City of Heroes Successor Seeks Kickstarter Funds

[BlameTheWizards]

City of Heroes Successor Seeks Kickstarter Funds

[kickstarter=missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans]

A studio of volunteers tries to ensure City of Heroes concept can make a comic book-style resurrection.

The latest game to seek reincarnation on Kickstarter is none other than former superhero-themed MMO City of Heroes. Released in 2004 by Cryptic Studios and NCSOFT, the game's servers were shut down about a year ago in November 2012, along with those of its standalone expansion, City of Villains.

However, new studio Missing Worlds Media, comprised entirely of volunteers, has stepped up to continue the legacy of the previous games. While not an official sequel, their title, City of Titans, also called "The Phoenix Project," seeks to be a community-built game that serves as "a new home for the heroic spirit, but not a clone or replica," according to the official Kickstarter page. Missing Worlds Media is looking to raise $320,000 before Nov. 4. So far, they've collected more than $93,000 after only launching today.

Missing Worlds Media has set down a few details so far, including subscription model. There is no plan to sell physical copies of the game, instead relying on digital services such as Steam. Customers will need to pay for what Missing Worlds Media is calling "the box," which is to say the game itself and the first three months of a VIP subscription. The final details of the VIP service are not yet finalized, but you won't be required to keep the paid subscription to continue playing. Free and VIP players are both, of course, more than welcome to purchase from the in-game cash store, which Missing Worlds Media promises will offer items that are a good value for a player's money but not serve as a "pay to win" service.

While the team certainly seems passionate about their project, Kickstarter can be a fickle mistress. Hopefully, their project will go more the way of <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128377-Mighty-No-9-Becomes-3rd-Most-Funded-Game-on-Kickstarter>Mighty No. 9 than <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128260-Shadow-of-the-Eternals-Placed-On-Ice>Shadow of the Eternals.

Source: <a href=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans>Kickstarter

Permalink

 

[CJ1145]

I understand free to play is the current thing, but I'm pretty sure this payment model's a mistake. It's more generous than other types are, to be sure, but I think a full Guild Wars-style model would work more in its favor. I'll follow this Kickstarter though, as I did enjoy CoX somewhat.

 

[Hoplon]

If only there where any people on the team with any experience or skill

 

[JayDeth]

CoH had another expansion, you know. :/

 

[Baldr]

If only there where any people on the team with any experience or skill

That should send giant red flags. I've been search everywhere for who is involved, but found very little. There is a registered corporation Missing Worlds Media Inc., a couple names but no one with a background close to the game industry and they want to make an MMO.

 

[Sixcess]

That should send giant red flags. I've been search everywhere for who is involved, but found very little. There is a registered corporation Missing Worlds Media Inc., a couple names but no one with a background close to the game industry and they want to make an MMO.

Considering the cookie cutter blandness that most of the pros are putting out in the MMO field right now... maybe that's not a bad thing.

There's a lot that could go wrong with this project, but that could be said of any kickstarter, even those with a 'name' or two attached.

I say good luck to them. I've never backed a Kickstarter but I'm backing this one. If it works out - great. If it doesn't - I'll be down a few bucks but I'll know that I at least tried to contribute to this project, and seeing how much I miss CoH, that'll be enough.

 

[Hoplon]

That should send giant red flags. I've been search everywhere for who is involved, but found very little. There is a registered corporation Missing Worlds Media Inc., a couple names but no one with a background close to the game industry and they want to make an MMO.

Considering the cookie cutter blandness that most of the pros are putting out in the MMO field right now... maybe that's not a bad thing.

There's a lot that could go wrong with this project, but that could be said of any kickstarter, even those with a 'name' or two attached.

I say good luck to them. I've never backed a Kickstarter but I'm backing this one. If it works out - great. If it doesn't - I'll be down a few bucks but I'll know that I at least tried to contribute to this project, and seeing how much I miss CoH, that'll be enough.

Basically is a group of former players that really want the game back.half of whole lefts when they all fell out.

 

[Baldr]

That should send giant red flags. I've been search everywhere for who is involved, but found very little. There is a registered corporation Missing Worlds Media Inc., a couple names but no one with a background close to the game industry and they want to make an MMO.

Considering the cookie cutter blandness that most of the pros are putting out in the MMO field right now... maybe that's not a bad thing.

There's a lot that could go wrong with this project, but that could be said of any kickstarter, even those with a 'name' or two attached.

I say good luck to them. I've never backed a Kickstarter but I'm backing this one. If it works out - great. If it doesn't - I'll be down a few bucks but I'll know that I at least tried to contribute to this project, and seeing how much I miss CoH, that'll be enough.

It not the competition, it the complexity of the MMO. Unreal Engine can handle up to about 128 players at a time, more than that your going to need a second engine handle the player loads. So you need absolutely veteran programmers or license(for hefty fees) 3rd party MMO software like Big World Technology. I don't think they have the means to do it.

 

[quinch]

If only there where any people on the team with any experience or skill

Have you looked at the trailer? This is what has been done using only free tools.

It not the competition, it the complexity of the MMO. Unreal Engine can handle up to about 128 players at a time, more than that your going to need a second engine handle the player loads. So you need absolutely veteran programmers or license(for hefty fees) 3rd party MMO software like Big World Technology. I don't think they have the means to do it.

Can you clarify? Do you mean players or entities? If it's the former, keep in mind that CoH zones handled up to fifty players at a time, then spawned additional instances if needed. Also, since most of the action in CoH was instanced, even staying at the 50-player limit was rarely an issue.

If you mean actual entities, both players and NPCs... I don't think that's quite right [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7_rPDwSKe8].

 

[Oskuro]

I had thought before it would be nice to see a community effort to bring back / continue CoX, and as such this is promising.

I just felt a little worried when their budget breakdown made mention, under "software", of 3d modelling suites and other asset editing tools, but didn't mention much about database management and server architecture.

But maybe it's just the wording.


Then again, they are expecting to buy a bunch of Maya/3D Max licenses (expensive) when they could be using Blender, which not only is free, but is more than capable of producing the quality needed for a modern game (unless the Unreal engine only supports Maya/3D Max, which wouldn't surprise me).


The whole thing feels very amateurish, but I'll keep up hope.

 

[Hoplon]

If only there where any people on the team with any experience or skill

Have you looked at the trailer? This is what has been done using only free tools.

Yes, but given it raising money for a costume creator, not really that impressive at all. [http://cityoftitans.com/forum/discussion-what-has-gone] it's only there becasue kick starter asked for it and it has nothing to do with the product they are asking money for. That's classic alarm bells territory for any project.

 

[saintdane05]

Clearly, these people have not heard of Champions Online.

 

[quinch]

Clearly, these people have not heard of Champions Online.

They have. It wasn't good enough {for subjective values of good, mainly weighted around "CoH-like"}. Also, CO hasn't been updated since forever, with little indication that will change.

Not all superhero games are identical - some push different buttons than others.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Clearly, these people have not heard of Champions Online.

your joking right?

CO is, and always was, inferior to CoH. It has a better character creator, sure, but that's all it ever had over CoH