MMO = Massively Multiplayer Online game.
What is FusionFall doing right that other MMOs are doing wrong?

So, why is it that I got bored/annoyed of medieval games?
They're nearly all SOOO GENERIC.
It's like playing the same game again.
I was actually starting to doubt myself, thinking I just didn't give the genre
a good chance but Undelos made a thread on XFF13 (warning, the site contains content
that may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 or so.)

:

My list of what makes a good MMO:

-No stupid hackers ruining the game for everyone else. (E.g. AIMBOTS, OMG THE most STUPID HACKING TOOL
EVER CREATED FOR A GAME. Seriously, ruins the POINT of MMOs with guns.... If a n00b hacker
wants to use aimbot, just play against BOTS or something...don't ruin it for those who want
to genuinely play the game in an honest to God manner. Which is nearly everyone.)
I guess God mode in PvP modes is also very dishonest and pretty much as bad as an aimbot.
I've never used an aimbot, not even for experimental purposes, I just despise the very concept of
such software, which take note, may also be infected, hehehehehehehe....cough cough.....
Just saying. Those things can have viruses anyway.

-Compelling storyline, avoiding too many cliches.

-Nice background music helps.

-I'm sick of medieval style MMOs....but even they can be improved enough to
make a good MMO even in my book.
BUT ORIGINALITY would be a better bet. FusionFall is a futuristic AND CartoonNetwork
related game, WAY WAY WAY more interesting than an overdone medieval style themed game.

-A decent FOV (field of view) needs to be
realistic in the sense that it's aesthetically pleasing, closer to real life views, like comparing a side scroller with a proper 3D game.

For example: compare the field of view/perspective of these two games:
Seriously, it's not even about the graphics here, it's the VIEW, which HEAVILY influences
the 'FEEL' of the game:



VS



See what I mean? I wouldn't touch the game at the bottom, but the top one I would most definitely
try out. See how FusionFall fits in with this?
FusionFall is MUCH closer to the above game compared to the bottom one.
A much more realistic point of view, much more engaging and gives a much better feel to the game,
like you're not just moving a table with things shaking around in it, but like you're in the game yourself.
Also, in many many many MMOs, the character is TINY on the screen!
It's way more fun when the character is closer to the screen, it's just more ...real.
Hard to explain.
An example of a game (not an MMO in this case)
that could have been improved with a closer camera or larger character:
(Spider-Man Web Of Shadows)

Spider-Man 2 is also guilty of this:


Now in FusionFall (which nicely also allows zooming in)
the character to screen ratio is pretty nice.
Some examples of good sized characters/nicely positioned cameras:

APB: Reloaded (screenshot is above somewhere)

Splinter Cell Conviction:


Batman Arkham City: (arguably is a little bit too big/close but I can live with it either way,
it's way more fun than a small character/far away camera)


Graphics: I'm not asking for Battlefield 3 or Crysis graphics but decent graphics
always helps. But let's be honest, you can make a game look GOOD without having
super fine textures and such that would slow a decent gaming computer to under 30 FPS.

In fact, in many games, I lower the graphics to the lowest (with the highest matching screen resolution setting, since I hate pixelation probably more so than low texture resolutions.)
because sometimes fluidity in a game is BETTER than nice visuals.
In Crysis I CURRENTLY, (I know I know, it's not an MMO, but calm down, it's still a game) have put it to a custom graphics setting consisting of low and medium settings and well....
It's great! Fluid and nice looking. Not as good looking as MAX settings but the frame rate improvement makes
up for it. You have to make a compromise sometimes. Besides, for my laptop, Crysis maxed out,
would make it difficult for me to finish the game on easy-normal due to the poor frame rate!
Although some games bow before my machine and I can just put it to max without lag at all! Lol...

I wouldn't even mind playing PS1 games, because some of them have great mechanics and
gameplay, stories, etc. depsite having low poly graphics. (Higher polys would be nice but oh well.)

Layout:
Generic MMOs tend to be medieval, have a cramped GUI, ugly old fashioned GUIs (graphical user interphase)
that look almost identical in other games of similar themes, etc.

Good example of bad layout (in my opinion): (Ok it's not THAT bad actually....but could be better.)


Animations:
Need to be fluid, decently realistic, not too exaggerated.
Combat animations SHOULD NOT be a 'point and click' manner.
FusionFall's combat isn't particularly good but trust me, other games
don't even reach FF's level of awesome even when they're compared to a
fairly childish, easy way to shoot stuff. In other games it's much worse,
having to click on an enemy until your mouse stops working.
In FusionFall, at least it's not as repetitive.

It would also be nice if an MMO didn't have the same old fire or water animations that look the same
in every other medieval MMO for example. Well, that's how it appears to me anyway.

Influence:
East Asian and medieval influences have been OVERDONE A MILLION TIMES!!!!!
I'm sure there are ways to implement BOTH these influences decently if done in
an original way but since they've been overdone to death, I can't really imagine a good
medieval or anime inspired MMO. But it is very possible.

Environment: In video games generally, I really like nice skyboxes.
FusionFall has an EPIC skybox that changes colour as you move across the world.
In some MMOs, the skybox is literally just one colour or something.
The environment can potentially make or break a game.
The actual terrain or buildings or whatever should be original and be laid out
in a way that makes it look interesting.
Think of it like this:
Compare an MMO where you're on a road with different paths and huge skyscrapers neatly
positioned and distributed around in a unique way, compare that with
an MMO set in a desert filled with sand to no end.
You get the point.

Movement:
WASD or arrow keys are A LOT more fun to move around with than pointing and
clicking where to go.

Character originality:
Compare FusionFall with Runescape for example.
FF's characters aren't entirely unique from eachother but still pretty good and very
nice in terms of art. They're also actually pretty realistic, relatively.
Very unique too.

Might add more. Any more ideas?
Undelos wanted reasons for what makes a good MMO and good examples are

-FusionFall (gameplay is a little repetitive but overall is a great game, especially first time round)
-APB: Reloaded (the gameplay admittedly is ruined a bit by hackers and the missions aren't THAT fun...
or maybe I just haven't done the cool missions yet...)

Admittedly I don't play very many MMOs but I know what makes a good game
and I know a good game when I see it.

Just something extra: you know the game Prototype (not suitable for children, contains gore)
is great in its concept of running around the city like freeroaming but
the flying animations could be improved. :/

Also, I don't know why I don't like Assassin's Creed, I guess it's the repetitive missions
and the running/jumping animations aren't exactly what I want but also, the time setting really annoys me.
Oh well, just wanted to point that out.

Even small things can ruin a game.

Nah I can't like I use mossys aimbot for mw2 Its not that I am a noob it's that I try to help noobs like with modded lobbies to get them to 10 th prestige and teach then how to play

For me I am a HUGE fan of free roam games that's like the only type of games I play besides shooters.I stopped playing AC a while back because the enviorments rubbed off as dead to me but I am guessing the graphics have improved since the last time I played

For fusionfall I love the WASD scheme.It's fun and doesn't get boring.But with that scheme you will most likely see hacks come out compared to a mouse game

But I hate mouse games from the bottom of my heart lol

There's a game called uncharted 3 and it's referred to as glitch kingdom in multiplayer.Glitches where you can get into wall and kill people. Do I know how to do them!Yes. Do I use the in live matches? No. I love using them in customs games because it's cool to be out the map.Glitches for me essentally make up the game

As for influences in games Asia is a huuuge influence but than again that's what make Ac special due to how they move throughout time.

Animation for me (and I am pretty sure Oliver shares the same opnions) Does not matter. Mario was a huge game on NES nd it didn't have any graphics at all but it was fun.Same for zelda like in majoras mask.Graphics don't make up a game,Game play does

Realism is now a important factor in the gaming industry today.Devs want to make their game more appealing to players.Anybody notice how drastically KH graphics have. Improved!

Ill keep it short and simple Xlr... Updates lots and lots of Updates to the game having the game to is the first step

@Pawnzor, animations need to be solid, it's part of the mechanics.
Play FusionFall then play Wilttilt's game.
BIG DIFFERENCE in animation.
I'm not criticising, obviously animation is harder than it looks, I've tried myself and
I keep getting problems with components sticking.
His is actually pretty decent for a semi-professional at 3D work but not industry standard obviously.

Wilttilt (I think) animated the movements himself or used a script, I don't know,
but you can clearly feel the difference, FusionFall's animations are much smoother and stuff.
His efforts are still awesome though.

Even PS1 games have pretty nice animations, (not all)
decent enough anyway. But some games can have terrible animations that are the total opposite
of fluid.

Still, Wilttilt did a cool job of it. I sometimes just can't be bothered in the 3D department.
So time consuming, I know I can do something pretty good given time but
time is one of the things in my life I've stopped having much of since age 16.
I guess a crash course wouldn't hurt....hmmm....

Anyway, I'd be more prepared to design a game than actual character animation.
I dunno, maybe I'm thinking of it harder than it actually is.
I have skipped tutorials so that's a sign that I'm doing something wrong.
I don't even know how to export animations!

I'd really just rather ask Wilttilt to do the animations and rigging and then I design some kind of
map and compile it together with some textures and stuff.
You know, just to see if we can get a decent game together just for fun for now.

Although Undelos has talked about wanting a private server.
Sounds like a cool idea. Not sure about an actual online server though, sounds complicated
but I'm sure there's an easy way to do it. Cutting corners....

Story counts too I think a game with awesome graphics but with a boring and repetitive story is a bad game though.

RedKaizer wrote:

Story counts too I think a game with awesome graphics but with a boring and repetitive story is a bad game though.

Yeah cliches need to be avoided in storylines.
I really don't like that BattleField and Call Of Duty stories always about
terrorists or whatever. Makes the campaigns a little boring in comparison to
games like Crysis, Halo, etc.

True didnt think of it that way

Yes, awesomesauce is a better ingredient than weaksauce.

What about VSauce?