Evolution of Lentus Online: Intro
Contemporary games emphasize on PvP or monster slaying too much, that most of them have only brainless spawns all over. Static cities and characters, a specific scenario, and who-la... Congratulations, you have a million-user MMORPG.
Of course I'm jealous. Why wouldn't I be? I salute the people who have been working their apes off out there to bring entertainment to our lives. The people who provide us platforms to actually live in our imaginations, and make our lives more enjoyable.
The thing is, in all those massively multiplayer online games, while PvP'ing with other people like there is no tomorrow, I've always felt the absence of something:
Dynamic Map && Dynamic Population
I want a game world, which contains no (maybe some) statically created cities or spawn areas, and a game-play which is not limited by the quests defined by game designers. I want the population to build their towns by need, gather around by need, and have a natural way of living (natural may also mean extreme violence, doesn't matter right now). I want the game to have its own population distribution and economy, which are all created naturally.
The obstacle is that, developing a game is freaking hard. More importantly, it carries a commercial interest, i.e. money. Companies have to consider demand, market status, deadlines and other corporative stuff. It is definitely not a one-man job, unless you have brilliant idea which doesn't require cutting-edge technology, and the chance to reach out to the crowd. The second one is also important, there are thousands of brilliant games out there which are not lucky enough for somebody to come and see.
If you are willing to develop an MMO by yourself, without using game engines where you drag-drop pre-defined stuff into the scene, you are pretty screwed. Of course I'm talking about a game which has your dreams in it, not only some dudes rushing around and humping each other aimlessly. You have to deal with both functionality and the looks of the game, while you hopelessly try to inject your thoughts in.
It's been over two years now, since I had enthusiastically started developing an MMORPG. My dream was to merge the concept of a regular role playing game with real time strategy, on a world which is dynamically populated and which is creating it's own scenario.
No matter how much functionality I implemented, I've always felt that nobody is going to be willing to play my game, which lacks the visual quality of contemporary games. Seriously, nobody cares about intelligent bots, auto-emerging cities or mountable ships, if they all look like moving dull tables.
The truth is, I actually didn't care. My job was to create my dream world, and live in it. I wanted to observe my minions creating their own towns, cities, lineages; attacking other groups and increasing their power.
I wanted a game that plays itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment