Derek Smart has a MMO, Alganon
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 - 5:20pm
Not sure if anyone cares, or has even heard of Alganon. My gwj search fu turned up nadda. I saw over at Gamasutra that history has repeated itself with David Allen once again losing control of an mmo.
I'm now curious to see how this all plays out and just what Derek Smart can do to fix Alganon.
Algannon has a lot of interesting features going for it. Unfortunately the production value in the animation and combat is lacking. Many F2P titles have better combat, animations and effects.
The UI for many things like skill tabs is cluttered too. Its just very rough around the edges, especially for a subscription based MMO. (I know its F2P now, but it was planned for a box sale + paid sub model until David Allen was let go)
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
Graphically, it looks like the original EQ and WoW had a baby.
HHHiiiisSSSSSsss...
Anyone who posted in this thread is a racist.*
*Except me. - Certis
That is the only take away I had from it when I briefly played. Looked WoWish. From reading a post by DS on the Alganon forums it seems that was the goal set forth by DA.
This is quite the gesture though!
Does David Allen have money? Otherwise, how does this guy keep getting people to create his inspirations? I want some of that mojo to rub off on me.
If lightning struck twice for me like it did for him, you'd better believe I'd have something to show for it much better than "Horizons" and "Algannon".
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
I'm guessing he is one charismatic mofo or something.
Isn't this a pretty good description of every DS game... ever?
Valve wrote:
Little bit of some drama going on Between DS and one of the fired employees in the reply posts at Gamasutra. Derek actually reveals why DA was fired.
Also what the Jason Blood guy did to get fired.
This is looking to be some good popcorn material!
I might even pay a subscription to watch it unfold =P
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
The best things in life are
Derek Smart.
That's my retort to any take on this.
NOTE: Not a doodle bug.
Steam-XBox-PSN: Lobstermancer
It's actually not such a terrible game. I don't know that it's anything I'd ever sink money into but did enjoy the couple hours I was able to put into it so far. The graphics could definitely use some work, but the gameplay is decent. I would rather play a game with ok graphics and fun gameplay than amazing graphics and no gameplay. I'll be keeping an eye on this one to see how it pans out.
Just imagine posting a bug report or petition....
(doorbell rings)
"hello ?"
"Hi, I'm Derek Smart - allow me to introduce my forehead to the bridge of your nose! And consider THAT to be the answer to your petition".
There is no honour without pie.
God damn you all, you're like the jerks in the woods that read the Necronomicon out loud. Now all we can do is hope and pray that He Who Can Not Be Named didn't see this post. If you've unleash HWCNBN upon the board again, we all may perish. Or be insulted. Probably insulted, like, really insulted, viciously and very harshly insulted.
HA! I was thinking about posting something similar.
Also, "He Who Must Not be Named", or is that too much Harry Potter-ish?
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I paid the $20 to get the client. As someone with experience dealing with a product AFTER David Allen, I feel for the team. If I knew it was that easy to get money to develop a game I'd get in that business.
Tanglebones wrote:
Let me know what you think of it. I did enjoy the couple days I put into it but from what I heard there was nothing to do towards the higher levels. There is talk about them fixing it and adding additional content but still am on the edge about $20. Somewhat stupid as even if it provides a month of fun it's worth it.
I'm not touching it until the "relaunch" I don't want to get a bad taste in my mouth. But, I'll update the thread.
Tanglebones wrote:
The biggest problem with it is that the 25% that is a blatant rip off of WoW, negatively colors the other 70% that is similar to WoW as a rip off too. Then that leaves the 5% that is unique and interesting.
The more you play it the more you discover that is not a WoW ripoff but you have to look for it.
The stuff that is similar to WoW is not poor quality but it is poorer quality so the flaws stand out.
This game is much more attractive as a F2P game than as a sub game.
It could be interesting. They plan on releasing regular expansions every 6 months so it looks like they plan on going the Guild Wars route. If they are able to release these expansions with enough content that distinguishes itself from WoW, the game could stand on its own.
edit: I am currently on the 7 day trial. The study system is broken. It worked for a day. I have a lv 11 targoth (orc) healer, a lv 7 ash something (human) scout and a lvl 3 magus. (i stopped playing because it was a WoW mage rip off)
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
Is the study system like what Eve does? That's what it looks like from the website.
Which brings me back to: I want a scifi space sim mmog that is more userfriendly than Eve but has some depth too it! Where is my Jumpgate 2! I am willing to pay good money if someone would take it!
Tanglebones wrote:
Yes the study system is what EvE does. My first impressions of it though is that it ramps up quickly. The basic skills take 10 minutes each. Each of the skills the basic skills unlock takes 4 hours each to learn. Rank 2 of the basic skills take 40 minutes each to learn.
I don't recall Eve's system. I think it offered numerous level 1 skills to train each of which takes a few minutes to learn. The next ranks take 5, 10, 20 minutes and so on. Again, Alganon is 4 hours for rank 2 and only 3 basic skills to start with. These skills are passive abilities and I think you can unlock special quest lines with skills learned through the study system.
Alganon also lets you buy actions (useable spells/powers) every few levels and has talent trees with talent points awarded every level starting at level 1.
Each class also gets "stances" or "auras" at level 10, 20 and 30 that let you switch roles in the trinity. Every class apparently past level 30 will be able to function in every role (dps, tank, healer/support). At level 10, you get a stance that buffs your primary role. (healer-healing, warrior-tank, magus-aoe dps) At 20 and 30 they get the stance that buffs them for a alternate role. Healers get a deathwalk ability and Magi get a frost stance that lets them primary tank. Rangers get a lifeblood stance that lets them be primary healers.
I think the game you are looking for may be Black Prophecy.
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
How's the performance and everything? Is it playable or still a huge mess?
What's your player name and what server are you on? If i get on maybe we can group up.
Tanglebones wrote:
I'm on the trial server so i don't think we can group. The game is empty so performance is perfectly fine... I think I've seen a total of 4 other players in the ~15 hours I've put in the game.
I'm playing my ash-whatever (human) scout now. Its actually a fun twist on the hunter. I haven't gotten a pet yet but I'm doing pretty good damage without one. You get dual wield from the start =) Her name is ajari.
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
Arise dead thread!
I was going to create a catch-all for Alganon but didn't think many people would check it out. Just wanted to give a head's up that it released today. Thanks to woot and my recent LoTRO purchase I'm not gonna be giving this one a shot. I did enjoy the first few levels when I originally tried the game out though.
$19.95 for the client, no further purchases. There is an item shop that you can browse through. I agree it would help (Mounts, armor sets, etc ...) but how much it would help depends on the game itself. Without enough playtime it's tough to tell if it would be necessary.