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Ex-MMO devs aim to fund space combat game via Kickstarter
They were part of the force behind many MMOs you've known and loved, including Jumpgate, Auto Assault, LEGO Universe, RIFT, and League of Legends, and now they're banding together for a new cause funded by crowdsourcing. They're the developers at END Games, and they hope to raise a quarter of a million dollars to create a multiplayer space combat game. Despite the team's legacy, however, this new title will not be an MMO. Titled Squad Wars, the proposed project will blossom into a frantic starfighter game that will pit squads of players against each other in the deadly vacuum of space. Instead of focusing on a persistent world, Squad Wars will offer packaged scenarios that will "ensure the most fun every time you login." END Games is also notable in that two of its members were founders of NetDevil: Scott Brown and Ryan Seabury. As of the time of this writing, END Games has $1,430 toward its goal, which must be attained by May 19th for the project to proceed.
Rise and Shiny recap: LEGO Universe
Ah, LEGO. Who in this world was unfortunate enough to grow up without the wonderful plastic bits of imagination? I remember specific types of LEGO, from the hinged legs of the minifigs to the more advanced gears and pistons of the Technic sets. We used to build great long space battleships, similar to the ones you might see in Star Blazers, and we would run down the hall at each other, smashing them into hundreds of wonderful hard plastic pieces. LEGO built my childhood and was as important to me as destroying wasp's nests and building forts. Of course, girls moved to the top of the list pretty soon after that. So when I heard about LEGO Universe, I was as excited as any normal person would be. I imagined building anything possible, sort of like a child-friendly Second Life, and spending hours in gleeful, plastic bliss. What I found during the beta greatly disappointed me. Flash forward to now, and I have to say that my opinion has changed quite a bit. Let me tell you what I found, OK? Click past the cut... but leave the massive battleships behind for now.
PSA: Lego Universe free trial begins today
] There's no longer a financial barrier blocking your access to Lego Universe. The block-rocking MMO's free-to-play trial offer has opened, allowing players to experience a chunk of the game, including one "property area" to build as you see fit, and two "adventure zones." If you decide you like the interconnecting world of Lego Universe, you can upgrade to the $10 monthly membership at any time, and open up the rest of the world, comprising five "property worlds" and 15 adventure zones. There's also a Ninjago expansion coming this year for paid users. You wouldn't want to miss that.%Gallery-130624%
Ex-NetDevil programmer talks LEGO Universe and getting an industry job
Fan site MMO Fallout has an interesting interview with Stephen Calender that's worth a read. Who's Stephen Calender? He's a Flash developer who was front and center for the brouhaha that went down when The LEGO Group acquired the LEGO Universe MMO from NetDevil (putting many NetDevil programmers out of work in the process). The interview is a wide-ranging and lengthy affair, and it features discussion on Gazillion's relationship with NetDevil, a blurb about the ill-fated Auto Assault, and of course, the bulk of the piece that focuses on the past and future of LEGO Universe. For all of the aspiring game devs in the audience, Calender also spends quite a bit of time talking about selling yourself in an increasingly competitive industry.
Free-to-play trial version of Lego Universe coming in August
The world of The Lego Group's blocky MMO, Lego Universe, will expand to include a brand new, thriftier audience this August when a free-to-play version of the title will open its plasticky doors. Users of the free version will have unlimited time to romp around a specific zone that features a limited set of features from the full game, and will be able to upgrade to a full-blown, $10-per-month membership at any time. The Lego Group has elected to make the game's client a free download rather than a retail product, alongside this free tier. This may upset those who previously purchased the game for real, tangible currency, but think of it this way: You were basically just paying a premium to get a head start on picking up the best bricks. These freeloaders will have to settle for those sticky bricks, most of which have all manner of bric-a-brac lodged into their hollow undercarriages.
Former LEGO Universe dev: 'I have decided to get out of the MMO game'
We're all familiar with that guy who gets burned out on his game and makes a very public and lengthy rant as to why he's quitting on the official forums. But what happens when a developer does the same thing to a larger audience? Today we found out, as former LEGO Universe dev Ryan Seabury wrote an open letter saying why he left NetDevil -- and why he'll never work on MMOs again. Seabury cites four reasons: that the "MMO" label has lost its meaning, it takes too long and is too stressful to develop new games, it's difficult to play around with creative concepts, and the market is trending toward indie titles anyway. He left to start up END Games Entertainment so that he and others of a similar mind could indulge in "a ridiculous variety of game ideas" instead of treading the waters of the status quo. His letter is largely upbeat as he focuses on the joys of game development and play, and he thinks that it's high past time studios break out of old mindsets to embrace the new: "We have come to a point where the game concept trumps such insignificant bullet points, and global social connectivity is a given. From a creative standpoint, this is fantastic. Ideas are king once again; the industry feels as vibrant to me as the golden nostalgia years I experienced as a kid growing up through the coin-op and early console eras, except we've finally ditched the nerd-in-basement stigma." You can read Seabury's full letter over at Kotaku.
LEGO Universe opens the Nexus Tower
It's always nice to finish a big construction project of LEGO bricks, even if you're just making something out of spare bricks on your desktop instead of working. It's the same for LEGO Universe, but in a somewhat more substantive fashion -- the Nexus Tower, a massive structure composed of a huge number of bricks, has finally been completed in-game. Thanks to players donating bricks and working toward the tower's completion, everyone can start enjoying the features of this large-scale hub as well as several content updates due to accompany it. Players who explore the tower will find over 50 new missions to undertake as well as several faction leaders to work alongside as they learn more about the history of the game's multiversal setting. There are also new items, new pets, new daily missions, and a promise of more content to come down the pipeline following this. LEGO Universe players can check out all of the new stuff in-game now, but if you can't log in right at the moment, take a look at the trailer just after the break.
The Daily Grind: What is your favorite internet spaceship?
When we talk about intergalactic transportation, there is no end to the variety of shapes and sizes of starships. Even within specific genres of science fiction, the starships are consistently inconsistent. In Star Wars, the Imperial ships are very angular, whereas the Mon Calamari ships are kind of puffy. If you look at Star Trek, you see a multitude of cultural differences between the spacecraft. Federation ships are very pristine, clean, and diplomatic. On the other had, Klingon ships carry the mark of the aggressive species that created them. Many MMOs have introduced us to ships we can pilot in a virtual world. Star Wars Galaxies and Star Trek Online were mentioned above, but there is also EVE Online and Taikodom -- not to mention games still in development like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Jumpgate Evolution. So in the spirit of EVE fanfest, we are asking today: What is your favorite internet spaceship? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
LEGO Universe builds community via community building
The fun of playing with LEGO sets is only half in the assembly -- a lot of the enjoyment comes with showing off what you've created to others, no matter your age. It's an element that LEGO Universe has taken to heart, as a recent release talks about the community events the game has run thus far and the plans for more events in the future. Each month of the game's operation has been based around a core theme for community events and challenges, giving players unified goals to work toward. March is the Battle Month, with the final event taking place this weekend in the Battle for Nimbus Station. Players who successfully face off against 29 waves of enemies will be in the running to win a variety of in-game prizes as well as some real-world LEGO sets. The Creation Lab has also been a major area of development, allowing user-generated content to come front and center in the community. Even if you're not currently playing LEGO Universe, you can take part in some of the contests and get your own buildings in the game -- sharing what you've built with everyone even if it's not made out of plastic bricks.
Gazillion press release clarifies Netdevil layoff rumors
The NetDevil/LEGO Universe brouhaha that unfolded earlier this morning is officially official thanks to a press release just published by Gazillion Entertainment. Gazillion has formally agreed to sell its development stake in the LEGO Universe MMO to the LEGO Group (the game's publisher and custodian of the world-famous toy brand). Most of the LEGO devs, formerly employed by NetDevil (a Gazillion subsidiary), have received employment offers from the LEGO Group and will continue iterating on the game from the company's Louisville, Colorado studio. Gazillion is re-focusing its ongoing development efforts into browser games, according to President and COO David Brevik. "The transition of members of our team to the LEGO Group enables us to focus completely on internally-published, free-to-play game businesses," he said.
Lego Group purchases Lego Universe and dev team from Gazillion
The Lego Group has acquired Lego Universe -- and most of the NetDevil developers who were part of the project. A Gazillion representative explained to Joystiq that before Gazillion's acquisition of NetDevil, NetDevil had already begun Lego Universe as a work-for-hire project, and now Lego has bought the rights from Gazillion for Lego Universe itself. "The transition of members of our team to the Lego Group allows us to conclude the work-for-hire segment of NetDevil's business and lets us expand our internally-published, free-to-play game businesses," said David Brevik, President and COO of Gazillion. "We're proud of the Lego Universe game that our team built, and we are certain that it has a bright future." Gazillion notes there was a "minor staff reduction" at NetDevil, but that most of the staff was retained by Lego. Lego System A/S is expected to take over the space that NetDevil is currently occupying, and the remaining non-Lego-aligned NetDevil staffers are moving to a new building. NetDevil is currently working on Fortune Online, with Gazillion unable to comment on the status of Jumpgate Evolution due to the current legal entanglement. Update: Following up on NetDevil's "minor staff reduction," a Gazillion rep told us: "Less than a quarter of the Lego Universe team was let go with the transition." We weren't able to obtain NetDevil's prior or current head count, but we were told that 40 people are working on the Fortune Online project, which is the studio's key focus.
NetDevil lays off large portion of its staff [Updated]
When it comes to game development, it's somewhat common to see a layoff or realignment of development team members shortly after the release of a title. However, it appears that NetDevil's most recent round of layoffs came as a complete surprise to its employees. After all, the company's most recent release, LEGO Universe, is well past that initial post-launch phase, having gone live back in October 2010, and both Jumpgate Evolution and Fortune Online are (at least supposedly) under development currently at the studio. There are jobs posted on the hiring page, as well. However, it appears that the developer, owned by Gazillion Entertainment, is on shaky ground as of this morning, according to rumors. The truly horrible thing about this isn't that some developers were laid off -- it's how the affected employees found out. It appears that some of the NetDevil employees were notified that they were going to be laid off via Facebook postings before they were officially contacted by the company, according to a blog posting by Toby Cochran, who worked as a character/creature animator on LEGO Universe. Apparently an image showing a tombstone with the inscription "NetDevil R.I.P. Oct 1997-Feb 2011" started making the rounds on social networking sites shortly thereafter, indicating a far bleaker picture than just that of layoffs. We've reached out to NetDevil and Gazillion Entertainment for comment on the rumors and what, if anything, it will mean for the development of Jumpgate Evolution and Fortune Online. We'll be sure to update this post as soon as we have further information. In the meantime, we hope that all the talented, hard-working NetDevil employees who were affected are able to land fabulous new well-paying spots elsewhere, continuing to do what they love. [Update: We received the following statement from NetDevil: "The transition of members of our team to the LEGO Group allows us to conclude the work-for-hire segment of NetDevil's business and lets us expand our internally-published, free-to-play game businesses based on our own properties and licensed properties. Gazillion is wholly focused on developing, operating, and publishing the next generation of browser-delivered games," said David Brevik, President and COO. "We're proud of the LEGO Universe game that our team built, and we are certain that it has a bright future."]
First Impressions: Fortune Online
You know, there is no shortage of "Diablo clones" out there. We've all played them, and we've probably enjoyed many. It's safe to say that "Diablo-esque" is a real word with real meaning -- something you can say to your gaming buddy and he'll know exactly what you mean. However, as with any other genre, it's very easy for it to become repetitive and boring. The initial thrill of the game or style that inspired the movement tends to pass away if developers continue to regurgitate it in the hopes of profiting from gamer nostalgia. In some cases, it works pretty well. Torchlight, for example, is a lot of fun and easy enough to play -- as evidenced by the success of the game. The fact that it was really nothing new didn't stop us from having a lot of fun with it. The tales of an online version tantalize us, but wouldn't it be nice if we could play a Diablo-esque game that truly offers MMO benefits? It's possible that we can with Fortune Online. I was asked to spend some time with the beta to see how it's going. Is it really a good choice for fans of top-down dungeon grinding? Click past the cut to see what I thought. %Gallery-115609%
LEGO Universe invites players to battle for Nimbus Station
Grab three of your buddies, gear up, and get ready to travel through time to save the LEGO Universe (or at least, Nimbus Station). Starting on February 23rd, NetDevil and the LEGO Group are inviting groups of four players to journey backwards to battle the evil Maelstrom in a thrilling confrontation to decide Nimbus Station's fate. You'll need to find Wenn Wuzzit, a Venture League time traveler who has taken up residence in the present-day Nimbus Station. His time-twister contraption serves as your personal way-back machine and as a gateway to epic battles vs. 30 waves of enemies and bosses. In addition to the Nimbus Station shenanigans, LEGO Universe is releasing new build missions and achievements tied to players' Property Worlds. Four new dailies and 12 new achievements are on tap, with rewards that include faction tokens, Mega Brick booster packs, and new Doom Star and Behavior Model sets. Sound exciting? Check out all the details via the new trailer after the cut.
Gazillion's 'Fortune Online' is Diablo-esque, closed beta begins
Gazillion Entertainment had an announcement one-two punch with Fortune Online today, not only revealing the game, but also the start of its closed beta. The multiplayer browser-based, free-to-play dungeon crawler looks to be the latest game that's happy as sin to dole out that Diablo fix while Blizzard's sequel takes the hellishly long road to market. Company COO David Brevik, who was part of the team that made the original Diablo and Hellgate: London, says that Fortune Online is a great example of Gazillion's focus on free-to-play, console-quality games for browsers. Check out a video of the Flash-based title after the break, which is looking like a decent descent into familiar loot-obsessed dungeon exploration. Head on over to FortuneOnline.com if you're interested in testing out the beta.%Gallery-115608%
Gazillion and Netdevil's Fortune Online closed beta mystery
One of the things we love to do here at Massively is to point you to interesting MMO games on the horizon -- especially when it comes to signing up for beta testing! We figure since nerds of a feather flock together, you'd probably enjoy finding out about new games just as much as we do. That's why we admit being to a bit flummoxed by this one. You see, Gazillion Entertainment and Netdevil have just launched the website for their new browser-based game, Fortune Online, which currently offers only a login page or a sign-up for a closed beta spot. However, since you need a code to sign up, you can't currently get further into the site than this page, leaving us to look at its shiny graphics and wonder... what gaming goodness lies beneath? Thankfully, Gazillion Entertainment sent us a pile of screenshots and a video to give us an idea of what the game will be like. Created to play in "any browser released in this century," Fortune Online is a lush, isometric, Diablo-esque action game offering the ability to play with friends in a persistent world. Even more interesting is that the game is flash-based, which will spare us from enormous downloads and give players the ability to jump in from just about any computer they can get access to. The game is also designed to allow ease in inviting friends to play with you. To top it all off? Fortune Online will be free-to-play! So while we wait for open beta, check out the gallery of screenshots below and the action-packed video behind the break! Or, you know, you can go look at the shiny site and click expectantly on the buttons like we did. %Gallery-115609%
LEGO Universe unveils newest zone for flipping out and killing people
The LEGO brand is nothing if not a universe of heterogeneity -- race cars, aquatic explorers, space police, and even Batman have long existed side-by-side. The newest kid on the metaphorical block is the just-begun Ninjago line, and it's being celebrated in LEGO Universe with the addition of the newest zone, Crux Prime. But the zone has more to offer than just a cavalcade of ninja, with brand-new gear, weapons, and decals for players to unlock as they progress through the zone's new content. Players will be tasked with finding the long-lost Sensei Wu amid the ruins of the Ninjago Monastery to learn the powerful skill known as Spinjitzu. They'll need it, too, with Maelstrom Skeletons attempting to steal the beacon of Imagination from the tower in Crux Prime. With over 100 new missions for players to undertake and an ongoing story that promises to unfold over time, LEGO Universe players should find plenty to like about Crux Prime. Take a sneak peek at the zone in the gallery below as well as the trailer past the cut. %Gallery-113923%
LEGO Universe hosting a race contest for the New Year weekend
If you or your favorite youngster has been enjoying LEGO Universe, this weekend would be an especially good time to play, not only because it's a holiday weekend with plenty of free time for everyone, but because a special contest is being held in the game up through January 2nd. Twenty winners on the Space Blizzard Race Track will start the new year with prizes in-game, and the luckiest three winners will be driving away with an entire prize pack of LEGO World Racers sets. To qualify, players must complete all three races on the track before the end of Sunday, January 2nd. The time at which the contest ends varies by the local time of each server. The setters of the top 20 times will be rewarded with prizes, with a full giftset going to the top 10 racers over the two-day period. LEGO Universe players still have enough time to get onto the track and get to racing, so go ahead and see what you can accomplish.
LEGO Universe content keeps building toward the future
With nothing stopping players save for what their imagination can come up with, the worlds of LEGO Universe have been exploding with content since launch. As a matter of fact, in the last month the moderation team has approved over 86,000 different player-created spaces that offer tons of unique and interesting LEGO Universe content so it can be shared with other players in the game. Add to that Netdevil's push for new content including the Frostfell holiday area, as well as special LEGO World Builder League zones, and there's quite a bit of new content in the game since launch. According to information from the LEGO Group and Netdevil, the plans for 2011 are even more ambitious. Future content updates will offer LEGO Unvierse players the chance to interact with the LEGO factional leaders and further help push the maelstrom forces back -- unlocking new worlds and storylines in the process. The other interesting thing of note is the plan to add an all-new LEGO IP into LEGO Universe in 2011. In the meantime, check out the new screenshots and video offering a look at some of the myriad creations players are already enjoying in-game. %Gallery-49493%
Codemasters sues NetDevil over Jumpgate Evolution delays
Codemasters is apparently sick of waiting on NetDevil to finish Jumpgate Evolution and has sued the developer, along with its parent company Gazillion Entertainment, over breach of contract [PDF link]. The publisher claims to have spent over $1.4 million on the interminably delayed project, which included $1.1 million in advances and $300,000 in "art assets." The suit states that NetDevil was to complete the project for "commercial release on or before February 24, 2009." Law of the Game on Joystiq columnist Mark Methenitis explains, "Codemasters wants their money back, in short, for a product that was never delivered. In a contracts case like this, it's one of your only two options given the fact scenario: Everyone gets back what they put in to act like the contract never happened (rescission) or the court forces everyone to complete the contract as written (specific performance). I doubt Codemasters wants the product at this point, so they're asking for what amounts to a refund." Jumpgate Evolution warped back into development in May 2009 after NetDevil's "Friends & Family" testing brought up issues. A Gazillion representative informed Joystiq that the company has nothing to report on the status of Jumpgate Evolution or its release window at this time, and that the company doesn't comment on legal matters.
