WWWest-Online Development Blog

So remember when we started this blog, I wrote that there aren’t any Western-themed web based games out there? Well, it appears that Tenderfoot Games^TM have decided to prove me wrong. Well, not quite wrong – they’re not making a web-based game. But they are making a Western-themed MMO called Wild West Online^TM and Wild West Online: Gunfighter^TM. They’re not revealing much about Wild West Online yet, other than some concept art and an overview. About Gunfighter they have a little more information, such as the planned release date (this spring) and some graphics.

That’s it really, mosey on over there and take a gander, if you’re so inclined. Just thought you’d want to know.

Since the Old West wasn’t rife with dwarves and goblins, and you’d have to look real hard to find an elf or ogre (actually, you’d have to drink real hard, but you get the point), playable races in this game will have to be slightly different than what you’ll find in an average game. Now that I think about it, most “modern” games I’ve played had no such thing as race. Fantasy themed games always had some of the classic races, sometimes with another one or two thrown in the mix (Tauren, anyone?), and sometimes games with a more futuristic settings will have races of their own; EvE Online had the Minmatars, Gallente, Amaar and Caldari (I think..), and the Dune games had featured the “nations” of that universe (If you’re like me, you’re now hearing the intro to Dune II playing in your head… “…and the insidious Ordos” – and yes, I know the Ordos aren’t canon material, but that’s what stuck in my head ). Read the rest of this entry »

Another question that needs addressing is time. In practically any game (or anything in life, for that matter), time is the most valuable resource. In real life, time “allotment” is not a problem – it just goes by. In any real-time game (RTS/FPS games, or MMORPG’s like WoW and such) it’s just as simple. In browser-based games, however, it’s a bit different. Or at least it can be. Due to their different character, browser-based games don’t actually have to be real-time, so this is another decision that needs to be made.So how do we do this? There are three popular ways of going about it, so let’s discuss each in turn:

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In our last post, Ashahell suggested a nice little twist on the ascension question – ascension through progeny. We think it’s a pretty cool concept – gives a bit more of a “logical” feel to the whole ascension thing (which, let’s face it, has never made much sense). So every character will have its own skillset to expand and work on, and starting from a certain age (read: rank) they will be able to find a mate and have a baby, which will be the “ascended” character. The offspring will have a starting skillset based in some manner on its parents’ skillsets (though, since we haven’t even brought up the topic of traits, skills and skillsets, that’s not saying much…).

Some points to ponder:

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Another thing about character advancement is what the character does when it hits the level cap. What I’m talking about here is ascension. Once again, a little info for the uninitiated: Some games have an “extra” feature beyond leveling, and that’s ascension. What it means is that once a character reaches a certain level it has the option to ascend. This doesn’t have to apply only to level-based games with level caps – the character doesn’t have to ascend – the player could keep playing it to hunt for loot (if there’s a cap) or keep leveling it (if there is no cap), but the option to ascend will be given. Ascension usually means that the character goes back to level 1, but with certain bonuses. It could be slightly higher stats, or faster xp gains, or retaining a certain skill. It could basically be anything.

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