SotA mobile version request

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Woodchuck, Jul 9, 2018.

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  1. Woodchuck

    Woodchuck Avatar

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    Dear Portalarium,

    Please make Android and iOS version of SotA so we can play anywhere on-the-go!

    Thank You!
    woodchuck
     
  2. Feeyo

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  3. Roycestein Kaelstrom

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    Make that a stretch goal, I guess...
     
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  4. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    i think my poor phone would faint
     
  5. Baratan

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    Yeah you guys obviously have excessive developer time and resources to spend on this.
     
  6. stile

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    Originally Richard Garriott's plan was a Mobil MMORPG called "Ultimate RPG". Portalarium tested a game for a while called "Ultimate Collector Garage Sale", as a mini-game, to possibly be some of the coding used for the MMORPG.

    He was very much wanting to do this (and still does), but while as I understand it, very stubborn for quite some time on it, eventually convinced the tech just wasn't there to put out a game he would be happy with on that sort of mobile platform yet.

    He does badly want to make such a thing though. Primarily due to his frustration with games he would put in his "a" list on mobile. I'm sure that he spends a lot of time mobile gaming given how much time he spends traveling.


    I would love to see some mini-games developed for the mobile phone/tablet platforms that were separate from Shroud, but what you did on them affected your main game in some way. In this way when you ARE needing a "fix" you at least know the fix your getting is helping your main game.

    With just a bit of creativity and imagination there is an untold number of mini-games that could be made, that then, in turn, deliver some sort of reward to your bank like Meretz does.

    Couldn't be stuff that gave players an advantage, over others in gameplay terms (as that would cause a disturbance), or maybe only a minor one.
    A way to earn some different cosmetics, in the game maybe. Dyes, clothes, patterns, could really be anything along those lines.

    Also, why not be a way to harvest resources? I mean an hour in SotA... Vs. an hour on a mobile phone because someone cant be at their computer, is still an hour of game time ultimately not anymore then they could have otherwise played in their life if at home, and such. The key is it would need to be very close to an equal harvest rate.... whatever mini-game your playing isn't going to give you more ore for example, in an hour, then you'd be able to get in SotA in an hour.


    I'm a fan of Fallout Shelter.. or was (annoyed to the lack of updates). I have often thought that with all the basement in SotA, it would be cool to have some sort of mobile "Shroud of the Avatar Underground". (Shroud of the Avatar Caveloot.com?" LoL).

    Let imagination go wild from there.. but maybe you start out with a single story row basement... and over time you build larger and larger basements. MAybe unlocking areas my going out and doing "underground' missions, in caves, dungeons, and things of that nature.. avoiding 'above ground" play.

    Tie it to the SotA accounts.. and make it eventually (Expansions), so you can break into each other's basements and do things. So hey, Stile Teckel is breaking into the basement of Berek, and taking one of his mushroom farms!!!! Oh no!!

    Time spent playing it, building, farming, doing missions and quests, etc, etc... result in getting materials in your in-game mailbox. Consumables only sort of thing, and not more then what you would get the same amount of actual sota game time.


    Obviously a farming game...


    Obviously a fishing game...


    Different achievements could unlock cool cosmetics you get in SotA.

    List is endless.


    Theres a lot of REALLY good coders in this community when it comes to mobile platform, and I can think of at least one mobile phone gamer coder. I'd toss out, if someone was to build a very very basic, simple demo model, put together a video proposal along with some documents, and send it all into Dalas at Port hed review it.

    Get approval to write the game, in exchange Portalarium agrees to tie into it for delivery into SotA. In Return Portalarium isnt really developing a game.. but it goes out on the mobile game market and promotes/markets SotA, maybe gaining the interest of people. It should be a stand alone game, but have themes, lore, items, etc from SotA.



    Although REALLY, Given that Portalarium is a game development and publishing company, has produced other games in the past, etc.. I think they should run a Kickstarter to fund the development of a Mobile App Game. Should be handled and funded seperatley from SotA. Even hiring different people for that project with that projects funds (i mean.. this is a MUCH smaller scale!). Heck, if possible even locating them somewhere different.. granted you couldn't get them their own offices, but maybe they could work from home the majority of the time, they meet up every so often when needing to, etc. Any profits from such a venture would then be channeled to SotA development...

    After you do one.. do a second one. Do one for a Facebook game, etc.

    I really feel they are missing a lot of Kickstarter opportunities, in terms of micro kickstarters. Projects that fund themselves, dont use their current team, and have potential to both market SotA and earn money for it throug profits.

    Other ideas would be SotA related RPG pen and paper, board game, dice game (I can help with that!), etc.

    Small Kickstarter for "ok, everyone wants this added to game. We dont see us getting to it, for x time. For $3500.00 we can hire an independent contractor that will be able to do it for that amount.....as a stretch goal... GO!" I bet little things like that would be funded well.
     
  7. Woodchuck

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    I believe Unity has option to compile for different platforms such as Android and iOS. Certainly wouldn’t be that simple and probably needs design changes and considerations (i.e. non-trivial task).

    But, I honestly believe this would certainly be a win-win! The mobile games market is huge and very lucrative. Portalarium should not underestimate the viability of the mobile market (it could very well surpass the desktop market combined!).

    There are already many MMOs that are thriving on the mobile platforms!
     
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  8. Woodchuck

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    I was shocked to discover that my iphone 6 could handle a feature rich MMO with great graphics without any issues! I wouldn’t have believed it until I tried it!

    Amazing power in phones these days...
     
  9. stile

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    Heck,

    What they REALLLY should explore doing, is opening a community ran Micro Kickstarter Program.

    Anyone in the community that has a Kickstarter idea, submits an application on the website. That application is reviewed and Portalarium sends back "$$$$.$$ Necessary to do this".

    An individual can then decide if they wish to run a Kickstarter.

    So for Example,

    John wants a cosmetic item in game. He thinks many people would be interested and it could be funded. He fills out the form for Port, they review and respond "We are willing to do this. Cost would be X.". Port responds back to John with that information in the form of a contract (with an expiration date), that they agree to do what John wants, in exchange for x.xx. Theyd really only have to make the contract one time, and leave certain spots on it basically blank and the blanks are being filled by the data from Johns form.

    So john runs the kickstarter, it gets funded. He sends Portalarium the amount they quoted, and now that they have the funding the deliver the promised whatever within the promised timeline.

    Not only would this help add things to the game, or create other games like this OP suggested, but it would be putting the "shroud of the avatar name" out on Kickstarter a lot, which is good marketing.

    Port has the benefit of generating income for game assets, without having to do all the community work on it as the community is doing it for them.
     
  10. stile

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    Not to mention John calls his rich uncle and talks about how stupid hell look if this thing doesnt get funded...
     
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  11. Azzamean

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    I'm pretty sure my phone would screech, scream, and then explode if SoTA was ran off of it...
     
  12. Woodchuck

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    +1 love this!

    I was a skeptic too, not believing that it would ever be possible that a full featured graphic rich MMO could run on a phone. And even if it did, I was skeptical of the playability on such a small screen. I was dead wrong on both accounts.

    I really like your suggestion that, if a full SotA is not offered to the mobile platform, then some sort of variant can be considered, that is connected to your online avatar.

    How about a mobile client that allows crafting? Fishing? And as you suggested, harvesting resources! The sky’s the limit!

    Implementation logistics aside, it’s my firm belief that the mobile market should not be underestimated and passed-up by Portalarium. I would go as far as to say it has the potential to be more lucrative than the various desktop pc markets combined.
     
  13. Aartemis

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    I would expect, and it has been mentioned, that a port might be attempted to Nintendo, Xbox, etc. I would think once they got that working with the ability to move and interact well with a controller, you could theoretically plan for mobile options.
     
  14. Woodchuck

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    This would be an extremely interesting development/production model!
     
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  15. Rowell

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    Things to consider about SOTA becoming a Mobile App:

    1) Mobile Processing power. Can it handle the graphics and particle effects?
    2) Data Caps. Playing an MMO will chew up your data, if not put you over your data cap.
    3) Storage. Do you have several gigabytes to devote to one MMO app?
    4) Development time. Some serious optimization would have to occur in-house at Portalarium to make a mobile version happen. Streamlined/improved networking communication, low poly mobile assets created, UI re-designed for use on a mobile device, etc.

    You'd almost have to start from scratch, with a mobile mindset right from the get-go.
     
  16. Elwyn

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    I can barely play it on a 6-year old laptop that could play R20 at 1080/15fps. (it was only a few releases later that performance went way down), no way you're getting this thing even nearly able to play on mobile if it won't play on my potato laptop.

    That is much more realistic. At that point the main problem becomes what the console manufacturer thinks about cross-platform play. FFXI started on PS2 and also appeared on 360, FFXIV ran on PS3 and runs on PS4. There was a game recently that is getting cross-platform from PC to Xbone and Switch, but Sony was so against it that just logging into an existing account on a PS4 will prevent you from even playing on PC again. Microsoft has had its moments too, FFXI on 360 happened in an era when Microsoft was mostly against cross-platform play.

    No cross-platform would be a deal-breaker for SotA since one of its major features is all players in a single world with no shards.
     
  17. Woodchuck

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    Very good points. I’m hoping that SotA was architected to be mostly or even partially mobile friendly (since that was a consideration from the beginning).

    As for seeing for yourself what kind of MMO is possible on the mobile platform these days, take a look at Crusaders of Light (made by NetEase). This is a World of Warcraft copycat and to be honest I was really impressed with what they were able to achieve.
     
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  18. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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  19. Gix

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    While Unity does allow for relatively easy ports to other platforms, there are a lot to consider when down-scaling as much as bringing a PC title (one that's already struggling to keep decent FPS) onto a mobile device:
    • Inputs. Converting every keyboard and mouse command (from targeting and crafting, to camera control) into a button or a gesture on a touch screen.
    • RAM. It's one thing to make it fit on the device's storage (last time I checked, SotA was 30gigs), but you also need to make it fit in RAM so that the game can actually run and make computations.
    • CPU & GPU. Everything needs to be optimized so that the device's CPU and GPU aren't overtaxed and drain too much battery.
    • Display. Making everything readable on a small screen. Not just the text, but all icons... and avoid overloading the HUD in the process. A smaller display means you have less pixels to draw things, like switches, runes and keys lying on the floor.
    I'd love to get SotA (or something similar ~ like Albion Online but with quests and a story) on iOS but I'd rather they focus their attention on the PC/Mac/Linux clients first.
     
    Last edited: Jul 12, 2018
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  20. Cora Cuz'avich

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