Thoughts on the new Traveller game?
- Thread starter Garyius2003
- Start date
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I apologize for my ignorance, but what does "MMORPG" mean? I suspect that it has something to do with an online game.
LeperColony
Traveller Card Game Dev Team
I wish them well, but there's a lot of moving parts to an MMO.
Old School
SOC-9
I wish them well. Not holding my breath.
David Johansen
SOC-12
I think, I'm afraid, that if we want this at all we have to support this. I just doubt we'll get another shot of any sort. I'm not thrilled with what I see so far but I've wanted this for so long.
Can the OTU be broken into chunks? Meaning can they go live with the Spinward Marches and add the Trojan Reach later?
I don’t play MMO games much and I certainly don’t understand the architecture required to build and market them but if there is any kind of modularity that the designers can leverage then I’d say start small and build accordingly.
MOARN
I don’t play MMO games much and I certainly don’t understand the architecture required to build and market them but if there is any kind of modularity that the designers can leverage then I’d say start small and build accordingly.
MOARN
Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
The very first sentence throws me off.
Hard Science?
I wonder how much they really know of Traveller and its Golden Age space opera roots.
Hard Science?
I wonder how much they really know of Traveller and its Golden Age space opera roots.
The MMOs I have/are played/playing add continents, islands, zones, etc. as needed with expansions they sell.
I have seen complaints in the Everquest forums last year about how the planet is already mapped and where could the developers possibly have put the new areas ? Then some of us who have been there for over 10 years show that not all areas have adventures, just vague maps.
I can see a Traveller MMO starting off with a few sub-sectors, maybe even a sector, and adding to it over time.
I have seen complaints in the Everquest forums last year about how the planet is already mapped and where could the developers possibly have put the new areas ? Then some of us who have been there for over 10 years show that not all areas have adventures, just vague maps.
I can see a Traveller MMO starting off with a few sub-sectors, maybe even a sector, and adding to it over time.
I'm going to be the curmudgeon.
No, we don't.
You can encourage it, you can say "Yea, go team! I like the idea!", but throw cash money at them? The team with the CEO who's brief CV includes "Unity Tutorial Viewer"?
Uh, yea. No.
Let them grind out a demo. If they want investors, they can show it to them to get funding.
I'll be happy to take a look in 3 years to see how they're doing.
No, we don't.
You can encourage it, you can say "Yea, go team! I like the idea!", but throw cash money at them? The team with the CEO who's brief CV includes "Unity Tutorial Viewer"?
Uh, yea. No.
Let them grind out a demo. If they want investors, they can show it to them to get funding.
I'll be happy to take a look in 3 years to see how they're doing.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
I'm really wondering how they're going to manage to do it and keep the flavor of the game.
For example:
Character generation would have to be vastly broader than I've seen in any MMORPG. Most have like a half dozen character classes, and the variations on each are limited. The most any do is give a wide variety of skins and equipment to the character.
Some sort of advancement in skills scheme would have to be included, as players would expect their character to grow over time, not simply be used once in a scenario then a new character generated.
How would it deal with having an experienced character versus a "noob?" I've never seen an MMORPG that lets you start with a pile of skills and experience as if you've played the game for years. Traveller's character generation does that. How would that work?
You'd have to limit it to a small ship universe. You couldn't have a player running a wargame-like major military campaign or playing the game as a variant of say Civilization or Sim City.
Even then, you'd need separate game systems for ship combat Eve? and one for a party / individual combat system. What would be the limit on party size or number of ships engaged?
You'd also need an economic system in the game. That could be problematic. Would it be a real money based one, a pay-to-play, or just an in-game system? Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Play for free attracts more players. A real money one attracts and keeps serious players who see the game as a job almost. Pay-to-play works so long as you don't disadvantage those that aren't coughing up large amounts of money compared to those that "buy" success.
They have a lot of stuff they've got to figure out just to make such a game workable and that's before actually coding it, I'd think.
For example:
Character generation would have to be vastly broader than I've seen in any MMORPG. Most have like a half dozen character classes, and the variations on each are limited. The most any do is give a wide variety of skins and equipment to the character.
Some sort of advancement in skills scheme would have to be included, as players would expect their character to grow over time, not simply be used once in a scenario then a new character generated.
How would it deal with having an experienced character versus a "noob?" I've never seen an MMORPG that lets you start with a pile of skills and experience as if you've played the game for years. Traveller's character generation does that. How would that work?
You'd have to limit it to a small ship universe. You couldn't have a player running a wargame-like major military campaign or playing the game as a variant of say Civilization or Sim City.
Even then, you'd need separate game systems for ship combat Eve? and one for a party / individual combat system. What would be the limit on party size or number of ships engaged?
You'd also need an economic system in the game. That could be problematic. Would it be a real money based one, a pay-to-play, or just an in-game system? Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Play for free attracts more players. A real money one attracts and keeps serious players who see the game as a job almost. Pay-to-play works so long as you don't disadvantage those that aren't coughing up large amounts of money compared to those that "buy" success.
They have a lot of stuff they've got to figure out just to make such a game workable and that's before actually coding it, I'd think.
No we do not. I'm with whartung. You don't support projects out of pity.
Given what all of us have seen, you shouldn't be thrilled.
I am going to be a curmudgeon on this as well. There been several successful approaches to sci-fi MMORPGs
You got Eve Online which focus on ship, ship to ship combat, trading, and economics.
You got Knights of the Old Republic where you are a individual character running around doing stuff. You can own a ship and do trading and stuff but the main focus is doing stuff as your character.
You got Star Trek Online where the ship more of a central focus than Knights but less so than Eve.
Many MMORPG feature guilds, companies or other mechanics that formally group players together. What there vision for this?
Pretty pictures aside, I would want to know where they are going with this in these area. Technical issues aside, what the plan here other than it going to be a MMORPG.
For the record my view is that the MMORPG that comes the closest to Traveller is Eve Online but only in regards to the merchant, pirate, naval combat focused campaign.
I think the structure of Star Trek Online would be the most useful to mine, because it has a balanced combination of ship, and individual character stuff.
You got Eve Online which focus on ship, ship to ship combat, trading, and economics.
You got Knights of the Old Republic where you are a individual character running around doing stuff. You can own a ship and do trading and stuff but the main focus is doing stuff as your character.
You got Star Trek Online where the ship more of a central focus than Knights but less so than Eve.
Many MMORPG feature guilds, companies or other mechanics that formally group players together. What there vision for this?
Pretty pictures aside, I would want to know where they are going with this in these area. Technical issues aside, what the plan here other than it going to be a MMORPG.
For the record my view is that the MMORPG that comes the closest to Traveller is Eve Online but only in regards to the merchant, pirate, naval combat focused campaign.
I think the structure of Star Trek Online would be the most useful to mine, because it has a balanced combination of ship, and individual character stuff.
a game of this sort is a huge undertaking, and keeping the "tone" of Traveller (which varies considerably and is a :CoW: ) only adds to the difficulty. "You enter jump space for a week" means you can only interact with players on the same ship - nothing else. So that makes the M (multiplayer) part moot a good chunk of the time if you actually travel anywhere. I suppose you could have a few dozen characters so that you can interact all the time, though...
From reviewing the site, noticing that they have not hired any developers, and are learning Unity, even with a KS campaign (actually several campaigns planned) I just don't see this taking off personally. While I could be wrong (and am so very often!) I just don't see the demand for yet another MMO, particularly one that is based off a 40 year old property that, as much as I love it, has very little market share compared to other systems out there (I am struggling to get 3-5 players at my gaming club for a 3-4 session game, and we're almost all old players from the 70s & 80s).
And I agree with others: we don't need to support this simply because it is Traveller. I backed the Traveller CCG but will never play it most likely. I just happen to be addicted to both Traveller and Kickstarter...
From reviewing the site, noticing that they have not hired any developers, and are learning Unity, even with a KS campaign (actually several campaigns planned) I just don't see this taking off personally. While I could be wrong (and am so very often!) I just don't see the demand for yet another MMO, particularly one that is based off a 40 year old property that, as much as I love it, has very little market share compared to other systems out there (I am struggling to get 3-5 players at my gaming club for a 3-4 session game, and we're almost all old players from the 70s & 80s).
And I agree with others: we don't need to support this simply because it is Traveller. I backed the Traveller CCG but will never play it most likely. I just happen to be addicted to both Traveller and Kickstarter...
I shrug my shoulders at it. This is the first I've heard of it, and I've been wondering why someone other than myself hasn't tried to make a Traveller version of CS or Half Life.
Everquest was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made as a younger gamer back in the late 90s. The servers were overcrowded in the extreme. Ideally you and your band wander around a sector with maybe two or three other parties out of sight and out of mind, with the odd chance that you'll run into one another; i.e. parlay, fight, or team up to take down some nasty AI.
But, what I experienced was as follows; there were Players everywhere, and, quite literally, standing in line to take a crack at some monster. It was really that ridiculous. Everyone was a hero, but the AI in the stores could beat anyone. And the age limit was 18, but you had pre-teen punks just running amok in the place spouting off every sexually oriented foul mouthed insult known to mankind--stuff that would put a sailor and jarhead to shame--it was that bad.
I've told this story before, but I stuck with it for the simple idea that as soon as I levelled up to where my online friends were from another forum, that we would go on "serious" quests that would take us away from the crowds, where we could get into character, figure out puzzles, fight bad guys and monsters, and do adventuring stuff.
But the whole game is geared around levelling up, and not about RPing nor enjoying the atmosphere or company. And back in 98 or 99, there were so many players crowded on a server that the frame rates put the worst off shore Japanese anime to shame. It was like one frame every couple of seconds, if that. And god forbid you didn't have a card that didn't have 3d acceleration, because the software rendering was the worst.
I will never do another MMORPG EVER again. Seriously, NOT EVER. I don't care if the kinks have been ironed out, and if the servers are better now, I've had too many bad online gaming experiences to subject myself to that kind of crap ever again.
I'm glad Traveller's popular enough to try an effort at this, but I'm surprised that an updated version of the previous games wasn't forthcoming, and that the third game wasn't coded--much less an MMORPG version of our favorite scifi RPG. Whatever.
Good luck, mister Miller. All the best.
Everquest was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made as a younger gamer back in the late 90s. The servers were overcrowded in the extreme. Ideally you and your band wander around a sector with maybe two or three other parties out of sight and out of mind, with the odd chance that you'll run into one another; i.e. parlay, fight, or team up to take down some nasty AI.
But, what I experienced was as follows; there were Players everywhere, and, quite literally, standing in line to take a crack at some monster. It was really that ridiculous. Everyone was a hero, but the AI in the stores could beat anyone. And the age limit was 18, but you had pre-teen punks just running amok in the place spouting off every sexually oriented foul mouthed insult known to mankind--stuff that would put a sailor and jarhead to shame--it was that bad.
I've told this story before, but I stuck with it for the simple idea that as soon as I levelled up to where my online friends were from another forum, that we would go on "serious" quests that would take us away from the crowds, where we could get into character, figure out puzzles, fight bad guys and monsters, and do adventuring stuff.
But the whole game is geared around levelling up, and not about RPing nor enjoying the atmosphere or company. And back in 98 or 99, there were so many players crowded on a server that the frame rates put the worst off shore Japanese anime to shame. It was like one frame every couple of seconds, if that. And god forbid you didn't have a card that didn't have 3d acceleration, because the software rendering was the worst.
I will never do another MMORPG EVER again. Seriously, NOT EVER. I don't care if the kinks have been ironed out, and if the servers are better now, I've had too many bad online gaming experiences to subject myself to that kind of crap ever again.
I'm glad Traveller's popular enough to try an effort at this, but I'm surprised that an updated version of the previous games wasn't forthcoming, and that the third game wasn't coded--much less an MMORPG version of our favorite scifi RPG. Whatever.
Good luck, mister Miller. All the best.
They can skip the Jumpspace part. "Your adventure starts and ends at a Starport" is what one of the Supplements said.
But I'm not sure why they are starting from scratch and reinventing the wheel. There are several games out there that could be modified to what they want. No Man's Sky just got a nice update and is giving me my Space Exploration fix, even though I haven't had a lot of time to play it. It is probably the closest I'll ever get to walking around on another planet. As other people have mentioned, Eve Online and the almost vaporware Star Citizen are going to get the most customers/gamers. After all of the complaints that No Man's Sky got when they didn't deliver EXACTLY what they said they would when it was released, I hope this company takes that as a lesson and doesn't overhype.
But I'm not sure why they are starting from scratch and reinventing the wheel. There are several games out there that could be modified to what they want. No Man's Sky just got a nice update and is giving me my Space Exploration fix, even though I haven't had a lot of time to play it. It is probably the closest I'll ever get to walking around on another planet. As other people have mentioned, Eve Online and the almost vaporware Star Citizen are going to get the most customers/gamers. After all of the complaints that No Man's Sky got when they didn't deliver EXACTLY what they said they would when it was released, I hope this company takes that as a lesson and doesn't overhype.
ShawnDriscoll
SOC-14 1K
Modeling the 3rd Imperium will take some time.
