dungeon-runners
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Want to work for NCsoft?
As we mentioned a few days ago, the gang at Dungeon Runners is looking for a few good dungeon builders. Turns out, NCsoft in general is looking for some new blood in their Austin (TX) office as well as their two offices in California.Aside from the DR jobs in Austin, there's an interesting hybrid position NCsoft calls the Minigame Designer-Programmer now open. they also need an Associate Community Coordinator for Lineage II, and a Web Production Manager. The QA department needs an experienced tester and some folks in Tech Support. The brand new NorCal studio in Mountain View is where City of Heroes has been moved to. They are looking to hire "a ton of people" in the near future: Art: Animators, Character Artists, Concept/2D Artists, Technical Artists, User Interface Artists and VFX Artists. Engineering: Game Engineers, Junior Software Engineers, Server Engineers and Software Engineers. Design: Missions, Powers, Systems and Worlds. Aliso Viejo is down in SoCal (Orange County to be exact) are working on "a top, top secret project." They need qualified peeps for a Lead Quest Designer and a Lead Level Designer. If you're interested (and qualified), view all of their openings at the NCsoft Job List. Good luck!
Want to build a dungeon?
If you've ever wanted to work on an MMO here's your chance. Providing you have the appropriately mad programming skillz that is.The folks at Dungeon Runners are looking for a few good men and/or women to help them on a little construction project... expanding the sprawling dungeon complex for DR. They're looking for a Programmer and Senior Programmer to come and join the crew in NCsoft's Austin office.So if you think you have what it takes check out the employment entries, polish up your resume, dust off the construction tools... and good luck!
Dungeon Runners get (Ten Ton) Hammered!
What would happen if a 10-ton hammer had a tryst with a dungeon runner? We're gonna find out in a few short weeks.The wild and wacky editors at Ten Ton Hammer have teamed up with the wilder and wackier developers of Dungeon Runners to create a virtual weapon called the Ten Ton Hammer! This "ultimate weapon" is still in the testing phase but should be dropping as loot from monsters in the not-too-distant future.Both sides wanted to give readers ample warning so they could get their artfully crafted toons up to the appropriate level in order to find the weapon. Sadly, they didn't bother to mention what that level will be.So what is it guys?For all the details check out the announcement on Ten Ton Hammer.
NCsoft's North American head honcho speaks to the masses
Chris Chung, the new president over at NCsoft North America, has been a busy man since taking up the position a few weeks ago. Between his interviews with IGN and 1Up, Massively, and other sundry blurbs here and there, he still felt it necessary to address the masses directly - blog style. And it's a fantastic read.His latest statement doesn't give us any additional earth shattering news about what the company is going to do under his rein - that's been covered ad nauseam, but it does give us a much better perspective on who Chris Chung the person is. I found his honestly particularly comforting because NCsoft is "my" gaming company. While I don't much care for Guild Wars or Lineage II (even though they are absolutely breathtaking in their graphical beauty), I play every one of their other games (Exteel, CoX, Tabula Rasa, Dungeon Runners), played Auto Assault from beta until it ran out of gas, and I can't wait to get my hands on Aion. It humanizes him in a manner that we don't see too often -- in any industry. He talks openly about how it can be a burden taking over for someone as experienced and respected as Robert Garriott. He believes that he got the job as president not because of some special talent, but the lack thereof. Perhaps the most insightful thing Chris talked about was his managerial style. I can relate because I too am a manager. What, you think I do this full time? While I'm not a manager for a company as large as NCsoft, the tenants stay the same: it's all about taking care of the people. And because I understand that, the thing that will stick with me the most is this quote: my job is to make sure that the employees here at NCsoft do what they do best and that the management team takes care of their needs so we can continue to produce great products for this industry.If you've been leery of all the changes at NCsoft... don't be. They're in good hands.
Dungeon Runners getting a frosty mug o' new content
If you've been running through the zany-filled dungeons of NCsoft's free-to-play homage to hack-n-slash, listen up! Dungeon Runners is getting some new toys! Sometime in early February (if it doesn't happen don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger!) a new build full of new content will hit the public test server. What kind of goodies?Along with 51 new Embercore quests, a special event has been added to Townston. We've all helped ole Frosty the Snowman a time or two in real life, right? Weeeeell, now we'll be able to help his cousin - Shivery the Incorrigible Snowman - get his dungeon back. "Balzack's Burrow" is a brand spankin' new dungeon that's being added. It sits off Shadow's Embrace and is designed for high levels (55 and up). It'll house a hoary host of new creatures and a "sweet new boss fight." What would new content be with out new summoning skills? Soon you'll be able to "Build a Snowman" (by the name of Chill Bill), and put him "On the Rocks" (turns Bill into a block of ice that chills everything within 6 meters). "Snow Globe "provides a sudden Max Health increase of 50% that will last for 60 seconds. Lastly, "Nippy Twigs" boosts Bill's girly-man twig hands with Ice Magic. ROFLMAO! For all you PvP-ers out there, don't ya hate just standing around twiddling your... whatever, waiting for a match to start? Now you won't have to. All PvE content will be available while you're waiting. There's more... much more. So head on over to the official DR blog and check out what's comin' down the pipe!
China puts in policy to discourage foreign MMOs
China has always been a market that businesses have stumbled over each other to secure. Students of history might remember how Coca-Cola was one of the first companies to recognize the fact that a country with a billion people is a country with a billion potential customers, and was literally right on the heels of President Carter when negotiations relaxed the restriction of foreign goods in 1979. So too are MMO makers starting to realize the enormous potential of an increasingly connected Chinese mainland. Sure, World of Warcraft's 10 million subscribers seems good now, but what happens when a game comes along that captures the attention of the Chinese market, estimated to grow to 59 million in 2008?Unfortunately for developers in the U.S., Korea, and elsewhere looking to cash in on this burgeoning market, recent regulations imposed by the Chinese government will allow domestic Chinese gaming companies to effectively postpone the release of foreign-developed games indefinitely by submitting a complaint to GAPP, China's censorship agency. Curious that they'd run a protectionist racket on an industry that they recently likened to "spiritual opium," but the Communist government didn't take power in order to be a bedrock of consistency.The political science major in me is actually excited by this prospect, because it means that MMOs are likely about to enter into the field of political discourse. Just as they do with farm goods and automobiles, it might not be too much of a stretch to imagine U.S. politicians publicly wrangling with Chinese officials to allow American MMOs unrestricted access to the Chinese population. In the next few years, it's possible your Congressman will talk, at length about World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online in front of one of the chambers of Congress. And this time they'll actually be speaking in favor of the game industry. What a thought!
2008 Dungeon Runners Forum Awards
If you're into the hilarious, fun, and "free-to-play" NCsoft game, Dungeon Runners, then you might have read the forums once or twice. Well, time to jump back in because they want everyone to cast their vote in the 2008 Dungeon Runners Forum Awards.Categories include: Funniest Poster Most helpful Poster Best forum comment EVER Whackiest forum comment Favorite Dev person Favorite PvPer Favorite Fansite Manager Favorite Forum Avatar dude Favorite Old Schooler Favorite Dungeon Runners Bug Favorite Dungeon Runners Feature While mainly just for fun, winners will receive a special forum title. But you have to vote before the January 31, 2008, deadline. In this election year now is as good a time as any to get your mad voting skillz up to par. So what are you waiting for? Go rock the vote!
View your Dungeon Runners characters online
For a while there I thought I was the only one up in here that played Dungeon Runners. Thankfully, Marc Nottke's recent post "Keep it simple, stupid" (the ole KISS principle) brought fellow players out of the dungeon! What's funny (aside from the game's humor) is that I don't much care for fantasy fodder. In fact, I hate it. Well, minus the upcoming, head hacking Age of Conan that is. But I digress... If you play the wonderfully humorous Dungeon Runners you can now look at you (or your friend's) character online through a few neat third-party sites, either here or here. All you need to do is put the name of your character in the blank space (there is nothing else to these sites so you can't miss it) and clickety-click on the provided button and... wham-o, presto!
MMOGology: Keep it simple, stupid
I've been playing a lot of Dungeon Runners lately. Doing so has reminded me that simplicity can be a very good thing. With the exception of its tongue-in-cheek nature and the ability to cross-train class skills, there's nothing particularly original about DR. It's your standard medieval hack and slash RPG in the vein of Blizzard's single player classic, Diablo. Quests are easy to obtain and complete thanks to a rip off of World of Warcraft's quest system. Combat is even simpler than WoW. You left click on a monster to attack and right click to use an assigned special move. Occasionally you press a number key on your hotbar for an additional attack or ability. That's about it for the first ten levels or so; and perhaps the entire game. You might think this simplistic gameplay would get old quickly, but it's the straightforward and simplistic nature of DR's gameplay that make the game so appealing and so fun. It hearkens back to simpler days of gaming and reminds me that just because a MMOG is complex, it doesn't necessarily make it deep, fun, challenging (in the right way), or good. Sometimes complexity is just complexity. Many modern MMOGs require players to interface with the game using multiple hotbars, key bindings and macro scripting. WoW even supports a multitude of user created interface add ons. In the instance of macros and interface add ons, it often feels like you're helping to program the game to make up for it's design deficiencies. The fact that not all users utilize these optional extras can leave uninformed players at a disadvantage, especially in PvP. Macros and adons can be fun to experiment with and I'm glad that Blizzard typically supports the community of developers that create such additions to the game. But, why should players be expected to spend time researching a game's "bonus features" and assisting in its development in order to play it properly? Personally, I'd rather spend my free time actually playing the game. Is it too much to ask for a game that just freakin' works right out of the gate? A game that you don't have to modify or spend hours researching prior to playing. With DR, you can sit down for twenty minutes and enjoy some carefree hack and slash without investing hours of research in PvP strategy guides, talent calculators, quest guides, or scripting tools. You simply play a game. What a concept!
On scalable instances and including everyone
Think it's "ridiculous" that you need exactly 10 or 25 (or 40-- or 3) people to raid? Beefpile does. He wants a World of Warcraft that conforms to his wishes-- if he's got seven players, they should have an instance to go without grabbing three more or leaving two behind.And there is such a game-- it's called Dungeon Runners, or Diablo II, or any other game that scales itself to match the players in it. But there are, of course, tradeoffs to such a system. If you have scalable instances (or a scalable overworld, or anything else that scales according to the people playing it), then you start to miss out on some of the development choices you can make. Many of the best bosses in the game don't work unless you have a certain number and a certain mix of characters involved, and any scalable instances would miss out on that design choice.It's the same reason we haven't seen single-player instances yet-- because making things scalable would mean that developers would have to make everything accessible for all classes, and therefore they would lose the design that made the game so popular in the first place. If you want to play a game that scales to as many players as you have, you're welcome to play something else. But if you want to experience the content designed by the WoW programmers the way they intended, you've got to log in with what each instance requires.
Dungeon Runners' Rotgut deciphered
A few weeks ago we told you about the "contest" the folks at Dungeon Runners had going. Well, it seems more then a few folks had a problem actually deciphering the backwards message. Using "special" software the message has been reversed and is posted on DRs' "The Blog" for all to hear. After listening... I think the devs have been drinking too much rotgut. As much as I like the game - especially the writing and the humor - calling this a "fun little number" is stretching things just a bit.
State of the NCsoft Union address
Robert Garriott, the soon-to-be former President of NCsoft North America, dropped a "State of the Union" style press release yesterday regarding the massive online gaming company. It's a brief but insightful rundown detailing what they've done with their Intellectual Properties (Tabula Rasa, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, Lineage, Dungeon Runners, etc.) in the past year, and what they intend do with them in the coming year. Garriott also mentioned new projects they're working, like AION: Tower of Eternity, and the recently signed pact with Sony where NCsoft will be producing products for the PlayStation 3. While no details were given on exactly what those products may be, Garriott said the first one should be released by the end of 2008. This new deal includes porting "existing titles in interesting new ways or utilizing new IPs." Hmmm, intriguing.Of particular interest to me was Robert's comments regarding the City of Heroes property. Back in early November NCsoft acquired the entire IP from Cryptic Studios - lock, stock and two smoking blaster barrels. Like wildfire the CoX forums were consumed by doomsayers and speculators decrying that this was the beginning of the end. Not so. According to Garriott, they loved the property so much they wanted to re-invest in it, and the best way to do that was to buy it. Since then they've created a whole new studio (NCsoft NorCal) and hired the entire CoH development team. If that wasn't enough to give even the most cynical gamer a glimmer of hope, they're currently hiring more people to take CoX to a "whole.. nutha... level."Last but least... as reported yesterday, Robert Garriott will be leaving his post as President of NCsoft's North American business and moving into a role of global business development and planning. Taking his place will be NCsoft's current vice president of worldwide product development, Chris Chung, who has been with the company for some time. The change will take effect on January 1, 2008. A Happy New Year indeed! All in all, I'd say the future looks very bright for NCsoft.
Beware the Rotgut
Beware the rotgut!In keeping with their insane sense of humor, the gang over at Dungeon Runners are running a holiday styled contest - of sorts. Clickety-click on over to their blog - simply titled "The Blog" - and download the 2.2 MB MP3. Load that bad boy into your favorite audio player of choice and listen to it very, very carefully. Hear anything weird? When you think you've deciphered the backwards message from Rotgut head over to their forums and post your wildest guesses. Better hurry though... the first one to get the message right will will a "Karl voodoo pincushion (pins sold separately)."Sweet!
MMOGology: Fat sacks 'o crap!
There's nothing like Christmas to remind a MMOGer that much of our game time is centered around bagging gobs of loot as fast as we can. There's all that scurrying and hurrying to find the perfect gift that shows our loved ones exactly how special they are to us. At least, as special you can get when shopping at 9:00 PM in a Walgreens on December 24th. Sure, Great Grandpa Bob really wants that Celine Dion Holiday Special CD, who wouldn't? And we all know Aunt Petunia loves her Pringles. Hey they're even in a red can! No need to wrap 'em up, just slap on a bow!In times of frantic loot grabbing like these I often think about how much crap we haul around with us in our virtual worlds. Almost all MMOGs I've played involve dragging around five or six Santa sized sacks of garbage; half of which contain stuff I absolutely must have at all times; although I often can't remember why. I don't know how many hours I've spent staring at stuff in my inventory going, "OK, what was this again? Was it a quest item? Do I still need this scroll or potion? Yeah, I better save that for later when I know I'll need it." Ten levels later I'll look at my Insignificantly Minor Potion of Liquid Mana Love and wonder why I didn't just use it already.Inventory management can be even more of a hassle in a game like Dungeon Runners where all your junk is combined in one grid-based space. You've got your backup crossbow that takes up six slots next to your mana potions that take up one slot, next to that rusty shield you plan to sell that takes up four slots in a square formation. And oops, you just picked up a sword that takes up four vertical slots. Now you have to re-arrange your entire inventory like some type of Tetris mini-game. If I'd wanted to play Tetris I would've fired up my old GameBoy! (Can you hear the Tetris theme song in the back of your head yet? You're welcome.) So why is managing our inventories such a gigantic hassle, and what are some possible alternatives to current inventory design?
WRUP: Calm before the storm edition
Time once again for our weekly query about what you're up to this weekend in the world of MMO gaming. What aRe yoU Playing?Me? I'm sorry to say that I won't be ducking into too many MMO worlds this weekend-- my Red Ring of Death Xbox 360 has finally returned home to me, so I'm going to be catching up on Rock Band and Mass Effect, two games that I've missed completely (my Xbox died the day they both came out-- very sad). But I will be ducking into EVE at least once to do some skill changing, and I believe I may have a MMO newbie friend joining me in Dungeon Runners this weekend, so that will be fun.How about you? This weekend is basically the last weekend before all the holiday chaos starts (unless you celebrate Hanukkah, in which case it's probably mostly over), so what virtual worlds will you Massively readers be visting while you still have the chance?
As the Worlds Turn: Land of the Free
Free. Everyone likes things that are free. Well, except when it involves a free kick to the twig and berries. These days, free things are often accompanied by plenty of small-type that make it anything but free. Requiring you to sever a limb or to sign over half of your first born does not constitute free. However, there has been a glut of free-to-play MMOs emerging on the market. Some of these have been around for a while that somehow lost the desire to charge people and others have come out of the gate with no fees like a naked hippy at an outdoor music festival. What I'd like to do this week is take a look at some free-to-play games and see what they have to offer in the realm of game design and development. If you're looking for a review or a first-impression on any of these games, you're in the wrong place. There are far more capable people than I who can do just that. So put the wallet away, we're about to go free ... just keep the clothes on.
Someone just blew Chunks
Clean up on isle 5! That's the same kind of irreverent humor laced throughout the extraordinarily fun (and free to play) Dungeon Runners. Last night more of this same type of hilarity was let loose onto the DR world with the release of Chunk 2. "Chunk" is the term NCsoft uses for their blocks of new DR content. Veeeeeery cute.Chunk 2 drops a whole lot of stuffing and sweet potatoes onto players plates, including more bank space for paying members (a meager monthly fee of $4.95 gives players unlimited access), easier trade system, increased access to the prime loot, and balance refinements for both Player versus Environment (PvE) and Player versus Player (PvP). According to Stephen Nichols, the producer and lead programmer for Dungeon Runners, Chunk 2 opens a more content for non-members that they didn't have access to previously because of in-game advertising."Whaaaaat? In-game advertising? Before you toss your cookies, remember this is a free to play game. And while a pittance of a monthly fee will open up the world, not everyone can or wants to fork out an extra Lincoln. The in-game adverts, which are visible only to non-members on loading screens and in a banner above the game window, help fund future development of this game and keeps it free for players. Free is good.I'm a big fan of this game and gave the new content a brief whirl last night. Aside from access to new content like dungeons and more valuable bling, additional bank slots have been added. Non-members get one full page, while members get three. A new trade system has been implemented allowing players to trade stuff (except gold) through a much simpler interface. Rare item drops have been increased and stackable potions have been added for both members and non-members alike. The in-game adverts aren't a big deal, and as long as it keeps Dungeon Runners free... I can live with an ad here and there. I think you will too.
The Daily Grind: How many MMOs?
Let's face it-- MMOs are time-consuming. Just one great MMO can steal all your free time, but there are just so many out there that it's hard for some of us to stick to just one. I'm paying for two subscriptions at the moment, but with free-to-play games, and a couple of betas, I'm up to about five different games that I occasionally sign on to about once a week or so..I can't say that splitting myself between that many games makes much sense-- I mostly do it just to keep up with what's new in all of them, so I'd guess that I'm a little higher than average. So let's put the question to you all today-- how many MMOs would you say that you play regularly (about once a week)? Are you a one-game player, or do you figure the more virtual worlds you get to visit, the better?
Dungeon Runners chunk 2 preview
Warcry has up a preview of the second big update to NCsoft's Dungeon Runners. The free-to-play fantasy game will be getting another heaping helping of content (which they call a 'chunk') sometime in the near future. The update is interesting, because there is some good news and some bad news.The Good News: Non-members (freebie players) will be gaining access to a bunch of features that are currently Members-only. Things like bank pages, stackable potions, and Rare/Unique items will now all be part of the free-to-play package. Members are getting some bennies too, with three bank pages instead of one, and the continuation of certain benefits like Mythic items and priority logins.The Bad News: These non-member benefits are coming at a price - they're finally adding the in-game ads that have been promised since the game launched. Warcry's Razor explains: These won't be "in-game" ads in the classic sense, but more "around-the-game" in nature. The most noticeable of these will be a banner ad at the top of the play screen ... Non-Members will also see static ads on load screens occasionally when switching zones. Video ads will play during login and logout. Both types of players will also gain access to a secure trading system they're calling 'Bartering', which can allow for item transfers between characters anywhere in the game world. A mixed, but exciting, bag for DR players.
Warrior Epic developer sits down for a chat
Only a year or so ago it seemed like like subscription-free MMOs were a fantasy -- what free titles we did get were either shoddy, based on cheap retail merchandise, or likely both. The last year or two has seen a deluge of new free-to-play MMOs that, while usually no challenge for their cash-laden counterparts, can still be pretty damn fun to play. In a recent interview, GameZone raked Possibility Space's Brice Lucas over the coals, trying to glean from him what it is that separates Warrior Epic from the growing crowd of other free MMOs.Lucas cites such features as unique player halls, casual-friendly missions, and soloability as the primary things that make Warrior Epic different, though we can't help but be skeptical, as that doesn't sound terribly different than what games like NCsoft's Dungeon Runners are offering today. Still, the game is early in development, so we're going to have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Warrior Epic will be going into closed beta within a few months, so you're encouraged to sign up on their website if you're keen on being among the first to get a good look at the title. I know I am.
