Russians Skating On Thin Ice

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Russians Skating On Thin Ice
February 26th 2002, 13:57 CET by m0nty

Nikita, makers of the only computer game played by cosmonauts on the Mir space station, is working on what it claims is the first ever Russian MMORPG, tentatively entitled Sphere (or Sfera in the mother tongue). A charming interview by producer Stepan Zotov with Daily Telefrag details the standard Tolkien-influenced elf fest, but the similarities with Croteam are interesting. Can Nikita inject a fresh Eastern European flavour into a tired American-dominated genre, like Serious Sam did for the FPS?

We all know how the Norwegian-sourced Anarchy Online has gone, so the history of European MMORPGs is not without its contentious products, but some continental projects are showing some signs of innovation. For instance, the Interactive division of Paris-based corporate developers Vircom is working on two online RPG titles: Dune Generations, based on the latest TV series adaptation of Frank Herbert's sf novels; and Black Moon Chronicles, which will bring to life a long-running French graphic novel series when it is released in March.

The problem is this: Serious Sam managed to spruce up the shooter by going old skool with masses of dumb monsters, and concentrating on adrenaline inducement. How can anyone, particularly a Russian developer with no experience at online gaming, come up with a thrilling game atmosphere/playstyle in the MMORPG genre which can knock our socks off like SS did? Isn't everyone sick of the levelling treadmill, and the Tolkien milieu? How can elves be exciting any more? Will we have to wait for Tetris: The PIG?

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#1 by Ashiran
2002-02-26 14:04:16

What can I say? Untill a good gamedevelopment teams finds an old crazy PIG loving rich guy to sponser them I won't see it happening. The innovation in games that is.

#2 by Funkdrunk
2002-02-26 14:04:23

First Post! (someone had to do it)

Funk.

#3 by Funkdrunk
2002-02-26 14:04:49

Rats!!!!

Curse you Ashiran!!!!

Funk.

#4 by Morn
2002-02-26 14:07:53

On European MMOGs: don't forget Mankind (France), The 4th Coming (France/Germany), Neocron (Germany) and Mimesis Online (Poland).

I think Dragon Empires (?) is from Europe, too. It even looks kinda fun.

Hendrik "Morn" Mans - morn@planetcrap.com

#5 by Ashiran
2002-02-26 14:10:20

I rather do forget Mimesis Online.

Oh and Funkdrunk. FUNK YOU!

#6 by Duality
2002-02-26 14:27:45

So that's 5 European breaths of fresh air (although isn't Russia part of the Asian continent?).

I dunno what else there is to really be said about yet annother PIG being tossed into the fray.

But as I mentioned to m0nty, they mentioned they've got a tech demo done. To me that means they have the engine built with placeholders, but no real content. And they're expecting a Q3/4 2002 release. If they can develop content that fast, they should be working for Mythic!

-duality
... disguised as a genderless burrow owl ... 6.0!

#7 by jafd
2002-02-26 14:42:32

How can anyone, particularly a Russian developer with no experience at online gaming, come up with a thrilling game atmosphere/playstyle in the MMORPG genre which can knock our socks off like SS did?

hard work, persistence, and faith

EOD

choose any two: Cheap, Fast, Good.

#8 by Sgt Hulka
2002-02-26 15:18:30

And Moses came down from the mountain and said, "The Lord gives to you another +12 Sword"

.....Another 0l$en Approved +12 Post!

#9 by "godZero"
2002-02-26 15:25:12

Talking 'bout Russians: that Kreed thingy looks quite sweet.

Innovation? Would be nice, but more important, people should have better ideas for the existing clichê.
Meny games were great all the way through and the last level (or two) sucked ass, for instance ST Voyager, Heretic 2, RtCW, Project IGI, hell, even AVP2. Very unsatisfying and unspectacular endings. Not even a nice, long movie/rendered sequence there which would make you feel like a "winner".

#10 by godZero
2002-02-26 15:32:30

...or like a "Wiener"...

#11 by jafd
2002-02-26 15:36:04

Meny games were great all the way through and the last level (or two) sucked ass, for instance [...] Heretic 2

The cutscene was the suck, for sure. But what was wrong with the final levels?

Try it again with the 1.06 patch. The hardest difficulty level was made actually, you know, hard. (p.s. ty Raven)

choose any two: Cheap, Fast, Good.

#12 by Matt Perkins
2002-02-26 15:52:59

Two things:

1.

can knock our socks off like SS did

Stop the maddness... SS blows goats on it's best day... Maybe I was the only one who thought it got REALLY boring and REALLY monotonous after about 2 minutes, but dammit, I'm not wrong! Doom was grand in it's day. I played it all the way through and back...but that was some massive number of years ago... new textures/models do not make a new game.

2. Of course the russian game isn't going to either:
a. be good.
b. be on time.
c. all of the above.
Why is this a big surprise?

-wzd
Stupid signatures.

#13 by Matt Perkins
2002-02-26 16:04:26

Completely off topic, who sings the song with the following lyrics:

(these are close, I believe)
"I love the way you smack my ass...the dirty things you do, when I have control of you."

I can't find the band that sings it or the name of it.

Thanks if you know it.

-wzrd

#14 by deadlock
2002-02-26 16:09:06

Wizard:

Are you talking about System Shock or Serious Sam ? I haven't played either, so it makes no odds to me. It's just that the general concensus around here is that System Shock was quite brilliant and that Serious Sam was derivative, but immensely enjoyable; if anything, it's retrogressive nature was what made it so much fun.

deadlock

bleh

#15 by deadlock
2002-02-26 16:09:51

Oh wait, it was Serious Sam.

deadlock

bleh

#16 by Duality
2002-02-26 16:14:55

Oh look! Another breath of air!

Sounds somewhat neat. They'll have another public beta this summer, which is good.

But why does nobody ask if its going to be another level treadmill? Is it just expected and assumed that that's going to be the system they use?

-duality
... disguised as a genderless burrow owl ... 6.0!

#17 by "Hugin"
2002-02-26 16:22:10

Wizard, I think the song you're thinking of is Control by Puddle of Mudd. I kind of hate it, but I think that's the one.

#18 by "Anonymous"
2002-02-26 16:31:36

Now we can all have Star Wars style holograms in the comfort of our own homes! For a mere $45,000.

Sweet.

#19 by coda
2002-02-26 16:49:45

has anyone played WarCraft 3 yet?

--
Wanna be adored? Go to India and moo

#20 by jafd
2002-02-26 16:55:33

Puddle of Mud - Control

choose any two: Cheap, Fast, Good.

#21 by jafd
2002-02-26 16:55:49

oops, I dropped a D. :(

choose any two: Cheap, Fast, Good.

#22 by Eris
2002-02-26 16:59:02

"I love the way you smack my ass...the dirty things you do, when I have control of you."

Wasn't that a Sprite commercial?

Either way, Puddle of Mudd - Control.

You suck at googling, by the way.

"i love the way you smack my ass lyrics" brought it up as the first several responses :)

#23 by Eris
2002-02-26 17:01:20

Now we can all have Star Wars style holograms in the comfort of our own homes! For a mere $45,000.

[url=http://www.digitalleisure.com/pr001017.html]Yawn

:)

#24 by Eris
2002-02-26 17:01:44

and I suck at closing tags.

#25 by Morn
2002-02-26 17:04:59

This site needs an edit feature! No, wait...

Hendrik "Morn" Mans - morn@planetcrap.com

#26 by Eris
2002-02-26 17:13:21

#25 by Morn

Grr. It more needs me to get used to the "preview" function first :)

#27 by "Anonymous"
2002-02-26 17:25:54

Lets hope not as Serious Sam wasn't very fun to play.

#28 by Morn
2002-02-26 17:27:02

Kinda like Doom.

Hendrik "Morn" Mans - morn@planetcrap.com

#29 by Duality
2002-02-26 17:34:31

SS is a great old-school style co-op. Don't you remember playing co-op with some buddies and, while fighting a CyberDemon, you "accidentally" shoot your friend ... repeatedly til he's dead? And keep doing that til it turned into a full on deathmatch.

Its a LAN classic!

-duality
... disguised as a genderless burrow owl ... 6.0!

#30 by Matthew Gallant
2002-02-26 17:37:03

Oops, George hasn't figured out how to login yet.

#31 by deadlock
2002-02-26 17:38:00

Morn, I know this ain't the thread for it, but pleeeease stop PC6 from opening a new window when you follow a link in a thread... One of the pleasant things about PC has always been that it never opened a new window for outside links. I know it's minor, but it's something that really bugs me...

deadlock

bleh

#32 by Matthew Gallant
2002-02-26 17:39:01

While on the other hand, I find it to be annoying if message boards don't open links in a new window.

#33 by bluishred
2002-02-26 17:39:37

Now we can all have Star Wars style holograms in the comfort of our own homes! For a mere $45,000.

They have developed "the most powerful 3-D display on Earth", and one of the first things they show on it is "pelvic region of female anatomy". Why am I not surprised

#34 by Morn
2002-02-26 17:39:50

I'll probably make it a user setting.

Hendrik "Morn" Mans - morn@planetcrap.com

#35 by Hugin
2002-02-26 17:49:46

User settings are cool, because, like Matt, I really like links to spawn separate windows.

#36 by Darkseid-D
2002-02-26 18:04:06

seperate windows on links == teh win.

then again, I use Ie, so it might be different for those differently abled.

Ds

#37 by Matt Perkins
2002-02-26 18:06:06

I'm all about seperate windows too...

beyond that, I'll admit, I never played SS co-op and that could have made it a different game... single player...well, it smelled funky, like a 9 year dead game

I need a tagline that says, "do you Yahoo!"? And then it says, no I google, but I suck so I really should just stop searching at all ever for anything ever again!!!!!

Or something like that...

-wzrd
stupid vowels

#38 by Max
2002-02-26 18:06:13

What?

-max

#39 by Bailey
2002-02-26 18:08:18

If we use the same window to link, won't that mark all the posts as read by the time we get back? CHAOS!

#40 by jafd
2002-02-26 18:11:02

seperate windows on links

hold down SHIFT

EOD! EOD!

choose any two: Cheap, Fast, Good.

#41 by Bailey
2002-02-26 18:30:42

On and in regards to the article, this was mentioned just after discussing a player army laying seige to a castle:

Stepan Zotov: Single game server is capable to accomodate 12000 players at a time. (...) System requirements and bandwith preferences are pretty low for a modern game. Well, say 28800 kbps modem connection is just allright for Sphere.

Ahahahaha... No.

This sounds like just another clueless company trying to jump in on the MMOG money-makin' scene. Unless they're sitting on 10 million in liquid assets, they're not going to be able to develop independently, (take a look at Mimesis Online for the results of that sort of attempt) and if they go looking for investors, they'll be told to make another Everquest because, hey, that's the only proven model so far.

Not that the tired cliche of a fantasy world mirroring our own technological-driven world isn't the most hackneyed plot concept as is. Hey, why not have the character tumbling through a portal to land unequipped and confused in this alternate world? What's that?

Stepan Zotov: Player is plunged into the world of Sphere without the faintest knowledge on special skills and has neither powerful weapons nor piles of gold with him.

Oh, they managed to find time to pencil that in too! Where do I sign up?!

Bottom line, the reason SS worked was because it was a budget production that sold for half the price of most other titles on the market, the same reason Deer Hunter XVII will outsell a game of some measurable quality. You can't do that with a MMOG, or you get Mimesis, currently begging people to come play it's alpha-level game for three days, for free, no credit card required!! That's the tangy scent of desperation on the air.

Now, if you really want to watch an up and coming euro MMOG company, keep an eye on Razorwax! ...guys who couldn't get jobs at Funcom, so they started their own business.

#42 by The_Joker
2002-02-26 18:34:05

WHAT THE FUCK IS IT WITH YOU FOOLS AND MMOG??? ALL TOPICS ARE ABOUT MMOG AND/OR AO. MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!

Joker, Ph.D. Procedural Assholian Behaviour, Pedophilosopher
- All your ass are belong to my wang Jafd. Prepare to are penetration.

#43 by m0nty
2002-02-26 18:38:14

I will Joker, I promise. Just for you. Although be warned, if I posted about what games I actually play, you'd be bored shitless with tales of FIFA, Civ3 or ADOM. Nevertheless, the next topic I submit will have no MMORPG content whatsoever!

#44 by Matthew Gallant
2002-02-26 18:40:52

MMOG news: Final Fantasy XI release date of April 27th in Japan, is going to have a 2 month subscription waiver, and thereafter cost $3.75 a month. This of course doesn't count the $50 for the game and $200+ for the hardware. But still.

No worldwide release date yet.

#45 by The_Joker
2002-02-26 18:44:02

Hmm, somehow SOME of my Profile was mysteriously deleted last night. Curry man, I don't suppose you have anything to do with it?

Joker, Ph.D. Procedural Assholian Behaviour, Pedophilosopher
- All your ass are belong to my wang Jafd. Prepare to are penetration.

#46 by The_Joker
2002-02-26 18:46:47

#43 m0nty, the australian bunny hunter:

No problem I was just reacting my anger on you, over the fact that I'm too tired these days to even think about jerking off.

Joker, Ph.D. Procedural Assholian Behaviour, Pedophilosopher
- All your ass are belong to my wang Jafd. Prepare to are penetration.

#47 by Gunp01nt
2002-02-26 18:48:00

Jokarrr:

Curry man, I don't suppose you have anything to do with it?

Your wang did it.

<<< Do you believe in a god that tells you lies or do you believe in me? >>>

#48 by crash
2002-02-26 18:51:14

from topic:

The problem is this: Serious Sam managed to spruce up the shooter by going old skool with masses of dumb monsters, and concentrating on adrenaline inducement. How can anyone, particularly a Russian developer with no experience at online gaming, come up with a thrilling game atmosphere/playstyle in the MMORPG genre which can knock our socks off like SS did?

by making the game environment as bland as possible, encouraging players to create the story, and having the kind of mutable tech that makes that happen. the last thing this market needs is another leveling treadmill. will it happen? you tell me.

Duality:

To me that means they have the engine built with placeholders, but no real content. And they're expecting a Q3/4 2002 release. If they can develop content that fast, they should be working for Mythic!

or funcom. same kind of schedule, same sort of game--placeholders, tech demo, no content.

wizard:

Completely off topic, who sings the song with the following lyrics:

Puddle of Mudd. song is "Control". the rest of the CD sounds nothing like that song.

coda:

has anyone played WarCraft 3 yet?

yes. and if you've played warcraft 2, so have you.

Duality again:

But why does nobody ask if its going to be another level treadmill? Is it just expected and assumed that that's going to be the system they use?

yes. it's the easiest way to code persistence, and it's the easiest way to give players both a clear goal as well as a reason to keep paying to play it. thus, it's what we'll be seeing for a very long time to come, in one form or another.

Hugin:

User settings are cool, because, like Matt, I really like links to spawn separate windows.

so do i. thank god my mouse comes with a right button, and my keyboard with a shift key, or i'd be totally screwed.

Joker:

WHAT THE FUCK IS IT WITH YOU FOOLS AND MMOG??? ALL TOPICS ARE ABOUT MMOG AND/OR AO. MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!

hm. just checked the pipeline, and i don't see any joker-authored articles. put up or shut up. :-p

- if you can laugh at it, you can live with it. -

#49 by Morn
2002-02-26 18:54:54

Joker:

Curry man, I don't suppose you have anything to do with it?

Yes. Don't make me regret the work I've been putting into this. Thank you.

Hendrik "Morn" Mans - morn@planetcrap.com

#50 by The_Joker
2002-02-26 18:55:25

#48 crash, my lover:

why wasn't Hulka's topic posted about the news stuff and the women? I thought that was really good. and FYI I have posted 2 topics since PC6 launched and they got rejected. They were about discussing Gunp01nts gayness, which I think is a pretty important subject.

Joker, Ph.D. Procedural Assholian Behaviour, Pedophilosopher
- All your ass are belong to my wang Jafd. Prepare to are penetration.

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