Master of Orion Reboot - Developer Diaries #1

WG Labs' first episode of their developer diary for the Master of Orion Reboot project:

In the very first Master of Orion Developer Diary, learn more about the rich legacy of Master of Orion and what made it one of the most influential strategy games of all time. Developers from the original Master of Orion and the upcoming game share the approaches and influences used in bringing this legend back to the gaming masses. Get an inside look at the game’s creation, from its orchestral score, design, lore, and much more.
Stay tuned for future episodes to learn even more about the WG Labs’ re-boot of the classic Master of Orion!

More information.

Nice to see so many MoO 1 veterans in the team. Feeling a little hyped for this one.

Loved MoO 1, so disappointed with the sequels. Here's hoping the re-boot is everything the original was and more. *fingers crossed*

MOO2 was good as well. Loved the SVGA graphics. This Reboot hopefully won't concentrate on movie quality too much. If they have the resources for these characters and scenes, they should hire a facial expressions expert to emphasize emotion.

MoO2 was great.

MoO2 >>> MoO

It sounds like the developers are going for a blend of the first 2 so I reckon we'll all be mostly happy with it.

As long as it's nothing like the spreadsheet simulator MoO3 I will be happy. I do prefer MoO2 over MoO1 myself.

Can't watch this at work. Do they go into any kind of detail when it comes to gameplay and features?

D'Artagnan: I didn't see anything in the way of detail on the gameplay.

I worked at SimTex/Microprose-Austin and was one of the artists on the MoO2 team. I "re-envisioned" the alien designs from the first game and created the space fleets, among other things. Jeff Dee had already left by that point, but of course we were building on his original concepts (as illustrated by Bill Willingham.) What I'm seeing so far looks great, and I love the idea of each race having a fleet tailored to their culture.

I worked with Jeff quite a bit, and he was a terrific art director, so I'm really glad to see him consulting on this new version. I'm also happy to see Jeff Johannigman there --another great guy to work with. Now if they only had Ken Burd. He was the one largely responsible for the game design improvements between MoO 1 and MoO 2, and I'm not sure how much credit he gets for the success of the franchise as a whole. Hopefully they have some great game designers who can match his talent.

Well, kudos to you all. MoO2, in particular, has legendary status. In forums, you'll still read its name frequently, as people hold it up as the gold standard every other 4x strategy game set in space is compared to.

Originally Posted by pytricc
D'Artagnan: I didn't see anything in the way of detail on the gameplay.

I worked at SimTex/Microprose-Austin and was one of the artists on the MoO2 team. I "re-envisioned" the alien designs from the first game and created the space fleets, among other things. Jeff Dee had already left by that point, but of course we were building on his original concepts (as illustrated by Bill Willingham.) What I'm seeing so far looks great, and I love the idea of each race having a fleet tailored to their culture.

I worked with Jeff quite a bit, and he was a terrific art director, so I'm really glad to see him consulting on this new version. I'm also happy to see Jeff Johannigman there —another great guy to work with. Now if they only had Ken Burd. He was the one largely responsible for the game design improvements between MoO 1 and MoO 2, and I'm not sure how much credit he gets for the success of the franchise as a whole. Hopefully they have some great game designers who can match his talent.

Thanks for the information

To me, MoO2 (from 1996!) remains the very best 4X space strategy game out there, and I'm not really the overly nostalgic type.

I always assumed the lead and main influence was Steve Barcia, so it's interesting to hear it was Ken Hurd who fronted the (much welcomed) changes from MoO to MoO2.

So, I hope this will be a good successor, even if it sort of smells like a "streamlined" version with the emphasis on accessibility. I know I don't have much proof of that, that's just my gut speaking.

I'm not looking for a MoO/MoO2 casualised hybrid - and I'd much rather have a proper MoO3, though I guess that's not going to happen.

That said, I thought MoO3 had a ton of strong ideas, it just never came together and it seemed Quicksilver dropped the ball by being unable to cut content and focus on the most important features.

I still, sometimes, boot it up with some of the mods and try to get into it. Never managed it, though.

MOO 1 was definitely my favorite. I loved how you could run a giant empire without getting bogged down in micromanagement. And it managed to have a lot of options while still having sufficient balance and AI.

I'll always have fond memories of MOO 2 as well, but it's a much more uneven game. The options and flavor were great, but the balance and AI were awful. And of course the poor balance meant that you only ever used a small number of all those cool options. But still it was cool enough you could overlook all of that.

MOO 3 I prefer to pretend never existed. Though it did sound really cool when it was first coming out.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Thanks for the information

To me, MoO2 (from 1996!) remains the very best 4X space strategy game out there, and I'm not really the overly nostalgic type.

I couldn't put it better.

C

But I like reading 100+ page manuals!

OMG Master of Orion 2 Best 4x space strategy. Kids dont know what they are missing out now. I wish i could find again Amiga version of Burn Time!

Watched the video and I'm pleased they think MoO2 was the better game.

I thought it a little odd that they put such a young woman in charge of writing the lore. Maybe she looks younger than she is, though. Then again, such a fresh perspective could turn out to be a pleasant surprise.

I certainly agree with her that the conflict between the Orions and Antarans was the most interesting part of the original lore. I remember reading the wonderful MoO2 manual and being quite intrigued with the history of those races.

So, I'm slowly becoming slightly optimistic about this one

Am I the only one who dont like that "alien show-off" cut-scenes? I hope they do that mostly for these videos and wont try to put some nonsensical wannabe- dramatic talking scenes into 4x in order to make it kid+casual-friendly.

Originally Posted by Farflame
Am I the only one who dont like that "alien show-off" cut-scenes? I hope they do that mostly for these videos and wont try to put some nonsensical wannabe- dramatic talking scenes into 4x in order to make it kid+casual-friendly.

Seems to me they're trying to expand the cinematic aspect of the game, to make it a bit more personal and immersive.

As long as the gameplay remains deep and interesting, I think it's a good thing.

I'm sick of the dry approach to 4X games - especially the space games like GalCiv and Distant Worlds.

I'm not into the whole spreadsheet style of strategy games.