gdc-online-2010
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Class abilities come to light in Faxion Online announcement
It looks like players of the highly anticipated PvP-centric free-to-play MMORPG Faxion Online will use a wide variety of abilities and powers to experience the core of the game. While someone will raise those levels and sharpen those skills the old fashioned way, she can also improve on those abilities using queued, offline skill training similar to EVE Online's. Abilities include Shockwave, a wave of force that will knock back enemies and deal damage; Legion, an ability that only Hell players will get (because Hell is the cooler side) that releases spirits into the bodies of its victims (hopefully while Raining Blood plays in the background;) and Tribunal, which allows players to flourish a weapon, causing all sorts of bodily damage to nearby enemies. That's not all: there are 50 abilities per class available at launch, allowing multi-class cleverness or single-specialization accuracy. All of the abilities grow normally with time, but their advancement can be sped up using microtransactions. Some abilities will be level-limited, however, to ensure that no one player has such an advantage. We visited UTV True Games during GDC Online, so check out that tour here. The game seems to be in great hands -- its developers harken from the lands of Ultima Online, Shadowbane, and many other popular titles. Keep an eye out because the game is expected to hit beta stages later this year. That means you still have time to download some Dio. Or, if you're on the Heaven side, here's something more your speed. %Gallery-113832%
Blizzard's Battle.net director on Real ID, cross-game integration and BlizzCon
During GDC Online, Blizzard's Battle.net project director Greg Canessa presented a "postmortem" for the latest version of the service, which enables online play and discussion for Blizzard's titles, most recently StarCraft 2. Speaking to Joystiq before the talk, Canessa was happy to discuss the recent past of the service with us, and talk a bit about the future. Battle.net is in use by all 12 million World of Warcraft players, three-plus million StarCraft 2 players, and other users, but it recently came to the attention of an even larger audience when controversy arose over Blizzard's decision to implement Real ID, requiring users to identify themselves by their real names on Battle.net. Forum users did not respond kindly to the sudden and mandatory attachment of their real names to their comments, flames and LOLcats, and that part of the plan was cut, with Real ID still being implemented in non-forum features. "The vision behind Real ID," Canessa said, "was to maintain parallel levels of identity: we have that sort of anonymous character level of identity, and then that Real ID tier that spans games, and there are incremental features that you get for being part of the Real ID community. The vision for that spanned games, got into cross-game chat and so forth. In reality, the in-game social suite was very popular, the cross-game chat that we did, the stuff within StarCraft 2.
Free for All: F2P and microtransactions at GDCO
Last week I wondered about how free-to-play would be discussed at GDC Online. After attending the event -- it was all a blur -- and listening back to my audio notes, it seems that free-to-play has reached some sort of level as a standard pricing option for a modern world. It could have been the fact that many of the developers at the event are making browser-based, iPhone or Facebook social games, but the word "subscription" came up rarely. Blended models seemed to be the runner-up. It appears that all the older companies -- the Turbines, SOEs and other western companies -- just cannot let go of that sweet, sweet subscription cash-flow. Can you blame them? It's a good deal for many, and it could be argued that without that subscription, many players would be turned off. Does all this talk of free-to-play and microtransactions signify some sort of change in quality or style of game? No, not really. It's my argument that things are different in only one way: quality has gone way, way up.
GDCO 2010: Heatwave talks Gods and Heroes
MMOCrunch has checked in with an interesting bit of news from GDCO. The off-again on-again saga of the Gods and Heroes IP was the subject of a bit of show-and-tell at the recently concluded convention, courtesy of Heatwave Interactive. Development on the classical mythology MMO stagnated following the demise of project originator Perpetual Entertainment in early 2008 before Heatwave resuscitated the game. Heatwave confirmed that players will still take on the role of a demi-god, pledging their loyalty to the Roman deity of their choice and following a class-based progression paradigm that includes control over various types of pets known as minions. While Perpetual had initially planned on each player's being able to control up to 24 minions, Heatwave hinted at the fact that the team has scaled this number down considerably to a more manageable four minions per player. Read all about the resurrection of Gods and Heroes over at MMOCrunch, and keep your eyes on Massively for more news about the title as it happens.
GDCO 2010: Panel and interview roundup
As you may have noticed if you're following our GDC Online 2010 coverage, we were there in full force. Karen Bryan, blogger and podcaster extraordinaire, covered the event along with our own Beau Hindman. As a wrapup to her interview articles, Karen gives this final impressions piece on the panels of GDC Online 2010. I had a busy week at GDC Online, seeing some great panels and speaking with some enthusiastic developers. Since not all of you could attend this Austin, Texas event, we've done our best to bring you the highlights. Follow along after the jump for a quick rundown of what I saw, as well as the big takeaway from each.
GameSalad announces GameSalad Direct, publishing model outside of Apple's dev program
We've posted about GameSalad here before -- the company offers up a third-party development and publishing solution that allows anyone, even non-coders, to jump into the GS SDK, make a game, and then quickly publish it out to the web or platforms like Apple's App Store. The company has been narrowing its focus recently after a round of funding -- last week at GDC, it announced that the Gendai Games brand was no more, and instead it would be consolidating everything under the name "GameSalad." This week GameSalad continued in that focus with a service called GameSalad Direct. Previously, developers could pay a fee to simply remove GameSalad's branding from apps created with the software, and sell those apps on the App Store under their own Apple developer accounts. That will still work for GameSalad developers for now, but when those accounts expire, everything will move to GameSalad Direct, which instead will either be free for devs publishing free games, or part of a revenue share for publishers wanting to sell paid apps. That means GameSalad game devs won't use their own Apple accounts any more -- presumably, everything created by GameSalad in the store will need to be published under the GameSalad banner. That has raised some hackles on GameSalad's forums, and Apple might not be too happy with it either (since if developers do sign with GameSalad, that's potentially a lost developer connection). We've contacted GameSalad to get some more information on the change and an official perspective on the reaction to the news.
GDCO 2010: Interview with Victor Kislyi about World of Tanks
World of Tanks has recently launched in Russia, where it has seen quick success, already growing to 200,000 players. In the West, the game has about 110,000 active players and that number is growing every day. It's currently in closed beta, but the company has plans to move to open beta in about a month, aiming for a launch of Q1 next year. At GDC Online 2010, we had a chance to catch up with Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.net, to talk about the game's success and how it all works, exactly.
GDC Online 2010 brought in 3,000 offline attendees
GDC Online -- formerly known as GDC Austin, but still held in the Texas town -- welcomed 3,000 attendees interested in online and social gaming this year. The show will return to Austin, Texas on October 11-14, 2011, at which time it'll be known as "GDC Zynga" -- kidding, maybe. Highlights of the convention included the inaugural Game Developers Choice Online Awards, along with some revealing revenue details from MMO developer Turbine and the 3DS's ability to use the Unreal Engine. Check out more from GDC online by following this: handy-dandy GDC Online link.
GDCO 2010: gPotato's Tara Einis on Iris Online and Allods' cash shop
When I heard that I had landed an interview with Tara Einis of gPotato (publisher of Allods Online, the upcoming Iris Online, and many others), I immediately began daydreaming about poring over hours and hours of audio and transcribing hard-hitting interviews filled with fiery give-and-takes. Instead, I found myself calmly wanting to know about gPotato's general cash-shop practices, long history in free-to-play, and reaction to Allods' perceived "debacle." I also found evidence for my theory that the company is, yes, still publishing games and still excited for the future. It should be no surprise, though -- gPotato has maintained a hefty presence in the world of free-to-play for longer than most. So, what are we going to see next? What did gPotato have planned for the future? Turns out quite a lot.
Epic's Mark Rein goes in-depth with Unreal Engine 3's TriOviz 3D
Epic Games and Darkworks might have just captured the 3D gaming market. With the addition of TriOviz 3D technology to the Unreal Engine 3 and its development kit, a massively popular game engine now has built-in 3D integration, for use with either 3D televisions or green/magenta glasses. It stands to increase the number of games implementing 3D dramatically, creating a de facto standard for 3D in the process. Incidentally, it adds an attractive new bullet point to Unreal's feature set. Epic Games itself, however, somehow has yet to fully jump onto the bandwagon it is now driving. "That's not part of the announcement," Epic VP Mark Rein told Joystiq when asked if this partnership would mean Epic games in TriOviz 3D. "Don't know." The implementation of 3D is certainly not the reason Gears of War 3 was delayed into holiday 2011. For one thing, the companies claim it only takes a week to integrate 3D into a UE3 game. For another, "That was Microsoft's business decision."
GDCO 2010: Rich Vogel and Calvin Crowner on 13 years of Ultima Online
At this year's GDC Online in Austin, Ultima Online was the first game inducted into the Game Developer's Choice Hall of Fame. Massively had a chance to look back at UO's thirteen years of history with its original senior producer, Richard Vogel, and its current one, Calvin Crowner. Follow along after the jump to read more on their impressions of those 13 years.
GDCO 2010: UTV True Games wows with three new titles
One of the most thrilling aspects of this job is visiting game studios. It's essentially like stepping into a toy factory, complete with strange noises and funny personalities. Nerf guns are a staple, and each desk or station is decorated with all types of toys, posters, and other trophies from Nerd-dom. UTV True Games is no different, so when we were asked to sit down with three (count 'em, three) different teams to preview some new titles, we knew we were in for a good time. Of course, our professionalism prevented us from actually clapping and going "sqqquuueeeee!" every time a new product was shown, but it's very possible that the teams would not have cared anyway. So what did we see? What do we have to look forward to from the same people that brought us Mytheon? Well, click past the cut and let's take a look!
GDC Online 2010: Interview with Newtoy's David Bettner
Last week, during GDC Online in Austin, Texas, I saw a panel run by Newtoy's David Bettner. Later in the week, Bettner himself met up with me to talk about the company and its popular Games With Friends titles for the iPhone. Though the company is doing great with its own App Store games (Words With Friends has over 10 million downloads and a surprisingly active user base), the first game that I asked about was actually We Rule. Newtoy designed that one for Ngmoco, and it's become one of the pioneering "freemium" titles on the App Store, using in-app purchases to fund a free-to-play Farmville-style game. Bettner told me that We Rule was the product of two companies, not just a work-for-hire. "It was a fun collaboration with Ngmoco," he said. "It was not the typical publisher/developer kind of a relationship. It was more of a collaboration of ideas." The idea for "mojo," the in-app product that pushes We Rule's gameplay forward, actually drove the whole project, both from a design and a monetization standpoint. "It was a fantastic sort of thing where as soon as you use mojo on a crop, you're like oh, I get this now, " Bettner said. "It's this magic thing that I can do to speed things up." Players have been split on the use of microtransactions in App Store titles like that, but Bettner said the model very much appeals to iPhone developers -- "the total lack of friction" on in-app purchases makes it easy to sell items in-game.
GDCO 2010: Interview with Dr. Richard Bartle
At the Game Developer's Choice Awards of GDC Online 2010, Dr. Richard Bartle was the first person to receive The Online Game Legend Award. He is best known for co-creating MUD, the first virtual world, as well as his research that inspired the Bartle Player Test. What did he think about winning such a prestigious award? Follow along after the jump to read his thoughts on modern MMOs, the state of the genre and which upcoming MMO he's looking forward to the most.
GDCO 2010: APB's Executive Producer talks about what went wrong
It may feel like the dead horse has been beaten enough, but APB's Executive Producer Josh Howard sat down with Gamebreaker at GDC Online this week to talk about the game's failure. Josh's perspective feels like that of both a player and an insider, which gives him the ability to explain what the developer and publisher each wanted -- and why it didn't work. The interview is almost 45 minutes long, and Josh is very open about how it all went, why he left, and much more. The interview was streamed live, but a recorded version is available for those interested in a detailed "post-mortem."
GDCO 2010: Spacetime Studios' Cinco Barnes talks mobile design
Spacetime Studios, the developer of the popular mobile MMO Pocket Legends, was started back in 2005 to create large-scale MMOs. Its founders decided to make a mobile platform MMO upon seeing the obvious marketing opportunity that the iPhone provided. After all, the players would already be connected and would be accustomed to microtransactions through exposure to iTunes and the app store. Of course, development could prove disastrous if the wrong game plan were followed, so Spacetime decided to keep it simple. How simple? Cinco Barnes of Spacetime was on hand at GDC Online to explain how his team members did it. What they found was a chance to do more than they'd initially planned on -- and an audience ready to gobble up everything the studio could create.
GDC Online 2010: Moon'd hands-on
On the last day of GDC this week, I heard from developer Anthony LaMantia, who had a new game named Moon'd that he wanted to show me. We met up in the lobby of the Austin Convention Center, and I got to play around for a bit with his game, a platformer with a strange twist. Instead of playing as a cartoony character like Mario or Sonic, you play as a 3D block and use left and right buttons (along with a jump) to "roll" the block around some abstract stages. It's a weird setup, but it works. The controls are a little flighty, but responsive, and the physics allow you to do some interesting things while moving around, like catching the edge of a block on a platform, or pushing a ball underneath you. LaMantia said that the plot involves saving the cow that jumped over the moon, but I didn't see any sign of the cow anywhere except the title screen. The stages involve getting your cube to the end of an area, or collecting a certain number of coins along the way.
GDCO 2010: Running MMOs for the long haul
In a year that seems overshadowed by the premature demise of big-budget titles, the question on everyone's mind is just what does it take to not only successfully launch an MMO, but keep it going for the long haul? At GDC Online this past week, several devs who find themselves struggling with this very issue got together for an informative panel entitled "Strategies for Successfully Running an MMO from Launch and Beyond." At the panel, Lorin Jameson (SOE), Nathan Richardsson (CCP), Jeff Hickman (EA Mythic), Jeffrey Steefel (Turbine), Rich Vogel (EA-Bioware) and Min Kim (Nexon) stepped up to the plate take a swing at the common pitfalls, the unseen consequences and the harsh realities of the industry. So if you're curious about why some titles thrive while others fall apart or why a particular MMO makes it to launch and beyond while another fades into obscurity, hit the jump and see what these industry experts have to say about the enormous and complex task of getting an MMO to lift off -- and then keeping it soaring for as long as possible.
GDCO 2010: Vivox's Monty Sharma talks voice integration between the PC and PS3
Since 2006, Vivox has provided integrated voice chat services to MMOs on the PC. At GDC Online in Austin, it made the major announcement that it has successfully implemented its voice chat service into the PlayStation 3 gaming console. This means players will be able to communicate between the PC and the PS3, which is a big milestone for cross-platform games. This new service is currently being tested in SOE's upcoming MMO DC Universe Online, and players should see it in-game in the near future. Vivox Founder and Vice President Monty Sharma sat down to talk with Massively about the new service.
GDC Online Award winners announced, League of Legends wins big
Last night in Austin, Texas, the creators of some of this year's biggest and boldest online games were honored during the Game Developer's Choice Online awards ceremony. In particular, Riot Games and its heavyweight debut title, League of Legends, took home half of the awards up for grabs, including Best Online Technology, the Audience Award and Best New Online Game. It also took home "Best Game With a Title That Reads 'LOL' as an Acronym," but that's not ... a real thing. That's a thing we made up, just now. Check out the real list of real winners after the jump.
