$2.5 Million Stretch Goal: Are you a fan? Or do you have other ideas?

Gamers are a bit of a different breed. Look how many people wear headsets. I don't know that I'll rush out to buy a VR setup right away, but I would like to try it out. I could see it becoming part of my regular play.

 

The VR stuff was the same in 1992 as it is in 2013 with the virtual IO io-glasses. Wasn't impressed then, am not impressed now. 20 years of tech and it's barely better. A solid "meh" from this gamer.

I'd much prefer to see deeper in-game mechanics for SotA like a comprehensive trap system, no-owner-risk burglary, hex resource adjustment, meaningful item sink activities, insulated pvp, open-world guild/alliance land-hex control, and unique-path skill acquisition.

 

Honestly, I kinda cringe when I read that stretch goal.
I would much rather them spend time on something else, including other things that I probably wouldn't use.

 

I was looking more for the mod and char customization, what was the last stetchgoal, we finally already met. So my excitement about the VR stretchgoal wasn't looking very high, because i was looking for something else, i got now.

But i actually think, that VR is the future. For now its still a bit expansive, because its a developing technogy and not ready for the market majory. But in 1 or 2 years, when SOTA finally arrives, i think the Oculus Rift could have found finally their way on my desk aswell. And i think this would happen by many gamers. So prepering the game for VR would be a good act.

I think, VR is the future of gaming. This will develop further. We see the controller of the Wii, the Oculus Rift, movement tracking cameras (Kinect). A virutal reality, with movement tracking, Oculus Rift, possible a movable ground, that you can walk around, while it scanns your movement to ajust itself to keep you in the center and some suit with sensors and even gadgets to give your impressions could be one of the next steps in the future. This will develop further and further. One of the goals in gaming it to make them so realistic how possible. So jumping on the train by a new game to support the newest VR technology should be a must have.

 

I am not sure VR is the future; at least in the short term. OR, Kinect and Wii are some cool technologies, but they also provide limitation in gaming as its done today whether its physical limits like fatigue or motion sickness that affect a subset of gamers or just challenges with including "meaningful" benefits from the technology. Maybe when we have glass-free VR and physical flat screens are a thing of the past, but for now and in the short-term these seem like just a bunch of wow factor that does not work in long gaming sessions. Millions of Wii's got heavily used for bowling then started collecting dust in the closet because no other games were created to make the best use of it, or you played other games on another console because you did not want to have spaghetti arms playing it on Wii. I am a big completest but have still not gotten completely through the newest Zelda's only because my ability to play them in one session is so limited.

I am not against OR support, but I just don't see this as something many people will have and even those that have it will use it only a faction of the time with SOTA: if nothing else but to cut back on their Dramamine use.

 

Yes, question is, how fast this technology is ready. For now, this is exactly the problem, that they are not ready for the market majory. But we know, hat fast special technology develop. And they will find most likely find a way to get the problems solved. And for the question how long, well SOTA will most likely take at least another 2 year for development. Then we will get 5 episodes. So the game would run for another 5 years until all episodes are released. And in 7 years i see a good chance at least for OR.

Btw., your post was so shiny, i took me the freedom to make it in the quote a bit darker as compensation.

 

Yes to VR. I'd love the immersion from it. Of course the money can be spent to other aspects of the game. But utilizing VR will be a great selling point. Instant differentiation from all other rpgs. Always up for new things, the game already looks awesome, a new method to play it in my opinion is great. With VR though, id want improved combat and death effects. And im not sure if it rains or not, but that would be great as well. Imagine looking down and seeing your characters hands prepare a fireball, then when you shoot you move your head up to follow the blast and a bright explosion sends pieces of the bears flesh flying. Anything less, VR will not work with this game and will simply be an aspect that is, *neat*, but not *unbelievable*. But if the dev is willing to make it unbelievable then this game will hit the market like a torpedo and VR can be used as a flagship even. Sell it with a pair of VR goggles at a slight discount and your set.

 

to be honest the chances of me buying this right now are zero unless it was 200 and connected to the PS3 and 4 as well as PC and didn't need a new video card

 

I truely intend to use SoA as a way to get exercise in winter time, with the Omni Virtual Reality Treadmill. Running around with games goals actually gives a real motivation, adding a physical challenge to the game. The ability to play and get exercise will undoubtedly bring a lot more feminine presence to the community : a place where you can socialize and train at the same time in a fantastic atmosphere : the graal of entertainement....I personally really count on you guys to develop this feature, which doesnt exist anywhere else...yet!

 

I'm not much of a VR person myself. Plus the cost of VR hardware is quite prohibitive. I'm not against it if others want it, but it is definitely not a feature I will be using.

 

*accidentally aggros group of high level monsters* Marathon time!! xD... if only them stamina potions would take affect in real life ;D

 

Stock your fridge with energy drinks! ;o)

On one hand you have online games which bring entertainment and social interactivity but force you to stay stuck on a chair for hours, on the other hand treadmills that help you stay fit but are boring to hell. VR is a unique oportunity to bring the best of both worlds in one offer. I m not necessarily found of current VR googles, a large screen with a projector is enough for immersion, but "physically" living the action with an omni directional threadmill, yes, this is a dream that would come true!

 

Sorry for bringing up an older thread, but I just wanted to put my two cents in on the topic. I personally would like to see dual or triple monitor support before virtual reality. I think VR is somthing that could come later down the road, but I think much more people would support and use multi-monitors than VR.

 

I think comparisons to 3Ds aren't fair because no one is producing 3D TV, and there aren't many 3D BluRays available for purchase. The movies that are on 3D BluRay are really expensive ($40 frequently) despite the fact that the manufacturing cost is the exactly the same as a normal BluRay. The lack of content is killing the medium.

Tons and tons of games support Occulus Rift already, and it isn't even out to market. You can pick up a headset and play your existing game collection. You don't need to buy tons of new content for the technology. In that regard, I'm really excited for OR.

My reservation with it as a stretch goal for SotA is that OR works for first person games with minimal UI. If SotA works best in third person, and you need to play the card/rune mini-game on the screen during combat, then that kills the purpose of running with OR.

I'd personally like to see a stretch goal at $2.5 or $2.6 million for multiple races. Even if the story is that we're traveller from another world visting New Brittannia, does the traveller have to come from Earth?

 

Personally, I'd rather see more work put into more diverse skill trees. (I loved the sheer number of customizations you could do in UO).

While I think VR is cool, and probably going to be the "next big thing" (eventually... Like in 2020) I don't think it's affordable enough yet for most players, and will go almost universally unused.

 

Yes, I agree, VR is/will be out of reach for the majority of the player base for some years to come. Better to put the money to something more universal. However, it is imperial to have a game engine that will be concurrent with future development of the game, such as allowing for VR without having to recode the whole game.

 

I don't have a problem with VR treatment. I do think it might have been better on a future release like episode 2 or maybe even 3 where the tech had the chance to be either more ubiquitous or still niche to make a more practical decision.

I wouldn't expect there to be a lot of resources spent on porting this from monitors to something like the oculous rift though; so I can only wonder how much or how little we're actually losing that could have been used for something else.

 

I knew I wasn't the only one.

I'd prefer a plethora of other things before VR stuff. I don't think there is a market for it yet.

 

I personally have always wanted to see VR make a breakthrough since I first tried it in the early 90's. I know that VR is going to be HUGE and I would love to see it for SotA, but, I have to agree with others on this thread that money needs to go somewhere else.

Still have my fingers crossed for VR though...

 

As we are about to crest the 2.5mil mark, I'd ask the devs to just confirm that "Full VR Treatment" is still the intent and expectation as a stretch goal.

It may be that since it was listed as a goal during the Kickstarter that they don't have much choice to change it now, but as this thread shows, there is not universal support for it, and Portalarium reiterating that it is what is added whne we cross that line will put another question to rest.

Thanks!