Dungeon Runners

So I'm easily amused. Lately I've been filling my head with min-maxing Dungeon Runners in an attempt to increase my loots-per-minute on The Snow Chieftain. What fun.

The game actually has a very nice mechanic on it. i like the simplicity of the class system and the surprising depth. I detested that WoW was such a loot game but pared down here to the bare essentials it works wonderfully better. I am working up 2 game designs based on the simple character mechanics that are evidencd here and in other similar games. One is a PvP map based game and the other a co-op level grinder. I'll share more..maybe.

Free Realms FTW?!

Free realms seems to be getting the best of the press from E3. Granted i haven;t been to E3 for years. If you don;t know why it went under then you probably have never been. I'm still suffering a strange sort of vertigo inspired deafness from hawking wares under the bombastic carnival of some Tony Hawk never ending skate concert thing.

Anyway, this one seems to be just where the genre is headed. "Polished as WoW" they say. "Play a wizard one day and a warrior the next" they say. "Play it on Granny's old laptop" they say. Hmm. Winner I say.

Sounds like a true virtual world game integration with content generation tools that might actually make the first true amusement park online. Check this out:

Experience a vibrant new world that’s an exciting mix of real-world and fantasy.

Be a wizard one day, and a warrior the next, without having to make a new character.
Join your friends in the game and adventure with them, wherever they are, no matter how long they have been playing.


When you’re ready for some excitement, head out to the wilderness and
battle challenging enemies like giant spiders and forest trolls in
fast-paced, strategic battlegrounds.

Cooperate with or compete against other players in battle!
Explore, quest, and collect items that you can wear, use or display.
Play a wide variety of mini-games to craft armor, weapons, potions, clothes, furniture, and many other items.

Grab a root beer at the inn and hang out with your friends while a rock band plays on the stage.

Interact with humorous, unique characters, become their friends and receive emails from them!

Raise a dog or cat and teach it to be the kind of pet you want—shy, brave, or funny.

Decorate your own house and grow a variety of plants and flowers.
Send links, share images and videos, and chat with friends from your own, personal, customizable social networking page!

Sid Thinks MMO

So everyone and their uncle is covering the brief blab that Sid Meier has thoughts about doing an MMO down the road. I hope it isn't going to be Pirates (snark). I would really like to see what direction that would go in though. Colonization but in space against other planets? IN.

MMO for MilSim Application

Some older but possible still relevant reading material for me. You might like as well. This is a report on using games for MilSim and has some direct importance on what we do here for both WWIIOL and our "other" projects. I'm not sure why they talk about NWN ( I haevn't read this yet hence this post as a reminder to me...) but I've got a level 40 Dragon Disciple who could probably wipe a Brigade at minimum. Guess I'll call Col. Mustard and see if he's up for a game.

Thanks to Cid for the linkage on the beta forums.

2005_HFES_paper.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Daedalus Project Updated

You know what to do. Get on over there and support the cause. Let the world know we don;t just make games with high elf quotients. Especially go over there and represent if, latz kan gruk wut dis uruk am blahin'!

WoW Webcomic, Now With Babies on a Stick!

Long time funny man Lum then Mad, known to all WWIIOLers for the timeless rant on using 7 fingers to fire a rifle in our early days, now more respectfully known as Scott, posted a new WoW web comic that is worth the read if you swing that way. A true successor to the old Flintlocke's Guide to Azeroth that recently met its demise. The eternally macroed Loping the Chinese ninja looting bot who is Flintlocke's favored wee companion is more often than not, comedy gold.

Thanks Lum. If we get the chance to sit down and trade some snark this year in Austin I'll happily sport the first round.

"This is so gonna rule." | Broken Toys

Looks Like MO Has Been Busy

I'm not so sure what I'd do in a lego virtual world. Probably since I don't really care much for virtual worlds and much prefer games but this one stll intrigues me. Proabably all that time as a kid sorting colored blocks. Hey MO! Where's the beta invite?

INCOMING!

Sweet bombing run from WWIIOL (as if you needed me to tell you where it was from). This is what it's all about. I'm really hoping that some changes to victory conditions and adding enemy planes to the map will make this one of the coolest things ever.

Our friend and funder, SirBruce used to keep up with all of the player populations in the MMO space. Sometimes it's tough to wrangle the "active subscribers paying you money" from the "registerd on a web page once and might have even loggeed in at least once" camps. Looks like MMOGData has sprung up to fill the void. I've never had a lot of faith in these things though ours was always pretty right on. Probably because SirB was a partner in this crime. Nevertheless, when Raph tells you that MySpace is a bigger MMO than WoW, you'll know where to check the facts... Actually, I'd trust Raph over a pie chart but hey, what the hell do I know anyway.

So I've been installing Picasa from Google on my rig today and it has this amazing feature to search through all of the images on my rig very easily. This one caught my attention. BTW Lum and SirBruce, you are both free to hit me with that cane at GDC this year is you so feel.

VW Legends

No, i'm not talking about my busted up 1965 'vert. TerraNova has a great little piece about legends in virtual worlds. One of the best is from Dr.Cats, whom you may remember from Furcadia which Playnet hosted so many moons ago. What fun, furry memories... he recants the many ways in which Lord British has died over the years which is very close to my heart as Ultima VII is one of my top ten games of all time. Great read.

Gamecock

Those crazy fellas from GoD games appear to be at it again. This time around it's Gamecock. With a live up like Mushroom Men and Hail to the Chimp it seems like a sure thing! I hope the E3 parties are as amazing as they were in the old days...oh yeah right.

"Thanks to the support of savvy backers, Mr. Wilson believes the Gathering idea will fare better this time around. For one thing, he isn’t worried about the EAs, Activisions, or Take-Twos. “The only real competitive advantage those guys have is money,” he said. “Distribution and developer partnerships can be had with money.”"

It's a good thing when you don't have to count on money to make you successful right? I'm looking forward to more on this actually, indie publishers are a thing that interests us a lot.

RED HERRING | Gaming Vets Launch Gamecock