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MMObility: Age of Ascent hopes to beat EVE Online's battle concurrency record
Age of Ascent is the new work-in-progress from Illyriad Games, the maker of one of my current favorite MMORTS titles, Illyriad. I've written about Illyriad before and have always enjoyed its epic scale and massive numbers, but with this new project, the team is promising something that is not only larger than anything it has ever done but larger than anything that has been done before... by anyone. The studio is working closely with Microsoft in the hopes of achieving massive numbers in a twitch-based sandbox MMO that runs in your browser. I've gone through a few test runs with tons of other players and had no issues whatsoever, even while running it on a $200 Chromebook! It's an exciting prospect, but I had to ask some more questions about the upcoming title. I asked James Niesewand, CEO of Illyriad Games, to clear up some of my confusion.
Previously on MV TV: The week of September 1st
This week I have quite the selection of tasty video tidbits for you to enjoy. What better way to spend the weekend than staying inside away from the nasty pollen and wasps, watching amazing gameplay videos hosted by yours truly and his band of fellow pixel-heads? That's right! You don't even have to buy MMOs anymore! By simply clicking on the "continue reading" link below, you step into an expansive world of MMO exploration, teeming with sights and sounds unlike you have ever seen or installed before! Why should you go through the trouble of standing in line, purchasing a box, spending two days installing it on your massive PC, pulling up that huge plastic chair, waiting for the game to patch, and attempting to make a character who doesn't look like a 17 year-old pop-punk band member only to find that you suck at PvP? The simple answer to your problem is to watch us play ALL OF THE GAMES! Which games, you might ask? Well, this week I have some Piggy action as he streams Fallen Earth, followed by Richie with some Guild Wars 2, Mike with some more EVE Online, World of Tanks and Tribes: Ascend. And I follow it all up with a trip through Wurm Online to view the mystery behind the Puzzles deed and then chat with Illyriad CEO James Niesewand about his game's new patch! Check it out!
Free for All: Comparing the payment models of RuneScape and Illyriad
Last week, I introduced you to two of my favorite free-to-play or freemium payment models. Payment models are endlessly fascinating because so many players normally didn't think about them until free-to-play and freemium models stopped being something that only came from foreign shores. Now, everyone has an opinion about which payment model is the best. I tend to love simple ones, as close to simple as I can get. If a game is truly wonderful, however, I don't care if the developers ask players to cut off their right arms. I've paid my fair share and continue to do so. In fact, in one of the most disturbing trends of the last few years, players have begun bemoaning the lack of a free version of their favorite game. I see it all the time: players publicly wishing for the time that their favorite game will go free-to-play so they can return without paying a dime. Sure, I can understand being strapped for cash and needing an easy way to get back to an old title, but come on... those titles might not be around much longer if players do not support them in the first place. I am not a fan of free-to-play because I am cheap or because I need to avoid paying developers what they deserve. I have said it before, and I will say it again: I am a fan of free-to-play because it lets me decide when I want to spend my money. There's a big difference. So let's chat about two of my favorite game's payment models.
Free for All: An inside look at Illyriad Games
You have to be a bit insane to write your own game, says James Niesewand, Illyriad Games' CEO. When he and a group of friends decided to sit down and list off what they wanted to see in a browser-based game, they decided to go for a game that would not periodically reset like so many browser games, one that featured the complexity and depth of games like EVE Online and would be free to play. Niesewand started with no experience in the gaming industry, but he did have some coding background. He writes the back-end material (the information that is queried), and his co-conspirator Ben Adams writes the front-end (the stuff that you interact with and see). Of course, I am simplifying this, but for the sake of keeping this article under 15,000 words I will attempt to sum up the conversations James and I had at GDC Online last week. They covered the start of his first browser-based game as well as some of the inevitable growing pains that come with being an indie developer. Click past the cut!
MMObility: Illyriad devs shine light on HTML5
HTML5 is somewhat of a mysterious beast. We've probably all heard whispers of the "new" version of the standard web coding language, but to most of us it means very little. After all, why is it number five? Why is there a buzz about this new way of coding websites? Is "coding" even the right word? Oh, I've learned a thing or two over the years; I've built a few websites and have figured out some of the basics. My wife is a graphic designer, so I have learned a lot from her, including some of the stuff that makes up Flash and other graphical... things. But I am far from an expert. So I decided to ask Ben Adams and and James Niesewand, CTO and CEO of Illyriad Games, respectively, about HTML5. They are really starting to push the boundaries of the language with their game Illyriad. It's fun to learn about this stuff, and it's always nice to know how our mobile games are being made. Click past the cut and read the interview! Warning: Big words ahead!
