In the latest in our series of articles about independently developed MMOs, we take a look at Paradox: The Nexus of Entropy. It's a game that might just fit a need in your life! Check it out!

When some people get fed up with the status quo, they leave for greener pastures. Countless players have turned up their nose at MMOs and moved on. Nonetheless, there are some who choose to take the more difficult road, the one that entails building an MMO that meets their expectations. Meet Chris Brinkley and David Conner, the two gentlemen responsible for Paradox: The Nexus of Entropy. Over the last three years, they've been working to establish the preliminary groundwork for their fantasy-based MMORPG. Intended to be the 'real deal' of MMOs, Chris and David are aiming to provide a solid community based around their players and 'high-quality, balanced game mechanics' that work around their community.

Read more of Cassandra Khaw's Independency: Paradox: The Nexus of Entropy.

>"...aiming to provide a solid community based around their players and 'high-quality, balanced game mechanics' "

It's a good start. But MMOs always show anything but gameplay in the initial vids.

Originally posted by saker
I see no details of actual software, no screenshots of anything real. I sense vaporware...

Exactly.  Anyone can spout ideas and usually do.

I intend to create an MMO that provides everything anyone could want, plus stuff the other guy wants, too.  And it will all be balanced, perfect and fun.  And F2P

Screenies to follow.

Just call it what it is.  An attempt to bilk a few thousand MMO starved players out of 100 bucks on a kickstarter project.  It's easy now a days.

You have a huge market of naive people willing to fall for the same scams, a process (kickstarter) to get cash fast with nothing in return, and a website (like this) all too eager to advertise their scam.

If you're going to do a project on an indie two person MMO at least do it on Project Gorgon that actually has a server, players testing it in pre-alpha and a multi-year devblog at www.eldergame.com and the two devs are past lead developers on AC1/AC2 and EQ2.

Here are some of Paradox's features we would like to iterate. 

What makes Paradox the next generation of MMOs?

• A community grown around players, with developers who listen to their customers.
• Huge amount of progression and end game content such as; a player government system, city vs. city warfare, possibility of gaining player fame through various achievements, team oriented grouping and full scale raids requiring individuals of different classes and races, story driven quests, hidden zones, elusive trade skill recipes, powerful unique spells and items, hosted server events and celebrations.
• A player government system based on an economic and political structure operated by trade skills, vendor interaction, wars and player decisions.
• 14 playable races with a choice of 15 primary classes, and more than 100 possible class combinations.
• Interactive questing with world and event dependent stories. Puzzle and quest locations change for each player upon receiving a new quest. Quests are based on in game factors such as weather, class, faction, etc. and reward the player admirably depending on their difficulty.
• A manually controlled combat system based primarily on a player’s skill rather than an auto-attack system.
• Public dungeons within dozens of zones, most of which are initially uncharted to players.
• Many difficult and fun group or raid zones whose entry requires solving a puzzle or avoiding/removing traps.
• An in-game store which NEVER sells content that allows players an advantage over others through real life monetary transactions such as weapons, armor, in-game coin or level enhancements. Players will only find content like guild banners, t-shirts, vanity gear, etc.
• An epic main story whose progression depends on choices made by the player community.
• A player “Permanent Record” searchable by other players, detailing player achievements and server related criminal actions like cheating, kill-stealing, etc.
• A crafting system based mostly on player skills instead of mind numbing, monotonous clicking.
• Player owned trade skill shops and private homes.
• City bazaars.
• A huge world with ships, mounted units, wagons, caravans, air ships, and teleporters. All of which can be built, controlled and automated by players.
• Player built towns, Top Secret player contracted missions, tons of customization and much, much more!

Originally posted by muar34
Kolboldfodder -- We are not looking for donations, we did not sign up for kickstarter, nor do we intend  too.

 

Here are some of Paradox's features we would like to iterate. 

 

 

What makes Paradox the next generation of MMOs?

• A community grown around players, with developers who listen to their customers.
• Huge amount of progression and end game content such as; a player government system, city vs. city warfare, possibility of gaining player fame through various achievements, team oriented grouping and full scale raids requiring individuals of different classes and races, story driven quests, hidden zones, elusive trade skill recipes, powerful unique spells and items, hosted server events and celebrations.
• A player government system based on an economic and political structure operated by trade skills, vendor interaction, wars and player decisions.
• 14 playable races with a choice of 15 primary classes, and more than 100 possible class combinations.
• Interactive questing with world and event dependent stories. Puzzle and quest locations change for each player upon receiving a new quest. Quests are based on in game factors such as weather, class, faction, etc. and reward the player admirably depending on their difficulty.
• A manually controlled combat system based primarily on a player’s skill rather than an auto-attack system.
• Public dungeons within dozens of zones, most of which are initially uncharted to players.
• Many difficult and fun group or raid zones whose entry requires solving a puzzle or avoiding/removing traps.
• An in-game store which NEVER sells content that allows players an advantage over others through real life monetary transactions such as weapons, armor, in-game coin or level enhancements. Players will only find content like guild banners, t-shirts, vanity gear, etc.
• An epic main story whose progression depends on choices made by the player community.
• A player “Permanent Record” searchable by other players, detailing player achievements and server related criminal actions like cheating, kill-stealing, etc.
• A crafting system based mostly on player skills instead of mind numbing, monotonous clicking.
• Player owned trade skill shops and private homes.
• City bazaars.
• A huge world with ships, mounted units, wagons, caravans, air ships, and teleporters. All of which can be built, controlled and automated by players.
• Player built towns, Top Secret player contracted missions, tons of customization and much, much more!

Our website will display features and mechanics soon involving game play.

 

 

At this time screenshots, actual game graphics are not available.

 

Any feedback is positive feedback. Again, we would like to stress we are not a kickstarter game looking to get funding from individual donations.

 

The website was designed on our current budget, and will be upgraded when time and finances allow.

 

 

We appreciate the time and effort Cassandra Khaw provided to us, and we look forward to continuing our growth among the MMORPG community, and make a difference (eventually) in the MMO Industry.

 

 

Well I wish you luck, but let me ask you one question, why classes and levels?  That just seems to run counter to everything else you are doing with this game.  You can put all the fancy mechanisms you want in a game, but if you preclude a gamer from making a unique avatar what is the point?  Personally I think Smedley should be put in a straight jacket for introducing the class/level system in EQ which seems to be the predominate design used in most MMO's.

Originally posted by gakule
Ozmodan, given that EQ was designed to be based off D&D, and it had levels, it's not too hard to figure out why it was implemented. People like levels in games... otherwise games without them would be plentiful and successful.

Levels are not the big deal, lots of decent games have levels without classes.  Classes are stupid and developers that implement them are idiots.  As you can guess I hate being pidgeon holed into a specific role.  The developers are just being lazy because they don't want to balance things.  The funny thing is, even with classes they end up constantly fighting balance issues.

Paradox: The Nexus of Entropy offers the player unique options. They have the choice of playing a straight forward class, or specializing in other roles to become a completely altered class. One of which is not listed among the 15 primary classes.

Also, levels alone won't determine the importance of a player, or what they can contribute to other players, guilds, or all around community. 

The player has complete control of what he/she wants to become.

Please help us become apart of the gaming world, and assist us in starting a community.  http://www.paradoxnoe.com

Originally posted by spinner_vis
how exactly are they going to stop/discourage people from using multiple accounts?

 

Multiple accounts can be owned, however they can not be used in conjunction to one player at the same given time.

There is currently software that can be run within the server to determine if multiple accounts are being ran simultaneously. In which a series of tests can be performed to conclude if the person is "2 boxing" or using multiple accounts. This software has been tested on a number of gaming servers and has a record of being accurate.

Note: Multiple accounts are allowed on a single IP. During registration however each account will need to be linked. (ie, family members within the same household owning seperate accounts) Other terms and conditions have been recognized, and applied (ie, LAN parties, and similar events)

Originally posted by halo_0_1
Interesting... RuneScape is one MMO that actually has pretty much what Paradox wants to accomplish, and even has interesting quests and NPCs, but it's dismissed by most 'hardcore' players as a 'bad' MMO.

Take RuneScape out of the browser, give it the graphics of at least 2004 standards, and I'd play it.