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> Some Thoughts, -or- If I Knew Then What I Know Now
Mole
post Feb 11 2021, 07:57 PM
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Hindsight gives us a lot of benefits. Through a lens of clarity it helps us pinpoint the who, what, when, where, and why of things going wrong. It shows us how. And it shows us who. It gives us a unique perspective into self reflection.

Hindsight also shows us what went right. It shows us all the good that has come through past efforts.

When ProjectWish started, we had huge ambitions. We, a group of hobbyist game developers, wanted to change the face of the MMORPG industry. Literally. We wanted to do things that had never been done in any MMO game ever. Some of those ideas we had still have not been accomplished in the industry.

What made us, a bunch of people who 1) had never met IRL, 2) came from around the globe, 3) spread across an age spectrum of nearly half a century, 4) ran the gambit of skills necessary to make a game, let alone a MMO, and 5) had never developed a game of any sort in their lives think that we could do it? Some would say it was our hubris; and they would be right. When we cut through the layers and boil it down, it all comes down to one thing: LOVE.

All of us who contributed in whatever way to The Project absolutely loved what we were doing. It did not matter that we were collectively over our heads. We believed. We believed in The Project, our ideas, our vision, and our goals. Most importantly we believed in each other. Hours upon hours of our personal lives were spent dedicated to something that we loved. We were not getting paid. We never expected to. We never even saw that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel; we all just imagined it was there and raced toward it.

While some of the details morphed over the years, an unspoken overall goal for The Project never changed: to create an environment where we could all learn and that would set us up for the future. We all wanted to “break into” the game development industry. Many of us still do; still have that dream.

We were all learning. We all learned a lot. I imagine someone could write multiple books about all the lessons we learned during the span of the project.

If we had it all to start over again, I highly doubt that any of us would pass up that chance.

In fact, I would relish the opportunity to do it again. Or start another project.

Coming full circle back to hindsight, if I had a chance to do it again there many, many things I would do differently. My lessons from the past would have me change the way I did so much. That “what” will have to wait for another time.

I would love nothing more than to “restart” The Project. How? Not sure. I have a lot of ideas. Not sure if anyone wants to hear them....



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Jerky
post Feb 24 2021, 10:30 PM
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The current state of MMORPG's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_2ttuyE1Rg

TLDR: Nothing has changed. Nothing has progressed. Companies are about monetization. Nobody cares about the experience any longer.


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Mole
post Mar 4 2021, 07:37 PM
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QUOTE(Jerky @ Feb 24 2021, 08:30 PM) *

TLDR: Nothing has changed. Nothing has progressed. Companies are about monetization. Nobody cares about the experience any longer.



Sad but true.

Many of the things he mentioned as missing in the genre are things that I remember us discussing as things we wanted to do.

He is right about the monetization. Too many people are in it just to make a quick buck. Who cares what people want, or about making a great playable game as long as we can get our money then run. I am glad that was never something we looked at. Sure, at one point we talked about making money on this, but it was never a focus. Happily we forgot all about the money aspect and moved on to what was most important.

Great find! Thanks for sharing!


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Reolus
post Aug 5 2021, 02:12 PM
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Well said.

Unfortunately, everything is pay-to-play or pay-to-win now. Microtransactions have taken over the landscape, and when's the last time anything groundbreaking has come out?

All MMO's seemed to fall into a simplified grind-repeat platform with additional content released just often enough to keep it alive.

I miss the days of (example) Star Wars Galaxies (pre combat balance) where there were so many professions and skill sets available. You could play that bounty hunter f you wanted OR you could just be some random guy playing an instrument you built in a Cantina somewhere. The game was pure sandbox - you lived and played it the way you wanted to.

This project had a lot of hope driving it, where the game experience would have been what the players WANTED it to be. Nothing more, nothing less.

Perhaps someday - once microtransactions and rinse-and-repeat content finally gets old, the industry will come back around.


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