[Karash]

Why Jumpgate (1) Failed.

Well I am new to the JSR forums and I want to thank Injustice for giving me the heads up to register here. While we have all seen the Jumpgate Evolution screenshots and salivated over a newer…’better’…Jumpgate, I still can’t help but think of what went wrong in the original Jumpgate as I look towards the future.

Yes I plan to play Jumpgate Evolution.

But a part of me wonders if ND can realistically give the game justice with only 8 developers on the job (stated from various sneak preview sites). To me, Jumpgate failed for a number of reasons…and why there are many hardcore fanboi’s that will espouse its perfect qualities, any sensible ‘gamer’ knows it was a flop in the end. So I got to thinking (probably my first mistake there) on why it flopped…and what needed to be addressed but never was.

• Lack of serious Dev Support. This was evident as ND needed to move on to maintain a profitable company with the development of Auto Assault. Really can’t blame them, but still #1 in my book why Jumpgate failed.

• Lack of ship configuration options. Let’s face it, there was always a ‘best fit’ for many of the most popular ships in Jumpgate. This led to obvious cookie cutter ships and you pretty much knew what you were up against when about to get into a scrap with another squad. While ships definitely need their roles (transport, combat, scouting, etc)…all ships need their own flavor and personality that pilots can modify. We never got to see specialized fittings geared towards ECM, and there was never a reason not to fit the best shield you could. Jumpgate took away the gamer’s choice of choosing equipment for his ship based on positives and negatives of each choice. I really wanted Jumpgate to make me choose between a set of engines that would offer me faster acceleration versus higher top speed. I never got that choice.

• Lack of serious Squad Management options. ND never gave us the ability to grow our squad in assets. We never got the ability to stockpile gear or manage ships, or create wing budgets. We did not have any online communication tools such as ingame forums or message delivery systems. How helpful would it have been to have a squadron credit account where the leader(s) could dole out much needed funds to their wing commanders or other subordinates? What about trader groups like MACK and the inability to effectively pool resources?

• Lack of effective factional warfare. Like it or not, Jumpgate turned into a factional warfare game. Now I know a lot of players disliked this, but the truth is that it happened. ND never really responded in kind to this, and never supported a true factional warfare game design within Jumpgate. They had war sliders for 5 years before they decided to use them….and by that time most players quit. Jumpgate is a PVP game, as you are required to have personal skill in flying your ship. If ND supports the shooting of more AI over a different game design of actually fighting, trading, and manufacturing against human opponents I think the game wont have the legs for any long distance run. Having AI is a great way to kill time…but its never the bread and butter of a game…at least a game like Jumpgate aspires to be. We could not even protect factional stations from getting stripped by meta gamers bent on ruining the game…there has to be game designs that take this PVP into account or the players will just use their own meta gaming to ruin it.

The tag system did more to harm Jumpgate than any one thing when it was released by 3DO. I know why it was put in, but Jumpgate was never intended (imo) to play with kid gloves on. In beta we could blockade stations, enforce a political will upon other players, and generally bring a dynamic and player driven content to the experience. The tag system totally ruined this…and it was a horrendous shame. The HG and new factional stuff were mere band aids to what was an effective (but brutal) system in Beta.

• Lack of a true MMO Economy. While Jumpgate came out in 2001 officially…with today’s offerings in the MMO market, ND should have no lack of inspiration in making a vibrant player dominated economy. We never got to do any crafting or true production and selling of goods in Jumpgate. We simply made ship equipment at a running loss because it was needed by our faction (see above). Trading missions back and forth are fine for newbies to get going, but they should never be the main form of any income within a MMO Economy. Crafting/Manufacturing of not only ships, but equipment and weapons as well should be the basis of how things work. Ships and equipment should be made by players (and their squads)…giving more incentives for conflict between players and adding a vibrant layer to the gaming experience. One HUGE strength that Jumpgate has going for it is I believe its impervious to “Gold Farmers” as the level of skill needed to play would almost kill any attempt at serious meta farming of ingame credits. ND should exploit this and give us the ability to create our own market and economy. Courier missions???? Please no.

I am sure I could list about 10 more items here (such as my utter distaste for ‘star trek’ lasers’), but I just wanted to see if there was any opinions you guys had about the topic. And since I am new to the JSR forums….flame way!

Karash

[Jump]

No one is going to flame you. Everyone has a right to their opinion. And even more so when it's well laid out such as yours. Of course, we may disagree.

[Injustice]

GAH!

I was just reading an article at gamezone.com about Jumpgate Evolution that talked about a lot of this, but now the sight is blocked here at work.

NetDevil Adds Next Chapter to Original IP with Jumpgate Evolution - PC News

That should be it, assuming it's actually a site block and not their webserver going down.

EDIT: Ok looks like somebody already posted it because it's linked in hypertext now. Still, go read it if you haven't already.

[Karash]

Cool...I will check that out. If its blocked for me (surf control) I will just shut down the filter...

[Radi]

2c's

Jumpgate was a project that 5 programmers tried to do with little resources they had. No such game existed in 2001. It doesn't even now. Mistakes were bound to happen. There were also couple other mishaps that followed (3DO, Themis, lack of m0deration of forums etc).

Was it failure? Well, we still have server running. And I think it matters because this game has something that keeps people around and now there will be a sequel.

Maybe not a total failure after all.

I hope devs can learn from the past mistakes.

[Karash]

I agree Radi, the game never existed in 2001...but what I tried to lay out is some reflective thoughts on why it failed. Yes, IMO...Jumpgate did fail as a game. Sure we still have a server, but no real and robust player base. We have a bunch of fanboi's (me included) that want to keep the dream alive...but lets be realists here.