Adding to the growing list of S/F Massive titles on the market, Gamecloud reports that a studio called Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment will be attempting to bring the Stargate franchise to the Massive gaming genre. From the article: "Stargate Worlds provides players with a form of ranged combat unique to MMORPG that will take full advantage of modern and science fiction weaponry, cover, and terrain. Players will be able to form squads with their friends or use bots for players who want to go solo. Squad leaders will control maneuvers and objectives through an innovative combat control interface. Players may choose to create characters that are members of either the SGC (the Good Guys) or the System Lords (the Bad Guys). Characters are equipped with varied and mixed skills, with the choice to form such classes as Research, Combat Marine, Medical, Scientific, Diplomatic, Engineering, Archeological, and Exploration. PVP will be possible between the two alliances on many contested worlds, actually swaying the balance of power on those planets, and unlocking hidden content." No release date, and an ambitious plan. Hope it works out for them.
Personally, I love the idea of a Stargate MMO.. but am I the only one that thinks "Cheyenne Entertainment"'s website looks like a random collection of buzzwords targeting Venture Capitalists?
Did the creators decide that stories about 4 or 5 elite SG-1 team members were boring, but stories about 40,000 or 50,000 random grunts would be exciting?
Or did they decide that games which can be run as a standalone application sell for $50, but games which require central servers can bring in $50 + $10 per month for a year?
It's not reported as an MMORPG, just a MMO. I'm guessing something around the lines of a squad based first person shooter like Plantside. It could be a very interesting concept; however, I hope there will be more than 2 factions so conquest does not become one sided. By having 3 or more factions, alliance between powerful guilds (possibly squads in this game) could be formed to push back a faction that is in the lead.
I'd spend all my time offworld, I don't think I'd be able to maintain my sanity when every few minutes the warning klaxon would be going off and that tech guy belting "Unscheduled offworld activation!" out over the PA.
Hrm... good point... I daresay that it would be hard to PVP the SGC, considering the iris blocks invading forces... although I wouldn't put it past some dick on a PVP server handing over his IDC to the System Lords...
Right away you raise a good point.:) Can that happen? Should it? Why not, after all it would be cool. But all it would take is someone with two characters, one good and one bad, and suddenly the iris is pointless. Good char dials up earth and stands around while bad char invades with his entire army:)
Better. What if they let go'a'uld characters "infest" other characters? Spy on them for a while, then slip back into another body and gate out! The SGC player wouldn't even know he'd been part of a plot.
That would really rock, as it would require the game engine to be highly sophisticated. The player has to be able to use random elements of the environment to make bombs and other weapons, timers, communication devices, balloons, small animals, telescopes, warp drives, etc etc etc. And the game would let you Jerry-rig broken things with improbable objects that can work with enough creativity. Yeah, I actually do want to play a MacGyver MMORPG.:)
In an already crowded field. I wish them a lot of luck, but that laundry list of features sounds like it'll take a whole lot of development time, and as an "also ran" MMO, they're going to have a tough time recouping it.
I wonder if it isn't time for someone to create a semi-generic "engine" for MMOs that developers could buy and modify instead of creating their own every time. Basically, a situation like the FPS market today. It would allow people to create niche games like this without breaking the ba
Nevrax have developed the GPLed "Nevrax Library" (NeL), used by Nevrax's own MMORPG; The Saga of Ryzom: "NeL is a toolkit for the development of massively online universes. It provides the base technologies and a set of development methodologies for the development of both client and server code." http://www.nevrax.org/ [nevrax.org]
I can't really comment on it's usefullness though, as I haven't looked deeply into it - I'm not a C++ developer.
There *are*. I worked with some people who were doing an educational MMOG (believe it or not,) and we talked to a bunch of middleware providers, such as Butterfly.net, Big Planet, NDL, and so on. If you have somewhere on the order of $2 to $3 million, you can license pretty much a complete set of everything you need to make a MMOG.
I hope they don't get stuck in the old conflicts of Earth vs. Goa'uld, that conflict has sort of fizzled off with main offender now being Baal. The SG Universe has moved on, Replicators and now the Ori
I'd love to see a MMO version of SG just i hope they don't make it crash and burn by limiting the gameplay to Good Vs. Bad, Earth Vs. Goa'uld. More involvement of other races (even if they're non playable) would be good. Asguard, Nox, even the odd descended Ancient/Altera
Their idea isn't quite the same in detail as mine [slashdot.org]... but it is roughly similar. But then again so would any MMO-Stargate. Honestly I think it would take longer than 8 days to bake this idea enough to be able to make an announcement...
On the other hand I've heard that the gaming industry is a cutthroat high speed race environment when it comes to new product development, so anything is possible...
I posted a while ago wishing someone would make that (I'm suing!). This is fantastic.
I just hope they pull it off right...and to do that I'll suggest a couple things.
First, the stars of the series need to be able to be interactive. Possibly even accompanying you on instanced quests. Second, offworld sites should not necessarily be instanced. Part of the fun will be when forces are trying to hold a gate position, and reinforcements come on through to turn the tide of battle.
Why is it that the name of the company that is making the Stargate video game is also the same name of the complex in Stargate??? The whois is also a bit odd with their eimail adress.
Hopefully, there will be updates and expansion packs to address this, as there have been in similar games. On the whole, it looks like this could have a lot of potential....now it has the burden of living up to that potential.
And the developer should just admit defeat now, then. I'm willing to bet actual money on this failing as miserably as Star Wars Galaxies, in that it will never ever be able to live up to fan expectations. Add to that pile: Star Trek Online and The Lord of the Rings MMO.
Damn, you beat me to it. Mod parent up for having a very insightful opinion. The Stargate Universe is vast. Almost as vast as the Star Trek Universe. However, the limitations on the Stargate Universe (there is, after all, only on SGC) will require that a lot of imagination be put into making this a successful product. Speaking of which, I've been playing the fan-made Stargate Adventure [the-underdogs.org] a lot lately. It reminds me of how much I miss the old adventure games. For the longest time, Star Trek could only be done w
Thanks for the link to this game. I've never heard of it before, but I'm downloading it now and I'm excited to give it a try. If you get the chance, check out Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy for PC/PS2/Xbox (I'd go with the Xbox version due to the controls being better on that platform). It's a modern take on the adventure genre, and it's a pretty good effort.
If you get the chance, check out Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy for PC/PS2/Xbox (I'd go with the Xbox version due to the controls being better on that platform). It's a modern take on the adventure genre, and it's a pretty good effort.
Mmmm... way too "adult themed" for me. One of the best points about the classical adventures was their levity. As Stargate Adventure shows, the TV Humor can be translated pretty well to the adventure game humor. Creating a game that I would be afraid to show to my kids is not the
Well, that's certainly true. I could only play this after my kids had gone to sleep. I too miss the old fun adventures -- I grew up with Infocom, Sierra and Lucasarts, and I think it's a shame none of them exist anymore (the Lucasarts that lives on today is so removed from the Lucasarts of old, it's a whole different company.
As DAoC and WoW have shown (among others as well I'm sure, I just only played these two), three factions seems to be a good minimum. Two is not enough, as any population imbalances become huge hurdles. Three (or more) factions still have population issues, but at least two smaller factions have the option of ganging up on the big guy, and once the big guy runs to lick his wounds, the small guys can beat each other up.
Yeah, but WoW only has two playable factions. It's not like you can be a goblin and work for the Steamwheedle Cartel. Admittedly, that would be very cool....
I believe that was his point - on different WoW servers, for a variety of reasons, the balance of power is immensely one-sided. Which means that the PvP aspects of the game tend to be heavily unbalanced, for all manner of reasons. Multiple factions mean 'politics' is possible in a meaningful fashion.
For some reason in WoW, even though the Horde generally has fewer players (sometimes the imbalance is as bad as 2:1), they typically do better than Alliance in Battlegrounds PvP (Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin especially). I've always wondered if it's because they're a closer knit community, or because their faction benefits are better (Shaman > Paladin, racial abilities), or just get more practice (smaller queue time for BG). Then again, in world-raid style PvP, Horde tend to have problems since there's
"Good Guys" vs "Bad Guys" is only a description of alignment. It's not racial and does not mean that it's exclusively humans vs. go'a'uld players only.
Just as you can be a gnome, elf or human on the Alliance side of WoW, you could be a human, nox or asgard member of the SGC side, or a jaffa or un'as member of the System Lords. Actually, most of the races have members on both sides of the conflict, so race might not even be the determining factor of which side your character is on.
I almost want to be a replicator (talk about an overpowered character!), but playing a lego brick just doesn't sound like the ultimate immersive game experience to me. Besides, we'd need a raid group of like a billion people to do much of anything.:-)
You wouldn't be a single Replicator but rather the hive mind of a swarm of them, like controlling a bunch of Zerg in Starcraft.
To keep the game interesting and the developers busy you should do it that way. I.e. Basic options to start then more as the game grows.
You could also tackle in this game some of the sticky issues not handled in SG1 or Atlantis.
I.e. Pay $1M, Sign an NDA and carry a Tocra around for a year. Get your Aids cure right here. And speaking of Aids. Remember those armbands that SG1 became immune to?
Stargate is more popular outside the US than you may think, as far as I know it has more or less eclipsed Star in the Uk and the show has been very successful in Germany, not sure about other countries.
well according to the Cheyenne Mountain website..."SG-1 has more than 17 million viewers each week in 64 countries" sounds like its way more popular overseas than here in America.....but consider the source:)
The problem I've seen in most of the licenses franchises like this is that they tend to pick things that are too popular. For example the problem with SWG was everybody wanted to be a Jedi and everybody wanted to go whoop up on Darth Vader. The storyline is too well settled and the characters are too well ingrained in our culture. It makes it very hard to give developers some flexibility. With Stargate, yes there's a fan base, but Stargate isn't near the level of the Matrix, or Star Wars. But the univers
A Firefly MMO could be fun, with all the heisting and thieving and what not. Not to mention the possibility of playing as Alliance and trying to put an end to all the fun stuff. But a Lost MMO would be ridiculous. What would you do? Explore the jungle and develop your character's back story? Then when things start to get exciting, you have to take a break for a week or two before you're allowed to play again.
I get what you're saying, though. Frankly, I'm tired of how many new games are MMOs. Take a look at m
Why am I not excited? (Score:3, Informative)
Hot on the heels (okay, not too hot) of JoWood's cancellation of Stargate SG-1: The Alliance. Excuse me if my confidence falters.
Hopefully this game will take place in both the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies.
Great Idea (Score:3, Interesting)
Star Wars? (Score:3, Informative)
So this is an MMORPG... why? (Score:2)
Or did they decide that games which can be run as a standalone application sell for $50, but games which require central servers can bring in $50 + $10 per month for a year?
Re:So this is an MMORPG... why? (Score:2)
This could definately be very cool if done right.
One gate, how many players? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:One gate, how many players? (Score:2, Interesting)
Kierthos
Re:One gate, how many players? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:One gate, how many players? (Score:2)
Re:One gate, how many players? (Score:2)
Re:One gate, how many players? (Score:2)
Re:Two-week memory (Score:2)
Re:One gate, how many players? (Score:2)
Re:One gate, how many players? (Score:2)
Richard Dean Anderson (Score:3, Funny)
Selma: Richard Dean Anderson will be in my dreams tonight!
Re:Richard Dean Anderson (Score:2)
Re:Richard Dean Anderson (Score:2)
sounds like a Zork game
Finally (Score:2)
Any connection to the single player game that was supposed to be out in 2005? http://www.stargate-thealliance.com/index.php?flas h=1 [stargate-thealliance.com]
Sounds like an ambitious offering... (Score:2)
I wonder if it isn't time for someone to create a semi-generic "engine" for MMOs that developers could buy and modify instead of creating their own every time. Basically, a situation like the FPS market today. It would allow people to create niche games like this without breaking the ba
Re:Sounds like an ambitious offering... (Score:2, Interesting)
"NeL is a toolkit for the development of massively online universes. It provides the base technologies and a set of development methodologies for the development of both client and server code."
http://www.nevrax.org/ [nevrax.org]
I can't really comment on it's usefullness though, as I haven't looked deeply into it - I'm not a C++ developer.
Re:Sounds like an ambitious offering... (Score:2)
Yes! but please think first (Score:2)
I hope they don't get stuck in the old conflicts of Earth vs. Goa'uld, that conflict has sort of fizzled off with main offender now being Baal. The SG Universe has moved on, Replicators and now the Ori
I'd love to see a MMO version of SG just i hope they don't make it crash and burn by limiting the gameplay to Good Vs. Bad, Earth Vs. Goa'uld. More involvement of other races (even if they're non playable) would be good. Asguard, Nox, even the odd descended Ancient/Altera
Hell, how are they going to play At
Prophecy or Plagarism (Score:2)
Their idea isn't quite the same in detail as mine [slashdot.org]... but it is roughly similar. But then again so would any MMO-Stargate. Honestly I think it would take longer than 8 days to bake this idea enough to be able to make an announcement...
On the other hand I've heard that the gaming industry is a cutthroat high speed race environment when it comes to new product development, so anything is possible...
stargateworlds.com (Score:2)
And here is the obvious site [stargateworlds.com] for the game... ooo comming soon!
YAY! (Score:2)
I just hope they pull it off right...and to do that I'll suggest a couple things.
First, the stars of the series need to be able to be interactive. Possibly even accompanying you on instanced quests. Second, offworld sites should not necessarily be instanced. Part of the fun will be when forces are trying to hold a gate position, and reinforcements come on through to turn the tide of battle.
Next....TELEPORTERS! Also, fl
Derrr... Im a whee bit supsicious... (Score:2)
Re:Derrr... Im a whee bit supsicious... (Score:2)
Apparently a mall is handling the Stargate MMO. I can't decide whether this is a step up or a step down from a porn king...
whoa (Score:2)
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:2)
And the developer should just admit defeat now, then. I'm willing to bet actual money on this failing as miserably as Star Wars Galaxies, in that it will never ever be able to live up to fan expectations. Add to that pile: Star Trek Online and The Lord of the Rings MMO.
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:3)
Speaking of which, I've been playing the fan-made Stargate Adventure [the-underdogs.org] a lot lately. It reminds me of how much I miss the old adventure games. For the longest time, Star Trek could only be done w
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:2)
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:2)
Mmmm... way too "adult themed" for me. One of the best points about the classical adventures was their levity. As Stargate Adventure shows, the TV Humor can be translated pretty well to the adventure game humor. Creating a game that I would be afraid to show to my kids is not the
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:2)
And yeah, that Atari logo is really stupid.
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:2, Insightful)
I believe that was his point - on different WoW servers, for a variety of reasons, the balance of power is immensely one-sided. Which means that the PvP aspects of the game tend to be heavily unbalanced, for all manner of reasons. Multiple factions mean 'politics' is possible in a meaningful fashion.
Of course, whether that would work well in Starga
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:2)
Then again, in world-raid style PvP, Horde tend to have problems since there's
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:2)
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:3, Interesting)
e.g.
Jaffa Warrior with the System Lords vs. a Free Jaffa with the SGC.
Goa'uld vs. a Tok'ra (both implanted humans).
etc.
Then, over time, they can add in more races to each side and possibly add the Ori as a Third faction in a later expanstion.
Heck, they could do a CoV-esque quasi stand-alone game and add the Pegasus Galaxy so the City of Atlantis humans and Wraith can be played. Then,
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:3, Interesting)
Just as you can be a gnome, elf or human on the Alliance side of WoW, you could be a human, nox or asgard member of the SGC side, or a jaffa or un'as member of the System Lords. Actually, most of the races have members on both sides of the conflict, so race might not even be the determining factor of which side your character is on.
I almost want to be a
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:2)
You wouldn't be a single Replicator but rather the hive mind of a swarm of them, like controlling a bunch of Zerg in Starcraft.
Re:Can it live up to the fans' expectations? (Score:3, Funny)
They'd have to make it so that the required 6 hours of daily Prostration didn't have to be experienced on-line.
Deal with isues that were sidesteped on TV. (Score:2)
You could also tackle in this game some of the sticky issues not handled in SG1 or Atlantis.
I.e. Pay $1M, Sign an NDA and carry a Tocra around for a year. Get your Aids cure right here. And speaking of Aids. Remember those armbands that SG1 became immune to?
BTW: What's the gate address for earth ?
Re:Deal with isues that were sidesteped on TV. (Score:2)
28 [wikipedia.org] 26 [wikipedia.org] 5 [wikipedia.org] 36 [wikipedia.org] 11 [wikipedia.org] 29 [wikipedia.org] + P.O.O.
Assuming you're in the Milky Way network. Pegasus-network glyphs are different and have yet to be documented [wikipedia.org].
I am assuming its designation would be P0X-000.
Re:another online game? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:another online game? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:another online game? (Score:2)
Season 10 SG-1 according to the rumors [stargate-s...utions.com]
Actually stargate is perfect (Score:2)
With Stargate, yes there's a fan base, but Stargate isn't near the level of the Matrix, or Star Wars. But the univers
Re:MMO fever! (Score:2)
But a Lost MMO would be ridiculous. What would you do? Explore the jungle and develop your character's back story? Then when things start to get exciting, you have to take a break for a week or two before you're allowed to play again.
I get what you're saying, though. Frankly, I'm tired of how many new games are MMOs. Take a look at m
Re:actually.. this fits shockingly well. (Score:2)
Toasters! (Score:3, Informative)
J.