Disagree. As much as I liked it, lots of the stuff has been specially designed for the game to keep it in balance factionwise. This includes nearly all of the freelancer/neutral starfighters, filling holes on the Alliance as well as the Imperial sides where required (Imperial shielded starfighters, Rebel ground armor wear etc.) SWG was really full of stuff that never appeared or was mentioned in any movie, comic etc. Granted: some of the stuff has been re-used in other video games later. (And I didn't even note the incredible flood of Jedi running around ) SWTOR on the other hand picked a period in the timeline of which not much was known/specified. It was their idea of a "good" approach to both utilize a lore license and then still be able to do basically whatever they want to do. That is why SWTOR turned out the way it is (a game that I'm only interested in to use as a bad example, despite utilizing a lore I was highly fond of when the game came out). Both approaches picked a lore and then didn't (fully) utilize what was there to use. It left players asking for more and fans in a state of disappointment. Basically the thing I try to point out to our eager young space cadett here to avoid. A lot of game designers come with a.... sorta nail in their brains urging them to "enrich" their fanlore with something of their own, direly. Basically: If it really was a good idea, it would already have been added in the mainstream parts of the lore. And when I say so, I do look at some folks working for Gamebreak, formerly SOE, as well. And I wish I had accurate numbers about possible players who came to DCUO because they love the CW TV shows, took a look (or more) around and left again because the game is not what they expected. Same for the movie fans, same for the fans of a certain comic period like New52 or Rebirth etc. Point is: using a lore generates expectations, and there are few things harder than getting a disappointed customer to take another look at a "more lorified" product.
Wait, there are fans of New52 and slash or Rebirth? Did say that SWG stuck to the lore mostly, and just because they didn't mention or show Rebel ground troops in armour, doesn't mean they didn't have them (you only really saw them once, during the Siege of Hoth, and you can hardly count that as being definitive as they weren't expecting {or at least hoping} the Empire to show up) As you said, SWTOR picked an obscure period that has basically never been mentioned before just so they could do what ever the grok they wanted
Actually, the commando unit on Endor should be considered "ground troops" as well. Point is, especially before the style tabs were added to SWG, it was hard for rebels to both have an iconic look and be competitive while the Imps got that served directly with the Stormtrooper armor. Around the same time the "Endor Commando Helmet" was ultra-rare since it was a quest reward that got changed very early. After NGE, the helmet became a mission reward during the expanded tutorial story line (different colors though). And later into the game, they mixed timelines grossly - lots of clone trooper armor and weaponry, vehicles etc. and worse, often state pf the art despite being roughly 20 years outdated technology by timeline The devs back then needed to fill "blanks" in their balance table, and they used the lore very freely. But since we agree on the SWTOR approach, let's use that one as example here. They don't follow the lore either despite the license, and the result is fans feeling irritated to the point of not being interested in the game. This is what our eager young space cadet here risks when filling his blanks with non-lore stuff as well. It is a bad approach for a license coming with a rich lore, and the MOTU lore is exceptionally rich - just not very balance-friendly. That's where the creativity of game developing is really needed - getting the lore into the game in a fitting way, or building a game fittingly around the existing lore. And that's what I try to point out, just seemingly without success: start with what the lore offers, abstract that into structures, find fitting structures for all factions etc. The approach shown here repeatedly is the other way round: think of "cool" classes and abilities, put the fitting lore pieces into that structure, fill the blank with "own" designs (breaking the lore for the first time) and maybe even realize "oh, dang, that character doesn't fit in my structure, guess I have to leave it out!" (breaking the lore for the second time already during conception, before coding or testruns). It's IMO totally useless to deal with classes (or races or professions or roles etc.) before figuring out how the odd pieces of the lore/the one faction only mechanisms of the lore can be brought up into the game without impacting gameplay-balance (which is not combat-balance). It's always sad to see great enthusiasm getting ready to hit a brickwall at full speed. That's why I point out the flaws/flawed conception/flawed start so early already. Better start->better game->more reward for the enthusiasm.
from Robocop? yeah you can say that. Having a Walker with Blaster arms is not really exclusive on a single I.P. however instead of that we can simply go to the 2nd mode. 4 legged with blasters like these. These are the Immortals from StarCraft. or maybe this (Stalkers)
Didn't count the Endor Commando's, partially for the same reason as the Hoth troops: the commando's didn't really wear armour, just camo-gear (unless you were meaning the look rather than the functionality, seeing how the Storm Trooper armour wasn't really designed to protect from blaster fire, or getting hit in the head by a rock thrown by a teddy bear ) In a universe that spans numerous planets and star systems, having 'outdated' tech still being in perfect working order is not that far-fetched Regarding this thread: always simply considered as people discussing ideas, not planning what will be in it, specially seeing how this is all just talk and dreams, so adding things from other IPs is just spitballing ideas
The underlined part is exactly the point: rebel troops did never wear armor in the movie. So the occasional fan walking into the game and seeing the rebels not looking anything like shown in the movies leaves the feeling of "meh!" and it did in SWG. As posted in another thread, the game lost over 75% of people trying the game before NGE even (basically the reason why SOE tried so much crap in changing combat engine and professions - without having any "hit" on what could bring those people back in). It's wasting a license if you fill too much of "your own crap" into it. People come to a licensed environment because they (mostkly) like what the license had to offer - not because they want to see what a game developer is adding to it. Regarding this thread: You and me, we're spitting ideas, agreed. The OP however seems to be closer to actually using ideas, just looking for how much positive feedback there is. I'm pretty sure if there is a finished game by the OP at some point, we will see the crude/overbearing class system as well as the pods imported from other licenses. But that's just soemthing we can have a bet about since I don't have a time machine - and I'm sure you don't have one either
That's kinda the problem: you have fanatics (with the original definition of the term: crazy bordering on psychotic) expecting it to be an exact recreation of the movies and getting pissed when it isn't (or pissed when it is and they can't do what they want, ala Marvel Heroes Online) To me, Star Wars is similar to 'GI Joe': the heroes are mostly made up of individuals whereas the villains have just a few iconic individuals and thousands of 'generic cannon fodder' Not very good at explaining things, so will stop trying Fairly sure, when the MotU MMO comes out, the developers will be working close with the creators (or the IP holders) to keep it as 'on-point' as possible
Good enough to get your point, and as well the point that your own perception is of course a metric important to you. However, screentime does influence perception - SW mainly follows the heroes so there's limited time to display individualism on the other side. Different example, one IIRC you will get the point better: Imagine someone was to make a Supernatural themed game - players build their hunter and go chasing vampires, lamias, demons etc. Now the character creation allows you to pick any sort of human being, guns and other weapons, but for the car selection is limited to modern cars and the music, apart from the in-series themes used, limited to modern pop songs of mainly unknown bands. Both are not "unexplainable violations" of the lore since your hunter could be fan of modern cars and that sort of music, but both decisions will hurt the atmosphere of the gameplay (while making the re-financing for the game developers much more simple since both factors will most likely get them into the position of getting money from the copyright owners instead of having to pay). As for your last statement, giving the history of MOTU publications - the movie, the first revival attemtp of action figures and cartoon series etc. - I don't necessarily share your optimism
Oh yeah, of course screentime is going to influence perception, bigtime! Specially for the 'casual' person, on the same hand, the casual isn't gonna be caring too much about the lore as much as it looking (and playing) well Persoanlly consider to be more of the semi-casual: know probably a bit more than a real casual butt not nearly as much as hardcore (heck, in SWG had a Wookiee Imperial Spy, she couldn't even wear her TIE Helmet ), and that covers a lot of IP, sometimes consider legally changing name (again) to Joat Mon (know a little about almost everything: just enough to 'butt-in' on most subjects butt not enough where really have any business commenting on)
Still, the casual person could have noticed that Ozzel, Needa and Jerjerrod (last guy's name was not mentioned in ROTJ) act differently when being confronted with their shortcomings by Vader - ignorance (Ozzel), responsability/excuses (Needa) and promises (Jerjerrod). So even in the limited screentime they tried to display some sort of individualism And - big exception: space! - SWG wasn't really playing well, either. That's why they changed combat systems and classes/professions over and over. Key point however: someone wanting to work with the lore should have more knowledge about it than the casual, and even more than you. Because that's needed to produce something fitting in. Elsewise the result will be somewhere between crappy and mediocre.
Personally enjoyed the space aspect more than ground, the 'three dimensional dogfights' was so much fun for me, would literally spend hours hunting down gunboats in the starter ship (and other ships for the Space Feats, before they locked away half of the required ships behind missions: ie they would only spawn if you had a mission requesting them) Completely agree with you about the last part, that's why you won't ever find me involved in the creation or maintenance of a game let alone a Big Brand MMO, that does not mean don't have the right to make comments
Did the gunboat grind directly after release so didn't have to worry about the "lock away"-thing. However: that was partly community requested because the tier of those spawns they just added to the space sectors was not in line with the missions, resulting in T2 pilot learners suddenly having to do withh mixed T4/T5 hostile spawns messing with their mission, so despite the fun on both of our ends, it was an example of bad game design in the start and another one with the "fix". That's why SWG will always make my example list - never seen another game were "good" and "fun" were so close to "not good" and "no fun" either at the same time or just a couple of releases apart. Oh, and: if you'd like to work in gaming and have the chance to do so, a lack of lore knowledge etc. shouldn't keep you away from maintenance related jobs there - that's basically technical knowledge needed (and for the easier parts sometimes just the ability to work by checklists).
Not so random MOTU lore fact of the day: The Masters of the Universe collection actually features a character dedicated to Stan Lee with the face shaped after his likeness.
T2 pilots just needed to git gud! Apart from hunting gunboats in that Tutorial Ship, also took on and defeated T4 and T5 ships
You know as well as me: if players have the choice between getting better themselves or run crying to the forums, they visit the forums.... which is what happened in SWG as well....
next is the Mantis form. I based it on Mantisaur, Hordak's Steed. first I always wanted a feline form based on Cat-Ra's then I remembered I can't use this form as it would deprecate Cat-Ra\s Master's Character, in term of " why play Cat-Ra when you can play the Horde Technomorpher in feline mode"? Sure it would have been awesome if there is a Big Cat with blasters that you can play this or in another form And how about having blaster at the hips which I can simply call them Pouncers or Prowlers (mode). But again I can't because due to my criteria. so next...
I have considered putting a scorpion's tail. to look like a Manticore after all a Manticore is like a Sphinx with a Scorpion tail. plus a Manticore once fought He-Man on tv and in Comics So Decide to use Mantenna as inspiration. After all he has 4 legs. but then ...his Character might suffer if you can play Technomorpher Man-Turret. So I ended up consider a Mantis form.
