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Post by sinaedh on Feb 5, 2013 19:14:45 GMT -5
Have you guys seen this....? massively.joystiq.com/2013/02/05/rvr-unchained-mark-jacobs-returns-to-camelot/Mark Jacobs: As of now, the working title is Camelot Unchained. The game is an RvR-focused (almost no PvE) MMO that looks more to the past than the present for gameplay inspiration. In my opinion (I'll skip the "humble" part as some people will laugh if I say that), most if not all modern MMOs don't challenge the player as much as they should. As developers, we (myself included) as we have made things more convenient, easy, and hand-holding. We've lost touch with the portion of the playerbase that wants more challenge in their games.
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Kelryck
New Member
A Wandering Skald
Posts: 29
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Post by Kelryck on Feb 6, 2013 11:16:40 GMT -5
OOoooooooOOOooooooooo! Interesting indeed. Have to keep an eye on this one, even if my twitch response time isn't what it used to be!
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Post by Morreion on Feb 6, 2013 18:52:34 GMT -5
Interesting indeed! The bad: *Kickstarter means no funding  *No PvE * "In terms of design, less is more, quality over quantity, and focus on doing one thing really, really well." = makes me a bit nervous, sounds very stripped down instead of a robust game, I like a lot of things to do The good: *RvR  *No F2P  *Housing * "I do want to have some extremely sandbox-type stuff in the play experience" *The creator of DAoC getting another shot at WAR Definitely keeping my eye on this! I wish MJ well! |
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Post by Regolyth on Feb 10, 2013 15:59:26 GMT -5
This could be very awesome or horribly tragic. I'm still not sure if Marc Jacobs made WAR less spectacular than it could have been, or if it was others around him (mainly EA - which I'm sure they had a lot to do with it not being so great). I'm very interested in this and would contribute to the funds (which I'm sure a lot of old DAoCers would). This is definitely a "wait and see" type of deal. It's going to be at least another two years before we see any gameplay and three to four before anyone else gets their hands on it. I'd predict a late 2017 launch.
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Post by Morreion on Feb 11, 2013 12:23:48 GMT -5
I hope its a full-fledged MMO and doesn't turn out to be some stripped-down simple browser game or something of the sort...  |
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Post by Regolyth on Feb 12, 2013 9:04:00 GMT -5
I suppose that depends on the funding. If they get a good bit, but not quite enough, it may very well be a stripped down type of game.
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Post by Morreion on Feb 12, 2013 16:45:51 GMT -5
Camelot Unchained official siteCamelot Unchained is officially in the works (Gamebreaker)City State Entertainment is making a new MMO sequel to Dark Age of Camelot which is set to be called Camelot Unchained. The project is being led by Mark Jacobs, one of the founders of Mythic Entertainment and one of the leaders of the Dark Age of Camelot MMO project.
Camelot Unchained features three factions/realms fighting each other which is almost exactly the same as Dark Age of Camelot, which was split into Albion (Arthurian mythology), Hibernia (Irish mythology) and Midgard (Norse mythology).
...City State Entertainment will be heading over to Kickstarter in march to fund the production of Camelot Unchained. It’s not for certian how much Jacobs hopes to raise there, but he has said that the project will need over $10 million in total – though only half of that is needed in order to launch. Jacobs has also said that with the knowledge that Camelot Unchained will be a very niche MMO the team is looking at a multi-tiered subscription model rather than free to play because Jacobs said he would rather have fewer people paying to play than millions sampling it for free in the hope that a small percentage will buy something.Foundational Principle #1 – Be willing to take risks, even if fortune doesn’t always favor the bold (Camelot Unchained official site)...All I and the team care about is what will make this game great and that will mean taking chances with the game’s design and again, be willing to piss some people off. And we are ready, willing and able to do that. We won’t include features just to gain a slightly larger market share. I won’t put (or allow anything to be put into the design by others) things that are there simply to gain more users at both the expense of other players and that are in conflict with the FPs. However, I may also put in some features that some people might not consider fun (like true day/night cycle, slower and different leveling systems, extremely limited fast travel, no PvE leveling/gear grind) because I believe that will make this a better game for our niche.Foundational Principle #2 – RvR isn’t the end game, it’s the only game! (Camelot Unchained official site)...Having a rather large world map, almost no fast travel, and some CC abilities is a good start but we need even more and we’ll detail that in later blogs. Oh, and no “Pop goes the Arthurian.” When you die, and you will die; don’t expect to simply pop back up and get right back in the fight. It is going to be a lot more complicated than that. IMO, that gameplay style embodies some of the problems with many modern MMOs, death without consequence, “easy in” and “easy out” RvR, 6-year old kids’ soccer match, etc. RvR combat must be fun, challenging, exciting and losing must hurt a bit or it means nothing.Looks like crafting will be important in this game too!~ Foundational Principle #3 – You should always hold the hands of your little children while crossing busy intersections but…(Camelot Unchained official site)...Based on a sampling of the sentiments on the various forums I lurk on and/or participate in, there is growing belief among players we’ve also lost some of the excitement and socialization that comes with making the right or wrong choice, losing a tough fight, having to interact/group with other players, etc. and many are growing weary of this trend. Whether the publishers originated this approach or simply supported and encouraged it, it’s a trend that we fully intend to run counter to with CU.Sounding good! Possibilities of Camelot Unchained: a return to Old School Fundamentals while being a Revolutionary? (MMORPG.com)
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Post by Regolyth on Mar 9, 2013 10:33:09 GMT -5
Their first newsletter came out today (I signed up). Here's what Mark Jacobs had to say:
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Post by Morreion on Mar 12, 2013 12:28:21 GMT -5
Camelot Unchained dev blog: 'Choices matter' (Massively)Camelot Unchained will feature "a full stat allocation system" that will allow players to completely customize their characters' attributes. Race and gender will also matter: different races will have different stat maximums/minimums, and of course, various racial proficiencies and deficiencies. However, it's not mentioned exactly what effect a character's gender will have. The post also mentions players being able to take various advantages and disadvantages for their character such as in a number of pen-and-paper games, which will allow players to further tailor their characters as they see fit.Camelot Unchained aims to be unattractive to gold sellers and farmers (Massively)The team is planning on countering gold selling and farming by creating tools to battle it and making the game more difficult to generate a profit. "As an RvR-focused game, CU will be less attractive to them from the onset since earning currency in CU not be as easy as earning currency in a PvE game," he said.Top Ten Questions: Will There be Realm Ranks in the Game? (Camelot Unchained)You must be able to have actual RvR in an RvR-focused game and that means that the cavernous gulf of disparity between characters that can be found in other games must not be part of the system here. Again, being a more experienced player will come with tons of perks, benefits, abilities, etc. but it should not be instant death to see somebody a bit more powerful than you coming at you if we want this game to succeed.Foundational Principle #6 – Rock, paper, scissors? ‘Natch! (Camelot Unchained)The reason to use RPS is because, IMO, the mirrored class mechanic that WoW and other games use is not the right choice for this core RvR-focused game. Core MMORPG gamers know, and are quite familiar with the issues that come with an RPS mechanic and while they are not happy when they encounter them, they understand the problems that come with utilizing that mechanic.Camelot Unchained Q&A with Mark Jacobs (Ten Ton Hammer)Well, the first thing you need to do is create three realms that people care about, with each one being unique and different from the others. Players who come to the game because they want to fight for Arthur won’t just jump to another side because they're outnumbered – not unless we really do a major face-plant off the high dive.
Beyond this, we need to have systems in place that make it more attractive for players to stick with a side even though it's losing. This may involve bonuses, special grants by the ruler, etc. Such things might not make it easier for you to win, but they will mean you won’t mind losing as much.
In terms of players' investments in their respective realms serving to prevent them from quickly jumping ship, we'll definitely have a lot there such as each person's basic character, house, standing in the realm, etc. There are other things we are talking about doing, but they're topics for another interview.Foundational Principle #7 – Crafting should be fun, useful and not induce Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (Camelot Unchained)The crafting system is broken down into three specific tracks, journeyman, master, and artisan (placeholder name). Non-crafter classes are limited to the journeyman track while players who choose to play crafters can pursue the master track and then, if they so choose, the artisan track. Each track has its own set of skills and abilities along with leveling curves appropriate to characters that are not full-time crafters or those who choose to play a full-time crafter.Foundational Principle #8 – This should be a chaotic game with epic surprises at every turn (Camelot Unchained)Besides combat, we will look at adding a lot of randomness to the environment in terms of how not only it evolves over time naturally but also how the effects of magic that the players inject into the environment can also affect it over time as well. The landscape should change not just because of seasons (which would, IMO, be a good addition to this game) but also because the players are throwing around the equivalent of small, tactical nuclear devices like guests used to throw rice at wedding receptions. We will try to incorporate the consequences of summoning and tossing around so much power into the game in order to throw, every so often, what amounts to a curveball (or would that be a curvefireball?) at the players. This could manifest in all manner of ways including creating temporary “dead spaces” where magic might not work or maybe areas where magic works just a wee bit too well. It could also mean that the geography of an area could suddenly change or even that certain beings might manifest themselves within the world quite unexpectedly and with rather interesting results. These are just a quick sampling of the many game devices that we can use to help make our players’ experiences within the game not only a bit more unpredictable but also, IMO, a lot more fun, exciting and at times, challenging.Foundational Principle #9 – Forced Socialization was good, then bad. Is it time for a comeback? (Camelot Unchained)It is thus of paramount importance to ensure that the smaller communities in our game also have this same sense of belonging to a group(s) and that they derive benefits for doing so regardless of their class, realm, server, etc. In an RvR-focused game like CU, if players of each realm really experience Realm Pride and get to know and care about their fellow realm-mates, these same players are less likely to engage in such RvR-breaking behaviors such as kill-trading, keep-trading, etc. which not only help shatter immersion but also spoil the enjoyment of their friends and realm-mates. Thus, part of our job as the designers and developers of CU is to put systems in place to create interdependency that encourages players to work together so that they not only have the most fun but also enjoy the quickest ways to success within the game.
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Post by Regolyth on Apr 2, 2013 11:45:29 GMT -5
The Kickstarter program went into effect today. After half an hour, they were almost 25% in to what they needed.
LOL
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