I’m back with more useless trash. I’m also going to elaborate on a topic from the previous post.
2) they’re making a modernized version of the classic BBS game
This is what they’re saying. I don’t believe it. I say this because I get letters from time to time asking, “When is a new tradewars coming out that has 3d graphics like Quake 3, but has the BBS feel?” Call me crazy, but if it has graphics like Quake 3, then it won’t have a BBS feel.
Also, it’s very hard to use the gameplay elements found in tradewars and throw them into a graphical environment. This is where I pull out Jumpgate again. Jumpgate basically does take a lot of elements from Classic tradewars and throws them into a 3d world. However, there’s a lot of waiting involved as you wait to jump from one sector to the next. This is very bad in the begining as all you can do are fed-ex jobs from one station to another. I will admit that I haven’t logged that many hours into the game, but that’s because I’m just tired of playing the waiting game while doing my fed-ex runs. I’m not trying to bash NetDevil here, the game is still in beta and I hope they’re able to fix everything by the time it ships. This is just the way things stand now.
Thoughts: Not enough known about Gameplay
6) Planned release: second half of 2001
Dark Millenium has probably been in development for a few months, but I doubt much longer than that. When your a startup, you have two ways to pay for your company: your own pocket, or a publisher willing to pay for the development. If you opt for the latter, you need to start the hype machine and attract publishers so you can actually get paid. This supports that they probably haven’t been working on it for long since the game was just announced.
As a general rule, it usually takes 2 years to make a game that doesn’t clone another game already made. At the current ship date, it’s give about 1 year for development. I really don’t think they can create a great game in that timeframe.
Thoughts: I doubt they’ll meet the current release date
7) Support for MacOS and Linux
This is good since no current MMOG supports an OS other than Windows. But, this has the potential to be very bad. When you support more platforms, you have to do more work if a patch is needed. Traditonally, all MMOGs receive many patches not only to fix bugs, but also to add content to the gameplay. Let’s hope Relic has something in their sleeves to combat this.
Thoughts: Has the potential to backfire
8) Will be ported to console systems like Dreamcast & PS2
This has the potential to be REALLY BAD. Here’s an example: Try playing StarLancer on a PC. Then try it on a Dreamcast. There’s a big diffrence betweens games on PC and consoles. Bridging that gap without significantly changing gameplay is very hard.
I’d also like to point out that unlike the Dreamcast and upcoming X-Box, the Playstation 2 DOES NOT come with internet support when you buy it. If history has anything to say, the PS2 will never have a large amount of users who can use the internet with it. So if the Dreamcast and X-box do poorly against the PS2, it won’t be good.
Thoughts: Could be very very bad.
9) Comic Book look
as shown by this screenshot (courtousy of Stardock) It looks like realm is going for a comic book feel. When you have comic book influences, theres bound to be ninjas! As everyone knows, Ninjas are good. The Comic look also helps the graphics last longer against time.
Thoughts: Ninjas GOOD!
That’s my allocation of rambling for the week.
