Selling the Soul

My last post was titled The Death of a Game. The example I gave was from a game I still play, called ArenaScape, which is a very casual free-to-play, text-based game and a cult favorite with a very loyal fan base numbering in the hundreds. For those that may want to check it out, ArenaScape can be found at http://arenascape.net/login.php.

A player participating in a battle in ArenaScape.

As I discussed in my last blog post, ArenaScape has a lot of potential to become a very popular game, and in my mind, it's a shame that the game has pretty much died due to neglectfulness. The game's developer created the game more or less for fun, and after working on the game for a number of years for fun and for the fans, he lost interest and just stopped updating it all together. The game has not been updated in many years, and even the copyright hasn't even been changed since 2008. The fan base has been extremely loyal and many of the players have continued to play, post on the forums, and has kept a sense of a community alive years after the last update. However, the time of neglect has taken its toll and the number of players has really diminished.

I believe that the problem that ArenaScape has had was also one of its key "features" that made the game enjoyable for many: it was free-to-play. ArenaScape did not cost money to play, nor did it have any form of membership feature that did, unlike most other games out there, and advertising revenue was at the bare minimal. The developer of ArenaScape had been known to pay for the game out of his own pocket when the ad revenue was not enough, which may have been often because the game had but 2 ads on the home page itself. After actually logging into the game, the players would not see any ads whatsoever, further cutting down on possible ad revenue.

As such, the game's sole developer may have enjoyed creating and updating the game in the early stages when the game was still fresh and a fan base was starting to emerge, but after a number of years of doing it, I'm sure that sense of excitement was going to wear off... and with it, his incentive to continue to update the game. I noticed that most games will die off when they are no longer updated at least semi-regularly, and the games that continue to get updated tend to do so with a cost involved... most of them are not going to be free, or at least have some sort of optional feature that brings in some revenue.

As sad as it may sound, coming from the free open source and Wikipedia age, I don't think online games can really work the same magic... Online games like ArenaScape will sadly need some form of revenue, if just to give the developer enough incentive to keep the game going and the extra pocket cash flowing. These games will be forced to go with a an optional membership option, some sort of in-game bonus for "donating" money, extra ads, or some other alternative. If they do not, I would imagine that they risk a slow and painful death of neglect just like ArenaScape when the game developer does decide that the continuous updates is just not worth his or her time.

Perhaps you disagree? Post your thoughts down below. Until next time, this is Melos signing off...

The Death of a Game

A little bit about myself; I consider myself a casual gamer, which you may have figured from the title of this blog. Although I enjoy playing many types of games, I really don't play any enough to be truly competitive in any of them. And I'm fine with that. I know a lot of other gamers enjoy the fierce competitive aspect of most console and computer games, and although I also enjoy some competitive qualities of the games I play, I also know I can't pull off the 8 hour non-stop raids in the instances in World of Warcraft, the daily clan practice sessions in Counter-Strike, or even put in the mass hours of grinding in most MMORPG's.

As such, I tend to play quite a few online browser games, since most tend to be targeting casual gamers. These types of games tend to be fairly simple, not system dependent since they don't require top end video cards often just require something like java or flash, or even nothing more than a browser like Firefox, and they usually don't require a huge time investment to advance in them. One such game that I play is the text-based game called ArenaScape, which can be found at http://arenascape.net/login.php.

A player distributing experience points in the skills of his choice, so he may level up his character.

ArenaScape is the ideal example of a casual game. The game is text based, which is something unusual in this day and age, and extremely simple to play. It's also free, and does not have any sort of paid feature, which is pretty much unlike any other game out there. It was actually made by an European college graduate back in 2001 if I recall correctly, and at it's peak, had a fan base of a few hundred players. It was originally created as a fan base game for RuneScape, but branched out and evolved into something much more. It's quite fun, and really doesn't eat up your time like many other games. I could literally play 20 to 30 minutes each week and still make significant progress. It's also surprisingly fun; there are many classes of characters that you can create (such as Templars, Titans, Marksmen, Warlocks, etc.) and for the most part, they are actually pretty balanced, even for PvP. The game does have a competitive side to it with a high-scores board, clans, and dueling, but even so, it's rather limited with players only having a maximum number of fights that they can get into which accumulates over time.

Sadly ArenaScape is a dying game. The game itself is nearly 10 years old, and it hasn't been updated in years. Although ArenaScape has an incredibly loyal following, the numbers of players have really diminished over the 4 or so years due to lack of updates. The game is just oozing with potential, since many of the features that were promised were sadly never implemented, and there are many possible twists and turns that the game could take. It's a real shame in my opinion that this game with this much potential and such a loyal fan following would slowly and painfully die from time and neglect. However, I also see the other side of the coin. The creator of ArenaScape didn't updated the game because it just wasn't worth his time anymore to do so. He wasn't making any money off the game, it didn't provide him any revenue whatsoever, and it simply started out as a fun after college project which developed a cult following. As such, he really doesn't have much of an incentive to update the game... but what can that be? I'll leave that to you, readers, to comment about what you think here.

In my next article, I will continue this discussion with what I think about the matter... so stay tuned.

Ogame: The Final Frontier

Today I'll bring to you the fourth and final blog post discussing a possible improvement to the online browser game OGame (http://ogame.org/) with regards to the Expedition game mechanic, as discussed in my previous blog post.

The different ships available in your shipyard.

As I also stated in my previous blog post, Expeditions in OGame have a lot of potential, but fall short on a number of fronts. Gameforge, the developers of OGame, really didn't take into consideration the pros and cons for a player that was wondering if they should partake in an Expedition mission. Expeditions require researching the appropriate Astrophysics technology, which really isn't such a negative anymore because of how Astrophysics has recently changed so as to allow players to colonize more planets. They also require a fleet of ships that the player wouldn't be using elsewhere, and the fuel to keep them on their often lengthy journey. Expeditions grant players an incentive in partaking them in the the form of finding resources, collecting Dark Matter, acquiring new ships, and even obtaining a contract with a Merchant.

However, the real problem falls down to that the very basics; the risks outweigh the benefits. Players risk frequent attacks from pirates and advanced aliens, having their fleets take longer (and even shorter) amount of time to return from their Expedition mission which puts their fleet at risk indirectly because it changes their fleet times and allow other players to exploit it and even hunt down these fleets while the player is offline, and even a chance of completely losing your entire fleet to a black hole or other mishap. If the rewards for partaking in expeditions were high, it might be worth the risk, including the chance of losing your entire fleet, but as it is now, it really isn't worth it. The amount of resources you typically obtain barely pays off the fuel cost if you take into consideration all of the missions that your fleet obtains nothing of value. Acquiring small amounts of new ships doesn't even come close to replacing entire fleets lost by mishaps, or even the damages done by fighting off pirates and ever dangerous aliens. The only real reason most players partake in Expedition missions is for the chance of obtaining Dark Matter and contracts with Merchants, which could only otherwise be obtained from purchasing with real money, and even then, you obtain such small amounts that it really isn't worth it unless you really can't afford to buy it.

So how can Expeditions become more interesting and useful? As I said before, Expeditions have a lot of potential and could really become a very fun part of the game with a few changes. Here are a couple of suggestions I have to improve the Expeditions game mechanic in OGame:

Recycling Expedition Debris
Recyclers that are sent with an Expedition fleet to collect the debris from ships that were destroyed in battles with pirates and aliens. As of right now, obtaining a pirate or alien encounter can only be summed up as one thing: bad. Even if the player is luckily enough to not lose any ships from the battle, the player still losses out on time and fuel. If they did take losses, that must also be factored in the price paid in partaking that Expedition mission and obtaining that event. Allowing players to obtain profitable parts from the debris of destroyed ships may make Expedition missions a little more worthwhile for some players, and at the very least, cuts down on one of the disadvantages that keep players from partaking in them.

Expedition Related Tasks
Unlike most other online browser games, OGame completely lacks quests and tasks outside of the tutorial. Expeditions can remedy that. Being tasked with hunting down pirates, exploring certain parts of space, finding a missing merchant fleet, discovering alien planets, etc. with appropriate rewards for finishing those tasks, such as payment in bonus Dark Matter, would give many players a larger incentive in partaking in Expedition missions. Also adding task specific encounters, like hunting down a pirate boss, or helping a planet evacuate from an alien armada would add a lot more story to OGame as well.

Multiple Encounters
This one is a rather simple change. What if a fleet could mine resources from an asteroid belt and also make a faster than normal return trip back? Or what if a fleet could find a "deserted" pirate base and steal the ships docked there, but on the return trip, get attacked by the pirates looking for revenge? Allowing fleets to partake in multiple encounters on a single mission could make things very interesting if done correctly. If done incorrectly, it could become a huge problem, with chains of negative encounters being the norm. Who would want to have their fleet attacked by pirates and then aliens? Also, if multiple encounters were ever implemented, reducing the chance of obtaining a complete fleet loss would be needed to keep it balanced. No player would want to see their fleet find something useful and then get swallowed up by a black hole  because they took a wrong turn returning back home.

I'm sure that there are plenty of other interesting and creative changes that can be implemented to make OGame even better, but I'll leave that for you to think about. Hope you enjoyed my chain of blog posts about OGame. My next post with be about a different game, so stay tuned.

Ogame: Lost in Space

Although I had originally intended to expand into other games in this blog, I've decided to continue the next two blog posts by writing about an entirely different problem with the online game OGame (http://ogame.org/) and a possible solution to that problem.

Keeping track of the progress of your fleets.

Expeditions are a relatively new feature to Ogame, and can be accessed by researching the new Astrophysics technology. The new expedition system is also a feature that I believe to have amazing potential, but has sadly not liven up to it. Players with a high enough level in Astrophysics tech may send their fleets out to explore the final frontier, visit places unknown, and explore the vast emptiness of space via going on Expedition missions. Players may have their fleets of star ships explore for a number of hours based on their level of research, and supposedly, the longer your fleets spend exploring, the higher the likelihood that they'll encounter something in their travels. This is a great concept in my opinion, and has the potential for many, many things. Sadly, the amount of things that can be discovered is quite limited and, to make things worse, quite commonly harmful for the player.

When a fleet is sent on an expedition mission, the expedition fleet will randomly experience one of many events. These random events can be broken down into the following:


Combat
The expedition fleet may be attacked by a fleet of aliens or pirates. Combat related events may result in the loss of ships from the expedition fleet, or the loss of the entire expedition fleet itself, and there is no real benefit for partaking in this type of event. If the expedition fleet is victorious in this event, resources are not raided from the defeated, and whether victorious or not, the debris created from this event is lost.

Example: The expeditions fleet reports contact with unknown ships. The sensor readings are not decipherable, but it seems that the alien ships are activating their weapon system.


Benefit
The expedition fleet may acquire new ships or resources. The benefit event is highly dependent on the number and types of ships that the fleet consists of, and the time spent on and between expedition missions.

Example: We met a small convoy of civil ships which needed food and medicine desperately. In exchange to that we got loads of useful resources.


Time
The expedition fleet may be either delayed or hastened on the expedition mission. The amount of Deuterium used by the expedition fleet does not change, and the only real difference between a time related event and that of a nothing event is the amount of time it takes for the expedition fleet to return from the expedition mission.

Example: An unexpected back coupling in the energy spools of the engines hastened the expeditions return, it returns home earlier than expected. First reports tell they do not have anything thrilling to account for.


Special Benefit
The expedition fleet may come in contact with either Dark Matter or a Merchant. Special events are rare, and is often one of the main reasons players partake in expeditions. If a fleet experiences a Dark Matter event, the Dark Matter acquired will not be transported with the expedition fleet, and will instead be automatically added to the player's storage of Dark Matter. Merchant events are even more rare than Dark Matter events. If the expedition fleet experiences a Merchant event, a randomly generated Merchant will automatically be added to the player's Merchant section. If a player already had a Merchant prior to experiencing this event, the new Merchant will take priority and replace the previous Merchant. Outside from Expeditions, Merchants and Dark Matter can only be obtained by purchasing them with real money.

Example: Our expedition took over a ghost ship which was transporting a small amount of Dark Matter. We didn't find any hints of what happened to the original crew of the ship, but our technicians where able to rescue the Dark Matter.


Special Loss
The expedition fleet may be completely destroyed for one reason or another. The chance of obtaining this event is very small, but it is still a possibility.

Example: The last transmission we received from the expedition fleet was this magnificent picture of the opening of a black hole.


Nothing
This one is self explanatory. The expedition fleet may experience nothing of real significance on the expedition mission.

Example: Despite the first, very promising scans of this sector, we unfortunately returned empty handed.


As you can see above, Expeditions have a lot of drawbacks that tend to scare away players in partaking them. As such, I'll address a few possible solutions and ideas in my next blog post to make them that much more better, so stay tuned.

Ogame: Solution to the Star Problem

For this second blog, I want to talk about a solution to a particular problem (as I see it) in the online game, OGame (http://ogame.org/), as I discussed in my first blog post.

The stats of a Death Star with 17 Weapons Tech, 16 Armor Tech, and 16 Shields Tech.

The Death Star is a very powerful ship in Ogame, capable of destroying entire fleets with no losses due to the massive amount of shields, armor, and firepower. Although the Death Star has immense firepower capable of destroying hundreds of ships in a single attack, the real problem is that highly advanced players are capable of using hundreds of Death Stars with no fear of taking any losses at all. Considering how fleet battles are calculated in Ogame, damage tends to be spread out among the number of ships participating in the battle, and Death Stars really require focus fire to destroy these individual behemoths.


The solution to this problem is actually rather straightforward. Why not add a brand new ship that can can be inexpensive when compared to the Death Star and have an incredibly powerful attack that can penetrate the seemly invincible Death Star? Of course, in the name of balance, this new ship would have to have large disadvantages to make up for these options. For one, this new ship should have no Rapidfire, and thus would be incapable of destroying large amounts of ships in a single shot, like what the Death Star could do. It should also be very vulnerable in that other smaller ships could be used to destroy it. It would also have to lack speed, and thus make it more of a defensive platform against the already incredibly slow Death Star. Thus here is my solution:


Star Destroyer

Cost
Metal: 2,000,000
Crystal: 1,500,000
Deuterium: 500,000

Statistics
Structural Integrity: 2,500,000
Shield Power: 1,000
Weapon Power: 200,000
Cargo Capacity: 2,000 Units
Base Speed: 500
Fuel Consumption: 1,000

Rapid Fire
Espionage Probe x25
Solar Satellite x10

Requirements
Graviton Technology Level 1
Hyperspace Technology Level 6
Hyperspace Drive Level 7
Shipyard Level 12

OGame: The Problem with Stars

For my very first blog, I want to talk about a particular problem (as I see it) in the online game, OGame (http://ogame.org/).

OGame is a strategy-game set in space. Thousands of players across the world compete at the same time. In order to play you only need a web browser.

OGame is a great game for casual and competitive players alike, because it's a game that you can actually play for years, with me being at least 5 years in, and it doesn't really take too much time to play. Most online games nowadays require that a player be very active to advance in the game, with some requiring hours of playing to complete a given task. Or worse, they require hours of mind-numbing grinding... OGame on the other hand does not. In fact, you could play OGame by spending as little as 5 minutes every couple of days and still make significant progress.

Although I find that OGame has many great qualities, like just about any game out there, it has its flaws too. One of the flaws I find in OGame is that its not completely balanced, which should probably come to no surprise to anyone. The biggest issue with the game being imbalanced is that high level players have free reign against newer players. Luckily, GameForge, the creators of OGame have taken been listening to the complaints of players and have decided to make changes in how players interact depending on their strength, but what exactly will they do, we won't know until it is released.

Related to that, is a particular ship used by high level players... the mighty Death Star. Death Stars in OGame are gigantic constructs capable of dealing massive amounts of damage against hundreds of ships in a single shot, and take enormous amounts of damage to destroy. The problem with Death Stars is that some of the very high level players have entire fleets of nothing but Death Stars, and these go into the hundreds. Death Stars in large numbers, unlike other ships, usually take no losses due to the amount of armor and shields they have. People have nicknamed them turtle crackers because you can bash other players over and over that have large amounts of defensive structures in place on their planet without taking any losses, and be able to deal huge amounts of damage per attack. GameForge tried to balance Death Stars by making them the most expensive and advanced ship in the game by a large margin, and by making them extremely slow, but the problem becomes that they are used as a tool for high level players to keep less developed players down and from advancing, which often makes them quit the game entirely. This of course, is not a good thing, for the OGame community, and GameForge.

So what can be done about this problem? Rather than nerfing, aka weakening, Death Stars, it may be a better idea to put into the a game a new ship that counters them instead. Something that less developed and casual players can use to at least provide some protection against them. I'll talk about this new ship in detail in my next blog, so stay tuned.