Otherland - New MMO Based on Otherland Novel: Intro, Part One
MMORPG.com news Manager keith Cross traveled recently to Singapore to learn more about a new MMO being developed by Real U Studios based on the Otherland novel series by author Tad Williams. Today, Keith begins with part one of our introduction to this new game.
Recently, a group of European and North American game journalists were invited to Singapore to visit Real U studios, where we were promised a first look at a previously unannounced MMO project. Today, the embargo on the information has been lifted and we can freely talk about Otherland, a game based on the novel series of the same name by Tad Williams. Tad was the surprise guest of honor for the trip, and was at the main presentation along with Kevin Buckner, the Senior Producer on Otherland, and Andrew Carter, CEO of Real U.
Otherland is currently about 75% through the pre-production phase, and about 15% complete according to Real U. The game is being developed with a special version of the Unreal Engine 3, and is currently scheduled for release in 2010.
;)
If you're unfamiliar with the Otherland books, the series is set in a not to distant future where an advanced version of the internet is accessed using virtual reality gear of varying quality. Once inside, you enter a virtual world that looks and feels almost real, where people do all the things we do online today such as shopping, socializing, gaming; but for them it's a fully immersive environment rather than a flat glowing screen. Visitors to the net are treated to near infinite possibilities in terms of the types of environments in which they can choose to exist. Think of it as a place where any book ever written, any game ever made, and any place on earth throughout history, and more, could potentially be a world within this virtual space.
But, like everything cool, it is corrupted by power, money, and politics. Problems for this online world begin to occur when a cartel of influential individuals create a super version of the net, where for all intents and purposes the worlds there are as real as the real one. Real enough that one can continue to experience the sensations of this place, even if their body has been disconnected from their VR gear, leaving their disconnected consciousness online, wondering why they can't log off.
This is where the players begin in the game version. Trapped online and left with the task of figuring out what's going on. We were told on the studio tour that one of the main underlying themes of Otherland is to leave question marks in the players' minds. In fact, players, or at least their characters, aren't meant to fully understand that they are in a virtual space. They explained that a focus on story is going to be one of the main features of this game and the player's quest to figure out how this world works and ultimately how to escape is all a part of that story.
;)
Currently in the world of MMOs, successful implementation of story is the exception rather than the rule, having only been done well in a handful of games. Real U seems to have a good shot at adding their game to the list of story driven MMOs with the involvement of Tad Williams. The game industry is notorious for slapping the names of well known individuals on the cover of a box in the hopes of selling more copies, even if the named individual actually had little to do with the creation of the game, but that doesn't appear to be the plan with Otherland. When asked how involved in the project he is, Tad quips, "they can't get rid of me." Following up by saying, "when I met the creative team, it was such a fit." and that they were on similar wavelengths concerning what Otherland is and could be. The team was not looking to recreate the novels, but to use them as a starting point, and building a new universe out of those ideas.
It isn't really hard to conceive some of the directions they could go with an IP as potentially diverse as Otherland. One area of potential lies in the near infinite number of different worlds that can exist in this game. In the books, the characters visit worlds that are fully immersed in the sci-fi or fantasy genres, some are based on real world places both historical and contemporary, others drop all pretence of simulating reality and are unashamedly virtual in their design. The designers at Real U are faced with the challenge of putting themselves in the shoes of designers in the fictional future of Otherland, where they have to ask themselves, if they were designers in this medium what would they create and how would they do it. When the goal of a particular world isn't to simulate reality, then there is a lot of leeway in terms of what they can do with the physics of a space. We were told that there would be a number of worlds with there own special physics, including worlds that are giant wind tunnels, and worlds with cartoon visuals and logic. In Tad's words it will be like "zillions of different games, but interconnected by story and by the similar rules of Otherland."
In part two of this article we'll talk more about the worlds within Otherland, including specific looks at Lambda Mall, a major social hub and one of the first online locations visited in the novels, and a world that is a simulation of the planet Mars. We'll also get down to the nitty-gritty and look at what they were able to tell us about the game's systems and mechanics like combat, quests, crafting, travel, business models, and more.
Oooooof. Otherland as an MMO? I remember reading the books and I always felt confused. I hope the MMO can capture the spirit of the books.
Seriously though, a lot of Otherlands appeal was in the story and the plot-turns and twists. I wonder how they want to capture that.
I just, just, just wrote about this :P
http://www.cedarstreet.net/post/Otherland-e28093-The-MMO.aspx
I'm not holding my breath.
It's really hard to imagine making an MMO based on these books really work. Considering the MMO competition both now and in development, I'd say this particular game's prospects of being successful are pretty slim.
Oh, I'm sure that it will be very confusing, being that is being devolped in Singapore...
Sorry, teasing...
The books were great, kept me on the edge of my seat, I only hope they can do the IP justice.
i haven't read the books, but the potential for the game sounds facinating. i really look forward to future articles and coverage of this one. thx.
Someday maybe you'll get one of these right. It's Otherland, not Outland. Check your thread title. *sigh*
I don't know about the game, but I'm at least interested in reading the books now.
If you like sci-fi with lots of plot complications, you will like the otherland series.
It's kinda funny, I just so happen to be re-re-reading these books again, and am on the fourth one. It's a great series, and I look forward to seeing how well it pans out in game format. Although, for those who are Tad Williams fans, this is most likely not too surprising of an announcement, since the official Otherlands forum, this was brought up and discussed in October of 2007 I believe...
I'd actually be more interested in a SP game than an MMO, but eitherway, I'm interested in watching this progress...
I loved the books, but to me it seems that an mmo like this would be hard to make without a linear progression. Considering radically the areas changed from one spot to the next, I'm interested in seeing how they plan on doing classes and stuff. However that said I'm excited to see how it progresses.
As far as its success, in a world with tons of fantasy mmo's and a few sci fi mmos, it could be a nice change of pace having a game that could be as bizzare as that Alice in Wonderland video game one second and then a typical fantasy mmo the next.
The title says Outlands I thought you were talking about the James Axler series Outlanders which would have been cool too, a post apocalyptic setting. Although his Deathlands series would have been better, hes got some crazy creatures in there.
Hmmmm singapore and Tad Williams.
Sounds like Free 2 play with a very expensive item mall, and a backgound check to make sure you come from the "Right Family"
As others are thinking, as soon as I heard it was being developed in Singapore, I immediately stopped giving a crap about this game. As racist as it may be, I have absolutely no faith in Asia-based companies being able to develop a good MMO.
Here's comes the next sci-fi F2P grind-fest with great graphics and a tad bit more story than the others.
The novels are great, and reading them I remember thinking some of the scenarios/worlds the characters found themselves in would have been really cool to visit and play around in(not gonna spoil anything for potential readers of Otherland), though preferably in front of the computer screen, wouldn't wanna be trapped in there for real hehe :)
The story line reminds me of the .//hack anime and games. Did this novel inspire that?
Tad Williams should have stuck to the fantasy genre. His journey into Sci-Fi was at best mediocre. Trying to imagine converting this world into a game is a real reach.
Wonder if they actually took the time to do some market surveys to actually see if they had an acceptable audience to play this game.? If they had, I think the results would have been a shock to them in a negative sort of way.
To the guy above, I don't think you need worrying about spoiling anything to potential readers. Most people won't even get through the first book. To say they plod is an understatement.
Never read the novel, but the world deeply need a sci-fi mmo. In my book the only great sci-fi mmo ever produced was Anarchy Online, but it,s old now.
Though I do read quite a bit, i've never heard of this series. I'd love to check it out. I would also love to see a game based on Dietz's Legion of the Damned series..pvp wise, it would be so much fun. A more casual and fun community based series I'd like to see as an MMO would be Kim Harrison's....dunno what the series is called so I'll just say Rachel Morgan series...if anyone knows what I'm talking about...anyway yeah, I'll def. check out those books next time I goto the book store.
Yes, the series is very similar and probably did inspire it. I just bought the book series a few months back and haven't gotten a chance to read them yet. //hack is one of my favorite anime series, it's just too bad the games were so weak.
I was just thinking that too. Either way it seems pretty interesting and I invite 'something different'. It could end up like a story driven Second Life of some sort...
It reminds me of when I mentioned 'ReBoot' as an MMORPG because it allows players to get into all sorts of different 'games' and settings. I still think a ReBoot MMORPG would kick serious ass hehe. Good luck to Otherworld - I'll keep an eye on the project every now and then :)
It does sound interesting and I'll have to keep an eye out for it. I've only read his fantasy stuff, so I might give this a shot.
I did a few searches on the MMO, and every where I read, it is a company in Germany that is doing the game, not singapore. Unless that is old information, I wasn't really able to find any connection to Singapore.
Good for Tad, I hope he got the majority of his money up front. Fun books, hard to imagine an MMO based on them. It does have 'zones' built into the mythology, but the content of the zones could be anything and everything.
As for 'wish list' MMO based on novels, Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs trilogy would be a fun world to play in, with no 'real death' PvP and lose your 'sleeve' would be a fun concept. The film rights to the first book 'Altered Carbon' were bought up by the producer of The Matrix Films and is supposedly being directed by V for Vendetta's James McTeigue for a 2009 release.
If they can pull this one off and keep the story-line as a driving force in the game this could be awesome :P
But, I'm really not sure how this will play out in an MMO setting, of course they COULD make it amazing, but I seriously doubt that they have money to put behind it to make it what it should be. Also, I would imagine relatively few people even know about this series and everything behind it, so even though I'm a huge fan, I wouldn't say the IP is all that strong.
Its really surprising for me to hear this, but all I can do is hope that Tad actually has his hand deep into the development process for this game, it could be awe inspiring if done right, multiple worlds, multiple game types, honestly more could be done with this one IP than most any other simply because of how Otherland works.
In a way not having read the series and not really knowing what's going on "behind the scenes" is kind of what it's all about and what they're aiming for, so that would actually be a benefit as a new player to not having read the series I guess, not sure how they're gonna make it as equally compelling for those who actually have read it and already know "what it's all about".
But I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that mr Tad Williams is deeply involved in the project, i seem to recall from author bio that he has a background in software engineering or something like that so it would be kind of cool if he was on hand taking part in the actual designing and programming of the project!
They've got their work cut out if they wish to be thrown in to the deep of the MMO industry and keep afloat. Being Sci Fi is a good thing as the Sci Fi side of the pie not nearly as crowded as the High fantasy section. They're up against an army of jaded MMO players,especially the PVE only.
PVE only crowds gonna be disappointed. FFA pvp and lootable players it seems to suggest.
"There will also be another space, outside of the worlds, where there will be a reason for player-versus-player conflict - but Real U refuses to be drawn on the details."
"It's all about bring able to suck information from the world around you -and that includes other players, who you can "hack into" in order to steal their information, take or copy their items, or plunder their virtual remnants after "death"."
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=249125
The sense of something big and dangerous is very, very real in those books. I hope they can capture that haunted feeling of the main characters of Otherland.
Wow, this looks and sounds like it is going to be awesome! This is one I am going to have to keep track of and I suppose go and read the books as well.
Nice. Never even heard of the books, sounds like an expansion on "Neuromancer". But i guess everything cyberpunk or similar is an expansion on that book...
I don't care if it's successfull or not.
More Sci-Fi MMOs = <3
Spoken in true ignorance of the articles and the makers. Singapore is a very Western city. The author, Tad Williams, has a big hand in the game, saying, "it is the sequel." The designers are all from Australia. Most grinder MMO's are from China and Korea, not Singapore. In fact, try to name three grinding MMOs from Singapore. GG on reading.
I love the infinite expansion possibilities. They said in the future, it would be possible for people th reach the level of the world controllers and design their own world, a nice addition of user content. You could go from playing a WoW-style MMO one day, to playing TR the next. It's the Matrix with infinite possibilities and without the cheesy Eurotrash styling and rave glo-sticks.
As said before, we've been given great hopes about a game before, only to have them dashed. With the "tens of millions" of Euros they are spending, and the fact that the creator is deep into the game's development, there is a good chance for this MMO to live up to the hype.
ah...L2 is korean. while it may not me your cup of tea, it is one of the finest mmo's to be released in the past decade
And again, everyone will be special, and in the end, nobody are special at all. Im not holding my breath for that one.
This game sounds pretty interesting. I'm looking forward to learning more about the game. But if it is a PVP FFA (like EVE), then I'll have to take a pass. Sorry folks, I don't find that to be very fun. The books sound good too. Is there an audio book version (unabridged of course) I can listen to during my commute?
Sounds like a cool game idea,but as soon as i see singapore i cringe.What i would want to know before getting any further knowledge of this game is it's environment they talk about.They talk endless ideas and possibilities,however when i see any games coming from korea and Singapore region i see very incomplete environments,this is why this game catches me by surprise to say the least.I would expect and environment that is fully interactive and not just some fake looking towns where by 90% of the background is static and plays no part in the game at all other than to sit there and look at it ..lol.
If they put up buildings i want to be able to enter everyone of them and see interactive NPC's in every one of them or don't bother wasting my time.I want to see some extra cool effort like maybe some buildings you can climb up a tree to enter or climb up a pole or the drain pipe on the side of the wall.I would like to see npc's that have many different responses to you ,depending on your stance in the game.By this ,i don't mean ..does the npc consider you hostile or friendly,i want it to be realistic and in depth.
A game that takes the environment and makes it extremely interactive,would be a sure fire winner.I think most of us would even consider a smallish game that could grow with updates and expansions.At least this way we would have the basics of a very strong game,and not the usual rubbish we been seeing.We are long past the days of double dragon where it is you fighting some npc or other player with a pile of static backgrounds and buildings.
I'm cross-posting this so it doesn't get lost in the forums.
Here's an update for anyone interested: http://www.tadwilliams.com/
That's the author's official website & blog. He goes into a lot more detail about the game there and has a ton of concep art shots plus a few more screenshots as well. He's really, really excited about the project and is working very closely with the game developers so there is actually a chance this game could be quality after all.
Check it out and see what you think.
Very interesting...keeping a eye on it.
All you have to do is look at Sony's The Matrix Online to see that there is not very much demand for this type of game in this genre. Pretty obvious someone is too much a fan of Tad's to take the time to do any market research.
I suppose if they had a brilliant developer who designs a very nice playable game things might change, but I would not hold your breath.
Personally, I'm looking forward to hearing a lot more about Otherland. Unlike some of the people here who are either too jaded or too willing to jump to conclusions, I'm going to wait before I cast any judgement. The books are great, the idea is great... if the follow through is great, then I think we got a winner on our hands.
If you got some correlation = causation issues here. Using this same logic, Blizzard shouldn't make WoW because Rubies of Eventide only had 20,000 subscribers.
As to the many comments about the story, I don't think it needs a story. Just set it up like the books, with maybe 15 different realms to start, each with their own motivations, and let the players make of it what they will. The players can make the story.... just like the books.
ah...L2 is korean. while it may not me your cup of tea, it is one of the finest mmo's to be released in the past decade
If you enjoy click*click*click grindfest with absolutely nothing but click*click*clickgrind*grind*grind, then I suppose.
I'll agree with the others though. Asians trying to make a game based on western storytelling will be a disaster. Can't wait to see how every building will look like a pagoda, there will be no quests of note, just click*click*click*grind*grind*grind.
Oh, maybe they can figure out how to use Gods from different religions as antagonist and say it's all based on ancient asian mythology?
/gamefail incoming
Holy cow, this is awesome, hope they will succeed into making this as awesome as the books or better.
-message removed, said same things over in the next post-
I really dont think you can make this kind of a generalization.. the matrix online failed cause of seriously poor game design and exceptionally bad execution. I would rather draw a line between SWG - SOE - The Matrix Online. SOE managed to drive the matrix online into the ground even with a blockbuster franchise to cash in on. The game was just poorly made, launched too early and badly supported after launch.
I've noticed that any new Sci-Fi themed mmo always generates a lot of buzz, many of us are really really tired with the same old same old elves, dwarves, humans and orcs swing-a-sword-or-cast-a-spell type of game that we've seen over and over and over again.
Now let's hope this game or some other Sci-Fi title in the near future will lay claim to the top Sci-Fi title soon, I've been waiting for a decent Sci-Fi mmo since I stopped playing SWG when it got ruined.
Along with The Matrix, Otherland, seems like a great storyline for an MMO.
The fact that MxO failed has nothing to do with its genre. I still can't think of a better suited plot for an MMO.
What Otherland brings into the mix, imo, is the "interconnected worlds/theatres".
There could be central hubs - public zones, perhaps tied to time zones - where players can interact and where people can travel to the various worlds.
Secret rooms/worlds, virgin worlds/zones (waiting to be molded into some guilds fantasy land), fantasy based zones, futuristic, sci-fi zones, contemporary inner city, yada, yada, yada. You can have the best of any MMO out there, and then some.
Players accumulate skills which may or may not be valuable in any particular world.
It shouldn't be necessary to constantly switch zones/worlds for new content.
Imo, the MMO should pick up either after or way before the actual books storyline. Having to try and constantly save the world from god-like beings that can alter the matrix is too daunting.
Let players/guilds become the next menace.
If they can actually let go of the book's storyline and instead capture the essence of the environment and the "rules" of how players can affect and create/destroy within the world, I think they have the basis for a great MMO.
Im really confused about this. I dont know Otherland, but I like cyberpunk / future cities with big skycrapers, lights, banners.. and Im dreaming about "living" in futuristic city where you can socialize..but even fight sometime (maybe in sewers..some contract to clean or find something..) [i know there is neocron..but its too old and not too much socializing..]
I hope Otherland will get forum here too and I hope in early beta ;-D
if you never read the book I seriously suggest giving it a shot.
Those of you who say you read them seem like you don't understand the potential of this IP as a MMO. For those of you who never read it, the book is set in the near future and people log into the internet as a virtual reality ala the matrix although they know they are jacked in and they aren't batteries for an AI or anything liek that. it's more like Shadowrun if you ever heard of that.
Well they discover this part of the network that is hyper real and way better than the normal network and some of the characters get trapped in it. I won't give away any more of the plot but get this - one of the stories characters plays the future version of an MMORPG. He has this uber barbarian character who is one of the best on the server. He plays a fantasy based MMO and there are refrences to all kinds of other types of games too.
When the characters travel on Otherland trying to get out they go from world to world, Not all of them are sci -fi based. So this game, assuming when you play you are jacked into Otherland, has the ptoential to have each different zone be a different genre. So you might be in a fantasy zone, then a sci-fi zone, then a western etc.
I don't know how this would all pan out on gameplay and character progression but don't get pigeon holed into thinking this will be a sci-fi game.
Great series of books. One of my favorites.
But as a MMO with our current technology, I don't know.
Now if you could play through the books with the technology described by the books... maybe then
That character who plays the barbarian (he's gravely ill in "real life", no?) is playing in a fantasy world based on "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser". Fun series and great to see it referred to in Otherland.
Having an MMO that will change the "rules of gameplay" when transitioning between zones/worlds (one world is fantasy based, another sci-fi, another with zero-grav, one is a fairy tale, another is straight out of WWI), an MMO that will offer rich and detailed content in those different zones, could be the next MMO "breakthrough".
There are many ways this can go wrong though. I think one mistake would be to try and emulate the book's storyline. I repeat that they should think about a setting that occurs before or after those actual events.
Character progression may very well be one of the more interesting aspects this game can introduce. I can think of at least two levels of progression - your character's "real life" persona. Your avatar's ability to improve its interface/interaction with the VR. Your ability to grasp aspects of the "meta-world", manipulate the code, create items.
(For example, It might be relatively easy to create non-aggressive items/structures in the public zone - you can create go-carts, gliders, or jet-packs to address moving around while in a hub zone, but in the "world zones" it becomes progressively harder to manipulate the environment, to bend it to your will. The reverse holds true as well - if you have a Holy Avenger sword in your fantasy-themed world and decide to transition to the public zone, the sword will end up appearing as a walking stick perhaps. Now travel with your walking stick to the sci-fi world and your walking stick ends up being a lasar rifle.)
There can also be your avatar's progression through the world zone it decides to level up in. My friends and I might prefer to establish a base on a planet, or hold a castle by a medieval town, or perhaps rule an island archipeligo. Each zone will have a set of skills that need to be improved upon. Some skills may overlap between zones, while others are entirely unecessary and leave your character vulnerable. So before switching to another world you may have to find a way to acquire a new skill in the public zone from an NPC or PC.
PvP is another interesting aspect of gameplay that could do well in an MMO like this. I can see a non-consequencial annoyance PvP in the hub zones, to an all out sadistic PvP zone world made specifically for players wanting to play that way.
I think it has the potential to be a great game. Good luck to those in Singapore.
Otherland, what an awesome novel and a brilliant idea to use it as an inspiration for a MMORPG.
Oh how I wish, that this dream would become true.