- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I think that Bungie moving away from Microsoft and going in new direction is great, I simply have a few recommendations:
1. Do not get into a permanent contract with another company and do not let money overtake you.
I get the feeling that the reason you split off from Microsoft is that you want more revenue, it becomes a question of who owns your games, you or Microsoft? Please do not become a company like Rare who is so full of themselves they do not realize they don't spend any time into making there games and all of them suck. And do not sign up for another company thinking it is a good idea at the time only realized you are missing better opportunities, keep your options open.
2. Please consider releasing source code after more than 2 years of the game being released.
Seriously, you will not be making that much money and people on third party platforms like me (Linux.) will love to port it for you without you doing anything, there comes a time where you stop making so much money, think about it, all those people who were afraid to buy because they thought it might not be worth it? Now they can try it, and love it. It's money-to-advertising trade off, more people are going to now want to buy your newer product because they do not want to have to wait 2 years for the source code of that one to come out, by doing that you are telling the gamers that you are serving them, not the other way around.
3. More god damn modding tools!
Ever hear of Garry's Mod? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry's_Mod) It is a sandbox game were you can modify virtually everything. From making a flying car out of a bathtub and thrusters, to using *WORKING* stargates and a new map you downloaded of http://www.garrysmod.org, a place were people put out there own creations for the world to download, you need to release development kits at launch. Like forge or steriods, you need to let people change virtually anything they want to, and have a nice place to upload it all, this will extend gameplay for years.
4. Freedom vs. Ranked paradox.
The problem with open sourcing and the development kits is that people want to be able to exit out of this world of goodness to be able to have a set list of rules to play by, and why do you ask? Because people want a rank damn it! Matchmaking in your new games should be different for your current halo 2 / 3 ranking, what you need are reasons to play, not just to get to rank 50, but rewards. Think about this: A tournament feature built into the game, Every year say, you could have a tournament where each gamer pays say, one dollar, they keep playing and playing, once they loose, they are OUT and have to wait till next year. Now, after a certain amount of rounds, the gamers / their clans, will starting making money, REAL money, all you have to do is let the gamers pay their own way, you don't even need to worry about putting in a cent. The winer will take home a grand prize of say, 100 thousand dollars, the runner ups up to a certain amount of rounds will also receive money. Hell, you could even keep 10 % of all the money the gamers put in, you are instantly RICH. But... How to make all of this work? Couldn't people easily mod? What happens when the game goes open source? Easy: Make ONE closed source core program, with a fixed set of dependencies, and use that as your base. When the source is released people will still need to have the program, but hell, if you have a fixed set of libraries and dependencies it will be so easy to put from platform to platform is isn't even funny. Steam (Which valve uses as their base for downloading, installing, and using programs) requires a fixed set of windows dependencies that I can easily emulate, and BLAM! I can play all of there games on Linux. Instead of needing people to look to have to look for third party programs to run your games, make the small dependencies platform specific! Binary only core with proper security measures (Look at the OpenBSD team and learn) and regular updates means 0 cheating, 0 modding and 100% fun!
5. This -blam!- is impossible....
Not all of these features need to be usable out of the box, all you need is a base game that you can change remotely, if you make sure that the game is ready for updates, you can simply give the gamers the minimal package and say: Here you go, you can look on our site and add as much new gameplay as you want. And my god the possibilities are endless, people are coming up with new ideas all the time, you could just sit back and relax as people use the tool kits you have released to create entirely new gameplay like you have never believed, and if you like it, polish it up, and make it officially supported. A game following this design could be the only game you would ever need to make...
6. ONE GAME TO RULE THEM ALL....
Yes! One game, if you release this core package, you could just add more games on to it! Now, what about new graphics and other technology you say? Well just release a new version of the package, and if gamers want more, they will have to upgrade, or downgrade the graphics / gameplay, this is also great because people with older hardware will be able to play new games, even if they are not getting all the features, BECAUSE IT WILL ALL BE BASICALLY COMPATIBLE! Please god, look at my examples, this really does work!
7. This is a democracy damn it!
Just listen to the ideas of your community, just consider them... Look at the really well played games, you might be supprised.
-ARCKEDA
Tell me what you think of my ideas.
[Edited on 10.08.2007 10:06 PM PDT]