As we move into the new year I wanted to take some time to pose a handful of meta-questions. Instead of doing my usual role of talking about MMOs, I wanted to get some feedback from you on some broader questions. I’ll have a handful of these over the next week, with the first one…
Tag: development
Hobbyists, Indies and the Doom Moment
Have you ever wanted to change something about your favourite MMO? Maybe write your own questline or create your own models? Perhaps build your own game world or maybe even write your own game? Have you wanted to go from just being a passive consumer to an active creator within the genre? If you do,…
Smile Week: Dialogue Options
Today’s entry in Smile Week is a bit of compare and contrast. As MMO gamers we’re a bit of a fortunate bunch when it comes to developers and publishers. We’re looked after, listened to and cared for much more than our single-player brethren. What do I mean? Let me show you. A single player game…
Smile Week: Incredible Ubiquity
I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how I was going to kick off Smile Week. About which ideas I’d pull together and what stories I’d share. Unfortunately I’d spent a lot of time thinking and not very much writing, which isn’t very helpful. As I sat on the train between Manchester and…
The Lure of the Franchise
I was recently chatting to a friend about how we felt about Warcraft these days. We were both a little jaded and going through the same cycle of log in, raid, log out. I can just imagine a line of heroes forming outside the entrance to Firelands, punching the machine as they clock in for…
A Thoroughly European Convention
Besides keeping an eye on new releases, there are traditionally a handful of important dates in the gaming calendar. The season starts with the Game Developers Conference in early March, sweeps through to E3 in June. You then get a cluster of them up to September with PAX, Gamescom and the Tokyo Games Show. You’ll…
Storybricks: Questions & Answers
Following on from my recent first look at StoryBricks, I also got the chance to put some questions directly to Phil Carlisle, Namaste’s AI CTO. Phil’s probably best known for his work on the classic Worms series. Read on to find out more about what kind of game the team are looking to create with…
Storybricks: A First Look
I remember the early promise of MMOs. Looking back it feels like I was almost miss-sold them. “Become a Hero” they’d loudly proclaim, as if you were the only one who could rid the world of the evil dragon and save the kingdom. Fast forward ten years and I’ve slain countless dragons, liches, evil kings…
If Not You, Who Else?
I’m beginning to feel like there’s a crunch brewing. It’s almost like the shocks that happen before the earthquake, where you know something is going to happen but you can’t quite put your finger on what. It started off with the comments I’d spot on Twitter from players saying they were hanging up their Warcraft…
PC Gaming Is Dead
Looking at the PC section of my local video games store is a depressing sight. The shelves that were once pride of place are now consigned to the back, flanked by preowned console games. The content of these shelves isn’t much better – it’s full of “safe” titles. Sequels, sure-fire hits and money spinners. When…