Linux and Android MMO Launches Kickstarter To Support Gameplay Expansion

Incarnate-VO writes "Long running space-MMO Vendetta Online, which debuted with Linux support back in 2002, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to support a major gameplay expansion, including player-owned stations, capships, and territorial conquest. If the Kickstarter succeeds, an upcoming iPad version could also gain some added polish, joining the existing mobile support for Android. (The Kickstarter video is also available on YouTube in HD)."

Great game, but to expensive for me

[Quazion]

I have played the game back in 2010, then I thought it was already a great game, but I only play games casually due to the lack of time mostly. Playing 10 dollars each month for only a couple of hours seems pretty steep.

I really like the new MMO business models like Planetside 2, where its free to play, but the paying does not screws the balance of the game, just buys you time or less grind as i see it..

A bit more competition for EVE online

[Lonewolf666]

The planned changes would bring Vendetta Online closer to EVE in features:
Player-owned capital ships and stations are two things EVE has, as well as benefits for conquering territory.
EVE also has pretty amazing graphics, which is something Vendetta Online could use a bit more of (and it is planned for the Kickstarter). Graphics are usually not the thing I look for first, but in case on Vendetta Online the gap to AAA games is pretty large.

What I really like is the twitch-based combat. A feature I always missed in EVE. Unfortunately, Vendetta Online does have its only server in Milwaukee, which makes the ping times somewhat long for players from Europe like me. When I tried Vendetta Online some years ago, I promptly got my ass handed to me in PvP. I think that was at least partly due to lag.

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[J.J. Dane]

I've been playing VO from Europe (Denmark) for 5 years, my ping's been around 140 pretty consistently, no lag at all. Could be network issues closer to home ?

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[Anonymous Coward]

My ping averages 100ms but I still get my ass kicked. I blame lag.

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[Bengie]

More than 50ms is laggy.

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[Patch86]

What I really like is the twitch-based combat. A feature I always missed in EVE.

That's always been the thing that has put me off trying Vendetta- I always find twitch gaming frustrating. I'm much more of a strategy man than a who-can-move-their-mouse-cursor-the-fastest one.

Still, any game with Linux support from day 1 deserves praise.

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[Sable Drakon]

I doubt that CCP is going to loose too much sleep over Vendetta. While the games are both about the same age, EvE is the better of the two just from depth and scale alone. I doubt that VO is even close to being able to support 4K players in the same star system, much less 3000 players fighting it out.

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[Nostromo21]

Let me know when EVE aka "Sociopath Ganker Online" goes f2p. So I can still not play it. :)

Hmm

[opusman]

What happened to doing work first and then getting paid for it?

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[Mike Frett]

People love to gamble and see what happens later. Kickstarter and others take advantage of that Gambling idea. But if somebody has a great Idea but lacks funds, I think this is a great way to get that Idea into our homes, don't you think?. For me personally, a native WoW client is all I am looking for in the MMO category, Wine doesn't cut it for me.

Re: Hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

What happened to doing work first and then getting paid for it?

This more like "shopping for investors" than it is "selling vaporware and then backfilling". They're up front about what they are doing, what they are going to accomplish and how much it will cost. And no one gets charged unless they get enough "investors".

This approach is certainly better than some products that were sold online and then had endless delays & excuses, never to actually see the light of day.

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[Jesrad]

I remember playing V-O back in 2004, for several months (as "Sacred Chao"). Back then we were already promised capships, player-owned space stations and sectors, and PVP-determined domination over the war sectors between the blue and red factions. There was some progress, at one point we could land aboard the automated frigates that would tour the galaxy, and man its turrets.

But, after all these years, there has been no more progress ? I'm underwhelmed.

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[lordofthechia]

It's really skipping the middle man, and players that do want the extra content can put their money where their mouth is. I have two games in my library that only came about by crowdsourced funding (and for that I'm grateful).

Just wish this existed sooner and with things like TV shows. How many here would have pitched in to fund an extra season of Firefly, Arrested Development, or (insert your favorite cancelled show - 4400 in my case).

If this sort of thing catches on it can help remove the (sometimes ill

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[jnmontario]

I understand your rationale, but with respect - that may work for some crappy ipod app game, but not something like an MMO*. I think it'd be naive to think any truly modern game could be developed w/out substantial investment. There's just way too much overhead in terms of time/effort spent on things that need to be paid for (hardware/graphic designers/audio engineers). Sure you could try taking your life's savings and do it that way, but costs would, I imagine, be so large you couldn't feasibly do that. K

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[Pinhedd]

It's called investment.

Most projects on this planet, whether they be mechanical, research, software, construction, or anything else, would not be possible without some sort of up front financing.

People need to be paid during development, licences need to be paid for, materials need to be purchased. Companies often incur hundreds of different costs before they ever see a cent of revenue.

I fully understand the skepticism that gets leveled at certain Kickstarter projects but please understand that Kickstarter

It works

[Pecisk]

While it is very simplistic comparing to what "Elite: Dangerous" plans to look like, it works (in current state of course) and I paid sub for it for a year (then I ran out of time to play it). On Linux it works on good Intel cards, not mentioning Nvidia and AMD/ATI - and it looks really nice, all things considered. They sure can deliver as coders - look of the amount of porting they have done in the past. And their back story for the game is very well written.

So this is worth to check out and decide is it's worth to support them.

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[Sigg3.net]

I printed out the entire background and stitched it up, reading through it in a couple of evenings before sleep.
It's worth reading even for non-players (in fact, I'm still on my trial account).

Here, "Linux" probably means GNU/Linux

[tepples]

Desktop PC operating systems marketed as "Linux" have overwhelmingly been X11/GNU/Linux stacks. The only thing the Android platform shares with the X11/GNU/Linux platform is the Linux kernel; the user space has almost nothing in common. And when the product "debuted with Linux support back in 2002", as the summary points out, Android did not even exist.

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[Sigg3.net]

VO has had an Android client for a couple of years. It was featured in a Linux Action Show episode ~ a year ago.