Nov 24 2006
Given that massively multiplayer roleplaying games have proven quite viable, both technically and financially, it's not surprising that attempts have been made to adapt the massively multiplayer model to other game genres. First-person shooters and sports games have had some success in this area, but real-time strategy (RTS) games played in persistent online worlds are very unusual.
The recently launched Boundless Planet, is one of those rare MMORTS games, inviting hundreds of players to build empires and fight for domination of a huge virtual map. It was created by a small, independent developer, and is available for download on their site (about 25 MB). There is no charge for the software, but there is currently a monthly fee of $8.95, which is quite reasonable compared to other MMOGs on the market.
If you're familiar with games like Starcraft, Age of Empires, or Command & Conquer, then you'll adjust to Boundless Planet quite easily. The essential RTS game mechanics are all intact. You gather resources, in this case oil and iron, to construct bases and build armaments with which to expand your territory, in turn enabling you to control more resources. Normally multiplayer RTS games involve less than a dozen players in a match that lasts a few hours at the most. Can the concept possibly work in an online game that goes on for weeks, with players coming and going?
Graphics and Interface
Eye-candy is not one of Boundless Planet's strong points. Although it is fully 3 dimensional, animation is at an absolute minimum and there are no flashy particle or lighting effects. The models aren't bad for sci-fi buildings and vehicles, but they are distinctly low-poly, no doubt in order to accommodate the sheer numbers of units the game supports. Compared to many recent RTS titles, Boundless Planet looks like something from a couple generations ago. There is only a single graphics setting, which allows you to select several different resolutions.
The maps are incredibly large, spherical planets. When you do some exploring and start to appreciate just how gigantic these things are, you understand why some compromises had to made on graphics. Worlds are proceedurally generated, perhaps because making such a large map by hand would be a major undertaking. Although the technique used ensures that there is no repetition, the result is not very attractive. Only a handful of textures are used, vertical transitions are awkward, there are no landmarks, bridges, roads, or neutral buildings, and they're unpleasantly random if not downright ugly in places.
It seems to me that the biggest problem with the maps, though, is that they're not particularly interesting from a strategic perspective. Resources are scattered around almost evenly, and the vast amalgamation of islands quickly start to look the same, despite being programmed to be unique.
For the most part, the controls will be familiar to RTS fans. The user interface in Boundless Planet is pretty sparse by today's standards; you can't even customize your key bindings. Fortunately, most of the commands you need are roughly where you would expect to find them. The help file is also very brief, but the community has so far been patient in answering questions from new players.
The Land Grab
At the moment there are two different worlds available when you log into Boundless Planet. One limits your game time to 12 hours per week in order to level the playing field a little for more casual players. Detritus, the other, far more active world, places no limits on game time. Both worlds are scheduled to run for about 1 month before being reset.
Starting on Detritus right now is rather like joining a multiplayer game of Starcraft 20 minutes late. The planet had only been up for about a week when I started, but the land grab was pretty much over. Until the planet resets, odds are good that you'll start between players that are much larger than you are, and have completed researching the tech tree. Worse yet, you could scout the map for hours before finding an unclaimed resource point, which leaves you with very few options for expansion. When you get eliminated or surrender you respawn in another position with just the basic starting resources, but your research progress is preserved.
I tried numerous different starting positions, and most of them were extremely discouraging. Pray that you come up next to an inactive player, or you come across a few resource points the big empires have missed, because otherwise you'll find that even building a second base is daunting. You are given a "noob shield" that protects units near your main base for about a day, but this is of little help if your only path for expansion involves territory controlled by players with dozens of bases. A common tactic is diplomacy, which amounts to begging established players not to bother killing you, since you really have nothing to bargain with.
The initial land grab is a key phase of most RTS games, and BP is no different in this regard. On Detritus, the amount of time you put in during the first few days of the planet's lifespan is going to have an enormous impact on the game's outcome. If you miss out on the land grab, you probably won't have much success, or fun, until the planet resets. The time-limited server is a little better this way because the land grab takes longer, but naturally, there is also less action, and then you might get attacked after using up your time. One possible solution would be to to reset the planets more often, or have several planets that reset on different schedules. As it stands, a lot of players are going to give up before they even get started.
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