After Bennedict Arnold betrayed the Continental Army, it has been considered foolish to name forts after Generals who are not yet dead. The same principle should be applied to developers who may not have betrayed us so far, but only because sufficient stupidity and greed haven't caught up with them. To that end, let me pay respects to one developer from the past who I wish was still around:
Yeah yeah SE made Final Fantasy XIV which I have yet to play (been waiting on PS3 release). Not their fault the game is what it is it's the people that complained about everything resulting in them changing and then those people leave after that. On the other hand they have FFXI which is by far my favorite MMO ever been playing it on and off since PS2 release.
NCSoft I like Guild wars and City of Heroes. Nothing bad to say about either.
1) CCP- While, I'm not terribly into EvE, it's a beautiful game that is quite polished, and very successful. Many people seem to love it, and after forum-roving for years, it seems they have done much to garner respect. I've had technical issues with my account in the past, and they have been fixed within days (if not hours).
2) ArenaNet- They've created what is possibly my favorite game of all time, and have always been extremely fan-driven and very supportive of their community. From all the dev interviews, they seem like great people who are more motivated by creating a quality project and doing what they love than simply making money.
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After Bennedict Arnold betrayed the Continental Army, it has been considered foolish to name forts after Generals who are not yet dead. The same principle should be applied to developers who may not have betrayed us so far, but only because sufficient stupidity and greed haven't caught up with them. To that end, let me pay respects to one developer from the past who I wish was still around:
Black Isle
1996-2003
RIP
You are sorely missed
The company that made some of my favorite mmos, SOE, also made many that I hate the most. So I am conflicted lol.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
I like NCSoft and Square-Enix.
Yeah yeah SE made Final Fantasy XIV which I have yet to play (been waiting on PS3 release). Not their fault the game is what it is it's the people that complained about everything resulting in them changing and then those people leave after that. On the other hand they have FFXI which is by far my favorite MMO ever been playing it on and off since PS2 release.
NCSoft I like Guild wars and City of Heroes. Nothing bad to say about either.
As far as MMOs go:
1) CCP- While, I'm not terribly into EvE, it's a beautiful game that is quite polished, and very successful. Many people seem to love it, and after forum-roving for years, it seems they have done much to garner respect. I've had technical issues with my account in the past, and they have been fixed within days (if not hours).
2) ArenaNet- They've created what is possibly my favorite game of all time, and have always been extremely fan-driven and very supportive of their community. From all the dev interviews, they seem like great people who are more motivated by creating a quality project and doing what they love than simply making money.
1. Clear explanation of the assumptions made about why a dev studio is creating the game > marketing talk
2. demonstration of strong capability to actually implement and overcome all the technological challenges required to produce an mmo
3. Steady communication of development progress and and interaction with players discussions/q&a's really helps I think.
4. Small dev studios generally are likeably for the ambition to create something different.
5. Good support and ability to surprise (in a good way).
Generally any of the above help put a few feathers in a dev studios cap.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
CCP - and I don't even play EVE actively, speaks volumes tbh.
- Ordokai