Animation Source Forums

Ok, here's the thing.

What would you like to see in a Talespin MMO game ?

Locations, characters, settings, features, things to do, lore ?

The Talespin setting will be a part of a bigger project - The Disney Afternoon MMO.

It may never happen, but dreams are free, right ?

Hmm, I'm not really sure... I guess all the places and characters from the show. I don't play MMOs (or any video game for that matter) because of a general lack of time to spend on it, but it would still be cool to see a TS and DA MMO created. I may have some specific ideas soon; if I do, I'll be sure to post them!

P.S. - Since you're talking about making a MMO game, I'm assuming you program... I'm curious: what languages do you code?

I do not program, yet. I'm only gathering ideas. Usually I am more of a.....mastermind ..... like a movie director. When I have enough ideas, I sit down with the editor and discuss.

As far as the MMO is concerned - I've been playing MMO's for quite some time. And there's one mistake that every developer makes along the way. They almost never listen to their fan base. If you're working on an established IP you have to be really careful, because this IP has a following, a fan base, that may know the IP better than you do. That's why you have to ask them regularly - what do they want to see in the game, what jobs, locations, characters, etc.

I don't play MMOs, for the same reasons as 0x7B and also because I'm against the idea of having to pay a mensual fee when you've already BOUGHT the game.
But if they would make a DA MMO, I would try it of course...(like it was going to happen )


One (big) problem I have with that, is that you will always do the same things again and again if you only listen to the fans. Sometimes, people just don't KNOW what they would truly want...So, to me, it needs to be both : listen to what people say, but also try new ways.

Well, that's why I wrote ASK, and not necessarily listen. Sometimes people ask for things that are impossible to make or fit into the game.

The monthly fee is a necessity. If you want new content every 2 - 3 months you need to pay. The salaries in the game industry are pretty high, and nobody will make new content, just because he or she loves the IP. $10 - $15 a month is not that high, and if you subscribe for more at once, there's always a discount.

The whole thing with the DA MMO is that Disney will not invest in it. A developer has to try to acquire the rights and fund the game. Disney will only have to take care of the marketing. A deep research has to be made, though. If there are enough people that are willing to buy and pay a fee for the game then it's worth it. If not, then just scrap the idea altogether.

Well maybe that's the thing. Who said you need new content? Why not just play the game with the content included, and only pay if you want more?
This works for "normal" games, I think it should be the same with MMO - only players who would like access to more areas for example would play.


Well it's always the same problem. Companies don't want to take any risk, so if they don't have a proof that it will be profitable, they won't. And when it comes to 20-year-old properties, it's even more difficult. It's a vicious circle : if no one takes the risk, then they won't know if it could be profitable or not, so no one takes the risk.

That's also why I think the comics from Boom Studios are very important for the future of the Disney Afternoon shows. If they are successful (in terms of sales), you can bet that Disney will exploit them again. If they aren't, you'll be sure that they will just forget them for who knows how long...

I had forgot, but since you posted that topic, I had found a year ago a MMORPG game that is probably the closest we could find to the Talespin universe, as it features planes driven by animals characters...



http://skyrates.net

I haven't tried it yet, but I will when I get the time. What do you think? If the game is interesting, maybe we could organize some meetings or whatever...

That's usually not how it works with MMOs. Good MMOs charge a monthly fee, unless they're casual. The Pay To Play model works for World Of WarCraft - A strong IP, good game, strong marketing - 11 Million Subscribers.

If your game is good, has good marketing and has enough content, then I do not see a reason why you could not charge a monthly fee for it. Here's the thing. Good games nowadays cost a lot of money. GTA 4's budget was 50 - 70 million. You need a lot of money to just develop the game, the marketing costs money too. If the game's good, there are a lot of people who are willing to pay a monthly fee.

But in this case there's another problem - The Dev. would have to work with Disney and make sure that the IP's get enough attention and marketing before the game's development starts. Disney would have to make new toys, comics, etc.

That's another subject, but to me that's the biggest problem currently...They spend millions of dollars on games that get rarely profitable in the end, when they could just make more simple games or 2D games that would cost much less but be as much interesting, if not more.

That's where you're wrong. Yes GTA may have costed 50 - 70 million to make, but the game sold 15 - 16 million copies on consoles only, and another few million on PC. The game also sold huge amounts of DLC, so it made A LOT of money. A budget that high is a rare occasion - most next gen games have a budget in the range of $10 - $20 million.

On the other hand, I enjoy playing point 'n' click adventure games - Awesome storylines, characters and graphics, and most importantly, not so expensive to make.

Yes but GTA is an exception...Many high budget games aren't profitable. And it may not last, considering GTA 4 was not THAT well received by critics, and the other recent GTA games on PSP and DS didn't sell well.


Yes that's what I meant : I recently finished Runaway 3 (not released everywhere yet!) and planning to buy Sadwick Chronicles. They are very beautiful and interesting games, a shame that they won't sell as much as the "3D shooting / action / FPS / high budget / greyscale" trend games (which I'm fed up since long ago), but as long as they're profitable, that's the most important. If only they would market them better...

Many high budget games are not profitable and do not sell well simply because they're either bad games ( many people read reviews ) or are not marketed well.

As far as adventure games are concerned - they are not marketed extensively, simply because they're usually being published by small publishers. You will not see EA, Activision, Ubisoft, THQ publish an adventure game.