For a game long known for its emphasis on player-created content, mods, and even skills, the big Ryzom announcement perhaps should have been expected. But the revelation that the game was going into the murky waters of open source, albeit with a few omissions such as height maps and sound files, is a far-reaching one for almost any game not wholly built around user generation (a la Second Life).
And it naturally leads to the question: what other games would be nice to have access to from the source code up. It opens a huge number of doors, everything from private servers to full-on rewrites of the game as a single-player experience. For knowledgable coders, it turns every single patch and design decision into something that can be modified by the players. The breadth of options is almost overwhelming.
Of course, Ryzom is a niche title with a strong emphasis on these kinds of innovations, so in a way it's to be expected. But it's the closest we've seen to a mainstream game going this route -- so what would you like to see? An older game that could benefit from the publicity? A newer game you feel could be improved? Or a sadly-cancelled game whose source code could be used as a resurrection?
Reader Comments (54)
Posted: May 8th 2010 8:21AM (Unverified) said
Tabula Rasa. Nothing else to say. That would make very many people very very happy!
Posted: May 8th 2010 8:20AM Psychotic Storm said
Tabula Rasa.
Posted: May 8th 2010 8:38AM (Unverified) said
Asherons Call, as to teach every developer in the world HOW TO MAKE an MMORPG because none of them have a clue.
Posted: May 8th 2010 8:38AM (Unverified) said
Tabula Rasa.. Huge potential.
Posted: May 8th 2010 9:07AM Greeen said
Star Wars Galaxies (pre-NGE)
Ultima Online
Asheron's Call 2 (since so many claim it was so good, I never got to play it)
Ultima Online
Asheron's Call 2 (since so many claim it was so good, I never got to play it)
Posted: May 8th 2010 9:10AM GenericPerson said
Hello Kitty Online for the simple reason that there are too many jerks that play the game right now and with open source I could run my private server with all my close friends.
Seriously, there are a couple. Earth and Beyond, Auto Assault, Dungeon Runners to name a few. I think these games would work great because they did have a small following and those people would go back to play something similar.
Seriously, there are a couple. Earth and Beyond, Auto Assault, Dungeon Runners to name a few. I think these games would work great because they did have a small following and those people would go back to play something similar.
Posted: May 8th 2010 9:20AM Daelen said
No question... AC2.
Posted: May 8th 2010 9:22AM Tom in VA said
Guild Wars or Tabula Rasa
Posted: May 8th 2010 9:47AM Faryon said
Star Wars Galaxies Pre-NGE
Tabula Rasa
Stargate Worlds (Is this game still being developed? Or has it been cancelled?)
The Chronicles of Spellborn
The Hero Engine
Tabula Rasa
Stargate Worlds (Is this game still being developed? Or has it been cancelled?)
The Chronicles of Spellborn
The Hero Engine
Posted: May 8th 2010 1:08PM Ace Noble said
"Stargate Worlds (Is this game still being developed? Or has it been cancelled?)"
Good question. I sure most have seen or heard about this article:
http://www.massively.com/2010/03/29/cheyenne-mountain-entertainment-sells-off-stargate-assets/
As for the state of the company and where the game is in develop, I would start at the main corporate website and take it from there:
http://www.cheyenneme.com/games/stargateworlds/
Personally, I dare not speculate because things can change overnight in the MMO production world. Although I do agree with the idea of an open sourced SGW. Maybe then we could play a Star Gate MMO this decade.
Reply
Good question. I sure most have seen or heard about this article:
http://www.massively.com/2010/03/29/cheyenne-mountain-entertainment-sells-off-stargate-assets/
As for the state of the company and where the game is in develop, I would start at the main corporate website and take it from there:
http://www.cheyenneme.com/games/stargateworlds/
Personally, I dare not speculate because things can change overnight in the MMO production world. Although I do agree with the idea of an open sourced SGW. Maybe then we could play a Star Gate MMO this decade.
Posted: May 8th 2010 9:48AM TheGreatMachine said
Vanguard. There's got to be enough open source-rs that hate themselves enough to take on it's source code.
Posted: May 8th 2010 9:49AM Tizmah said
Tabula Rasa
Auto-Assualt
Asheron's Call 2
Auto-Assualt
Asheron's Call 2
Posted: May 8th 2010 10:00AM Equillian said
Eve Online... I would work with the community and make a consensal pvp ruleset.
Tell me how it wouldnt work and that the computer would have to be crazy-powerful all you want, but I guarantee you: 1 year of my CPVP Server being up, and you'd see a subscription base in the millions. Eve would be -the- Sci-Fi MMORPG.
CCP is just too damn stubborn to make a second server, so why shouldnt someone show them?
Tell me how it wouldnt work and that the computer would have to be crazy-powerful all you want, but I guarantee you: 1 year of my CPVP Server being up, and you'd see a subscription base in the millions. Eve would be -the- Sci-Fi MMORPG.
CCP is just too damn stubborn to make a second server, so why shouldnt someone show them?
Posted: May 8th 2010 10:09AM dudemanjac said
I only played in the beta so I don't have as strong an opinion, but I liked the idea of Tabula Rasa. I trhink for some reason it was giving me headaches and I never bothered to investigate a cause. Got involved in something else and then the game was out. My loss. What killed it?
Posted: May 8th 2010 10:17AM (Unverified) said
What killed TR? Oh the fact the game classes where only 50% complete, when you got your end weapons / level whatever it was, they were so horrible so you ended up hating your character after grinding him all the way up.. No quests, massive imbalance, i remember my teammate went around one slashing everything, while i just ran behind him wishing I was him. At later levels the game was just a drag.. game actually got boring the more powerful you got.. Was just a lost cause game that deserves its grave and needs no further attention... The ones that loved it were probably their first born MMORPG, go back and play AC and see what the fuss is all about... 12 years ago.. has better and more advanced game mechanics than today, with multiple mob interaction, grinding was a term that was fun, and when they release the new texture patch, ill be back killing 10,000,000 more lugians, olthoi, golems, drudges, raveners, shadows, shreths, banderlings, and endless bestiary, with actual lore and traits.. Oh my, im going back now..
Reply
Posted: May 8th 2010 11:52AM Psychotic Storm said
Looks like you were another one who never played TR in its last months, pity.
Reply
Posted: May 8th 2010 1:23PM ZenJitsu said
Definitely. The last several months of TR were amazing, they were releasing big updates every month that kept it interesting. Battle suits, mechs, armor sets, upgraded weapons, additional weapon grades, different mechanics. The auction house at LAUNCH was nicely organized and had good search options, putting Cryptic's CO/STO 'My First Auction Houses' to shame.
I've never seen such a small life-support dev team do so much and work so hard to keep it going. At the end, we even got a wormhole to take us back to Earth and try to retake it.
I miss it because I enjoyed making at least some small difference in the world. If I held an Outpost from being retaken by the enemy, by golly, it'll stay held while I was there!
Reply
I've never seen such a small life-support dev team do so much and work so hard to keep it going. At the end, we even got a wormhole to take us back to Earth and try to retake it.
I miss it because I enjoyed making at least some small difference in the world. If I held an Outpost from being retaken by the enemy, by golly, it'll stay held while I was there!








