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Earthrise devs explain interplay of shields, stamina, and energy game mechanics
Earthrise is a post-apocalyptic MMO that's quite a departure from the 'Mad Max' view of a post-civilization world. Rather, the game is one where Earth's technocratic elite survive the global apocalypse via genetic immortality through cloning, and seek to rebuild the world according to utopian ideals. Schisms divide society which leads to outright hostilities and faction struggles, giving Earthrise's players the opportunity to play some very different sorts of characters. The lore of Earthrise is steadily being fleshed out, but we're hoping that the gameplay will live up to expectations. Given that the title is still in early beta testing, we're always looking to get our questions about the game answered. Masthead Studios has been doing just that with their "Question of the Week" forum for Earthrise in which the game's developers answer questions posed to them by the fans. The latest question of the week deals with Earthrise's three major pools: shields, stamina, and energy. %Gallery-48760%
Masthead Studios addresses player concerns over Earthrise combat pacing
Earthrise is the first massively multiplayer online game from Masthead Studios. This being their premiere release in a competitive industry, player expectations of Earthrise seem to run the gamut from excited to skeptical. Masthead Studios recently showed a brief game video depicting the game's combat system which led to some prospective players voicing concerns over the pace of combat and cooldown of weapons. Masthead Studios responded to these concerns, stating: "One of these things we are doing behind the scenes at present is fine-tuning the combat as a whole to make it faster and better. You'll no doubt notice this means things will be faster as you experience them for yourself than initially demonstrated. We may slow things down a little bit in our demos and footage for illustrative purposes on occasion to highlight systems and features, though, but this is nothing to worry about." The developers have posted this note to the Earthrise community on the game's site, where the prospective players are currently weighing in with their views.
Earthrise developers explain siege territory gameplay
Earthrise is a sci-fi MMO currently in development at Masthead Studios in Bulgaria, one which aims to merge sandbox gameplay with a post-apocalyptic setting. By all indications, Earthrise will be a game where players can band together to work towards world control, while of course struggling against opposing forces with similar goals.This territorial control between guilds will be a key aspect of Earthrise and the latest 'Question of the Week' on the game's official forums addresses the game mechanics connected with such pursuits. Earthrise community manager Moll has posted "Siege Territory gameplay + defensive structures" which explains how guild bases will be integral in capturing and holding territory, as well as some of the ways these structures will allow guilds to tap the resources of a given territory. In addition, specific structures will allow for mass production, serve as power plants, and provide teleporters for moving troops between territories. There's plenty more info on the advantages of territorial control to be found in the latest round of Q&A's with the developers at Masthead Studios.
Earthrise lead technical artist Ed Mattinian discusses visual influences
The Bulgaria-based developer Masthead Studios is hard at work on their first massively multiplayer online game Earthrise, a title that's equal parts sci-fi and post-apocalyptic. Nolvadex from the Italian MMO news site Gamesource spoke with the game's lead technical artist Ed Mattinian about the look of Earthrise. Mattinian discusses balancing form with function when it comes to how technology is depicted in the game, trying to create a futuristic world that's not simply cold and sterile. He says, "I'd say that technological products have their own beauty to them. It's all about function and how that 'product' -- be it a weapon, a craft, or a teleporter - is designed for its function. That's the beauty that we're looking for."
MTV Multiplayer speaks with MMO devs looking to attract shooter fans
Undoubtedly, the developers of games like All Points Bulletin, The Agency, CrimeCraft and Earthrise would like shooter fans to give their game a try. And with so many of these titles on the way, it can be a little difficult to know which one may be for you. So, MTV Multiplayer's Tracey John went out and got each developer's take on why they think shooter fans should look into their respective games.Not all of these games take the same shooter mentality approach, but that's a good thing. Variety is of course the spice of life, especially when those things involve itchy digital trigger fingers. You can be sure we'll be bringing you even more information in the future so you can decide which of these games is for you.
Masthead Studios announces GNi as worldwide server host for Earthrise
Masthead Studios is a relative newcomer to the massively multiplayer online game industry and is presently developing the post-apocalyptic MMO Earthrise, a sandbox game where players will vie for control over finite resources in a large, open world. As players of another prominent sandbox MMO know very well, ensuring smooth operations in an unsharded game requires a substantial investment in server technology. To this end, Masthead Studios has partnered with server infrastructure provider GNi to host Earthrise. GNi's 'Infrastructure as a Service' (IaaS) offers "dedicated storage, network, and server capacity on a pay-as-you-grow model." With this week's announcement, Masthead Studios joins companies like Vivox and Frogster Interactive Pictures AG as a GNi client. [Via IGN]
Interplay may lose its license to make Fallout MMO
Well, folks, it's been two years -- two years and 12 days, actually. And now, because Interplay may or may not have entered into "full scale development" of the Fallout MMO it was beholden to start making by, oh, say, 12 days ago, Bethesda Softworks has, unsurprisingly, asked for its property back. Though, according to an SEC filing, no "formal action" has been taken by Fallout IP-owner Bethesda as of yet, the company has apparently made claims that Interplay is "in breach of the trademark license agreement" the two companies agreed upon back in 2007. Rumors that Interplay has been working on a Fallout MMO arose again recently as Earthrise developer Masthead Studios offered Interplay its proprietary tools and technology for use with a project currently in-development, codenamed "Project V13." We would like to point out that while a wiki page on "Project V13" hints heavily at the codename concealing a Fallout MMO in development at Interplay, nothing official has ever been announced. And you'd think Interplay might want to do that if it wanted to keep its "trademark license agreement," no? [Via Big Download]
Earthrise video footage a peek at PvP combat
Masthead Studios now has a YouTube page for their upcoming title Earthrise. The first video they've put up is very short, but we thought our readers might be interested to know it's there, in any case. "Earthrise Dynamic Targeting" is a quick (and annotated) look at PvP in Earthrise. The footage shows a character geared towards close combat engaging another close combat opponent, as well as a second equipped for ranged attacks. We see that although Earthrise combatants see their character and surroundings in third person, players manually target their opponents with crosshairs. As the video annotations mention, the game is in early closed beta and what is shown in this footage is still rough. Masthead Studios expects to roll out improvements over time, including improved animations and graphics as well as UI changes. If you're interested in seeing more of Earthrise, we've got the video embed for you below the cut.
Earthrise videos show game mechanics and zones
The post-apocalyptic MMO title Earthrise from Masthead Studios has caught our attention, perhaps even moreso since we heard of their involvement with the much-rumored Fallout MMO. Massively ran a fairly comprehensive look at Earthrise from our meeting with them at GDC 2009 and the game seems to be coming along rather well in terms of development. We came across something else interesting today over at MMORPG.com that might interest our readers. Masthead Studios CEO Atanas Atanasov gave MMORPG.com a demo of Earthrise which they captured in video in two parts.The first video introduces some of the core aspects of playing Earthrise, with the system of skills, abilities, tactics, and stances explained briefly while moving about in a starter zone. The second bit of in-game footage focuses on Earthrise's zones. It shows off the contrast between the utopian Eastern Gardens and a devastated region, once a city and now a buffer between the game's civilized areas and the wasteland. Both videos are worth checking out over at MMORPG.com.
Masthead Studios lending Interplay a hand with suspected Fallout MMO
The fate of Interplay's long-held plans to create an MMO in the Fallout universe (assumedly heralded under the code name Project V13) has been in peril for quite some time now. Many feared the project would be scrapped when the title's creative director moved on to a different company, though a glimmer of light pierced the darkness yesterday -- Masthead Studios, developers of the upcoming post-apocalyptic MMO Earthrise, will be giving Interplay its proprietary tools and technology for use in Project V13.Given our MMO-obsessed sister site Massively's positive hands-on experience with Earthrise at GDC, we're excited to see how this technology will be used in Interplay's MMO. Of course, there's always a chance that Project V13 has nothing to do with Fallout. Sure, there's plenty of evidence to the contrary, but Interplay could very well be working on an Earthworm Jim MMO, which ... well, which would be just as awesome.
Masthead Studios to help create the Fallout MMO?
We all knew that there was a Fallout MMO in the works, thinly veiled under the title Project V13, but now we get word that Masthead Studios will be involved in its development, according to an article at Eurogamer. Apparently, Interplay will still be the official developer of the game, yet they will be using Masthead's technology, tools and resources. Of course we all know and love Masthead Studios for their upcoming MMO (also post-apocalyptic) entitled Earthrise.Project V13 has been in development since November of 2007 and was in the news several times for various staff changes such as the inclusion of original Fallout designers Chris Taylor and Jason Anderson. Anderson has since left, but all signs point towards this "top secret" project being some inception of "Fallout Online". After seeing what Masthead has done with their own game at GDC last week, we're now even more excited about what a Fallout MMO could become.
GDC09: Massively previews Earthrise
The futuristic game Earthrise is one of the upcoming sci-fi massively multiplayer games that we can see on the horizon. It's the first MMO developed by Sofia-based Masthead Studios and features the post-apocalyptic setting of a world divided between utopian idealism and revolution. Massively had a chance to sit down with Masthead Studios CEO Atanas Atanasov at the Game Developers Conference 2009 where he gave us a walkthrough of Earthrise, shedding some light on what this new title may bring to the MMO world.%Gallery-48760%
GDC09: Massively previews Earthrise page 2
The struggle for dominance Earthrise will be a very PvP-centric title, with open PvP and full looting adding greater risk to combat. How long will players have to loot fallen opponents (or allies)? Atanasov says, "There will be a time limit. Right now we're planning for 30 seconds, which means that once you die nobody can pick up your inventory for that first 30 seconds. So you have the time to choose whether or not you want your inventory back," at a cost, of course. A key game mechanic that's central to Earthrise's combat is a player's "battle rating" which is a numerical ranking of how tough you are (as presently skilled/equipped) and conversely how tough your opposition is. Your own battle rating and that of your opponents determines the experience you can gain from defeating them, or how juicy a target you are to them. Your battle rating is determined by a few factors. The armor and weapons you equip and the abilities you've learned largely dictate battle rating. A target's battle rating will be visible to you and determines how much experience you'll get from taking down a mutant or other opponent. The battle rating system will also give players flexibility in how quickly they advance. For example, you may be very strong but if you want greater experience gains from taking on weaker opponents you can choose to use weaker gear to match. In effect, you lower your own battle rating but earn more rewards by facing a greater challenge. The battle rating system isn't just a system that determines individual gains, it will also carry over to groups. Atanasov says, "I would say it's very unique in the MMO field. Nobody has tried it so far. I hope it will work well and will bring some new ideas to the future of MMO games."
Earthrise interview sheds light on title's sandbox gameplay
Fans of 'sandbox' massively multiplayer online titles where gamers can largely play how they choose to might be interested in Earthrise, a post-apocalyptic MMO in development at Masthead Studios. Although there's no solid estimate on the game's release date, Masthead Studios is getting the word out about Earthrise in preparation for beta testing. The most recent interview they've done can be found over at GameSNAFU. Michael G. Koshgarian from GameSNAFU interviewed Masthead Studios CEO Atanas Atanasov, who dished out some info on the storyline quests for the warring Continoma and Noir factions. Of particular interest is the fact that players will be able to shift their allegiances and defect to a rival faction, but at the risk of being branded a traitor.
Latest Earthrise newsletter updates on game's progress
Sofia-based Masthead Studios has released the March `09 newsletter for their upcoming post-apocalyptic MMO Earthrise. As with their previous newsletters, Issue IX points out where Earthrise has been discussed in the gaming press over the past few weeks, and shows off some of the game's concept art. This month, Masthead Studios is showing off concepts for the mutated Nathura zone.In addition, the developers write about what they love about Earthrise and working on the title -- ranging from the game's epic scale to the extensive combat system. Issue IX also expands upon the game's lore, with the struggle between the factions of Noir and Continoma, a clash between utopian idealism and anarchy. Have a look through the latest Earthrise newsletter and see how their vision of a post-apocalyptic future is turning out.
Earthrise interview explains game's crafting and sandbox elements
We've been noticing that the post-apocalyptic MMO Earthrise is getting a lot of press these days. The latest piece that's caught our eye is an interview with Masthead Studios CEO Atanas Atanasov conducted by ReviewStash's Daniel Levy. The interview ranges across several topics of interest for potential Earthrise players, but perhaps what's of most interest are Atanasov's comments on combat game mechanics and crafting. Aiming in Earthrise's combat will be done as with standard shooters, but the weapons available to characters will allow a player to keep a bead on their target. On Earthrise's crafting system, Atanasov says that players will be "capable of infusing Designs into items -- special bonuses and enhancements, or totally separate effects that allow the crafter to customize an item to the needs of his or her customers." Certain crafters may well become influential figures in Earthrise, Atanasov says, known for coming up with powerful item builds.
Earthrise lead designer on player-driven economy and crafting unique items
MMO fans of all things post-apocalyptic are probably eagerly awaiting more info on the in-development game Earthrise. Will it be a breath of fresh air into an industry overwhelmingly dominated by fantasy titles? It's still far too soon to say, but the Earthrise developers, Masthead Studios, have been doing a good job of communicating what their vision for the game is, both in terms of building up a community (pre-beta no less) and actively talking about the title with the gaming press. The latest bits of info about Earthrise come to us through a Stratics interview with Lead Game Designer Apostol Apostolov. He starts off by succinctly explaining the lore behind the game, but his talk with Stratics also touches upon what he sees as the advantages of using a skill-based advancement system, which tips its hat to Ultima Online. Apostolov also discusses Earthrise's economy, with hints about rewards tied to the offline profession(s) a player chooses. On the subject of the players, Earthrise will have a completely player-run market which could be a boon to crafters.
Interview reveals more juicy details on Earthrise
If you were just kinda "meh" about Masthead's Earthrise before, we have a little something for you that might change your mind. In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Masthead's CEO Atanas Atanasov speaks openly about the game's unique features, storyline, class-less system, PvP endgame and potential launch date, set for later this year.While this sci-fi game will be classified as post-apocalyptic, Atanasov says that there will be more technology than your normal story set in the aftermath of civilization's collapse. "When designing the title we wanted to add more technology than typical post-apocalyptic settings because it brings more fun to the game," he said. "And we're designing a game, not writing a movie or a book. We want our players to have more fun with big weapons and blow up things, and use all kinds of special attacks."
Earthrise dev chat discusses beta and first in-game video dates
For anyone who missed it, the guys over at MMORPG.com have posted the transcript from last Saturday's Earthrise dev chat. The two big pieces of information to come out of the talks were beta start and in-game video dates -- both of which seem to be happening around GDC09 or sometime shortly after the end of March. Although other topics were discussed, such as weapon customization and the issue of having no friendly-fire in PvP combat.In fact, that last question came up twice during the chat, with players wondering how PvP zerg tactics were going to be dealt with by the developer. The general answer was that it will be looked into during the beta testing phase and dealt with then. If there's one thing we've learned from past experiences, it's that players will go to immense lengths to break a balanced system. To that end, we wish developer Masthead Studios the best of luck in balancing this particular issue, as they're probably going to need it.
Earthrise interview slots launch date for later this year
In a recent interview with MMORPG.com, the folks at Masthead Studios' Earthrise sat down to answer a few questions regarding the past, present and future of the upcoming sci-fi MMO. Apparently, 2008 was a huge year for the game, as the number of developers working on it doubled, and it went from a concept first announced in January of 2008, to a playable world that is ready for beta testing in January 2009.This year should prove to be significant for Earthrise, as the beta process begins soon, and a projected launch date of "later this year". Where does Masthead see the game in January of 2010? "In just a year's time, we expect Earthrise will be on the market and available for every MMO fan looking for a post-apocalyptic, sci-fi setting will be able to buy and play our game. We have no doubt that our dedicated community will be thriving in Earthrise, fully exploring all of the games features." Check out the entire interview at MMORPG.com for more information, and don't forget to join MMORPG.com in their dev chat with Masthead this Saturday, January 24th at 2 pm EST.
