fia-tjernberg
Latest
Anarchy Online's director leaves the game
Parting is such sweet sorrow, and fans of Anarchy Online are receiving a full dose of that sorrow. Fia Tjernberg, the game's current director, has announced in a forum post that she is leaving her post as director due to the deteriorating health of a family member and the numerous Funcom layoffs. As she puts it, her departure ensures that the existing staff will have less pressure to reduce its numbers, which she feels is better for the health of the game in the long run. Tjernberg stresses that the team behind Anarchy Online has completed or nearly completed a number of wonderful projects that improve the overall game experience, including the graphical revamp, which is slated to be released in the near future. At this time there has been no announcement of who will be the game's next director. This comes in the wake of Tjernberg's previous statements regarding the layoffs and Anarchy Online and last week's announcement that senior content designer Brad McAtee is departing the game. [Thanks to David for the tip!]
Anarchy Online feels the impact of Funcom layoffs, recommits to engine upgrade
Game Director Fia Tjernberg begins her monthly development update for Anarchy Online on a somber note, saying that the layoffs at Funcom have put a hold on the team's growth and a number of planned projects, such as the improved character creation system. Tjernberg did transition into a more upbeat tone as she emphasized that the team is still progressing with the graphical update: "Our Dreamworld engine upgrade is still one of our top priorities! We believe this is an important step in evolving AO and building for the future, and as this work is done in parallel to the rest of our commitments, we do not have to delay any other content because of this!" Other topics of the letter include a report from AO-Con, improvements to seasonal content, testing the new player experience, strengthening the community, and discussions revolving around the game's PvP.
Anarchy Online's future is so bright, it's gotta wear shades
Game Director Fia "Lindelu" Tjernberg is absolutely pumped about Anarchy Online's future, and she's not shy about promoting it. In a massive March development update post, Tjernberg discusses many projects the team has in the works for the loyal citizens of Rubi-Ka. Probably the biggest change on the immediate horizon is a brand-new global market interface that will allow players to buy and sell goods to each other. The market will be accessed at special terminals in the main cities as well as portable terminals, and can trade across all dimensions. Free players can browse the market, but only subscribers can buy or sell in it. Work-in-progress screenshots of the market were also posted to the main site. She reports that while the team was happy to show off the upgraded graphics engine this past week, there's still a ways to go before it hits live. Other projects that occupy the devs' time are improving the new player experience, balancing professions, and a streamlined game launcher with a graphical character selection screen. [Thanks to David for the tip!]
Anarchy Online's Fia Tjernberg talks graphics engine update and the future of the game
Anarchy Online players have been anxiously awaiting the game's upcoming graphics engine upgrade for some time now, and new details are slowly but surely beginning to drip down the pipeline. The latest of these new bits of information is an interview with Game Director Fia Tjernberg that also includes a new preview video showing off "dynamic grass, shadow, water, and god-rays" in the new engine. The interview itself only touches very briefly on the subject of the new engine itself, however, and in fact focuses more on the history of Anarchy Online as well as the direction that the team plans to take the game in the future. Tjernberg reveals that the team is "working towards a massive overhaul of [the game's] systems mechanics and content interaction," as well as "releasing a new starting area – nay strike that – a completely new starting experience," which should give new players and veterans alike plenty to look forward to in the future. To check out the new graphics engine preview video, just skip on past the cut, then click over to MMORPG.com for the full interview.
Anarchy Online's new graphics engine wows Funcom
Anarchy Online looks to be in good hands, as Game Director Fia Tjernberg returns for her second comprehensive development update. The update, which discusses the projects that the team's been working on, covers the past month in detail while hinting at future goodies. Tjernberg stresses that the entire team works just on Anarchy Online and nothing else and has put a wrap on the first video showing off the new graphics engine. According to her, Funcom's marketers got so excited after seeing it that the studio decided to flex some additional muscle to promote it in the near future. "The artists are more confident working with the settings and materials," she writes, "and they learned what they can do to really make a difference in quality." Other areas that the letter covered include an AO-specific world-building tool that the team's constructed, work on the new beginner experience that will tie in with the upcoming engine, the re-evaluation of professions to emphasize roles, and the details behind the upcoming server transfers. All players will be moved onto a new server that will, according to her, "keep [Anarchy Online] running smoothly for another ten years." Tjernberg also teases the next game update by saying that preliminary patch notes could arrive by the end of March.
Anarchy Online's new game director details early 2012 plans
We haven't heard a whole lot from Funcom's old-school sci-fi MMO Anarchy Online since mid-December when the game's producer bowed out. Today, however, the new game director, Fia "Lindelu" Tjernberg, stopped by the game's official forums to give players a bit of an update on what they can expect from the first months of the new year. For starters, Tjernberg gives players a progress report on the game's upcoming shiny new graphics engine. She goes on to explain that "[Funcom's] artists have been preparing a couple of playfields to a standard that is very close to what we're aiming for," and adds that the first video of the new engine should hit sometime in February. Another large priority for the team for early 2012 is the new player experience, but perhaps most importantly of all is the "balancing act," as Tjernberg puts it, which (predictably) aims to bring the game's professions into balance "a little bit at a time." For the full details on Anarchy Online's plans for the next couple of months, just click on through the link below.
Anarchy Online's Colin Cragg steps down as producer and game director
Anarchy Online players know Colin "Means" Cragg quite well at this point, as Cragg has worked at Funcom since 2004 and handled the roles of both producer and game director in recent years. Sadly, Cragg announced that he will be leaving the company at the end of the month to "pursue another challenge" and be closer to his family in Sweden. "When I look at the passion this team and the community has for Anarchy Online it has always made me feel privileged just to get to be a part of it," Cragg wrote in his farewell letter. "It has been an incredible honor to get to spend the last eight years working with Anarchy Online and being a part of the Funcom family." Two Funcom employees will split his former duties. Dave "Ilaliya" Williams, who has worked on both Age of Conan and The Secret World, will take over as producer. Filling the game director shoes is Fia "Lindelu" Tjernberg, a long-time member of the Anarchy Online dev team.
