Posts made by Pogo

1. How do you think the game keeps Player interested after playing e.g. 100 hrs (Goals, Achievements...?)
2. Do you think the gap between new / casual and Venterans / Harcore Players will work out ?
3. Do you aim for a customizable UI ? (e.g. WOW)

...that at least I learned from previous Games.

Most Important Points first:

• A World that has to be “Thema Park” Designed will not sustain as long a generic World, at least for some parts. Good Examples are Wormholes in EVE, or Escalation Sites, that have to be found a offer a fair Ammount of Challenge and Rewards. The same is for Resource Nodes. I understand the “Typical” Farmer, that is lucky to know that in Area XY ware Resources Z but this lead to Overfarming, and stupid Node hunting. With a more or less Generic World you’ll design against this design faults. Without knowing how this gonna work out for Fractured, Rare and Random Bosses with Rare and Radom Abilities. I could see situations where some guys counter a Random Boss, that has such difficult Random Abilities, that it’s likely that this Boss will never be killed. You Could Attach the Reward on the Difficulty of Abilities, and on how long the Boss has survived yet. I think you get my pint. With that in Mind you maybe never have to design static Bosses , you have to design Abilities you can reuse. Randomess brings surprise…even on Items (e.g. D3, PoE)
• Combat. It’s difficult to describe, as a Game Developer I think you know how good Combad looks like. If you see 1vs1 Combats in Albion you’ll most likely fall asleep. Hasn’t much to do with Skill or the Right Spell Choice.
• Sorry for comparing this so often, but a Bad UI breaks Games too. Albion has one of the Worst UIs ever Experienced. One reason I Quit. First it was because they have a Cross Platform Focus, but now the divided PC from Mobile…but still…its awful. Best UI, Hands Down are the UIs you can customize, because there are mode talented and Motivated Designers out there than anyone could pay. Who plays WOW with the Default UI ? Not sure but I don’t think a lot of people. Instead Blizzard Crowdsources this to the Community, because everybody can choose their UI as Needed.
• Character Customization (Individualism). Nobody wants to look like everybody else (e.g. Albion expect Tabard and Shield)
• Make good Social Interaction somehow rewarding vis versa. Plus you have to have a good reporting anti GoldSeller, Botting Feature. Otherwise this will ruin most likely the Economy and thrives Players away.
• Make the Game B2P rather than “Premium” or give it a small monthly fee
• If you want a broader Audience, make the game not too Hardcore or you’ll push out the Bread-and-Butter Players that you need to develop further. I mean that in the sense, that someone “with a lot of time on his hands” can outplay someone with only 2h / day to an extend where he’ll never catch up.
• Endgame is important. I’m not sure if there is a Story or a phase where you have to do things in order to get there…but Endgame, or Lategame is the part where Games stay or Fall. Most games that are still on the Market do that by “Resetting” stuff from time to time (D3, PoE,…) or just Adding tons of Content very year (e.g. WOW). I have no specific Idea here, but there should be something beside doing the same stuff over and over.

After i saw the Gameplay I thought "Albion with good Graphics ?" - so i just can throw in the things i Dislike in Albion in hope for getting those things sort out in Fractured:

This would be:

• If you spend more Time in the game - you'll most likely have a hughe advantage (Grinding Weapon Skills etc) - in the "Super late endgame" this os not as drastic as between Tier 3-7 but nevertheless
• Premium is optional, but without Premium you are screwed in terms of harvesting, etc
• The Grind is huge in Albion
• Albion is pretty "static" in terms of maps, Dungeons, Drops - there is a bit of Exploration but still its kind of same-same (even Cirty Plots, etc...)
• PvP is mostly : The more you are, the more likely you'll win (aka Zerg mode)
• Albion calls itself Sandbox - this might be true to a certain degree but in the End for me it is just a "Box" but without Sand - so there is no individual degree of Creativity. You can place Houses etc. but the'll look the same, sit on the same place, as on other islands. The Terrain will look the Same no matter what. etc.
• On really Big Issue was additionally that big guilds win. There where some Russian Guilds that where so big that the claimed like most of the "good" Areas. As a small "casual" guild you where just victims. No chance to claim a important area, no ability todefend an area more than some days (with luck), no chance to win bigger battles. You could argue that you could join an alliance, but even alliances where kind of picky when choosing member guilds and requesting big contributions.

just my 2 cents