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#1 03/25/14 15:03

TOCS
Member
From: Denmark
Registered: 04/04/07

Crowdfunding?

Has this ever been given any thought by you guys? A lot of dead franchises and ideas has been resurrected the last couple of years through crowdfunding. Would a possible re-make or sequel serve any demographic these days? Please, discuss! big_smile

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#2 03/25/14 15:03

Vadell Gabriel
Member
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia, NS
Registered: 03/19/14

Re: Crowdfunding?

Unless one of us could somehow wrangle the rights from Take Two, it's impossible. Unless they licensed us the IP, we'd get C&D if Take Two got wind of it.

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#3 03/25/14 16:03

paradox-01
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 01/14/07

Re: Crowdfunding?

Who again would recreate / sequel it again? We aren't kids anymore swimming in spare time. ]:D
Imo, this whole Oni2 idea is a dreamy idea, sweat but not very likely to happen.
Though I must admit that simply trying to do it anyway is a big temptation.

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#4 03/25/14 16:03

TOCS
Member
From: Denmark
Registered: 04/04/07

Re: Crowdfunding?

Vadell Gabriel wrote:

Unless one of us could somehow wrangle the rights from Take Two, it's impossible. Unless they licensed us the IP, we'd get C&D if Take Two got wind of it.

Renegade X, a remake of Command & Conquer: Renegade got EA's blessing when they wanted to completely remake it. It's of course totally free with no purchases behind it. Besides, I don't even think we have any right to mod the game anyway. tongue

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#5 03/25/14 16:03

Vadell Gabriel
Member
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia, NS
Registered: 03/19/14

Re: Crowdfunding?

TOCS wrote:

Renegade X, a remake of Command & Conquer: Renegade got EA's blessing when they wanted to completely remake it. It's of course totally free with no purchases behind it. Besides, I don't even think we have any right to mod the game anyway. tongue

You lost me when you said "EA." tongue But seriously, there's no way to know if TT would be as flexible, plus they pretty much forgot about the Oni IP.

Also, if it WAS to get rebooted or such, I think the team from the original game should have a role in it.

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#6 03/25/14 16:03

paradox-01
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 01/14/07

Re: Crowdfunding?

By "team from the original game should have a role in it" you to hire them?

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#7 03/25/14 16:03

Vadell Gabriel
Member
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia, NS
Registered: 03/19/14

Re: Crowdfunding?

paradox-01 wrote:

By "team from the original game should have a role in it" you to hire them?

Well, those who would be readily available, anyway. And usually, that can range from having actual involvement in development, to just giving creative direction (Ex: Mark Turmell, one of the original creators of the NBA Jam series, was hired by EA when they remade the game 2010, and he had a big role in keeping the game true to the original, even though he had little to do with the technical development of the remake).

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#8 10/15/15 06:10

Casykago
Member
Registered: 10/15/15

Re: Crowdfunding?

(Sorry for necroing an old thread.)

A spiritual successor would be possible, if there was a team working on it or at least a jack of all trades person. If one could get to a prototype phase then it would be possible to try to make the project bigger later on. Oni wasn't a well known game for many people so getting hype from nostalgia won't be on the project's side.

>Would a possible re-make or sequel serve any demographic these days?

I think there would be a niche for a possible spiritual successor. It is a third person action game that's not a brawler but it's closer to a fighting game. The combat takes skill and prefers freedom and player input over pre canned spectacle. This would most likely make it a bit "clunky" for the mainstream audience who prefer standardized games that are on the market now, of course.

A possible selling point for a game like this would be as I mentioned, player freedom and the fact that one can replay the games and see different results due to the combat system. This already works in Oni as bot fights rarely end up the same. (The best example for this would be the first encounter in the Second level. Sometimes TCTF agents survive and help you later on, if you are not quick enough they simply die.) And on top of that this hypothetical game could have what the original game lacked. Multiplayer. A skill based multiplayer fighting game that's allowing movement in 3d. I am sure people would like that a lot.

What would be a big challenge - beside making the game itself - would be updating the fighting system and creating a visual style that's appealing, can work with lover poly count and helps the player see what's going on. It helps with the visual feedback and cuts the clutter.

On the other hand I am not so sure about the mass appeal of the setting. While I like Oni a lot, the story itself and the setting suffers from lack of polish, rushed development and early 2000s anime hype. Which is fine for the time but now more than a decade later it would be hard to play it that straight. Anime is fine but it would be sensible make it look like more like Ghost in the Shell or Battle Angel Alita. Not to mention I am not sure how many things can be borrowed from the plot and stay still a game of it's own.

In short. Yes, I am certain people could like a game like that. But it would require great effort to pull it off, not to mention have a hook that can sell the game for people who are not familiar with Oni.

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#9 10/15/15 17:10

TOCS
Member
From: Denmark
Registered: 04/04/07

Re: Crowdfunding?

I have no doubts a game like Oni could find its niche on the market considering all the indie games that are released these days. The problem is really assembling a team that can do it. Perhaps it would be possible if this community had more widespread recognition. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to market your idea these days without any material resources. Like you said, we'd probably need a functioning prototype of our ideas and a decent concept design to really catch some attention and get something real going.

To get a project like this going in a small community like this would require everyone who's still active here to figure out if they can assert themselves a role and contribute. Personally, I know that I wouldn't be of much use when it comes to actually creating the game, even though I've made a few texture mods in the past. If a project like this would ever come to be, I'd probably be better at e.g. QA the game and make sure the game balance is good. I come from a background with lots of experience in first-person shooters; especially Quake, so I have a pretty good idea of what game balance is and how it should be, at least if there were to be a multiplayer component for the game.

But as you may come to realise, most of the people around here aren't really game developers, so it would be pretty hard to assemble a capable team that could actually get anywhere.

I've come to realise how bad this evil circle of getting something like this anywhere really is. It's really frustrating, especially when looking at the countless fan-made remakes of old games that are being released lately.

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#10 10/16/15 01:10

Casykago
Member
Registered: 10/15/15

Re: Crowdfunding?

I agree. Working on video games is a really difficult thing. I am interested in getting started but have no clue how to even start. In my opinion it's counter intuitive to learn something with and end goal in mind, it gives people unrealistic standards they can't simply catch up to. (IE. fiddling around with Unity vs actually have a game to make.)

A big challenge would be having a focused idea for the game. If it is being made by a community, it can get bloated and out of focus really fast. And treating others as employees when they are working on something for free is simply rude, I think.

QA is super important along with balance. In fact I think that the lack of polish hurt ONI a lot along with the limited feature set and lack of multi player mode.

I am trying to look into the Unity engine but what can I say. I simply lack the know how, so I don't really talk too much about it.


I think the appeal of an Oni like game would be - beside what I have mentioned - is the fact that it's a deep system based on learning by the player and the fact that it's a focused experience. In ONI the player levels up, not the avatar in the game. I think that's the main appeal in the game for me along with the fact that one has to respect every opponent because even a lucky green or blue striker can get into a "hit you and throw you" session when he feels like. Basically the player paces the game for him or herself by judging the situations. At some points the game feels sandboxy Bungie gave us a set of tools, some limited resource and no hand holding.

So yes, I agree. There would be some people who would love the concept. Communicating the idea? Now that is a hard one. For this "project's" luck there aren't many games like that in the works. So sharing things even during in development could help people to pay attention to it. It would be a lot harder to do the same for example "a retro indie platformer" that's basically being over saturated by now.

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#11 03/28/16 20:03

Darquesse
Member
From: United Kingdom
Registered: 03/28/16

Re: Crowdfunding?

Hi, first post/comment.

Doesn't copyright expire after 15 years, if it has not been used/renewed? It doesn't look like it'll be renewed, so... crowdfunding or bust?


I think Oni is a pretty cool girl. She kills syndicate and doesn't afraid of anything.

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#12 03/29/16 01:03

TOCS
Member
From: Denmark
Registered: 04/04/07

Re: Crowdfunding?

Welcome aboard!

I'm afraid we're going to wait a big longer than that though. The expiration date of published works in the US is generally 70 years after the death of the author, according to Wikipedia. I'm not sure how that works in correlation with video game developers and publishers. It's probably easier to call the game abandonware by now, even though the term is pretty unofficial. I like it.

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#13 03/30/16 13:03

Nobody
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 04/13/15

Re: Crowdfunding?

Just wanted to throw in my own word, I agree with all of you guys who say that it's not so much about funding as it is about actually getting it done XD. I'm pretty sure that copyright wouldn't be a problem as such, I doubt Bungie and co. who have the rights would "kill" a team that has an idea for an "Oni" game that might be successful.

But it's coming up with a project that is hard. Playing around with engines and re-creating Oni levels is one thing, making a game is another. I have friends in the game industry, mostly in the 3D animation departments (well, 1 friend to be exact XD and another one, a programmer who does some scripting for games at times). As far as they explained it to me, there are many small teams working on a game, there are ppl doing animiation, other ppl doing the programming, more people doing motion capture, other people designing the locations, ppl writing the plot, etc... Afterwards it's all put together into one work and tested and corrected and tested again, etc...

So yeah, as TOCS said, getting a team together, that's the real issues... And the team would need to be professional about it, modding is one thing and well, making a game is another...

I know I'm kind of repeating what has already been said but...

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