Icarus Studios News

Do you ever feel like you’re being watched? Well, that’s because you are. (Especially when you’re in an MMOG or Virtual World.) But don’t worry; it’s actually a good thing. And, in my own meandering, stream-of-conscious way, I’ll eventually explain why.

Essentially all virtual worlds (and many other software types) rely on some version of an end-user license agreement (EULA), typically presented as a contract the user must agree to before running the program. EULAs proscribe actions related to use of the software, and are often used to grant legal rights to the producer against other individuals or companies that might try to subvert the intent of the software. For personal software, the EULA is entirely a guard against profit-loss. For multiplayer software, it is also a method to prevent actions that would ruin the experience for other users.

Hi, my name is Kara Stambach, and I’m addicted to speed (the kind that involves driving fast—not the kind that involves a twelve-step program). The only thing cooler than speed is the vehicle in which one rockets forward at ridiculous velocities. Perhaps some of the most interesting and entertaining interactive objects a game designer gets to play around with are the various vehicles the art department dreams up. Using standard 3DMax files for the model of every vehicle frame, Artists then equip each vehicle with its own unique feel and handling profile, which the designers then test and implement within game worlds.

The debate over the best pricing model for MMOs continues to rage. Increasingly, industry experts are pointing out that the subscription model is hard to make profitable in a post-World of Warcraft world: many players are unwilling to pay the same monthly rate for a new game as for WoW unless it delivers a comparable or better experience. Yet games with smaller audiences are precisely those that can’t afford to lower their subscription rate in order to compete with WoW’s budget and development history: $15 per person goes a lot farther with millions of users than it does with thousands.

One of the things I love most about America is that we are a consumer culture, and we have absolutely no shame about it. Nowhere else in the world does there exist a people so obsessed with amassing such a great amount of stuff. Intellectuals might make arguments about the dangers of expansionistic manifest destiny societies or the emptiness inherent in an individual’s pathetic attempt to add depth and meaning to life by accumulating various trophies of status and symbols of desirability—but, thankfully, hardly anyone listens to intellectuals anymore. Because, when you get right down to it, stuff is fun.

In any MMO, post-launch balance is one of the thorniest development tasks, from a community perspective. While most of the community will come down hard against cheaters and hackers in its midst, and it is generally accepting of major exploits being removed, the leeway stops when it comes to long-term character features. Your players grow attached to the things that make their character feel powerful, even if their level of power was unintended, and will fight tooth-and-nail to keep their abilities.

(Continued from Part 1)

With the use of Level Prep, I can add pathing information and modify the details of certain objects within any newly generated level. This tool renders a preview of each change I make, so if any problems occur, I can panic, flail my arms, and scream hysterically; sooner or later, a programmer will debug the technical issues before the level is ever added to the actual game.

Once the outdoor terrain and basic life-forms of a virtual world have been created, coming up with visually interesting (and challenging) interior areas for entertaining game-play becomes vitally important for a game designer. Icarus’ Level Editor creates interior environments in our 3D game engine; it allows for quick rendering of optimized performance levels. We can create all sorts of interior spaces and lay them out in a variety of ways.