Okay, I'll do my best to answer those questions.
1. What kind of game do you want to develop? vs What kind of game are you developing?
We want to develop a game where everyone (both casual and hardcore players) has fun while playing it, and doesn't have mechanics that feel like a chore, without any kind of pay-to-win factors. We are researching all of the MMO games, and want to take from them the good stuff, if we can to make it even better, and implement it in our game. The feedback from the community is very important, and we are glad to have such an amazing community.
We will continue with the Dev Diaries, hopefully, more regularly (like once a month, or even frequently if we have some important stuff to share, we need some time just to clear the concept), also the discussions will be continued as well, we get some absolutely cool ideas from them, and we can see your opinion on different topics.
2. You already said a classic experience, something FROM the community FOR the community, but what kind of community? Hardcore community? Casual community? PvP or PvE community? WoW community (we can’t deny the inspiration you took from there, that’s not a bad thing tho)? A game that has a spot for everyone?
We are talking about the MMORPG Community, which combines in it all of the above communities. We aim to have content for all types of players. You are casual? Okay play when you can, yeah you will need more time to progress compared to the hardcore players, but you will be able to. You are hardcore? No problems, dump 8-10 hours straight daily and go for the top. We will have enough PvE and PvP content for everyone.
3. Also, it needs to be defined; What is a “Classic Experience” for you?
We are talking about the early days of MMOs, with no pay-to-win or convenience items, where everything you achieve in the game feels rewarding and meaningful, the social aspect of them when you actually needed to communicate with the other players. Of course, we won't go full old-school, we will try to put a modern twist on the classic experience.
4. How much punishment would you like in the game?
I guess you talk about, losing stuff when you die, etc. Most probably you won't lose gear or experience, some kind of gold penalty, or a "condition" after you resurrect. Or nothing at all. We haven't fully discussed that. But Scars of Honor won't be a hardcore full loot game, so if you have a penalty it won't be harsh.
5. What is hardcore for you?
Hardcore for us is when you play for 8-10-12 hours a day straight, aim always for the top ranks in all modes, etc.
6. What is casual for you?
Casuals are all those working people, with families, and busy everyday life (like me), that have 3-4 hours to play after the kids are asleep and all household chores are done. We want these people to feel relevant amongst the hardcore players, and to be able to progress without a problem.
7. What do you prefer Hardcore or Casual?
We don't want to limit the game to either casual or hardcore. With the risk of repeating myself, the end goal is to make a fun game for everyone to play and "switch off" from the daily real-life stuff, for a while and feel happy.
If we achieve that, then we have done our job well.
8. What is challenging for you?
Challenging is something that you can't manage to do by yourself and have to group up and have a tactic to complete it. Challenging is when you have to get to a location, but it is filled with deadly monsters, and you have to time your movement or kill monster by monster to clear your path. Challenging is to duel with an equal enemy/player and only your skills matter, not the gear you have, in order to win.
9. What is grindy for you?
Short answer: BDO
Long answer: mindless killing the same mobs (which don't stand a chance) for hours in order to get enough mats or to get a drop of an item that I need in order to go to the next zone and mindlessly kill other mobs for the next item. Also, quests where I have to kill 5 million wolves because the NPC needs 5 million wolf teeth...
10. What do you prefer grindy or challenging?
1000% challenging is better.
Hope I managed to get you some answers, feel free to ask, I'll make sure to answer what I can 😊
edit: please don't use so many colors, my eyes hurt when I read that 😁
First of all, thank you so much for taking all that time to
answer!
1. I'm really looking forward for those dev diaries even if
they are just 2 minutes long, maybe a good starting format can be just a
podcast where you are working, debating all these race and class topics, and
the other stuff, maybe just 10-15 minutes, IDK just and idea.
2. Thank you for considering all those options.
3 and 4. Glad to read that, I've seen in other games where
grouping feels like a reward and not like an obligation or a punishment, I
think there's the key.
5 and 6. Interesting, maybe hardcore does not exist, and we
can be elitists and casuals, I think it fits better, because you can be skilled
and still a casual, and you can be less skilled and hardworker to be an Elite
player.
7. I hope you really achieve that!
8, 9 and 10. I really like challenging and some grinding,
but no mindless grinding, I can say WoW's early and mid game just feel like a
mindless grindy run to reach level 60 where the "real game" starts.
Grind has to be part of the game but with measure, I like challenging and grindy
when they feel rewarding.
Again thank you for taking the time!
Text color: Already changed it to darker colors just for titles and subtitles, hope it looks better, the colors where
too bright and I didn't want to accept they were hurting my eyes. I just want
to make my posts easier to read without looking like a Game Master or
the Project Owner posts, because I tend to overthink everything and I don't
want people to get the wrong idea so my posts always get longer like this one
LoL, thank you again!