Dungeon & Dragons Online

[Gaim Mastr]

Ever since Atari's announcement at this year's E3 I've been waiting around for some semblance of an official website, fansites, etc. To my surprise, none seem to have been forthcoming as of yet.

As was mentioned in the article, a new MMORPG is slated to come out sometime in 2005. This new game is called Dungeons & Dragons Online (D&DO)

It is licensed by Wizards of the Coast, and being brought to us by Atari and Turbine Entertainment. As some of you may know, Turbine also developed Asheron's Call 1 & 2.


Here's the situation....

As far as I can tell, there aren't any websites or forums dedicated to any aspect of this new D&DO game. And since I already have an established website and message board (unused at the moment), this allows me the opportunity to have one of the first fansites for the game.


I have an idea of what this fansite will be about. I'm thinking a guild or clan that makes no distinction about what class, race or alignment the player-characters are. Especially since D&DO will likely use the 3.5 Edition rule set.

And as we get nearer and nearer the release date of D&DO, perhaps we will have the numbers and influence to assist Turbine in the Alpha and Beta stages of this game. And with En World's permission, we'll provide links and such to any official websites or forums, as well as news and press releases.

The biggest problem I have, is that I'm not a WebMaster. I know little about designing and setting up a decent website. I've run message boards for long time now, so that aspect is already taken care of.

I've got the message board installed and am making the forums. As interested people join, I'll assign Moderators and such.

But we need someone who is ready, willing and able to volunteer to be our WebMaster. If anyone would like to help out, please reply here.

 

[Ithian]

Dungeons & Dragons Online

Hello All-

My name is Kevin Langevin, and I just HAD to reply to this post. I'm very familiar with the current D&D Online project, because while I'm no longer with Turbine, I'm one of the founders of the company. I'm also interested in getting involved in this project, because I have a fairly close relationship with the company's current management, which would be an asset for the fansite.

I'm also a fairly accomplished web developer (primarily ColdFusion programming) and could certainly handle the position of Webmaster. I'm also about to upgrade a server which I currently co-locate from a dinky 800Mhz Duron to a Dual P 1.6GhZ Dell 2650, and could host the site as well.

Let me know if you'd like me to be involved.

 

[Macbeth]

I think this sounds like a great idea. I would enjoy an opportunity to get into a MMORPG when it starts, to get in at the ground floor, so to speak. Count me in, especially for any kind of testing. I can also help with the web site. I can't do any fancy PHP stuff or anything, but if you need some help with basic design and HTML stuff, i would be happy to help.

 

[V_Shane]

If you need help with the Web graphics let me know, you probably can't use WOTC art I imagine.

V Shane

 

[Ithian]

Using WOTC art...

This is true, but I may be able to pull a few strings here and there to get art through Turbine. I'm sure they'll have access to art that they can release to fansites, plus screen shots are probably better for this sort of site anyway.

 

[Rifter]

You MAY want to wait until the game is closer to launch. I run a couple of fan sites, and we started our Planetside site, literally, a week after the game was announced. Between then and now, there were many, many weeks that the site just sat stagnant. There is usually a magic point about 6 months to a year before release, that the game companies (and PR people handling the games) tend to start dolling out more information. I may also suggest using a host like Gamespy for hosting the site, since they have the infrastructure in place to handle it... and from personal experience, when the server goes down, I am VERY happy someone else is working on it, and not me.

 

[Ithian]

Hosting and timeline...

Actually, both very good suggestions. The traffic a fansite generates, especially if we're offering client downloads (fansite without the client for download?!?!) is pretty steep, and D&D should be pretty sick. Gamespy is a good choice, and Turbine is very tight with the guys at Gamespy.

As for timeline, we definitely should be looking for a launch around 6 months or so, possibly a bit earlier, to hit the web before other fansites with the same idea, but obviously the earlier we start working on the site the more time we have to iron out bugs, add features, gather content, have copy reworked, and plan advertising the site. Having at least a prototype in place to show prospective advertisers will help generate interest. Is the plan for this site to generate any $$$ to cover upkeep (hosting costs, if any at a a company like Gamespy)? Not that we need to. There are ways to barter for this kind of stuff. I've not been involved in a fansite before, so I'm not sure what the "standard" practices are.

-Kev

 

[Rifter]

Gamespy offers free hosting. I run 2 sites on there. One is a "hosted" site, under 3d Action Planet. The otherone, is a full-blown planet site (planettribes.com). So, I am pretty familiar with working with gamespy. The guys are really cool, and put in a LOT of hard work.

 

[Kyramus]

I don't know how many people out there has my problem. I have motion sickness, and games like Asheron's Call, or Ultima Online, or Everquest just gives me problems.

I wish someone out there would do an online game that was reminiscent of Kesmai. Too bad when EA bought Kesmai out, they just shelved it. It was a good game with a good following.

 

[Ithian]

Turbine Fan Site

Just got off the phone with Mark Pover at Turbine, and I mentioned to him that there was a small group of people on this board interested in starting up a fansite for D&D Online, and that I was likely going to get involved. He was very enthusiastic about the idea, and said that they're working on a demo reel for the game, and when they've got it polished up, he'd ship me a DVD burn of it for purposes of using on the site. I didn't really talk any particulars with him, other than we were discussing it, but from the conversation, we can be assured of company support when the time comes.

-Kev