A very popular item...

postlarval

Take a look at this table and the hutch against the wall in Pantheon. Beautiful! Amazing video game craftsmanship.



Oh wait....look familiar? They should since you can find them in Shroud of the Avatar as well...

What was it someone was saying recently on this forum about how expensive and time-consuming the graphic design is in SotA, which is what takes up a lot of the cost of development? Oh, really...

Slapshot1188

Kind of funny. Like 2 women at a party wearing the same "designer" dress...

Slapshot1188

Sure.  Its not nefarious and its not a huge deal.  Kind of like the Wilheim scream is in every movie...  

Still like my analogy though

postlarval

DMKano said:

There are companies who make 3d assets for games and sell them to game studios. What you are seeing here is what happens when the same asset packages get sold to different companies.

Yes, I know they are buying them. We all know Portalarium uses stock trees and host of other items, sometime directly out of the Unity store.

What we also know (now) is they are turning around and selling them in their add-ons store, unmodified.

Myrdynn

omg end of the world, this game will fail because of this

do people really spend time looking at tables and chairs?

Volgore

Myrdynn said:

omg end of the world, this game will fail because of this

do people really spend time looking at tables and chairs?

I guess as long as there is still some RP left in mmoRPgs, people will still look at and use chairs and tables

/sit
/cheers
/drink

Aelious

I'm glad technology and shared assests are available across MMOs in order to make them cheaper to make, especially in an era of less and less AAA MMO budgets.

postlarval said:

DMKano said:

There are companies who make 3d assets for games and sell them to game studios. What you are seeing here is what happens when the same asset packages get sold to different companies.

Yes, I know they are buying them. We all know Portalarium uses stock trees and host of other items, sometime directly out of the Unity store.

What we also know (now) is they are turning around and selling them in their add-ons store, unmodified.

This is a bigger deal to me if they are indeed taking Unity assests, rather than ones they make themselves, and reselling them to recoup the cost or make a profit. Not that they can't, there may not be anything legally wrong with it, but I certainly would not buy anything in that environment. Kind of brilliant really but slimey none the less.

postlarval

Myrdynn said:

omg end of the world, this game will fail because of this

do people really spend time looking at tables and chairs?

After three and a half years of mediocre development, clunky combat, poor performance, not following through on the kickstarter 'sales pitch", terrible NPC AI, and disjointed storyline....YES. 

BUT...they have time for a $15 puke & drunk emote, $15 marching band shirt and hat, $35 four-piece snowman set, $110 hot air balloon, trees and furniture ripped "as is" from the asset store and resold...and every month we hear the same shit...

Rain still coming through the roofs of houses...for the past 9 releases.
Targeting system still broken...for the past 8 releases.
UI text doesn't wrap correctly...for the past 11 releases.
Death from invisible archers...for the past 6 releases.
Performance spikes in cities...for the past 9 releases.
Skin tones on different parts of bodies don't match...for the past 17 releases.
Catipulted into the air when leaving an instance or opening a door in a house (which results in your character dying)...for the past 6 releases.

Shall I go on?

Phry

postlarval said:

Myrdynn said:

omg end of the world, this game will fail because of this

do people really spend time looking at tables and chairs?

After three and a half years of mediocre development, clunky combat, poor performance, not following through on the kickstarter 'sales pitch", terrible NPC AI, and disjointed storyline....YES. 

BUT...they have time for a $15 puke & drunk emote, $15 marching band shirt and hat, $35 four-piece snowman set, $110 hot air balloon, trees and furniture ripped "as is" from the asset store and resold...and every month we hear the same shit...

Rain still coming through the roofs of houses...for the past 9 releases.
Targeting system still broken...for the past 8 releases.
UI text doesn't wrap correctly...for the past 11 releases.
Death from invisible archers...for the past 6 releases.
Performance spikes in cities...for the past 9 releases.
Skin tones on different parts of bodies don't match...for the past 17 releases.
Catipulted into the air when leaving an instance or opening a door in a house (which results in your character dying)...for the past 6 releases.

Shall I go on?

OMG they haven't finished the game yet have they!

Seriously though, if when the game finally completed and those issues aren't addressed, then that will be the time to complain about it, unfinished games tend to be a tad incomplete after all.

One of the reasons i don't wish to participate in a games early access is because i don't wish to experience the games faults during production etc. i'd rather spend my time playing finished games.

postlarval

Phry said:

postlarval said:

Myrdynn said:

omg end of the world, this game will fail because of this

do people really spend time looking at tables and chairs?

After three and a half years of mediocre development, clunky combat, poor performance, not following through on the kickstarter 'sales pitch", terrible NPC AI, and disjointed storyline....YES. 

BUT...they have time for a $15 puke & drunk emote, $15 marching band shirt and hat, $35 four-piece snowman set, $110 hot air balloon, trees and furniture ripped "as is" from the asset store and resold...and every month we hear the same shit...

Rain still coming through the roofs of houses...for the past 9 releases.
Targeting system still broken...for the past 8 releases.
UI text doesn't wrap correctly...for the past 11 releases.
Death from invisible archers...for the past 6 releases.
Performance spikes in cities...for the past 9 releases.
Skin tones on different parts of bodies don't match...for the past 17 releases.
Catipulted into the air when leaving an instance or opening a door in a house (which results in your character dying)...for the past 6 releases.

Shall I go on?

OMG they haven't finished the game yet have they!

Yep, still in alpha after three years because they spent all their time reselling making fluff items for the store, improving player-owned towns, and selling their blood in artwork for 6K - $13K.

Iselin

It's a minor case of asset flipping. It's all the rage these days especially in small-budget indie development. There are even documented cases of games released on Steam that are nothing more than 100% asset flips.

Here, let Unity itself tell you about it:

“there’s always going to be folks who exploit a good thing for personal gain without giving something back.  I’m referring to the handful of Asset Store users out there who have taken Unity demo products and Asset Store starter products, slapped their name on it without contributing or creating anything original, and uploading it for sale on popular online game marketplaces.”

Loke666

Hmmm, I am surprised IKEA havn't started selling furnitures pack like this as well...

But to be honest, finding out that Sauron and Voldemort have the same taste in tables is not really a biggie. As long as the stuff fits the game they can use the same stuff, who cares?

SpottyGekko

postlarval said:

Phry said:

postlarval said:

Myrdynn said:

omg end of the world, this game will fail because of this

do people really spend time looking at tables and chairs?

After three and a half years of mediocre development, clunky combat, poor performance, not following through on the kickstarter 'sales pitch", terrible NPC AI, and disjointed storyline....YES. 

BUT...they have time for a $15 puke & drunk emote, $15 marching band shirt and hat, $35 four-piece snowman set, $110 hot air balloon, trees and furniture ripped "as is" from the asset store and resold...and every month we hear the same shit...

Rain still coming through the roofs of houses...for the past 9 releases.
Targeting system still broken...for the past 8 releases.
UI text doesn't wrap correctly...for the past 11 releases.
Death from invisible archers...for the past 6 releases.
Performance spikes in cities...for the past 9 releases.
Skin tones on different parts of bodies don't match...for the past 17 releases.
Catipulted into the air when leaving an instance or opening a door in a house (which results in your character dying)...for the past 6 releases.

Shall I go on?

OMG they haven't finished the game yet have they!

Yep, still in alpha after three years because they spent all their time reselling making fluff items for the store, improving player-owned towns, and selling their blood in artwork for 6K - $13K.

Welcome to crowdfunding, where raising money for development is just as important an activity as actual development. 

However, sometimes the fundraising takes priority...

Kyleran

postlarval said:

Phry said:

postlarval said:

Myrdynn said:

omg end of the world, this game will fail because of this

do people really spend time looking at tables and chairs?

After three and a half years of mediocre development, clunky combat, poor performance, not following through on the kickstarter 'sales pitch", terrible NPC AI, and disjointed storyline....YES. 

BUT...they have time for a $15 puke & drunk emote, $15 marching band shirt and hat, $35 four-piece snowman set, $110 hot air balloon, trees and furniture ripped "as is" from the asset store and resold...and every month we hear the same shit...

Rain still coming through the roofs of houses...for the past 9 releases.
Targeting system still broken...for the past 8 releases.
UI text doesn't wrap correctly...for the past 11 releases.
Death from invisible archers...for the past 6 releases.
Performance spikes in cities...for the past 9 releases.
Skin tones on different parts of bodies don't match...for the past 17 releases.
Catipulted into the air when leaving an instance or opening a door in a house (which results in your character dying)...for the past 6 releases.

Shall I go on?

OMG they haven't finished the game yet have they!

Yep, still in alpha after three years because they spent all their time reselling making fluff items for the store, improving player-owned towns, and selling their blood in artwork for 6K - $13K.

Without the funding raised by selling these "fluff" items likely the game stands no chance of being built at all.

The reality of many indie MMORPG dev's financial models is to get an early access (very incomplete) version out the door to generate sales and potential interest from investors or obtain additional crowd funding.

As Hero's Song recently showed it doesn't really work except for a few juggernauts such as SC.

My guess is most indie MMORPGs will never really reach what we've come to expect in terms of features and quality from a "launched" game.

Iselin

Nyctelios said:

I know the scope and size of companies is very different, but I thought that buying out as exclusivity was expected (and standard) if your project will become public or be sold. At least if you expect people to take your project seriously.

That may still be the case in AAA development but it's definitely not so with the thousands of lower budget games being developed. Off the shelf, non exclusive assets are much cheaper so that's what they go with.

Expect to see a lot of the same 3D assets and even character models in many more games.

Mardukk

Considering the state of the genre, OP's outrage over something like this is laughable.

Iselin

Nyctelios said:

Iselin said:

Nyctelios said:

I know the scope and size of companies is very different, but I thought that buying out as exclusivity was expected (and standard) if your project will become public or be sold. At least if you expect people to take your project seriously.

That may still be the case in AAA development but it's definitely not so with the thousands of lower budget games being developed. Off the shelf, non exclusive assets are much cheaper so that's what they go with.

Expect to see a lot of the same 3D assets and even character models in many more games.

"At least if you expect people to take your project seriously."

If you can't afford your project then you should consider doing something else.

You got to be kidding. Have you seen the amount of money gamers are willing to throw at any indie crowdfunded project with a good pitch that touches on the popular key phrases like "old fashioned", "sandbox", "open world", etc.?

There's money in them there hills, my boy. Being "taken seriously" is a luxury for real developers. The majority is just after the cash.

Gdemami

Myrdynn said:

omg end of the world, this game will fail because of this

do people really spend time looking at tables and chairs?

That is very simplistic point of view.

The problem isn't the fact that some other game uses same assests as you but the lack of your very own assets.

Without unique art, it is very difficult to create desired feel and look of the game. It will just look generic and when your product isn't instantly recognized,you have a problem.

Flyte27

They could pull the assets right from EQ IMO if the game is as fun as EQ was.  I actually would be happy if the classes had the same names and the spells/abilities were the same.  I don't believe that is the case though.  They already had to change the name of some classes because of copyright issues I believe.  Hopefully some classes will still be able to solo and kite.  That was probably my favorite part of EQ.