Introduction
Over the past few weeks the designers, story writers, artists, and sound engineers have been working almost around the clock to put together an amazing project. The quality of contributors and the dedication can be seen in the concept art and audio samples which have been submitted and the number of people who are online during the wee hours of the morning discussing story and design on IRC.
With that in mind, I sat down with the project leads and had a talk with them. While I envision LGO to be a fun little MMO which people can spend 10-20 hours of time playing, the real point of this project is to develop a code-base and framework which people can use to develop their own MMO's. As a result, any effort we put towards the game is going to be discarded by the majority of people who pick up the book, in favor of integrating their own story, assets, and design.
In truth, I feel like the story that is being worked on and the people who are contributing to it deserve more than that. So ahaving concluded my discussion with the project leads I've decided to take LGO in a new direction, and spawn concurrent project instead.
Level-Grind Online/XNA Starter Kit
In contrast to our previous work, Level-Grind Online is now going to be pursued as a disposable, cookie-cutter MMO. It will have the usual features and functionality found in most MMO's, along with a collection of quests, items, spells, class, races, etc... It will also have between 10 and 20 levels of content, including a dungeon or two and a few zones to explore. The primary difference is that LGO will no longer have a deeply fleshed out story, and I no longer intend to host the game after completion of the XNA Starter Kit.
As a result, I will still be needing concept art, models, and audio to accompany the book and the MMO. However, the artwork will not be based on a rich story, and will hover around a more traditional RPG setting of Sorcerers, Warrior, Rogues, and Clerics. So if you're an artist, sound engineer, or writer wanting to get your name into the book, there is still a need and way for you to do so.
Chronicles of the Five Kingdoms
In addition to Level-Grind Online we will be spawning a new, concurrent project which I have temporarily named the Chronicles of the Five Kingdoms (Cot5K) as it most closely describes the project.
We will be using the story, art, and music which has been contributed so far and we will be putting them towards the development of a few single-player RPG's. This will be done in order to flesh out the story, give people an opportunity to become familiar with our game mechanics, and develop an IP which people recognize. These RPG's are going to be commercially available both for the PC via a website, as well as for the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Community Games portal.
After the completion of these RPG's and the establishment of a stable following, we plan to develop another MMO, using the base code from Cot5K and LGO.
What does it all mean? Where do I go?
It all means that the website, and the community of people who have been thus far working on LGO are invited to participate in both projects.
At present I am not setting up a separate website, as our primary focus is still on finishing LGO. However the website has undergone some changes to reflect the new, dual nature of our community. So if you see people discussing game mechanics, story elements, or artwork which seems out of place for a disposable MMO, it's likely that they are actually discussing things for Cot5K.
This is being done in order to keep the team together, and to continue to fuel the team's creative synergy. After the completion of LGO, I will move the relevant forums, etc.. to a new website dedicated solely to Cot5K.
