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Kickstarter to Refactor STO?
daedalus304
Member Posts: 1,049 Arc User
I remember a while back D'Stahl responded to a question about kickstarter, and his response went more or less in the direction that he thinks it's viable for certain things but he doesn't know if it is viable.
I would like to think it is, and that Kickstarter could be used to fund a project in STO that would bring it into the Star Trek Format instead of this generic MMO killemall mentality, with the Trifecta being absolutely useless since DPS is dominant for all.
What if Kickstarter was used to fund a large Expansion, say Season 10, something so large that it needed a new set of staff members or the divertion of other cryptic staff members to bring it to fruition?
Something that had a fully functioning Exploration System, A Real Diplomatic Branch, A well flushed out and fulfilling set of episodes, hell why not even include a new system that randomizes maps for STF's so it's not always a grind.
Maybe it would even be able to create mechanics that can fix the old bugs, and even implement a new system like Battleground PvE/PvP?
the options are limitless....so long as it's legal and PWE agrees of course.
Something that could fund this like Kickstarter might even be a great advertisement venue.
CBS issues aside, would you all think this be a good idea?
I would like to think it is, and that Kickstarter could be used to fund a project in STO that would bring it into the Star Trek Format instead of this generic MMO killemall mentality, with the Trifecta being absolutely useless since DPS is dominant for all.
What if Kickstarter was used to fund a large Expansion, say Season 10, something so large that it needed a new set of staff members or the divertion of other cryptic staff members to bring it to fruition?
Something that had a fully functioning Exploration System, A Real Diplomatic Branch, A well flushed out and fulfilling set of episodes, hell why not even include a new system that randomizes maps for STF's so it's not always a grind.
Maybe it would even be able to create mechanics that can fix the old bugs, and even implement a new system like Battleground PvE/PvP?
the options are limitless....so long as it's legal and PWE agrees of course.
Something that could fund this like Kickstarter might even be a great advertisement venue.
CBS issues aside, would you all think this be a good idea?
Post edited by daedalus304 on
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This. Star Citizen is a MMO that is currently being developed that is completely or almost completely funded through Kickstarter. Kickstarter only works because they give various incentives for contributing different levels of cash. So Cryptic would have to create these incentives in addition to the actual expansion and Kickstarter is based on funding projects that need a good kick to get started. So a Kickstarter project for STO that has been around for 4 years is against the spirit of Kickstarter.
A kickstarter for a new Star Trek TV series or web series would work, but not for Star Trek Online.
That said, there might be interest in a Star Trek Online II, if the company could pitch a solid idea that shows a marked difference and improvement over the current STO. Even then though, reputation will play a big factor. This game has a reputation for buggy-ness and for PWE's style of lock boxes and other money-generating efforts that don't always sit well with people. Then there's the whole "but its not Star Trek" debate caused by mashing together multiple Star Trek timelines to get costumes, equipment, etc. All of that, whether accurate or not, is a reputation perception that would effect the Kickstart effort.
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Now... Crowdfunding? Yes. And this is and has been done by companies internally, such as Mattel running a pre-order campaign to make a Ghostbusters Ecto-1 toy car. Or "pay what you like" items. Or blind auctions where the losers ZEN gets refunded.
I'll tell you one area where I think it would work great:
TNG interiors. The ship interiors haven't sold well but the demand for them is very elastic with the people who buy them.
Run a pre-order campaign for TNG interiors. People who preorder get a couple of costumes (like the skant) right away. There could be a progress bar and the more people contribute or the more they contribute, the more rooms and decks it gets.
Have it be something like:
$20 gets you the interior pre-ordered and TNG costume now.
$25 gets you that plus all existing TNG costumes.
$30 gets you all of the above plus the skant now.
$35 gets you all that plus the technician jumpsuit now.
$40 gets you all that plus the doctor's jacket now.
$45 gets you all that plus the Crusher "low cut collar" TNG variant now.
$50 gets you all that plus the Admiral Riker/Pressman costume.
$75 gets you all that plus the Acting Ensign costume and a teen prodigy bridge officer.
$100 gets you all that plus an El Aurean Bartender BO.
$125 gets you all that plus Worf's bob haircut, Worf's metal baldric, and an Ultra-Rare Klingon.
$150 gets you all that plus a Soong-Type Android and an artificial heart kit device that lets you self-rez on a timer, a "Picard Maneuver" tailor stance, and playable Exiled Q species with defective Q emotes and an exiled Q jumpsuit.
Everything except the Q will be offered individually later (for more). But Cryptic delivers everything except the interior when you buy in and they keep a progress bar. The higher the bar gets, the bigger the interior they make. Starts at two very full decks but as the progress bar expands, it adds things like ten forward (the first addition), the theater, the barber shop, various themed quarters, a shuttlebay, Jefferies tubes, a Cetacean Lab, holodeck programs. All with added DOff assignments and functions.
plenty of options to choose from and various ways of doing this.
I really hope it could be done, because now STO is looking dated, the characters basically all have the same face but some look like they're related to one another.
Ayup. Kickstarter's viable, that's been demonstrated repeatedly. But not for what the OP's on about. Here's your year's supply of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat, thanks for playing.
Less bugs, dedicated team to handle it due to kickstarter?
I mean the team and community have so many ideas that it'd be impossible to even consider a fraction of them(one of which is exploration) unless some serious time consuming bug fixes and rewrites are done.
this would do away with that and allow the team to push forward while being able to maintain some proper damage control...instead of being in a car with all the dials and comforts broken.
EDIT//// Kickstarter, or dedicated crowd funding format to allow the community help with the goal of a better STO.
-Leonard Nimoy, RIP
This is a joke, right? "Hey, we're Cryptic, making money hand over fist- please donate to our Kickstarter..."
I think the best you could hope for is setting a world record for making the most people pass out laughing simultaneously...but that could just be me. -shrug-
The decision makers on STO already have a plan for the next x months; they have budgets, resources and delivery schedules mapped out far in advance. You can't just raise a couple of hundred thousand and expect results like that.
You can help by buying Master Keys. They don't need to use crowdsourcing. That's for up and coming entrepreneurs, not big development studios.
Let me put it to you this way: If Donald Trump stood on the sidewalk with a cardboard sign that said "Give me money so I can build a casino on this street corner", would you do it, even though you know he already has billions?
-Leonard Nimoy, RIP
I wouldn't think it'd be in the front of the current DEVS, I would like to hope they have a small dedicated team refactoring the Code to allow for a better update system for dealing with bugs. instead of having, "Fix one thing, ten more things break" ordeal we are stuck with in STO now...
For those who don't know, STO is the product of a hasty release done in the best way possible, the Cryptic Team should feel proud and are great for what they were able to do at the time. however without a dedicated engine of its own, STO is hampered by the TRIBBLE it had to deal with when it was made with CO's engine, an engine already mid aged at the time.
Something like this, or a crowd supported STO dedicated fund (most lockbox and zen store items go to PWE directly for dispersal, Cryptic doesn't get the money directly which limits their funding) would most likely be cause for a good refactoring team to allow for a smoother working experience, it would also make it easier on the STO devs themselves allowing them to work on such a thing with an easier progression rate and far less crippling engine problems.
And having two teams working simultaneously would improve things how?
Seriously...you want to "Kickstart" STO, start buying loads of Zen. That's their built-in, in-house fundraising system.
A dedicated bug team would still run into the same problems as the current Devs do now. There is no such thing as a bug free MMO. You'd need for computers to leap ahead 200 years technologically wise to get that sort of result and all the crowdfunding in the world cannot do that.
Sorry you were born in the 20th/21st century, but them's the breaks.
Besides, even if by some freak chance that could happen, why would we be wasting our newly advanced technology on MMOs when we could be building real life Datas?
-Leonard Nimoy, RIP
Datas? Pffft. Holodecks, man, holodecks!
...which Scott Adams of Dilbert fame predicted, correctly in my opinion, will be the last thing humanity ever invents.
Think about it.
We already have the Oculus Rift, we're closer to that reality than anyone would like.
:eek:
-Leonard Nimoy, RIP
I'm not saying it would be bug free, Refactoring a game does not mean it will be bug free, it means it will be easier to identify and fix a bug, or at the very least make it faster.
The goal is to make it so the devs are not overworked and inhibited by legacy bugs, in laymans terms it'd be like taking a two way dirt road, and making it into a four way paved road, there will still be potholes. but at least you'd be able to see them and allow for an easier path to fix them.
STO was rushed, buggy and trotted out in a year, and the fact it's held up all these years speaks volumes to the dedication, but we are still plauged with legacy bugs, and part of that is due to how the engine was rapidly adapted from the Champions online engine.
I'm willing to be that at least 75% of the developer resources go to trying to manage the bugs let alone fix them, with 20% trying to fix them 1/10 odds of sucess there. and 5% to new content.
With refactoring that 75% could go down to 40%, but unless cryptic get's a dedicated self supported fund permissable by PWE, I don't know how else they'd do it, I'm sure PWE has more projects and resources the mass of funds are supporting.
Zen does NOT go to Cryptic directly, it goes to PWE, and based on the sales, Cryptic either gets a surplus or it gets a bit more funding. Cryptic is paid by PWE under a salary based system along with the sales system, they don't just get the funds and say "oh let's take this vast ammount of money to make the game work better" they can't.
You can't identify bugs faster and fix them as fast without a superior technology. Which, unfortunately does NOT exist. It doesn't matter if you refactor the engine or even build a new one from scratch and replace the current one. Bugs will still happen and fixing them will take the same amount of careful time because as it's always been: take a bug down, twenty more pop up.
It's just how computers do. We can't change it without superior technology.
-Leonard Nimoy, RIP
again....NOT saying it will be bug free. and yes we can identify and fix bugs faster, especially compared to now, we've got bugs being worked on since launch.
however the Hydra principle is always going to be there, refactoring however would take it from "one bug down, twenty more" to "one bug down, seven more" it wouldn't be a loosing battle....well it would, but it wouldn't be like fighting borg with a pointy stick.
I think what would suit STO better would be:
- A pre-order system with a progress bar and goals/promises for what they do if they hit certain goals.
AND/OR
- A pre-order/membership club system where you can pay in advance for C-Store items at a discount or with additional bonuses for ordering. That is actually fairly Kickstarter-like and is somewhat like the Legacy of Romulus packs they offered.
Basically though, the equivalent of a Kickstarter would basically just be doing something like the LoR packs and offering to do certain things if they sell a certain sales goal, which encourages people to spend more and tell their friends.
That's it.
A bug isn't fixed based on how long it's been around. There are probably still bugs in Windows 7 that were introduced back in XP. This is just the way software works. More money would be better spent on new content than bug fixes.
It's bad enough that established publishers are turning to kickstarter to fund games instead of reinvesting revenues, but to suggest a crowdfunding campaign for an active, microtransaction driven free to play game that's actively gaining recognition and awards and is currently the stud of its publisher's not insubstantial stables?
I have no words. The only good that will come of this is that Jim Sterling will do a video on it, and it will consist of five minutes of him making vomit-like noises.
The Kickstarter issue aside, which would never happen, since PWE/Cryptic would never surrender financial control, having a separate team doing troubleshooting while development is in progress would just not work unless they are both in house working together.
move along now lol