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Funcom and Stray Bullet license Allegorithmic's Substance Air platform for their MMOs
Two developers have simultaneously turned to a brand new texturing solution for their future MMOs, according to Gamasutra. Both Funcom and Stray Bullet have licensed Allegorithmic's "Substance Air" middleware package, a new set of programs that lets developers keep high resolution textures as extremely small files and even let users modify textures for in-game customization options.Funcom is almost a given for which game this would apply to, as The Secret World is the only game currently on their radar. Stray Bullet, best known as the creators of Shadowbane, is a bit trickier when it comes to saying how it will impact on their new MMO offering.Simply known as the "future fantasy MMO," Stray Bullet has also licensed Simutronics's HeroEngine, the same engine that's currently powering Star Wars: The Old Republic. What they're up to is anyone's guess, but the presence of the extremely versatile HeroEngine and the addition of Substance Air could be pointing to a nice level of user-customization and/or "on-the-fly" developing coming with their latest unannounced fantasy offering.
As the moon wanes, Shadowbane is no more
The developers of Shadowbane will shut down its servers for the last time on May 1st, 2009. The closure comes only weeks after its 6th year anniversary and a year after the historic "Shadowbane Reboot," which relaunched the game to take advantage of better stability and performance architecture.Shadowbane launched in March 2003 and was a pioneer for open-PvP, political intrigue, and dynamic world content, where the player could actually have an affect on the game's environment. Unfortunately, the title was plagued by stability issues at release, which prevented it from ever becoming much more than a cult classic. The game saw two expansions in its lifetime: Rise of Chaos (Dec 2003) and Throne of Oblivion (Dec 2004).Ownership of the MMO changed hands several times over its lifespan and while it originated as a subscription-based game, it eventually went free-to-play in March 2006 and finally ad-driven in March 2007. We're always sad to report the demise of an MMORPG, so let us leave you with the fond memories of one of Shadowbane's developers.Thanks for being a sometimes inspiration and sometimes whipping-boy for the MMORPG genre, Shadowbane. May your soul be eternally bound to the Tree of Life.
Speculation: Shadowbane devs making Wii MMO
Stray Bullet Games – the Austin-based developer formed from the ashes of Wolfpack Studios, the crew behind MMO Shadowbane – is looking for a few good coders. Specifically, they've got two positions that need filling: one for Gameplay Programmer on their as-yet-unnamed "MMO Project" and another for Sr. Programmer on a similarly as-yet-unnamed "Wii Project." Now, before you go crossing your eyes and reading that as an MMO for Wii, the two are clearly presented as separate projects; however, what's not so clear is the company's "In Development" page which reports that it's "in development of a new massively multiplayer online (MMO) game based on an original intellectual property conceived in-house." Not a new massively multiplayer game and a new Wii title or any other variations that would indicate more than one title under active development. We'll refrain from rampantly speculating on the potential existence of an MMO for Wii until we hear back from Stray Bullet (we've asked them to comment), so instead we'll share the above graphic from our enthusiastic comrades at Massively. [Via Massively]
Shadowbane developers announce new project
When Wolfpack Studios was shut down by UbiSoft last May, they left behind a legacy that included semi-popular MMORPG Shadowbane. So color us not surprised that Stray Bullet Games, which includes many members of the disbanded Wolfpack team, has announced that their first project will be -- are you ready for this? -- an MMORPG that looks a lot like Shadowbane. Shock and awe.While a name has yet to be given to this new title, which is based upon an original intellectual property, the pictured concept art and the announcement itself all seem to point to a heavy Shadowbane influence. Player versus player combat looks to be the focus once again as "characters, guilds, and global factions will engage in meaningful, exciting, and fun mass combat."Stray Bullet Games also announced they will also be making use of middleware to get the job done, as opposed to creating their own game engine from scratch. I think we speak for all who remember Shadowbane's years languishing in development hell when we say, "Godspeed."
