IPLY Q3 and FO MMORPG

[Odin]

One of the IPLY investors over at Raging Bull forums contacted Luke Haas regarding IPLY's Q3 earnings report and Fallout MMORPG plans:<blockquote>Luke: No specific date has been set for release of the company's third quarterearnings, although we are hard at work on that effort right now. I do notexpect a long delay -- if any -- beyond the standard deadline.

As for the recently announced judgment, I will have to defer to the text you saw.

Lastly yes, funding for MMORPG is the future of the company, although there remain short term issues that, if/when they get resolved, will likely improve the chances of the company getting funded for such endeavors. </blockquote>Short term issues eh?
Link: Raging Bull Forum thread

 

[Ozrat]

Lastly yes, funding for MMORPG is the future of the company

Holy shit, how pathetic has Interplay become?

 

[Edge386]

Lastly yes, funding for MMORPG is the future of the company

Heh heh heh...IPLYs future relies on something that could not possibly happen. I hope they aren't being seriously hopeful for that funding to come along, and I hope they aren't blind enough to think that Herve can actually squeeze a few more million out of investors to bring FOOL into development.

 

[Corith]

Lastly yes, funding for MMORPG is the future of the company

Heh heh heh...IPLYs future relies on something that could not possibly happen. I hope they aren't being seriously hopeful for that funding to come along, and I hope they aren't blind enough to think that Herve can actually squeeze a few more million out of investors to bring FOOL into development.

A Fallout based MMORPG IS possible, but it would require several things. First and foremost is Herve has to go. His reputation as a businessman precludes any type of serious investment.

Second, since the shadow company Herve has formed has no staff other than a few execs, and one or two admin types, he will need to outsource all the real work - concept, development, recurring billing system, security, balance issues, and even testing. He might try and build up the staff required to handle such an undertaking, but I really don't see that happening. It find it highly more likely that he will "outsource" the whole thing.

In my talks with Herve, Phil, and the other tiny handful of shadow-inteprlay drones, I do not believe that ANY body over at this shadow company has any clue what they are undertaking. I know for a fact that not a single person over there has ever played ANY MMORPG. Armed with so little knowledge, they are ripe for a flim-flam man to milk them of what ever money Herve can pry out of some moronic investor. It a recipe for disaster, and Herve's arrogance will not let him see it.

 

[Ozrat]

A Fallout based MMORPG IS possible, but it would require several things. First and foremost...

You're making the erroneous assumption that (the majority of) Fallout fans want to see a Fallout MMORPG, or even that such a thing would make sense in terms of gameplay and game mechanics. No need to hurt yourself finding reasons within the company of Interplay that would affect a FOOL being made.

 

[Big T]

A Fallout based MMORPG IS possible, but it would require several things. First and foremost...

You're making the erroneous assumption that (the majority of) Fallout fans want to see a Fallout MMORPG, or even that such a thing would make sense in terms of gameplay and game mechanics. No need to hurt yourself finding reasons within the company of Interplay that would affect a FOOL being made.

He said it was possible, not likely to succeed.

 

[Macaco]

Short term issues eh?

Heh, Interplay doesn't have "issues" it has a fucking subscription.

 

[Ashmo]

Short term issues eh?

Heh, Interplay doesn't have "issues" it has a fucking subscription.

:: giggles ::

 

[Corith]

A Fallout based MMORPG IS possible, but it would require several things. First and foremost...

You're making the erroneous assumption that (the majority of) Fallout fans want to see a Fallout MMORPG, or even that such a thing would make sense in terms of gameplay and game mechanics. No need to hurt yourself finding reasons within the company of Interplay that would affect a FOOL being made.

Oh, very true. The existing game mechanics do not, in any way, support a MMORPG version of Fallout. I lumped that together under development issues. There has to be a whole new invention of some type of mechanics that support long term play that has become the backbone of MMORPGs, and along with that comes an extensive play testing to solve balance issues.

The bigger question is why would any investor plunk money into this. If he plans on ramping up with staff to do the whole thing, he is going to need a very patient investor with super deep pockets. City of Heroes claims their MMORPG was 2 years in the making. I bet they started with more people than Herve currently has. He doesn't even have web site with investor information.

If he is going to go the Verant route, and take it a big, existing media company, what does Herve bring the table? The original design team are long gone, as are all artists and developers. Is the Fallout trademark worth the money they would pay Herve, or would they just develop their own post-apocalyptic game.

The only though I have, is that Herve would be to partner up with a large firm to create the game using the Fallout trademark for pittance. He would use these meager funds to hire staff and return to making games. A very similar deal to the one he cut with Bethesda.

Lastly, underneath all this debate, is even with a broad range of Fallout fan support, which there doesn't seem to be, is there enough appeal for a post-apocalyptic MMORPG. This isn't 1999, and the only competition is Everquest. There are MMORPG popping up (and going under) all the time.

 

[Josan]

Corith, is the jackass really so arrogant that he can't see his own incompetence??? I mean the last year alone has to be a sign to anyone with even .0001 of a brain that IPLY is dead.

 

[Corith]

Corith, is the jackass really so arrogant that he can't see his own incompetence??? I mean the last year alone has to be a sign to anyone with even .0001 of a brain that IPLY is dead.

It has been my experience that some people refuse to admit their at fault, even when deserted and alone. Herve's arrogance shows no sign of abating, even in the face of facts. He doesn't have the proper knowledge to accomplish this herculean feat, not even personal charisma to charm the gullible.

Fallout Online COULD happen but not with Herve at the helm, not with his personality, knowledge, skills, and background.

 

[Ozrat]

The bigger question is why would any investor plunk money into this. If he plans on ramping up with staff to do the whole thing, he is going to need a very patient investor with super deep pockets. City of Heroes claims their MMORPG was 2 years in the making. I bet they started with more people than Herve currently has. He doesn't even have web site with investor information.

That last line of yours brings up a question I've been asking myself for a while. How much does it cost to host a website without hiring anybody to update it? Obviously having a website for a video game company is a no-brainer when it comes to being accessable by your customers and investors, and its not like they've had anything to update the public with for a looooong time and it looks like that's not going to change anytime soon. Are the savings by not running a website outweighing the possible profits they might make from keeping it?

 

[Haris]

Oh, very true. The existing game mechanics do not, in any way, support a MMORPG version of Fallout. I lumped that together under development issues. There has to be a whole new invention of some type of mechanics that support long term play that has become the backbone of MMORPGs, and along with that comes an extensive play testing to solve balance issues.

In less than 3 months I could pull off a mmorpg thats free and has fallout 2 graphics and ability for everyone to download server engine and host their own server and tweak and balance all weapons as they wish. I have already made world map and i have server engine done, only thing that is left is adding graphic and sounds from fallout 2 wich i have all needed programing tools to do.

But i ain't going to finish this cause i like trying to mod fallout 2 more. Its much harder to do and more appreciated by people that play fallout games. Plus i cant be arsed hosting a server and admining that kind of game. I did it before with ultima online free server and its something that takes all your free time away. I was getting 20 emails from players every day with questions/sugestions/and random whines about game and other players. Nothing i have time to do again.

 

[Roshambo]

In less than 3 months I could pull off a mmorpg thats free and has fallout 2 graphics and ability for everyone to download server engine and host their own server and tweak and balance all weapons as they wish. I have already made world map and i have server engine done, only thing that is left is adding graphic and sounds from fallout 2 wich i have all needed programing tools to do.

I think it's safe to say that we really don't care how your possibly questionable ability to hack a UO server emulator has left you with the delusions that anyone cares that you can hack a UO server emulator. Such ability does not convey appropriateness towards the topic, either. Do not bother trying to derail the topic any further.

Plus i cant be arsed hosting a server and admining that kind of game. I did it before with ultima online free server and its something that takes all your free time away. I was getting 20 emails from players every day with questions/sugestions/and random whines about game and other players. Nothing i have time to do again.

That assumes that your server has enough competence in order to gain the services of someone as a PR Imm. I guess I incorrectly assumed that you'd know that, seeing as you claimed you were such a mighty UO server admin or something. You know, right about the time you proved you didn't know what you were attempting to talk about when you kept claiming people had no clue what MMORPGs were.

 

[Corith]

The bigger question is why would any investor plunk money into this. If he plans on ramping up with staff to do the whole thing, he is going to need a very patient investor with super deep pockets. City of Heroes claims their MMORPG was 2 years in the making. I bet they started with more people than Herve currently has. He doesn't even have web site with investor information.

That last line of yours brings up a question I've been asking myself for a while. How much does it cost to host a website without hiring anybody to update it?

It depends on the bandwidth. Interplay saw lots of traffic, and was graphic heavy, so it hosting fees wasn't cheap.

IPLY's last website was database driven, so he can't really put that backup unless he has a more comprehensive web solution than he has displayed so far. That means paying somebody to design something for him that is static.

In less than 3 months I could pull off a mmorpg thats free and has fallout 2 graphics and ability for everyone to download server engine and host their own server and tweak and balance all weapons as they wish. .

That is a vastly different project than a MMORPG set up handle hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users, each with different play styles, and with a safe, secure, recurring billing system to offset your cost of development and hosting, not to mention a competent delivery system for patches and updates.

 

[Haris]

That is a vastly different project than a MMORPG set up handle hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users, each with different play styles, and with a safe, secure, recurring billing system to offset your cost of development and hosting, not to mention a competent delivery system for patches and updates.

Its not that much different except its player ran. If you have good pc and connection to set it up you can host thousands of players. And if your willing to tweak stuff you can get races and just about anything in it.

And Rosh its not me who hacked uo client. Its has been hacked for past 6 years now by 10 different programing teams when people started making Lord of the ring mod for uo servers. My idea was just to mod it to fallout graphics. And i wrote that cause some people think its not possible to make fallout online at all.

And if i had more free time i would make it. But admining takes 14 hours per day and thats when you have staff of 10 people. All kinds off problems come in there. All from staff members giving free items to their friends to some player abusing the game by leaving his char to fight over night against weak monster just to raise skill.

Normal scenario for mmorpg admin is:
Player pages you in game asking:Can i become staff? please please please.
You answer:No we don't need any new staff now.
Player:Comon i have been staff on 10 other server for last 5 years.
You answer:But you just came to this server. You don't even know how it works.
Player:Fuck you i am gonna hack this server. He logs out.
20 minutes later he has set up macro tool to create 500 accounts on the server and crashes it. Server must revert to back up file making all players lose what ever they gotten last 5 hours.
Than you get 100 new complaints from them.

And i am not gonna go further in to discussion about this. Since i am not making it anymore. I rather focus on regular fallout 2 moding.

does not convey appropriateness towards the topic, either. Do not bother trying to derail the topic any further.

My initial post may not have much to do with actual topic.

Oh, very true. The existing game mechanics do not, in any way, support a MMORPG version of Fallout. I lumped that together under development issues. There has to be a whole new invention of some type of mechanics that support long term play that has become the backbone of MMORPGs, and along with that comes an extensive play testing to solve balance issues.

It was more of a coment on this part.

 

[Roshambo]

Its not that much different except its player ran. If you have good pc and connection to set it up you can host thousands of players. And if your willing to tweak stuff you can get races and just about anything in it.

We're not talking about kiddy shit, we're talking about...hell, you're not even paying attention at this point.

And Rosh its not me who hacked uo client. Its has been hacked for past 6 years now by 10 different programing teams when people started making Lord of the ring mod for uo servers. My idea was just to mod it to fallout graphics.

So, at its essence, it will be a UO server mod "with Fallout's graphics". I think I just pointed out that NOBODY WANTS THAT SHIT. That also has little relevance to this discussion.

Really, that IS so unbelievably naive and foolish, I hope that you do eventually try so that Interplay does have some right to sue it into nonexistence. It is one thing to go for a commercial game from scratch, it is another to not even bother putting forth some effort and instead cheaply try to instill some pathetic placeholders for "setting".

And i wrote that cause some people think its not possible to make fallout online at all.

It isn't at least not in the spirit and design of both Fallout and the character system. If you try a "flavoring" excuse, then I'm afraid you've just painted a bullseye upon yourself.

(Snip more irrelevant bullshit.)

And i am not gonna go further in to discussion about this. Since i am not making it anymore. I rather focus on regular fallout 2 moding.

Then why the fuck did you post your irrelevant stupidity into this thread in the first place?

It was more of a coment on this part.

All you've proven is that some half-wit can insert Fallout art into a modded UO server engine and try to call it "Fallout". Seriously, that's starting to sound more "Parisian Mime in Denial" than Herve Caen's idiocy and dishonesty. Stop while you're just a twit with crappy map design ability, please.

 

[Ozrat]

Haris, when we are talking about "game mechanics", we are referring to the plethora of previous threads here on NMA that we have where we've discussed how factors such as the SPECIAL system, TB-based fighting, the whole "Chosen One" dealio and travelling in the Wastelands would never be properly redone in a FOOL. Please do your research on these threads if you wish to comment on how such a game would be possible without being ridiculed.

Edit: Damn, beaten again.

 

[Haris]

Haris, when we are talking about "game mechanics", we are referring to the plethora of previous threads here on NMA that we have where we've discussed how factors such as the SPECIAL system, TB-based fighting, the whole "Chosen One" dealio and travelling in the Wastelands would never be properly redone in a FOOL. Please do your research on these threads if you wish to comment on how such a game would be possible without being ridiculed.

I know exactly what you are talking about. I have been reading Nma and dac forums for past 2-3 years. Never really felt like making account before.

Traveling the wasteland was the easiest part to bypass, you simply don't. I made 25000 tiles big wasteland that you have to walk trough. Combat is more like tactics real time. But every weapon has delay time wich is modified by your agility and shooting skill. So you double click on a player and you always shot at him every 5 seconds with a gun for example or minigun you burst every 3 seconds. You stop shooting when enemy is dead or by turning war mode off. And being chosen in mmorpg is impossible, but you can become famous if you kill allot of players than they will talk about you. Covers that part. Special system well already most mmorpg have some kind of similar system. Only charisma part would be lame to have cause people wouldn't treat you better if your char is good looking. Even thoe i find it easier to sell stuff in game if i play hot female char.

Only point i actually wanted to make was that its makeable.

 

[Ozrat]

Traveling the wasteland was the easiest part to bypass, you simply don't.

So everybody is somehow stuck in the same town? Are they all looking for the same water chip or GECK, or is there some other ultimtate goal for them? How are supplies generated if there's no outside contact? How big is this "town" of yours? Wouldn't 20 players running around at the same time undermine the whole empty post-apoc wastelands atmosphere?

Assume that there are multiple towns. Are they extremely close together when compared to the Fallout universe? Or will players have to spend in insane amount of time just walking in between them?

And being chosen in mmorpg is impossible, but you can become famous if you kill allot of players than they will talk about you. Covers that part.

Excuse me, but wasn't being the Chosen One the whole fucking point of the Fallout RPGs? How would you continue the Fallout series into a FOOL if there's no Chosen One? What are the players trying to achieve then? Your example above is based on all the characters knowing each other, despite playing at completely different hours of the day. So in-game status is completely by word-of-mouth of the characters and how many times they've fragged others rather than on what they achieve in terms of gameplay? Maybe that might fly for evil characters, but what about good or neutral ones? Or even non-combat based ones?

Special system well already most mmorpg have some kind of similar system. Only charisma part would be lame to have cause people wouldn't treat you better if your char is good looking. Even thoe i find it easier to sell stuff in game if i play hot female char.

I thought you already admitted that UO is not a MMORPG.

'k, since you really don't seem to understand what I'm talking about, here's a simple rundown of the SPECIAL system and some basic problems with it being used or simulated in a FOOL. I've barely scratched the surface here, go find the threads I'm talking about for more.

Strength - Will this affect how much your player can carry? Or what weapons are available to be used?

Perception - Will this affect how accurate your shots are? Or the things that you notice around you or NPCs? Or even other players?

Endurance - Hit points, damage resistance, healing, ect. How do you implement this effectively?

Charisma - NPC reactions, barter prices, speech skills, etc.

Intelligence - Not only for posting something intelligent, but also for skill points, dialog options, and how NPCs react to you.

Agility - This affects combat in a lot of ways. Describe its implementation besides that it'll slow down gun fire please. Will it affect how far/fast you can walk in combat?

Luck - Good luck with this one. No pun intended.

And besides that, the whole SPECIAL conversion to a MMORPG is totally undermined if you can bypass it by pretending to be some hawt cyberchick like you just mentioned.

I know exactly what you are talking about. I have been reading Nma and dac forums for past 2-3 years.

Trust me, you don't. Please stop wasting our time with your FOOL bullshit.