Continuing my look at games that are breaking the "MMO" mold, this blog will be taking a look at a game that, on this thursday, will be celebrating it's second "birthday." The game I'm talking about is called League of Legends.
League of Legends, developed by Riot Games, actually has its roots in Blizzard, the company behind WoW. In the game World of Warcraft 3 it was possible to make your own maps and gametypes. A man created a gametype that would become exceptionally popular called Defense of the Ancients (DotA). Eventually another man named Steve Feak took that gametype and made a newer more advanced version called DotA Allstars. Not too long after he and a fellow designer got together and created the game League of Legends, which follows the same formula, albeit with some key changes.
League of Legends is a DotA style game that is played online between 10 people in 5v5 games, or 6 people in 3v3 games. The way it works is this: Players choose from a large number of characters called champions, each with their own unique abilities. Their objective is to defend their "nexus," a structure in their base, while trying to destroy the nexus of the enemy. All the while NPCs called minions constantly spawn and move to attack the enemy. Players earn gold and experience for their champion by killing minions, enemy players, and neutral monsters found throughout the game map. They use the experience to level up abilities, starting at level 1 every game and maxing their level at 18. They use the gold to buy weapons and armor which can be used to create stronger equipment, which makes their champion significantly stronger. Along the paths between the bases are towers which are exceptionally powerful, but can be destroyed with persistence.
Player stats are tracked, and they level up themselves based on how they do in games. They use the levels they obtain to make minor upgrades to their profile which effect any champions they play as, including attack speed, health, and experience gained. Players can make friends and play games in groups.
While it could be said this game has more in common with a game like Counter-Strike than WoW, League of Legends is relevant because it spells a different end to the WoW era. The complete abandonment of the MMORPG as a genre. As dramatic as that sounds, let me explain. Essentially, there were only two real types of games played online in the days when the PC dominated that market: MMORPGs and online shooters. Shooters have evolved to adapt to the console generation, while the MMO has largely stayed on the PC. As game developers move on from the WoW generation to different forms of online play, games like League of Legends come about (which has oddly enough spawned its own batch of imitators) which could mean developers are moving away from the MMO altogether, in order to capture a different market.
On that note, another interesting point about League of Legends is that it's 100% free to play. There is no "level cap" for players, none of the characters are restricted to players who pay real money, and none of the gametypes are exclusive. Champion selection has a free rotation that allows players to play a handful of the available champions as much as they want, and as they play they earn in game currency which can be used to purchase and permanently unlock champions, so they may always play as them, regardless of the rotation. Real money may also be used to unlock champions, and is the only way to unlock "skins," extra costumes for the champions, but it's not necessary.
I've actually been playing League of Legends for a bit over a month now. I've paid for a couple of things, but at most I think I've put about 40 dollars into the game. I find it very fun, and I've even gotten several of my friends to start playing. I think what makes it more enjoyable than say getting everyone in on an MMO is the lack of commitment. MMOs require a lot of time and effort to really be rewarding, while a game like League of Legends can give that sort of feeling within about 40 minutes. Does that mean impatience? Or does that mean I don't want to sink half a year into a game before it gets interesting? I suppose that question can be answered both ways, depending on the individual.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Life After WoW: Another Chapter
In browsing the internet, looking at videos, playing flash games, etc, I kept coming across two different ad banners. Both were advertising MMO games of sorts, but I had never seen games like them before. I decided to investigate. One was named Rusty Hearts, by Stairway Games, the other was called Elsword Online, made by KOG Studios. Both had a heavy emphasis on an anime style in terms of graphics, as well as story. What made them both jump out at me though, was the fact that you didn't make your own character. I'll go into more detail with each game as I discuss them in this blog.
Rusty Hearts is set in a fictional world, involving the undead and vampires. How players interact is simple, they pick from a set of pre-made characters, each having their own unique skills and abilities, then enter a server with other players. Only one player may be playing a particular character, so there are no multiples. The purpose of this is the game follows a "story" progression, and the characters are all unique in it. This is completely different from the standard MMO build of "making your own story" as you play. The game actually has a plot to it that the players are following. Because MMO's are built on sustained play it's probably a safe assumption that the plot does not have a definite end (I couldn't find one, in any case.) To date there are only three characters, but I feel like they'll probably add more down the road, as the game only recently came out in the US. Other than these features it plays like a fairly standard action MMO, with a large emphasis on hack n' slash as opposed to pointing and clicking. Sadly due to the new nature of the game I couldn't find any screenshots off the official website, but I did find a bunch of pictures through google. I don't think I can post those, so instead I'll link to the official site and to a gameplay video on Youtube. Here's the main site and here's the video. A fair warning though, the comments are a little harsh, mostly children bickering, but the video gives a solid look at the game.
Elsword Online is a side-scrolling action MMO, with a similar build to Rusty Hearts in that you pick from preset characters, but they have their own unique progression. The art style is done similarly to Rusty Hearts as well, focusing on a Manga-like appearance, even having comic "frames" appear during certain special attacks. The game has an over-arcing story that the players follow as they progress, and based on the artwork I'm inclined to believe players actually watch their characters grow up as they progress in level. The action is also similar to Rusty Hearts with emphasis on combos, hack n' slash mechanics, and a generally hectic pace. Screenshots were a little hard to come by, but again I'll post a link to their site here and a video here. All in all, it looks interesting, and action packed.
As new companies try new ways of approaching the MMO genre, we get oddballs and we get staples. I'm not sure what I'd call these games, but one thing is for certain, they are definitely different, and I figure that's a step in the right direction.
Rusty Hearts is set in a fictional world, involving the undead and vampires. How players interact is simple, they pick from a set of pre-made characters, each having their own unique skills and abilities, then enter a server with other players. Only one player may be playing a particular character, so there are no multiples. The purpose of this is the game follows a "story" progression, and the characters are all unique in it. This is completely different from the standard MMO build of "making your own story" as you play. The game actually has a plot to it that the players are following. Because MMO's are built on sustained play it's probably a safe assumption that the plot does not have a definite end (I couldn't find one, in any case.) To date there are only three characters, but I feel like they'll probably add more down the road, as the game only recently came out in the US. Other than these features it plays like a fairly standard action MMO, with a large emphasis on hack n' slash as opposed to pointing and clicking. Sadly due to the new nature of the game I couldn't find any screenshots off the official website, but I did find a bunch of pictures through google. I don't think I can post those, so instead I'll link to the official site and to a gameplay video on Youtube. Here's the main site and here's the video. A fair warning though, the comments are a little harsh, mostly children bickering, but the video gives a solid look at the game.
Elsword Online is a side-scrolling action MMO, with a similar build to Rusty Hearts in that you pick from preset characters, but they have their own unique progression. The art style is done similarly to Rusty Hearts as well, focusing on a Manga-like appearance, even having comic "frames" appear during certain special attacks. The game has an over-arcing story that the players follow as they progress, and based on the artwork I'm inclined to believe players actually watch their characters grow up as they progress in level. The action is also similar to Rusty Hearts with emphasis on combos, hack n' slash mechanics, and a generally hectic pace. Screenshots were a little hard to come by, but again I'll post a link to their site here and a video here. All in all, it looks interesting, and action packed.
As new companies try new ways of approaching the MMO genre, we get oddballs and we get staples. I'm not sure what I'd call these games, but one thing is for certain, they are definitely different, and I figure that's a step in the right direction.
COMM 344: Board Game Review
Recently I was able to get into a small group and try out two different board games that either had educational qualities or the potential to be educational. In this blog I will talk about both games and review them based on points in my Game Design text.
Ticket to Ride:
The first game I played was called Ticket to Ride. It reminded me a lot of Monopoly while lacking any kind of money or other currency. The premise of the game is to build railroad lines connecting various cities across North America. Using a simple card draw system, players build lines to connect cities, building a full track to their destination, winning them points. The main player-game interaction comes from the card draw. Random chance is always a good way to mix up the action in any game. The aspect that really makes me think of the real estate game, however, is in blocking tracks. Some sections of track are smaller than others, making them easier to build on. By taking your turn to build on one of these smaller sections, you can get a small amount of points, while at the same time blocking another track build if another player was hoping to use that section. This sort of railway monopoly blocking also feels like the primary player-player interaction. Players having to decide to either build their own way or stop another player cold provides a good competitive aspect that keeps it interesting. I liked the game overall, but on its face there isn't much educational value. My instructor's assumption about the game (that it focused on western railroad expansion) could be utilized to give the game an educational background, I think.
Trivial Pursuit: Totally 80's:
Trivial Pursuit at this point in time shouldn't need an introduction, it's the classic trivia-based board game. For those of you who don't know what it is though, here's a quick rundown: You have a piece on a board that looks like it's missing several parts, pie slice-shaped parts, specifically. You roll a die and move that many spaces in any direction, you'll land on a space of a particular color, at which point another player pulls a question card and reads the question that corresponds to that color on the card (Different colors mean different topics, like music, movies, news, etc) if you get it right, you can roll again. There are 6 spaces on the edge of the board that are each a different color/subject. Landing on these spaces and answering the corresponding question correctly earns you a pie piece of that color. Winning the game consists of getting all 6 pieces, returning to the center of the board and answering a final question.
This game was fun, with too many players my group split into two teams. Sadly the game never really took off since the game's questions were set in the 80's and none of us were particularly knowledgeable about that decade. Most of the questions had everyone stumped and saying "huh?" when the answer was finally given. A more relevant version of the game would have been better for us.
Player-player interaction is small, mostly sticking to players reading each other the questions. Team-based games have more interaction between players, but it's still minimal. The most interaction is player-game, between the dice rolls, the random card draw and the questions themselves. Basically it's a quiz game with a board under it, which means it could very easily be adapted for educational purposes. Unlike a standard quiz game, however, the board aspect combined with the different topics to question would keep things interesting I think. Overall I see a good deal of education potential in this game, and may craft my own based on this concept.
Ticket to Ride:
The first game I played was called Ticket to Ride. It reminded me a lot of Monopoly while lacking any kind of money or other currency. The premise of the game is to build railroad lines connecting various cities across North America. Using a simple card draw system, players build lines to connect cities, building a full track to their destination, winning them points. The main player-game interaction comes from the card draw. Random chance is always a good way to mix up the action in any game. The aspect that really makes me think of the real estate game, however, is in blocking tracks. Some sections of track are smaller than others, making them easier to build on. By taking your turn to build on one of these smaller sections, you can get a small amount of points, while at the same time blocking another track build if another player was hoping to use that section. This sort of railway monopoly blocking also feels like the primary player-player interaction. Players having to decide to either build their own way or stop another player cold provides a good competitive aspect that keeps it interesting. I liked the game overall, but on its face there isn't much educational value. My instructor's assumption about the game (that it focused on western railroad expansion) could be utilized to give the game an educational background, I think.
Trivial Pursuit: Totally 80's:
Trivial Pursuit at this point in time shouldn't need an introduction, it's the classic trivia-based board game. For those of you who don't know what it is though, here's a quick rundown: You have a piece on a board that looks like it's missing several parts, pie slice-shaped parts, specifically. You roll a die and move that many spaces in any direction, you'll land on a space of a particular color, at which point another player pulls a question card and reads the question that corresponds to that color on the card (Different colors mean different topics, like music, movies, news, etc) if you get it right, you can roll again. There are 6 spaces on the edge of the board that are each a different color/subject. Landing on these spaces and answering the corresponding question correctly earns you a pie piece of that color. Winning the game consists of getting all 6 pieces, returning to the center of the board and answering a final question.
This game was fun, with too many players my group split into two teams. Sadly the game never really took off since the game's questions were set in the 80's and none of us were particularly knowledgeable about that decade. Most of the questions had everyone stumped and saying "huh?" when the answer was finally given. A more relevant version of the game would have been better for us.
Player-player interaction is small, mostly sticking to players reading each other the questions. Team-based games have more interaction between players, but it's still minimal. The most interaction is player-game, between the dice rolls, the random card draw and the questions themselves. Basically it's a quiz game with a board under it, which means it could very easily be adapted for educational purposes. Unlike a standard quiz game, however, the board aspect combined with the different topics to question would keep things interesting I think. Overall I see a good deal of education potential in this game, and may craft my own based on this concept.
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