Thanks to Telefrog over at Quarter to Three for pointing this out to me. Apparently a former designer at Bethesda named Brendan Anthony — who has worked on Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion and Fallout 3 for example — has created his own company called Elliptic Games. Their first announced game, entitled Rodina, will a procedurally-generated, open-world space-based RPG wherein you can run around inside and outside your ship and is inspired by “Freelancer, The Elder Scrolls series, Deus Ex and System Shock” according to the site.
This is akin to something along the lines of my dream space game. ;) Sadly there aren’t any screenshots at the moment, only a concept video on the site. I’ll totally keep you posted as I find out more.
Rodina sounds like a concept everyone interested in a space MMO wants, but based on prior experience I'm normally pretty concerned about any small company founded specifically to make an MMO, because for a host of different reasons, the prevailing majority of all MMO projects fail. I firmly believe that an MMO should never be a company's first product.
It sounds to me, however, that these guys are wise in at least some of the needed areas. The decision to use procedural generation, for instance, avoiding part of the content arms race and massive content development costs in time and manpower, demonstrates someone there is clued-in. So I'll reserve judgement, keep this one on the radar, and remain hopeful.
Is this an MMO? It looked like a single player game to me. Regardless, I am REALLY hoping they can pull it off.
Well, crap, I do believe you're right. Nothing says "MMO" at all. I guess that was my own wishful thinking…. and my expectation nowadays that if you're going to build an entire world – put more than one person in it.
Nuts.
I actually prefer it being single player, actually. ;) Besides Jumpgate, multiplayer has never been my thing.
I love MMOs for the ability to contribute to something bigger, be it a guild or a realm or some equivalent. That motivates me a lot more than personal/character advancement. I’m very picky about my MMOs as a result, because so few really have the depth that lends itself to the kind of open-world gameplay that I want. Too many are theme-park level grinds, lacking the feel of a living, breathing world.
Rest assured if my little bitty company ever reaches the point where I have a team that can construct an MMO (sure can’t do it alone), it will be a sandbox, not a theme park.
Oh I hear ya, why do you think JG was my most played MMO, let alone game, ever? ;) I’d play EVE more — because they have a wonderful sandbox — if the space stuff wasn’t so…sterile…
Crap, the reply button seems to have disappeared because this embedded thingy passed a certain point. I’ll have to see how to fix that.
That's not a concept video, it's a tech demo, which demostrates the game's capacities as it is at that point. So it's an actual video of the game. It looks good!
My only concern, how do he plan to fill the game with interesting content? Just procedurally generated planets can be boring if they're empty. This is similar to Infinity: Quest for Earth, but less good-looking.
Well sure, it's less good looking NOW, but I'm fine with procedurally generated missions and economies as well. ;) I don't need a big space opera epic, just give me a ship and stuff to do. :)
I'm so gonna keep this in mind!
Oh yeah, me too! Loving the concept, I just hope it makes it to reality. :) I wanna plaaaaaaaaaaaay this!
Dude, this is totally a computer version of the board game Battlestations – this is a pretty seriously great idea. I’ll be keeping an eye out for this, and keeping an eye on the Junkie page for more news.
Right? I’m thrilled by the idea, I just hope it makes it to reality. :)
it was nice of notch to tweet about this game. the video has me excited.
Did he?! Nice!!! And yeah, the video has me hot and bothered. ;)