f13.net forums - An open letter to Raph

All right Raph, I've given it some thought and this is what I'd like you to do for me:

First stop putting out new content for Star Wars galaxies. You see Raph anyone who is still playing is hooked you don't need to worry about giving them new and better things, the truth is all you really need to do is promise the new content. The suckers will buy it for years to come.

Now take Star Wars galaxies and rewrite it from scratch. Take all the things you've learned and rebuild the system. When you have a game that is perfectly balanced and fun to play regardless of the story then you can move on.

Now it about this time many of your subscribers are going to start wondering what happened to all the updates. Promise them the next big thing is just around the corner and it's so wonderfully state-of-the-art edge of your seat miraculous that you can't even speak about it. Then go into each of the forms and tell them exactly what they want to hear, " [class type] you will be the first group to get an update we will fix [broken/Nerfed/overpowered attack 1], [broken/Nerfed/overpowered attack 2], and [broken/Nerfed/overpowered attack 3]! I will also be giving [class type] exclusive missions and content." That should shut them up for a while.

Now lock yourself in a room with a group of the most intelligent science-fiction writers you can find, a few tribal storytellers (Native American, African, what ever just as long as they have a long tradition of oral history) and the scariest Star Wars fan-boys you can find (I suggest people who write term papers on Star Wars, or worse yet, professors who teach it). Now write out the entirety of the storyline for the game. Yes, all of it, decide how long it will take you to tell that story (I would say aim of for a four or five-year story arc) and remember that that will be the end of the story (if it's a great story and a great game you will probably be able to run reruns of it for the next few decades).

Now just before everybody leaves the game release the space combat expansion and milk the last few months of profit out of the game. Now offer some of your truly loyal subscribers the option to play the alpha, contingent of course on their remaining subscribed to Star Wars galaxies one. Keep that money flowing.

Set up three staggered alpha servers two months apart. Take the feedback you get for the first one and apply it to the second. Tweak what must be tweaked from the second and apply it in the third.

About now you're going to want to purchase a large firearm I suggest a shotgun with a good spread because the investors are going to be attacking in droves. It's okay though Because now you're ready for beta.

Let me make this clear, by the time you get to beta your program must work flawlessly and you must have a mini story arc for beta and it must be complete. Beta is not time for testing. I know it used to be, I know it's supposed to be, but it isn't. I'd say skip beta altogether except that it's a staple of the advertising cycle now... hey, what the hell, charge them to play beta, the idiots would do it too remember city of heros buy-into-beta pre-orders.

A few guidelines to follow:

First rule of fight club nobody talks about fight club! Say nothing about your product before it comes out in beta no promises, no pie-in-the-sky predictions, if anything down play it. use terms like stable basic enjoyable game. I realize this may mean buying radio controlled choke chains for your developers, but you simply must stop all the lies.

Nerf is a four letter word. If you have done enough work on the engine and the story then there is no such thing as exploitation. if one class is under powered call them "Hard Mode Charicters" and warn they are only for experts!

Listen carefully to terrorist chatter. With a well-trained ear one can learn great lessons from bile spewing haters. And with a rational sense of modesty one can learn great lessons from a fanboi circle-jerk. (BTW, I respect any developer, like you or Clause, who have the stones to step into the lions den and defend your self and your product)

The Devil's in the details. Your engine and your baselevel content must be solid and fun with endless replayability and zero bugs. This means you must spend copious amounts of time on code you might otherwise call done. One of the most important ways of doing this is to clamp down a restriction on new ideas after the first month. If you've got enough time to think about a new way to forage then you're not working hard enough.

Finally, a pet peeve:

Imperials should wipe the floor with the rebels. In any fight the advantage should always be too the imperials. every guard npc should be imperial. The declared rebel should have to hide in fear lest he be arrested and taken to some God forsaken torture prison camp. if you dont like that call the next game Shards of the Empire or something and put it after all the movies... a few hundred years just for good mesure.

But that’s just my opinion.