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Are there open source/creative commons fantasy worlds out there?

deuxhero

Arcane
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
11,328
Location
Flowery Land
There's a difference between the classic, technologically dated, sci-fi and the abomination "steampunk" has been made into, which has degraded into "what if they had modern stuff but it worked on STEAM!".
 

Moaning_Clock

SmokeSomeFrogs
Developer
Joined
Feb 7, 2021
Messages
655
but steampunk, ingeneral, test audience's mind, which mean lower sales.
Steampunk means niche and that's generally good thing from a sales perspective.

Guns of Icarus Online sold quite well back in the day (nowadays it's another story)
Isn't Frostpunk Steampunk too? Or BioShock Infinite? I'm not deep into the genre but it seems so.

and from wikipedia about arcanum
The game proved a commercial success for Troika following its release, selling over 200,000 copies and generating revenue of over US$8.8 million
That's the amount Vampire: The Masquerade and ToEE sold combined in the beginning - they performed much worse initially.
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,144
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
but steampunk, ingeneral, test audience's mind, which mean lower sales.
Steampunk means niche and that's generally good thing from a sales perspective.
The game proved a commercial success for Troika following its release, selling over 200,000 copies and generating revenue of over US$8.8 million
That's the amount Vampire: The Masquerade and ToEE sold combined in the beginning - they performed much worse initially.
Niche mean easier to sell, doesnt mean bigger amount of sale. You gotta know the difference. :baka:
And while 200k copies sound good, that's in context of that niche. You can say "the best game of steampunk genre can sell up to 200k."
Compared to the usual million copies nowaday, you can see that 200k is not that big a reason for the devs to jump into steampunk subgenre.
I love steampunk, I do. But I know from start steampunk is niche, and therefore minority, as fuck.
 

Moaning_Clock

SmokeSomeFrogs
Developer
Joined
Feb 7, 2021
Messages
655
I know the difference. But if the original poster will create an RPG alone or with like one or two friends it's better to go niche because it's likely to sell more that way - even with a 50 people company or more. As I stated I'm not deep into Steampunk but Bioshock Infinite sold more than 11 million copies and Frostpunk is also an Indie success. Comparing Arcanum to the market nowadays is also weird.
Only because you have a bigger market initially doesn't mean you will sell more in the end.
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,144
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
Niche mean more to small studios because they can use their very limited marketing budget on niche targeting ads. A surefire small return for small investment, so to speak.

But with big studios with heavy investment on a game, they can afford more budget and they require a much bigger paying audience. To them the highest ceiling of sale number is very important because that's how they lure in investor. A game with max 200k sale ceiling is hard to fish them sharks~

Regarding Bioshock Infinite, it's a FPS game. We are talking all RPGs here, not FPS. Shiet~
 

Moaning_Clock

SmokeSomeFrogs
Developer
Joined
Feb 7, 2021
Messages
655
I wouldn't give up on a bigger Steampunk RPG - if there's interest in the overall topic and there are games from other genres who worked well, it still can happen - but maybe not as AAA. But it also depends on your definition of success. As you stated Darkest Dungeon sold only 2 million copies - that's nothing to sneeze at, except you are in the range of AAA studios but RedHook isn't AAA. But I'm also not aware of dozens of other successful FPS games in the Steampunk genre except Bioshock Infinite and Dishonored. But only time will tell.
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,144
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
I wouldn't give up on a bigger Steampunk RPG - if there's interest in the overall topic and there are games from other genres who worked well, it still can happen - but maybe not as AAA. But it also depends on your definition of success. As you stated Darkest Dungeon sold only 2 million copies - that's nothing to sneeze at, except you are in the range of AAA studios but RedHook isn't AAA. But I'm also not aware of dozens of other successful FPS games in the Steampunk genre except Bioshock Infinite and Dishonored. But only time will tell.

Let's fap to a vision of Arcanum on 3D engine.
 

just a newfag

Literate
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Messages
46
Location
basement
W.H. Hodgson died in 1918, and the setting described in his classic novel The Night Land has been public domain for some time.

fabian_lesser_redoubt-10-1000-1000-100.jpg
fabian_northwest_watcher-16-1000-1000-100.jpg

fabian_past_the_house_of_silence-17-1000-1000-100.jpg
fabian_night_hounds-14-1000-1000-100.jpg


Artwork by Stephen Fabian
Absolutely top class setting.
The nightlands wouldn't make any sense without breaking from everything WH Hodgson wrote about the world. It was just an abyss. No coherence, no sense at all. The only object was reuniting his lovers. The story itself is a tremendous bore, a real labor to finish. I was happy for the characters, but happier to be done. Anybody using this setting would diverge so far, they'd just end up making their own setting. Personally, I don't think it would make a good setting for an rpg, because its far too bleak, edgy, and uninspired.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,242
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
W.H. Hodgson died in 1918, and the setting described in his classic novel The Night Land has been public domain for some time.

fabian_lesser_redoubt-10-1000-1000-100.jpg
fabian_northwest_watcher-16-1000-1000-100.jpg

fabian_past_the_house_of_silence-17-1000-1000-100.jpg
fabian_night_hounds-14-1000-1000-100.jpg


Artwork by Stephen Fabian
Absolutely top class setting.
The nightlands wouldn't make any sense without breaking from everything WH Hodgson wrote about the world. It was just an abyss. No coherence, no sense at all. The only object was reuniting his lovers. The story itself is a tremendous bore, a real labor to finish. I was happy for the characters, but happier to be done. Anybody using this setting would diverge so far, they'd just end up making their own setting. Personally, I don't think it would make a good setting for an rpg, because its far too bleak, edgy, and uninspired.
Reading the original story is certainly a greater labour than writing it might have been. :lol:
Then again if Lovecraft's works could be adapted into an rpg, no reason why Night Lands shouldn't. Probably more like quick forays out of the Redoubt and Back again rather than extended expeditions I suppose.
 

just a newfag

Literate
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Messages
46
Location
basement
W.H. Hodgson died in 1918, and the setting described in his classic novel The Night Land has been public domain for some time.

fabian_lesser_redoubt-10-1000-1000-100.jpg
fabian_northwest_watcher-16-1000-1000-100.jpg

fabian_past_the_house_of_silence-17-1000-1000-100.jpg
fabian_night_hounds-14-1000-1000-100.jpg


Artwork by Stephen Fabian
Absolutely top class setting.
The nightlands wouldn't make any sense without breaking from everything WH Hodgson wrote about the world. It was just an abyss. No coherence, no sense at all. The only object was reuniting his lovers. The story itself is a tremendous bore, a real labor to finish. I was happy for the characters, but happier to be done. Anybody using this setting would diverge so far, they'd just end up making their own setting. Personally, I don't think it would make a good setting for an rpg, because its far too bleak, edgy, and uninspired.
Reading the original story is certainly a greater labour than writing it might have been. :lol:
Then again if Lovecraft's works could be adapted into an rpg, no reason why Night Lands shouldn't. Probably more like quick forays out of the Redoubt and Back again rather than extended expeditions I suppose.
Maybe the Nightland is the world after Cthulhu awakens.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,242
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
W.H. Hodgson died in 1918, and the setting described in his classic novel The Night Land has been public domain for some time.

fabian_lesser_redoubt-10-1000-1000-100.jpg
fabian_northwest_watcher-16-1000-1000-100.jpg

fabian_past_the_house_of_silence-17-1000-1000-100.jpg
fabian_night_hounds-14-1000-1000-100.jpg


Artwork by Stephen Fabian
Absolutely top class setting.
The nightlands wouldn't make any sense without breaking from everything WH Hodgson wrote about the world. It was just an abyss. No coherence, no sense at all. The only object was reuniting his lovers. The story itself is a tremendous bore, a real labor to finish. I was happy for the characters, but happier to be done. Anybody using this setting would diverge so far, they'd just end up making their own setting. Personally, I don't think it would make a good setting for an rpg, because its far too bleak, edgy, and uninspired.
Reading the original story is certainly a greater labour than writing it might have been. :lol:
Then again if Lovecraft's works could be adapted into an rpg, no reason why Night Lands shouldn't. Probably more like quick forays out of the Redoubt and Back again rather than extended expeditions I suppose.
Maybe the Nightland is the world after Cthulhu awakens.
Maybe. Though the presence of a God that wards against the evils of the Night Lands suggests otherwise.
 

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