Speaking With the Designer of an Indie MMO Project 104
PsxMeUP writes "Love is a persistent online first-person shooter that will let players build structures, permanently manipulate the environment and share resources — all in real-time. Action will be similar to a real-time strategy game as seen through the eyes of a grunt. The game is being completely designed by a man named Eskil Steenberg, and GameObserver had a chance to interview him. Steenberg talks about how all MMOs offer an egocentric experience where character growth is the most important aspect, and how he intends to change that. He also explains how mainstream MMOs have too many players, which basically trivializes accomplishments that have an impact on the entire server. 'If you imagine Civilization where you invent your stuff or build new stuff, imagine playing one of those characters on the ground doing that. And being able to do something minute in your world and see that impact in the major world,' Eskil explains, when asked what his game will be like. 'I want to scare people in a direction that is different from this sort of "me-centric" style of games. It feels that pretty much all games are going into that Diablo direction of collecting and building up my characters, and it's all very egocentric about creating your own powerful character,' he clarifies when asked how his game will be different from other MMOs. Love is well into development, and Steenberg has already posted some incredible gameplay demos. Levels, for instance, are all procedurally generated. The game also offers open-source tools, like UV editing — not a small feat considering the whole thing was designed by one man."
Re:Good luck! (Score:3, Insightful)
> People want to see that last boss, kill that god, but not everyone is willing to put in 40 hours a week.
Procedural content wouldn't change that much. In fact, it would allow you to kill your personal final boss, not the same one everyone else has slain, and make you wait with twenty other people which are currently also waiting for it to respawn.
> these games tend to be "mecentric" for a reason.
Yes, but a different reason you cite. It is terribly hard to automatically generate content, which is actually diverse, interesting, consistent, good, and bug free, especially if it is in persistent world. But if you want a persistent world, procedural content is a must.
Re:Good luck! (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds like the first Communist MMO! But more power to him, I just don't see how one guy is going to put out a game changer, these games tend to be "mecentric" for a reason. People want to see that last boss, kill that god, but not everyone is willing to put in 40 hours a week.
It depends on what you mean by "game changer". At it's most successful, it's not going to reinvent the standard MMOG, but it could very well find its own audience who wouldn't be interested in WoW, or play WoW not for the "mecentric" elements as much as the crafting or other social aspects of the game. Those players won't find such aspects to be very strong in WoW, but they might find them in Love. A Tale in the Desert is an example that has found a strong audience for itself without taking the online gaming market by storm. If Love is a game changer, it will be by showing how some gameplay ideas can work online, such ideas may be adopted by other games. For the most part, online game playing will be egocentric - the larger audience plays for escapist fantasy, and they want to "see that last boss". There's room for both, just as there is for action adventure movies and dramas. Also, I've played on small population servers ("The 4th Coming"), and have seen first hand that smaller populations foster a slight sense of community among the players. Also, his News page is terrific reading, which adds to my interest.
I wouldn't call this an MMO (Score:4, Insightful)
The MM in MMO stands for Massively Multi-player! If the servers are limited to 200 registered players averaging 50-70 online most of the time (as stated in TFA), I wouldn't call it an MMO. I've played on wolf-et servers with more than 70 players.
Re:Good luck! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Good luck! (Score:1, Insightful)