This game was my absolute favorite; I want to create a successor

Thenameless Wonder · March 17, 2020 at 4:38 AM

I can't believe it's been 14 years since I first started playing Guild Wars...

Maybe it's something about Lent, and having given up on video games, I've been drawn back to this favorite game of mine. Having sunk over 2,700 hours into this game, I've been longing to get back into it again. There are so many parts about this game that I miss, namely:

- The combat (GW2 doesn't do it justice)

- The old-school trading post (no automated listings)

- The high price of black dye (7 plat the last time I remember)

- Everlasting tonics

- Instanced zones

- Main/secondary professions

- Click to move

- Aggro bubbles and speed clears

- RR (red-resign) days, when it was still a thing

- The voltaic spear and ecto gloves look

A part of me realizes I can't sink in time like I used to; like - way too much time. There's also a part of me that wants to be more responsible. You see, I have my own business. I'm a software/web developer and that's where my skills are but inside I really find it something I'd enjoy very much if I could create a Guild Wars successor. I haven't found any games that are quite like Guild Wars 1, but I also do not have the experience I would need to make a game.

Has this been something anyone has pursued or has interest in pursuing in this community?

Mr Crow · March 17, 2020 at 2:34 PM Official Post

Actually yes, I am pursuing a spiritual successor to gw1. It has always held a huge place in my heart.

I've been game designing for 16 years now and finally starting my own business. But my problem is that I dont have a production company behind me so at the moment I can only work on small games and not something as big as this.

Thenameless Wonder · March 17, 2020 at 11:56 PM

Quote from Mr Crow

Actually yes, I am pursuing a spiritual successor to gw1. It has always held a huge place in my heart.
I've been game designing for 16 years now and finally starting my own business. But my problem is that I dont have a production company behind me so at the moment I can only work on small games and not something as big as this.

I'm reading this, what?! Really?! How exciting - that's incredible!

Is that something planned for your near future, building the successor? What games have you made so far, I'd love to check them out!

Mr Crow · March 18, 2020 at 12:05 AM Official Post

Quote from Thenameless Wonder

I'm reading this, what?! Really?! How exciting - that's incredible!
Is that something planned for your near future, building the successor? What games have you made so far, I'd love to check them out!

It's part of the 5 year plan yes. I've been a contractor for various games over the years mostly with Microsoft. My more recent experience has been with Old School runescape & the mobile ports. I also helped with spartan runner & spartan firefight for android & iOS.

Thenameless Wonder · March 18, 2020 at 12:11 AM

Quote from Mr Crow

It's part of the 5 year plan yes. I've been a contractor for various games over the years mostly with Microsoft. My more recent experience has been with Old School runescape & the mobile ports. I also helped with spartan runner & spartan firefight for android & iOS.

Congratulations! You are well on your way for this game! If you ever go on Kickstarter or Patreon I'll be sure to support you!

Thenameless Wonder · March 18, 2020 at 1:51 AM

Quote from Mr Crow

It's part of the 5 year plan yes. I've been a contractor for various games over the years mostly with Microsoft. My more recent experience has been with Old School runescape & the mobile ports. I also helped with spartan runner & spartan firefight for android & iOS.

So tell me, if you've thought about this Mr Chow, what mechanics are you thinking about this successor, are you thinking it will be mechanically the same but with different story? Will the professions be the same, are you considering dual-professions in the original?

Mr Crow · March 19, 2020 at 4:54 PM Official Post

for the most part I'm keeping the heros & henchman aspect. Public towns, cities, and outposts with private zones.

As for professions I'm not keeping them separate. You make 1 character and it can be any profession. You change the skills around. The armor will have more class bonuses to help with melee, bows & magic

Thenameless Wonder · March 30, 2020 at 6:55 AM

Quote from Mr Crow

for the most part I'm keeping the heros & henchman aspect. Public towns, cities, and outposts with private zones.
As for professions I'm not keeping them separate. You make 1 character and it can be any profession. You change the skills around. The armor will have more class bonuses to help with melee, bows & magic

What game engine are you thinking about building this on? I've been dabbling with Unity recently and was wondering if you would know if it is good enough for a game as grand of scale as a GW1 remake?

Mr Crow · March 30, 2020 at 2:11 PM Official Post

Unity is a very limited engine to use. I've been using Godot for game design lately.

Mr Crow · April 6, 2020 at 4:39 AM Official Post

so I got a few ideas in mind. But I'm very open to ideas. What does the community have in mind

Bowie · April 6, 2020 at 3:19 PM

Quote from Mr Crow

so I got a few ideas in mind. But I'm very open to ideas. What does the community have in mind

My answer will be somewhat different than most would ask for, but something many would like. Pre-Searing, rolling countryside, beautiful streams, butterflies, flowers, trees, grassland; the general beauty of nature. While not something the developers originally intended, they'd done such a good job there arose the perma-pre-searing characters.

I began playing Guild Wars in the first preview weekend event and left the game as Nightfall was still rather new. I returned as a very casual player when I had a bit of free time about 2 years ago. (Yeah, there were many changes to the game.) Shortly after my return I left pre-searing; your question makes me understand why. With little money I'd moved halfway across the country to the Ozarks and forged my own IRL pre-searing with axe in hand and strength of will. The Red Buds are in bloom as spring begins. For those still stuck wherever they are, give them the gift of pre-searing.

The mundane tasks they'll be assigned in pre-searing (whatever it's called) will be mostly irrelevant, it'll be the scenery that'll speak to them. While a huge task in itself, perhaps you can exceed what was done by accident. Maybe even add the seasonal changes in an ideal-like way if such a task can be accomplished.

Be careful when asking a question, I ask for grand things.

Thenameless Wonder · April 13, 2020 at 10:06 PM

Quote from Mr Crow

so I got a few ideas in mind. But I'm very open to ideas. What does the community have in mind

The skillbar, targeting system and different types of skills/consumables are important. These are what made the combat so much fun and, besides the community, are what I feel keep people playing this game.

Kryth Vocans · April 3, 2023 at 10:02 PM

You know I think it must've occurred to all the old timers to develop a spiritual successor to GW1, except we don't have the skills or know-how to do it. I did my fair share of research back in the day to find out whether it was possible to learn to develop a game like GW1 but I found out that I had waaaays to go. Learning code, learning 2d 3d design and modeling, learning to work with a game engine, and then building a game...

We keep playing the old game at the end of the day.. =/ Tho I'd support a kickstarter campaign to the best of my ability if one were to start.

Iaerah · April 21, 2023 at 10:02 AM Official Post

Quote from Kryth Vocans

You know I think it must've occurred to all the old timers to develop a spiritual successor to GW1, except we don't have the skills or know-how to do it. I did my fair share of research back in the day to find out whether it was possible to learn to develop a game like GW1 but I found out that I had waaaays to go. Learning code, learning 2d 3d design and modeling, learning to work with a game engine, and then building a game...
We keep playing the old game at the end of the day.. =/ Tho I'd support a kickstarter campaign to the best of my ability if one were to start.

Game development is hard and the reality is that only a few people on this planet are able to build a game from scratch on their own. Chris Sawyer, for example, who programmed RollerCoaster Tycoon on his own in the hardest possible language, Assembly. That's like trying to build a house having only a hammer.

So, realistically, you'd need a team of people and that's always hard to accomplish, since that makes it quite expensive to do so. Artists, programmers, sound designers and so on. The original Guild Wars was made with 50 people, but Guild Wars 2 was made by (at launch) about 350 people.

New games are incredibly complex, yet the cost of entry is almost entirely the same. Want to get into GW2, it'll cost you less to do so than it does to get into GW1. Monetization has changed so much in games, where as before gameplay was the key, monetization is now a factor as well.

That's why you see so many games add in mechanics with lootboxes or pay-to-skip or pay-for-convience: making games is so much more expensive than it was all those years ago, developers had to find a way to finance it all.

So, a successor for Guild Wars would - in my eyes - be an instant success, but monetization would make it a different game, I fear. Cosmetics would land in a shop, for example. Things that GW1 simply doesn't have or barely has right now.

To keep it short, I've been thinking often of creating my own game - something which I did in the past as a teenager as well - and it would no doubt be heavily inspired by Guild Wars, but I simply don't have the funds or people to do such a venture with.

It would be fun to make an MMORPG for the community that I love, without having to be the biggest game around.

Smallish Dayz · April 21, 2023 at 6:28 PM

Quote from Iaerah

To keep it short, I've been thinking often of creating my own game - something which I did in the past as a teenager as well - and it would no doubt be heavily inspired by Guild Wars, but I simply don't have the funds or people to do such a venture with.
It would be fun to make an MMORPG for the community that I love, without having to be the biggest game around.

Please if a gofundme for this ever happens post it here so we can all support the continuation of this wonderful game

Iaerah · October 13, 2023 at 11:31 AM Official Post

Quote from Smallish Dayz

Quote from Iaerah

To keep it short, I've been thinking often of creating my own game - something which I did in the past as a teenager as well - and it would no doubt be heavily inspired by Guild Wars, but I simply don't have the funds or people to do such a venture with.
It would be fun to make an MMORPG for the community that I love, without having to be the biggest game around.

Please if a gofundme for this ever happens post it here so we can all support the continuation of this wonderful game

Very late reply here, but building a game and certainly an MMORPG is a massive undertaking and a gofundme won't cut it. However, I have an idea for a smaller RPG that I hopefully will someday find the time and energy for.

The idea would be: the last day before the searing, but from the eyes of someone else.