Dwell - The Survival Sandbox ORPG (Colonies)

[Jungletoe]

Modding can be good sometimes, I mean in a graphic way of course

Yeah, it's pretty easy to edit the graphics. You just have to replace the resources folder. There's no risk in graphics mods.

[Grimmrog]

sounds interesting, I hope there are many things to craft, this is important to give it a decent "sandbox" style to not make anything look the same.

Are there houses? or will you make it possible to just place "walls" to create own floor plans for churches and stuff. that would actually be very nice.

[synntax33]

You mention Steam GreenLight, so I just wanted to mention that Desura has an alphafunding section, which might be of some use to you. Otherwise, I must say I am extremely stoked about Colonies

[Jungletoe]

sounds interesting, I hope there are many things to craft, this is important to give it a decent "sandbox" style to not make anything look the same.

Are there houses? or will you make it possible to just place "walls" to create own floor plans for churches and stuff. that would actually be very nice.

I'm going to be fixing a lot of my security flaws over the weekend. After that, I'll work a lot on adding a shitton of gameplay items.

You'll be able to just place walls and make your own houses molded to what you desire. All houses can be customized to your profession, desires, and needs. Shops, churches, etc can also be made.

You mention Steam GreenLight, so I just wanted to mention that Desura has an alphafunding section, which might be of some use to you. Otherwise, I must say I am extremely stoked about Colonies

Hmm... I'll check that out. My friend who released a similar game called Crawle (it was a single player game) didn't like Desura because it took too much of the game's profits without providing too much in return. Nonetheless, I'll give it a full evaluation.

[Tonkyhonk]

I would like to sell the game at a low, one time purchase. Once you own the client, you own it. These costs will just help me afford the server costs and associated costs with the game. I promise the price won't be excessive.

so, you mean like, one account = one character and no alts allowed?
or you mean we can just pay for another account to be able to play alts? (you know how ppl often make excuses for that)
if someone makes a modded client, those who use that can play as many alts? or are you banning those who make or use modded clients?
you said you wouldnt support modded clients but youd allow player servers, right? do you mean, like, you give out the source code for the server, but not for the client? or is this about paying you extra money to make another server? are you allowing players to move between servers?

Newbies will be able to play in a controlled, non-PvP world. Once they feel comfortable with the game, they can simply hop on the main server where it's complete anarchy (plus the player run govts).

what do you mean by "controlled" here? any details?
what if players want to stay in this world for longer than you expect them to?

[Jungletoe]

so, you mean like, one account = one character and no alts allowed?
or you mean we can just pay for another account to be able to play alts? (you know how ppl often make excuses for that)

There is one player per account. I guess you'd theoretically be able to buy multiple alts, but why bother? I don't think it would be a large problem unless you can find reasons otherwise.

if someone makes a modded client, those who use that can play as many alts? or are you banning those who make or use modded clients?

You have to pay for 1 account for 1 server. First, you choose your server, then you log into said server using your login credentials. Once logged in, you'll automatcially start playing. As for modding, I think Steam has guidelines on how to prohibit modded clients or something (I remember that Notch was concerned about this when deciding his Minecraft sales).

you said you wouldnt support modded clients but youd allow player servers, right? do you mean, like, you give out the source code for the server, but not for the client? or is this about paying you extra money to make another server? are you allowing players to move between servers?

Players cannot move in between servers.

I have a few ideas about this. I think I'll allow players to "rent" servers for a flat rate. They'd get to choose a bunch of custom options for their server (PvP on/off, number of lives, permadeath, etc) and then get to list it on the official list. That way, I can guarantee server uptime, flexibility, and profitability.

what do you mean by "controlled" here? any details?
what if players want to stay in this world for longer than you expect them to?

Controlled based upon what they can do to other players (combat, destroy stuff inside village claims, etc). If they want to stay longer, that's fine, but it's meant for new people so I imagine it would get boring without any risk of death...

[dra6o0n]

http://notch.tumblr.com/post/4955141617/the-plan-for-mods
Unfortunately for notch, you can't stop other modding methods on a client sided software.
Trying to turn modding into a microtransaction Platform doesn't end up being very well received as people start rolling in low quality mods for money...

In any case, any form of hostility towards modding usually is met with equal consequences.

The moment server rental is mentioned, a possibility that it won't go as smoothly and seen with some online games. Furthermore, the server being rented may cost quite a sum given the current economic state on the internet. Renting 10 servers won't leave much impact, but what about 1000?

[Jungletoe]

http://notch.tumblr.com/post/4955141617/the-plan-for-mods
Unfortunately for notch, you can't stop other modding methods on a client sided software.
Trying to turn modding into a microtransaction Platform doesn't end up being very well received as people start rolling in low quality mods for money...

In any case, any form of hostility towards modding usually is met with equal consequences.

The moment server rental is mentioned, a possibility that it won't go as smoothly and seen with some online games. Furthermore, the server being rented may cost quite a sum given the current economic state on the internet. Renting 10 servers won't leave much impact, but what about 1000?

It was just a concept. "Modding" (or options for your server) is only on the server side (hell, I may make some way to mod is via scripts or something, but that's waaaaay more than I'm willing to talk about atm). The servers would be paid for by the players who decide to order a custom server, so I dont see what the issue is...

Again though, this is just an idea. I really wasn't planning for player servers or mods in the first place, but if people really want more diversity then I will accommodate them.

Everything in Colonies is handled server side besides the graphics, so modding shouldn't be a problem really. There isn't really any reason to mod, but I don't want to encourage it and release the client open source. As much as I love the modding community, it simply wouldn't work with an ORPG.

[dra6o0n]

Well for server rentals its all based on accommodations.
If 100 people started to want to rent a server, you'd end up having to go to a datacenter or set up 100 individual and customized server somehow.
Then if people stop accessing such servers, as a loss of interest, what would do with server space that becomes unused?

EA had accommodated lots of servers for BF3 and they are just sitting there. Empty.

[redwolf340]

well i think that if nobody goes on a server anymore the owner (locator of the server) will stop paying and i think that no payement = no server
"PERSONNAL OPINION"