Half-Life 2 is coming to the XBox 360 along with the semi-sequels Episode 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. October 9th, it looks like. I’ll be picking this one up. I’ve been wanting to play HL2 and TF2 will be fun multiplayer. I’ll have to make some time here and there for playing. Maybe if I schedule it on my calendar and have my phone remind me that I’ve got an hour or so to play, I’ll actually do it.
The Bioware MMO is planning to release sometime in 2009. By that time, I’ll be 32 and the kiddo will be 2. Wonder how much time I’ll have to play it?
Fallout 3 sounds like it’s shaping up nicely. The Oblivion engine is beautiful and fairly easy to use. Managing your action points will be interesting, though.
I think I figured out the best way for a Sci-Fi MMORPG to work. First of all, it would need to have twitch-based combat. It doesn’t make sense to have turn-based combat with ranged weapons in a real-time environment. For melee weapons, turn-based combat works because there is more involvment: dodge, parry, stab, slice, etc. Ranged combat is more frenzied and chaotic. It’s less about biding your time and anticipating your target’s next move, and more about accuracy and ammunition management. So, using an FPS engine would be a good start.
Next, there needs to be a seamless transition between modes of transportation. In most MMORPGs, transition between walking on foot and riding a horse is a simple animation. The on-foot game and the on-horseback game is the same engine. For a Sci-Fi game, being in a vehicle or ship needs to take place in the same engine with a seamless transition. Something like the Battlefield 1942/Vietnam/2/2142 engine, which transitions well between ground and air. Loading screens are bad in a real-time environment.
The game should focus heavily on combat, aiming toward the overlap between FPS gamers and RPG gamers. Combat should be more than just a grind- or frag-fest, however. Strategy and management should be paramount. A military/faction system of rank should be created where players can be promoted. The higher rank you are, the more management ability you have. You can, then, create mission objectives, which lower-ranked players can attempt to achieve. Experience would not be awarded based on kills, but instead would be based on the effectiveness of the player to achieve the objective. A social Digg-like voting methodology could be used here, promoting certain individuals to the higher echelons or demoting them. This would do several things: bring social and (in-game) political influence, allow user-generated content, and do away with brainless grinding.
I envision a game where you can leave your player-owned house, run to where you parked your ship, climb in the cockpit (or run through the corridors to the command deck), fly to your headquarters, disembark, attend a mission briefing, return to your ship with your orders, join your squadron in space, carry out your orders, and then return home for some R&R. You may smell some hints of Star Wars Galaxies here, but it would be much more than what SWG offers, and would be executed much better.
