Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is remembered fondly for its Nemesis system, an incredible mechanic for generating memorable Orc encounters. According to a former executive, the Nemesis system came about from trying to solve a different problem: secondhand sales.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is remembered for many reasons, but perhaps best of all for its Nemesis system, an incredible mechanic for generating memorable Orc encounters. According to a former executive, the Nemesis system came about from trying to solve a different problem: secondhand sales.
In a new video, Laura Fryer — former vice president of WB Games who oversaw the publisher’s Seattle studios at the time — talked about her time with Monolith. While discussing the way trend-chasing affects the industry, Fryer mentioned that chasing trends is what “literally led to the Nemesis system.”
Well, it is really old news from a game that launched in 2015, but the summary of it is a feature that allows enemies in the game to remember you, and evolve with the player. You killed an Orc chieftain, his right-hand orc is now the chieftain, and thanks you for clearing the way for him. Lost a battle to a miserable orc archer? Next time he sees you he jokes to your face and tells you how shit you are. It is a great system, but it was patented.
There’s a game menu with a diagram of a military hierarchy of named enemies, and their strengths/vulnerabilities. When you find the named enemies in the game and interact with them in some way (iirc it’s basically limited to winning/losing a fight or mind controlling them), it affects their traits and their place in the tree, and you’ll get a short cutscene where they say stuff referencing your past interactions.
They also don’t stay in one place, and can just randomly show up in a place when you’re, say, doing stealthy stuff. Suddenly assassinating a whole outpost of orcs becomes “aww shit, Feldûsh is here, and he’s immune to stealth attacks” or '“oh no Roggvir just showed up, he’s riding a warg and so are the other 4 guys he pals around with”.
Yet with the sudden closure of Monolith Productions and cancellation of its Wonder Woman project, that particular success seems doomed to life in the vault. Though the Nemesis system was due to be implemented in the Wonder Woman game, Warner Bros. still owns the patent for the system, which stands with an expiration date in 2036.
The fact that a game mechanic can be patented for over 20 years is fucking insane…
I wonder how well the patent would stick though? If someone implements a similar enough system and it’s taken to court the whole patent could be invalidated if the court rules against it
Still, I wonder how many genuinely fun concepts and systems for video games have been locked behind patents. I don’t even buy AAA titles anymore, they’re all gobshite because of the MBA vermin
There’s a good chance it wouldn’t stick depending on many factors, but it’s extremely expensive to fight in court, and courts have shown themselves to be very hit or miss with technological things. Especially when trying to apply rules that were not written with things like software in mind.
Summary: They were seeing a disconnect between Arkham Asylum player stats and sales, indicating a large portion of the playerbase blasting through the game then selling it back to retailers. WB studios were directed to explore ways to lengthen player engagement, preferably enough to keep the game forever.
The nemesis system gives some light procedural flair to an otherwise-deaigned experience. I don’t think it did what they hoped it would, but it was still a great mechanic.
This sounds to me like the right way to combat secondhand sales. Rather than making the game shitty and/or locking features behind online-only, unlock-keyed connections, they added a content mechanic that was actually fun.
I mean, this is basically the entire premise behind roguelike games, just applied to an action RPG instead (in a small way).
Those analysts are idiots. Arkham Asylum is like a 10 hr game, and once you collect all the riddler trophies, which takes maybe another 2 hours, thr only thing left to play is the endless ground “how high can your combo go” fights. Of course people put it down after they finish the main story, the game is completely spent.
I mean you could make a game with it and argue it in court but that’s expensive af. That’s a bigger part of patenting for the big for corps. Whether it’d stand in court or not is less relevant than scaring people off due to costs.
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No where in the article does it explain what the nemesis system is :(
Well, it is really old news from a game that launched in 2015, but the summary of it is a feature that allows enemies in the game to remember you, and evolve with the player. You killed an Orc chieftain, his right-hand orc is now the chieftain, and thanks you for clearing the way for him. Lost a battle to a miserable orc archer? Next time he sees you he jokes to your face and tells you how shit you are. It is a great system, but it was patented.
There’s a game menu with a diagram of a military hierarchy of named enemies, and their strengths/vulnerabilities. When you find the named enemies in the game and interact with them in some way (iirc it’s basically limited to winning/losing a fight or mind controlling them), it affects their traits and their place in the tree, and you’ll get a short cutscene where they say stuff referencing your past interactions.
They also don’t stay in one place, and can just randomly show up in a place when you’re, say, doing stealthy stuff. Suddenly assassinating a whole outpost of orcs becomes “aww shit, Feldûsh is here, and he’s immune to stealth attacks” or '“oh no Roggvir just showed up, he’s riding a warg and so are the other 4 guys he pals around with”.
Fuck software patents.
The fact that a game mechanic can be patented for over 20 years is fucking insane…
Copyright laws have been flawed for at least a century and they’ve only gotten worse in the last few decades. I (mostly) blame Disney
Copyright is very different from patent. Almost totally unrelated. Both are fucked up but in completely separate ways.
Shit, my bad. That’s what I get for not going to law school like Mom wanted
The mickey mouse law
I wonder how well the patent would stick though? If someone implements a similar enough system and it’s taken to court the whole patent could be invalidated if the court rules against it
Still, I wonder how many genuinely fun concepts and systems for video games have been locked behind patents. I don’t even buy AAA titles anymore, they’re all gobshite because of the MBA vermin
There’s a good chance it wouldn’t stick depending on many factors, but it’s extremely expensive to fight in court, and courts have shown themselves to be very hit or miss with technological things. Especially when trying to apply rules that were not written with things like software in mind.
Summary: They were seeing a disconnect between Arkham Asylum player stats and sales, indicating a large portion of the playerbase blasting through the game then selling it back to retailers. WB studios were directed to explore ways to lengthen player engagement, preferably enough to keep the game forever.
The nemesis system gives some light procedural flair to an otherwise-deaigned experience. I don’t think it did what they hoped it would, but it was still a great mechanic.
This sounds to me like the right way to combat secondhand sales. Rather than making the game shitty and/or locking features behind online-only, unlock-keyed connections, they added a content mechanic that was actually fun.
I mean, this is basically the entire premise behind roguelike games, just applied to an action RPG instead (in a small way).
Those analysts are idiots. Arkham Asylum is like a 10 hr game, and once you collect all the riddler trophies, which takes maybe another 2 hours, thr only thing left to play is the endless ground “how high can your combo go” fights. Of course people put it down after they finish the main story, the game is completely spent.
Which part of that makes the analysts idiots? Sounds like their analysis was spot on.
Why hasn’t someone created another system just like it? Seems like with the massive talent around game creation out there, we need a copycat.
It’s patented.
A game mechanic should not be patentable in this manner. Fucking copyright law.
I mean you could make a game with it and argue it in court but that’s expensive af. That’s a bigger part of patenting for the big for corps. Whether it’d stand in court or not is less relevant than scaring people off due to costs.
Just don’t release the game in the US and Japan.
What’s the scope on that though? I bet someone could get away with a game that does a somewhat similar thing, just not in the exact same way.
Or maybe you have modeled your system after the record industry’s failed, exploitative models.