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Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

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Re: Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

#81

Post by kyrra »

papsosouid wrote: post #52
autarch wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or ... this is a good way for him to see if there's actual interest in the product. And given his track record of actually finishing stuff, it seems like this is relatively low risk as far as Kickstarter projects go.

Neither of your points address the concern I raised. This is a guy who paid $30M to go in to space for fun. A guy who lives in a castle. If he wants to make a game, he can. He doesn't need kickstarter at all. He is simply using it to make a game for free, rather than investing in it personally. The idea behind kickstarter was to allow people who couldn't get funding through traditional channels an opportunity to appe…

1) He has been trying to sell a lot of his land and fancy house in Austin for a couple years now [1] [2]. It's hard to say how much he's worth anymore with the money he's spent on other projects.

2) He married an investment banker[3] who I'm sure has a lot more financial sense than he does and doesn't want him throwing his personal money at the game.

3) The company make this game (Portalarium) had some layoffs a few months back[4]. I'm guessing they are trying to get funding to keep the company going as they don't seem to be working under any publisher.

4) Richard Garriott has a following in the gaming industry that he may as well use to keep his project going. Just like he did with Ultima Online back in the day (had to pay to be in the beta as EA didn't want to back his project), he is going to people to help keep the game funded.

[1] http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/8207-Two-Co...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Manor

[3] http://blogs.forbes.com/people/laetitiagarriottdecayeux/

[4] http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/17/portalarium-hit-with...

Re: Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

#82

Post by wodow »

glurgh wrote: post #70
wodow wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vote yes to permanent death [1] in MMOs! Richard Bartle: "[without permanent death] Newbies (and not-so-newbies) feel they can never catch up. The people in front will always be in front, and there's no way to overtake them. The horizon advances at the speed you approach it." [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_death [2] Designing Virtual Worlds, 2003

Really, permanent death? PvP corpse looting? These are profoundly user-hating mechanics and their removal is likely among the factors that made WoW successful. There are other ways to allow newbies to catch up and to incentivize or disincentivize players that don't rely on 'ruining your month of gameplay'.

Yes, really - but it is a matter of taste as tsumnia says in the sibling comment

In Monopoly, I can go bankrupt. In Nethack, I can (and often do) die. In Super Mario Bros 1, I can lose all of my lives. In football, I can get knocked out of the Champions League (by a red card).

In all of these cases, the fact that I can "lose" creates meaning - I care more about the outcome and I appreciate my achievements more. And one never loses everything - the skills stay with you. "Next time I can do better."

Counterbalancing, for a different mood: works like Ocarina of Time are still great, but they sit separately - they're about the journey, not about the achievements.

Re: Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

#83

Post by kdazzle »

Man, Ultima Online was so good. I would love to see this.

And corpse-looting gave PvP adrenaline rushes and was something that UO did really well. Without that huge sense of having something to lose, the fights become meaningless and stale. Like in gambling.

Re: Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

#84

Post by bobsy »

adventured wrote: post #59
bobsy wrote: post #11

I am going to rant about graphics here. The graphics on this game look 8 years old. A game doesn't need to look fantastic to be good but surely a new game should have good graphics. I am not talking about realistic graphics. Simply esthetically pleasing graphics. The graphics in the video look like something from runescape... Looking elsewhere. Is this game not called 'Ultima Online' because Garriot doesn't own the r…

Imagine how poorly something like Minecraft would sell today. Minecraft was amazing when it was released with a 256 color palette in 1993, but nobody would go for that today. People want graphics, not great gameplay... No, they want great gameplay first, and great graphics second. That has always been true and will always be true.

What is wrong with the Minecraft? The game has a blocky style to it. The artistic direction of the game suits it perfectly.

The issue I have is that this game appears to have no graphical style or artistic direction. It looks like an incredibly generic low poly-count 3d game.

Sure these are only prototypes but surely you wouldn't get this far into development with models completely unrelated to the finished product?

Re: Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

#85

Post by sp332 »

NoPiece wrote: post #78
papsosouid wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it is contrary to the stated purpose of kickstarter. I am treating the backers like adults. Why do you think that "hey, that's really not what kickstarter is for" is patronizing?

You say it is contrary to the stated purpose of Kickstarter. Can you link or quote something to back that up? All I've ever seen them say is that it is a platform to fund creative projects. This is a creative project. For game developers, even millionaire game developers, Kickstarter offers some level of freedom from real big bilion dollar game publishing corporations. So even if Richard Gariott has a lot of money, m…

http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store

Re: Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

#86

Post by sp332 »

icebraining wrote: post #80
papsosouid wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it is contrary to the stated purpose of kickstarter. I am treating the backers like adults. Why do you think that "hey, that's really not what kickstarter is for" is patronizing?

Where exactly is that stated? As far as I know, and according to the FAQ and project guidelines of Kickstarter, there's no rule or implicit understanding that only creators who can't fund their own projects should apply. In fact, they specifically mention that KS is about more than money. And I find it patronizing because your complaint is about the poor backers who get nothing for their money. Why exactly do you fee…

Yeah, they were pretty explicit that KS is for funding projects and not really a pre-order system. http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store

Re: Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

#87

Post by gavanwoolery »

wodow wrote: post #38
simonsarris wrote: post #28

I'm glad that "Meaningful PvP" was singled out. PvP is important to me and its one of the things that Ultima Online got right that vast swaths of MMOs since have floundered with (in my opinion). In parts of the world (Felucca[1]), UO was a rare RPG where anyone could kill anyone, for any reason, but with the repercussion that they would be branded a "Bad person" (visible with a gray or red name instead of blue). Stea…

Vote yes to permanent death [1] in MMOs! Richard Bartle: "[without permanent death] Newbies (and not-so-newbies) feel they can never catch up. The people in front will always be in front, and there's no way to overtake them. The horizon advances at the speed you approach it." [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_death [2] Designing Virtual Worlds, 2003

I am a big fan of permadeath - in video games, not real life! Ramp up fast, die fast, no grind - that's the way I like it; Spelunky really taught me the value of this design.

Re: Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

#88

Post by bobsy »

moron4hire wrote: post #15
bobsy wrote: post #11

I am going to rant about graphics here. The graphics on this game look 8 years old. A game doesn't need to look fantastic to be good but surely a new game should have good graphics. I am not talking about realistic graphics. Simply esthetically pleasing graphics. The graphics in the video look like something from runescape... Looking elsewhere. Is this game not called 'Ultima Online' because Garriot doesn't own the r…

The quality of graphics that we see in modern games has more to do with art assets then with programming of the game engine. Take a close look at the surroundings in your next game session. Every single thing in the game at some point had to be modeled by a person. When you're just starting with a project, you don't have those various and detailed models available. What you saw here was the "programmer art" version,…

Really? Everything is modeled by a person? I thought it was done with magic.

I haven't heard of programmer art. Why would a programmer work on models? Perhaps the game demo is using stock models or something but it seems strange that you would have prototypes and a demo like this with no artistic direction implemented.

I am not sure what exactly you think this has in common with Minecraft.

Re: Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

#89

Post by picklefish »

papsosouid wrote: post #42

It is pretty sad that kickstarter gets abused like this so much. Garriott is filthy rich, and has been in the game industry for decades. There is absolutely no need for him to be seeking financing from us, he could pay for it a dozen times over out of his own pocket. His reputation means he could easily get actual funding if he doesn't want to risk his own money. But instead, he abuses the willingness of ordinary peo…

He was rich. He spent most of his money fulfilling his lifelong dream to go into space. (His dad was an astronaut...) He has a half-built "castle" in Austin which he had to stop building because of his space endeavor. He hasn't had a successful game in a long time. Since UO, really. He may have gotten some money from NCSoft lawsuit / settlement recently but I don't remember which way it went.

Re: Lord British launches “Shroud of the Avatar” on Kickstarter

#90

Post by justjimmy »

Wow…just when I thought there was no more hope in MMO, this definitely revived my interest.

I've always been a fan of: 1. Skill based system vs. Level/Class based system. 2. Looting Corpses/Houses 3. Player Housing 4. True/Open PvP

Having said that, I'm not going to come near this game if it's going to offer: 1. Trammel 2. Insurance 3. Closed PvP 4. Class/Level System

I don't mind the dated graphic looks. Look forward to more info.

Hopefully they'll bring some old school principles and mechanics back.

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