One Dollar, One Hour, One Life

jere · 2015-08-10 22:01:12

The award-winning veteran creator/developer is already hard at work on his 19th game, “One Dollar, One Hour, One Life,” where players pay one dollar to live for an hour in the Neanderthal beginnings of a society that will develop over time on the Web – with no respawning.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/art … 04169.html

Discuss.

Cobblestone · 2015-08-10 22:52:17

...well that's sorta disappointing. It doesn't even mention CM by name, but at least they link to it. Maybe we could poke Jason and ask if he could take a day to change the tournaments from daily to player created. That way we could keep it going if he's moved on.

jere · 2015-08-10 23:27:12

I don't think so. The success of a new game is sort of independent of the success of a new one. I'm skeptical that a mass of new features would affect the growth of the player base.

Anyway, I'm rather excited to hear about the next game. The premise sounds really interesting. Maybe another MMO?

“I’m trying to figure out how I can sort of check more commercial boxes in terms of like making a game that would appeal to more people in some way while still feeling like (it’s) something I’m really proud making,” the 37-year-old said. “Something that really touches on deep issues.”

Reminds me very much of Tale of Tales and what they were trying to with Sunset. TCD felt pretty close to what the mainstream is after and the success of it is evidence.

Last edited by jere (2015-08-10 23:29:05)

Cobblestone · 2015-08-11 00:15:18

Oh, I wasn't really thinking of growth, but just if Jason has moved on from CM, then it would be cool if the community could be in control of the tournaments. Like if we decided hey, we want to have a $10 24hr tournament this weekend, then the client has the ability to let us do that. Though I guess if the game is really on its last legs and no one's going to be playing anymore, then there's not much of a point. I was just hoping CM would be able to survive a bit longer in the community's hands.

As for this new game, it sounds like it could be pretty cool. I have to admit, it doesn't really intrigue me as much as Cordial, but I'm not really in to survival games or MMOs. Then again, Jason would be the developer to change my mind, if anyone can! I'll definitely give it a shot at least once to check it out

jasonrohrer · 2015-08-11 21:34:32

Yeah, I "did DIY PR" to get that Sac Bee article in order to promote CM, but the took so long to get it together that I had already started working on the new game by the time they interviewed me.

Anyway, they didn't want to focus on Cordial Minuet regardless, they just wanted to profile me as a buisnessperson (it was for the Sunday Business section).

Also, since then, I've decided to drop the whole dollar-per-hour thing and just have a flat, one-time membership cost just like The Castle Doctrine ($15 or whatever). I'm in no position to be conducting commercial experiments with untested business models, and I've realized that the design problem I was trying to solve with the $1/life thing (making life precious and preventing spam respawning) is mostly solved anyway by other aspects of the game (the fact that you have to survive through infanthood through the goodwill/care of another player means suicide or careless death is still a slog.... you can't just pop back up in your nearby sleeping bag like you can in Rust).

Yeah, regarding survival games and MMOs being mostly lame... but this is going to be nothing like any of those, and nothing like anything you've ever played or even dreamed of playing.

I mean, TCD and CM were both technically MMOs as well (in that they are played online with loads of other people), but they aren't Everquest clones. So there will be no flying mounts, leveling up, quests, NPC shops, etc. etc. in this game. There will be 32 different flavors of pie, however, assuming that you've already built the grain mill, the stew pot, the mixing bowl, the rolling pin, the pie plate, and the oven. And you'll probably want to make some pie, because them babies gonna be hungry.

Cobblestone · 2015-08-11 22:11:58

Ok then... now I'm intrigued!

card · 2015-08-11 23:16:25

jasonrohrer wrote:

There will be 32 different flavors of pie, however, assuming that you've already built the grain mill, the stew pot, the mixing bowl, the rolling pin, the pie plate, and the oven. And you'll probably want to make some pie, because them babies gonna be hungry.

This quote should definitely be part of your promotional material

jere · 2015-08-12 12:56:29

I'm in no position to be conducting commercial experiments with untested business models

Phew! The idea sounded really interesting, but I immediately was reminded by a common response to CM: "That's interesting, but...." when people are intrigued but don't like the idea of sticking their credit card into an unknown thing and potentially losing unbounded money (as far as they know).

you have to survive through infanthood through the goodwill/care of another player

I wonder if this means the game is unplayable if you're the only one online? A problem TCD and CM suffer for similar reasons, thought at least in TCD you work on your house by yourself. However, I suppose there'd naturally have to be some method of bootstrapping society into existence or the game couldn't begin.

Dan_Dan84 · 2015-08-13 15:23:41

jere wrote:

Anyway, I'm rather excited to hear about the next game.

Ditto... Even though it's bittersweet excitement. Cordial Minuet is a brilliant game that should have been a commercial success. Perhaps in a parallel universe, it is. But I just kept hoping that somehow, it would get into the right hands, go viral, catch a second wind...

One of the reasons I respect Jason Rohrer as a game designer (from what I've seen as a member of this forum, and while lurking in TCD forum) is because of his ability to look at a problem as it is, come up with a solution, and if there's no satisfactory solution, then move on. So while I'm excited to see that there's another intriguing game starting to form, I am still sad about Cordial Minuet's fate.

jere wrote:

Reminds me very much of Tale of Tales and what they were trying to with Sunset. TCD felt pretty close to what the mainstream is after and the success of it is evidence.

I was thinking about that a bit, too. After reading Tale of Tales' sad farewell blog post, I felt guilt-tripped enough to buy Sunset. I did not enjoy it. I don't think it did either "mainstream game" or "artsy indie" well. The fact that it was technically buggy and didn't run well didn't help matters.

Re: the $1/life thing... At first I thought "What?!?! This could get expensive! I play for 10 hours, that's $10, and then I can't play anymore! RAAWWWR!" ... And then I realized I'm falling into that "money per hour of gameplay" trap. So while I appreciate the idea behind this now-abandoned experimental pricing model (and what it means from an artistic standpoint, as it invites reflection on the whole "bang for your buck" critical model of games), like jere, I think it might be best to go the conventional route, at least where money is concerned...

So I am looking forward to wherever this game idea goes, and not just because I like pie. I hope that much further down the line, if and when there's a new forum and/or testing period, we get invited! I'd like to know more about these 32 flavours of pie...

jere · 2015-08-13 17:34:05

I was thinking about that a bit, too. After reading Tale of Tales' sad farewell blog post, I felt guilt-tripped enough to buy Sunset. I did not enjoy it. I don't think it did either "mainstream game" or "artsy indie" well. The fact that it was technically buggy and didn't run well didn't help matters.

Yea, I came very close to buying after their post, but the reviews made it pretty clear that it wasn't worth a purchase. It's not impossible to make a great game in that style (Gone Home did it!). But I think they simply pulled off more than they could chew with their limited resources.

cullman · 2015-08-18 09:22:09

jasonrohrer wrote:

I mean, TCD and CM were both technically MMOs as well (in that they are played online with loads of other people), but they aren't Everquest clones. So there will be no flying mounts, leveling up, quests, NPC shops, etc. etc. in this game.

I dunno, I feel like I was Nate's flying mount in CM.

jasonrohrer · 2015-08-21 06:13:07

Cullman, the imagery there is rather astounding.

jere wrote:

you have to survive through infanthood through the goodwill/care of another player
I wonder if this means the game is unplayable if you're the only one online? A problem TCD and CM suffer for similar reasons, thought at least in TCD you work on your house by yourself. However, I suppose there'd naturally have to be some method of bootstrapping society into existence or the game couldn't begin.

Yeah, so I did think of this. If you join the game when no one else is playing, you don't wait to be born. You are the next "Eve" and are "lightning-bolted" into existence as a young adult, fully capable of survival. You will likely find yourself in the decaying ruins of the last civilization (unless you're the very first person to play the game, in which case you will be in the wilderness).

In this mode, the game becomes a kind of one-person survival/building game a bit like Don't Starve crossed with Minecraft (albeit a variant where your buildings and craftings have functional survival value). Of course, some time in your lifetime as Eve, one or more babies could be born to you. But if not, you'll just live out your hour long life, surviving on your own, and building whatever you manage to build before you die. Later Eve's will potentially stumble across the ruins of whatever you build, so the trans-generational connection part of the game isn't totally lost.

jere · 2015-08-21 15:14:45

This seems like a revival of your ideas from your chain world talk in 2011. Also has a hint of Passage in that your life passes by so quickly and is just a blip. Can't wait!

A system where you have actual parents is something people have dreamed about before but never implemented to my knowledge, for whatever reason. Anyone remember Dawn? I remember seeing this in high school and quickly realizing it was all bunk: reproduction among players and monsters, constructible/destructible buildings, destructible terrain, a detailed astronomical system, etc. Looking back on it now, a lot of those features are not that far fetched. Minecraft has a lot of them (it was revolutionary though!). Part of it is just being willing to simulate the world at the proper level of simplicity (e.g. blocks).

Anyway, definitely sounds very gamey. The survival genre seems to be booming right now. I'm sure it will do well.

Last edited by jere (2015-08-21 15:22:55)

Professor Chin · 2015-08-23 17:10:43

I think that with 1 hour lifetime I'd be very much concerned about what I leave to "future generations"...
which makes me wonder if it is possible to leave something written in this world...

jasonrohrer · 2016-11-30 20:30:08

It's now called just One Hour One Life, with a new website and teaser video here:

http://onehouronelife.com

Professor Chin · 2016-12-05 09:07:25

Looking forward to it.
I'm wondering if there will be beta testing / Steam early access...

jasonrohrer · 2016-12-05 15:54:37

Yes, absolutely. This game is going to require extensive player testing before we get it right. On top of that, it's a great candidate for incremental content roll-out, where we can release a new bundle of stuff for the game each week.

CORDIAL MINUET ENSEMBLE

#1 2015-08-10 22:01:12

One Dollar, One Hour, One Life

#2 2015-08-10 22:52:17

Re: One Dollar, One Hour, One Life

#3 2015-08-10 23:27:12

Re: One Dollar, One Hour, One Life

#4 2015-08-11 00:15:18

Re: One Dollar, One Hour, One Life

#5 2015-08-11 21:34:32

Re: One Dollar, One Hour, One Life

#6 2015-08-11 22:11:58

Re: One Dollar, One Hour, One Life

#7 2015-08-11 23:16:25

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#8 2015-08-12 12:56:29

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#9 2015-08-13 15:23:41

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#10 2015-08-13 17:34:05

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#11 2015-08-18 09:22:09

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#12 2015-08-21 06:13:07

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#13 2015-08-21 15:14:45

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#14 2015-08-23 17:10:43

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#15 2016-11-30 20:30:08

Re: One Dollar, One Hour, One Life

#16 2016-12-05 09:07:25

Re: One Dollar, One Hour, One Life

#17 2016-12-05 15:54:37

Re: One Dollar, One Hour, One Life

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