Shion Typhon
Intara Direct Action
Caldari State
649
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Posted - 2014.05.11 01:39:00 -
[1] - Quote
OK, so I look down the page at various topics in this Legion forum and I see some which are about wild blue-sky dreaming, some which are about numbers focused dial-twiddling of Dust tropes and pretty minimal direction or clarity from Devs.
It struck me during Dust's lifespan and now, again, that we have no clear marketing design goal, no clear mission statement for this game. Almost every product in today's world is designed for a need, an audience, a market, a niche, either a technical gap that needs addressing or a customer base that is its market. Even mass-market consumer items like phones and bread are consumer tested and niche focused.
So I ask this question: WHO is Legion being designed for, who is your target market?
If you say, paraphrase or imply "everyone" then I know that you are hopeless incompetents who have no idea what they want their game to be, no direction, no credible management and this game will be a waste-of-time failure, just like Dust.
This is not about platforms, PS3 vs PS4 vs PC vs MS Excel. Though each of them is, of course, a market segment. This is about the type of game and the type of gamer you are hoping to attract.
Like a radar chart players are multiple faceted. Some players (like myself) play both RPG/MMOs and FPS (and racing games). Some people sit in the middle of the spectrum, some people sit at extremes.
So in my mind, your "points" on the radar chart appear to be FPS, RPG, MMO, PVP and some elements of "Simulator" circa EVE's industrial engine. This is a lot; actually its a freaking goddamn huge amount of points. Its like trying to build a plane that is simultaneously a jet fighter, passenger liner, spy plane and crop duster all at once, master of none, failure at all.
Can you combine genres? Sure, Borderlands = successful melding of Diablo Action RPG and FPS (note they didn't dare include PVP). EVE is a successful blend of MMO and PVP.
However, every time you add a point, a genre, a market, a style, you're making design choices that alienate one of the others or at least part of the others. To my mind the biggest example of this is in Legion the junction between non-PVP RPG vs PVP FPS. Pretty obvious huh?
Unfortunately these two genres in particular are strongly opposed, oil and water, try and mix them and you get an emulsion, which resembles neither and is physically unstable. Both of these genres target audiences are huge, the number of FPS players and RPG players are both enormous segments of the gaming community. Dust had the unique honour of attracting neither of them because it made design decisions that critically inflamed and turned away both.
RPGers want power development, infinite customisation, resource control, uniqueness, time-played, explorable maps, more relaxed play, etc. Zero classes/roles is an anathema to an RPG fan.
FPSers (mainly talking PVP) want perfect balance, streamlined options, no resources, zero entry barriers, controlled maps, high speed play, etc. Grinding or time played is an anathema to a competitive FPS fan.
This isn't purely black and white, its a spectrum but it happens to be a partisan spectrum. Look at these forums and see all the demands from vets for transfer of SP. I get why they want it and in a long term RPG MMO like Warcraft it wouldn't matter but I guarantee that if you do this then the VAST majority of the FPS community won't even take the time to look once at Legion.
The crowd you have attracted here in this Legion forum appear to be a predominantly RPG crowd, they seem to have chronically little exposure to a broad variety of FPSes, this is their first FPS or they played Halo once. While I'm writing this post I open my Steam Library and turn around to my console/PC game box stack and count around 30 different FPS/3rd person shooter games that I've bought and played. The things they are asking for are very ... RPGish.
This is not a bad thing, its just a ... thing. If these are the guys you want to attract, the RPG fans, awesome, great. But make a game for them. Turn it into the free-roaming Mass Effect-in-New Eden that they seem to want. Heck, I would like that game. Don't pretend its this game as well as a competitive FPS. Let the pure FPS fans know if this is what you want to do, let them move on to something that isn't going to make them $h1t napalm.
I know people will say "Oh noes, you are wrong, Legion will be the Jesus-machine of perfect blending of FPS + RPG + PVP + Simulator ever, you just don't see the light, do you hate freedom?!?!?!" These people are fu&%ing idiots. Do not listen to them unless you also want to be a fu&%ing idiot.
Sooooo ... tl;dr ... "WHO is Legion being designed for, who is your target market?"
Is it the PVP FPS market? Is it the RPG market? Is it a subset of "EVE players who might also like to play space-spreadsheets on two legs"?
If you are trying to design this game for the centre of the radar chart you WILL fail and both the FPS and RPG crowds and CCP are better off investing time and energy elsewhere. If you think by some cosmic miracle you can pull this off and go for the centre, please feel free to provide your miracle theory that will officially make you the greatest game designer in the history of mankind. Because unless you can clearly articulate a coherent strategy that addresses this issue then we just have to assume you're dreaming with no real clue.
PS: Anyone who starts whining about cross-platform woes is automatically consigned to fu&%cking idiot status. |