M:tG MMO?

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
https://crypticstudios.com/magic

No idea just what form this'll take. But they could make a modernized version of the old Shandalar game and I'd play the crap out of it. Hoping it's something along those lines. If it's not heavily employing some version of the card game itself, this seems like a missed opportunity. But then, what do I know? Maybe they just want to get the IP out there more.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I don't know. It just sounds like a D&D or Warcraft MMO but set in the MTG universe. You're probably a Planeswalker and you fight others and monsters/villains, probably by casting spells (to keep the MTG flavor). So mainly "Wizard"/magic casting (for those D&D based). And perhaps you can get "allies" (other players as Planeswalkers) to have massive battles.

Since Shandalar is one of the planes in the MTG multiverse, you might be able to go there, depending on how it's implemented.

Bottom line is that details are lacking from that link to determine anything, really :)
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
I don't know. It just sounds like a D&D or Warcraft MMO but set in the MTG universe. You're probably a Planeswalker and you fight others and monsters/villains, probably by casting spells (to keep the MTG flavor). So mainly "Wizard"/magic casting (for those D&D based). And perhaps you can get "allies" (other players as Planeswalkers) to have massive battles.
Yeah, that possibility occurred to me, but I'm hoping they do something more to make it special.

Since Shandalar is one of the planes in the MTG multiverse, you might be able to go there, depending on how it's implemented.
Oh yeah, probably. But I mean the old 1997 computer game as an example of a computer game that got it right. Obviously they don't want to just copy that game entirely, but it did a great job of creating its own game world with mechanics and incorporating Magic as a game into that. I think if they developed a nice, polished game with that sort of incorporation, there could be a huge market for it. Ante was part of the old game and that's out of the picture now, but they could still develop a sort of card-earning system where you defeated monsters and could build up a collection of cards. If it's an MMO, they could implement a trading system and perhaps have quests where you get chances to interact with other players, like two-headed giant or something like that. There could be duels between players for PvP in-game. They could even have MMO-style raid boss stuff with Archenemy or something like it. I don't actually have any expertise on the subject, though. Maybe I'm just weird and what I think would be cool wouldn't actually sell very well at all.

Bottom line is that details are lacking from that link to determine anything, really :)
Well yeah, this was only just announced within the last day or so. It's still very early.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I think Magic Duels pretty much has what you describe, really, with the exception of the "teamwork" part. I can't think of any MMO out there right now that isn't first person - pretty much the point or idea of an MMO is that you create an avatar of sorts so you "play" as that person in the game. And as such, I can't see said avatar sitting down with another avatar for a traditional game of Magic. :)
 
T

Terentius

Guest
I'd rather they just spend time fleshing out 3d models and animations for cards in MTGO 2 or whatever. Tryna play Yu-Gi-Oh over here.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
I think Magic Duels pretty much has what you describe, really, with the exception of the "teamwork" part. I can't think of any MMO out there right now that isn't first person - pretty much the point or idea of an MMO is that you create an avatar of sorts so you "play" as that person in the game. And as such, I can't see said avatar sitting down with another avatar for a traditional game of Magic. :)
The 1997 computer game has those things, just as a single-player game rather than an MMO. I think a lot of MMO games use a third-person view. I know the game is super-old, so it seems like a big leap from something like it to a modern MMO. But like, a newer version of the same concept is Puzzle Quest. You could imagine a Puzzle Quest MMO, right? It seems like it would be no big deal to implement a system where the combat takes place in a different format from the world exploration in a multiplayer setting. I think some modern MMO games already do a less extreme version of this. When I played ESO, I'd see other players doing quests that I'd already done, so they were fighting an invisible boss that was their version of the boss I'd just defeated. You could have your own play shift from a third-person exploration setting to a Magic battlefield, while from the perspectives of other players in the game, your character avatar could shift to some state indicating that you're "in a duel" (perhaps in some cases they'd be capable of spectating your duel). There could be different cards available on different planes, so you'd be trekking between planes. You could even have different zones on different planes with special environments where the Magic gameplay is modified in some way, like Vanguard cards and such. Some of the introductory set-focused questline stuff in Magic Duels takes advantage of the medium, but it's pretty limited in scope. There is a lot of flexibility available if Magic is done as a computer game. Your avatar could go into an area where only cards from a single plane are allowed, so you'd have to build a deck based around that. There could be a special series of quests where you earn and use Hero cards like they did for events during Theros Block. Or they could use concepts that don't work in traditional Magic, like Aswan Jaguar or Faerie Dragon.
 

turgy22

Nothing Special
No idea just what form this'll take. But they could make a modernized version of the old Shandalar game and I'd play the crap out of it. Hoping it's something along those lines.
Prepare to be disappointed. I'd be shocked if this were anything other than a WoW variant using MTG's IP.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Oversoul said:
The 1997 computer game has those things, just as a single-player game...
Um, yes. And as a single-player game with an "avatar" walking around, it's no different from the old Ultimas or Avernum series or any of the old-school RPGs.

And unlike MMOs, the avatar in the Microprose game doesn't "level up" or have stats, whereas most MMOs (I would say all, but I'm certainly not familiar with them all) do. That's pretty much the point of an MMO as I tried to mention earlier; the player takes on the persona of someone in that environment/world and acts accordingly and has stats to increase.

Oversoul said:
But like, a newer version of the same concept is Puzzle Quest.
Puzzle Quest? A game more than 10 years old? I don't think that's a very good example... and again, it's a single-player Strategy/Match-3/RPG. Envisioning it as an MMO pretty much is the same idea: you are the "character" and you cast spells (which is represented in the single player game as making matches to charge up them up).

Again, I'm not discounting what you are saying and what you are envisioning as there hasn't been any details on the gameplay (that I know of; I didn't check recently). I'm just saying that *I* think it's highly unlikely that it will be that :)
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Um, yes. And as a single-player game with an "avatar" walking around, it's no different from the old Ultimas or Avernum series or any of the old-school RPGs.

And unlike MMOs, the avatar in the Microprose game doesn't "level up" or have stats, whereas most MMOs (I would say all, but I'm certainly not familiar with them all) do. That's pretty much the point of an MMO as I tried to mention earlier; the player takes on the persona of someone in that environment/world and acts accordingly and has stats to increase.
I thought the defining feature of an MMO was that it was massive multiplayer online, not specifically the presence of a level-up system. Why is it that leveling up must be the point of an MMO? I don't see that as a constraint. Seems like an MMO without a level-up system could be fine.

Puzzle Quest? A game more than 10 years old? I don't think that's a very good example... and again, it's a single-player Strategy/Match-3/RPG. Envisioning it as an MMO pretty much is the same idea: you are the "character" and you cast spells (which is represented in the single player game as making matches to charge up them up).
This seems to be another in the same line of objection, so maybe in that sense it's not a very good example. On the other hand, it's a more recent and more popular version of the same concept I'm talking about. Yes, it is single-player. Well, what if it weren't? What if you made a game that was like Puzzle Quest, but in which players traveled in the same world and could team up with each other or fight against each other? Puzzle Quest even has a level up system, if that's the sticking point.

Honestly, I was thinking of the original Puzzle Quest because that was the one I played, but the game has had multiple versions, including one that came out last year.

On an amusing, but not importantly related note, I saw some comment about this announcement of a Magic MMO that was something like, "Now they just need to go back in time 10 years to when MMO games were still popular." I wouldn't go that far myself, but it was a little funny anyway.

Again, I'm not discounting what you are saying and what you are envisioning as there hasn't been any details on the gameplay (that I know of; I didn't check recently). I'm just saying that *I* think it's highly unlikely that it will be that :)
Oh, I'm with you there. I'm more envisioning what I would like to see, not what I think they'll actually do. I think an updated version of the same concept as the old game would be cool, multiplayer or otherwise. But if it's Everquest Planeswalker Edition or whatever, then I'm out. The connection to an established, successful card game would be the most immediate and recognizable feature of a Magic MMO, and I think they'd be fools not to tie than in at a fundamental level, whatever form the game takes. But I fully anticipate disappointment on this one.
 

turgy22

Nothing Special
I thought the defining feature of an MMO was that it was massive multiplayer online, not specifically the presence of a level-up system. Why is it that leveling up must be the point of an MMO? I don't see that as a constraint. Seems like an MMO without a level-up system could be fine.
I agree with this. I don't think every MMO has to be an MMO RPG. I've played a number of games online that I would consider MMOs (though I suppose the "massive" could be subjective) and never played one set up like a typical RPG, with the leveling up and whatnot.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Oversoul said:
thought the defining feature of an MMO was that it was massive multiplayer online, not specifically the presence of a level-up system. Why is it that leveling up must be the point of an MMO? I don't see that as a constraint. Seems like an MMO without a level-up system could be fine.
I did say "most". I agree that leveling up is not a "must-have" feature (didn't The Sims have a MMO?) but then it depends on the genre of the game. I would say Strategy MMOs do not have a level up system unless the focus is the player as the "king" - then it might (alas, I can't think of any specific examples except maybe Age of Empires foray into MMO a few years back?). But how I'm thinking of what a MTG MMO might be, where the player takes on the persona of a Planeswalker ('cause frankly, I can't see why a player would be a "mere mortal" limited on a specific plane, although that can also happen), would be like WoW or Age of Conan or Ultima Online or Everquest - I can't see it NOT having a level up feature. How else do you measure your progress throughout the game? Unless it's solely by "learning"/collecting more and more spells (or "cards").
 
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