party system
Latest
Epic Games Store lines up new social features including a party system
The Epic Games Store is building in a party system with voice and text chat.
League of Angels announces beta events, releases trailer
You've heard of League of Angels, a new browser-based game that starts closed beta this Wednesday, but what's the story behind it? GTArcade answers that with a new trailer that takes viewers on a brief tour of the history of the angels, from their betrayal to their triumphant return. See it play out in the video below. Additionally, the studio has announced a number of special events during the seven-day closed beta that players can participate in, each with prizes that will carry over even when all other player data is wiped. The various prizes include free VIP access for leveling, free diamonds for slaying select NPCs (as well as diamonds raining down from the sky twice a day!), and more items to level your angels with the more angels you collect. Specific events will also be held rewarding players for things such as bug hunting, guide writing, and helping other players. [Source: GTArcade press release]
League of Angels starts closed beta on December 4th
Who doesn't need a guardian angel watching over their party at times? In the upcoming turn-based League of Angels, players get just that -- a literal angel as a member of the party providing buffs as well as firepower. If that sounds intriguing, you don't have long to wait before you can check it out for yourself; today, GTArcade announced that closed beta testing will commence on Wednesday, December 4th. Additionally, the studio will be providing daily updates on the game's progress starting this week. Some of the features of this browser-based game include mounts with buffs, fishing (which provides soulstones that can enhance your heroes), a daily match-three game that can net you gems for gear enhancement, and dragon races. For a look at some artwork and screenshots of the game, check out the gallery below. Then for a chance to test out the dynamics, sign up for beta on the official site. [Source: GTArcade press release]
Turn-based League of Angels plans closed beta for late 2013
League of Angels, a turn-based browser MMO, will be going into closed beta by the end of the year, studio GTArcade announced. The title revolves around a group of angels fighting darkness and clothing (if the artwork is any indication). Players will guide a party of heroes with an angel at its core, and engage in turn-based combat in single-player and multi-player dungeons, as well as cross-server battles. A couple of interesting features include a rogue-like random dungeon mode and several mini-games (such as match-three) that will reward the player with extra goods. [Source: GTArcade press release]
Shadowrun forgoes TrueSkill for 'party' play, Epic told the truth [update 1]
Shadowrun will use a friend-linking party system for ranked matches, yes, but developer FASA had to forgo the use of Microsoft's TrueSkill matchmaking system to implement the feature. In fact, according to Knuckles Dawson who had a chance to play Shadowrun, FASA has built its own matchmaking system from scratch. Microsoft's TrueSkill system does not allow friends to play together in ranked matches -- the explanation Epic used in its own defense.It's hard to knock Epic for opting to go with TrueSkill. Heck, the system was already in place, and there were seemingly more important areas of development to focus resources on -- and Epic succeeded with an exceptional title. But there's no denying that the Xbox Live community has been upset with how the limitations of TrueSkill affect Gears of War. Epic is certainly considering these opinions, and it wouldn't be too far-fetched to predict that a future update will replace TrueSkill with an Epic-designed matchmaking system that supports parties.[Update: We incorrectly identified Knuckles Dawson as an employee of Shadowrun developer FASA when he is in fact an echidna an avid Xbox Live player invited by the FASA team to test out their title. The post has been amended.]
Shadowrun has online party system, further damages Epic's claim [update 1]
Xbox 360 Fanboy has done us the good service of plucking the juicy details out of Major Nelson's recent blogcast featuring Shadowrun Lead Designer John Howard. What we learn is that the development team is implementing a friend-linking party system for its online Live Anywhere launch title. It's about time. No studio has attempted this since Bungie debuted its 'Party System' in Halo 2 (back in 2004).Epic would have you believe that the lack of support for party systems is Microsoft's doing. But with Halo 3 and Shadowrun both confirmed to support this feature, Epic's excuse isn't holding up. Our guess is that a Gears of War team-play patch for ranked games (and maybe an apology) is definitely in the works.Update: Shadowrun forgoes TrueSkill for 'party' play, Epic told the truth
