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Colony Studios won't be playing it safe (we hope) photo

Colony Studios announced their opening today, boasting one of the most well rounded teams in recent memory. Their staff has worked on every major MMO title from Everquest to World of Warcraft (not to mention everything in between). Michael Wallis, the CEO of Colony, had some choice words on the formation of the new studio:

"Our collective contributions to a significant number of hit MMOs give us a strong advantage," says Wallis.  "Most dev teams - including Colony's - have gone through the process of learning what doesn't work in game development, but our team members have also been intimately involved with creating what does work in several successful MMOs and that combination will serve us well.  Our challenge is, of course, to use our experience and talent correctly to create an MMO that players will enjoy."

Sounds like a project bound for victory, but the most interesting tidbit of Colony's announcement dealt with the clarification that their current (yet unnamed) project  won't be developed as a "safe" MMO, meaning they intend to go outside the current structure of popular titles. According to Wallis, they are shooting for a linear storyline that can be influenced by players.

What can keep an MMO from being stagnant, at this point in the genre's history? If you like crafting and grinding, WOW ought to keep you happy as it already does a massive amount of the general population; but if not, you may be waiting for something that is a bit more on the edge. A consistent complaint is that titles lack a structured story, eventually losing the interest of RPG based players. What will it take (from Colony or any other developer) to breathe new life into the MMO?








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Colette Bennett is a Destructoid features editor from New Orleans, Louisiana. She is also a founding member of Destructoid's sister sites Tomopop, a toy lover's blog and Japanator, our anime site. Likes Nintendo DS, NES, Silent Hill series, Rhythm games, RPGs Meet the rest of the team



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10 comments | showing # 1 to 10
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Bob Muir's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/30/2007 23:11
Bob Muir
More MMOs...great...that's just what the industry needs...
Black Mage Slim's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/30/2007 23:18
Black Mage Slim
Let us play a game in the "Real" world. and let some of us be homeland security and others be terrorists.

that would be fun.
subnet6's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/30/2007 23:34
subnet6
It looks like that kid just drank some chocolate milk, either that or he's finally popping that peach fuzz. Either way, he fits the WoW stereotype to a "T". How is it that stereotypes are always so accurate?
deiga-the-semivaliant's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/30/2007 23:35
deiga-the-semivaliant
Guild Wars sort of did the whole storyline thang. The game is completely instanced, so it was accomplished rather easily.

I'm interested in seeing alternative solutions.
Aaron Mxy Yost's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/30/2007 23:58
Aaron Mxy Yost
Good luck to them, hopefully they'll find the market they're trying to attract.

And to be fair, lots of MMOs have story based events to them. City of Heroes and WoW both have had stuff like this in the past (although obviously not to the extent that Colony wants to do). The Matrix Online even killed off Morpheus because it's 145 total players weren't hardcore enough.
scottoid's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/30/2007 23:59
scottoid
we really need something thats crazy and outside the box....but i dont have any ideas and thats why i dont work on games
Bob Muir's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/01/2007 02:44
Bob Muir
@ subnet6: Is it bad that I thought that was a really, hideously ugly girl?
Milhouse's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/01/2007 08:38
Milhouse
A consistent complaint is that titles lack a structured story, eventually losing the interest of RPG based players

I'd suggest you to check on the Matrix Online. And to look above Morpheus' death, which in the opinion of many was a requirement from the actor or licensor, but not the developpers. The game itself doesn't offer much to do, but the storyline itself and the RP environment is worth the monthly fee for me.
Zero_'s Avatar - Comment posted on 05/01/2007 09:39
Zero_
... is that a dude, or a chick?
subnet6's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/01/2007 11:07
subnet6
@necros,

Not nearly as bad as the fact that I thought she looked hot.
;)
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