Displaying stories with the tag "StarWars". Subscribe to this URL for an RSS feed of this tag. Want more news? Click here for the Shacknews frontpage.Where will these games [massively multiplayer] be 10 years from now?
OK, this is where I get to put something on record so I can fall flat on my face later, right? Let's give it a shot:
They won't be games. You might not be covering them. They'll be accepted major parts of popular entertainment and the media. Online worlds are a medium—games are just one sort of content they can carry. It just so happens that the entertainment industry is the only industry seriously advancing the field right now. You could fit the entire current game industry into online worlds, because there's absolutely nothing precluding you from putting The Sims, Command and Conquer, Mario, and Quake all into one virtual world (well, except time and money). The reverse isn't true. I think embedded or tiered experiences is going to become a major trend—but that's hardly a prescient prediction since we're already seeing projects like World War II Online making the first gestures towards it.
'You can train your character in a particular way,' says Raph Koster, creative director at Verant.
'You could be a smuggler, and when you get bored, you can give up those skills and try something else.'
Basing character profession on skills means that players can literally be whatever they want: bounty hunter, smuggler, mechanic, craftsman, even oyster farmer, writer, musician, bartender or hairdresser. And, unlike traditional RPGs, race will have no restrictions on what skills you choose to pursue.
Last week, the team just hit two major milestones. We completed all art for three and a half civilizations (Galactic Empire, Rebel Alliance, Trade Federation and most of Gungan) in addition to the balancing process for those civilizations. Now we're aggressively going about finishing this puppy up, with a lot of new units and buildings. I'm just seeing realizations of the Wookiee, Gungan and Naboo buildings and units and they are very cool. [screenshots]
Hey look, another RTS! Hopefully it can live up to the standards that Force Commander set. :) Apologies for the gap in updates... even more connection troubles forced me to head on over to another family member's place for a connection.
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