There’s a good interview with the developers from Dofus on Gamasutra:
Of particular interest is their response to ‘what was the dumbest thing you did (whilst developing Dofus)’:
…the dumbest thing was that we did not forecast such success. Indeed, at the beginning we did not have any advanced customer support tool and felt quickly overwhelmed. The worst was the size of the world: it has become crowded rapidly and we have had to create a lot of new maps, quests, features, etc. to face the “gamers’ invasion” of the Amakna’s territories.
For a Flash based MMO, that’s understandable. Aside from Puzzle Pirates there’s no other comparison really.
Elsewhere in MMO(RPG) based news, James Cameron plans to spin off a film from an MMO. Whilst it’s great to see such a huge name involved in games it doesn’t require much investigation to dig up some serious questions about the project.
With Project 880 (a working title), which is still at least two years off, gamers could be exploring Cameron’s virtual world for weeks before they head for a theater to learn the story. And the game could spawn whole communities of diehards such as those who spend every waking hour immersed in EverQuest, World of Warcraft, and other massively multiplayer online games, known as MMOGs. “So much of literary sci-fi is about creating worlds that are rich and detailed and make sense at a social level,” Cameron says. “We’ll create a world for people and then later present a narrative in that world”
Two years? We could all be anti-MMO by then. Plus, if you’re looking to create a social MMO there’s no need, use Seed. Still, if he’s looking to create a virtual world from which to spin stories, then an MMO is ideal. Just make sure you pay attention to the key decisions though. There’s only really one MMO that consistently spins out compelling stories and that’s EVE. To me, the reason for that is down the CCP and their decision not to shard, among other things. Although I seem to remember that City of Heroes made a good stab at publicising the stories that grew out of their world, as did The Matrix MMO.
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