“Melna Milos” is the avatar name of the 26 year old lead creator of Remnants of Earth, a Second Life-based mini-MMO recently featured on Kotaku, other top game media outlets (and first here, on New World Notes). The surprising thing is that Melna has no prior game industry experience, he tells me, and doesn’t even know how to script.
“RoE has been a dream reached for me," says Melna. "Ever since I picked up my first MMO, Ragnarok Online, back in the early 2000's, I grew obsessed with creating my own RPG or MMO. I never thought anyone would be interested in my dumb ideas in a million years.”
Now running for over a year, Remnants already had a fan base before Kotaku and other sites picked it up -- since that coverage, however, the userbase has gone way up:
“We had about 1400+ players registered in the main group before the [coverage],” he tells me. Afterward, “It jumped to about 1700+ in 4 days…. [T]this rise in traffic has been crazy, but nothing we can't handle!” New players piled into Second Life, asking questions about how to play what’s basically a fairly complicated RPG tabletop game which takes place in a virtual world. Fortunately, his existing players have helped welcome them: “They even made a newbie start guide for the new faces and stood in the [entrance] helping them all. I am very proud of my community for being so open and helpful.” [Update: Get that guide here.]
This is the story of Remants of Earth: How Melna and his team created it, how it’s played, and his future plans. Read on!
Origins of Remnants
The MMO actually began on a small plot of land rented from Linden Lab: “I started RoE in a tiny homestead for me and a couple of friends, and then soon people started piling in. I was forced into upgrading to a full sim and constantly kept having to expand.”
For his inspiration, he looked at popular SL MMOs like City of Lost Angels and Midgar. “[I] thought I'd never even compare to them in numbers or size and never planned to try to compete. Later that year I soon discovered members from those sims were pouring in and we were averaging just as many players as those huge juggernaut sims. I never did much in the way of advertising or caring if I had five players or 5000, I just tried to focus on giving my players a fun place to play.”
He credits community support as a secret to its success: "I try to listen to complaints and suggestions to fix anything that's wrong. I can't fix everything, but I tried hard to please everyone I could. I wanted a different sort of RP sim where the mods and admins actually cared and listened to the players, instead of doing whatever I wanted. Sometimes though, I will stand firm on my some of my original visions and directions for the game, such as keeping it a bit hardcore, like EVE online or Diablo PVP."
Melna now develops and manages the MMO with a team of over two dozen: “There are roughly three GMs who are loremasters, one scripter, one dedicated mesh artist, about tens admins, nine roleplay mentors, and three moderators. And myself as the project lead... We are hiring if anyone is interested.”
Advice for New Players
“I'd say if you are considering joining and are scared of the dreaded rule book and learning to play, 'Don't fear'! The game is basically watered down Dungeons & Dragons-style rules, Most players pick it up completely within a week. It's very easy… and we have Roleplay Mentors, whose job it is to sit down and teach players, along with some new player quests and classes to help newbies get familiar with the rules and HUD.”
The Factions of Remnants
There are seven core factions whose names suggest their character: EarthGOV Corp., The Bounty Hunter's Guilde (BHG), The Mytharii Nomad Clans AKA Hel'Cathra, The "Blood Corsairs" Space Pirates, The "Ex Praeda" Crime Syndicate, The "Junk Hound" Wasteland Raiders, and The Tribunal. “The factions are moderately well split, definitely not perfect,” allows Melna. Some are bleeding members, while others have only 20-30 members, but the smaller groups seem to be the more active and equipped ones.”
There's not only "official" factions in RoE, because there are a number of other player-created roles and factions: “There are a number of other jobs and player made factions and such to join and take part in, anything from school/classes, to casinos, strip clubs, mercenary units, etc. Players can collect paychecks for joining factions or performing jobs with in-game currency… The game's economy is entirely player driven!”
Live Missions & Events in Remnants
“We have events all the time, monster attacks, raids, PVP, tourneys, casino nights, all sorts of in character fun, but every once a month, my storytellers and I will launch a large public storyline that anyone can join that can alter the sim's build, plot, or anything in a dynamic way, depending on the outcome.
“For example, we had terrorists bomb the dam in the city, and if it wasn't stopped, we flooded the build with a few feet of water for a week, until some worker type characters donated parts and time to fix it. The one that stands out most for me was the robot riots. We had one robot gain sentience then program a virus, broadcasting it to all the other robots in town. Soon he had an army under his control and it was an all-out massive war for the survival of the organics!” (Screenshot above.)
The Remnants Gameplay & Dynamic Environment System
Remnants gameplay is managed through a simple heads-up display created by a couple of friends. “The roleplay HUD is pretty minimalistic, but does several things. It emotes (of course), it can roll your dice, keeps track of your character's credits, inventory, and equipment, and even manages the weather.”
This last bit is managed through Restrained Life, a custom version of the Second Life viewer which overrides user permissions. “For example, the weather will change randomly throughout the day. When it storms, the environment will turn a bit more grey, even flashes when there's lightning. At night, it gets darker and foggier, when indoors, it will get nice and luminescent bright. Going into certain areas of the sim, such as the caves will get dark. There are even sandstorms, and it will turn the screen very foggy with sands and gusts in the field of vision.”
How Remnants’ Developers Pay the Bills
“RoE is nonprofit. It is completely free to play, and there are no pay-to-win items. I pay for it out of my own pocket, I pay for my players to have fun.” Players can donate L$ through option items, “such as a donation pack that rewards the player with a small adventure package and some in-game items to get a character started, but most of it is low grade starter type weapons and gear. We have rentals, but I keep them extremely cheap.”
Whatever revenue the game does earn, he uses “to pay for sim upkeep or to purchase more assets, such as custom meshes for the game. I don't want to make money off of RoE. I have my real life job for that. This project is just for fun.” He declines to mention how much the MMO is earning, but “I can say that RoE is financially stable and probably isn't going anywhere for a long long time.”
On Remnants “Going Pro”
Does Melna want to take RoE off Second Life, and like DayZ, turn it into a standalone MMO?
”I've been approached several times about this idea before,” he says. “I've had many people telling me to take it further and personally, I'd love to bring it to real life, and maybe one day it will get there, but until I am approached with a serious/realistic offer, it probably won’t happen. Not to mention I have no scripting or game creation experience.
“As I said, RoE is just a fun project for me, although, I've already taken a step towards that direction by copyrighting some of the games titles and such. I've often thought about doing a real print of the rulebook, and to have them shipped to players, or to take to conventions to advertise, but I did not think anyone would enjoy non-digital books as much as I would. I'm sort of old school like that.”
Upcoming Features & Plans for Remnants - And for Melna Milos
“We have a upcoming expansion pack and balance patch for the spring that will add tons of new items into the game as well as a update to our HUD that will add in some more features to the game such as a working health bar and some automated monsters to fight.”
Beyond that, Melna Milo adds: “If RoE lives for a long time or dies tomorrow... I am simply proud that I managed to accomplish one of my life's goals. There are other projects on my list and I plan to knock them out next!”
Images courtesy of Melna. Please share this post:
Comments