Sandra Day O Connor: Game Designer
Jun 15, 2008 Articles Recommend|238views
at Parsons The New School For Design,
NEW YORK — Sandra Day O’Connor is going from Supreme Court justice to game maker.Delivering the keynote address Wednesday at the annualGames For Change conference
O’Connor detailed a project she is spearheading called Our Courts, which she described asan “online, interactive civic education project for seventh- and eighth-graders” that familiarizes students with the legal system.
O’Connor believes that America’s youth aren’t learning enough about civics, and thinks that the educational power of videogames is just the thing to change that.
“Only one-third of Americans can name the three branches of government,” O’Connor said,
“but two-thirds can name a judge on American Idol.”
“If someone told me when I retired from court that I’d be talking at a conference about digital gaming, I’d think they’d had one drink too many,” O’Connor told the crowd of academics and gaming professionals.
Now in its fifth year, the Games For Change conference is run by Parsons The New School For Design and is dedicated to exploring the development of videogames that deal with social issues.
“Of the three branches of government, the one that’s least understood is the judiciary,” said former U.S. Senator and current New School President Bob Kerrey, introducing O’Connor.
O’Connor said that the No Child Left Behind act of 2001 has “effectively squeezed out civics education” from public schools. “We can’t forget that the primary purpose of
public schools in America is to produce citizens who have the skills and knowledge to sustain our form of government,” she said. “Public education is the only longterm solution to preserving an independent judiciary and constitutional democracy.”
That’s why, O’Connor said, she wanted to work alongside to createUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison professor James Paul Gee Our Courts, which will begin rolling out in September 2009.
The game “lets students engage in real issues and real problems,” O’Connor said. It will allow them to “step into the shoes of a judge, a legislator, an executive — teach them how to think through and analyze problems, take action and voice opinions to their elected representatives.”
An early exercise in the game will likely deal with educating students about their First
Amendment rights, using examples like Tinker v. Des Moines and the .
O’Connor said that she is “encouraged” to see young people becoming involved in political campaigns through the net. “E-mailing, blogging, networking on Facebook — they can take leadership, make their voices heard through tools that belong to their generation. We need to give them ownership to allow them to interact with the material,” she said.
Warrior Epic Preview - Would you like to know more?
Jun 5, 2008 Articles Recommend|484views
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I’ve noticed lately, and you may have too, that over the last couple of years F2P (Free to Play) games have begun to evolve. It wasn’t long ago that the mere mention of a game with no cost or monthly fee would have people literally running in fear, and with good reason too because let’s face it, F2P games had never really been all that good. But how could they be? These games receive no income whatsoever, how are they supposed compete with games like World of Warcraft that boast annual profits in the billions? Well, nowadays they are competing; by using in game advertising and charging real money for in-game items these games are turning a very large profit, without initially charging the player at all.
Now, they have begun to evolve again, higher quality game developers have begun to notice that this 
method of development can in some cases turn an even higher profit than games that require purchase, and as such higher quality games F2P games are on the rise. Warrior Epic is one of these games.
Developed by Possibility Space, Warrior Epic is not only taking huge steps in a graphical sense, but they are also adding completely new features never before seen in the MMO scene, and in turn are creating a completely new style of MMORPG all together. Instead of an open world, requiring massive downloads and hundreds of hours to navigate, Warrior Epic favours the room based game style, but has taken it to a whole new level. Recently I had the pleasure of an Interview with Community Manager of Possibility space Brice Lucas, he shed some light on just exactly what Warrior Epic is, and what it intends to do with the MMO scene.
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So Brice, what exactly is your role at Possibility Space, and how does that effect Warrior Epic?
I am the Community Manager at Possibility Space. My responsibilities include interacting with and managing all forward facing company elements such as developing and managing game websites, PR, Game Site Interaction, and (my personal favourite) keeping in contact with our players.
Working with an independent developer has also afforded me the opportunity to deviate a bit from my primary role within the company. Other roles that I am playing include Operations Management, Quality Assurance, and Problem Solving. I love the challenge and satisfaction of solving problems.
Warrior Epic has taken great leaps and bounds in game innovation, what were some of the reasons behind this?
We want to create a game that is, more than anything else, fun to play. In a market that has stagnated a bit with game clones and a lack of innovation, there is a strong desire to try new things. So we wiped the table clean and started development on Warrior Epic.
Warrior Epic is a game that will be easy to get, fun to play, beautiful, it will run well on just about anything, and it will be free to download and play.
Right now, what is your favourite feature of the game?
The emphasis on strategy and team play that is surfacing in our game is by far my favorite feature. As stats are implemented and warrior classes are balanced, players are really going to have to use their heads in order to get through a quest.
Possibility Space has really taken advantage of the Closed Beta period, allowing the testers to have a solid impact on the outcome of the game. Being a key part of this system yourself, how do you feel it’s coming along?
Keeping in personal contact with the community has proven to be an excellent decision in the management of the closed beta. Our users are playing an integral part in the development of Warrior Epic. From well formed bug reports to awesome game play suggestions, everyone is doing their part to ensure that Warrior Epic is a badass game.
Warrior Epic clearly has high production value, what were some of the reason and challenges you faced when making such a high quality game F2P?
The F2P market does not have an entry which can easily compete with AAA title production values. We are changing that by offering an F2P game that really stands out. There are inherent challenges to creating a high production value F2P, but having amazing people like Feng , Gage, and a staff of incredibly talented and dedicated developers has helped us realize our goals.
Finally, what do you think makes Warrior Epic stand out from the rest?
I love this question… here are some of the main features that make Warrior Epic stand out as an innovative F2P game:
Strategy in the Gameplay:
There will be a hard line between classes that will force groups of players to
co-operate with one another in a quest. An emphasis on strategic play is
also realized in the “limited resources” mentality that we have executed.
By not being a recharge game, and by limiting skills, potions, and spirit
summons… the players is forced to use these things wisely.
Managing a Warrior Hall:
In Warrior Epic, not only are you leveling your Warriors… but you are
actually playing a “leadership” role by managing a hall that houses your
classes. This hall is leveled and built upon, which also directly affects
the effectiveness of your warriors.
Warrior Spirits:
When your warrior dies, they actually have a spirit that can be equipped
onto another Warrior and used in battle. The type and strength of the
spirit summon directly correlates with the class-type and strength of the
Warrior at their time of death.
Players may also, of course, resurrect their Warrior Spirits into back their
living forms and continue fighting with them.
PvP:
We are working hard to make our PvP awesome. The system mixes
arena-type PvP with an RTS flare. Players attack their opponent’s base
with a horde of monsters that they summon from their spawn portal.
While these monsters spawn, the players attempt to capture and hold
strategic points on the map. Players receive gold as they kill their
opponent’s monsters and hold the strategic points. As their gold
accumulates, they are able to purchase items from the three separate shops
within their own base.
One shop offers monster spawn upgrades such as increasing the number of
monsters, increasing the speed at which they spawn, increasing the type and
strength of the monsters, and more.
Another shop offers healing and defense potions. Players can purchase up to
five potions for use in the field. These potions enable them to survive
longer while in combat with their opponent.
The last shop offers Warrior Spirit summons. Again, the players can
purchase up to 5 Warrior Spirits and use them against their opponents. Only
1 Warrior Spirit can be active at a time, per player.
Unique Classes:
Because our classes will be so specialized once the stats implementation and
balancing is completed, we will be able to create some very unique and
custom warriors that will be a blast to play with.
DoD (Download on Demand) Digital Distribution System:
We have engineered our own distribution system that is working
quite well. You can download our setup.exe from anywhere and be in game
within minutes of downloading.
No Registry Writing Required and A Very Small HDD Footprint:
You can literally copy your Warrior Epic folder onto a Thumb Drive and take
it with you. Not only that, the game will actually RUN from the drive!
That’s pretty portable if you ask me.
Original, In-House Graphics Engine that runs on almost anything WITHOUT 3D
Acceleration… and it’s Beautiful:
We have people playing Warrior Epic on 5 year old laptops with integrated
graphics and they are running at 60FPS solid. Our in-house graphics engine
utilizes hand painted assets and does not depend on any 3D acceleration to
render special effects. This cuts the fat out of system overhead
requirements, enabling Warrior Epic to run extremely well on almost any
machine.
Not only that, it also makes it possible for us to port the game very easily
to consoles such as the PSP or the Wii.
Oh yeah, and Warrior Epic is free.
Warrior Epic will hold its ground with AAA titles in terms of game play, graphics, sound,
and fun… and it’s FREE! People can play Warrior Epic without ever
spending a dime and still be completely happy. We are not locking progress,
forcing people to enter subscriptions, or allowing paying users to purchase
power in our game. The playing field is level for all users.
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So as you can see Warrior Epic has some big plans, and they are plans that I am personally very exited about. Many of the games I’ve played recently really are carbon copies of other games before them, and playing them is becoming somewhat of a chore. If Warrior Epic turns out to be even half the game it 
intends to be, then I believe it’s something I’ll be playing for a very long time.
Currently in Closed Beta, Warrior Epic is not without it’s flaws. As it stands WE isn’t a complete game, but more a skeleton with many parts yet to be added, and that’s where we come in. This is a real Beta here, and they are looking for real testers. That’s not to say that it isn’t already a blast to play, but there are still many features of the game that aren’t working properly. The good news is, that by playing and testing the game now, we have a chance to really make a difference on the end result of the game, something that I believe it will be all the better for.
It seems that monthly competitions are always being held in the world of Warrior Epic, one of them currently will allow you to get your very own Tester account and begin playing. Here are a few below:
Write Something Funny, Get Into the Closed Beta Contest
Lets have some fun with this one. Get creative and write something funny, funky, or just incredibly stupid. I dont care how long (or how short) the post is… but I am hoping that you have fun with this contest! Feel free to use a line from your favorite movie, book, game, comic, or (insert anything here).
CB Video Contest
Players are making videos of the CB and posting them on the web. The best video will be featured on the site and the community member that posted it will receive a $25 Cash Shop credit in the official, public build of Warrior Epic.
CB Screenshot Contest
We are looking for the perfect screenshot of the closed beta. The chosen screenshot will be featured on our official site and used by our marketing staff. The community member, who submits the screenshot, as well as all players in the screenshot, will receive a $10 Cash Shop credit in the official, public build of Warrior Epic.
So there you have it, just about all the information out there, and a hundred reasons to get on over to www.warriorepic.com, get your own Tester account, and join in the fun! Looking forward to seeing you all in game, I’m off to try out some of these new levels I’ve been hearing about!
A note to the reader - Mere hours before I had intended to post this preview, my internet speed was reduced to 24kbs, and stopped me from uploading any of my screenshots or banners. Once the speed has returned next week I will update this preview with original screenshots and a new banner. The currently displayed shots are from Google; I placed them in to break the monotony a little.
Tags: Warrior
AoC:To Be A Distinctive MMORPG
Jun 5, 2008 Articles Recommend|226views
| The website Trusted Reviews released a preview of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.
The details are as below: If Age of Conan has proved anything, it’s that a new MMO launch doesn’t have to end in misery and disappointment. While other publishers are cancelling MMOs left, right and centre, usually citing the way World of Warcraft has killed off competition or saturated the market, Funcom and Eidos just got on with things and quietly produced the most successful PC title of the year so far. Having topped the charts in Germany in Sweden and signed up 400,000 players in the first week, Age of Conan is still a long way away from achieving WoW levels of success, but it’s certainly no Vanguard or Tabula Rasa. Technically, things have run relatively smoothly, and the product feels polished and exciting. The overall buzz is good.
Nearly all the stuff I said in my first impressions piece still stands several hours of play later. Leaning towards the pulp thrills of heroic fantasy rather than the epic sagas of Tolkienesque high fantasy, Age of Conan is a very different experience than Lord of the Rings Online or WoW. It’s fast paced, moody and brutally violent. It’s also characterised by a slightly adolescent approach to sexuality (it’s rare to find a woman who isn’t scantily clad, and there’s a lot more innuendo than in your average fantasy game), but then you might consider that a selling point. It has the finest graphics of any MMO of this generation, and the character modelling is some of the best I’ve seen in any RPG of any type. At times, as your hulking barbarian races through the jungle or weaves his way through crumbling ruins, Age of Conan comes close to matching any vision you have of what a Conan MMO might look like.
What’s more, Age of Conan’s combat system, which combines real-time responses and proper proximity detection with the traditional skills-based attacks of regular MMOs, is innovative, deep and highly engaging. Despite the handicap of having no non-human races to play with, the selection of characters offers some genuinely rich and interesting choices, and anyone who has ever wanted to play as an axe-wielding Barbarian or eldritch sorcerer will find something to scratch that itch. Best of all, the game feels imbued with the essense of the Conan stories. The action is fast and furious and the atmosphere frequently potent. From the attention that has gone into the exotic architecture and lush jungle vegetation to the sweeping music, with its subtle echoes of the legendary Basil Polisouris score for the first Conan film, Age of Conan hits all the right marks. Read More:Here News Original From:Trusted Reviews   |
Tags: AoC
Dekaron Coming Soon to Southeast Asia
Jun 5, 2008 Articles Recommend|267views
GameHi Inc., the developer and publisher of Extreme Action MMORPG Dekaron in Korea, and Digital Media Exchange (dme) announced an agreement to launch most anticipated free-to-play MMORPG Dekaron in the Southeast Asian market on April 15th 2008 Dekaron, one of the leading free-to-play based MMORPGs developed by GameHi in Korea, is scheduled to launch closed-beta and open-beta service within first half of this year in Southeast Asian market through the Philippines based publisher Digital Media Exchange (dme). With Southeast Asian launch of Dekaron, the game is now serviced in 65 countries around the world including North America, Korea, Japan, China, and Europe… Seung Hun Baek, GameHi’s Chief Technical Officer said “GameHi is proud to announce the partnership with Digital Media Exchange Inc., Southeast Asia’s leading game publisher who will service Dekaron in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. GameHi has taken one step further in expanding its global presence; this partnership allows Gamehi to initiate a new era of MMORPG in the Southeast Asian MMO market.” Scott Countryman, CEO of dme, commented, “The combination of GameHi’s development expertise and DME’s highly-acclaimed marketing, distribution and publishing know-how create a powerful synergic partnership.” “We are confident that Dekaron will be a huge success in Southeast Asia.” Sudden Attack, serviced in Korea by CJ Internet, has recorded over 240,000 CCUs and kept its first place in the Korean MMO game market for more than 74 consecutive weeks. GoGo-Xing is currently undergoing open-beta service by NHN, who also owns Korea’s largest portal called NAVER.Â
About Digital Media Exchange (dme) Inc dme is a leader in the South East Asian gaming industry; pioneering the MMOG business in the Philippines, free to play model, integrated game services, online multicurrency systems and game support outsourcing. CEO and founder, Scott Countryman, is an international entrepreneur and cross-cultural team builder with over 12 years of hands-on executive management experience. He has founded and managed three highly profitable companies in Asia. dme has partnered with leading game developers in Korea, including Webzen and Softnyx, and has published seven titles across the region. Together with Webzen, dme is currently offering Mu Online-one of the longest-running and most popular games in Korea and SE Asia. With Softnyx, dme is currently offering Gunbound World Championship and Rakion, bestselling online games played by thousands everyday. Gunbound World Championship was the 1st casual game and the 1st free-to-play online game offered in the Philippines. Rakion is an intense action-packed 3D MMO fighting game unique for its extremely engaging game play, and exhilarating new combat engine that pits players against players in no-holds-barred arenas for supremacy. |
Tags: Dekaron
Turbine Secures 40 Million Dollars in Financing
Jun 5, 2008 Articles Recommend|202views
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WESTWOOD, MA, June 4, 2008. Turbine, Inc. today announced that it has raised 40 million dollars in equity financing. Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and GGV Capital, a leader in expansion-stage venture capital investments in the U.S. and China, led the investment along with existing investors, Highland Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Tudor Ventures and Columbia Capital. The investment will be used to further accelerate Turbine’s growth as a global leader in online entertainment.
“This is truly an exciting time for Turbine. The addition of Time Warner, one of the world’s largest media companies, and GGV Capital, one of the financial community’s most sophisticated investors, adds a level of access, perspective and experience to Turbine that is singularly unique in the global online entertainment space,” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. “Turbine has an extraordinary team, incredible technology and a growing portfolio of games based on some of the most popular brands ever created. With this funding we are uniquely positioned to change the future of online entertainment as we bring new titles to market, expand the platforms we support and introduce new technologies to sustain self-evolving game worlds.”
An online entertainment veteran, Turbine is recognized globally for its industry-leading technology platform, groundbreaking game graphics and its exceptional ability to create and operate multiple massive, persistent online worlds that power hundreds of thousands of interactive social gaming experiences. The company currently operates three award-winning franchises around the globe and is one of the largest privately-held online gaming studios in North America.
“Our investment in Turbine is an important addition to Time Warner’s entertainment initiatives,” said Rachel Lam, Senior Vice President and Group Managing Director of Time Warner Investments. “Online interactive entertainment is a huge growth market and we are very excited about Turbine, its unique capabilities and the obvious opportunities that exist with our own broad portfolio of IP.”
“The demand for massively multiplayer online worlds is exploding both geographically and in terms of platforms served,” said Hany Nada, managing partner, GGV Capital. “Turbine is a proven leader in massively interactive online entertainment and the incredible technology that supports it. We look forward to marrying our strengths both here and in Asia with Turbine’s unique capabilities.”
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Tags: Turbine
9Dragons European Server Launched
Jun 5, 2008 Uncategorized|740views
 Los Angeles, CA (June 3, 2008). Acclaim Games officially launches the new European server called Bardo Euro for 9Dragons, a FREE TO PLAY martial arts Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) for PC. With the new physical servers in place, Acclaim will offer European players an improved game experience, with better connections, less lag and greater reliability.Â
The staff at Acclaim Games has been working on this for some time in response to the requests of its European players and is finally able to offer this enhancement to the 9Dragons experience. With the official launch of the Bardo server, 9Dragons is now poised to be the #1 martial arts MMO in Europe.Â
“The 9Dragons European server is great news for our European players who can now get the best possible game service quality and lower latency,” said Howard Marks, Acclaim CEO.Â
To commemorate this great occasion, Acclaim will be running several special events between June 3 and June 9, including several days of bonus Exp events, special Monster Spawn events and scheduled PvP battles with the game masters. In addition, magnificent in-game fireworks displays will mark the occasion, lighting up the sky at random times. A 3-day 30% item discount will also kick off the first weekend with huge savings on popular in-game items designed to enhance gameplay, such as elixirs, healing herbs, and premium packages.Â
In 9Dragons, you can rise from a beggar on the streets to a master of Kung Fu as you train with some of the greatest masters of ancient China. Players have the option of joining one of 6 starter clans: Shaolin, Wu-Tang Clan and The League of Beggars are loyal to The Imperial Emperor of China, while The Brotherhood of Thieves, Heavenly Demon, and Sacred Flower Clan (for women only) are opposed to his rule. Players are taught their clan’s unique kung fu style, mastering various techniques as they progress throughout the game, and ultimately fight for the honor and destiny of their chosen clan.Â
Tags: 9Dragons
Top 20 Influential People in MMOGs of 2007
Jun 5, 2008 Articles Recommend|287views
| Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine has announced the top influential people in massively multiplayer video games for 2007 in the July-August #13 Issue.
World of Warcraft’s Rob Pardo, GuildCafe.com’s community mastermind, Sanya Weathers, and Richard Garriott himself are listed as three of the twenty names in the feature, The Top 20 Most Influential People in the MMO Industry. Beckett’s Massive Online Gamer highlights the most talented people in massively multiplayer video games and gives details on how they’ve influenced the future of the industry in this latest issue that hits newsstands May 28, 2008. Jess Lebow, now working at Carbine Studios, shares, “I’ve played the games these people have made for years, so to be listed alongside such industry luminaries is a tremendous honor.” The complete list of the Top 20 Most Influential People in the MMO Industry:
4. Hilmar Petursson, CEO, CCP 5. Jack Emmert, CCO, Cryptic Studios 6. Rob Seaver, CEO, Vivox 7. Min Kim, Director of Game Operations, Nexon America 8. Scott Hartsman, Formerly Senior Producer, SOE 9. Raph Koster, President, Areae 10. James Phinney, Lead Designer, ArenaNet 11. Richard Garriott, Creative Director, NCSoft 12. Starr Long, Producer, NCSoft 13. Cory Ondrejka, Formerly CTO, Linden Labs 14. Mark Jacobs, GM and VP, EA Mythic 15. Sulka Haro, Lead Concept Designer, Sulake 16. Sage Sundi, Global Online Producer, Square-Enix 17. Jess Lebow, Lead Quest Designer, Carbine Studios 18. David Perry, CCO, Acclaim 19. Sanya Weathers, Director of Community, Guildcafe.com 20. Daniel James, CEO, Three Rings Design  |
Tags: mmogs
Exteel: Dev Paper - Trooper Mechanaught
Jun 5, 2008 Articles Recommend|371views
Following the entry- and low-tier Mechanaughts like the Pinkett or Mekhi, the Trooper is a solid representative of the next, more powerful group of Mechanaughts available for purchase. At this point in the pilot’s progress, Mechanaughts become more specialized towards specific tasks and styles. Pilots will start to upgrade their own Mechanaught not as a whole set, but part by part in order to create the best mix that suits themselves. The Trooper is a well-rounded offensive and defensive design and is one of the most popular Mechanaughts available in the Exteel universe.
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The Trooper is the successor to the venerable Frontliner and bests it at nearly every angle except cost, energy output, and size. Totaling in at 54,000 credits, the Trooper set costs over twice as much as the Frontliner, but is well worth every credit for the pilot who just wants to get into combat and wreck the enemy. The Trooper can absorb more damage, use energy more efficiently (not to mention regenerate energy faster), is much more responsive, and is a lot more accurate. A Trooper head has two Mechanaught Processing Units (MPU), so a pilot can purchase and equip two skills at any one time for a battle.
When you’re in a flat-out competition to out-fight a similarly-ranked enemy, it’s hard to go wrong with the Trooper. It’s good for all situations and uses, from melee fights to long-range duels and everything in-between.
Weapon Highlights
- Omega Tristone Launcher - The Omega Tristone Launcher is closely related, in capability, to its sister cannon, the Colony Burster. It has good overheat and damage ratings, and has the highest lock-on rate amongst the cannons. The Omega Tristone Launcher also has a longer range than many other cannons.
- Particle Blade – A definite upgrade from the early model melee weapons like the Crimson Edge, which looks like a medieval sword, the Particle Blade generates a focused beam of intense energy from its hilt, in the shape of a blade. Used like any normal sword, the Particle Blade does more damage and attacks faster than any heavier, metal sword. It does have a tendency to overheat a little faster, however.
- Metal Helix – Another melee weapon upgrade, the Metal Helix works similarly to the spear-like Penetrator. The main difference is that the Metal Helix features a large drill attachment on its business end, increasing its ability to damage opponents greatly. It even allows the pilot to hit two opponents at once. However, the Metal Helix also has a tendency to overheat a little faster than the Penetrator.
- Echo Blaster – The Echo Blaster represents the top tier of all available SMGs. With its low rate of fire it doesn’t generate nearly as much heat as other SMGs yet can deliver more damage per burst. These advantages come at a price, as the Echo Blaster’s accuracy is woeful in comparison to other SMGs and it takes some skill and effort to use it effectively.
Last Stand Battle Mode
What happens when you can’t get enough people to form a large-scale competitive match, or you just want to make some money for the next group of Mechanaught upgrades? The answer is Last Stand, which allows a group of players to take on waves of computer-driven opponents.
In Last Stand mode the player team must prevent the AI from capturing two Aerogates, which are typically located a fair distance apart from each other. Every minute or so, groups of AI-controlled Mechanaughts will approach an Aerogate from various directions. While they’ll attack any players that get in their way, their main objective is to capture the Aerogate by occupying it for a period of time. You can check on the Aerogate’s status via its occupation meter on the screen or the map; if the bar’s color is blue, that means the players control it, a grey bar indicates it’s “neutralized†(the players still own it, but cannot use it to spawn from or use the nearby healing pads). If the occupation bar is red, that means the AI now controls the Aerogate and it’s game over. Each Last Stand match lasts ten minutes.
Players have certain advantages; each Aerogate usually has a healing pad or two nearby to repair Mechanaughts (if the Aerogate isn’t already neutralized). All players are also equipped with an extra skill slot that when activated (with the “5†key) will completely restore all of the Mechanaught’s hit points. Each Aerogate also has a finite number of approaches the AI can take to get to it, meaning they are usually easily defensible—the problem is that they only attack one Aerogate at a time, so players will need to guess which the AI will attack next, or split up their resources to cover both. At the lower difficulty levels, the AI Mechanaughts are easy to kill, though each wave can consist of dozens of attackers at once. However, on higher difficulty levels, the AI will be harder to kill, and they’ll hit with a lot more damage.
Players will also accumulate a separate Last Stand score, based on killing AI Mechanaughts and accomplishing separate objectives, like destroying enemy “infiltratorsâ€, shooting down a flight of enemy bombers, or beating a boss AI Mechanaught. During the weekly maintenance period, Exteel awards each player a nice credit bonus based on the accumulation of points that week on each map, compared to how everyone else did on each map. Players will also be rewarded points and credits for winning the match (and not so much for losing), just like Exteel’s other battle modes.
Last Stand is an extremely useful mode for players. They can battle against scores of AI opponents and hone their skills, winning matches and accumulating hard-earned money for PvP battles. Plus, Last Stand matches can be played with a fewer group of players without having to worry about getting enough people for balanced teams. All you need is some friends and that’s it.
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Tags: Exteel
Age of Conan: Letter From the Director - Roadmap for the Future
Jun 5, 2008 Articles Recommend|375views
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Fellow Hyborians!
As you may have noticed we have had frequent patches the last two weeks. We hope this will soon start to quiet down, but as long as there are major issues – and there have been – we will dedicate the Conan team to fixing them and giving you these fixes as soon as possible! We have a plan on how to move this game forward because as you know, what you have today is but the platform – the dawn of this world. I hope you enjoy the game as is, but I can ensure you, this is but the beginning!
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Our focus from now on can be summarized by these points:
- We will add content, specifically in mid-late thirties and mid-late fifties and make the leveling speed smoother in those areas, reducing the need to grind.
- We will have an overhaul of the PvP system – adding consequence and a host of small things.
- We are fixing bugs you reported through all channels we can get information from.
- We will add a new large outdoor region in the 55-60 range this summer!
- This is only a small taster! More information about the exciting summer and fall Roadmap will come the end of the next week!
- We are staffing up Customer Service, Quality Assurance and Community departments!
I will spend some words on a bit more details now.
1. Filling “thin areas†in our content
We have seen that there are certain level ranges of these Hyborian Adventures that do not have the amount of quality we wish them to have. Most specifically these are the end of the Thirties and the end of the Fifties level ranges. We are addressing this in several ways.
- Several mid-late thirties dungeons are getting a complete overhaul (Black Castle, Pyramid of the Ancients and Treasury of the Ancients)
- Several quests are being made fuller and more entertaining. If people wish to revisit these quests, we will add a system to let them try them out again.
- we are adding first a batch of quests in Eiglophian Mountains (lvls 55+)
- We are also adding in a bunch of quests that didn’t quite make it for launch in the 30+ areas.
- Around 60 quests through the game have been flagged as “Lore Questsâ€. They will now be patched out with full Voice-Over. (Roughly 1 quest per level after level 20)
All this will come in June! In July the first level 80 additional Dungeon will be patched out. More on that later…
2. Overhauling the PvP System
People like our open PvP system. There are many plans on how to give this open free PvP even more meaning and Purpose. In the meantime we will be doing some smaller tweaks, and we plan to get these out sometimes in June. I will not go into 100% detail here, but that will come next week! What I can promise is:
- An update on how sneaking and perception works in PvP (nothing major, but an adjustment).
- A change in the amount of information you get when you hover over an other player.
- An added system of consequence to “gankingâ€. (Killing much-much lower level players).
- A system of adding consequence to losing a PvP match, and winning a PvP match + turning on PvP Leveling.
- A change in how Crowd Control (Root, Knockback etc) works in PvP.
- PvP gear.
3. New Massive Region
We will unveil this location later, but it will feature a host of quests, new monsters and places of dreams or horror. It will be styled towards the players in the late 50s and bridge the experience on the way to Atzels Approach. We have plans for releasing several of the areas that didn’t quite make it for the release.
4. Fixing bugs and increasing Customer Service
Funcom has always prided ourselves with having great customer satisfaction. The success so far for this title has left us with the need to increase the size of CS. This will go in parallel with the constant fixing of bugs and other issues that lead people to petition. Included in this is even better testing of the game by increasing the size of Quality Assurance and informing you better about changes by staffing up the Community Department. I know a blurb like this will haunt me always, but I will still venture one: We aren’t satisfied until all our customers are! You know we had a very, very difficult launch of Anarchy-Online! That was a very painful process for all of us working on it – 4 years. You might not understand how driven we are to make sure you enjoy this game, and all the support around it!
The future is very bright for Hyboria. There will be many bright mornings following this, the very first. Together we shall surge ahead and build the world even bigger, better and more detailed!
Yours truly,
Gaute Godager
Game Director
Age of Conan, Funcom
Tags: Age of Conan
DDO: A Look at Module 7 Part Two - Beyond the Monk
Jun 5, 2008 Articles Recommend|213views
Today, Tuesday June 3rd is an important day for fans of Dungeons and Dragons Online as the game, an MMO based on Wizards of the Coast’s smash-hit pen and paper game. Today, you see, marks the launch of the game’s newest Module (their word for update). Module 7: The Way of the Monk, as the name implies, adds the Monk class to the game. While this is certainly the addition that is getting the most attention, the new class isn’t all that Module 7 has to offer.
In a previous article, we talked about the addition of the new class, but now I want to talk a little bit about Module 7: Beyond the Monk.
During a recent tour of the new Module, I was taken through Three Barrel Cove. TBC (my clever acronym for Three Barrel Cove) is a name that might be familiar to players and former players of the game, but what you might not know is that in Module 7, the challenge rating 5 (which means that it’s appropriate for a party of level 5 players) gets a brand new facelift.
The developers looked at Three Barrel Cove and replaced a good deal of the landscape and added three new dungeon areas. Add this to the four that were already in (and still are after the update), and you have yourself an ever-growing area.
Fortunately for me, my play session wasn’t limited to TBC and jumping around doing kick-ass ninja moves with my Monk (seriously though, the Monk animations are really cool). We also took a quick romp through one of the new dungeons. Say what you will about Dungeons and Dragons Online as a whole, but you really have to admire their ability to create an interesting and engaging dungeon. I won’t give anything away really (I don’t want to spoil things), but it always feels to me like DDO’s dungeons are well thought out and appeal to a part of me as a gamer that’s tired of just smashing things all the time, grinding their bones to make my XP. DDO consistently presents interesting traps and puzzles to go along with the killing and making of XP and Module 7 is no exception. Now, I remember that I promised not to give too much away, but I’ll say this: When you find the guy in the giant cage that seems to be hooked up to a frightening and magical Tesla machine… Fry him at least once. It’s worth it just to hear him complain.
In the end, I think my favorite part of the areas that the developers had me running around (including TBC) was the theme. A place like TBC just wouldn’t feel complete without pirates to go along with it. No worries on that front, Turbine took care of the pirate detail, but they did it by adding a “pirate template†to some of their pre-existing models. Now, by pirate template, I mean that they gave some NPCs a piratey look (you know, bandana, that sort of thing). I was amazed at how much of a difference a wardrobe change could make. While you might not notice at first that the costumed NPCs and mobs are adding to the feel of the zone, there is a subtle difference that I appreciated. I would also like to say for the record that there really isn’t anything funnier than seeing a Warforged in a pirate bandana. Trust me, it’s worth checking out.
DDO’s Module 7 will also see the addition of a number of new monsters. As usual, these critters are familiar to players of the game’s pen and paper forefather, but perhaps none moreso than the dreaded Sahaugen. These sea-people prove as formidable an enemy in DDO as they do in the live version (and I know, my group’s DM has an odd obsession with that race).
As long as we’re talking about monsters, the Sahaugen isn’t the only new mob of interest. This new module will also see the introduction of Living Spells. Now, Living Spells are pretty much exactly what their name implies. They are spells that have gained a kind of form and sentience. It’s a pretty cool concept that Turbine represents well visually. What really interested me about the Living Spells was the fact that the Turbine team went into their game information and found out what spells had been cast most often in the area;. Those are the spells that gained sentience and became living spells. This, I was told, was done to try to reflect the players’ contributions to the game world.
Well, that pretty much wraps it up for me in terms of this preview. After playing through some of this new material even I, who was unimpressed with the game at launch, have to admit that it’s come a long way. If you’re one of those people who counted this game out in the beginning, I suggest you go back and take a peek, you might like what you see.
Tags: DDO
Battleground Europe: WWII Online
Jun 5, 2008 Articles Recommend|965views
Battleground Europe - The Weapons of War
The folks over at Battleground Europe are celebrating their astounding seven year anniversary and have been kind enough to provide us with this developer journal talking about what go into creating a new armored vehicle for their game.
As soon as you log into Battleground Europe, you realize that this is a very, very different game than your typical MMO. Players enter a game world that spans thousands of miles of European countryside and is populated with hundreds of cities, villages and hamlets all of which play a very important role in determining the outcome of the virtual war that rages on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
But the most critical factor in the war are the weapons: Tanks, aircraft, rifles, machine guns, destroyers, anti-aircraft guns…the list goes on. And at the core of each and every one of these weapons lie some very advanced systems which provide the basis for a game driven by realism. Battleground Europe relies on military-grade ballistic models as well as vehicle and weapon models which use actual data from their real WWII counterparts.
Geof Rey “DOC” Evans, Producer and Game Manager, explains the process of creating an Armored Fighting Vehicle in Battleground Europe:
“Once we have decided what vehicles to add based on a number of gameplay criteria that determine such things, the real work begins. First we have to heavily research the weapons of choice (in this case we are looking at tanks) to gather information on all the salient attributes we need to incorporate into the model based on its real life attributes.
This would entail:
- Caliber of the main gun and its ballistic performance profile, not just its penetration ability. Obviously secondary weapons such as co-axial MG’s are also considered and modeled to the same standards. Gunsights are researched for historical optical markings and performance.
- Layout and construction of the protective armor covering the vehicle. This includes cast versus rolled plate differentials, angles of mounting from vertical or horizontal, and the various thicknesses of different parts of the armored shell that comprises the vehicles protective armor.
- Layout and construction of the internal components like ammunition storage, guns, engines, fuel tanks, oil tanks, transmissions, radiators, and the crew itself. All of these components can be damaged or destroyed based on a wide range of consequential outcomes that rely on the ballistic performance of the weapon that strikes the tank and what kind of damage it does at that point.
- Performance profile of the vehicle, including road speed, cross country speed, turret speeds (traverse rates) and fuel range.
Cross sectional 3-views are put together with any photographs/artwork of the vehicle in question, often including a 3 dimensional model … for the 3d artists to begin creating the vehicle. The internals of the vehicle are also covered for relevant aspects to be included in the virtual cockpit which is, in fact, a separate 3D model the player views out from when they are using the vehicle, and which is contained inside the vehicle much like a real cockpit is functionally configured within a vehicle. Historic textures are used wherever it is possible to confirm them as such.
Once the producer responsible for the data or flight model and the artists have a working example, it is put through an exhaustive series of tests run in the game engine itself, to ensure proper functionality of all aspects of the model, from performance of it’s attributes (gun performance, armor effectiveness or vehicle maneuverability) all the way down to code based aspects like the visual damage and destruction model.â€
This video is a graphic representation of what happens when damage is applied to a vehicle. It isn’t simply a matter of a hit causing 25% damage. Physics play a huge role in determining which parts of the vehicle suffer damage, whether those parts are rendered inoperable, is there damage being caused to other parts of the vehicle by ammunition cooking off, and much more:
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Ever wonder what happens when a vehicle gets damaged? This video will show you!
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This is the backbone of game that delivers realism and game play like few others.
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Tags: WWII Online