Artix

Thursday, August 8, 2013

The Future of MechQuest

I applaud Korin's brutally honest post about the end of MechQuest. It was from the heart, and in my opinion, extremely accurate. It shined a light on the things we did right and the mistakes we need to learn from as we create games in the future. Which is what I would like to talk to you about today.... The Future of MechQuest. Which, of course, depends on Project: Omni....

What is "Project: Omni"?

For the past year we have watched as more and more of our players moved away from playing video games on web and are now playing on their iPhones, Androids, iPads and other mobile devices. This has created a challenge for us because Flash does not run on most phones. As you know, we created our games including MechQuest, DragonFable, EpicDuel, AdventureQuest Worlds & AQClassic using Adobe Flash. Futhermore, Adobe seems to have 'thrown in the towel' for Flash & Air on mobile. As a result, we have started Project: Omni. It is not a game. Omni means "all." It is the code name for our new method of creating creating games. It will allow us to create games that run on the web, iphones, androids, windows, tablets, toasters, etc. We call them... omni-games.

Can MechQuest become an omni-game?

It most certainly can! I saw this with a lot of enthusiasm but everyone needs to understand. Everything needs to be re-created from scratch to do it. Some of the things that were really easy to do in the Flash version of MechQuest are border-line impossible to do in an omni-game.  However, somethings that were border-line impossible to do in Flash... are now possible! (It is a super weird but liberating trade off.) So... if we have to recreate everything and make a "NEW MECHQUEST" to go mobile anyway, we might as well brain storm with the sky being the limit. While the current Flash version of MechQuest will live on forever, updated by Maegwyn and her team, the NEXT version of MechQuest could be a huge step forward for us.

If the sky is the limit... what should MechQuest 2 be?

What would you actually love playing in the next version of MechQuest? A 3D mecha simulator? Dragons vs Mecha? A tactical stategy game? An expansive universe where you can pilot ships, drop mecha on planets, and then battle for the planets? A pvp game? Old school anime or crazy new 3D style?

I feel that we should have a lot of conversation about what to build next. You are the best person to have it with. The people who are reading this are the serious fans of MechQuest. The people who want to see it live on into the next century. (You probably want to play it on your phone and then be able to log onto your computer and continue where you left off with better graphics.) So please kick off the conversations about what we should build next. And if someone says something REALLY GOOD... please... for the love of all that is explody and awesome.... send me a link on Twitter, Facebook, Email, or via a smoke signal!

Battle on!

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