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GDC09: Mission Architect in-depth
At GDC recently, Joe Morrissey, Senior Designer at NCsoft and Lead Designer for Mission Architect talked to an audience about the challenges of implementing a user generated content system in a 5-year old MMO. Afterwards, we had a chance to sit him down and ask a few questions of our own. But to start with, the basics, for those of you who haven't been following Mission Architect's development: it's a system that allows any City of Heroes or City of Villains player to create their own missions, complete with their own characters and stories. (If the idea of user generated content sounds strange and foreign to you, let Captain Dynamic explain the idea to you.) Currently in beta, this content Godzilla will be released upon the live realms in Issue 14. (For people who haven't yet dived into the City of franchise, there will also be a new game box coming out for Mission Architect: the aptly named Architect Edition.)%Gallery-48661%%Gallery-45908%
GDC09: How HeroEngine revolutionizes MMORPG game design
Let's be frank, MMOs are a pain in the rear to design. You have large teams working collaboratively to build huge expanses of terrain, hundreds upon thousands of objects in the world that players can interact with, server architecture to worry about, and even more in-depth things that the standard player may not even notice or consider.But if you've been on the site recently and have been checking out our coverage of the GDC, then you may have heard us and developers talking excitedly about HeroEngine, the new MMO developing tool from Simutronics. HeroEngine is powering games like The World of Gatheryn and this funny Star Wars game from those BioWare people, as well as other companies that haven't announced their new projects as of yet.So why is HeroEngine so amazing? Well, we got the inside scoop straight from Simutronics as we visited their booth at the GDC.
GDC09: Best of show (to me)
This year's Game Developers Conference has come to a close, and I just wanted to take a second here to reflect on what I got out of the show. I literally can't count the number of times I've been asked, "So what was the best thing you saw so far?". I was even asked this by a random guy in the Men's restroom at one point. Dude, I'm trying to pee, seriously. So these questions inspired me to write up my thoughts on what I enjoyed the most. This isn't meant to be a complete review of every single panel and every single game company present at the convention. It's an opinionated, slightly biased rundown of the best and brightest from an old jaded gamer who doesn't pay any attention to anything but MMO news. So ... there's that.
GDC09: Catching up with Global Agenda
Last year, we had the opportunity to visit Hi-Rez Studios to get one of the first press hands-on looks at Global Agenda. While the game is still in the alpha test now, closed beta is about to begin soon. In order to gear up for these next stages of development, Hi-Rez brought Global Agenda to the GDC audience to try it out for themselves. This is actually the first public hands-on of the game at GDC, so it was a key moment for the team.So what has changed since our tour in October? Well, quite a bit, actually. This public showing brings out some exciting new developments from the Hi-Rez team, including brand new upgraded face customization and an improved tutorial. In addition, the AI, UI and graphics have all experienced quite a bit of tightening and polishing. With Hi-Rez implementing their own in-house motion capture studio, the character animation is among some of the best you'll see in an MMO. What hasn't changed? Well, I still get my butt kicked in the game quite frequently. But I love a good challenge.
Kaplan on being the "Cruise Director of Azeroth" at GDC '09
Jeffrey "Tigole" Kaplan, former WoW Lead Designer who just recently headed off to work on Blizzard's new MMO, held a panel at the Game Developer's Conference earlier this week in San Fransisco called "Cruise Directior of Azeroth," in which he talked about some of the design decisions behind World of Warcraft, where Blizzard got their inspiration for a lot of the gameplay now made famous by the game, and even some of the mistakes they made in putting the world's most popular MMO together.WoW Insider had correspondents there on the site, and they sent back audio of Kaplan's speech. We've paraphrased the salient points, and you can find them all after the break. There's some really interesting stuff in there, including the fact that in the past two years, 80 billion quests have been completed in North America's Azeroth alone, and just who is behind the frustration that is The Green Hills of Stranglethorn (hint: it's Kaplan himself).Hit the link below to see what Kaplan told the crowd at GDC.%Gallery-48658%
GDC09: Hands-on with Aion
To understand the game Aion, you first need a bit of background on its setting. Aion has many of the trappings you would expect to find in a typical fantasy MMO, but it is a completely original IP with some unique elements. As a player, you are a resident of Atreia, created by the deity Aion, and torn asunder by ancient war between the human races and the Aion's former servants, the Balaur. After millennia of struggle, the Balaur succeeded in destroying the Tower of Eternity, Aion's embodiment on Atreia, splitting the planet in half. In the game's present day, the Asmodians live in the harsh, frigid climates on the upper half of Atreia, far from the sun; while the Elyos live in the sun-drenched, tropical lower half of Atreia. Neither recall the details of the cataclysm that split the world and both blame the other for the destruction that befell Atreia.Today, fragments of the shattered tower have begun to drift through the heavens and mysterious portals have opened in the world, transporting the Asmodians and Elyos to the Abyss that lays between the two halves of Atreia. Here, they meet one another and their old, neigh-forgotten enemies, the Balaur.Unsurprisingly, war is at hand. In Aion's "PvPvE" system, you'll fight against both the opposing faction and the NPC Balaur at every turn as you seek to unlock the mysteries of the world around you. %Gallery-48588%
Blizzard's hate (/love?) relationship with consoles
Rumors are bubbling up from GDC '09 that Blizzard is finally considering consoles again for their future games. Blizzard seems to have a hate/hate relationship with consoles -- despite the fact that they started out with some extremely popular console games (Lost Vikings was one of the best games on the Sega Genesis), they've become very solidly a PC gaming company in the past few years. Sure, they released Starcraft 64 and the Playstation port of Diablo, but since Starcraft: Ghost left a bad taste in their mouths, they've stayed away from the console market (and some might say that's saved the PC market).The main problem, says Rob Pardo, is one of control: console controllers just don't have the flexibility to do what Blizzard wants to do with their games. "If I were them," he told the press, "I'd be sitting around trying to figure out what's a cool new input device that supports all types of new kinds of games." And he also hinted that he might be trying to do just that -- Blizzard is apparently in talks with Microsoft, not to develop for this generation of consoles, but to help them advance to the next generation. This is a little more than just Diablo III on the Xbox 360 (though that's definitely a possibility) -- it's Blizzard possibly getting the chance to bring what they love about PC gaming to the next console generation.Heady stuff. Blizzard doesn't need to do anything these days, of course -- if they want to take their next sequel and release it in, say, three separate parts, they can do that and it will likely still be a hit. But if they want to set their sights on innovating in the console space, we'll probably all benefit.
Pardo at GDC lunch: It's all about nailing the execution
Blizzard isn't making too much of an appearance at any of the gaming conventions this year (save for, of course, BlizzCon), but they are floating around the Game Developers Conference going on on San Francisco this week -- Rob Pardo showed up at a luncheon panel yesterday to talk with luminaries like Will Wright and Warren Spector about the latest trends in social gaming. He was actually introduced by Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, who said that "social is buying someone a drink," not "sitting around in your underpants," but said that Pardo manages "maybe the largest group of people in their underpants in the world." Funny.Pardo defended the game, saying that what was once a hobby for outcasts has now become quite cool and that no matter what you're sitting around in, the people who play WoW are people with real relationships, responsibilities, and lives. And he says later in the chat that Blizzard doesn't necessarily aim for innovation, but for "nailing the execution." That's something Nintendo does as well, he said, and many times, that's the key in game development. You don't necessarily have to get it first, but you do have to get it right.The rest of the conversation wanders away from MMOs (and Pardo), but it is a fun look into what these gaming development greats are thinking about what's next. Stay tuned to both us and Massively for more coverage from GDC -- Jeff Kaplan is scheduled to be on a panel there today, and we'll bring you news of that soon.
GDC09: The rise of the MMOs
Here we are in the midst of another epic Games Developers Conference and we can't help but reflect on how much importance MMOs and Virtual Worlds have in the gaming industry these days. Everywhere we look, there are new ways to integrate the online experience with having fun and meeting new people. Throughout the week and beyond (as embargoes get lifted), we're bringing you more MMO panels and interviews than ever before. This is promising for those of us who happen to love MMOs.So even though the convention isn't over until tomorrow, we wanted to take this opportunity to fill you in on what we've already seen, and what is yet to come later in the week. You can check out our GDC09 tag page for the ongoing panels and exclusive interviews we've already conducted, plus look forward to more goodies from Runes of Magic, Hero Engine, Funcom, Mythic, Earthrise, CCP, Global Agenda, Aion [catch breath] and much more!%Gallery-48610%
GameTrak Freedom motion controller for Xbox 360 outed at GDC
IGN's gotten a preview of the Gametrak Freedom motion-controller we first spied back in September. Designed by Performance Designed Products (PDP), the Xbox 360 (which will probably also be available for the PS3 at some point, too) stick's looks have changed quite a bit since then. Like most other motion controllers it uses accelerometers, but also adds ultrasonic 3D positioning using two sensor bars mounted to the display, which can triangulate the device's positioning to precisely calculate its distance, orientation and speed. Though the Gametrak Freedom is expected for Xbox 360 in the fourth quarter of this year, there are no specific details about pricing or availability yet. [Via Joystiq]
Joystiq is live from Nintendo's GDC 2009 keynote
Our siblings in blogging over at Joystiq are live at the Nintendo GDC keynote right now, which just got underway. Hit up the read link for the full blow-by-blow!
GDC09: Rock Band 2 makes sure Journey Won't Stop Believin'
Leave it to the powers that be to keep us splitting hairs and titles over downloadable music in Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Last year, Guitar Hero gave us a Classic Rock track pack featuring Journey's classic "Anyway You Want It." At the Rock Band party, thrown by Harmonix in San Francisco to celebrate its newly available Pearl Jam DLC, the company announced that "Don't Stop Believin'", arguably one of the most popular songs in all of classic rockingdom, would be coming to Rock Band 2 at some point in the near future. Damn you, Harmonix! Can't we just settle on some magical system that lets you play all the songs in BOTH games, without making us have to swap discs in the process? Please? We promise, we'll never stop believin'.
GDC09: iPhone gaming roundup
The Game Developers Conference is on in San Francisco, and game companies are starting to pull out the major announcements on what's coming to the iPhone in the next year. Here's a roundup of all the titles we've heard mentioned already. EA announced a huge lineup of ports from their already popular games: everything from Command and Conquer: Red Alert to SSX to FIFA, Madden, and NBA are all coming in some form to the iPhone. They're also working on bringing over the Wolfenstein RPG and Spore Creatures (which was the DS port of Spore), as well as a big list of casual board games (Scrabble is only the beginning), and versions of Need for Speed: Undercover, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour. And most amazing? All of these are due out before the end of the year. Someone's lighting a fire under iPhone developers at EA. id software announced that they're bringing Wolfenstein 3D Classic to the iPhone in an official form -- that one's already been submitted to the store and should be out soon. Click the link below to read on.
GDC 09: Eskil Steenberg on bringing the Love
We're always on the lookout for innovation in the MMO genre, so that's why Love has caught our eye. Developed by one man, Eskil Steenberg, Love is a procedurally-generated game, which essentially means that the entire world - including almost watercolor-looking graphics, different locations, etc. - are created randomly as you adventure through the world. Currently set to support 200 people per shard, Love is an interesting take on the massive genre. Within the world of Love, users will be treated to a completely free-form adventure that will involve complex chains of missions. According to Steenberg, "You want to have cool adventures with cool things, but part of the fun is just to adventure; to just explore it. [Love] is the ultimate in player-versus-environment. The idea is that there are ways to control and manipulate things in the world - cities are like networks of interesting stuff rather than just static cities - which makes it more of a puzzle than a regular MMO. You can figure out your own ways to hack your environment, if you will; find your own way of doing different things to make it your own story." Steenberg's talk at GDC about creating a game like Love, and the tools involved will be held later today at 4:45 Pacific, which promises to be a very interesting discussion. Of course, if you're not able to make it to the Game Developer's Conference, but are curious about Love and just how the project has proceeded with just one person working on it, Steenberg has been so kind as to post the long version of his presentation on his blog for us to enjoy. So if Love seems like an interesting game to you, be sure to check out the main site for more information and procedurally-generated graphics from the current alpha. We'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one as it progresses.
The Daily Grind: What announcements do you expect at GDC this week?
The Game Developers Conference is all this week and we'll be there to report the latest MMO news on your favorite games, old and new. Last year's conference revealed some exciting news on fresh projects like Love, as well as unexpected hits like the reveal of APB. As we gear up for a week of interviews, panels and hands-on play time, we can't help but wonder what the big announcements will be for this year. We already know about Funcom's unveiling of The Secret World, as well as goodies from Blizzard, Mythic and CCP, but what secrets lie in store for us hungry MMO news junkies? Let us know what you think will be the biggest surprises of GDC 2009.
CCP honored with two awards for innovation
While the latest EVE Online expansion, Apocrypha, has hit the main server and the retail boxes for EVE have reappeared on game store shelves, CCP has been busy winning awards for all of their work with EVE.CCP's awards include the Icelandic Innovation and Knowledge Award from the Association of Businessmen and Economists in Iceland as well as the 2009 Top 10 Innovative Technology Companies award from the Technology Association of Georgia.Both of these awards come from industry peers, a high honor for a company. CCP isn't going to be resting on their laurels, however, as they have pledged a heavy presence at this year's GDC in San Francisco.
Kaplan to speak at the Game Developers Conference
Jeffrey Kaplan (also known as Tigole) is scheduled to speak at this years Game Developers Conference, which should prove to be really, really interesting for us WoW players. The conference is aimed at sharing knowledge among game developers, and Kaplan's panel is aimed at discussing World of Warcraft's questing system, as well as how gameplay has an effect on lore and story.As someone who regularly geeks out about the lore of Warcraft, it disappoints me that I can't be there to listen to it in person. Gameplay always has a really large effect on how the lore of a video game world is allowed to play out (especially in MMOs) but a lot of those constraints have been overcome with the advances made in Wrath of the Lich King. The things they've done to overcome those issues largely come from Tigole's team of developers.I very much hope that transcripts of GDC's panels find their way to the web shortly after the conference. One of my favorite parts of BlizzCon and BlizzCast is the somewhat behind the scenes look into the process, and the philosophy that goes into how and why Blizzard does what they do. This pretty much sounds right up my alley, and I know a lot of you have expressed the same sentiment each time a new BlizzCast has gone live. I'll definitely be watching for any transcripts that pop up.
Independent Games Festival announces 2009 award nominees
Click me to see this year's IGF nominees. With consoles opening their doors to digital distribution, indie gaming has exploded in recent years. One look at 2008's IGF winners shows a number of highly recognizable, widely available titles: Crayon Physics Deluxe, World of Goo, Audiosurf, and Desktop Tower Defense. Publishers are always on the lookout for the "next big thing." They'll be keeping an eye out on this year's IGF nominees.There are many categories to compete in, but only one game can be crowned with the ultimate prize -- the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Find out more about the candidates here.
