Doubts

[Morain]

So a friend of mine told me when I asked him if he was planning to play pathfinder online, that he didn't think it will ever make it as far as being released.

I have not been keeping my ear to the ground with thats going on with this game so I have no basis to have an opinion on this.

Does anyone else share his doubts?

[Kryzbyn]

I don't.

[Elth]

No doubts here. I am finding it quite appealing that a sandbox MMO with theme park elements is on the Horizon. There are quite a few promising games in the works thanks to kick starter that are offering that old school complexity with a modern take and modern technology. I'm tired of big publisher games regurgitating the same garbage

[Onishi]

Morain wrote:

So a friend of mine told me when I asked him if he was planning to play pathfinder online, that he didn't think it will ever make it as far as being released.

I have not been keeping my ear to the ground with thats going on with this game so I have no basis to have an opinion on this.

Does anyone else share his doubts?

Well honestly the team they have so far, has a very good track-record. Mark Kalmes was part of the team of just 21 people who created city of heroes with a minuscule budget. Ryan Dancey was a major part of the success of eve online, Then of course the connections in the tabletop market with Paizo backing the game.

Combined with the kickstarter performing 3.5x its goal and counting I would say they have a crew experts who are well known for doing a lot with a very little, and a huge amount of fans clamoring for the games release. They should be able to rake in more than enough investors to make the game a reality.

[Steve Geddes]

I think it would be foolish not to have doubts - I hope the people running goblinworks have the occasional doubt.

It's a high risk, competitive industry and they're trying to do something in a new way with less money than is typically devoted to such an endeavor. Who wouldn't have doubts?

Having said that, I have a lot of respect for the people involved, so I also have confidence. Every time somebody does something for the first time there's a tendency to declare it impossible at the outset. I haven't seen the business plan, but I bet it's decent. People don't become successful in business by throwing money at pipe dreams, IMO.

[AvenaOats]

Demo should be a better indicator, but so far:

1. Strong IP helps in both designers and community present already.
2. Experience is present (about GW) for busIness & tech expertise.
3. Lean development & middleware could be a valuable initial kickstart.
4. Blueprint from the blogs is promising, taking a leaf out of EvE's book.

But still, it's a tough racket. My thoughts are mmorpgs don't produce really interesting online communities in most mmos, perhaps due to gameplay combat being the only rewarding activity? Maybe PfO can change this?

[Misere]

They don't produce "really interesting online communities" as much now as they did in the beginning. The communities in the beginning were smaller and not so much driven by quests and leveling as they are now. My own opinion is that they will do fine if they keep the money realistic and don't take years to put it out there. Also, The players will get out of a game what they put in it. Its up to each one to build that interesting community. Perhaps what happened with 38 studios is scaring some folks? I know it caused a twinge of worry for me.

[Thane9]

Re: the "really interesting online communities" portion.

I think PFO has two things going in it's favor.

1> Small player population, relatively gradual ramp up in numbers. This will allow people to know each other and interact on a more personal level from the beginning. Rather than as we currently see in HUGE AAA title releases where people need to find each other often prior to release to establish groups etc...

2> Tools to build a community. Many MMOs currently have some sort of "housing" mechanic, or a guid chat feature, or a guild bank location. But the tools beyond that to really make an impact in the game and form groups just doesn't really exist. Groups are basically for killing raid mobs. If PFO delivers how I hope it will this won't be the case. There will be TONS of solid ways of interacting with each other and forming groups for activities bigger than themselves or some raid boss. Anyone who played MUDs back in the day knows how powerful being able to really interact with one's environment can be. I played a MUD back in the early 90s that STILL to this day has my character's guild hall, my personal room, our custom keys (an actual in game object ours was a wolves fang)to the hall, descriptions of the art and objects in the rooms, descriptions of a portrait of our founding members...

By being a sandbox game I believe there is a very real opportunity to establish a strong community early in the game's release.

The biggest question in my mind is can they deliver that initial game with a sustainable financial model? IF they can do that...<fingers crossed> I have little worries about how the community and the gaming world will embrace this game.

[Gruffling]

With the Kickstarter reaching close to (and likely to surpass) 400% of the original goal, my doubts have been minimized dramatically.