darkSpyro

i see there is a few people visiting toy for bobs here at the forums... i just wondering if any of you have asked any questions about skylanders4.

most desired question to get answered is: are there gonna be online game play like online co-op story and online muiltiplayer arena/battle.. and a toy box world for skylanders?...

i'm just asking don't shot me down, okay....

Some people have, but they have to keep it a secret.

*walks in*
What's going on here?

Quote: kappapopm

skylanders4

I'm out.
*walks out*

Considering the online requirement of Xbox One and the fact that Disney Infinity will have a sandbox mode,
I suspect there will be online modes and a sandbox just to compete with Infinity, but TFB said in a recent interview that they aren't scared of any competition from Infinity and they reckon its a while different category of game all together.

online play, and downloadable content, I feel, are two factors holding this series back... I would love to see online co-op as well as online battles, but TFB needs to seriously overhaul its characters if online play was to be considered seriously... some characters are just way too overpowered (drobot anyone?) and I don't feel any balance.

As for DL content I'm not sure why TFB hasn't adopted this feature yet? It would allow them to create new characters as they please which means more revenue! I'm pretty sure I'd be doing this if I was in charge of Toys for Bob.

Quote: Sparx_Dragonfly

Considering the online requirement of Xbox One and the fact that Disney Infinity will have a sandbox mode,
I suspect there will be online modes and a sandbox just to compete with Infinity, but TFB said in a recent interview that they aren't scared of any competition from Infinity and they reckon its a while different category of game all together.

online play, and downloadable content, I feel, are two factors holding this series back... I would love to see online co-op as well as online battles, but TFB needs to seriously overhaul its characters if online play was to be considered seriously... some characters are just way too overpowered (drobot anyone?) and I don't feel any balance.

As for DL content I'm not sure why TFB hasn't adopted this feature yet? It would allow them to create new characters as they please which means more revenue! I'm pretty sure I'd be doing this if I was in charge of Toys for Bob.

Whirlwind with cloud upgrades is REALLY too overpowered!

I think the idea is the toys ARE the DLC.

Now, updating the games to incorporate new toys, there's an idea, but given that they just manage release schedules specifically to keep people interested, I don't think it's a big issue.

Quote: TheSpyrofan12

*walks in*
What's going on here?

Quote: kappapopm

skylanders4

I'm out.
*walks out*

.....

Quote: kappapopm

Quote: TheSpyrofan12

*walks in*
What's going on here?

Quote: kappapopm

skylanders4

I'm out.
*walks out*

.....

...That's a little weird... Lol

I am not normally a fan of online stuff but Skylanders is crying out for online multi play and the like.

Co-op and Vs matches etc as well as during levels.

I have no idea why online patches were not offered, the PS3 and xbox both allow this, I am sure the Wii does as well. They could easily "update" the game to add new figures or levels.

I think for longevity they will have to abandon the idea of a totally new game each year, they just won't be able to keep up decent new ideas.

Quote: Pyrofer

I am not normally a fan of online stuff but Skylanders is crying out for online multi play and the like.

Co-op and Vs matches etc as well as during levels.

I have no idea why online patches were not offered, the PS3 and xbox both allow this, I am sure the Wii does as well. They could easily "update" the game to add new figures or levels.

I think for longevity they will have to abandon the idea of a totally new game each year, they just won't be able to keep up decent new ideas.

when they made skylanders they made it as a finished product and not something that was meant to be patched later. this is how they make the game on the wii and that developer rule they follow. but this maybe change now with skylanders4... who knows.. i only now as of now that when skylanders is done it is done.

Isn't there a timeframe they would have until they would announce something like that? Still not seeing it until they get through sales of swap force by after christmas and I really think people need to stop speculating on it so soon before the release of the third game. Why are people so intent on trying to ask on a 4th without even playing the 3rd?

Quote: Pyrofer

I am not normally a fan of online stuff but Skylanders is crying out for online multi play and the like.

Co-op and Vs matches etc as well as during levels.

I have no idea why online patches were not offered, the PS3 and xbox both allow this, I am sure the Wii does as well. They could easily "update" the game to add new figures or levels.

I think for longevity they will have to abandon the idea of a totally new game each year, they just won't be able to keep up decent new ideas.

Yes, YES and YYYEEEESSSS.

Give me more value by delivering patches and more content for my skylanders. Add on additional content/levels and extend the next game by at least 6 months. I have a sneaking suspicion the twelve levels is going to bite them like an Armored Chompy.

Quote: tigerdr

Isn't there a timeframe they would have until they would announce something like that? Still not seeing it until they get through sales of swap force by after christmas and I really think people need to stop speculating on it so soon before the release of the third game. Why are people so intent on trying to ask on a 4th without even playing the 3rd?

The 4th is confirmed. This is Activision we are talking about, they are doing the same thing with skylanders that they are doing for Call of Duty. By that i mean they have 2 developers workining on titles. They release a game every other year. This allows for activision to put out an annual skylanders game while giving the developers 2 years to work on it. TFB wasnt involved with the swap-Force game because they are working on the 4th title to be released next year.

Anyways i would love to see a co-op type thing or vs. Just being able to hop into a friends game and play with em would be great since i get bored playing by myself. PvP could be a little complicated but its doable. Maybe if they did a character "lock in" like they do with the DS version it would work better. I'm just worried about if a piece is removed if it would affect the battle. Then there is also the issue of vs unlockables like stages and items on those stages. For instance u may get a message like "player does not have required dlc to verse" they would have to have the very basics for stages and items for online versus matches or have one player host

I would assume as long as the person hosting the PvP match has the item to unlock the stage others could play in it.
You would need to HAVE the item you wished to use, which could make it unfair but you can always have options on the hosted match side to enable/disable items etc.
I think a 4 or 8 player PvP with items would be amazing.
Imagine how frantic it could get. Anybody remember PowerStone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?f...kx0cdKfYs#t=63s
(Excuse the language in that video! I suggest you mute it before playing)
Something like that for Skylanders would rock.

Quote: ace

Quote: tigerdr

Isn't there a timeframe they would have until they would announce something like that? Still not seeing it until they get through sales of swap force by after christmas and I really think people need to stop speculating on it so soon before the release of the third game. Why are people so intent on trying to ask on a 4th without even playing the 3rd?

The 4th is confirmed. This is Activision we are talking about, they are doing the same thing with skylanders that they are doing for Call of Duty. By that i mean they have 2 developers workining on titles. They release a game every other year. This allows for activision to put out an annual skylanders game while giving the developers 2 years to work on it. TFB wasnt involved with the swap-Force game because they are working on the 4th title to be released next year.

Anyways i would love to see a co-op type thing or vs. Just being able to hop into a friends game and play with em would be great since i get bored playing by myself. PvP could be a little complicated but its doable. Maybe if they did a character "lock in" like they do with the DS version it would work better. I'm just worried about if a piece is removed if it would affect the battle. Then there is also the issue of vs unlockables like stages and items on those stages. For instance u may get a message like "player does not have required dlc to verse" they would have to have the very basics for stages and items for online versus matches or have one player host

Just because it's activision and such doesn't mean that it's guaranteed to be a constantly done series. For now swap force is seeing the light of day, but in reality how many people are still going to be doing this for swap force? The skylanders train is starting to derail with the mass amount of figures and spending a year plus the lowering of playable content. There's not really an excuse on it and anyone justifying that it's going to be better I don't think it is. At the rate of all the portable games already released to the main ones and how many figures people have in their collections, there already is burn out.

Guitar hero only had instruments so they could feasibly make countless games before it finally got old. Took about six games with two released within the same year for people to finally stop. Here you have massive amount of investment within a very short time. it'll be close to 200 figures by the time swap force finishes and distribution of figures has not improved. I still think it's been handled poorly of many figures as activision purposely puts certain figures in boxes to a lower rate and too many end up sitting on shelves.

I'm not holding my breath until they actually say something beyond christmas to which if they did then I would expect something. Vicarious was told to handle swap force because toys for bob is not working on skylanders, perhaps not again. There was information in a few magazines and websites that specified that was the reason why they were not doing so. As they were working on a different project that's supposed to be better than it.

Quote: Pyrofer

I would assume as long as the person hosting the PvP match has the item to unlock the stage others could play in it.
You would need to HAVE the item you wished to use, which could make it unfair but you can always have options on the hosted match side to enable/disable items etc.
I think a 4 or 8 player PvP with items would be amazing.
Imagine how frantic it could get. Anybody remember PowerStone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?f...kx0cdKfYs#t=63s
(Excuse the language in that video! I suggest you mute it before playing)
Something like that for Skylanders would rock.

i dont usually play vs much but once you put an item on the portal didnt it unlock a pvp item that would be dropped in randomly during matches? u can tell how much pvp i've played >.< i can see 4 players but i think 8 may be a little too much for me to keep up with Something i thought of today though, i was playing brock's challenges to lvl some characters and it hit me that i think a survival mode would b really cool and useful for lvling up. Like theres no time limit, just waves of enemies thrown at u to destroy and gain experience with

No! Levelling up is the last thing left to do once you complete everything.
I just replay the levels, Using a pointless endless wave of enemies to level would completely suck the fun out of it.

I can see the franchise hitting hard times midway into Swap Force. People growing tired of it.
This is sad, as there is no reason for that!

Online multi-player, PvP, downloadable level packs could all contribute to many years more fun from the game.

Let's see how Swap Force goes. After all the money I have put in so far they need to bring more to the table in terms of gameplay to make me keep spending.

Can I just say one thing? Skylanders 4? Can we get Swap Force at least... you know on the shelf.

As far as the on-line thing..... I see where everyone wants the on-line stuff and what not. I get it. It would be fun to kick the crap out of some 5 year old playing Skylanders? Maybe, if I wanted to do that I would just go play CoD.

Anyways, in all seriousness it may be a little harder then just throwing that into the game. In the end it all cost money. Server up keep on 3 or more systems. Different changes to the figures/chips. Which in the end all costs money. We know that this game is insanely expensive and throwing this stuff in would probably only make it more expensive.

Quote: Pyrofer

No! Levelling up is the last thing left to do once you complete everything.
I just replay the levels, Using a pointless endless wave of enemies to level would completely suck the fun out of it.

I can see the franchise hitting hard times midway into Swap Force. People growing tired of it.
This is sad, as there is no reason for that!

Online multi-player, PvP, downloadable level packs could all contribute to many years more fun from the game.

Let's see how Swap Force goes. After all the money I have put in so far they need to bring more to the table in terms of gameplay to make me keep spending.

You wouldn't have to play this mode. Once i go through 4,5,6 times it starts to become boring just redoing lvls to lvl up my characters. Closest thing in Giants is Brocks challenges which is my preferred method of lvling. I just hate having to stop every couple of minutes cause the challenge is over. Once the story is over i have little interest :/ i'd use a AR to speed lvl them if i could at this point.


Quote: Bazinga

Can I just say one thing? Skylanders 4? Can we get Swap Force at least... you know on the shelf.

As far as the on-line thing..... I see where everyone wants the on-line stuff and what not. I get it. It would be fun to kick the crap out of some 5 year old playing Skylanders? Maybe, if I wanted to do that I would just go play CoD.

Anyways, in all seriousness it may be a little harder then just throwing that into the game. In the end it all cost money. Server up keep on 3 or more systems. Different changes to the figures/chips. Which in the end all costs money. We know that this game is insanely expensive and throwing this stuff in would probably only make it more expensive.

I just want online for online co-op. Like i just said i find the story boring after a couple runs but being able to play through with friends would add a lil more enjoyment to it

Quote: ace

Quote: Pyrofer

No! Levelling up is the last thing left to do once you complete everything.
I just replay the levels, Using a pointless endless wave of enemies to level would completely suck the fun out of it.

I can see the franchise hitting hard times midway into Swap Force. People growing tired of it.
This is sad, as there is no reason for that!

Online multi-player, PvP, downloadable level packs could all contribute to many years more fun from the game.

Let's see how Swap Force goes. After all the money I have put in so far they need to bring more to the table in terms of gameplay to make me keep spending.

You wouldn't have to play this mode. Once i go through 4,5,6 times it starts to become boring just redoing lvls to lvl up my characters. Closest thing in Giants is Brocks challenges which is my preferred method of lvling. I just hate having to stop every couple of minutes cause the challenge is over. Once the story is over i have little interest :/ i'd use a AR to speed lvl them if i could at this point.


Quote: Bazinga

Can I just say one thing? Skylanders 4? Can we get Swap Force at least... you know on the shelf.

As far as the on-line thing..... I see where everyone wants the on-line stuff and what not. I get it. It would be fun to kick the crap out of some 5 year old playing Skylanders? Maybe, if I wanted to do that I would just go play CoD.

Anyways, in all seriousness it may be a little harder then just throwing that into the game. In the end it all cost money. Server up keep on 3 or more systems. Different changes to the figures/chips. Which in the end all costs money. We know that this game is insanely expensive and throwing this stuff in would probably only make it more expensive.

I just want online for online co-op. Like i just said i find the story boring after a couple runs but being able to play through with friends would add a lil more enjoyment to it

I understand that part. I still think it would cost money as you have to make the servers and what not. I think Acti and TFB try to keep costs down and realize that this may add an unwanted price increase that could really hurt more than help. I could be wrong but, just something to think about.

true...just wishin out loud lol

you don't need servers, haven't you guys heard about p2p?... activisions cod do use that method, no servers involved. players use their own bandwidth.

Quote: kappapopm

you don't need servers, haven't you guys heard about p2p?... activisions cod do use that method, no servers involved. players use their own bandwidth.

It
You realize that their is still big money involved with that and putting it into the game?You still have stuff that you have to connect to be able to play it. In the end it will cost money. Also, I could be totally wrong in this sense but, would the RFID chips need to be changed? Making them more costly? I get that On-line is a nice feature to have. Even though Acti has made money hand over fist with this they still lack the funding that Disney has for infinity. Disney owns/is owned (not sure how it is) by the same company that has ESPN and ABC. Which in the end gives them more money to work with.

In the end, we are still 16 months at the very least, away from Skylanders 4. Give Infinity a chance to come out and see if it sells or fails. If the online/Toy Box thing works for them maybe they will see that it is worth and will look at it into Skylanders 4 (which may or may not happen, as Swap Force could bomb and we could be wasting time for no reason at all on this topic.)

All, I can say is that from your posts before and this one, is that On-line seems important to you. If it is really a deal breaker so much, go try infinity. I am not trying to be mean or anything in that comment, it just seems that this should really be a moot point right now because we know swap force does not have on-line. You are looking into the Fall of 2014 right now, which a lot can change between now and then. There are many more points that I could bring up as to other reasons for no On-Line, (Wii system issues, 3DS), but right now lets take a step back and not get too ahead of ourselves.

One final question Kappa, have you ever looked for a reason online or emailed activision about this? Has their ever been a reason other than it is something we are looking into? That seems the logical step for you to do right now.

for a p2p you dont need servers at all, at least not for 2 players to meet in one game, then one host other join no activision involved. you can send out a invite to a friend on your friendlist, it works like this on the ps3 that i know... all stats is saved to your console in the save file, dont even need servers for that... this is simple basic stuff its like lan but you use your own online bandwidth...

its a deal breaker for many of us just not me, and disney infinity is not an option... only skylanders for me.

i have emailed bobby kotick but he haven't emailed me back

I know Swap Force isn't even out yet, but now is EXACTLY the time to start getting ideas for Skylanders 4. If they are starting development now they need the ideas now.
A years time will be too late.

Multiplayer will not require any changes to the figures, it will require no servers.
It's pretty much one of the lowest investment changes they can make with the biggest possible return!

It may not be for everybody but seriously it can't hurt.

The whole net is getting more "social", Skylanders has the potential to be huge, they need to get with the times asap.

Okay.... so, how do they set up the in-game for this to be an option. There is still going to be something from Activision to set it up. The whole "server" may not be their on Activisions part, put it will still need to be put in game for that to be an option. As you can tell, I don't know the whole in's and out's of it but it will still take something from TFB or Activision to put it in the game. Even if you look at CoD and search CoD servers like I did, you will see that they have servers for things. Which tells me that it still does take something on Activisions part to put in game and is just not something that you can do from one person to another.

I wish this discussion would be going on a couple of weeks from know so I could take the time to do some more searching on my part, but I am limited to my data plan on my phone so I don't have a lot of access to things.

I did a quick search of how the servers work on CoD, (keep in mind this is not a deep search) What I was able to find out that yes they have some of the game files stored on-line by Activision, which is kind of the point I was trying to make while this game is making money right now, it is not really geared towards the more "mature" people of CoD where they are okay to play on-line. I am just thinking that Activision had questioned the parents of people this game is geared for... Your younger generation of people and they said that it was not important because on-line gaming is something they would do.

I just don't think it is a clear and simple choice of saying oh lets put this in and not have to do X or Y to make it happen. Or if we put in this Z is going to have to change because of this.


I get Pyrofer statement. I think maybe this is in the wrong section and would be better suited for the Swap Force section.

Honestly you can see everything they did were in terms of keeping the ip from being stale so you have to give them that. It went from just figures that can be used in game at any time to bigger figures and now to swappable figures. From there it would be reasonable to see an online mode of sorts but the only thing you can really do to bring money in beyond that type of marketing is to throw that in and in a more expansive setting.

If they were to work in something like a spin off to be a "fourth" game I could only see something on the lines of Skylander Universe where everyone could take a skylander on things done online with a special set of figures they buy instore, the game can be played on console but you would be online for like an mmo. The figures would have to also be just for that game without the integration of the last three games. I think they are if anything going to work in along the lines of getting beyond the trilogy.

Anything else idea wise would be met with lost of sales really and a death knell at this point to the series overall. This is where I see TFB going after swap force is establishing another type of toy line like skylanders with the technology but something entirely new. They are a toy company after all and in most cases are probably heading that direction as is.

Quote: tigerdr

Honestly you can see everything they did were in terms of keeping the ip from being stale so you have to give them that. It went from just figures that can be used in game at any time to bigger figures and now to swappable figures. From there it would be reasonable to see an online mode of sorts but the only thing you can really do to bring money in beyond that type of marketing is to throw that in and in a more expansive setting.

If they were to work in something like a spin off to be a "fourth" game I could only see something on the lines of Skylander Universe where everyone could take a skylander on things done online with a special set of figures they buy instore, the game can be played on console but you would be online for like an mmo. The figures would have to also be just for that game without the integration of the last three games. I think they are if anything going to work in along the lines of getting beyond the trilogy.

Anything else idea wise would be met with lost of sales really and a death knell at this point to the series overall. This is where I see TFB going after swap force is establishing another type of toy line like skylanders with the technology but something entirely new. They are a toy company after all and in most cases are probably heading that direction as is.

they will not take a giant jump like an mmo. that will cost to much money, this is activision after all. they will do baby steps first and a ordinary online part will be added to the skylanders4(this will be the new big thing), plus more new skylanders will be made. after that there will be skylanders5 that is more or less same as skylanders4 but new story and more new skylanders. after skylanders5 i think anything can happen....maybe an open world skylanders game will be made but not an mmo, its a kid game not wow...

Quote: Pyrofer

I know Swap Force isn't even out yet, but now is EXACTLY the time to start getting ideas for Skylanders 4. If they are starting development now they need the ideas now.
A years time will be too late.

Multiplayer will not require any changes to the figures, it will require no servers.
It's pretty much one of the lowest investment changes they can make with the biggest possible return!

It may not be for everybody but seriously it can't hurt.

The whole net is getting more "social", Skylanders has the potential to be huge, they need to get with the times asap.

^THIS

Quote: kappapopm

they will not take a giant jump like an mmo. that will cost to much money, this is activision after all. they will do baby steps first and a ordinary online part will be added to the skylanders4(this will be the new big thing), plus more new skylanders will be made. after that there will be skylanders5 that is more or less same as skylanders4 but new story and more new skylanders. after skylanders5 i think anything can happen....maybe an open world skylanders game will be made but not an mmo, its a kid game not wow...

You misinterpret my post as in spirit of an MMO I mean the world like setting of it how the original universe was. That really is the only feasible step is something in that spirit if acti wasn't going to go full throttle cash grab in a sense and do more with it. Sort of how most and yourself said on the whole working in the online play. I guess at first it would have to be comparable to infinity's toy box mode. If they do put in online it'll probably be one figure per portal unless again they rework it to do so.

They need something more open world and allows users to make extra content beyond that then they can update with as many figures they wish to make. Easy enough for them to capitalize on this method, make money easy and update game files with patches, etc of new character releases.

You keep listing off games that there will be this many sequels but I think most have to understand people have to actually buy things first and it's not set in stone to get to that mileage. If it's more of the same like these three, it's not going to sell and that's it, done. Just don't aim too high with expectations because it seems there are big crutches to acti doing this series in general.

• Distribution method - low quantities of desired characters and mass quantities of their choices.
  
• Content - lower actual game levels and more pay play sets of addons
  
• Story - over usage of Khaos.
  

They should really address this and Swap Force is really going to test this ip because of more figures this could break everything. They need to address things like this before making more games beyond swap force. Most places are begging around here for people to even pre order swap force. Every store I've gone to hasn't really had anyone pre order it even with the lightcore hex bonus being offered or the target upgrade cards now introduced.

I like the idea of more open worlds (why SSA > SG IMHO) and of world add-ons - but it's unlikely that we'll ever see patching/DLC added to games to enable toys that the game wasn't designed with. TFB (and Activision) want your average Ma and Pa to be able to buy any 'Giants' figure and know 100% that it will work in Giants - even if the house doesn't have the internet or the console is offline.

Having said that, I'd love to see mini-game, the 3Ds games and even 'remakes' that include the ability to use new toys in old games - all sold via the console's online stores. If you are buying it online you know the user is online, and then you can offer patching/DLC all you want.

^ This is what I was trying to get across. I agree that it would be fun to be able to play with most of the people on here. Some I would not enjoy... First person that comes to mind would be Kappa... (Just Kidding ) If you are rooting against Infinity doing well but want on-line in future skylanders you might want to hope that their Toy Box or whatever the online stuff is works well.

I can tell you right now anyone wanting Infinity are folks that are Disney zealots, or folks that LOVE to build things but not necessarily via a hard programming interface (ala Mindcraft). Toy Box mode is truly their shining gem. I'm not sure if that has a place in Skylanders; it's unfortunate just because they have a chunk of plastic called a toy that they are being compared in that way, but it happens. People overgeneralize all the time.

Bottom line--I think they need to take more daring leaps after Swap Force, but keep the spirit of the experience intact.