Introversion announces Multiwinia

[glassjoe]

Hi - I just wanted to post a quick comment on the actual name of the game "Multiwinia".

I'm not sure if this was already discussed elsewhere, and has already been resolved, but doesn't it seem like losing the name "Darwinia" is a bad idea?

I mean, personally, I like the name "Darwinia". And I think "Multiwinia" would only appeal to (or even make sense to) previous players of the game and not very many new players.

Why not name the game "Darwinia - Tournament" or just "Darwinia - Online"? Or how about "Darwinia - Total War" (probably not possible tho, for copyright reasons).

I don't know if naming the game "Multiwinia" is really *that* big of a deal, but for some reason I felt compelled to comment on it. Personally, I can't think of ANY successful game series that had a successful sequel that involved significantly changing the name of the original game.

To get an idea of what I'm trying to say here, imagine if the sequel to "Half-Life 1" was called "Full-Life".
Or imagine if the multiplayer sequel to the original Unreal singleplayer game was named "Multireal", instead of "Unreal - Tournament".
Or an even better example, now that I think about it, imagine if instead of "Ultima Online", this game was released as "Multima".

Thoughts?

[KingAl]

'Multiwinia' was only ever a codename. There's a massive brainstorm over here on what to call the game. Essentially, IV want to market it as an entirely different game - it's set in the same universe, yes, but the gameplay is completely dissimilar, so they don't plan on retaining the original title in case people bring their Darwinia related preconceptions to the table.

[glassjoe]

Thanks KingAl. I read that other thread and I can see how it can be hard to *simultaneously* integrate elements of the Darwinia universe into the new game, yet still keeping it seperate as new stand-alone game, and not seen as a sequel.

But now that I think about it, Blizzard was able to do that with the Warcraft brand/universe, with "Warcraft 3" and "World of Warcraft" being totally different games set in the same universe. Oh yeah! same goes for the "Sims" brand and universe (well sort of) and the "Warhammer 40k" universe too.

I still like the name Darwinia, and think it should stay as part of the game title, since both games are set in the same universe. But that's just me. And who knows... maybe IV will come up with an even better title down the road.

[Tricycle21]

hmm... by the way, I want some more screenshots (or videos, of course)....

[rotw]

To get an idea of what I'm trying to say here, imagine if the sequel to "Half-Life 1" was called "Full-Life".

Half-life is a scientific term, as are "opposing force", "decay" (Used in relation to half-life. The lambda symbol in the half-life equation stands for the decay constant ) and "blueshift", so that wouldn't have fit in line with the scientific undertone Valve was trying to make.

Still, I find Multiwinia kinda cool Darwinia Online, Tournament etc. would be to boring...

[Davidkra]

w00t, FINALLY

[microchip08]

What the hell are you saying 'finally' for? This was posted close to a year ago.

Jelco

As in Finally I'm saying Finally w00t!

[Babylon5]

This should be good. Hell, everything is from IV

[Oberon]

Ah, so it's finally 2008. When in 2008 can we expect to see Multiwinia on steam?

Also, will we be able to have custom units and stuff? Like, instead of using a squad using a Hero Unit or something? Like, a single unit with the power of a squad with interchangeable weapons?

[KingAl]

Ah, so it's finally 2008. When in 2008 can we expect to see Multiwinia on steam?

Also, will we be able to have custom units and stuff? Like, instead of using a squad using a Hero Unit or something? Like, a single unit with the power of a squad with interchangeable weapons?

Yeah, somehow doubt it on the hero unit - indeed, the squad had to be reduced in power to work in a multiplayer context, or so I gather. I think the roadmap suggests 'early 2008', so probably some time after July.

EDIT: Ah, there we go, Mid 2008 now. Shooting for late next January

[Oberon]

Ah, so it's finally 2008. When in 2008 can we expect to see Multiwinia on steam?

Also, will we be able to have custom units and stuff? Like, instead of using a squad using a Hero Unit or something? Like, a single unit with the power of a squad with interchangeable weapons?

Yeah, somehow doubt it on the hero unit - indeed, the squad had to be reduced in power to work in a multiplayer context, or so I gather. I think the roadmap suggests 'early 2008', so probably some time after July.

EDIT: Ah, there we go, Mid 2008 now. Shooting for late next January

I still think that fully-customizeable hero unit is a good idea. I guess calling it a hero unit isn't the greatest description though. It's more like an avatar of the player, and can be outfitted with weapons designed by players in a Weapons editor.

No, full-map explosions won't happen. That's just stupid.

Neither will rail-shotguns. That's just cheap.

I forgot to mention that the avatar unit thing is not a Squad replacement... It's just the player's avatar character.

[martin]

Multiplayer games are already fairly difficult to balance, I imagine multiwinia especially so - so how do you propose balancing my custom avatar weapons?

[Mas Tnega]

Compare your avatar's centre of gravity with its point of tipping, OBVIOUSLY.

[martin]

Compare your avatar's centre of gravity with its point of tipping, OBVIOUSLY.

dammit, I knew I was missing something big when it came to balancing games! you're a genius!

[Oberon]

Well, there'd be a few types of avatar characters depending on how they're built. I'm not sure what to call the classes yet.

-Skinny/small class

This class is better used lightly armored, and is quite fast. However they are frail. More info on them whenever I feel like developing this idea.

-Normal class

Medium armor, medium speed. Could be faster or slower depending on their amount of armor. Can carry heavier weapons than smaller/skinnier avatars. More info whenever I feel like it.

Big/brute class

These are tanks. They are incredibly slow, but have incredible armor, except for a point that MUST be predetermined by the creator for fairness.

Attack it's weakpoint for massive damage. More info whenever I feel like it.

Now, for weapons? You will be denied access to making automatic grenade launchers, automatic railgun-shotguns, and automatic rocketlaunchers. Those are cheap as ass. Beam shotguns are go, however. So are beam machineguns. The Squads use them so your avatar can use them too. You can even change the color of your laser to match the color of your avatar!

Also, weapons information about balance and such:

-No, shotgun rockets are out.

-Shotgun grenade launchers may be out too.

-Flamethrowers? Hell yes.

-There WILL be really, REALLY short range weapons for the quick lightly armored type.

-There will be weapons like flamethrowers/RPGs/enhanced lasers for the medium type.

-There will be powerful weapons for the heavy type, but they will have relatively long reload times to offset their power.


It'd be interesting if funky trap weapons could be made, like a grenade that suddenly switches directions in the air, or a grenade that becomes a mine.