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Jens Andersen reveals DCUO's Origin Crisis DLC
Although he's been dropping hints and teasing fans for a while now, Creative Director Jens Andersen kept the bulk of DC Universe Online's seventh DLC, Origin Crisis, under wraps. That all changed when we met up at GDC; he opened the floodgates of information, sharing a wealth of details about the story, the content, and the new costumes. And now I can pass it all along to you. Story-wise, Andersen expressed how excited he was to finally let players in on the arc that ties up a few loose ends left dangling after DLCs 2 and 3 -- Lightning Strikes and Battle for Earth. As for content, Origin Crisis adds two new raids, two four-man operations per side, two special solo challenges (which offer the chance to play as a legendary character), a new superpower, and a new tier of PvE gear. Oh, and let's not forget the three new iconic-based suits.
Path of Exile interview reveals plans for player-generated races
Although there is no Some Assembly Required in the title, don't let that fool you; today's focus is on one of the founding precepts of this column, player-generated content. It's just not sandboxy player-generated content like we've covered before. Today's special edition explores the PGC proposed for the decidedly non-sandbox action RPG Path of Exile. At GDC I sat down with managing director Chris Wilson and technical director Jonathan Rogers to discuss Path of Exile and their idea of adding player-run races to the game. A fan favorite, these timed gaming experiences are currently only officially sponsored events grouped into seasons, the first of which just concluded. However, devs would like to give players the opportunity to create and host unofficial events (meaning results won't have any bearing on the seasons) to allow players to enjoy this wildly popular facet of the game in a place where they can practice skills, test themselves against friends, or just enjoy a unique challenge.
GDC 2013: Hands-on with Vendetta Online on the iPad
When we talk about getting our hands on a game at GDC for a little playtime, we don't usually get to literally grasp said game in our fingers. But that's exactly what happened when I tested out Vendetta Online on an iPad 3; instead of just relating to the space-based sandbox through the standard accessories like mouse, keyboard, or joystick, I held the entirety of the game universe in the palms of my hands. My own 10 digits were the only accessories. And the experience impressed me! I had the opportunity to sit down with John Bergman, Founder and CEO of Guild Software, to talk about the new iOS platform for Vendetta Online while doing my best Goose impersonation (he's way better than Maverick) playing it.
Some Assembly Required: A Greed Monger interview
With so many games out there and in development for the themepark and PvP crowds, you had to be wondering when a different demographic would start feeling the developer love. I'm talking about crafters! Of course, the brains behind Some Assembly Required love crafters and all they represent; after all, this column is a celebration of all things player-generated, and what's more player-generated than in-game crafted goods? So trust me when I say we are always on the lookout for games that focus on crafting. And one such upcoming game is Greed Monger. We first heard about Greed Monger when the crafting-focused game appeared on Kickstarter. And we aren't the only ones keeping our eyes on this game; fan support has helped the game not only reach its initial Kickstarter funding goal but exceed many of the stretch goals as well. From the campaign page, we know some small details about the game. Joining the ranks of games like Xsyon, Greed Monger will boast a world that's nothing but what you make it. It's a blank slate with no NPCs, no buildings, and no quests -- players will build this free-to-play game from the ground up, crafting everything as they go. Of course, we were interested in learning even more, so we chatted with Jason Appleton, the game's producer and project lead, to get the scoop.
SOE Live 2012: EverQuest II interviews highlight focus on crafting, player stories
It is undeniable: Between panels, keynote addresses, and interviews, SOE Live offered fans a smorgasbord of information this year. Even as we reported on some information, more came our way. Such is the case with EverQuest II and its upcoming Chains of Eternity expansion; no sooner had I shared the new tradeskill AA and prestige lines than I was able to sit down developers to gain more insights into the new features. And of course, another panel came along offering even more tidbits about the expansion and beyond! Did previous announcements leave you wondering whether crafters will be required to grind their own AA tree up from 0? How many crafted items can actually be mass produced at one time? And what's in store for the Dungeon Maker and SOEmote? These questions and more were answered as I sat down with Brain Ferguson (PvP and tradeskill game designer), Holly Longdale, (Producer), and Dave Georgeson (Director of the EQ franchise).
SOE Live 2012: Smedley assuages ProSiebenSat.1 concerns
When announcing that European players can keep their accounts with Sony Online Entertainment during the move to ProSiebenSat.1, SOE President John Smedley specifically mentioned three games, concerning the players of other SOE titles. However, during an exclusive interview with Massively today, Smedley clarified that those three are not the only games involved. As he explained, those games were just the most topical, not the sole selections on an exclusive list. Players of other SOE games such as Vanguard can rest assured that they have the same opportunity to choose to stay with SOE. That answer covers all current titles that are already published, but what about future SOE titles? And how does the ProSieben partnership affect Station Access? And when will these changes be taking place for the different games? Continue reading for Smedley's insights on these matters.
Wings Over Atreia: Aion 3.5 comes alive this October!
I'd promised a continuation of my report on the goodies headed our way in the upcoming Aion 3.5 patch, but fortunately, I've got something even better! Instead of just delving into the new features today, I get to inform you all that 3.5 will go live in October! That's right: The next Aion update is coming to North America a lot sooner than anyone had thought. Not only that, but I was able to sit down with Associate Producer Sean Orlikowski to talk about some of these great new features, like housing changes, legion quests, and Dimensional Vortexes. We discussed the epic conclusion of the Dragon Lord's saga, the underlying story that has been playing out since the game launched. Then he shared some details about the Anniversary events starting on September 19th. Trust me -- a lot of stuff is coming our way. So what do Daevas have to look forward to next month? Where to begin...%Gallery-165495%
Massively Interviews: A look into Jade Dynasty's Ascension expansion with Andrew Brown
As we mentioned on Friday, Jade Dynasty is getting a brand new expansion and we the inside scoop for you. This Thursday is the release of the free update, but you don't have to wait that long to find out the story on the game's new Ascension system, brand new race, and new pet features. We sat down with Jade Dynasty's American product manager, Andrew Brown, and talked with him about the update. Not only did we find out exactly what's in the expansion, but we also got a glimpse into how the game is made and how much control American audiences have over the features in a Chinese MMO.
Massively goes toe to toe with Jade Dynasty's Andrew Brown
Jade Dynasty. The game that plays itself. We ran an op-ed on it a while back and even got some impressions on the game from E3, looking into the game that offers all players the special ability to run a bot to play the game and lets players gain experience while offline.Needless to say, we were interested in the game thanks to, what some would say, are odd choices in game design. However, we were recently lucky enough to sit down with Andrew Brown, the project manager for Jade Dynasty, and put him to the test. Why should MMOers try out Jade Dynasty?Well, Andrew took our hard questions and sent us back some awesome answers. He didn't shy away from our question barrage. If you were looking for some answers for why Jade Dynasty took the game design path it did, or why they believe their decisions will ultimately help the many players of their game, then look no further than this interview. And what's this new immortality ability and "hardcore PvP" server that Andrew has mentioned? You're just going to have to follow after the break and find out!
Meet the Sparkplay Media team: Part Two
Yesterday we introduced you to the lead designer and concept artist from Sparkplay Media, the makers of the upcoming free-to-play MMO Earth Eternal. Today we have more behind the scenes action for you as we continue our "Meet the Sparkplay Media Team" feature and introduce you to the lead writer and one of the programmers that work so diligently on this new MMO.In today's feature we get the inside scoop on the microtransaction store and story from Sparkplay's CEO and lead writer of Earth Eternal, Matt Mihaly. Plus we're also getting a peek inside what goes on during the coding of Earth Eternal with Ryne Anderson, one of the programmers.
Raph Koster speaks on Metaplace's new functionality and the state of virtual worlds
Metaplace introduced the world to a brand new technology two days ago -- the ability to embed a fully functional virtual world into any website or forum, anything that can handle HTML.This upgrade allows Metaplace to act like a more enhanced version of Google's old Lively service. All you need to do is make a world, take the embeddable HTML code from it, drop it into your website, and you now have a full virtual world running in flash right inside of your blog post or forum thread. The world can be edited to your whims through the Metaplace builder, letting you create whatever you want to create inside of your space. Think of it like Second Life Lite.We had more than a few questions for Raph Koster, the founder and creator of Metaplace, about this new upgrade for his virtual platform, so we caught up with him to pick his mind on Metaplace and virtual worlds at large.
Raph Koster speaks on Metaplace's new functionality and the state of virtual worlds pt. 2
Metaplace is quite large now, with well over 30,000 worlds created. How does Metaplace avoid spreading the population out too thinly, as, after all, these are social worlds? Is that a challenge for you guys? It is. It is a challenge. Many of our worlds are empty at any given time. Many of them are people's "apartments" or "personal spaces." Everyone gets a world when they start out in Metaplace, and a large majority of them are unimproved. What we've found out is that people really congregate in the well done worlds. Because of that, we've spent a lot of time on searching algorithms to find the worlds that people consider to be the best and the worlds that are the most populated at that point in time and then bring them up top to the user. We're also working on expanding our support for events, so when something interesting is going on in Metaplace all users will get a notification. This way they can click the link and go and check it out quickly. Yet, sometimes great worlds get lost for a time, but then they get rediscovered as people re-find them. "Virtual worlds need to make that jump to become "ordinary," in a way" We've also included a new feature, called the golden egg. This allows veteran users to market their worlds to others by purchasing this new item. The egg, which is 25,000 coins, can be placed in your virtual world for others to find. Once they find it and click on it, they get 500 coins as a present and are also given the location of another world that has a golden egg. Every world that has a golden egg in it is also listed in the golden egg world list. There's also a golden egg in Metaplace Central that "kicks off" the quest, so to speak. Where do you see virtual worlds going in the future? One of the big questions at the last convention I attended was, "What's next?" In some ways, we've already accomplished a lot of the dream. A lot of the things that people expected out of virtual worlds have come true. We have mass marketed virtual worlds that aren't extremely popular, but, you know, popular enough. We've reached a level of penetration in entertainment that's quite high. But they haven't jumped to total mainstream acceptance yet. I think that's the next step. Virtual worlds need to make that jump to become "ordinary," in a way. Having them become a key part of the web would be a key part of that. It's always been a mistake for us to think that virtual worlds will swallow the web. I don't think that's the way things are going. But I do think we'll be seeing a much tighter integration between virtual worlds and the rest of the Internet. I really think Metaplace is kicking the ball forward, in regards to that. So what's the future for Metaplace, specifically? We're always focusing on making it easier for users, in addition to hosting building classes so people can learn how to build new worlds. We also have a roadmap on our forums that contains a list of proposed features that anyone can check out, all of which is scheduled to come out in the next few months. We're still in the early days -- second month of open beta with a very soft launch -- and we're gonna keep building on what we got and make it easier for everyone to have a virtual world of their own!Thanks for your time, Raph!
Vanguard's past, present, and future with producer Thom Terrazas
It's been two years since the world of Telon opened its doors to a rocky launch and unstable future. The team of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes had much to overcome after launch with a whole plague of technical hurdles, incomplete content, and a dwindling player base.Yet, two years later, Vanguard managed to stay on its feet thanks to an aggressive development team and a steady schedule of tackling performance issues and bugs until they could open the doors for new content -- one of the few games to make it through with such a rough launch and begin to see a new growth years after opening.Massively was able to sit down with Vanguard producer Thom Terrazas and talk to him about where Vanguard's been, where it is now, and what the future looks like for the expanding fantasy title.
Vanguard's past, present, and future with producer Thom Terrazas pt. 2
You mentioned Pantheon of the Ancients, and that's another one of my questions. What will Pantheon of the Ancients be bringing to the game? What can the players expect from the new dungeon and raid? "Pantheon will not look the same as the rest of the game. We have all new textures and brand new monsters, really cool ones that were created just for this zone." Thom: Our first launch for Pantheon is going to be including new 6 man raid content. There will be a little more content past that, but you're looking at mostly a 6 man group. Pantheon will not look the same as the rest of the game. We have all new textures and brand new monsters, really cool ones that were created just for this zone. It's pretty exciting. I've got a walkthrough this week from the designers, and it is really looking awesome. Along the lines of that, in our attempts to get content out, we're incorporating new quest lines, new loot, new rare drops. We're incorporating the three spheres of diplomacy, crafting, and adventuring into this release. There's alot of work that's been done, and the unfortunate and fortunate part of this is that this is just the first part of Pantheon. The higher end raiding portion of Pantheon will be coming out as we're working on the customer request list, but we will be doing all of that work simultaneously. That's just a process of balancing, mostly. Different areas to play in and not to have raids and groups playing on top of one another. It's just quite a bit of work to juggle. This is a simple question, but there seems to be something more to it. I noticed that you were increasing the level cap from 50 to 55, which is something usually reserved for an expansion. I'm interested in your thought process behind raising the level cap. Thom: Well, we have quite a few players, a large percentage, that is already at the cap of level 50. This is the kind of value that we keep adding to Vanguard. Something that you've already paid for, we just keep adding more and more value for your money. You don't need to go out and spend 20, 30, or 40 on a new expansion. We've chosen to do content and level expansions, giving you new race/class combinations, all with existing content and your existing purchase of Vanguard. We felt that this is something that the players would appreciate more rather than going out and purchasing a new box. Speaking of leveling, there's a little note here on your Producer's Letter about alternate advancement. Can you shed some more light on that? Thom: We're building a way for you to advance your character, well, I guess, alternatively. *laughs* Thom: But the idea is you can build your character out so it's a bit more specialized in things like damage, or mitigation, or spell damage. So you can specialize any way you want. We're working on that now, and it's something we're looking to launch in the raiding portion of Pantheon. So if you really love your character and want to specialize in something more, be a little different then the rest of your class, then AAs will be coming with the second part of Pantheon so you can customize your character further in the higher level. So, then, let's pretend for a moment that I've heard about Vanguard, but I don't own it and this Collector's Edition box isn't sitting next to my desk. In fact, let me hide this box for a moment. Thom: *laughs* So I've only heard about Vanguard. I heard about the rocky launch, it's been two years into the game and many people are at level 50. Why should a new player pick up Vanguard today? "So I'd say come on back and we'd love to have you. I'd like to prove that we've been able to take a rocky launch and make it into a better game." Thom: I think that if you're interested in playing a game that is a little bit different than the hack and slash games, Vanguard gives one of the best vistas and looks of any game I've played or been associated with. It is incredible to just hop on a flying mount and just see the vast areas that have been created for Vanguard and explore this artwork that is inspired by Keith Parkinson and continues on with our current art team. This is something you don't see in every game. I'm not saying we're doing something that nobody else has done. But I'm saying the views, the artwork, the level in detail in Vanguard can measure up to some of the highest games you can think of. If you're looking for visual, but also exciting playstyles, you have three spheres of progression you can choose to be an expert in. So, I guess the experience in Vanguard is just limitless. Well thank you for your time today, Thom. This has been very insightful. Any last words you have for everyone? Anything we should know about? Thom: Thank you! Let's see! Well, check out my producer's letter on the forums and you can see what the team has put together. The game is certainly getting out to new audiences. If you've tried us in the past or haven't tried us, then come on back, we have free trials on the website. You can also find it now on Steam as well as FilePlanet, so this is a great time for Vanguard and our team right now. So I'd say come on back and we'd love to have you. I'd like to prove that we've been able to take a rocky launch and make it into a better game.
Lego Universe could eventually include Star Wars, Indiana Jones
We recently had the chance to speak with Ryan Seabury, Producer for Netdevil's in-development Lego Universe. Along with Project Lead Mark Hansen, Seabury gave us an insider's look at the exciting create/play/explore world of Legos online. The two men were extremely confident in their vision for the project, and we couldn't help but be impressed by their passion for bringing this millions-of-kids strong product to the world of MMO gaming.Join us as we talk to Seabury and Hansen about the background behind the project, and what kind of worlds we'll be seeing. From Castle to Racers and everything in between, it sounds like whatever kind of kid you are at heart there'll be something there to enjoy. And, of course, the exciting news is that it's definitely possible we'll one day see Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and the other licensed Lego products inside of Lego Universe. Read on, and be sure to come back for our next interview clip about gameplay!
Cinemassively Interviews: Oxhorn on Hat vs. Barnaby
From the first time I saw Hat vs. Barnaby, I couldn't get Hat, the Singing Turtle, out of my head. I even went so far as to stalk Oxhorn in order to find out more about him! While I was disappointed to learn that Hat probably wouldn't marry a human, I did discover some important details of his life.Born in a little pond in the Barrens, Hat knew there was more to life than eating crickets. All he really wanted to do was sing, and he didn't let anyone discourage him! As for Barnaby, Associate Professor Evil found him trying to catch cheese in a river! Since that fateful day, he has lived a life of killing and critiquing.The ending of this World of Warcraft Machinima was a bit of a cliffhanger, so I had many questions regarding both Hat and Barnaby. How do they get along now? What are Hat's plans for the future? Read on after the jump to find out the answers to those questions and more ...
