Love
Scythe
Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 46NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation, Reinforced - Silver
Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 46NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation, Reinforced - Silver
<div class="IPBDescription">The MMO, made by a guy.</div><a href="http://iloapp.quelsolaar.com/blog/news?Home&post=56" target="_blank">Love</a>, the indie MMO by Quelsolaar, has gone into pseudo-alpha. You can download the client and sit at the logon screen while pretty stuff swirls about in the background. Real alpha is imminent!
This game looks like it totally disregards the established way of doing things. Could be interesting.
--Scythe--
This game looks like it totally disregards the established way of doing things. Could be interesting.
--Scythe--
Comments
<a href="http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/" target="_blank">LOVE</a>
really, watch the videos, lots of good info.
This'll be fun, I think
No clue.
Try watching his Tools and Development video, might have some info.
You shape the world through attacking and building outposts and bases and stuff, cooperating with other players to take on monsters, make your own cities, and so on.
EDIT:
OMG! Watching the gameplay video... I'm in LOVE! And that is no pun.
Do want game nao! >.<
EDIT 2:
Looks like it will be pay 2 play.
<!--QuoteBegin-http://news.quelsolaar.com/#post50+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (http://news.quelsolaar.com/#post50)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I'm making a game that will cost about 10 euro per month, </snip><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Try watching his Tools and Development video, might have some info.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I watched the gameplay intro video... maybe I should watch the Development one. That seems like a sound suggestion.
I think it would be great fun to build a fortress and see if other players can take out your defenses. It's like desktop tower defense but much more granderer.
And that UI better be a placeholder.
Also, 10€ per month?
Who's going to pay that much for an indie-MMO?
You inspired me to compose an email to Eskil:
<!--QuoteBegin-My Email+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (My Email)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Hi Eskil,
First of all let me say that your project is pretty damn ambitious. It's refreshing to see someone ignoring the classical model and striking out on their own.
There are a lot of MMOs on the market these days. They're all different, some moreso than others, but over a long enough time span they always turn out the same: Obsession over incremental improvements to the mathematically optimal way of playing. Most often they turn into a precisely calculated quest for the next infinitesimal upgrade. No matter how pretty the box art, how deep the story or how complex the game mechanics, they always devolve into what is essentially an interactive spreadsheet.
While (to my understanding) Love does not feature many (any?) of the trappings of the traditional MMO, there will still be an "most effective" way to play it. Suppose a certain build order of structures, or combination of items. This will cause a general tend towards homogeneity over time. This is not really the point of the game. Games should reward strategic and innovative thinking, rather than consulting an online tutorial.
What I suggest is a dynamic variation of the fundamental parameters of the game at distinct points in the game. These would unbalance the seat of power from a particular strategy or build order, and cause the game to wobble wildly around until a new equilibrium is reached. This period of "wild wobbling" is oftentimes the most fun in MMOs, after a big patch fundamentally changes the game and everyone adjusts.
Now I might be entirely off with this; but I read something somewhere that stated that games of Love only last a finite period of time. There is a start and an end, separated by a time period measured in months, after which the world is reset. I don't know if this is actually the case, but this would be the ideal point to vary the parameters and establish a new balance.
Good luck, count me as one of your beta testers,
Scythe.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thoughts on my idea?
--Scythe--
As time goes on, general rules of thumb will probably emerge, like in all militaries around the world, but the min-maxers will have a tough time with this game, I think.
[edit]Things like build order of resources might fall into min-max categories, but I think that's a good thing. The fun part of the game is trying to make and break defenses, no producing resources. Logistics of how to get resources to the sites they are needed, how to defend resources, and how to take them, those are the interesting things.
If it does, as you say, reset every few months then I quite like it. Every iteration would be like an experiment in the best way to function in a new universe.
For you, perhaps, for most people, probably, but for a sufficient subset there's more than enough fun in working out the best way to obtain resources in a given situation to entertain them. Not everyone can be the architect of a city, not everyone can wield a weapon on the front line. There should be a niche for everyone, and I think the "mining engineer" niche is big enough to warrant being catered to.
--Scythe--
Getting this balance just right is pretty hard, although the constraints of GW's skill bar (huge set of available skills, but you can only bring a small selection to any fight) are certainly a good place to start. And even so, Arenanet has sometimes had to step in and nerf a build that became too dominant with no solid counters (or counters that were far too specialised to be viable).
Variations over time are a good idea, but I think it's better to allow these variations to originate with the players. It feels far less unfair to be beaten with a build that could have been created at any point in the past than to be beaten because the developers or the "AI director" suddenly adjusted the parameters of the game in your opponent's favour.
Love seems to be a sandbox. Much harder, if not for all intents impossible, to balance in such a way. But, I don't think that's a reason to write it off. I still love Love. Even resource gathering can be made dependent on the environment: the wind on a hill is not as effective for power generation as that inside of a valley where it's channeled in one direction, or a nice east-to-west exposure makes for good solar power.
The rules change based on where you are, but you can expect them to be predictable knowing your environment. It's less about min-maxing and more about creating doctrine.
--Scythe--<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
good ideas - maybe (hopefully) parameters like this will be built into the game already, like maybe some levels will be sunnier than others, leading towards solar generators, etc. and maybe the rock-paper-scissors thing will come into play too, depending on what the AI builds, you'll have to build certain things to counter it... I just hope it doesn't get boring fast is all :)
You can buy into it? *must have missed that*