Menu
What's New
By:
Filters

A player created planet?

Sarubaboon

Sarubaboon

Alpha
Joined
Feb 20, 2006
Posts
566
Location
Japan
Society
NBK Entrepreneurs
The question is.... do you think that MA would let a group of players, who organised themselves as a company, build one of the planets?.

I was just thinking that it could be possible for a group of individuals who had a certain amount of free time, to slowly build such a planet in their free time. The individuals would not even need to be in the same physical location (could all be done via skype, a forum, etc), as long as each person had clear tasks. As MA has in effect created the background system, then one person in each group could create the landscape, another the mobs, another missions, and then it would all come together like a puzzle. For example, I work as a lecturer at a university, so I have a lot of freedom as to what I do outside of my lecturing hours, so I reckon I could put in 20+ hours into such a project (a lot of which would just be taken out of my EU playing time).

So, the subquestions to this thread would be, how many people would you need to create such a system? (ie how many mobs could one person design in one month, how many land areas, etc). What kind of skills would be required to do such a thing? Would any money be required to start up such a system? (to me it appears the cost would be almost 0, provided that each individual had his own fairly decent computer)
 
its called rocktopia.
 
:laugh:
yes, thanks a lot for that!
ok, so, let`s have it again, what would be needed to make a second rocktropia?
(I know there are zillions of other planets in the making)
 
These guys are doing it or atleast that is the plan. First they develop on platforms that are readily accessable to everyone then I think they plan to reapproach MA about a planet.

They are coming along very nicely.

 
Aura Lily said:
These guys are doing it or atleast that is the plan. First they develop on platforms that are readily accessable to everyone then I think they plan to reapproach MA about a planet.

They are coming along very nicely.

Click to expand...

IMO it looks quite promising. To bad they focus on designs based on PE.

The question is why should we go for a planet in the Entropia Universe. It looks like the post-moderna project have gathered a lot of competent people. I've been thinking of joining since I for long have had the same thoughts. The cause not to join them is that they aim for Entropia Universe.
 
Sarubaboon said:
So, the subquestions to this thread would be, how many people would you need to create such a system? (ie how many mobs could one person design in one month, how many land areas, etc). What kind of skills would be required to do such a thing? Would any money be required to start up such a system? (to me it appears the cost would be almost 0, provided that each individual had his own fairly decent computer)
Click to expand...

you need about half a dozen graphical artists, a writer and a project manager/director. at least one of those artists needs to also be a level designer, or you need another head for that too. Also, maybe a C++ coder to do some tweaking where allowed. you will need some decent grpahical tools to make the 3D models and the textures - you could use free/OSS ones though i dont think they are as good (or as easy/efficient to use) as commercial packages. then you need a support team, 2 at first (to cover illness), to deal with the support of the planet. one or two of the artists could duble for this role too.

oh, and you need a bank roll to demostrate to MA you will stick around. thats the trick part. getting up and running with some part-timers is easy, but eventually they will get bored or need to focus on their paying job (or get paid) by the project).
 
Sarubaboon said:
The question is.... do you think that MA would let a group of players, who organised themselves as a company, build one of the planets?.
Click to expand...

The simple answer is yes, provided they can proove they have the funds and a good idea for a planet that MA are willing to allow.

It's all very well in theory but in practice these kind of projects can lack direction, management control etc etc and can just implode on themselves. If you thought MA/FPC deadlines were bad then these kind of projects would be even worse. This is mainly due to peoples level of commitment and other responsibilities i.e. this kind of project would be ranked lower in their level of commitment.

I've worked on similar things and can say that from experience. To make it work you'd need strong leadership and backup plans for the lower committed i.e. what to do if something doesn't get done in time etc etc


It can work but the other problems would be with legal issues. With everyone working from different countries how wil that work?


The simplest approach would be to have a set number of core people. The hardcore dedicated team that really drive the project forward and a system that allows an outer circle of commitment i.e. part time/short time project workers.

The funding and paying for these workers would be quite expensive. Say 2 years of development, that's going to cost millions and the money has to be put in for the development otherwise you'll have a weak project that goes nowhere like postmoderna...
 
I think it is possible but I wonder if you would build a planet in corporation with MA
 
what the heck is there for MA?
MA would say to everyone: show me the money!
and do whatever you want ...
 
oh, and you need a bank roll to demostrate to MA you will stick around. thats the trick part. getting up and running with some part-timers is easy, but eventually they will get bored or need to focus on their paying job (or get paid) by the project).
Click to expand...
Yes... it's possible... but it's a heck of a lot of work. I used to hang out on the forums at cgtalk.com, 3dbuzz.com, 3dlinks.com and a lot of other places like that... I can't tell you how many huge projects I saw started, some of which I even participated in, but they all fizzled out in the end becuase of lack of leadership, lack of long-term viability, and a number of other reasons... IF you could have very specific goals, timelines, and did something similar to http://massanimation.com/ , it might be possible... would still take a lot of work though. Might even be a good idea to talk to them - since Massanimation does a number of various projects... and then get MA on board too.

Actually, Haane, Frank, Marco, or anyone with direct MA contact, you might look in to this sort of thing. The gossipy parts of social networks like facebook would spread the word of Entropia widely if there was an app for something like this.
 
Last edited:
mastermesh said:
Yes... it's possible... but it's a heck of a lot of work. I used to hang out on the forums at cgtalk.com, 3dbuzz.com, 3dlinks.com and a lot of other places like that... I can't tell you how many huge projects I saw started, some of which I even participated in, but they all fizzled out in the end becuase of lack of leadership, lack of long-term viability, and a number of other reasons... IF you could have very specific goals, timelines,[...]it might be possible.
Click to expand...

leadership and managment is often cited as the reason part-time or volunteer projects fail. but theres also another significant brace of problems - no money and monotony. people will happily engage in interesting or challenging new projects for free, to learn to gain experience, for fun. but they dont put in the time to do the grinding repetitive tasks, unless they are getting paid (ie when it becomes "work"). regression testing, bug squashing, animation, putting that finished polish on everything, is very very boring.
 
aridash said:
leadership and managment is often cited as the reason part-time or volunteer projects fail. but theres also another significant brace of problems - no money and monotony. people will happily engage in interesting or challenging new projects for free, to learn to gain experience, for fun. but they dont put in the time to do the grinding repetitive tasks, unless they are getting paid (ie when it becomes "work"). regression testing, bug squashing, animation, putting that finished polish on everything, is very very boring.
Click to expand...

very true you said it much better than me ;) If people are not getting paid they simply don't have the commitment for some tasks ...
 
hmm I am still waiting for the results from my final class tests but afterwards I am most likely going to study Computer Games Art, BA... "working" for a planet project in that time could be an interestning challenge. I think there will be some player run projects... however I am not sure if they`ll be a success in the end.
 
aridash said:
leadership and managment is often cited as the reason part-time or volunteer projects fail. but theres also another significant brace of problems - no money and monotony. people will happily engage in interesting or challenging new projects for free, to learn to gain experience, for fun. but they dont put in the time to do the grinding repetitive tasks, unless they are getting paid (ie when it becomes "work"). regression testing, bug squashing, animation, putting that finished polish on everything, is very very boring.
Click to expand...

Aswell as frustrating for that matter :) Anyone who does the above will understand me :p
 
Been there, done that. :laugh:

Funding is the big issue a player-based project like this will face up front. There are the other challenges mentioned which may or may not be reasons the funding is hard to come by, but without the cash up front you'll not get anywhere.
 
aridash said:
you need about half a dozen graphical artists, a writer and a project manager/director. at least one of those artists needs to also be a level designer, or you need another head for that too. Also, maybe a C++ coder to do some tweaking where allowed. you will need some decent grpahical tools to make the 3D models and the textures - you could use free/OSS ones though i dont think they are as good (or as easy/efficient to use) as commercial packages. then you need a support team, 2 at first (to cover illness), to deal with the support of the planet. one or two of the artists could duble for this role too.

oh, and you need a bank roll to demostrate to MA you will stick around. thats the trick part. getting up and running with some part-timers is easy, but eventually they will get bored or need to focus on their paying job (or get paid) by the project).
Click to expand...

you tell a lot about it needs much artist ppl. But dont forget, that 2/3 of game development is programing. The artist part is the smal part.
 
10 socs and 500 members should be enough if everyone invests 5k usd. is that the answer youre looking for?
 
I actually was engaged in a project like this a long time back. We even had direct contact with MA and were going to establish some funds, but interest fizzled out when our "leader" of sorts quit. Make sure the guy the group puts the most effort on is devoted if you plan to take on a project like this. Mostly a 3D graphics guy here, but ended up writing a nice story for the planet (never accepted, but I thought it was good :silly2:) Anyways, I'll be signing up for PPM, looks like they need more 3D Modelers and I just got Maya and consider myself to be decent in Blender (except texturing. That is some tedious stuff right there.)
 
Sarubaboon said:
The question is.... do you think that MA would let a group of players, who organised themselves as a company, build one of the planets?.

I was just thinking that it could be possible for a group of individuals who had a certain amount of free time, to slowly build such a planet in their free time. The individuals would not even need to be in the same physical location (could all be done via skype, a forum, etc), as long as each person had clear tasks. As MA has in effect created the background system, then one person in each group could create the landscape, another the mobs, another missions, and then it would all come together like a puzzle. For example, I work as a lecturer at a university, so I have a lot of freedom as to what I do outside of my lecturing hours, so I reckon I could put in 20+ hours into such a project (a lot of which would just be taken out of my EU playing time).

So, the subquestions to this thread would be, how many people would you need to create such a system? (ie how many mobs could one person design in one month, how many land areas, etc). What kind of skills would be required to do such a thing? Would any money be required to start up such a system? (to me it appears the cost would be almost 0, provided that each individual had his own fairly decent computer)
Click to expand...

Dude where ya been? What do you think just happened? One word "Neverdie"!

But as a planet partner you will not be allowed to play EU for profit on your own Avatar.
 
A part that most of you are overlooking is the marketing and platform development. It seems that MA are looking to create more than just new area and creatures through the planet partners.

In order to be accepted I think you would have to show that you can reach an as yet untapped segment of the market so that you planet will be able to draw in its own players and become self sustaining. There really isn't much point for them to create all these extra planets and work for themselves just for existing players to jump from one planet to the other. The whole points is to expand by having each new planet bring in its own new set of players.
 
addz said:
A part that most of you are overlooking is the marketing and platform development. It seems that MA are looking to create more than just new area and creatures through the planet partners.

In order to be accepted I think you would have to show that you can reach an as yet untapped segment of the market so that you planet will be able to draw in its own players and become self sustaining. There really isn't much point for them to create all these extra planets and work for themselves just for existing players to jump from one planet to the other. The whole points is to expand by having each new planet bring in its own new set of players.
Click to expand...

I agree here, need to have a niche market for your planet. Say everything here is in future as we know it, but a planet with wild west theme might get accepted(example).
 
I was thinking about a planet where you could invest in where skill prices continually drop and loots get worse till your a hobo ,and at the end of the game ,you get a dumpster or a broken down lawn chair under the highway....

:drink::shots::shots::idea:
Hobotopia

cigarettes booze are currency
evil hobos with high damage
 
trance said:
no programming:) thats why we don't see any new content on rocktropia... is just the same code whit other grafik;) in this case all is artwork... what not means, it must be bad:D
Click to expand...

Lol, yeah... From what I can tell, it's pretty much like a level design. There's probably some scripting, and various other things so you can program dynamic objects in the world, but essentially you're stuck with the same old blast/loot model we've come to know and be very tired of.

Some of the other planet ideas confirm this for me, and make me want to play them even less than Planet Calypso (and I have almost no desire left to play it).

I think the question is more why would anyone want to make a planet, given all this?

Well, I do have an educated guess. EU, by comparison to the vast majority of MMOs which have ever been conceived, is one of the few that have made it to fruition. It is, despite it's faults, profitable, and the platform itself provides a base of players nad interested parties that might have some interest in the new stuff.

Whilst I don't think it really has a lot in it's favour, it sure has a hell of a lot more than most independent startups, and allows small developers the chance to have a working game, removing a lot of the risk associated with running one developed from scratch.

This in itself makes MA's fairly sketchy business model seem viable. The mere fact they get people to spend real money means that expansion is inevitable.

Unfortunately, this is not going to give us anything new or interesting in the short-term. On the positive side though, I'd say if any of these worlds are successful, it might well mean they eventually break free of MA's platform, and produce something great and original.

Or maybe one of these startups will hit it lucky!

Though it doesn't mean much to make big claims in an open forum like this, I do have a lot of personal experience in setting MMOs up, and it's exceptionally difficult, expensive and time consuming. I can certainly understand how MA's offering could be an attractive position for the emerging MMO market, especially given the RCE element, and the publicity that inherently attracts.

Personally though, I don't like much about it other than what I've mentioned above. I think it's limiting, and I don't think the majority of the game-playing public have enough desire for what MA's platform offers over and above other free MMOs.
 
Crygenifer said:
I was thinking about a planet where you could invest in where skill prices continually drop and loots get worse till your a hobo ,and at the end of the game ,you get a dumpster or a broken down lawn chair under the highway....

:drink::shots::shots::idea:
Hobotopia

cigarettes booze are currency
evil hobos with high damage
Click to expand...

And this is differan't from EU how? Oh free dumpster and lawn chair I see it :lolup:
 
There was an initiative that a dozen players and I were part of. But it was back when not a lot of details were known about what it actually meant to be a planet partner. We thought we could shape the planet to our own ideas, but later on it turned out that all we could was change the graphics a bit and we were stuck with Mindark's loot system. Interest soon faded.
 
I see the new planet as nothing more than you being able to say I want it to look about like this, I would like mobs like this and you get taxes from the land. Other than that thats all you get for your buck.
 
Actually I would not go that far Skywalker :)

Hey there George,

I would not say this project (Planet Postmoderna) is going nowhere. :) Have you been following what we have been doing?

Plus our project is a lot more than just about money. It's about the people.

Best,

Flap

GeorgeSkywalker said:
The simple answer is yes, provided they can proove they have the funds and a good idea for a planet that MA are willing to allow.

It's all very well in theory but in practice these kind of projects can lack direction, management control etc etc and can just implode on themselves. If you thought MA/FPC deadlines were bad then these kind of projects would be even worse. This is mainly due to peoples level of commitment and other responsibilities i.e. this kind of project would be ranked lower in their level of commitment.

I've worked on similar things and can say that from experience. To make it work you'd need strong leadership and backup plans for the lower committed i.e. what to do if something doesn't get done in time etc etc


It can work but the other problems would be with legal issues. With everyone working from different countries how wil that work?


The simplest approach would be to have a set number of core people. The hardcore dedicated team that really drive the project forward and a system that allows an outer circle of commitment i.e. part time/short time project workers.

The funding and paying for these workers would be quite expensive. Say 2 years of development, that's going to cost millions and the money has to be put in for the development otherwise you'll have a weak project that goes nowhere like postmoderna...
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top