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Underappreciated potential...
Helleri
Member UncommonPosts: 930
So, I would like to know; If you could pick one work of fiction you felt is or was undervalued and have it turned into an MMORPG what fiction would it be and why? Could be an Ancient Epic, Classic Novel, Graphic Novel/Comic book series, Show or Movie etc.
For me it would be "The Pirates of Dark Water" (brief intro at top):
Why?
1) The world of Myr is deeply detailed and laid out. The main characters journey to it's most interesting and amazing places. And, through this the world it's creators envisioned was really shown off well (much better then the highly generic back stories and motivations of the main characters them selves).
2) It wasn't finished. This was originally meant to be 5 episode miniseries. Then it was redone, and expanded to become a full series. But, 21 episodes in, it got yanked. With main characters only having found 8 of the 13 treasures. This was much to the disappointment of some. And, the series (along with many tanked to almost forgotten series of the 90's like "Dinosaurs") has developed a cult fandom. So, on top of it being a great setting it has unfinished lore and still a bit of pull out there, that could easily be tapped by the right creative minds.
3) The blend of concepts I find to be fairly unique. It's part high fantasy and part piracy. It has interesting aspects like gun powder being hardly known of or used. There is a lot of small scale biological warfare blended with magic and melee. Briny bone swords with poison, miasma pistols, Jarred dragon flame throwers, acidic cephalopod launching trebuchet, and dragon riding bolo, bone spear, and net hurling fighters. Some inhabitants posses the power of geomancy. Others are massive physical brutes. Some are techno-wizards of a kind... and none of it seems to ill-conceived or far fetched for the world presented.
4) There is a clear and present world threat. The dark water since it was unsealed threatens to consume all. And this is nasty stuff. In most cases you are pretty much dead if it gets a hold of you, and really bad off if it so much as grazes you. it's like aliens from the movie abyss mixed with BP oil spill and malice on its mind. Beyond that, half the inhabitants of the world are slavers or pirates (or a mix of both). And, ruthlessness rules the see (even the hero of the series is more of an anti-hero...seriously, for being a noble and of supposed good character, he lets a lot of dirty deeds just slide).
5) I have seen a number of fail pirate games, And, I'd like to see something that makes up for that.
Comments
http://youtu.be/MV4cgs-bPic
The Warriors
Sure, sure, we have APB, which is nice. But can you imagine?
Let's talk about straight up "show your colors", territorial control, gang wars? Yeah, yeah, I know I am sounding like part of the problem right now, but I can't help it. This concept would kick. Forget about the guns. Make guns like epic weapons. Focus on hand to hand and melee weapon based combat. Have the cops be very difficult to beat NPC's, and have them run you down for breaking enough laws to become infamous. Heck, even have parts of the game be designed specifically to set you up? Make it a constant battle between managing and expanding your territory, getting money, staying strong, and not getting busted.
And put that one mechanism that Wushu has in it where all the other gangs get to vote on, and go after whoever they think is the biggest problem this week.
Now you have the Warriors - Armies of the Night Online.
Can you dig it? CAN YOU DIG IT? CAAAAAANNNNNN YOOOOOOUUUUUU DIG IIIIIIIITTTTTTT!!!!????!!!???!
To this, I must say.... YES.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I loved Pirates of Dark Water when I was a kid. I had the SNES tie in game and it was very good. The only way to find out what happened in the series was to play the game. The Cartoon series was canceled before Ren could find all the treasures. The original writer died which was a real shame that in part led to the cancellation.
Pirates of Dark Water would make a decent enough MMO but it would a by tough sell at this point since the IP has almost no recognition in the year 2013. The demographic that would remember the series is now pushing 30. It would require a lot of work to be done in terms of reintroducing this IP a new generation. I just don't see it happening.
***
The IP that has the most under appreciated potential is ElfQuest written by Richard and Wendy Pini. Originally published in 1978 the comic has remained in print for decades. ElfQuest is regarded as third rail of fantasy literature. With nearly 1000 stories written in ElfQuest universe no other IP has as much lore and detailed background.
I think ElfQuest would make an amazing MMO because of how developed the world and universe is. The ElfQuest universe rivals the depth of D&D and Tolkien's middle Earth. Both of those series got movie and game deals but nobody has yet to tap into the potential of ElfQuest. This first to do so would be sitting on top of an untapped gold mine.
The original Deus Ex world, where exploration and character development (let alone story!) was more important than acing the game in 8hrs flat.
Sheer genius of a game (just the fact getting to end game you really don't need to kill...ah........).
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
Not sure if this qualifies but...Gamma World RPG. Post apocalyptic, radiated world where mutant powers are the norm and pure strain humans (no mutant powers) are rare (but can utilize high tech weaponry and vehicles.)
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
This topic got absolutely no attention at first, lol. Thought it was dead. I'll admit the title was bait (but also very descriptive). I think it served to discourage more at first then it did to make people actually want to take a look, lol...
Elfquest sounds familiar. I think when I was in middle school or junior high I read a couple comics called that. I remember what I read did have elves. They were a little oddly shaped though. They had extremely arched backs offset forward of the hips. That was distinctive (especially since it made the female characters pop so much). But, I will google that and see if I am recalling the right thing or not.
The Pirates of Dark Water...I really don't think the effort to sell it to a new generation would be all that hard. Look at Gor...sure the author never stopped writing those terrible books (Epic story. But, written poorly he should have gone with a ghost writer). But, the core of the series was written in the 70's. And, in most social MMO's there is a strong gorean roleplay culture. And, during my time role playing Gor I learned most of them don't even know there are books or have read them. I use Gor for a parallel here because it works really well. Both are in mainstream very under famed. They have similar worlds. They have a cult following. They were not done as well as they could be. They lose you mid way through.
Also, with the seemingly unstoppable success of the pirates of the caribbean franchise.. And, how it often seems to be a job, side role, or style of a line of outfitting in modern MMORPG (even in ones where it completely does not fit)...Just makes me think the priming for a really amazing pirate MMORPG is already there. And, with the relative lack of success with previous attempts. Dark Water fiction would be a fresh way to look at pirates in the game sense that I feel would really give a game based off of the 'it' factor.
Thundarr the Barbarian...As much as it pains me to admit it...I like Thundarr. And it has that same kind of richness that might make a good source for an MMORPG. Not sure if it's 'it' factor is strong enough though. Primarily because there are more popular and better done counters to it like He Man.
The Warriors loved the movie. still re-watch it every couple of years, even. I do recall there being some sort of re-release of the movie in theaters during which time they tied in a single player game. But, I have to agree that it would be an awesome open world PvP MMORPG if sourced for one.
Here is one to consider...Thunder Cats. Can I get a HOOOOOOO?!
You are talking to one of the cult followers of Pirates of Dark Water and even I don't think this series can be resurrected as a MMO. I have the rare season DVD with all 21 episodes so I know all about PoDW. The series had some cool things going for it like Bloth the main pirate Villain and his ship the Maelstrom was the height of cool. "Feed him to the constrictus" was such a great line that it would be meme worthy if people actually know about it. Bloth would feed his own crew to the this sea monster called the constrictus that lived in the ballast of his ship. The other main Villain was the dark dweller who controlled the dark water plague but he was only in two episodes.
The main hurdle is the writer is died in the middle of making the series. He didn't create all that much material for the universe, only 21 episodes exist. Ren's father doesn't even have a name which shows how the universe lacks any real depth. Ren is supposedly a lost prince from Octopon but nothing about this is ever really explained lore wise except it was destroyed in maybe some type of Atlantis story but it is left to the imagination. The story was purely character driven following Ren and his crew and some of Bloth's plotting. The world and story have massive gaps that would have to filled in from scratch. It wouldn't really be Pirates of Dark Water any more by the time the holes were filled in. Just enjoy it as the master piece it is. PoDW doesn't need to be rebooted into a MMO.
***
If you look at ElfQuest lore it has timelines that stretch over 10,000 years. Places, countries, cites, maps filled out in great detail along with lineages that span across centuries. This is the kind of background that is needed to make a deep world setting for an MMO. ElfQuest also never stopped publishing new material. Their newest comic series is ElfSong published in 2012-2013. Taking place a thousand years after the original story arc ElfSong tells the story of the last 3 Elves in one tribe that are being hunted to extinction and how they managed to survive. This series gives tonns of background lore about the decline of the elves which just keeps adding to the Lore of the ElfQuest Universe.
MDK
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Because it's SciFi and that not many games serve that genre in the first place.
It has a well-developed and "logical" story/world.
Most games so far, especially the later ones (incl. the MWO that's in Beta atm), focus(ed) exclusively on the "in-Mech experience", totally disregarding the "day to day life" of the Mechwarrior, and also doing a bad job at implementing the Inner Sphere politics (or rather: disregarding it completely, except for having different factions)
.
Other than that:
Babylon5, because JMS did a great job with the world he created, and there'd be so much potential.
Oh, and it's SciFi
On the other hand, i'm afraid that whoever'd do it would botch it as was the case with STO which has been royally f... messed up.
This is unfortunately true with most IPs going to an MMO today. If there is insufficient fighting, it won't fly. Most literature is about character development, rarely fighting.
If I had confidence in the developers, I'd like to see Raymond Feist's Midkemia come to life. That alone has huge potential with rifts between different worlds.
On a more personal note, I'd love a chance to play in Anne McCaffrey's PERN playground
Being a Dragon Rider and fighting thread would be so cool!
Again, though, neither of those IPs have overly violent worlds. Characters just do not go around slaughtering everything (and everyone) in their path.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
http://www.gameofthronesmmo.com/
My computer is better than yours.
Wait..what? I don't eve...
>_>
<_<
*throws a rug over it*...Never happened.
I agree. A world has to have an element of violence or conflict to it. Something every one can get in on. being aligned with one thing against another gives purpose. Some fictions just don't have that to them the way they would need to in order to be a source for an MMORPG.
Make a true Shadowrun MMO. It is brought up in nearly every thread discussing such topics but I feel like saying it again. Shadowrun. There.
Yes, I am aware of the various false starts concerning this IP.
Never fear, your dream MMO will be here....
just give me a decade or two to finely hone my Game development
and design abilities as well as start a Game Design Studio.
Thank you for your patience.
Shadowrun returns. Not a MMO but still a pretty decent Shadowrun RPG.
I think Lord of the Rings Online has not been as successful as it could have been because it fought itself on too many levels. here are just 2 small examples of this:
1) You have basically the ability to go any where. Yet, both the game mechanics and moderation prevents this from being advantageous or even amusing. You can range from on top of a rock or the other side of a fence to avoid taking damage. But, if you kill something without taking damage you get no experience and no drop. Also, NPC's realizing they can't damage you reset themselves. You can get on the roof tops, to absolutely no unfair advantage, and just sit and chill o an eave or chimney. But, you will get yelled at and likely banned if you do.
2) What could be cool features are rendered useless by their own design short comings. Take the mounts for example. Their is a lack of diversity in the mounts. Most of them are horses dressed up different ways. Mounts are fast, with a good balance between control and believability. However. They are almost unusable. Combat automatically dismounts you, as does water more then knee deep. But you can't engage in combat while still mounted (and I mean your ability to engage in combat is greyed out all together, so you can't even start a fight yourself that will cause you to dismount). You can use doors and interact with NPC's while mounted. But, have to manually dismount to gather resources.
Every aspect I had liked on the face of the game proved horribly designed when actually using it or made useless by another feature. And, their other title (D&D Online) is the OG sellout of the MMORPG genre...And, so here is where I bring it back around to staying on topic.Turbine is an example of the exact wrong type of people to bring our loved fictions into the realm of MMORPG's. After all...
That said. Here is a question posed to all of you. What company or game studio would you most entrust to bringing about your Fan fiction of choice for turning into an MMORPG?
Yeah I own that one and the player made mission community is moving along but it is a pleasant diversion at best.
Shadowrun was a good SNES game and an underappreciated first person shooter as well. Not that everything needs to be made into an MMO but Shadowrun has a wealth of lore and established gameplay.
(I like the Gamma World suggestion as well. Apocalypse with a dash of whimsy)
As far as the question above, I actually like some of what Jacobs and CSE are doing with Camelot Unchained. (shrug)
Gamma World
Shadowrun
d20 future
All would make great mmos. Same thing I post every time this same thread topic pop up.
Snow Crash
Yes, yes, I know the original devs of Second Life patterned the "game" after the multiverse in Snow Crash, but I mean a real game based on the story.
There is so much potential content packed into that book the MMO could be running for years without the need to conjure up new ideas.
+1 to Shadowrun Returns. Between SR, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Borderlands 2, I kind of forgot MMOs exist. ;-)