The Current State of The MMO

[permaximum]

A little bit more than 3.5 months have passed since the release of SP. The mmo was previously stated that it would come out 18 months (later it became 2 years) after the release of SP. Now i am curious and i want to know the current state of the MMO. Did Runic start actual development of the game at full speed? Aren't there anything (like concept art, in-game model, information etc) can Runic show fans? If there are not, how long should fans wait for first bit of information? Weeks? Months? Season? Torchlight had been in Steam's Top10 weekly sales chart since it's release but right now it's not even in Top10 RPG sales chart. Interest in the game vanes and Runic has been silent except the release of new patch for SP (it was a disappointment for me). I think it's time for a new announcement about the MMO and i hope everything goes according to the plan.

[jamesL]

we know they said this back on Oct 19

Crispy Gamer: Where are you at with the MMO project?

Travis: Peter and some other folks have been building the network infrastructure for that now. They’ve been actively working on the backend and we’ve been doing some design work. The nice thing is once we tie this off (the development of Torchlight), all the assets we’re using can be used in the MMO. It hasn’t been a detour to make the single-player game as much as it has been a step on the road towards the MMO.

I stand by my prediction

posted Jan 29
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10854&hilit=+electronic

E3
Electronic Entertainment Expo
June 15-17, 2010, at the Los Angeles Convention Center

Perfect World is listed as an exhibitor, Runic is not,
http://www.e3expo.com/exhibitors/92/exhibitor-list/
but I think this is the same as it was last year

quote from Travis on Jan 21
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10643&p=98605#p98605

...
As far as the next project goes, we should have some interesting announcements about that in the next few months I think.

so a torchlight single player patch by mid february
and then the mmo alpha will be displayed at E3 this year

[AttackGorilla]

Because they are now basically working under Perfect World they probably have to be more careful about sharing information with the public regarding the MMO. I doubt they will be as vocal about the MMO as they were/are about the SP, but that is just my guess...

[wolfmane]

I often wonder why game companies don't have a token website/content manager.

What I mean by this is a person who's sole responsibility is just taking screen shots and gameplay footage and posting it on the website or hanging around in meetings or alongside the devs. One of the more frustrating things for me is seeing a screen shot roll through once every 6 months. That's like putting a steak in a bullet proof display case and then not telling me anything about it, like how it was cooked or with what spices.

And I'm not talking about community managers either. I mean a real conduit of information and not this coy cloak and dagger "maybe we are or maybe we aren't" kind of stuff.

Yes, I'm an idealist.

[AttackGorilla]

I don't think the payoff is big enough. pay someone $30,000 a year to post screenshots? I don't think they would ever see a return on that investment, though i too would like to see more. I think a lot of games probably also look pretty ugly early on, so the developers don't want you to get an early impression that the game is lame...

[Webbstre]

Wonder does that kind of stuff sometimes, but I guess every screenshot needs to get approval from various people before they can be posted, and the people who do the approval (maybe Travis and then the artists?) are too busy to check every day. I think if she could just put up anything she wanted we'd have a lot more shots, but they'd be lower quality overall.

[Volbard]

I'm glad you guys are interested in what we're going to do next, but I think you would probably get tired of a constant stream of hype. A lot of our day to day work just isn't that interesting. To build outdoor areas we spend a lot of time talking about rocks and how they could fit together, modeling and painting rocks, assembling rocks, and then talking about how the rocks could be better. It's the sort of groundwork that's necessary to build a world, but I think you'd get tired of hearing about it.

We're also talking about game systems and how they could be fun, but we'll end up changing our minds and pitching most of our ideas out the window several times before release, so that doesn't seem like a good thing to talk about either. Early screenshots are too rough to release, and so are early ideas.

Don't worry, this is normal. Just ask Webbstre; he was one of the earliest fans of the project that became Torchlight, and we didn't have much to show or say about that for the first six months either. I know it can be hard now, but I think you'll eventually be glad that most of our resources go into development rather than marketing. |^)

[Webbstre]

Don't worry, this is normal. Just ask Webbstre; he was one of the earliest fans of the project that became Torchlight, and we didn't have much to show or say about that for the first six months either. I know it can be hard now, but I think you'll eventually be glad that most of our resources go into development rather than marketing. |^)

It's true, we didn't have anything to prove the existence of the first game from August until the end of the year... when a few little screen clips leaked out Even after that it was a few more months before anything was announced.

My general philosophy is that if they are being particularly quiet it means they are working on something great. It's been that way since Mythos.

[jamesL]

ok Volbard,
just in case you come back here

I want NEGATIVE quest rewards

so 2 NPC's offer me the same quest, but they want opposite results

for example: back in Mythos, you had to find farmer what's his name and his daughters;
well, you would still get that quest,
1) find them and let them know their farm is being protected by soldiers and that its safe to go back:
reward = 100 gold and 300 fame
but a different npc tells you
2) find them and kill them
reward = 500 gold and -300 fame

this assumes you're going to have fame be a commodity in the mmo, but if not fame, then maybe something else;
anyway, I just think it would make the game so much more interesting

and, oh yeah
assembling rocks ; laying the ground work
ha ha

[dacckon]

Yeah I think fame should be hard to earn, you don't want 1 million legendary people running around.


Also just giving the eternally hungry fanbase a rough sketch every now and then would appease us. Even if its a sketch of a rock.

[TiberiusAudley]

I'm glad you guys are interested in what we're going to do next, but I think you would probably get tired of a constant stream of hype. A lot of our day to day work just isn't that interesting. To build outdoor areas we spend a lot of time talking about rocks and how they could fit together, modeling and painting rocks, assembling rocks, and then talking about how the rocks could be better. It's the sort of groundwork that's necessary to build a world, but I think you'd get tired of hearing about it.

Sounds like development is a rocky process.

[Darker123]

All I can offer is this - no more passive skills, they hurt me....

Activated passives, or something like that are far more fun.

Also, please increase all buff timers to at least 1 minute.

Maybe put cooldown timers on potions/town portals.

anyways, can't wait to see how awesome your MMO will be!

Make it fun though!

[wolfmane]

Actually I wasn't even thinking about the marketing aspects of it, in the official sense. As far as paying someone to put information out, there are already fans with dedicated websites, that have a vehicle ready for the dissemination of information. I'm not volunteering anyone here, mind you, but what I was thinking was more just a fan liaison who does their posting as a side hobby sort of thing. So you wouldn't necessarily need to pay someone a $30,000 salary to take care of it. As I said though, I'm being far more optimistic than I usually allow myself to be and I understand the actual difficulties associated with such an endeavor. It just occurred to me that every company I know of that has ever built a game always waits until 80% or more of the game is finished and then any fan interaction thereafter becomes pretty passive. There's not a whole lot for a fan to do by that point except to say 'yah that's great' or 'meh, maybe this isn't my game'. Again, not that I'm suggesting design by committee (blech)...I'm just throwing out ideas 'cause I can.

At any rate, I know of one possibly cat-like forum poster who might be interested in overworld rock formation creation. But hey, we did get Volbard to post. I'll just have to figure out better bait for a Runic forum post trap next time...you know, now that you're on to me. Actually, that makes me wonder if Runic is a Cake or a Pie company?

[Volbard]

Also just giving the eternally hungry fanbase a rough sketch every now and then would appease us. Even if its a sketch of a rock.

Yeah, I'm sure a sketch of a rock would hold you for months. ¦^p

Quests with multiple outcomes are neato, but a lot more complex. Also, I worry about putting that sort of thing into an MMO because it might paralyze people who need to find the optimal path before making a decision. We'll think about it!

[gap]

Yeah, those min/maxers amung us would be FUBARed if every quest had multiple paths, but one path gave just a smidge of an advantage. I can see the pile upon pile of walkthough/strategy guides now all titled something like:

"Really...the ultimate strategy to building the ultimate tank/dps/healer for the ultimate TL experience...Guide 7.1"

And the list goes on and on...

-GAP

[Webbstre]

Also just giving the eternally hungry fanbase a rough sketch every now and then would appease us. Even if its a sketch of a rock.

Yeah, I'm sure a sketch of a rock would hold you for months. ¦^p

Quests with multiple outcomes are neato, but a lot more complex. Also, I worry about putting that sort of thing into an MMO because it might paralyze people who need to find the optimal path before making a decision. We'll think about it!

You could always make it a simple two-choice quest. That way it's not overly complicated but it would give a small choice. "Do I want this reward or that reward?" "This way is easier but the prize for the harder choice is better." "Do I be good or evil?"

[BlazePyron]

Yeah, some sort of morality system would be really interesting.

[gap]

I have considered myself whether a morality system similar to that in "Fable" would work in the TL MMO. I havn't come to a conclusion one way or the other. I think I will start a thread on this to discuss it further...

Thanks for the idea guys, hope to see your ideas expanded further in the thread.

-GAP

[wolfmane]

Also, I worry about putting that sort of thing into an MMO because it might paralyze people who need to find the optimal path before making a decision

That's a bad thing?

[Tanuki]

Also, I worry about putting that sort of thing into an MMO because it might paralyze people who need to find the optimal path before making a decision

That's a bad thing?

+1