Hopefully some better news.

[RoninaThorstone]

It depends on the engine. They may not have the capabilities yet and would need engineers to do some dramatic expansion of the engines capabilities. So assuming that the engine didn't come with some kind of toolkit for full 3d combat (space combat), then yes, it would be pretty difficult and time consuming to build one into the game.

This is a thrown together demo we made for some of our HeroCloud developers who were asking how SWTOR did their space combat. We don't exactly have the in house art resources to make it look as good, so we used our old Heroes Journey assets. It's just 1 texture, some inverted heightmaps, 3 rocks, 2 crysals, a box, and a whole bunch of particle effects. Simple games like these can be made in the HeroEngine with only a couple of scripters and a world builder. And right out of the box, it's online, high scores are being shared between players, and you could easily put multiple players in the same areas, or let them all have their own instances

BioWare's Star Wars The Old Republic is built using the HeroEngine [ http://www.heroengine.com/world-building ] which was also being used by a small game developer known as Colony Studios for their space MMO Universe Online.

This video is an early demo of what they had come up with. Clearly, the HeroEngine is capable of forging a space experience its just a matter of what BioWare chooses to do with it.

I think I would enjoyed swtor a lot more if I hadn't ventured into the Space Combat VII (continued) thread and realized how much more could have easily been done.

[Edge-]

Interesting. I have to wonder if BioWare has that capability though. They are working with a super early beta version of the engine (starting in like, 07 IIRC) that they finished in-house, while the Hero Engine guys have since finished the engine and licensed the completed version out to other developers.

[Valeron]

Way too many people put the blame on the hero engine. It's what BioWare did with that engine that is the issue, not the game engine itself.

[RoninaThorstone]

Interesting. I have to wonder if BioWare has that capability though. They are working with a super early beta version of the engine (starting in like, 07 IIRC) that they finished in-house, while the Hero Engine guys have since finished the engine and licensed the completed version out to other developers.

Which would be a testament to how much they royally fucked up.
If 3 guys can make a better swtors space game (multiplayer) and swtor can't because they destroyed the hero engine... Well. Yeah. That would impressive (In the 'quadriplegia kills himself accidentally with plastic spork' kind of way)

[Pizza the Hutt]

I'm sorry if it's a non-existing word, but I honestly thought it was. Could put a blame on having English not as my first language, or just simply being stupid. But atleast thanks for not posting any constructive feedback on the topic.

There is no possible constructive feedback since Cathar are just an unnecessary fluff matter, add nothing substantial to the game and don't serve to fix any of the problems with the game , which subscriber and Cartel money would be better used by doing instead of this.

[Leadsop]

^^^^ This.

What does adding a meaningless race truly add to the game?

We could be getting work on actual new content, space, ops, etc... but instead we're getting Aric Jorgan skins for everyone. It's a skin, the 'race' itself adds absolutely nothing to the game, save for an opportunity for them to extract more cash from you via the shop.

I'm so thrilled. *sigh*

[RoninaThorstone]

^^^^ This.

What does adding a meaningless race truly add to the game?

We could be getting work on actual new content, space, ops, etc... but instead we're getting Aric Jorgan skins for everyone. It's a skin, the 'race' itself adds absolutely nothing to the game, save for an opportunity for them to extract more cash from you via the shop.

I'm so thrilled. *sigh*

Actually they are nerfing aric jorgans skin to make it more human.

[Kelimbror]

Actually they are nerfing aric jorgans skin to make it more human.

RIP Aric Jorgan. Retconned in the year of our Sith Lord 2013. May his beauty lie forever in our screenshots and his personality inspire us to greater things. A great friend, a great leader. He would have died for you, but instead he died for this. Let his death be a lesson. Never forget, the Cartel Market is the root of all evil.

Always remember. Money is greater than all.
(This should make anyone smile, as it is not to be taken seriously ((satire)) )

[RoninaThorstone]

RIP Aric Jorgan. Retconned in the year of our Sith Lord 2013. May his beauty lie forever in our screenshots and his personality inspire us to greater things. A great friend, a great leader. He would have died for you, but instead he died for this. Let his death be a lesson. Never forget, the Cartel Market is the root of all evil.

Always remember. Money is greater than all.
(This should make anyone smile, as it is not to be taken seriously ((satire)) )

*insert Che Guevara style Aric portrait*

[Pizza the Hutt]

^^^^ This.

What does adding a meaningless race truly add to the game?

We could be getting work on actual new content, space, ops, etc... but instead we're getting Aric Jorgan skins for everyone. It's a skin, the 'race' itself adds absolutely nothing to the game, save for an opportunity for them to extract more cash from you via the shop.

I'm so thrilled. *sigh*

Agreed... One of the problems with the game is that is seems like there are so many star wars fanboy casuals who love this kind of non-content... which makes it even harder for the company to justify spending the resources to add real content for the real gamers. The best thing that could happen to SWTOR is for this whole Cathar thing to flop big time because maybe they'll see what is really needed is meat and potatoes.

[Kelimbror]

One of the problems with the game is that is seems like there are so many star wars fanboy casuals who love this kind of non-content

It's one thing to say offering reskins and more cartel packs as content is absolutely horrific and awful, but it's another to call people 'fanboy casuals'. Being a fanboy has nothing to do with being casual and v/v. While I agree with your assessment of people just eating up this garbage as content, it's not really good to call them fanboys or use nonaccurate terms like 'casual' in talking about it.

It makes me very angry, but it's all kinds of people who are buying this stuff and strangely defending it at all costs. Not just 'fanboys' or 'casuals'. And yeah, fanboy talk is a no no here anyways.

[Pizza the Hutt]

It's one thing to say offering reskins and more cartel packs as content is absolutely horrific and awful, but it's another to call people 'fanboy casuals'. Being a fanboy has nothing to do with being casual and v/v. While I agree with your assessment of people just eating up this garbage as content, it's not really good to call them fanboys or use nonaccurate terms like 'casual' in talking about it.

It makes me very angry, but it's all kinds of people who are buying this stuff and strangely defending it at all costs. Not just 'fanboys' or 'casuals'. And yeah, fanboy talk is a no no here anyways.

Being a fanboy has nothing to do with being a casual, and vice versa. Yes, That is true. I never said that was the case. However, I specifically put both terms in as I am specifically referring to people who are both, as there is nothing that prevents a combination of the two. It's specifically the people that don't play often but eat this garbage non-content up that is what I'm talking about because Bioware sees them as their target market until something proves it otherwise to them.

[Kelimbror]

BeIt's specifically the people that don't play often but eat this garbage non-content up that is what I'm talking about because Bioware sees them as their target market until something proves it otherwise to them.

But honestly that's just a baseless assumption. There are plenty of people on this very forum, that for their own reasons have been adamantly defending this stuff to the point of calling reskins 'content', but they aren' casual.

The point is that you are using both terms as derogatory slams, whether intentional or not, best to just stick to the point that selling reskins and more cartel packs instead of actual meat and potatoes is a travesty...but even then you aren't going to get very far on these boards anymore.

Pretty sad, because from the outside looking in it looks like weird brainwashing, but I can't rightly say that to anyone no matter how crazy it seems they are to defend x feature. They think we're just as crazy for refusing to define content as colors and clothes. I mean, we have a little bit more weight since we have semantic and literal proof of what content is through language and common perception, but no one can really be 'right' at the end of the day. (because no one is ever right on a forum)

I'm trying really hard to have some SWTOR catharsis, but I feel it's not going to happen until Wildstar releases. I can push the limits of expressing my anger and disgust without making it personal. We all toe the line plenty of times, but yeah...people are people. It's whatever you know?

EA will burn one day. Hopefully

[davispunx]

Most people play video games casually, so why would a developer alienate the large majority of its fan base to cater to a small minority.

[Kelimbror]

Most people play video games casually, so why would a developer alienate the large majority of its fan base to cater to a small minority.

Why does a developer have to alienate either group? Also fan base =/= potential, past, or current customers. Believe it or not, if you are classifying the fan base as a majority, you are mistaken. The fan base is the small minority. It's that group of people that they have chosen to milk larger amounts of money from in order to sustain the model. If everyone taking part in it is happy, then I can't really say it's wrong. It feels dirty and doesn't please me at all, but that doesn't mean it's wrong.

Would it have been a better received game and had more players if it was managed differently? Yes. You can look at other games for that evidence. It actually alienated the majority of people who were playing and would have kept playing by going this route.

But even with all of what I just said wiped away, why do they have to choose groups to develop for? Making cosmetic items doesn't prevent them from making large scale raids, vastly more innovative and in depth game features, etc. It's their choice to not develop that, not some cause and effect from making recolored clothes.

I think games coming out in the future will have to shoot for the stars and start providing content, cosmetics, and QoL for every type of player or else they will be relegated to F2P and/or nice communities. If that is the goal from the beginning, great. It was certainly not SWTOR's goal.

[RoninaThorstone]

Most people play video games casually, so why would a developer alienate the large majority of its fan base to cater to a small minority.

Pleasing casuals =/= focusing on hats.

If they wanted to focus on pleasing casuals they would make more story packs like the hk-51 for solo players and 5 mans for small group / lfg players.
Raiders might be the minority but whales are also minorities.

(If I were bioware, I would focus on selling adventures but keep new 5 man content free and open so the queue stays fast)