Icarus Studios News

(Continued from part 1)

The most common methods of encouraging players to coordinate in MMOs are party roles, buffs, and fights that require advance discussion. In many ways, however, these don’t always feel like true coordination: filling party roles and an optimal strategy are often arbitrary requirements for success, while applying buffs is often an easy decision. What are the less common strategies for adding coordination to MMOs, and how do they compare to the original three?

We’re extremely excited to partner up with Marc Ecko Entertainment in creating an iPhone game based on the award-winning Showtime television series, DEXTER.

Working right alongside Marc Ecko Entertainment, Icarus Studios plans to focus on developing a variety of story-driven, problem-solving challenges that make use of the iPhone’s unique features (such as the accelerometer) for realistic, engaging, and choice-driven game-play.

Together, we’re dedicated to making a gaming experience that reflects DEXTER’s creative and cutting-edge originality.

So stay tuned for more news!

Marc Ecko and Jim Hettinger celebrating at the Showtime mansion in NYC.

There's going to be blood on the iPhone. Today, Marc Ecko Entertainment announced the Showtime drama Dexter is en route to the iPhone. The investigation game, under development at Icarus Studios, stars the forensic specialist that moonlights as a serial killer. Dexter must analyze crime scenes to gather information on troublesome cases. After assessing the evidence, you must choose whether or not to turn the suspect over to the court system… or inflict Dexter's special kind of justice.

This post calls attention to an issue in multiplayer, turn-based games. Namely: when players take turns in a conflict situation, they are less likely to coordinate their actions with one another. They will pay attention primarily on their turn, using their personal capabilities without much consideration of the tactics of the other players. The article suggests that turn based games feature more cooperation and coordination if players are encouraged to act all at once and decide their own turn orders.

Very few video games are turn-based these days, and especially not massively multiplayer games. The need for potentially unlimited players means that having to wait for the actions of others could be very problematic. So how does coordination work when there is no time to adjust tactics given turn-by-turn discussion?

Icarus’ Tools for Expansion

(Continued from Part 2)

If you’ve been paying attention to the first two parts of this post, you’ll know that community and communication are essential elements to the success of an online game. A game that doesn’t maximize community interaction is missing the point of online gaming—both from a player experience and a business standpoint. So, of course, Icarus products offer a variety of ways for players to communicate with one another. Some of these will be familiar to gaming veterans, but for the sake of completeness, here are a few of the fundamental features presently available in the Icarus environment: