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Exclusive TERA lore dev diary #2: Rough Lessons
TERA sure is easy on the eyes, but it isn't just another pretty face -- it's got a sharp mind as well, ready to cut to the quick. If you can avoid getting lost in the gorgeous graphics that can only be properly described by a wordsmith such as Stephanie Meyer, you'll find that there's a concerted effort by the TERA team to build up a library of lore for players to enjoy. While you'll have to wait several months to get your hands on this up-and-coming title, you don't have to wait another second to dine on a delectable piece of TERA backstory (continuing from April's first lore dev diary). In this exclusive dev diary entitled "Rough Lessons," TERA scribe Stacey Janssen throws us in the midst of a brutal training session, where hints as to the game's creatures and combat moves tease the full potential of the game. Seeing as how we all begin as nooblet trainees, this tale speaks to us on a common level. Hit the jump for the full story and a couple new screenshots! What, can't we admire a game for both its mind and its body?
Fable 3 dev diary reveals Jasper the butler, played by John Cleese
We can't imagine anybody being a better butler than John Cleese. It's not that we've always pictured a life of indentured servitude for the man -- we're just excited by the prospect of hanging out with him in Fable 3. After you've seen this latest Lionhead dev diary, you'll wish you had your own, luxurious Jasper immediately. Oh, there's also talk of the game's new 3D graphical interface -- but is that played by John Cleese? We thought not.
Madden 11 videos chant new 'Simpler, Quicker, Deeper' design mantra
"Simpler, Quicker, Deeper." That's the tag line for Madden 11, as EA appears to be angling for the attention of the unsophisticated, no-time-to-waste "casual" demographic without dissuading its hardcore player base. The new Madden will be made both "simpler" and "quicker" through GameFlow, the buzzword for an optional auto–play calling mode, which puts players in the role of a quarterback that receives his plays from an AI coach. "Not everyone has an hour to dedicate," says senior producer Phil Frazier, alluding to the average length of a typical Maddden match. GameFlow is said to shave down match times to 30 minutes. But fear not, bro, Madden also goes "deeper" this year with the option to create custom game plans before each match. Plus, there's another buzzword to memorize: Locomotion. That's the name for the game's "all new" animation system. While still short of the highs achieved by the Euphoria-powered animations of Backbreaker, there is a gameplay component to Madden's Locomotion system: Players can now lean and dodge during runs with the analog sticks. According to the trailer, Madden 11 "will make every football game before it obsolete." (At least, GameStop's trade-in value will certainly reflect this sentiment.) Check out the dev diaries after the break, if you're not yet sufficiently pumped up for game day: August 10. %Gallery-91909%
Dante's Inferno 'St. Lucia' trial editor explained on video
So, you've learned how to stand a better chance at surviving the user-generated arenas in Dante's Inferno's upcoming DLC expansion, "Trials of St. Lucia." Aren't you curious as to how those titular trials get created? The video above has a pretty good primer on all the different options afforded to the game's more creative players, as well as a few tips on how to make your trial tough, but winnable. Hey, even folks condemned to the deepest pits of Hades deserve a fair shot.
Star Wars: The Old Republic dev diary explains fair, heroic combat
The latest developer diary for Star Wars: The Old Republic, posted above, makes an excellent point about the combat featured in other MMORPGs -- it's super unfair. Take a look at World of Warcraft, in which some dungeons pit 40 "heroes" against a single dude. Those odds don't sound very "heroic" to us, sir. That's why SW:ToR hopes to even the odds by sliding the hero-to-villain ratio slide more towards the latter in most in-game encounters. Don't get too worried about being outnumbered, however -- based solely on the maneuvers featured in the video above, we think that small group of enraged Tusken Raiders is going to drop like a sack of bricks.
Dante's Inferno dev gives tips on how not to die in Trials of St. Lucia
The upcoming "Trials of St. Lucia" expansion for Dante's Inferno will put you up against a force far more malevolent than Beelzebub himself: The inherently mean spirit of the online gamer. Dante will have to conquer challenges crafted by other players, which will most assuredly be more difficult than any brawl that came packaged in the game. Why, you might ask? Because everyone on the internet wants you to be miserable. Don't give up hope! Greg Rizzer, the game's lead designer, created the video posted above, which is chock-full of helpful tips to keep you from succumbing to this deluge of pain. (Oh, and we were just kidding about the 'everyone wants you to be miserable' thing. We, for one, only want to bring you joy.)
Mafia 2 dev diary introduces us to Vito's mother
She may only play a cursory role in the first Mafia 2 developer diary from 2K Czech but main character Vito Scaletta's mother really stood out to us when we watched the video you see embedded above. She's certainly not lacking in the character department, with "character" being one of the two themes the clip focuses on, and "story" making up the other half -- even though she's only allowed a few short lines in welcoming "her boy" back home. We're hoping, however, for some good old-fashioned early 20th century maternal scolding as Vito dives deeper and deeper into the criminal underworld of 1940s slash '50s America. He's just doing what he's gotta do to get by, Ma! %Gallery-6189%
Champions Online dev diary brings good tidings to meleers
In a world of guns, atomic blasters, telekinetic blows and eye lasers, the superhero who relies on getting up close and personal with fists or weapons becomes the underdog. Ever since launch, melee heroes in Champions Online have struggled with the disadvantage -- perceived or real -- of having to close the gap to an enemy and wail away, as well as generally feeling Superman-levels of powerful while doing it. Enter Matt "Akinos" Danuser, who jumps on the stage for the latest Champions Dev Diary. Six months after launch, Matt and the team spent a lot of time reworking the melee power set, with the simple yet encouraging motto of "Make it fun, make it competitive, and make it fun."
Jagex Community Dev Diary: Striking a balance
Massively has invited Jagex Games Studio, developer of RuneScape and other online titles, to share with the MMO community some of the unique challenges and tasks that they deal with on a daily basis. In the first of a regular dev diary series, Jagex's Kelvin Plomer (Head of Community Management) and Paul Mayer (RuneScape Community Manager) open up about the difficulty of striking a balance between the needs of players and the direction of developers. The Community Has Spoken: How MMO Creators Balance Development Plans with Player Feedback Community and player involvement are the backbone of any good MMO. One of the huge issues we face as a Community Management team, and as a game developer and publisher, is that all of our players have an opinion on pretty much every aspect of our games...and they're not afraid to let us know about it! What's the issue, then? Well, when you have the largest free MMO in the world in your game catalogue with millions of players, that's one hell of a lot of opinion to attempt to digest, respond to and factor into game development.
Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands dev diary demoes Wii version's features
Wondering how Ubisoft's upcoming Wii iteration of the timeless royal platformer, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, will implement the system's decreasingly unique control scheme? Wonder no further -- just past the jump, you'll find the first installment in a series of developer diaries for the game, which shows off the motion-controlled powers at your disposal, as well as the title's light co-op mechanics. Man, if New Super Mario Bros. Wii almost tore your family apart, we can't imagine what PoP's shenanigans will be capable of.
LotRO tames the shrew in a new dev diary
"Festivals are surprisingly brutal to make!" confesses Turbine's Lauren Salk. It turns out that she loves doing them anyway, and in a recent Lord of the Rings Online dev diary, she opens up on the process of creating and adding on to one of the game's landmark holidays. Ever since 2008, LotRO's Spring Festival has added more casual content for players to romp through and enjoy. Last year it was a hedge maze -- this year, it's all about the Shew Stomping. Lauren is careful to note that no shrews are actually killed as players step on them with special boots (they're just knocked out!), so don't feel too bad for these garden invaders. She laments how difficult it was to program shrews that attack and could be attacked by players of any level. If shrew stompin' isn't your thing, there are plenty of other activities in which to partake. "Between the shrews, the Hedge Maze, the Feast of the Greenfields, and all the other games, you should have plenty to keep you occupied for the next month," Lauren promises. LotRO's Spring Festival runs from March 23-April 6. %Gallery-86629%
Black Prophecy networking physics explained
Reakktor Media Technical Director Cyrus Preuss is back with his fourth and final dev diary regarding Black Prophecy's game physics. This time around, the focus is on the networking side of the equation, and the article does a good job of presenting the Reakktor team's networking challenges to the lay person. "It must be noted that we are talking about a real first-person, respectively third-person MMO. So no server-sided dice play but real physical hit detection," Preuss says. "All of these mechanisms serve to determine what actually happens as precisely as possible. Every parameter adjustment has "logical" consequences as well as side effects that you can only track down with precise analysis." Whether you're a physics major, or your eyes gloss over at the thought of balancing your checkbook, it's clear that Black Prophecy is a labor of love for Reakktor. Hit this link to jump to the original article, as well as the first, second, and third parts of the Game Physics dev blog. Also be sure and stick with Massively all week as we will be interviewing the Reakktor team at GDC 2010.
Star Wars The Old Republic dev diary: Returning to Taris
The sixth developer diary for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been released and it features a new (yet familiar) location players will be able to visit when the MMO finally goes live. Devastated by the sinister Sith Lord Darth Malak in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the post-apocalyptic world of Taris will be a "major world" in the upcoming Bioware MMO. While the original vision for the ruined planet was to be a giant swamp-like crater, Bioware smartly decided to shape the environment as a vertical wasteland that both the Republic and Imperial factions are attempting to reshape.
Command & Conquer 4 devs show off what's new in multiplayer
With all of the furor around the StarCraft 2 beta going on this week, you might actually have forgotten that there are actually two major, big-budget RTS sequels due out in 2010. Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight is arriving in just a few weeks on March 16, and, to remind you of that fact, here are a few of the game's developers telling you about how they balanced the multiplayer component. The main feature is the new class choices -- whenever you start up a map, you choose whether you want to play as offense, defense or support, and your teammates can make the same choice, allowing each of you to choose to run your own units entirely, with their own strengths and weaknesses. There's also some information at the end about the co-op campaign, which will also let you use the complimentary classes to split up the fight against enemies and follow objectives that much more quickly with a friend. Sure, your Marines and your Zerglings and your Zealots are fun to play with, but it looks like C&C4 is ordering up some new ways to play one of the older genres in PC gaming. [Via Big Download]
Yakuza 3's Toshihiro Nagoshi discusses Japanese cinematic inspiration
Sega's Toshihiro Nagoshi isn't just known for his bright orange tan. He's produced a number of titles for Sega, including Shenmue and, most recently, the Yakuza franchise. Although Nagoshi is already working on Yakuza 4 for Japan, the producer talked about some of his influences for the game's first English-language dev diary. Yakuza 3 is unabashedly Japanese, so much so that mainstream Western audiences may be unlikely to relate. Nagoshi explains in the video that as a fan of Japanese cinema, he intended on "using a Japanese style to express [human drama]" in the game. "It might feel new to the Western market, but to the Japanese market it's something we grew up on, so we're used to it." No wonder the Yakuza franchise has earned its cult status in the West. While its use of Japanese camp may be confusing to many, that's precisely what English-speaking fans love about the franchise. Thankfully, it won't be too much longer until everyone will be able to play Yakuza 3 ... and understand what's going on.
Love Struck in Atlantica Online
It's that time of the year, and love is filling the air. Cupid's arrow hit Atlantica Online big time with the introduction of the Love Struck event, taking place Tuesday, Feb. 9 through Tuesday, Feb. 23. During the event, players can roam through Atlantica Online and purchase Cacao Beans from Wandering Merchants. These Cacao Beans, in addition to a few other ingredients, can in turn be crafted into sumptuous Valentine's Chocolate. Possible options and ingredients can be found in the Crafting Skill menu, under Food. Also, a player's food crafting rank must be at a level 1 or higher. Want to know more? Keep reading for specific info on available event items.
Fable III dev diary reveals 'extreme morph' feature
Ready to see a few seconds of Fable III in action? Ready to see Peter Molyneux and other Lionhead staff tell you how awesome it is? Check out the first developer diary of the game above. Molyneux introduces the "extreme morph" system, which allows players to show their alignments in dramatic ways at the press of a button. His example? "You're walking along and someone upsets you.You can press this expression, and out of your back appears these huge angel wings. A shaft of light comes down and shines on you. Everyone around you steps back, and, 'Oh, my goodness!' You're showing your true character." The Fable III peek also briefly introduces the weapon morphing system and the "touch" system, and it features several shots of people being stabbed, sometimes with interesting-looking weapons. Good stuff.
Blur developer diary explains plot, player progression
Yes, Bizarre Creations' fast-paced, Mario Kart-esque combat racer Blur will apparently have a story, according to the trailer above. We're just as surprised as you! Frankly, we expected the game to be completely plotless, unless you consider "you're a guy who doesn't like being blown up or not finishing in first place" a plot, which we don't. Check out the trailer above to get a brief taste of what the game's story and character progression will entail. We guess we're okay with these two elements being present in the game -- provided they don't provide long pauses between our drivefights.
Skate 3 dev diary explains the origins of Port Carverton
When Skate 3 was revealed, we didn't know what to make of the change in venue. The third installment takes place in the fictional skateboarding paradise of Port Carverton and, as the above developer's diary informs, it's actually a homage to recently-deceased colleague Ron "Mad Carver" Hartley. He's even got his own in-game memorial, which we think is a great way to be remembered. When we go, we hope somebody cares enough to at least hold on to the newspaper clipping about that one blog that lost its life defending the earth from the hordes of Raptormen who'll eventually enslave us all in 2022.
New Dead to Rights: Retribution dev diary heads to Abbey Road
So what if the latest Dead to Rights: Retribution dev diary is unbelievably light on actual gameplay? It makes up for that in droves with a smattering of pretty images of the Abbey Road recording studio where the game's soundtrack is being recorded. For all the effort being put into the music, we would hope a bit more attention would be focused on the bits of game footage strewn throughout the clip. Unfortunately, we are instead given the less than thrilling exchange between the game's main character and a police officer around the three minute mark. Last we heard, Dead to Rights: Retribution was scheduled for a "Q4 2009" release by Namco, so considering that time has come and gone, your guess is as good as any as to when the game will see the light of day. For now, well, we've got this dev diary. %Gallery-45220%
