Kotaku
A month back or so I noted that Colorado game developer NetDevil had signed a deal with a big toy company to make a massively multiplayer online game.
There were some impressive guesses in the comments, but none of them, I don't think, have the potential that the actual game will.
On Monday we broke the news that NetDevil and LEGO had announced a deal to create an MMO. Earlier today I had a chance to speak with Ryan Seabury, the upcoming game's producer, about how they landed the title, the game's terrific potential and other things NetDevil.
While Seabury couldn't talk about what the game, due to hit late next year, would include specifically, he could talk generalities.
"The specific IPs we will use are still under investigation, but you can safely say it's World of LEGO. It won't be confined to one thing," he said. "We are focusing on an experience that is playing and building and socializing."
"There will be building components."
Seabury said the team was first asked if they were interested in working on the game last year, several months before Auto Assault shipped.
The team was trying to figure out what they should work on next when they received an email from the company asking if they were interesting in the concept.
"We went to the store bought a bunch of LEGO and put them on the table and we were building stuff," he said.
Then in December a business developer and technology evaluator from LEGO flew out to Colorado to meet with the team.
When the finally got the tap to make the game, Seabury and the team thought it was because of their work with destructible environments, but later they heard that the real key was their passion for gaming.
LEGO is leaving much of the development process in the hands of NetDevil, so far they've decided it's going to be a fully-realized game, not just a sandbox and that the community is going to play a big role.
Since getting the project the game has grown from their all-time high of 48, just before the Auto Assault ship, to more than 60 people. And they expect they could grow to the 150 person range in a couple of years.
I think this could be one of the biggest things to happen to MMOs in a long time. Could be? The point is it has great, tremendous potential from the variety of IP and the ability to create your own in-game content to the blending of the virtual and the real worlds.
For instance, when I asked Seabury if there was any talk of a function that would allow you to create something in -game and then buy it in the real world he would only say that that idea is not off the table.
Comments
It's LEGO :)
The LEGO company and (brand) hate it when it is bastardised in this way.
I'm all for a LEGO mmo.
OMFG YES IT IS LEGO GET IT RIGHT
I am not an MMO gamer. I don't really like the idea of MMO games.... however... Lego MMO... I am willing to try. especially with the "building components"
This game sounds amazing, but I have to say that the writing in this post was not up to the usual Crecente standards.
^^^
what he said
jebus Brian, no 'S' on LEGO *shakes fist*
Awesome. I love the bastardized Lego Kotaku pointing fish. I actually built that same LEGO last month with my nephew. One of those ten dollar set pieces along with some Scuba Steve type guy with a harpoon.
I, too, would be willing to try a game of this type.
"Since getting the project the game has grown from their all-time high of 48, just before the Auto Assault ship, to more than 60 people."
I assume 'game' should be 'company'?
It would be cool if the world was setup sort of like Disneyland. Thy could have a common area of standard lego stuff, but then you could go into Space World, Pirate World, Midevil World . . .
Man, someone should hire me.
Ah, so *that's* what happened to Auto Assault. While I'm annoyed that original IP with promise was suddenly demoted to second-string, I guess this is one of the best opportunities Netdevil will ever get. Let's see what comes of it. Cool logo work too.
I hope one of these days they decide to make a Bionicle MMO. I don't know why i like them, but they actually do a good job with the story and background for that line of toys.
@Fuzz:
Of course it would be 'Classic' Lego Space.
I said it once, I'll say it again: if this has monthly fee, they can so sodomize themselves. I will e-mail the team and tell them just that. This has the opportunity to be a revolutionary game, and want to play it.
What's wrong Narsil, mommy isn't giving you enough allowance to play? Not the Devs fault... It's your fault for being a cheap bastard, thats all. Figure out that MMOs take server cost, employees to maintain and police the world, and if you want new content you need to pay a team to create that. Everyone who complains when an MMO has a fee needs to diaf.
I pretty much dislike most MMOs, but I could see getting back into one like this.
...assuming that the bumrape isn't in effect, like the typical MMO.
I can't wait to build gigantic Lego wangs in 3-D and people the landscape with them. Humongous dongs as far as the eye can see! That's the future of MMO's.
man do I love legos, I can't wait to build all this cool stuff out of legos, there will be legos over here, and legos over there.
legos legos legos legos legos legos LEGOS
There is already a service on LEGO's website where you download the "LEGO Digital Dsigner" and then you can but what you create.
http://factory.lego.com/default.aspx
(You have to have an account.)
Please let there be pirates
Please let there be fucking pirates
OMFG PIRATES!
I loved lego as a kid, and even though my parents often didn't spring for the fancy themed sets, i DID happen to get a pirate set for christmas that rocked my socks off. Some of the most fun I've had in my childhood, filling the gap between Commander Keen and Nintendo 64.
OH! And get this, i had this simple lego airplane from some time earlier, so... I MIXED THEM TOGETHER! Pirates on a plane!
That's the potential that a LEGO MMO game has, and I am greatly looking forward to it. However, I think it is in everyone's best interest if they have little or no monthly fees; this is the kind of thing that will attract children to online gaming (foresight: LEGO pedo stalkers), but kids dont have $40 monthly allowances or easy access to credit card info.
You know what would make this really cool? If the game could control my NXT ( http://mindstorms.lego.com/ ) bots through a Bluetooth dongle.
So, like, some of your creations in the game could have programmable, independent counterparts in real life. That would be really cool.
Why not use the British spelling LEGOES?
j/k ;-)
I predict the eventual downfall of the LEGO MMO by the hands of the Pokemon MMO.
I don't know, I'm a little skeptical. LEGO's are cool, but in an MMO environment? If it's kid oriented how will they keep people from ruining the game (and children) with obscene LEGO constructions? Will there actually be a storyline? Will it be an RPG? An action game? Not a game? Is it going to be second life for kids?
I'm going to stick with "it's to early to tell", and just hope that everything works out for the best.
Well...if i were to make a Lego MMO that was a real game, it would be easy.
Take the basics of Lego Star Wars already.
Destructable environments, currency in Lego studs, and the ability to customize your avatar.
Now lets take MMO concepts. Classes and races would be of course based on how you made your avatar, like Space themed avatars would inherit space attributes, Town themed avatars would inherit town attributes, and so on and so forth.
Character development would be through leveling up by killing lego creatures / enemies. You gain studs for money and pieces to build stuff.
You can buy pieces, trade for pieces, get them via drops (or destroying parts of the environment) and use those pieces to build stuff.
Stuff like....Mounts/Vehicles for your avatar to ride around in. I can imagine wheels, engines, etc would fetch a high price. You can build anything from walkers, to rolling vehicles, to flying vehicles, to boats and submarines and space vehicles. You can also have access to lego animals like horses, dinosaurs, dragons or trolls (if you throw in the Lego Harry Potter animals).
You could also build weapons, i personally made a lot of lego 6 miniguns.
You could of buy plots of land and build Lego homes and castles, mix themes up and have satellite dishes with Wild West and Knights and things of that nature.
There would of course be quests for rarer and more powerful pieces, faster wheels, bigger rocket engines, etc.
A MMORPG with LEGO is not too difficult to imagine. Implementing is another question entirely.
@Verum:
LEGO's?
Ok - now you're just doing this to annoy me.
:)
Yes to Pirates - mmm lovely Piratey goodness -
http://www.1000steine.com/brickset/images/6285-1.jpg
I'm sure there will be a way to buy your models for real life use. Lego already has a LEGO CAD program that you can use in order to build models and then purchase a set of pieces exactly conforming to your specifications.
I maintain making a lego MMO is like selling cocaine in kiddy packs.
I don't care how good it is, and I don't care if half of it disappears into the carpet for me to step on when I'm in bare feet- when I get kids, I'm buying them the real thing. I'm even going to hang out and use it with them.
In fact, forget the kids. Ima go buy me some lego :D
I wonder how long it will take before this game ends up being exploited by "brickfarmers"?
"they've decided it's going to be a fully-realized game, not just a sandbox"
That alone make me very encouraged about the potential of this game, after all that fearful speculation about "Second Life with Legos"
MacHarper : Boy thanks for the memories.. I was hoping someone would link to the Black Seas Barracuda...
You can already design your own LEGO creations online at their site, and they'll ship you exactly pieces you need to make it. So the really, really backend, in terms of LEGO themselves being able to collect and ship unique kits is already out there, and that, to me, would be one of the biggest stumbling blocks they might face. I think the stretch from there to taking a design in game, where presumably they know exactly which pieces you put into it, (assuming every in-game piece has an available RL counterpart), is fairly manageable. If nothing else, look at Spore, where it might be possible to get 3D printed sculptures of your creatures. I'd say it's almost certainly going to be a feature. The profit alone for LEGO practically demands it. Talk about your (maybe-not-so) micro-payment system.
"It's LEGO :)"
*sigh* Okay, here's the straight rundown on how to properly use the name in question. It's not legos. It's not Legos. It's not LEGOs. And it's certainly not supposed to be pluralized (LEGO's or any variant thereof). It's not even supposed to be used as a noun. It's LEGO blocks/bricks/toys/etc., with the full name being in all-caps. And when being used in print (particularly by any member of the press), the first use of any trademark owned by The LEGO Group should always include the appropriate trademark tag. In the case of a trademark that has been around long enough to make it all the way through the process and become a registered trademark, it's the little (R) symbol (e.g. LEGO®). If it's a fairly new line that's currently undergoing the registration process, it's the (TM) symbol (e.g. EXO-FORCE™). And since every proper rule should have at least one exception, you don't ever use the trademark symbol on the word "LEGO" when it's being used as part of a company name, like The LEGO Group, The LEGO Company, LEGO Direct, or LEGO Shop at Home.
"Please let there be pirates
Please let there be fucking pirates"
Dude, make up your mind. Do you want Johnny and Orlando, or do you want Nigel and Bluebeard? On a guess, you probably can't have both.
"In fact, forget the kids. Ima go buy me some lego :D"
Why not start with style? Buy this:
http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/Product.aspx?p=10179&cn=416&d...
Wow. I do not play MMO's as-is, but when this takes off, I'm all over it like white on rice. How come no one has thought of this idea before?!
also, regarding this statement:
Do you think we'll be able to build (and save) components from other components? And components from those components? And can I access your components too? I'm totally gonna go object-oriented all over this shit.
LEGO ROCKET SHIP GUYS, A REAL ONE. HOP ON, WE GONNA TAKE THIS THING TO THE MOON!
one or two things;
LEGO is latin for "i build", therefore plural of LEGO is LEGO.
is LEGO the Kotaku Pointing Fishes' most recent posts' subject (they charge heaps, make kewl stuffs and they may even fly their staff to meetings)?
actual comment alert;
if its to make proper use of building with LEGO then it should be like at home: limited brick sets.
(ie. you only have whats in your set, not an infinite supply)
There IS an infinite supply of LEGO in LEGO Digital Designer
"LEGO is latin for "i build", therefore plural of LEGO is LEGO."
Ah, but the Latin translation is purely coincidence. Any true LEGO afficionado can tell you that the name comes from the Danish "leg godt" which means (say it with me, class) "play well". Funny, I seem to remember that being their company slogan of late...
And there is no plural of "LEGO" because it is not a noun. It is a trademarked name that should only be used as an adjective.
How creative! They're making a Blockland clone.
www.blockland.us
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