access to such a place?
This location could easily contain highly coveted materials, such as rare ores to mine out of the ground, used in the crafting of amazing weapons. Guilds will want to own the place so that their crafters can enter and begin harvesting. When the ‘purge’ occurs, or another realm gains control, the crafters will have to be defended and/or scurry out.  Players would want to own it, benefit from owning it, and have fun taking it back. It fuels the war and rewards players for trying.
The area may actually be full of epic PvE mobs. Mark has been very careful not to rule out killing monsters. In one of the recent Kickstarter updates, killing monsters for their materials was even confirmed as a possibility. Kill a deer, take its pelt, make some armor. The same principles can apply to killing mystical beings inside this magical realm of awesomeness. Kill them, harvest their essence, and allow crafters to imbue magical properties onto weapons. These magical properties don’t even have to be stat based — a glowing blue flame sword or a shadow-black hood with billowing dark clouds of mist coming off it will get everyone crawling over each other just to get through the door. I haven’t read anything, or heard anything from Mark in our discussions, to rule out the possibility of killing mobs for this sort of stuff. All we know is that there won’t be gear progression or leveling up on mobs.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if CSE is sitting back and looking at all the ideas coming from their fans thinking, “I like that one. Let’s do it!” And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. (more…)
I can't decide if Kickstarter is just a new fad for proving a concept, or marketing tool, but I know for sure it's simply a dang useful tool for developers…
Every year around this time I like to toss my prophetic predictions into the mix of what the coming year will hold for the gaming industry. Last year's predictions kicked…