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heimburg

heimburg

Claimed Blog: Elder Game

MassiveBlips Member since Feb. 16, 2009

eldergame.com - 15 days ago
Two Kinds of Developer Relations
— eldergame.com — There seem to be two main ways that MMO developers interact with players. These two ways have... serious pros and cons, but too often the choice isn’t made consciously. Instead, the choice comes from the culture and situation the team finds itself in. But if you make an explicit decision, ... (more) Two Kinds of Developer Relations
Comments vote down heimburg heimburg posted 15 days agoposted this
The Tragic Story of The Cussing NPCs
eldergame.com - 10/19/2009
The Tragic Story of The Cussing NPCs
— eldergame.com — (The following story is an imagining of what may have led to the sad tale of the... cussing NPCs in Champions Online. It is all conjecture based on past experiences with very similar issues.) As far as the Champions CSR team was concerned, the game had been doing really well in beta. Sure, they ... (more) The Tragic Story of The Cussing NPCs
Comments vote down heimburg heimburg posted 10/19/2009posted this
eldergame.com - 9/21/2009
Champions Online: Please, Fix This, Hurry
— eldergame.com — I know how easy it is for a game to die early in its life. Asheron’s Call... 2 had a promising career as a small but profitable MMO, but that was dashed very early because the game’s chat system broke for nearly three months(!), and due to political concerns with our publisher, ... (more) Champions Online: Please, Fix This, Hurry

Comments vote down heimburg heimburg posted 9/21/2009posted this
eldergame.com - 9/17/2009
Think Like a Designer
— eldergame.com — “Learn to think like a designer, not a player.” You’ll hear this a lot from game developers... giving advice to would-be designers. And it’s not wrong … but taken at face value, it leads to being a sub-par designer. There’s no value in mimicing what you think ... (more) Think Like a Designer
Comments vote down heimburg heimburg posted 9/17/2009posted this
eldergame.com - 8/12/2009
Reinforcement Concepts for Designers
— eldergame.com — All game designers should take a few courses in psychology. This will help a lot more than... you think, especially if you’re aiming to be a systems designer (as opposed to a level or content designer). Game design is an application of psychology: the goal of a game is typically to entertain ... (more) Reinforcement Concepts for Designers
Comments vote down heimburg heimburg posted 8/12/2009posted this
eldergame.com - 5/25/2009
How to Find an MMO Job That Doesn’t Suck
— eldergame.com — Someone asked me the other day if they should even bother applying for an MMORPG job. I... make the career sound so crappy in other blog posts … maybe it’s best not to even try? Well, most MMO jobs are terrible. But if you see a job that sounds interesting to you, I’d ... (more) How to Find an MMO Job That Doesn’t Suck
1 Comment vote down heimburg heimburg posted 5/25/2009posted this
eldergame.com - 5/11/2009
User Generated Quests and the Ruby Slippers
— eldergame.com — Do you remember this part from the Wizard of Oz movie? It’s my favorite part: GLINDA You... don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas. DOROTHY I have? SCARECROW Then why didn't you tell her before? GLINDA Because ... (more) User Generated Quests and the Ruby Slippers
Comments vote down heimburg heimburg posted 5/11/2009posted this
SmartFoxServer: The MMO Engine for Indies?
eldergame.com - 4/14/2009
SmartFoxServer: The MMO Engine for Indies?
— eldergame.com — Run Screaming… If I were to tell you that I was thinking of making an MMO with... a database-centric design, using a DB to serialize entities from one sub-server to another, you would be in good company if you thought I was a dumbass. Darrin West, the architect at Emergent Game ... (more) SmartFoxServer: The MMO Engine for Indies?
Comments vote down heimburg heimburg posted 4/14/2009posted this
Unity 2.5: The Fast Track To an Indie MMO?
eldergame.com - 4/9/2009
Unity 2.5: The Fast Track To an Indie MMO?
— eldergame.com — The Need To Make An MMO Sandra and I worked in the mainstream MMO industry for a... long time, but a couple years ago, we stopped. We stopped because we better understood what we wanted: neither of us was real happy making MMOs. What we wanted most of all is to run MMOs. Unfortunately for us, ... (more) Unity 2.5: The Fast Track To an Indie MMO?
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Why We Play MMOs
eldergame.com - 3/17/2009
Why We Play MMOs
— eldergame.com — Learning Is Fun … Have you read Raph Koster’s book, Theory of Fun for Game Design ?... It’s one of those books that people are always telling game designers to read. But I hate it. I hate Raph Koster’s book because it teaches such a shallow and non-universal lesson: ... (more) Why We Play MMOs
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eldergame.com - 3/5/2009
Don’t Throw Out the Subscription Model
— eldergame.com — If you go to a game conference about MMOs, you’ll hear about how awesome microtransactions arem and... how they’re the key to the future. They have several huge benefits: Low barrier to entry for new players because the game is free. Although most players don’t pay ... (more) Don’t Throw Out the Subscription Model
Comments vote down heimburg heimburg posted 3/5/2009posted this
eldergame.com - 2/24/2009
Innovation or History?
— eldergame.com — Tobold, my favorite MMO-player everyman, recently posted a short piece on the value of combat targeting .... He seems pleased that the developers of both Darkfall and Age of Conan tried to do something new with combat, but notes that the lack of targeting in Darkfall especially doesn’t do ... (more) Innovation or History?

Comments vote down heimburg heimburg posted 2/24/2009posted this