38 Studios
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38 Studios to use NaturalMotion's Morpheme engine
38 Studios, the star-studded development studio working on a mysterious MMO codenamed Copernicus, has announced that it will use an animation engine called Morpheme. Morpheme has also been used in EVE Online and Heavenly Sword. Its creator is a company called NaturalMotion, which also created the related and acclaimed Euphoria engine used in Grand Theft Auto IV and the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.Jon Laff, 38 Studios' chief technology officer, was quoted in the press release saying, "Morpheme allows us to create very high-quality character animations quickly, cutting down on a lot of intensive animation design and implementation time." Uh, good! Wouldn't want you to pick middleware that slows you down instead!So for those who are keeping track: Copernicus now uses BigWorld, Unreal Engine 3, and Morpheme. It's got the trifecta!
New video of 38 studios' Copernicus tantalizes, teases
The other day we mentioned that Curt Schilling - baseball-player-turned-MMO-backer - would be making an appearance on the Jace Hall show. The episode is now live, and if you're so inclined the episode does indeed contain some brief moments of footage captured in the 38 Studios offices. That said, it's pretty short, and doesn't 'show' anything per se. The few money shots have been snipped out of the episodes footage by the folks over at 38Watch, a Copernicus / 38 Studios fansite. They have some still images clipped from the show which give us a little taste of some of the concept artists in action. One image appears to be that of a rolling wheat field, while others show a night-time cityscape of blues and purples. You can check out the full episode of the show with Schilling's appearance below the cut.
Sneak peak at 38 Studios and Curt Schilling's "Copernicus" this Thursday
From Crackle: Next Time on The Jace Hall Show! The code behind 38 Studios' "Copernicus" will start to unravel this Thursday on the Jace Hall Show. Red Sox Ace, Curt Schilling will be making an appearance and a glimpse from the top-secret fantasy MMOG "Copernicus." is due for a debut. For those that don't know Curt Schilling is a passionate MMOG player, casting his first roots in EverQuest over five years ago. Schilling started 38 Studios to focus on a main passion and create MMOGs with amazing talent as his baseball career winds down. The eclectic and veteran talented crew over at 38 Studios have been hard at work for over a year now on the super-secret title which utilizes the BigWorld and Unreal technologies.If you are a fan of MMOG discussion, Curt Schilling is an active poster on the FohGuild forums. Be sure to check out Schilling's post history for thoughts relating to his philosophy on MMOG design.[Via Kotaku]
38 Studios welcomes Thom Ang as Director of Art
Noted industry artist Thom Ang has started work at 38 Studios as Director of Art, according to a press release from the company. He has joined company founder and pro baseball player Curt Schilling, comic book artist Todd McFarlane, and fantasy author R.A. Salvatore to work on Copernicus, a secretive MMO project.Ang has previously been employed by THQ, where he worked on several titles including Disney adaptations, and Electronic Arts, where he worked on the Medal of Honor series. He's just another of many samples of veteran blood the studio has attracted.Details about Copernicus are hush-hush. We know 38 Studios is using the BigWorld and Unreal engine technologies. There have been hints in interviews about the direction the project is taking. That's about it, though.
38 Studios bags former THQ, EA art guy
38 Studios has added a seasoned artist to its ranks, announcing the appointment of Thom Ang as the company's new director of art. In his new role, Ang will oversee the art management and direction of 38 Studios' projects, including "Copernicus," the outfit's ever-mysterious MMO undertaking.A 15-year digital art and illustration vet, Ang joins the Curt Schilling-founded developer from THQ, where he handled things both artsy and fartsy for more that 25 of the company's titles. In addition, he also worked on TV shows such as The X-Files, and spent time in the trenches at EA Los Angeles handing art and team management for the Medal of Honor franchise. We're still in the dark as to what the studio is up to with Copernicus, though it's good to know the company has someone on board with the chops to help steer the ship down a more artistic path.
PvP servers are an unstoppable force
If you happen to run into him, don't tell him we said this, but we keep very close e-tabs Ryan "Blackguard" Shwayder, following him around forums and checking his blog rather frequently. It's not that we have some unnatural affection for the man (although we do), it's more of a professional curiosity. We're watching and waiting from the shadows for the day when Ryan will perhaps have a bit too much to drink and sit down at his computer and finally dish all the details for 38 Studios' top-secret project, for which he is both a game designer and community manager.In the latest post on his blog, Ryan notes the overwhelming acceptance of PvP servers not only in World of Warcraft, but in the recently released Age of Conan as well, with over 50% adoption in that case. They've gone from begrudged niche in some cases to being as necessary for a sustained end-game as raiding or crafting. Specifically, Shwayder notes, "Now that it's clear there is money in PvP and it's not niche, I'm betting we start to see some high-budget PvP MMOs soon." Is that right? High-budget PvP MMOs in the future? Like, we don't know... Copernicus?
Kara Pugging Blues gets a pitch from Curt Schilling
If you're a regular listener of the WoW Insider Show -- and you should be -- or you happened to listen to episode 40 of the show, you may recall that our own John Patricelli, also known as the Big Bear Butt Blogger, introduced us to a cool little ditty by his friend Dax called the Kara Pugging Blues. We played it during the mid-show music break. If you haven't heard it yet, you can listen to it during the Episode 40 podcast, or download it from the link on the sidebar of the Big Bear Butt site. Anyway, it seems like we're not the only ones who liked it. On a recent episode of The Instance podcast, Curt Schilling, founder of gaming company 38 Studios was on. If you haven't heard of Curt's gaming company, you may know him from his other job as a Major League Baseball pitcher. Anyway, he was telling the hosts about this awesome song about Pugging Kara based on a Johnny Cash song that he heard on a podcast he listens to. As John points out, it's pretty unlikely there was another podcast in the last few weeks that featured a song based on a Johnny Cash song about pugging Karazhan. So hey, let me offer a shout-out to Dax for entertaining Curt Schilling. Curt himself didn't mention the name of the podcast he heard the song on, but I figure there's a pretty good chance it was ours. So, hey, shout out to Curt Schilling too, since he probably does listen. If he doesn't, and he heard it on another podcast, he should listen anyway, and so should you. Seriously. The WoW Insider Show is awesome. Go listen. And go listen to the Kara Pugging Blues while you're at it too.
38 Studios launches spiffy new website
The next step in 38 Studios' unrelenting march towards world domination has come to fruition. They've upgraded their internet digs from the flash page that they've had since they announced the formation of the company, to a slightly more mundane, but eminently more navigable design. We were a bit sad to see that their mascot Munch was relegated to background status, and couldn't eat our cursor as he once did.On the plus side, there appears to be a small bounty of goodies to be found on the new site. They've got some more pictures of the team, including a shot of big boss Curt Schilling getting the aforementioned Munch tattooed on his bicep. Of course, we will not be sated by shiny new websites and artistic expressions of dedication alone. We have to punctuate this post as we do with most of our other posts about 38 Studios with a demand for more information about Copernicus![Edited to remove reference]
Gamasutra's 20 Women in Games list
For those who complain that there aren't enough women in gaming, you need look no further than this -- the Gamasutra 20: Women in Games list. This is a compilation of the movers and shakers in the industry who just happen to be female. It's a broad spectrum list, but there are a few MMO-specifics in there -- notably Jane McGonigal, most famous for her work on the ilovebees ARG; 38 Studios' Vice President of Business Development Jennifer MacLean; Laralyn McWilliams, SOE's Lead Designer; and Disney Interactive Studios' Senior Designer Patricia Pizer.Each entry includes the subject's career overview, major accomplishments, innovations, and what her peers say about her. It's a fascinating read, and you may discover that there's more gender diversity in gaming than you previously suspected.
38 studios developers speak up again
Just a few days ago we noted the first part of an interview with Steve Danuser and Jason Roberts, the community gurus at stealth-development house 38 Studios. Now MMO news site Ten Ton Hammer has posted the second part of the interview, further expanding Danuser and Roberts' commentary on the games industry. Many of these statements are likely to sound very familiar to anyone regularly reading the site. Topics discussing include the benefits of lower system requirements, the dynamics between hardcore and casual players, and the cost/benefit ratio between first and third-party forums.Their analysis of story in online games is equally interesting. The issue of players powering through story and quests to gain levels, Danuser offers, can be overcome by painting in 'broad strokes'. "You'll have to assume that most players won't catch the fine details of your story ... they're playing through the experience and seeing it unfold, that gives them a sense of "oh that was really cool because I saw this happen, I helped make that tower fall down" even if they don't get the fine details of it."
38 Studios developers finally speak up
Though it seems like we've been reporting on 38 Studios forever, we still know precious little about the Boston-area company that has attracted so much industry talent and generated so much buzz with little more than a code-name for their top-secret fantasy MMO. We got a little preview of the 38 Studios approach when Steve Danuser moderated a panel on building community at ION, and now another interview has bubbled to the surface to give us even more insight on the burgeoning developer juggernaut.Steve Danuser and Jason Roberts sit down to explain (as vaguely as possible) their approach to the challenges of entering an ever-crowded MMO space. They riff about about building on the model developed by Everquest and seemingly perfected by World of Warcraft, working with a fan community before they've even announced their game, and their long-term hopes for community management and engagement. It's really no substitute for concrete information about Copernicus, but it seems like we're finally getting closer to the point where that sort of information is going to leak out.
ION 08: Taking an MMO community from pre-launch to live, page 2
Onto everyones favorite topic: "Fuckwads!" They're usually absolutely negative, but can they be converted?Katie says, "You can convert them!" She's rather optimistic as her URU Live experiences have taught her that anyone genuinely interested in a game can be turned to the light side. Apparently back in Katie's URU Live days there were three guys who "vehemently" disagreed with each other, but did agree that the game was broken. These three guys had an incredibly impressive discussion in a thread, so Katie invited them all into a chat room one day. She told them how impressed she was with their ability to articulate their complaints and issues. So she asked, "Do you want to be moderators?" and they agreed! In the end these three players ended up being huge advocates of URU Live. Two of them even did some tech support for the game.Identifying what a person is trying to accomplish through their behavior is also key, says Victor. Some of these people are just trying to get some attention unfortunately. Time can be wasted on the wrong people, so being able to locate and invest in people who can be brought over from the completely negative is an important skill.Meghan brings up the ones who are hopeless. There was a poster in the Lord of the Rings Online forums (a LotRO Scholar) who took great pleasure in beating people with his intellectual epee. This person eventually had to be banned, but since he'd developed a niche group around him he did take some people with him. However, it truly was the best choice for the community.If they're not a true "fuckwad" who's just trying to beat people with their intellectual epee then give them an NDA and beta access, says Craig. Letting them see the game -- and try the game -- for itself can alleviate many fears.How do you balance the smaller fansites with the big PR-fueled media outlets?"It's hard." laments Katie. Meghan chimes in with agreement, "I love the grass roots." she continues, "they're the people supporting you for basically nothing." They do it purely out of love and passion. "You can't not appreciate that." admits a solemn Meghan. Still, the truth is that developers need marketing and PR. "Sometimes you want to give the smaller sites screenshots, but you just don't have them." It's a tough place to be.Something that Craig points out is that simply showing up letting small sites know that, "Hey, you guys rock!" is all the validation most of them need. It's easy and very important.Katie mentions that she filters the smaller sites through her by taking their questions and answering some of them to the best of her ability. Then, she takes these answers to the PR folks, who of course just have to improve them (can you see the high-level trickery here?) before giving them back to her. This is a great way to reward the smaller sites.Someone in the audience suggests that big sites have passionate writers who are hired for that very fact. "Big sites aren't all completely soulless." remarks Steve.A trick that Craig makes use of is quietly suggesting to smaller websites to pay attention to news feeds over the next hour or so. This way the big sites still get that sexy press release while the small sites are able to talk in-depth about it right away. Katie brings up the problem of there being so many smaller fansites that tipping even several can make others feel like there is preferential treatment going on. She did however invite a local fansite to attend office events, purely because said fansite was nearby.Steve asks about hanging the big carrot stick in front of players so they'll be good in order to earn a early beta slot. He asks if the panelists have been any good or bad uses.Immediately Craig chimes in with, "Such as using a website where you have to play for membership to download the beta?" A square upper-cut to the jaw if I've ever seen one. Another thing to keep in mind is that giving beta keys to smaller sites so they can give them away in contests is tricky. The contest has to be incredibly fair and nigh un-cheatable. Also, it's important not to announce the names of the winners in beta slot contests, because while that may sound cool it's only really announcing the 999,999 other people that they lost.Of course the risk of letting influential individuals from the community into the game early on is "unexpected results". There's a lot of excitement about a game between the moment it's announced and the day it launches. Many players can't touch or feel the game out for themselves, so there's a risk of players building up a game in the mind that's completely different from the actual title. Craig says that it's also important to clarify what's really going into a game with the game's lead. Otherwise you'll end up over-promising, which is of course very bad. "Yes you're going to have unicorns that poop Pegasuses!" exclaims Craig. He something else well-worth remembering, saying "Once you say it, that's it. It's for real now. Somebody from the company said it and that's it."Next is the topic of dropped features which have been previously promised.We don't talk about something publicly until we see it, says Meghan. Most of the panelists have learned this lesson in the most bitter of ways as all heads are nodding in agreement. "Don't talk about it until you see it." goes the mantra.Katie says to be honest and genuine, admit that you were told to say it and so you said it, then apologize. Craig chimes in to say clear communication is incredibly important in all things. "It almost never happens, but there are times when you are told to go and say something by someone in the company." Craig reveals a bit surprisingly, to me at least. "I don't say this very often," begins Victor, "Part of our job is to advocate for the customer." A community manager sometimes needs to remind upper management that their reputation with the community literally relies on what they say. Craig also recommends trying not to say something that was dropped will be in a patch or expansion unless a lead developer commits to it."I like getting paid, so at the end of the day I'm going to do my job." notes Craig. It's best not to lose your job over it. Hopefully -- if you're lucky -- the company you work for respects the role that a community manager plays in the success of the game.Meghan brings up the fact that it's a good idea to slowly break the news to the community when you do make the post. Make it an open discussion and lead up the breaking the bad news slowly."Hey, we cut that feature!" yells Craig while giving two thumbs up.In all seriousness, a community manager has to speak to the large audience first. If there happens to be small pocket of players that are complaining loudly it's ideal to attack it and find out their issues. However, the general audience does come first. Meghan adds, "Just making sure that players know you're working on it helps."Another fun story from Katie, this time about a player they recently let into the "Friends and Family Alpha" for Stargate Worlds. This player literally could not get into the game. They ended up getting in touch with a developer through an instant messenger and figured out what the issue was together. Bringing the right players intimately close with developers and making them a part of problem solving is a huge part of the overall success equation.How do you handle negative buzz coming out even with an NDA in place?Even with an NDA there will be a point when information gets leaked out. Victor suggests taking as much control of the situations as can be taken and to look for the right people to help you spread your message. Allowing people from the community to write up a personal blog post and then send it through PR to "OK" it is smart. Combat fire with fire, essentially.Katie laments that, "There is always a vocal minority.""SOE has a crack team of ninjas." Craig says in response to the NDA question."Your team is on crack?" queries Katie. "Yes." says Craig with a great deadpan voice. Or maybe he's not kidding. Who can tell with Grimwell?What we do know -- or Craig knows, at least -- is that when NDA discussions are leaking out into the Internet it's a sign that these people didn't have a provided place to vent these problems. Without any place else to go they simply post out on their own blogs or forums.How do you deal with a buildup of negative-focused communities?"Send them lots of cupcakes." Advises Craig, most wisely. (We finally know the secret to getting SOE to send us lots of cupcakes!) The truth is that these players -- or groups of players -- aren't really interested in your game, they're just interested in being a part of the hate club. It's fun for them to be hateful and spiteful. They simply don't want to do anything else but be angry.The panel finished with lots and lots of different topics being covered, all of which continued to show me why these people are so important to the successful launch of an MMORPG. Every one of these community managers seem incredibly good natured. That's saying a lot when you consider that this is a group of people who constantly sit between the ire of fans and the supposed apathy of a developer. It's a tough job, but somebody has to constantly remind us that we're all just passionate people who all love online games.%Gallery-23015%
ION 08: Taking an MMO community from pre-launch to live
Yesterday was the final day of ION 08, but that didn't mean there weren't some incredbly great panels to attend. "Taking Your Community From Pre-Launch to Live" was just one of these panels and to make things even better it included some previous speakers I quite enjoyed hearing from.This time around the moderator was Steve Danuser (38 Studios) while Craig Dalrymple (Sony Online Entertainment) took a panelist seat along with Katie Postma (Firesky), Meghan Rodberg (Turbine) and Victor Wachter (Cryptic Studios). It's important to point out that all the panelist are in fact community managers, as opposed to Steve Danuser who is the lead content designer and director of community development for his company. However, Danuser was previously a community manager for EverQuest II.%Gallery-23015%
38 Studios continues its world domination
The motto of 38 Studios is quite ironic: "World Domination Through Gaming". This from the company that employs Curt Schilling, Todd McFarlane, R.A. Salvatore and every SOE employee they can get their hands on. We think they're getting the hang of the whole world-domination thing, but what about the direction of the company and their MMO project itself?In a recent interview at New York Comic Con, Scott Cuthbertson, Jeff Murchie, Steve Danuser and Rich Gallup described themselves as "right on track". They discuss some recent developments, such as their licensing of the Unreal and Big World Engines for use in their game. They also mention the fact that with McFarlane and Salvatore on board, it would be no surprise to see toys, comics, and novels about the world and its characters. As we stated in the most recent episode of the Massively Speaking podcast, let's hope all this hype behind the company and game can really hit it out of the park. Yes, I went there.
Panel of MMO developers discuss the industry at Comic-Con
Over at New York Comic-Con 2008, Ten Ton Hammer assembled a group of respected MMO developers to answer questions about the future of the industry, and just to talk shop in general. The members of the panel were: Age of Conan Game Designer Jason Stone, Warhammer Online Senior Producer Jeff Hickman, Turbine Vice-President of Product Development Craig Alexander, 38 Studios Vice-President of Creative Development Scott Cuthbertson, and EVE Online Game Designer Matt Woodward -- phew, that's a lot of capitalization.There are two videos to watch, one in which the questions come from TTH, the other being an audience Q&A. Combined, the videos take the better part of an hour to watch, but you'll find some interesting and differing viewpoints on various topics, such as business models, world-altering events, product placement, sci-fi versus fantasy MMOs, winning market share from World of Warcraft, and community features in and out of game.
Everquest designer joins 38 Studios for 'Copernicus' MMO
As the former lead designer of Everquest, Travis McGeathy has likely acquired just as many ardent fans as vengeful detractors, wishing they could get those thousands of click-click-clicking hours back. With your social life still in ruins, your cautious digestion of this bit of news from Gamasutra is probably for the best. You see, Mr. McGeathy is now the systems design lead for "Copernicus," Studio 38's mysterious MMO project.He's not the only Everquest vet at the Curt Schilling-founded developer either, as former Everquest II lead designer, Jason Roberts, and Everquest II expansion pack designer, Steve Danuser, also occupy padded leather chairs at the Maynard, MA office. We've yet to see what lies behind the Copernicus veil, but we're starting to suspect there may be buxom, elfin ladies involved.
Ex-EverQuest Lead Designer to join 38 Studios
As we reported yesterday, former EverQuest Lead Designer Travis McGeathy announced his departure from SOE. On a message board post he alluded to a "cross country trip." With former SOE employees taking cross country trips tending to end up at 38 Studios, Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's start-up, we reached out to the hurler himself for comment. Curt confirmed to us via e-mail this morning that Travis will indeed be joining SOE alumni Steve Danuser, Ryan Shwayder, Billy Ahlswede, Aaron Carlson, Niraj Desai, Eric Theisz, and Michael Woods in their Maynard, MA offices. Jeez, Curt, wouldn't it just be easier to buy SOE at this point? Curt did not immediately respond to a follow-up on what exactly Travis will be doing.
Comcast bigwig joins other bigwigs at 38 Studios
38 Studios, the best, most awesome MMO developer to have never announced a game, fired out a press release this afternoon, revealing that they have hired Jennifer MacLean as their new VP of Business Development. And for good reason too; Jennifer has a pretty impressive pedigree. In addition to being the Chair of the Board of Directors for the IGDA, and one of Next Gen's 100 most influential women in the game industry, Jennifer has experience as the VP and GM of Games for Comcast, and was once the Programming Director for AOL Games, which we hear is just great!Now, while some would presume that the position VP of Business Development would be less important than, say, Producer or Lead Designer, at a team like 38 Studios it's actually considerably more important. Since 38 Studios is self-publishing their first major MMO title, it will be up to Jennifer to figure out the best way to market and monetize their product. In a world where subscription models are quickly falling out of vogue, this isn't as easy as you'd think. In any case, we're hoping the near-endless stream of developer hirings and engine purchase announcements is finally come to an end. We demand more game!
Schilling's 38 Studios chooses Unreal
Add yet another developer to the Unreal roster. Curt Schilling's 38 Studios has announced (via GameDaily) that it has licensed Epic's Unreal Engine 3 for its MMO project Copernicus. The studio also recently licensed BigWorld's MMO dev tools. Of course, given the tentative 2010 release, we don't expect to see any thing from the game for a at least another year. For now, all we've really got to think about is how the Mova facial technology would beautify the legendary baseball pitcher's avatar.
38 Studios goes Unreal
Gamasutra is reporting that 38 Studios has decided to go with the Epic's Unreal Engine 3 to power their upcoming MMO (codenamed "Copernicus"). A few weeks ago 38 Studios picked BigWorld's technology suite for the back-end of things, so it's no surprise that they would grab the best graphic engine currently available. Whatever MMO "Copernicus" turns out to be (most recent game description says: "an original IP made up of fantastical elements, settings, characters, creatures, rules, and experiences") should at least look really, really good.
