Perhaps weird payment models and niche ideas for MMOs is where the real future for this kind of game on the PC lies. I just can't help thinking that some games need to reel their ambitions in a little bit before they start.
You there, PC strategy gamer, I bet you're thinking "where's my MMORTS?" No? Well you should be. All these other genres are poncing about getting their own fancy persistent world variants, MMORPG, MMOFPS, MMOFFS, but what do you get? A poke in the eye, most likely. But fret not, because Silverlode and Wahoo Studios are making game that will attempt to fill that awkwardly acronym'd niche like some kind of plug in an Intel socket. And, even more radically, they're going to do it for free.
Well, not exactly for free. You see PC game developers are increasingly giving away their games (Maple Story, Dungeon Runners) and then charging for some aspect of the game you'll want access to at a later date. In Maple Story it's hats and bug-eyed anime cats, and in Dungeon Runners it's the decent loot. In Saga's quasi-free MMO model (which being a strategy game set in steampunky fantasy realms has little use for cartoon pets) you'll be able to (and expected to) buy armies.
Armies, as you might imagine, will become quite important to Saga players. The idea behind Saga is that you'll be fighting against both NPCs and other player-run nations in a struggle for land, honour, and the favour of the gods. Having an army of expensive dragons is going to afford you a few more victories than having an army full of used hobbits, and so the idea is that you'll pay for extra armies with real-world monies. Of course you can spend plenty of time grinding away at the game too, and conjuring up extra soldiers the hard way, but these booster packs are going to make all the difference. Wahoo are counting on their players wanting to command grand armies in the defence of their realms
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register], and they'll only be able to do that with much ease if they pay for their soldiers. The game's ongoing upkeep and development will depend on the reality of people spending to expand their empires. You can almost see the appeal of it: spend a penny (so to speak) get an extra rank of pikemen.
09-08-2008, 10:18
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