nexeon-technologies
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Face of Mankind starts open beta on April 18th
If you've been interested in giving Face of Mankind a spin, you'll be able to do so as early as Friday. Nexeon Technologies announced today that the MMO will be going into open beta on April 18th for anyone who would like to play it. Face of Mankind will be have its closed beta wiped on the 16th, and the open beta client is available right now to anyone who would like to preload in preparation for Friday. "It is only thanks to all of you that the game lives on and has the opportunity to become something far greater than ever imagined," the studio said.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding June 16 - 29, 2013
Go ahead -- make my MMO. And here you thought this phrase only worked when interrupting a robbery! What was a unique phenomenon in the not-too-distant past has become an increasingly popular trend: crowdfunding new MMOs. Whether they're using the Kickstarter funding platform or another, more and more developers are turning to the public instead of publishers to take their designs from the drawing board and into reality. In fact, sometimes it feels like there are just too many to keep up with! Besides the new campaigns that seem to be popping up like dandelions, there are the successfully funded games to keep an eye on. So here's what we're going to do for you: We'll make it easier for you to keep tabs on both the new campaigns hitting the crowdfunding scene and the progress of those MMOs that already made their goal and have moved on in their development journeys (but haven't made beta yet). Join us past the break for the inaugural Make My MMO, a biweekly accounting of all MMOs crowdfunded. Have you heard about new campaigns that aren't listed? Send us a note and let us know!
Face of Mankind releases development documentary
The scrappy little Kickstarter sandbox, Face of Mankind, sees its journey from conception to completion as an odyssey worth sharing. That's why the team has put together a talking head documentary video that chronicles the game's development since 2001. The video itself is long on developer and player anecdotes, although it is short on actual in-game footage (this is probably not surprising considering that the team is rebuilding the engine from scratch). If you have 15 minutes and want to see how an indie MMO is made, check out the documentary after the jump!
Face of Mankind releases from-scratch engine tech demo
As part of its in-progress Kickstarter campaign, Face of Mankind is planning for funding beyond its original $50k goal. One of the stretch goals -- at $250k -- is to build an entirely new game engine with brand new art assets. And to help show off what we could expect with that new engine, Nexeon Technologies has released a tech demo video. The video spotlights an interesting marriage of futuristic sci-fi structures with natural environments, without allowing one style to overcome the other. It also shows the night and day cycles, where Creative Director Marko Dieckmann explains that the contrast between the two will be much more significant than most other MMOs, allowing darkness to provide an "interesting strategy to combat." With 23 days to go in the Kickstarter campaign, the company is currently at around the halfway mark for their 30-day goal, so we'll be watching this stretch goal with particular interest. [Thanks to everyone who tipped us on this!]
Face of Mankind looks to kickstart a better MMO
Nexeon Technologies is looking to expand its four-year-old MMO Face of Mankind with a $50,000 Kickstarter campaign this month. Face of Mankind: Fall of the Dominion is said to go beyond what the game has always offered -- "a game built around the concept of player interaction and freedom, owing its limitless potential to the imaginations and passions of the players" -- to offer a more hardcore experience for players. With this Kickstarter campaign, the team hopes to introduce new mechanics such as a real way for characters to have an impact on the game and no more easy safety net against open PvP. The open-loot, player-created-faction game is focusing on a true rags-to-riches story, where players start with nothing and need to work hard to earn everything. "This may seem unusual in an era polluted by games that spoon feed content," Nexeon says, "turning you into a god of your own little world, but we think it is what will make a truly amazing experience. " Check out what Face of Mankind is proposing with this round of crowdfunding and be sure to watch the Kickstarter video just after the jump. [Source: Nexeon Technologies press release]
Face of Mankind gets a revamp in the upcoming Milestone patch
The free-to-play MMOFPS Face of Mankind is due for a major update soon. A new dev blog has been put out in order to explain some of the changes that will be coming about in the patch. The mining and crafting systems are getting an overhaul: Resources will be collected, transported, and refined into useful materials in new ways. Augmenting that will be a reformed death and cloning system. Players will drop all non-bound items in their inventory on death, and the process of creating a new clone to get back into action with will be lengthier (although it can, of course, be sped up for a cost.) Players will now be able to create and manage their own factions, rather than sticking with the eight factions that were previously in the game. There's more! There's so, so much more (including "stuff with aliens"). Keep an eye out for a Kickstarter campaign to fund new improvements and systems for the game. Skip below the cut to catch the full details. [Thanks to intrepid explorer Alex for the tip!]
Rise and Shiny revisit: Face of Mankind
It's hard to believe, but the last time I took a good look at MMOFPS Face of Mankind was almost a year ago! I've been wanting to go back and look at a lot of the games I've covered in past Rise and Shiny columns, but I was shocked to see that many of them have been shut down. Face of Mankind, however, is still chugging along, and a recent spate of PR emails and developer shout-outs had me intrigued. Let this be a lesson for any indie developers who are reading this: Reach out to the press. Even in all of my searching, I still miss updates and game changes. So have things changed much since I last visited? I can't say for sure, being that the last time was sort of a blur of gripey FPSers who did little more than yell at me and shoot me in the face. I had fun with some of it back then, according to the article, but I'll be honest and say that I did not expect to have as much fun as I did in this third visit. If there was ever a doubt about the importance of revisiting titles from the past, it's long gone.
Face of Mankind updates include public apartments
Oh give me a home, where the... well OK, so it doesn't really matter what roams, as long as there is player housing; for a sandbox game, this one feature is practically a staple. Now Face of Mankind joins the ranks of those games offering a place to call your own. Nexeon Technologies announced that along with other updates, the sci-fi game now has a public apartment feature where players can make a hangout for their friends, create an underground dueling club, or any number of other possibilities. The houses have various permission settings, including charging an entry fee. Also in the update was a new character panel that helps players organize their character better as well as stay on top of new information released about major combat revisions. To encourage players to get the word out about the game and the new features, FoM implemented a new referral system that rewards 15 days of premium-level game time to anyone (including trial accounts) who has a friend sign up through the referral link and then buys a premium subscription. [Source: Face of Mankind press release]
Face of Mankind rolling out major updates
Face of Mankind has been on the quiet side for a while now, but the game is gearing up for some major mechanical changes. A new developer blog outlines several of the large shifts, starting with several major improvements to the World Takeover system. Players at a high faction rank can take on special contracts to help take out the enemy presence, or they can choose to take part in a more secretive income-siphoning operation to discreetly hurt the enemy. The game is also removing the weight system, the quality levels system, and the factional restrictions on armor and equipment. This also has resulted in a change to the way that armor values are calculated in an effort to make more pieces of armor relevant to gameplay. And that's just the tip of the iceberg; current or potential players would do well to take a look at the full development blog to see all of the changes en route for the game's mechanics. [Source: Nexeon press release]
Face of Mankind looking for storyline gamemasters
Nexeon Technologies is looking for a few good storytellers, according to a post on the Face of Mankind forums. The sci-fi sandbox has long been a theoretically rich roleplaying environment, and the devs are looking to put that theory into practice. "We are currently looking to bring back an official storyline to Face of Mankind in a manner whereby it will play a significant part [in] the roleplay environment [of] the game, and where we will see players from all factions and backgrounds taking part in one way or another," writes Arthurius, Nexeon's community manager. To that end, Nexeon is looking to bring in several storyline gamemasters, and applications are now being accepted. The requirements are nothing to sneeze at, particularly when it comes to game knowledge, perfect grammar, and the willingness to sacrifice your own game time for the greater good. If you think you've got what it takes (or you're just curious), you can read more on the official Face of Mankind forums.
Face of Mankind revamps mission system, hints at combat and economic tweaks
A couple of weeks ago we told you about the resuscitated Face of Mankind MMO. Well, maybe resuscitated is a bit of an extreme word since the sci-fi sandbox title never really died, but it is under new management and making a bit more noise than it has in years past. Nexeon Technologies has just sent out another email blast to former players detailing the game's latest update, and the new patch contains a pretty extensive mission system overhaul designed to "create an experience full of roleplay and player freedom." We've linked to the patch notes below, and you'll also want to check out the new Face of Mankind developer blog on the game's official website. The first entry contains some exciting hints as to the game's new direction, including bits about the combat system, the economy, and the factional structure.
Face of Mankind under new management, adding new features
If you've ever played Face of Mankind, you may have gotten something of a blast from the past in your inbox this morning. The sci-fi sandbox MMORPG is under new management, and the team at Nexeon Technologies sent out an email blurb advertising the fact that the game has undergone significant changes (and has a new website and forum to boot). Nexeon provides a list of all the tweaks that have occurred in recent months, including frequent patches and bug fixes, account portal integration, a new tutorial, and the implementation of famous New York City locales including Brooklyn and Ground Zero. The press release also hints at major updates still in the planning stages, including an item shop, additional colonies, customizable apartments, and more. Face of Mankind is notable for being one of a very few MMORPGs to emphasize roleplay, community, and player-driven politics as primary gameplay systems, and you can read more about the title at its official website.
