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News: Celebrating 30 years of Star Control 2 - The Ur-Quan Masters

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Author Topic: XBox Live Arcade, Status?  (Read 4982 times)
Mr Eos
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XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« on: August 25, 2010, 06:35:39 am »

A while back, there was a conversation that took place between TfB and the community.

In that conversation, one of them had referred to the possibility of a remake of SC2, that would become available through the current Console Marketplaces.  XBox live marketplace being the specific one referred to.

What's going on with that?

If you guys don't jump on the ball, you're going to miss your window of opportunity to get in and become the "standard" space exploration game.

EvE Online
Jumpgate Evolution
Mass Effect
etc.

You're letting these games steal all your glory.  But not all of it...because they all lack something that SC2 had.  Memorable Characters with  Witty dialogues


My advice to you if you are still indeed, hell bent on making another Star Control game.
Take Diablo,  Eve, Crimson Skies, Guild Wars, X-Com, Mass Effect, SC2, and mix em all together.
And you should end up with something that looks like a,


3d space exploration battles (Crimson Skies)
w/ FPS missions on planets/starbases.  (Mass Effect)
With randomized worlds/ loot drops/Bueprints (Diablo)
that you research at your home base to improve your ship, or main character(s) (X-Com).
Space Stations that function as giant hubs to trade or make friends to tackle storyline missions with (Guild Wars)

In fact, I would go so far as to say that your entire universe should be randomly generated , but with key storyline elements randomly tossed in.
Have the whole world run on a 6 month cycle, so after the 6th months everything is reset and everyone starts over.  Kind of like the Diablo 2 ladder resets
But be unique about the storyline elements.
 
For example.  Lets say the first 6 months randomly generated a world centered around the original storyline of SC2.  The next 6 months might randomly generate a storyline centered around stopping the Shofixti from outbreeding the rest of the races and taking over the universe with all their offspring?  (Somewhat thinking about the Krogan Rebellion type lore that was in Mass Effect).

Anyway..I'm done, and this forum and the way it handles typeing out  and  editing a long post like this is starting to annoy me.  So I'll stop here.
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Draxas
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2010, 06:42:59 am »

You seem to be operating under the assumption that we want an MMO. I'm fairly certain the consensus here is that we don't (I know I sure don't anyway, and I'm pretty sure that's been discussed before). We're much more keen on a great story that does SC2 justice while expanding on the universe that the series has so painstakingly built up. Randomly generated plotlines are not going to accomplish that at all.
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Mr Eos
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2010, 06:55:30 am »

I think if there was a decent sized pool of plotlines to choose from, it could succeed, so long as they all followed the lore of SC2.

And as for not wanting an MMO...

All I can say is, if you've every played a game like Guild Wars, you would understand that the conversion to MMO would not in any way hinder the games ability to tell a story in the same fashion as if it was just single player.

I SPECIFICALLY refer to Guild Wars when I want you to look at the MMO possibility,  because that game is quite simply a Single Player game with the "possibilty" to play with other people.

Multiplayer is where gaming is going, so if you fight against that idea in general, then we are done here. 'cause I fear I might have to start attacking you for wanting to live in the past instead of the future of gaming.

p.s. I know what you all want for the next Star Control and I'm telling you...  It would be a complete waste of their time, if all we got was SC2 reskinned to complete the story it started.


Times have changed.  And if you want Star Control to succeed....and I know you do.  Then you need to realize that Star Control will have to compete with todays gaming market.....it  won't succeed in that if they're too busy catering to the fanboys of yesteryear.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2010, 07:04:06 am by Mr Eos » Logged
Angelfish
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2010, 08:20:58 am »

I'm quite happy to see Mass Effect as a spiritual successor to SC2, so I don't really see a problem.
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Draxas
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2010, 04:15:17 pm »

Unless you live in South Korea, single player games are still a very viable market, and despite your love for Guild Wars, it's pretty clear what 99% of MMOs are about: Grind. Well, that and monthly fees or cash shops, anyway. It's hard to argue that single player is not more effective at telling a story.

I'm not saying that multiplayer has no place in a new SC; quite the contrary, since every SC game to date has a time honored tradition of multiplayer, and that may be one of the biggest draws to the game. But it needs to have its place; I don't think skinning EVE Online with an SC theme is any more effective than rereleasing SC2 with a new story in terms of getting a proper successor. The divide between single- and multi-player modes will help the game tell the story it ought to, while allowing for the online competition that is expected as well. Expanding the main story into a periodically reset persistent world like you're proposing is only asking for trouble, especially for those of us who can't enjoy the story because we didn't grind enough to reach the end, or perhaps didn't get the game on release day and missed some of the stories altogether. To say nothing of folks who may not want their progress lost every time there's a storyline reset.

I know MMOs are popular now. That doesn't mean that every new game should be one.
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Angelfish
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2010, 04:46:40 pm »

Actually, Guild wars and World of warcraft never required much grinding from my end to reach the higher levels, you did quests and instances to progress the story Wink.
Besides that, I don't think SC2-players will mind grinding since most of the time spent in SC2 was grinding for minerals on planets anyway Wink.
Anyway, the ships in SC2 aren't really suited for multiplayer environments, but some could be adapted to do so. I like the idea of a persistent online universe, one that is alive with many real people and NPC's.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2010, 04:48:50 pm by Angelfish » Logged
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2010, 08:32:13 pm »

I like the idea of remaking SC2 with more modern graphics, but turning Star Control into an MMO?!
Hell no.
I've played the likes of EVE online. If I wanted a remake to be more like "today's games", I would just go play one of them. Give a more convenient multi-player system in Super Melee but, dangit, leave the single-player story mode alone.

Focus on improving the AI and its capability to interact with the player and game environment in single player and the game will be just as, if not more dynamic. You don't get ahead of the crowd by doing whatever it is everyone else seems to be doing, anyway.
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2010, 10:50:25 pm »

I'm quite happy to see Mass Effect as a spiritual successor to SC2
Eeeewwwwww!
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Mr Eos
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2010, 11:51:39 pm »

Ok, you all seem to be nitpicking as though I want EvE reskinned.   No.  Just....NO.

In fact I hate eve, Eve is too much sandbox.  Void of pretty much ANY story.

That's why I will say it again.  I SPECIFICALLY REFER TO GUILD WARS.  When I want you guys to look at the theory of how the Online MMO portion would play out.

If you haven't played it, then you have NO business trying to make MMO's out to be some kind of plague that turns games into big grinding machines.
When I first started playing SC2 back in the day, I probably did more grinding during that time than I ever did on Guild Wars, Or most MMO's for that matter.
So I'm not sure why anyone in this forum would even make an issue about it, since it's one of the gameplay elements that defined SC2 back in the day.

And in terms of people coming in late and missing some story elements.  So what.  If all the elements were able to tell a coherant story from the moment they started playing the game, would it really matter if a portion of the player base never got to the ending of that story?.  I don't think so, because it's not the end that matters...its the journey.  And your just a character in that story.  Whether or not you become the Hero of that story is up to you.  If you actually finish the story within the 6 months, then maybe you can get rewarded with a Hall of Fame type deal.  That gives a hell of incentive to play the game if you ask me.

ALSO...
As for the ships not being balanced for an online Multiplayer arena.....
Look  at a few games that actually have different classes of ships/character/etc that are totally unbalanced from each other because they fill a different purpose.  Yet they are all tossed into the same match together and they somehow make a great game.
A few games that have done this:  Crimson Skies, Return to Castle Wolfentstein,  Call of Duty.
You know the types,  Medic, Soldier, Engineer, Covert Ops.
I'd imagine seeing alot of twink'd team builds, revolving around the whole team using Chmmr Avatar's. Etc.  But you see, it does balance itself out because the other team can use the same kind of tactics.
Super Melee, if it was presented in the same fashion as Crimson Skies battles were presented.  Multiple Ships with completely unique abilities flying around in the same arena all controlled by human players.   You would  have to make/present it in that sort of 3D fashion to make it work. The top down method that SC2 is using just isn't able to handle more than a 1v1 situation unless you had the camera zoomed out to the max the entire time.

And if there is one thing that is for SURE.  The next Star Control needs an update to super melee to allow for actual Fleet Battles.  Instead of the One on One thing.
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Mr Eos
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2010, 12:05:02 am »

Oh, and one more thing.

If your playing against human players,  They won't have to waste their time programming the AI to account for it being the only competition you'll ever get.  They can spend that time on making a better story instead.

Then you just follow the same route that Guild Wars did,  (which kind of killed the game for me)  When the player base dwindles a bit, or gets to spread out over the landscape.  They added in customizable AI Henchmen.  It basically was the nail in the coffin that turned Guild Wars from a multiplayer game into a Single Player game. Guild wars was a much MUCH better game when humans were the primary choice to bring along as help.  Now it seems most noobs are to scared to be a noob in your group, and they won't even respond the group invites anymore.  I mean,  Why the hell people buy MMO's to play by themselves is beyond me.

Single player games are still sold, yes.  But honestly, most of them burn out really quick.  You know why? because Single Player games are just that.  A game that you play through a Single time.  Multiplayer games are played through multiple times.   Its pretty simple really.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2010, 12:09:39 am by Mr Eos » Logged
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2010, 01:12:58 am »

If your playing against human players,  They won't have to waste their time programming the AI to account for it being the only competition you'll ever get.  They can spend that time on making a better story instead.

Not quite. Multiplayer is definitely much nicer than single player where possible, but there isn't always another player to play with. This is the weakness of massively multiplayer games: if there aren't enough people playing, the game is boring.
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Zeracles
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #11 on: August 26, 2010, 08:32:00 am »

Quote from: Scott_Irving
SCMMORPG

Star Control Masively Multi-player Online Role Playing game =)

Quote from: Eth
Perhaps we should be "minimally multiplayer," since there probably aren't going to be very many of us...   Grin

(link)

Although I don't think this is a necessarily bad idea. Done right, any new star control game sounds good to me, but this sounds like a lot of work Smiley
« Last Edit: August 26, 2010, 08:34:50 am by Zeracles » Logged

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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #12 on: August 26, 2010, 09:44:35 am »

Oh, and one more thing.

If your playing against human players,  They won't have to waste their time programming the AI to account for it being the only competition you'll ever get.  They can spend that time on making a better story instead.

Then you just follow the same route that Guild Wars did,  (which kind of killed the game for me)  When the player base dwindles a bit, or gets to spread out over the landscape.  They added in customizable AI Henchmen.  It basically was the nail in the coffin that turned Guild Wars from a multiplayer game into a Single Player game. Guild wars was a much MUCH better game when humans were the primary choice to bring along as help.  Now it seems most noobs are to scared to be a noob in your group, and they won't even respond the group invites anymore.  I mean,  Why the hell people buy MMO's to play by themselves is beyond me.

Single player games are still sold, yes.  But honestly, most of them burn out really quick.  You know why? because Single Player games are just that.  A game that you play through a Single time.  Multiplayer games are played through multiple times.   Its pretty simple really.

Oh I liked the henches, since when I was on nobody else seemed to be on I could complete a lot of the missions with the henches, and the more difficult ones at night with real people Wink.
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Angelfish
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #13 on: August 26, 2010, 09:49:23 am »

Quote from: Scott_Irving
SCMMORPG

Star Control Masively Multi-player Online Role Playing game =)

Quote from: Eth
Perhaps we should be "minimally multiplayer," since there probably aren't going to be very many of us...   Grin

(link)

Although I don't think this is a necessarily bad idea. Done right, any new star control game sounds good to me, but this sounds like a lot of work Smiley

Actually, about 10 years ago, when MMORPG's were still in their childs' shoes I started work on NetSC, which was supposed to be a MMORPG version of SC2 Wink.
There should still be some version of it around on yahoo groups Tongue.
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Draxas
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Re: XBox Live Arcade, Status?
« Reply #14 on: August 26, 2010, 04:14:22 pm »

And in terms of people coming in late and missing some story elements.  So what.  If all the elements were able to tell a coherant story from the moment they started playing the game, would it really matter if a portion of the player base never got to the ending of that story?.  I don't think so, because it's not the end that matters...its the journey.  And your just a character in that story.  Whether or not you become the Hero of that story is up to you.  If you actually finish the story within the 6 months, then maybe you can get rewarded with a Hall of Fame type deal.  That gives a hell of incentive to play the game if you ask me.

Oh, I see. So screw all you guys who are still debating the intracacies of the story from a 15+ year old game, if you're late to the sequel, it's your problem, go read the wiki to catch up? That's real sweet, thanks, way to respect the fans.

But then, I guess I have no right to talk, seeing as how I haven't played your MMO of choice and never will. So please, carry on.
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