16 replies to this topic

[Heeron]

Camelot Unchained is an (hopefully) upcoming MMORPG with focus on trirealm RvR combat that aims to take risks and move away from the cookie cutter mass appeal approach that plague other modern MMOs. It's currently in development by City State Entertainment, lead by former Mythic entertainment founder Mark Jakobs.

The game is getting ready for a kickstarter campaign coming up in March, 2013.

 

 

 

Some of the very best moments in gaming for me have been playing RvR and this is the first game I'm genuinely excited by in years   

Check out their blog where they post about the foundation principles if you want to know more.

I will try to keep this post up-to-date as more information gets out.

[Heeron]

New 'Foundational Principle' posted by Mark Jacobs on the blog that deals with choice and player customization as well as how ingame actions affect stat building.

[ClayMeow]

To this day, nobody has done PvP combat better than the RvR in Dark Age of Camelot (developed by Mythic), so I'm eager to see more of this project.

[Master Binky]

If you ignore the game breaking bugs and issues ( I know how big of a thing that is to ask....It's hard to keep a straight face when I say it), the design of Shadowbane was at least right next to DAOC.

[Heeron]

Indeed. While Warhammer Online was a pretty messed up game when it came to interacting with the environment, bugs and texture glitches (the list goes on) I still found the PVP amazingly satisfying.

When I played I was always thinking about all the PVE area of the map that wasn't  being used. All the time and resources that went in to dungeons and quest that almost no  one completed. If they had taken those resources and focused on improving gameplay and ORvR it would still be popular. 

 

One of the big hurdles that CU will face is going to be how to handle the zerging, it's  going to be interesting to see how they deal with it. 

[Heeron]

Mark Jacobs wrote another 2 blog post today! The first post is titled "I Still Hate Gold Sellers", seems like Mark will continue his tradition of wildly flailing his banhammer when it comes to goldsellers. In the second post he straightens out some questionmarks regarding the leveling system. 

 

I feel like the was more to be said about the leveling system but I'm sure more information will be posted as we get closer to the start of the Kickstarter campaign in March. 

[Heeron]

New post today! Titled "Clear as Mudd" Mark cleared up some of the confusion surrounding his last post about realm abilities and how the game plans on dealing with scum.. Eh.. Goldsellers, I should say.  

[Heeron]

Starting to feel like a broken record by now but Mark keeps updating the blog every other day, this time with a post titled "Foundational Principle #6 – Rock, paper, scissors? ‘Natch!".

 

He gives a brief overview on how the races/classes system will work (quality over quantity) and why City State Entertainment have decided to go for asynchronous classes and races for the different realms rather than using mirrored ones.

 

Not using mirrored classes and racial bonuses sounds good to me since it varies the gameplay and adds quite a bit of replayability to the game. However balancing the game will be made thrice as hard since there will be 3 competing realms, all with their unique races and classes.

I have a feeling that maybe using Warhammers technique of mirroring the classes and add some unique and special ability may have been the way to go for them. Time will tell I guess.

[Heeron]

New post!

This time Mark explains their vision of how they want the crafting system to work. 

[Heeron]

Foundational Principle #8 has been posted on the blog, titled "This should be a chaotic game with epic surprises at every turn".

 

In this one Mark gives his thoughts on the impact on randomness and leaving some aspects of the game up to chance for a more dynamic, chaotic game.

[Heeron]

Time for another FP, this time titled "Forced Socialization was good, then bad. Is it time for a comeback?". 

 

I really liked this one. Mark further explains the role that crafters and non crafters will have in creating a balanced experience. But instead of me clumsily trying to summarize it, read it yourselves on the blog! 

[Heeron]

Big news everybody! (insert professor.jpg here)
Camelot Unchained just announced that they have got Curious Factory to publish the game.

This.. has me pretty confused since a common theme throughout Mark Jacobs posts on the Blog has been that publishers would be something that would be a obstacle when creating a game with so many "off putting" qualities that Camelot Unchained will have. Such as not appealing to a wide userbase and other risks they will take with the direction of this game that may drive a lot of potential users away. The notion of adding a publisher that will bring their own opinions and ideas (usually about how to profit more, let's be honest) to the table seems.. Counterproductive. 

 

In fact I will quote Mark Jacobs blog posts regarding publisher involvement in the game.

 

 

From "You need to build the foundation before you build the penthouse!" regarding the planning of Camelot Unchained and their FPs:

 

    "While a lot of the details still need to be worked out of course and while some things can and will usually change during development, these principles must not, cannot and will not be changed by anyone at CSE, including myself. This is my promise to you and that is one of the reasons we haven’t been and aren’t seeking publisher backing or involvement."

 

From "Foundational Principle #1 – Be willing to take risks, even if fortune doesn’t always favor the bold" regarding the amount of risks they will take in developing the title (fear of driving people away from the game).

 

    "What I want to do is take chances with this game that most, if not all, publishers wouldn’t want to take with it and that’s exactly what we are going to do."

 

 

Really now. This just seems strange. If they really intend on creating the game that they have talked about, why would a publisher want to produce the game? They have said it themselves that their game will be unattractive for any publisher to produce

 

Anyway, they will continue on with their Kickstarter in March as planned even though they've secured a publisher, something that I'm not sure I'm fine with by the way. Honestly it could just be a way of getting some glorified pre-orders and PR at this point.

 

I realize that a publisher in and of itself is a bad thing. It means security for the workers and increased funding for the game. However it also means that it nullifies all the aspects of the game that made them go independent in the first place. I would like some more information about this whole thing and all information available on it as a generic launch page over on Curious Factory.

 

They really have to convince me this isn't a bad thing before I'll back their Kickstarter anyway. 

 

Edit: I've tweeted to CSE about this and they responded that Curious Factory is a 'publishing partner' and not a publisher but instead will help with marketing the Camelot Unchained Kickstarter in Asia/Europe. 

Edit 2: CSE said through Twitter that Curious Factory is in no way affecting game development and the purpose of partnering with them is solely to promote the game. Basically disregard all my 'suspicions'.

Edited by Heeron, 08 March 2013 - 07:15 AM.