ATitD announces end-game and plan for 2nd Telling

[Soukyan]

I just happened to see this article up on Terra Nova. Apparently, Teppy has decided (or rather has known all along) that the current citizens of Egypt will design the Tests for the Second Telling. The end-game to the first will be the creation of the challenges for the 2nd. This poses some unique responses from the players and also poses some problems as well.

I like the idea, especially since a gathering will be held here in Pittsburgh to finalize and refine the Tests for the Second Telling. I will definitely attend that.

One possible major issue is how will the new Tests actually challenge the current players if a fair amount of players design them?

I should hope that the players who design a particular test will not reveal the intricacies of its design or that Teppy and Co. will adjust the Tests a bit before they are put into production so as to prevent all knowledge of the tests from the get-go. Spoilers could definitely diminish the fun of a game like A Tale in the Desert.

I figured I'd place this in the Game Dev forum. It's about the development of the next chapter of a MMOG, so I thought it fit well and I haven't seen much traffic in here lately.

Anyhow, Terra Nova also provides a link to the video of Teppy telling us about the end-game. It's worth taking a look and weighs in at about 20.5 MB.

[Rasix]

Spoilers could definitely diminish the fun of a game like A Tale in the Desert.

You'd think that, but it's not.  ATiTD has two very developed "spoilerish" sites (atitd.info and the wiki).  One with total buy in from the game and the other is pretty much officially part of it also.  You can see any requirements, recipes, etc from in game.  You even sign up for the site in game.

Really, it helps to reduce frustration.  You can start some tests, but without really knowing all that's involved , you can set yourself up for a big disappointment when you realize one leg of the test is just simply out of your reach.  

This also really helps new players that don't have the time to stumble through the initial phases of the game.  At this point in the game, I'd rather know how to grow barley than learn by experimentation

I do agree with hiding this information initially.  The firsts in the game should be something for those that actually want to achieve them.  But information dissemination has never hurt the game (IMO).

Sorry, for the aside.  As for the actually end of the game, it's stupid.  First of all, if you're new, you pretty much shouldn't even hope to contribute.  You have to be a student in a discipline, which means passing a test other than initiation.  This is a very daunting task and forget about accomplishing most of the cooperative ones, just about everyone's done them.  Forget about doing the conflict ones, very little people do those at all anymore it seems.  The art, body, and architecture ones are pretty much impossible due to mudflation in some cases, end of game apapthy or just not enough people to even make them possible.

Plus, the end of Egypt should be some monumental gathering of all of the disciplines, not armchair developer time.  All that's going to come from this is that the biggest catasses in the game will design some ridiculously difficult crap for the next telling which will end up conflicting with one of his seemingly major design points: to make the game more accessible.

I'll watch the vid when I get home (never got around to before) but I can't help feel a touch of the "meh"s for this endgame.  Of course, at least this endgame actually means and end...

Edit (for schild): Dunno if you got my PM or not, but is the interview with Teppy still going to happen?

[Nyght]

I just happened to see this article up on Terra Nova. Apparently, Teppy has decided (or rather has known all along) that the current citizens of Egypt will design the Tests for the Second Telling. The end-game to the first will be the creation of the challenges for the 2nd. This poses some unique responses from the players and also poses some problems as well.

I think this is a huge mistake if Teppy ever expects to grow the game.

About this time last year, there was a good size population in the game. And there was a lot of carping about group play requirements and play time requirements as they had grown to be quite large. Ten to fifteen player groups for 3 or 4 hours solid to perform some tasks. Tasks that were requirements to be competative in some of the tests.

The small guilds and casual players were leaving the game in droves.

And although Teppy did try to address some of those issues at the time, the direction of game seems to be steered to some degree by those that can sit in the IRC channel all day and night and chat with him.

This is the same group of high time commitment players that have been with the game from the betas for the most part and who are now apparently masters of that world.

Now I can understand that Teppy can see these folks as those who butter his bread. So if he is happy with 2k subscriptions then great. But can only think that this will serve to entrench this game further into sort of a private little club.

[Arcadian Del Sol]

For record, I would be happy with 2k subscribers.

[HaemishM]

If the game is profitable with the people who sit in IRC chat with Teppy all day, and I've not seen one reason to think it isn't, he'd be a fool not to make the game for those people.

[Rasix]

If the game is profitable with the people who sit in IRC chat with Teppy all day, and I've not seen one reason to think it isn't, he'd be a fool not to make the game for those people.

Yep, that's his quandry.  Does he cater to the people that quit and make the game more accessable or does he cater to the people that still play to this day.  

I don't have a number on his current subscriber base, but I can't imagine it's pretty healthy right now.  But then again, a lot have people have left until the second telling.  But if he can live off what he's making right now, then by all means, make the core aspect of the trials as im-fucking-possible as he can.

I think Jacobs in reference to DAoC as that you play to your current audience; the people that quit are gone and not likely to come back.  But Teppy has a unique situation here, he's got an honest-to-god sequel here.  Many of the people that quit in frustration will be back.  So, the key thing is, does he want them to stay this time?

[Alkiera]

For record, I would be happy with 2k subscribers.

Hell yeah.  Given the size of his development team, (1?  2?) 2k subscribers at $$13.95/month is about $28k/month...  I don't know what hardware and bandwidth costs, but even if it's a sizeable portion of that...  $3-4000/month is a reasonable income, not exactly Bill Gates, but doing alright for a programmer(IMHO).

--
Alkiera

[Nebu]

For background: I played this game for 4 months from the start and had done everything available.  I then left and went back about 2 months ago with the hope of watching the "endgame" for the current telling.  When the endgame was released I decided it wasn't worth following to the end.

Population: Last I checked, the current subscription base was like 1300 and only hit 2500 or so at the peak (when penny arcade did a spiel on it about 2 months into the game).   On that note, there's no way I would work the hours Teppy does and put up with the whiney catassers for 3-4k a month.

As for the game, it has pretty much turned into High School online.  There is the "in crowd" that controls the flow of the game by hoarding scarce resources, gaming tests ("gaming" meaning that they find easier ways to pass them than intended using guild players or part of their clique), and running the larger projects.   If you don't believe me, take a read of the forums here.  Following the forums for the last month or so seems to show a good mix of insightful posts (the minority) and hardcore fanbois similar to other fansite boards.

I think that the basic premise for the game is wonderful.  The departure from EQ clones and the diversity of the player built economy is only offset by the recurrence or tests that are badly broken at release and the painful travel.  Let's hope that both are addressed in the next telling.  As for the current trend, I think that Teppy wants to open the game up to a broader player base, but is afraid of losing the diehard players that he has already amassed.  Currently, many of his diehard fans are even leaving with distaste for the ending of the telling (both in style and in the manner it has dragged on).  I'm hoping that Teppy makes somedrastic changes for the next telling but find him hard pressed to follow through.