AN IDEA

There have been alternatives to Entropia .
One was from Russia and it wasnt bad.
The other one pio was rather good. I played it for a while, even got some globals .
But then the creators decided to scrap all my belongings. So they lost me as a participant

 

https://project-ion.testbuilt.org

 

The old Project Entropia we loved didn't make money for its creators and therefore was unsustainable. This muddies the waters for all otherwise justified criticism. I'm with those who bemoan the loss more often than not, but if it doesn't add up, nothing will hold forever. Now people like to call them greedy, but every business is, even if it just wants to survive. Have an economic model worked out which can do better, and people may start getting interested (including MindArk themselves).

 

http://www.entropiaplanets.com/threads/mma-bigshow-and.21751/

 

I would say most of us just have enough trouble running our lives, keeping our homes clean, doing the washing, finding time for the occasional computer game playing, shopping, eating, cooking, exercising, sleeping, going to work, contributing to this forum (tech or content) and working on our own projects.

A game is just... too much. I was talking to my (ex-crytek) friend the other day who kept saying it was easy to make a game now... yeh I think he forgets that he is part of a large company with many programmers and artists etc. He's never actually produced something entirely on his own I don't think - even when he went freelance, he worked for/with others on games produced by at least a handful of people.... and that was full time.

Look at how long Pion has been going, look at how Noggin completely failed to ever turn SPONG into a real thing, look at how Afterworld eventually folded, look at the one man band running Cyrene these days.

It's a lovely idea but alas an idea is all it can remain as.

Wistrel

 

I have been thinking about this for years.
It even got to a prototyping phase earlier this year where I tested some of my ideas.
(see screenshots: Planet Initium)
I've also investigated several options for the basic MMO engine, character system and world generation and have a fairly good idea of the technical approach that I would apply.

Even though it is a big dream to take on a project like this, I have to agree with Wistrel: it's very tough!
There are so many aspects to take into consideration and many have tried and failed before.

Maybe 10 years ago I could have dived into such an adventure, but right now my life does not allow me to (and 10 years ago I didn't have the knowledge I have now..)
I own a software development company, so I have a number of developers to my disposal, but the financial risk and required investment is just too great.

Planet Initium will most likely never be more than a prototype.. :-)

 

Well IT sure looks good

 

Yes, very nice BruuD, I would try it.

Any mobs developed?

 

A few notes.
I was member of Allan Morgan's team for "Planet Postmoderna". And that was meant as planet partner within Entropia Universe only. I've learned a lot during my time there.

1. Leadership
It is not enough to call some enthusiastic folks to the arms. One person, a company or a small group (I call it "the leader") should draw the lines. The leader must care for every aspect of such an undertaking. At the other hand the leader must be responsible for everything that happens. This is an important point. Especially if we talk about RCE.

2. Juridical Responsibility
Even if everybody has fun developing an RCE-game, the day will come when someone got a problem with it. Latest when the game leaves alpha and becomes a serious product. The liability is at the leader.

3. Costs
Even if everybody of the team works for free (for several years!), there will be costs. At least the server costs or advertising costs. Who will pay these costs? The game must generate revenue. Wich means: the participants won't.

4. Game Mechanics: RCE
A very special theme. Question is: will the leader find people with knowledge of game design and RCE who work for free? The ingame RCE must generate the revenue to pay the costs.

5. Game Mechanics: Story/Gameplay/Goals
There must be reasons for play the game. And to pay for it.

6. Game Design: Guidlines/Restrictions/Construction Kit
Such an undertaking requires a general management of everything that appears in the game. Starting with a basic story up to the feeling while "living" in this world. That's the mental part. To be able to communicate a very special mood of life it is necessary to follow an regarding consistent system. Nothing "strange" should appear. This requires a construction kit with rubber-stamped content. The leader must overwatch this kit.

I could add some other aspects. But this may be enough. A game made by the community is and will be just a nice dream.

 

A few robots with simple AI, but everything still runs client side; networking was never fully implemented.
The prototyping got to a point where I knew what libraries/templates/approaches I should and should not use, but taking it to the next level would mean starting from scratch with the proper systems and building it into an actual game - which is a bridge too far for me at this point.

"Next level" would require everything that Jamira mentions (and probably more).
If you want to build a half decent game, you need more than decent people in your team.
A team of 10 good people costs at least $750K a year, just in salaries (if they get some equity to go with it).
It will take maybe a year to get to something that is "alpha worthy" and probably another year to get near a first release.
Add to that costs for assets, advertisement, web development, servers and probably a shitload of other costs - you're looking at maybe $2 million for the first 2 years... and then you're at the point where you may start to generate some revenue... you're still a loooong way from turning a profit.

Look at Project Ion. It's a hobby project, done by 2 guys (I think only 1 is doing all the programming).
They've been at it for years and it's still clearly a hobby project and nowhere near a finished game.
AfterWorld had a team behind it and look where they ended (and it looked crap from the start).

But still, it's nice to dream about building your own Entropia.
I sure do and will continue to do so :)

 

Hmm...

Crowdfund a few $millionz?

Or launch what you’ve made already as a ‘pre-alpha’ early-bird subscription model that signees can use as a chat room and dream about future amazing developments.

Then gradually introduce super-amazing ‘pre-alpha’ armour, guns, clothes etc and sell for lots of cash then use subs and sales income to expand and improve.

Or first create a text version...got to be a lot cheaper. :)

 

haha there is probably some sort of MUD engine available to make something like Entropia in text. Would be quite funny.

I have to admit I've occasionally thought it would be cool to make a visual novel that utilities Entropia. i.e. something where you use the actual map, and locations etc to move about and do stuff then use screen shots of avatars as the characters in the story.

If you had a budget for an artist you could use illustrated characters as overlay images to in game screenshots. There is something called RenPy which apparently is good for making this sort of game. Even simpler is something called Twine - but I think that may only do text.

 

I don't really understand your post.
I started Entropia in 2004. Played for free for a year and a half. Made my first deposit in May 2005. And I viewed it as a subscription game from that time on. 35 euro's a month deposit to play. Never withdrew anything. Slowly gaining more ped. When CLDs came out I sold evertthing I owned and was able to buy 30 deeds. After a few weeks I realised the potential and decided to deposit big to get to 100 Deeds.
I started withdrawing from that moment on.
So until 2011 I didn't play for profit.
I played it because I like the game.
I played Afterworld too, and I Tried Pion.
But yeah, if I have the chance to fund my next car from this game, I Will surely do IT!
I didn't see anyone in here call you an idiot.

I do craft explosives 3, when I am down on ped. I hit 1280 ped a few days ago with the last 100 ped I had. Bought some fresh Deeds to grow

while the idea to start a RCE game is very cool, I wouldn't know where to start, because I am not a coder. I think Bruud and Jamira's words are wisdom here. It's fkn hard.

 

OP said he will be the investor.

I did, in response to a specific utterance unrelated to this topic or any other except the one mentioned. He chose to include it into his presentation ever since.

On topic, we like to criticize MA for this and for that, but I think nobody fully understands what it actually is they created and why it is successful. Therefore I think "MA sucks" as raison d'être for investing in creating a competitor does not have a very realistic outlook.

I could imagine an alternative which builds on a suitable cryptocurrency from the start (ideally an established one like LTC or ETH) could be interesting, seeing how MA's attempt to bring it into the existing game was not met with high acceptance. Those invested in it are afraid of disruption. But maybe stuff Project Ion (open source) with a cryptocurrency client and see if there is any interest in it going further, upon which one could invest in creating content?

Also don't forget to factor in that there will be legal trouble ahead if successful, because thou shalt not do anything that allows people to exchange money without government supervision, and double trouble if it has an element of luck.