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GDC 2013: Catching up with Gas Powered Games' Chris Taylor
Hey, is that CEO Chris Taylor from Gas Powered Games? By jove, it is! At GDC this past week we had the opportunity to catch up with Taylor and see how his studio is doing following its acquisition by Wargaming.net. He said that the synergy between his studio and Wargaming.net is powerful: "Our overlap is enormous between what we believe in as a company and what Wargaming believes in." We were most curious about the "mystery MMO" that Taylor and his team is constructing. "We are doing research and prototyping on our first Wargaming game," Taylor said, "which will be a huge PvP, free-to-play MMO. It's going to take a little while to get it rolling, and we'll talk about it more once we know it is exactly. We'll announce it down the road." Is there anything else that he was willing to share about it? Taylor paused and said, "It's going to be the biggest game we've ever made." Massively sent its ace reporters to San Francisco to bring you back the biggest MMO news from this year's GDC, the largest pro-only gaming industry con in the world! Whether it's EVE Online or Star Wars: The Old Republic or that shiny new toy you've got your eye on, we're on the case, so stay tuned for all the highlights from the show!
GDC 2013: Chris Roberts expounds on Star Citizen's crafting, economy
This week we have a special GDC edition of Some Assembly Required. I had the opportunity to sit down with Chris Roberts and talk about his highly anticipated space sim sandbox, Star Citizen. We talked lore, the game's PvP/PvE sliders and living universe concepts, guilds, and when players can expect to get in some dogfighting. Roberts also delved deeply into the crafting and economic aspects of the game. If you miss the days of carving out a name for yourself and your wares and/or cornering the market and building an economic empire, you'll definitely want to keep an eye on Star Citizen.
GDC 2013: Dean Hall on the pillars of DayZ's design
Dean Hall talks about DayZ as a scientist would a Petri dish gone grotesque. He knows perhaps what the game's strengths and appeal might be, knows why it hosts over 1.7 million players. Still, he meets the success with some bemusement, especially considering how notoriously difficult the mod is to install. Now Hall is working with Bohemia Interactive on a standalone DayZ title (to be released, he apologizes, "when it's ready"). In Hall's "Designing DayZ" lecture at GDC this week, the focus was on his philosophy in shaping the game.
GDC 2013: PlanetSide 2's new app and the future of Forgelight
On Tuesday, SOE shared a trailer highlighting its Forgelight engine. The proprietary engine not only runs PlanetSide 2 but will also be the foundation for all the studio's future games, including EverQuest Next. The same press release also introduced the upcoming PS2 app. Although it won't be available to the public for a a bit, I had a chance to sit with senior art director Tramell Issac to see the app in action as well as discuss the Forgelight engine and what's coming up for PS2. The app provides easy access to a ton of gameplay info, from personal stats to weapon information to real-time in-game map updates, and consequently there could be a marked decrease in workplace productivity in store for PS2 fans!
GDC 2013: James Ohlen on how F2P saved SWTOR
If you've been following BioWare for any length of time, then you know James Ohlen. When I interviewed him a couple of years back at PAX East and again last year at the Star Wars: The Old Republic guild summit, I could feel his sincere passion for the game. Ohlen joined the SWTOR project at its inception and held the creative director position for well over half a decade. SWTOR is as much his game as anyone's. As is common at the Game Developers Conference, developers speak candidly to other future game-creators about the inner workings of their studios' biggest projects. Sometimes those tales are cautionary; some are inspiring. This time, Ohlen's told the story of SWTOR, the game that currently holds the record as the second largest subscription MMO ever, and how free-to-play turned what could have been a tale of utter failure into a story of success.
GDC 2013: Bungie shows off Destiny character concepts and animation
Want a look at some of the characters in Bungie's new Destiny IP? You're in luck, because the company showed off a two-minute video crammed with creature concepts and animation at this week's GDC in San Francisco. Joystiq has the scoop, and you can check out the Hive, the Fallen, the Vex, and the Cabal in the clip after the cut. Massively sent its ace reporters to San Francisco to bring you back the biggest MMO news from this year's GDC, the largest pro-only gaming industry con in the world! Whether it's EVE Online or Star Wars: The Old Republic or that shiny new toy you've got your eye on, we're on the case, so stay tuned for all the highlights from the show!
GDC 2013: Age of Wushu's world is your playground
As Age of Wushu is just a couple of weeks away from launch at this point, catching up with Snail Games at GDC this year was one of our highest priorities. We tagged and bagged Associate Producer Colin Miller for a brief interview about the latest pre-launch decisions and preparations that the team is making. Miller had a lot to say about the tweaks and improvements that have been done to this martial arts sandbox. A huge amount of work has been poured into cleaning up the localization over the beta period, not to mention the interface. "Most of our feedback was pretty negative on the UI that we had in place, so we've been trying to rework that a bit," he said. "Hopefully there's going to be some improvements there." All systems are go for an April 10th launch, Miller assured us. Keep reading after the break for more on what Snail Games plans for Age of Wushu after it goes live.
PAX East 2013: SOE's Linda Carlson on the state of the community
How many times have you found yourself asking, "Why won't the devs just listen?!" For any loyal MMO fan, it can be extremely frustrating to see feedback seemingly get ignored, and sometimes it feels as if there's a huge wall separating the fans from the developers. Linda Carlson, SOE's Director of Global Community Relations, spoke with Massively at this year's PAX East to talk about SOE's efforts to break down that wall and improve the relationship between players and developers into something that's more collaborative, rather than contentious. Whether you're the most loyal SOE fan or someone who's vowed never to play another SOE game, you might be surprised at what she has to say.
GDC 2013: DCUO's Andersen talks housing, hints at league version
We first learned about DC Universe Online's housing system last fall at SOE Live, where we got the scoop on the personal lairs coming in the Home Turf DLC from creative director Jens Andersen. At that time, he also shared his vision of expanding to include league housing sometime in the future. While sitting down with Andersen for a chat at GDC yesterday, the conversation turned to the now two-month-old housing system. The discussion included how the community was utilizing this unique blend of housing and PvP duels. Andersen then shared some tips for decorating with an eye towards battles; he also hinted that league housing may be slated for making an appearance in one of the game's upcoming DLCs.
GDC 2013: Dragon's Prophet demo and hands-on
Last fall, Runewaker and SOE announced Dragon's Prophet, a free-to-play fantasy game focused on -- you guessed it -- dragons. Since then, we've been treated to various videos detailing the classes, the starter zones, and other gameplay. Just last week the game entered closed beta in North America, allowing select folks the chance to get in and test out the current stage of the game. This week, I joined those folks in-game during my hands-on and demo at this year's GDC. I was also able to talk with senior producer Todd Carson and associate producer Rod Haza as they demonstrated different aspects of the game at the convention. What delectable tidbits of information about classes, housing, and (of course) dragons did I uncover? The answer awaits after the break.%Gallery-169367%
GDC 2013: Dragon's Prophet video reveal
As Dragon's Prophet flaps and flies toward a closed beta weekend, the SOE crew have put together a reveal trailer for this week's GDC. Set against the backdrop of some fairly epic music, the trailer shows off dragons, dragons, and even more dragons (with a heavy dollop of the world and combat). Our intrepid reporter MJ is putting together a meaty article on Dragon's Prophet for later today, so consider this trailer something to tide you over until the full course is delivered. Enjoy!
GDC 2013: DUST 514's Uprising update conquers your PS3 on May 6
Although DUST 514 is still in open beta, a big update will soon deliver some significant changes to the game, changes that will bring it more in-line with the CCP's vision for this MMOFPS companion to EVE Online. During a presentation at GDC 2013, Thor Gunnarsson (VP of business development) and Halldor Fannar (CTO) shared more details about this update, dubbed Uprising after a merc revolt in the title's lore. Fannar explained that Uprising focuses on two main themes. "The first theme we are calling 'making it matter.' It's about creating a more meaningful connection between DUST 514 and EVE." While the Caldari Prime event was the first step on that journey (20,000 battles took place on the ground), the planetary conquests system in this update will introduce features that will further intertwine the two games. "The other theme is basically visual improvements," Fannar explained, "making the graphics look better, making the graphics run faster, and also adding more graphics." Players will get to see for themselves exactly how these themes play out when the updates releases on May 6th. In the meantime, enjoy our impressions from GDC.
GDC 2013: Hands-on with Infinite Crisis
We just learned of Infinite Crisis' existence on Monday, but don't expect a long wait to get your hands on the game's various DC Comics characters. The new title is well beyond the here's-an-idea-for-you stage -- in fact, it's already playable! So what did this MOBA noob think of the game? Does it do justice to the Justice League? When is beta going to happen so others can get in on the action? And how on earth did Turbine keep Infinite Crisis a secret so far into its development? After my play session I sat down with Creative Director Cardell Kerr to discuss some of these burning questions.
The Guild Counsel: Damion Schubert remembers Meridian 59 at GDC
Last week was the final GDC Online, as the yearly convention moves out to Los Angeles next year under the new name GDC Next. Coincidentally, developers gave several postmortem talks about some of the classic MMOs of years ago. Among those was Meridian 59, and BioWare's Damion Schubert took us back in time to look at what it was like as the game prepped for launch and the first few years. What stands out are the incredible stories that came from player interaction and guild rivalries. Whether you're long-time fan or someone who wasn't even born yet when those early games emerged, this trip through the time machine is definitely worth a look!
Free for All: Free-to-play and mobile at GDC Online, part 1
GDC Online was fantastic this year. Really, it's great every year, but I found more bits of goodness this time around than ever before. It's simply my favorite convention, possibly because it's aimed more at press and devs than at fans. There's a wonderful lack of loudspeakers booming dance music and only a handful of booth babes. In other words, GDC Online is quieter, smaller and more professional than a typical fan convention. For a grumpy old gamer like yours truly, it's heaven. I can actually talk to developers without having to scream over music. What did I find, and what excited me this year? A lot. We've already written up or recorded many interviews so far, but I wanted to take this week's Free for All and MMObility to recap the stuff that truly got me excited. Let's get to it... there's simply too much to see!
MMO Family: Exploring game writing for short attention spans
Trying to create a virtual world that's engaging and compelling is no easy task. But for an adult designer, trying to do so for a young audience is even more challenging. Kids' interests are not necessarily the same as adults' interests, and their life experiences are much different. On top of that, you can't even lump all child age groups together; a four-year-old, nine-year-old, and 12-year-old are all tackling vastly different challenges in their lives. At this year's GDC Online, Elizabeth McLaren from 1st Playable Productions gave a talk about this very topic, titled Short Attention Span Theatre -- Writing for Child Gamers. In it, she looked to the book publishing industry to see what themes and interests exist for particular age groups and how they can be integrated into video game writing. Read on for highlights of the panel and a brief look at the mind of a child gamer.
The Tattered Notebook: Linda Carlson on goat herding and community management
What do goat herding and community management have to do with one another? On the surface, you'd probably think not much, but at GDC Online this week, SOE Head of Global Relations Linda "Brasse" Carlson explained the parallels between her job as Community Manager and her job as a goat herder. In the talk, though, she not only gave advice on how to run a community management team but also shared some interesting observations about some of SOE's online communities in general. In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll look at some of the highlights.
GDC Online 2012: A (severed) hands-on with The War Z
Everyone loves zombies. We all enjoy shooting them to bits, pummeling them with a hammer, and watching them die... again. But I'd been feeling a bit tired of the zombie genre, even though some of my favorite titles are heavy on the zombs. Then I sat down and played through a bit of The War Z, a new post-apocalyptic horror shooter MMO that tosses players on servers up to 60 miles square and holding up to 250 players. Those zones are chock-full of zombies, so players who care to risk it all can hope to survive as they run, gun, and generally get their wits scared out of them. I wasn't alone during my short time in the game, thanks to Alex Josef, Director of Communications for Hammerpoint Interactive We sat down for an interview and wound up smashing zombie heads with a flashlight. Ah, the perils of writing about games! Join me past the cut to read what I thought. %Gallery-168282%
GDC Online 2012: Flying high with World of Warplanes
Wargaming.net CEO Viktor Kislyi is a busy man in charge of one of the fastest-growing online studios in the world. Since the launch of World of Tanks and its rise to superstar status, Wargaming.net has grown to encompass 1,200 people in 11 offices around the world. Half of these are developers on the studio's three main projects, while the other half run support for the highly lucrative World of Tanks. With World of Tanks under their belts, Kislyi and his team are preparing to press the starter switch for World of Warplanes. If you haven't paid much attention to it yet, perhaps you should, particularly if you're a fan of flight simulators. World of Warplanes covers the early days of air combat from 1930s-era biplanes to Korean War jet fighters. We grabbed a few minutes of Kislyi's time at GDC Online this week to see how World of Warplanes was shaping up and whether there were any new surprises that the team was prepared to reveal at the event. Read on, flyboys and flygirls!
GDC Online 2012: Paul Barnett reimagines Ultima with a chicken and a spoon
Paul Barnett is a great storyteller with a passion for games. Anyone who followed Warhammer Online early on can't forget the engaging speeches and videos Barnett made through beta and launch. But it's no longer 2007, and he's long since moved on from Warhammer. Instead, he's been working on Ultima Forever, a browser-based, online rendition of Ultima IV. This week at GDC Online, he told the story of how the game came to be. He was given a chicken and a spoon and told to go away and try to make something. The only boundaries was that he couldn't have any other stuff, the game had to be good, and he had to do it quick and without help. Did Barnett succeed with his chicken and spoon? Read on for Barnett's tale of Ultima Forever as well as a look at the lessons he learned along the way.
