GDC10: Taikodom coming to North America
is a game that's been around for a while, but not in the US. If you're familiar with the game and have been wanting to give it a try, it looks like you're going to get your wish. Taikodom is coming to the US with a closed beta this summer, and a planned launch for winter of this year.
If you're unfamiliar with the game, it's a space-themed MMO that is reminiscent of EVE Online in its economy, combined with twitch-based combat to keep things interesting. Producer Joseph Willmon describes gameplay in more detail: "Let's say that some pirates spawn in an area where there are asteroids that offer a certain type of ore. Because those pirates are there, it makes the ore harder to get, which means that prices on this ore may go up. As the pirates persist in the universe, they may all begin to gather there and begin to expand out further in space, getting so bold to attack a nearby colony. That colony will begin offering missions to the players to go take out the growing pirate threat. If the pirates aren't destroyed from that, then they might build their own colony with a space station in that system and become even harder to kill, requiring a player corporation to go to war with them..."
Several structural details for this winter's release are already in place: Taikodom will be running on multiple servers, but the extra ones appear only as needed to keep individual server population up. In addition, there are plans to release the core game first in a free-to-play format and later add more missions and content with a purchase option to build upon the free game. (Edit: Joe Willmon would like us to clarify that none of the content will be for purchase. All content updates to the game will be free.)
Follow along after the jump for the trailer video, and we'll keep an eye out for more beta news on Taikodom as it arrives!
