Bang! Howdy - MMOTBS from the Puzzle Pirates man, Daniel James

[schild]

Three Rings Announces Bang! Howdy

Award Winning Independent Developer Three Rings Rides into Town to Announce New Game

San Francisco - August 1, 2005 - Three Rings, developers of Puzzle Pirates, announced today the active development of Bang! Howdy (TM), a multiplayer online tactical strategy game for the PC. Players face off in the steam-powered Wild West, using traditional strategy game mechanics in a variety of gameplay modes like Claim Jumping, Cattle Herding and Steam Mustang Hockey!

Introducing a hybrid between turn-based and realtime strategy gameplay, Bang! Howdy is played in short fast-paced rounds. The players use winnings earned as they play, along with a micro-currency system, to purchase and customize persistent Big Shot units, which influence their play-style and strategies in future games. As the player progresses through five unique Wild West settings, new units, gameplay scenarios, arenas, customizations and game features are introduced.

"We're happier than a coyote in the chuckwagon to let y'all know what we've been working on back at the ranch," said Michael Bayne, project lead for Bang! and Three Rings' CTO. "We think strategy fans will appreciate our fresh perspective on the genre and plumb everybody will enjoy our fun and accessible Wild West antics."

Bang! Howdy will be distributed online and free to play, with optional purchase of micro-currency to obtain upgrades and additional content.

"The 'free to play, pay for items' business model has proven very successful in the Korean market with games like Kart Rider, and is already offered as an alternative to subscription for Puzzle Pirates players on 'Doubloon' servers," adds Daniel James, Three Rings' CEO.

Mosey on down to http://www.banghowdy.com for more information and sign up to hear more as development progresses.

W00t.

[Aenovae]

Second stupidest name for a game ever.

The first being True Fantasy Live Online.

[schild]

I don't mind stupid names when the game sounds fun. Guess what. The game sounds fun.

[Strazos]

Seconded.

[Prospero]

This will be great. The best thing about Puzzle Pirates is that any idiot can speak pirate. Hick isn't all that different.

[schild]

Them Duke boys better grow some wings or learn how to fly real soon.

[stray]

Pirates and Colt 45's are the two themes I want to see in an MMO, but they come from a company that lacks the shiny and/or 3rd person blood & guts action. To me, it's all a very sick joke. I get Diku and Elves on one side of the fence, and cutesy puzzle games on the other. 

[HaemishM]

Now this is an idea I can get behind. Yippe ki yay, motherfucker.

[Krakrok]

The only cult following they haven't done yet is ninjas!

[Strazos]

The 3rd game in the trilogy?

Ninja vs Pirates

[stray]

My idea of a Gunslinger:



Not my idea of a Gunslinger:



I'll play it for the TBS appeal, if anything, but these games aren't appealling in any kind of Cult of Pirate/Ninja/Wild West sense.

[Hanzii]

Well, I'm definately going to find up if Cleaver (Daniel James) still remembers my name when they start rounding up the beta testers.

Allthough I don't play Puzzle Pirates anymore and is slightly dissapointed by the promised stuff that still isn't there (what else is new in mmog-world), I applaud Three Rings for having some truly original ideas and trying to go in a completely different way, than the rest.

[ahoythematey]

All you motherfuckers can just shut the hell up.  It's the wild west and it is turn-based strategy.  I'm already sold, nevermind their previously awesome MMO or the fact that the wild west isn't true grit.  I'll take MMOTBS anyway I can.

[Stormwaltz]

Second stupidest name for a game ever.

Narrowly edging out "Bang! Gunship Elite?"

I'm sure there have been far worse.

[Soukyan]

Looks quite awesome. I'm with Hanzii on wanting to snag a beta spot. Good show Three Rings!

[tazelbain]

3R has a problem naming games.

No doubt the TBS in this game will be clever, all the puzzles they make are.  More cutesy stuff, I really think it limits the broad appeal of their games.

As a Game Design Dork, this maybe be interesting, especially the micro currency thing.  I think the Doubloon payment system, in PP, seems pretty neat.  And if 3R is using something like that for this game than It must be profitable also, which I am glad to hear.  Also I think it would work even better to have the game designed from bottom up to use micro-payments rather than tacked on like PP.

3R has really lost its way with PP.  They seem to now focusing on turning it into Animal Crossing.  Where are the crating puzzles?  Where are Adventure Islands?  I left after beta, then  come back after 20 months, they only added 2 cratting puzzle, 2 card game (thats not hard) and a parlor game, and still no adventuring stuff to do.  Granted merchant stall stuff is good, but not everyone can do it.  Same goes with the Claiming Islands stuff.  Still nothing for people do once they have a become bored of killing brigands.

[Soukyan]

I considered starting a new topic, but decided to search instead.

With that out of the way, Bang! Howdy public beta starts today at "high noon" (-8 GMT), so 3 pm EST, etc.

The client can be downloaded here. I'm hoping some of us will mosey on over and try it out. It looks like it could be quite fun. Some strategy, some gunfire, developed by Three Rings. What's not to like? See ya there, pardners.

[edit]
It appears that you can login now. I have to head to a meeting, but my name is "Mad Dog" Parker (without the quotes). I should be on later this afternoon for a bit.

For those interested, there are 5 optional tutorials. It looks like customization is weak when you first create a character, but going to the Barber Shop in-game gives you more options (for a price, of course). There are other locations to check out, including your ranch (where my Old Codger, Pa Kettle, hangs out), the bank, the general store, and town.
[/edit]

[Soln]

I had to finally erase my Puzzle Pirates client from my work laptop, was not a good work habit

this news is a good news

[Soukyan]

There will most likely be other parlors around, but I created one in case any of you want to hang out and play a game or five. Anyone can create a game and start it, so have at it. Simply go to the Saloon and enter Mad Dog Parker's back parlor. The password right now is f13dotnet. Very original, I know. Anyhow, I'm off to a meeting, but I'll leave the parlor up while I'm away. I'm not sure if I'll get disconnected for being idle for a certain amount of time. I imagine there is a timeout as Puzzle Pirates has one. If the parlor is gone, then I lost connection. Be back soon.

[Falconeer]

I waited for a while for this... and so far it looks sweeter than I expected.

[angry.bob]

Dammit, I've been trying to get it to run, but it only comes up as an empty java window.

Note to developers: THe only thing that sucks more shit than Java is Oracle. Stop it. Just stop it.

[Falconeer]

First game, first win. Sweet! :)

Sorry about your issues, angry.bob. Worked flawlessly here.

[Soukyan]

Dammit, I've been trying to get it to run, but it only comes up as an empty java window.

Note to developers: THe only thing that sucks more shit than Java is Oracle. Stop it. Just stop it.

Be sure you have the latest Java version installed - http://www.java.com/en/.

If that still doesn't work, make sure that no other Java apps are running. I have found that I can run several Java apps at the same time, but certain Java apps, like Azureus make my PC go apeshit if any other Java apps try to run at the same time. Just a thought. I'm not the biggest fan of Java either, but this game has been done very well. And I really like the cross-platform bit. Allows me to play Y!PP and B!H on both my home machine (Windows PC) and my laptop (Mac).

[edit]spelling[/edit]

[Xanthippe]

Just starting.  Name is SixGun Sue.

[Fabricated]

I think the guy who draws the MacHall comic got hired by those guys as a texture artist.

[Lum]

I'm on as "Lum the Mad".  Played a pickup game, didn't really know what I was doing, came in 3rd.

I like. More stuff like this plz. 

[Righ]

Doc Goon.

[tazelbain]

Sinkhole.

[Nebu]

Just DL'ed.  I'm Neboo (some joker took Nebu). 

I'll give some reactions after an hour or so.

[stray]

[edit]

Think I'll play a guy...

I am now Blackbird Jack.

[edit]

Man, I totally suck at this.

[Nebu]

Interesting game... but gets old very quickly.  I got bored in about an hour.  I can see people that enjoy Yahoo games liking this, but it just didn't suck me in like I had hoped.  Perhaps they will add more game variants in the future.

[Xanthippe]

I'm stuck in the tutorial with cattle rustling.  I branded the cow.  Then the bad guy appeared.  He just sat there on his horse.

So I chased the cow around and tried to get it in the ranch.  It won't go in.

I can't attack the bad guy with my old codger.  What am I supposed to do?

[Krakrok]

The bad guy is suppost to brand the cow and then you rebrand it.

---


The rule that when you move it takes all of your turn regardless of how far you go is driving me nuts.

[Righ]

The rule that when you move it takes all of your turn regardless of how far you go is driving me nuts.

I know, didn't these people play and AH, SPI and GDW board games?

[stray]

I'm a victim of focused fire for some reason. Things aren't going well.