I still remember the days of DOS. I remember a game by the name of Epic that about blew me away in its scale and realism. The game''s cinema was quite remarkable at the time, but I was more amazed by the scope of its missions. The first mission started off with you flying a spaceship amongst an entire battalion of your comrades. I''m a huge fan of cooperative games, but it really tears me up that the only coop games you can find are first-person shooters. The last truly epic game to hit the market was Homeworld, which I thought was particularly weak in its gameplay. (Most of your time was spent waiting for ships to fly through empty, boring space.) I haven''t actually tried out Parsec (www.parsec.org), but it looks like it might have the feel of interstellar war. What do you think? Is there any demand for games of this depth and playability? Because I''ll give my money to anyone willing to release such a title. The world is just too damned full of shooters. Despite my undying love for Unreal Tournament, I''m about ready for something else. I''d like to discuss design techniques for this genre of game, but only if people are interested.

Wow that sounds great, seriously I would love to do something like this, I want to eventually do an online space opera.

I remember ads for this game. I never got to play it, but it looked awesome. The scale alone was awe inspiring. As a SF fanatic, I''m always open to a discussion of space games.

I myself would like to not only see more cooperative games, but also more interesting ways to cooperate and support one another. There''s a whole audience out there that wants to play with their friends, not against.

But I think something like Epic will only be a niche game from now on for two reasons. The first is designer mindset: I''ve noticed there''s this weird pugilistic machismo that goes into versus games. I don''t quite understand it, but it''s definitely there.

The most significant barrier, though, is the market. I''d wager that the majority of gamers have become attached to high quality dialog, sfx, and art. The bigger the game, the more you need to sell. But the more you want to sell, the dumber you need to make the gameplay. Plus, the majority of gamers have come to expect handholding in the form of missions. Self-directed play makes them queasy (or bored, at least).

However, I think there''s a hardcore niche that a game like this could cater to.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

I think you will see this type of game in the form of an MMORPG or two. This is the kind of game that we at 21-6 are working towards. It will have elements of player versus player, but also elements of players working together. It will be a huge universe to explore, and will have a storyline driven at least in part by the players themselves.

Although I enjoy a good FPS fragfest as much as the next person, what I really enjoy is going online and adventuring with friends. Whether it's in a MUD or MMORPG, you just can't beat it. A few of us been playing Asheron's Call once a week together as a party of characters. We use headsets and mics with MS Game Voice software in order to talk while we adventure. Each week one of us chooses a destination and/or quest and work towards that for a few hours.

I believe that, although many people are highly competitive and have a need to defeat human opponents in games, I think that there are many (more?) people that desire to work cooperatively towards some end.

Edited by - Mandrake2112 on January 22, 2001 10:48:04 AM