Firefly MMO by Ironwolf

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Firefly MMO

POSTED BY: IRONWOLF
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 14:32
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Friday, December 8, 2006 9:57 PM

i dont know if everyones heard about this or not but i just saw this on Gamespot.com

http://au.gamespot.com/news/6162937.html?sid=6162937&tag=lastword;link

i personally think this is gonna be awesome if they do it right

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Friday, December 8, 2006 10:02 PM

ADMIRALJEDI

I just got done talking with the guy who's executive producing the game. He was at "the convention formerly known as Flan2" with me.

I tried to convince him that the cornerstone of a successful Firefly-based MMO would be the requirement for characters to eat or they would die.

Basic survival is at the heart of the Firefly verse. You can have survival at the cost of your freedom if you live on an Alliance planet, or freedom at the cost of your survival if you live out on the rim.

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Monday, December 11, 2006 11:57 PM

GOTHWALK

Quote:
Originally posted by AdmiralJedi:
I just got done talking with the guy who's executive producing the game. He was at "the convention formerly known as Flan2" with me.

Any bits of info on the game that might have been mentioned?

http://fireflymmo.com/

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Tuesday, December 12, 2006 11:17 AM

ADMIRALJEDI

Hmm... lemme see.

First, his company (MultiVerse) is a company that makes an MMO design PLATFORM. So I don't think he's really making the game himself. He stated that he's still looking for a design time (as of 12/8/06)

He very briefly mentioned the concept of a three faction approach (Independents, Alliance and Reavers) which I didn't like at all. Reavers should (imo) most certainly not be a playable faction.

I should make it clear, that all of this was conversation over a couple of drinks. Corey seems like a GREAT guy and very professional, none of what I say is to be considered gospel in any way.

I brought up with him that I felt that eating for survival should be key to the Firefly universe because ultimately the Firefly 'verse is about deciding between freedom or survival. And so if people decide freedom and start their lives on one of the outer planets, then there needs to be a VERY real need for them to feed.

He didn't seem keen on that idea because he said something like, "Ahh, the eating conundrum. Next we'll talk about sleeping, and permadeath." I felt that was kind of patronizing.

He also mentioned that one other person (he named him, I can't remember) had sort of an argument going on where Corey was on the side of "there should be spaceships." Perhaps I misunderstood that conversation grossly but well "duh."

Not only (all my opinions now) does there need to be spaceships, but there needs to be LONG space _travel_. A large portion of Firefly's action was done _IN_ space, and _ON_ the ship. Thus requiring spaceships to be able to hold MULTIPLE people and to actually confine them.

Multiverse's true challenge, and the true question they need to be asking themselves before they start development is this:

"Do we want to make a futuristic MMO that uses the Firefly verse as a backdrop, or do we want to create an MMO that captures and immerses the players in what we believe the spirit of the Firefly show really was."

Done well, I would play EITHER of those two games. I think we could all agree that the latter would be preferable, but I would argue that the latter will push the definition of what an MMO really is and I have a LARGE amount of doubt as to whether that kind of an MMO could be created with an off the shelf MMO design framework which is what MultiVerse has.

As an aside, I was pleased to hear Corey bring up the topic (somewhat favorably) of player-created content. I felt from the tone of his discussion that he was looking favorably on the concept of player-created ships, clothing, etc. Stuff that could be created by one player and used by many others. That's a great step in the right direction.

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006 12:46 AM

GOTHWALK

That's excellent, thank you!

Firefly MMO News: http://fireflymmo.com/

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006 4:06 AM

JUTS

Wow, a new MMO. Although I understand that eating is important, it is just a timesink when it comes to gaming.

Maybe eating to increase your health or stats after combat, but not something that is constantly being depleted from your inventory.

That my friend, is too old school. Even the original EQ Dev team left that path with Vanguard.

Three factions? Works for me, epically if this MMO has multiple servers and some are PVP. In addition, who has to say you still cannot have NPC's that are on those factions that just may attack you unexpectedly?

I agree with you on the space travel though. It would be cool to be able to find wrecks in space to attempt to salvage them or just to explore.

Definitely looking forward to this one.

Juts

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006 9:12 AM

ADMIRALJEDI

See Juts, you're falling into the same trap that I'm hoping they'll AVOID:

"Well EQ does this, and WoW does that, and UO did that."

There's certainly something to be said from learning lessons from our predecessors yes, but if they're only seeking to create a "Firefly-themed futuristic MMO" then that would work.

But if they want to make a multiplayer game that truly captures the spirit of Firefly, then they're gonna have to start from scratch with some basic concepts and figure out HOW to build an MMO around it.

In MY opinion, no Firefly game should really be called one unless there is a clear and constant survival requirement placed on those on the outer planets. Food is a perfect one. Another way to implement the requirement to eat is to make it so that mechanically your character does not gain skill unless they've eaten.

This creates a scenario like this:

- I want to play and gain skill.
- Can't gain skill without food.
- How do I get food?
- I need money/job for food.
- Where do I find work?

Boom, Firefly.

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006 9:15 AM

ADMIRALJEDI

Also... how many scenes in Firefly were spent around the dinner table? Quite a few. I would contend that eating meals is a very large part of Firefly.

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006 2:32 PM

JUTS

You forgot to add:

- I want to play and gain skill.
- Can't gain skill without food.
- How do I get food?
- I need money/job for food.
- Where do I find work?

- Oh crap, I just died because I have no food while looking for work.

--------------------
I am not trying to flame your ideas by any means here, but you have to look at 'lessons learned' from other MMO's. There is no reason to recreat a wheel that does not work when you can take 'good ideas' from other areas and modify them for your application.

Food had just not worked in MMO's as a requirement, and the player base supported MMO's going away from it being mandatory, to something that modifies stats or heals.

As for players stitting around a dinner table, well who knows. If the social aspect of the game is what your looking for, it may work. Power gamers will be turning the table over to shoot from behind it.

My biggest fear is that if they tailor a game to be so specific for a small audience, then it won't support itself or you will have another SWG. And I know that we both agree we don't want that to happen to Firefly.

Juts

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