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Global Agenda closed beta kicks off tomorrow, July 24
Global Agenda fans... it's almost here. The game's closed beta kicks off tomorrow, but a few lucky gamers in Hi-Rez's neighborhood actually got a head start today. Hi-Rez Studios Associate Producer Michal Adam just put up a dev blog over on MMORPG.com about the beta, and how some lucky gamers got first crack at the 'spy-fi' title. She explains the Hi-Rez Studios tradition of N00b day "New Tester Day", where some players are invited out to the game studio to test out Global Agenda. It's part of the company's outreach to high schools and universities in the area. Michal writes, "Today's 'noob' group comprises individuals who live nearby and register through the Global Agenda website for today's testing session. I'm not sure when they signed up they knew they'd be the first to get onto Global Agenda's beta, and I guess I should stop calling them 'noobs' because they are the highest ranked players on our beta server!"
Meet Jarle Snertingdalen from AoC's Systems Team
Funcom's Glen "Famine" Swan would like to introduce us all to a member of the Age of Conan development team, Jarle Snertingdalen. Aside from having a fairly superb name, Snertingdalen is also the Associate Producer for AoC's Systems Team. Unsurprisingly, this team deals with a lot of the systems in the game, such as combat, character development, items and loot tables, and RPG systems. The associate producer role has him managing the team, making sure that things are on track, and coordinating with other teams.We're sure that some of our readers are very interested in career paths in the gaming industry, and Snertingdalen's is revealed to us in the interview. Working with AoC was his first games industry job, and he began as a programmer in the tools department back in 2004. After switching around to a few different roles, including Technical Director, he arrived at his current position. It sounds like he got there just in time to be involved in some massive changes to the game, since patch 1.05 will be altering many of the systems mentioned above. To find out more about Snertingdalen's work on AoC, check out Famine's blog at MMORPG.com.
Aion interview explores aerial combat
One of Aion's most touted features is its aerial combat, with the game's own website challenging us to abandon our limited two-dimensional thinking to make way for the future. We're not alone in wanting to know more about these flight mechanics, and when asked about them in a recent interview at Ten Ton Hammer, Associate Producer Chris Hager was able to dish out a few details. In Aion, flight time and flight speed are statistics that can be increased through gear or buffs, so players will need to choose how much they want to beef up their flight, as opposed to their other combat stats. The reason that flight statistics should be looked into comes down to the movement and positioning in the game:Aion's combat is fast paced and movement / positioning are very key. How you move effects your stats in positive and negative ways. In addition to this you will possess skills that will throw your enemy in all directions.This will certainly give an advantage to skilled players that can deftly maneuver their character, and the clumsier ones will end up harming their own stats. At the same time, aerial combat combined with knockbacks or throws sounds pretty disorienting, and it could get tiresome chasing bouncing targets (or worse, being that bouncing target) through the air. We'll have to see how it all pans out. Check out the full interview for the flight details, as well as some discussion on Aion's system specs and archetypes.
Staffing shake-up on Tabula Rasa
Feelings must be mixed over at NCsoft Austin today, as the Tabula Rasa team is experiencing a bit of a staffing shake-up. April "CuppaJo" Burba, who only a few months ago was promoted from Community Manager to Associate Producer, will be leaving the team to take on the same Associate Producer role with the Dungeon Runners team, who just recently released their first retail box. Dane Caruthers, long-time Tabula Rasa team member, is being promoted from QA Lead to fill CuppaJo's combat boots at Associate Producer. and Neal Johnson will be getting the nod to take Dane's former position.Just two months ago, Tabula Rasa designer Paul Sage left the team to work on another unspecified project within NCsoft. The flight of their lead designer and associate producer within such a short timespan is worrying, to say the least. We don't think the game is going anywhere or anything dramatic like that, but as gamers it makes us a little uncomfortable to have people we don't know shepherding the team forward. We will, however, be looking forward to Dane's first communiques as Associate Producer.
The twisting tale of Champions Online's Dennis Adams
This week we get to meet an ex-Star Trek Online team member who made the move to Cryptic Studios last February, becoming Champions Online's associate producer. Who is this man? It's Dennis Adams and we have to say he seems like a very cool-headed cat.With a mind for art, Dennis got his start as an animation production supervisor for Walt Disney Studios. He spent five years there before getting a gig on The Simpsons Movie. Dennis finally made his dream-breakthrough into the videogame industry with Perpetual Entertainment, the then-developer of Star Trek Online. Of course, we all know how that unfortunate ship sailed. Not all was lost, however, as Dennis found a home at Cryptic Studios and is working diligently to bring all of our super-powered dreams to life. When asked to give his advice for anyone wanting to break into the industry his response was, "Love the craft -- you owe it to the gaming community." We always appreciate an impassioned videogame developer. So hats off to you, Dennis.
