Some of my thoughts on game development, mostly geared toward online and social (social meaning interacting with others, not candy crushing and virtual farming) gaming. All just observations based on my experiences working in the gaming industry. I may be right, I many be crazy… I just may be the lunatic you’re looking for. Enjoy. 🙂
Seeing Red: A Palatable PK System Arrives in Wizardry Online
Seeing Red: A Palatable PK System Arrives in Wizardry Online
November 28, 2012Â / John Albano
Learning from the past to build a better PK future
When the topic of Player Killers (PKs) comes up, the reaction is often split between “worst pa...
Sandboxes, Game Design and the Stigma of TOY
Sandboxes, Game Design and the Stigma of TOY
March 15, 2012 / John AlbanoÂ
The term sandbox has been around for years now and there is a general understanding of what it means but no concrete definition. It is generally accepted in the industry ...
2003: A Look at the Golden Age of Diversity in MMOs
2003: A Look at the Golden Age of Diversity in MMOs
October 23, 2011 / John Albano
2003 seemed to be both the apex and the end of diversity in MMOs. It was a year when not only were many titles released but each was significantly and uniquely...
Open World PVP – It's that 80/20 thing...
Open World PVP – It's that 80/20 thing...
August 31, 2011 / John Albano
"One way to kill PvP servers is to introduce PvE servers.
What are you going to prey on if all the lambs are gone? Wolfs hunting wolfs…"
That quote is from a poster name...
Virtual Worlds for Real Life People - Part 2
Virtual Worlds for Real Life People - Part 2
October 17, 2009 / John AlbanoÂ
SOCIAL TOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY PLAYER
2010 is the year for social interaction to regain focus in MMOs. I make proclamations like that as frequent as NEVER ...
Virtual Worlds for Real Life People - Part 1
Virtual Worlds for Real Life People - Part 1
October 12, 2009 / John Albano
ME AND MY 140 BEST BUDDIES
When designing the social and interactive gameplay of a virtual world, a lot of developers seem to be putting a lot of effort into creating...
Single-Shard/Server Gameworlds - EVE Online
Single-Shard/Server Gameworlds - EVE Online
February 22, 2009 / John AlbanoÂ
EVE Online
Title: EVE Online
Developer: CCP Games
Publisher: CCP Games (originally SSI)
Release Date: 06 May 2003
Single-Shard Universe
One ...
Will A Monthly Sub Make It in the Age of Free to Play?
January 14, 2009 / John AlbanoÂ
(Archive of related news articles from 2009-2013 at the end of article)
It’s only been recently on this side of the globe that item malls have started to catch on. Several years ago Puzzle Pirates sailed ou...
Improving Travel in MMOs
January 10, 2009 / John AlbanoÂ
While I’m a fan of UO’s on-the-spot recall system, there’s just a ton of resistance to that from players and devs so I won’t even go there. I revisited a few MMOs to take a look at the various ways that they hav...
Engaging Missions - Auto Assault
October 20, 2008 / John AlbanoÂ
Auto Assault
Title: Auto Assault
Developer: NetDevil
Publisher: NCSoft
Release Date: 13 April 2006
Done Right: Engaging Mission Content
It wasn’t that Auto Assault had some magnificent de...