Time for a new game engine

[MJ7791]

The Cryptic engine is falling apart.

[[LVA]Spyro]

Then what will hapens with the acounts.

[MJ7791]

Simple. Transfer them. We have technology to make it happen. Anyone who transfers is given a title and all their game property like ships, gear, research levels, etc.

[Immortalis]

Publicado originalmente por MJ7791:

Simple. Transfer them. We have technology to make it happen. Anyone who transfers is given a title and all their game property like ships, gear, research levels, etc.

Yeah, never going to happen.

Overhauling the game to use a new game engine is not a minor update. It's effectively a "create an entirely new game" option. One that would take the devs months if not years to achieve (whether they can do that *and* keep STO running and updating is, at best debatable).

And you xpect them to do that basically for free? You know, since the porting of everything players have means that they would still need to add additional items to sell since the "whales" would not put a single dime for a new game engine.


And that's even setting aside the discussion of what exactly is breaking up according to you and what would a new game engine exactly bring to the game (particularly when you consider that not every player, in fact dare I say just a small minority) is playing with the latest generation of GPUs and 4k screens. So you'd be cutting off a large portion of the playerbase, create dubious "better graphical qualities" and doing that for free...

Yeah, I stand by "never going to happen"

[andreasaspenberg575]

it could work, if they find a way to port the assets over. though i do not believe that it is likely to happen.

[Metallicus]

If it does t make them money then they won’t do it. Simple as that.

[MJ7791]

Publicado originalmente por Immortalis:

Publicado originalmente por MJ7791:

Simple. Transfer them. We have technology to make it happen. Anyone who transfers is given a title and all their game property like ships, gear, research levels, etc.

Yeah, never going to happen.

Overhauling the game to use a new game engine is not a minor update. It's effectively a "create an entirely new game" option. One that would take the devs months if not years to achieve (whether they can do that *and* keep STO running and updating is, at best debatable).

And you xpect them to do that basically for free? You know, since the porting of everything players have means that they would still need to add additional items to sell since the "whales" would not put a single dime for a new game engine.


And that's even setting aside the discussion of what exactly is breaking up according to you and what would a new game engine exactly bring to the game (particularly when you consider that not every player, in fact dare I say just a small minority) is playing with the latest generation of GPUs and 4k screens. So you'd be cutting off a large portion of the playerbase, create dubious "better graphical qualities" and doing that for free...

Yeah, I stand by "never going to happen"

You assume too much. Only a child would think the new game would be made for free... The game improvement will be welcomed by everyone. A new game engine doesn't mean everyone needs a new PC.

[Immortalis]

Publicado originalmente por MJ7791:

You assume too much. Only a child would think the new game would be made for free... The game improvement will be welcomed by everyone. A new game engine doesn't mean everyone needs a new PC.

That's exactly what it means. You don't get a new engine to achieve exactly the same performances you had before (and if that's what you want out of the new engine, I feel it would make even less sense to adopt it). You get a new engine to have better performances; and better performances inevitably require more powerful, newer and thus more expensive components. Full stop.

And yeah, the idea that game improvement would be welcomed by everyone is a blatant delusion you are holding tightly. Look at the next-gen update that dropped on the Witcher 3 and its reception by the playerbase; look at all the updates that Skyrim had throughout its game life. Game improvement in the graphic and engine department are extremely risky for a company precisely because there's no guarantee people (or even a majority of the playerbase) will like the changes.

So, since I "assume too much", how do you propose they finance the game since it should not be made for free *whilst at the same time* carrying over anything any player owns in the current version *and* keeping the game on a F2P basis?

[Xautos]

new engine would take between 2-4 years to do assuming all hands on deck. if the assets can't be moved across it means another 2 or more years to sort out. you could be looking at 4 years at minimum to get a new engine in place with new assets at the minimum, never mind anything else.

it's not feasiable as the cost to hire and keep a hold of the developers for 4 years, plus everything else they'd need and a supportive publisher. You are living in some kind of fantasy world if you think Cryptic are just gonna up and build a new engine for STO. Not while there are still years worth of content they can still come up with and put out.

Sitting on the content that is there and hoping the customers are willing to wait years before the next content drop. that's just a death sentence as the customers will start leaving the game in droves and eventually the hardcore supporters will start leaving. It's for the same reason why the developers don't go off for a 6 month bug fixing hunt, because it doesn't net them anything as a business.

[mmille14]

Sheees, they can just use that ChatGPT, or whatever it's called, for the coding. :))
But seriously, I am beginning to think it wouldn't do any worse. The fun part would be the self-replicating AI code it snuck in. STO 2 would soon be running the world. Except on Thursdays for 4 hours, the usual human chaos would reign.

[MJ7791]

Publicado originalmente por Immortalis:

Publicado originalmente por MJ7791:

You assume too much. Only a child would think the new game would be made for free... The game improvement will be welcomed by everyone. A new game engine doesn't mean everyone needs a new PC.

That's exactly what it means. You don't get a new engine to achieve exactly the same performances you had before (and if that's what you want out of the new engine, I feel it would make even less sense to adopt it). You get a new engine to have better performances; and better performances inevitably require more powerful, newer and thus more expensive components. Full stop.

And yeah, the idea that game improvement would be welcomed by everyone is a blatant delusion you are holding tightly. Look at the next-gen update that dropped on the Witcher 3 and its reception by the playerbase; look at all the updates that Skyrim had throughout its game life. Game improvement in the graphic and engine department are extremely risky for a company precisely because there's no guarantee people (or even a majority of the playerbase) will like the changes.

So, since I "assume too much", how do you propose they finance the game since it should not be made for free *whilst at the same time* carrying over anything any player owns in the current version *and* keeping the game on a F2P basis?

How is what you're saying any different than the beginnings of STO? They gathered funds and investors, then made the game. It started as sub and turned to F2P. It's still here. After all these years.

As far as a plan for them, I'm not being paid for my advice. They've learned from the past. They'll think of something.

[Xautos]

STO2 is more likely to happen than a new engine for STO.

[Immortalis]

Publicado originalmente por MJ7791:

How is what you're saying any different than the beginnings of STO? They gathered funds and investors, then made the game. It started as sub and turned to F2P. It's still here. After all these years.

As far as a plan for them, I'm not being paid for my advice. They've learned from the past. They'll think of something.

It's different because A) subscription model is not really an option today, that's the reason why they went F2P, subscriptions would simply not bring enough money and so they'll have to keep STO2 F2P as well; and B) when they went F2P they had assets they could sell and they continued to develop assets and items to bring in money.

What you are asking them to do is put everything on hold for 3-4 years *then* transfer every single purchase made in the old game to the new one and *only then* start the process of creating things that would generate revenue. Whyever should they do it when the game they already have works perfectly well with their business model?

[andreasaspenberg575]

they could develop a new game and keep the old one going until it is ready.

[MJ7791]

Publicado originalmente por Immortalis:

Publicado originalmente por MJ7791:

How is what you're saying any different than the beginnings of STO? They gathered funds and investors, then made the game. It started as sub and turned to F2P. It's still here. After all these years.

As far as a plan for them, I'm not being paid for my advice. They've learned from the past. They'll think of something.

It's different because A) subscription model is not really an option today, that's the reason why they went F2P, subscriptions would simply not bring enough money and so they'll have to keep STO2 F2P as well; and B) when they went F2P they had assets they could sell and they continued to develop assets and items to bring in money.

What you are asking them to do is put everything on hold for 3-4 years *then* transfer every single purchase made in the old game to the new one and *only then* start the process of creating things that would generate revenue. Whyever should they do it when the game they already have works perfectly well with their business model?

You're not a manager at Cryptic. You can't possibly know the capabilities, intentions, or wealth of the shareholders. A sub model doesn't work for THIS Star Trek Online. All the problems you listed are easily fixed.

I'm curious why you don't want an updated game engine. You're arguing very hard for a lack of change. Are you exploiting the current system?

[andreasaspenberg575]

the engine is clearly ancient. it looks like the world of warcraft engine. they could easily switch to a better engine, if they manage to port the assets. the new version of unreal engine have an A.I that builds assets out of pictures.