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Storyboard: Of straw men and specifics
I was originally going to wrap up the initial little series of archetypes this week, but I decided to hold off for a week for a couple of reasons: first, because I don't want to just be rehashing what I said two weeks back when discussing how the series actually worked; and second, because there are a lot of smaller and assorted topics that I wanted to talk about for this week's installment of the column. We're approaching the first anniversary, after all, and that means it's a good time to start thinking about the next year. There's also more to be said about the archetype from last week, and that's where I'm going to start off. It seems as if pretty much everyone got the joke about that column; it was meant as a parody of an archetype that's all too common in MMOs: the Mary Sue in roleplaying form, the person who can do no wrong even as the player breaks all sort of rules for no reason beyond ego. But there's a reason I went with this archetype instead of my first idea for an April Fools' Day article -- I think this archetype can actually work in a game, if played with care and with a gentle hand.
Windows Phone 7 camera settings keep going to default, Microsoft says it was 'a decision by the team'
"It's not a bug, it's a feature" is one of the time-honored mantras of computer engineering, and Microsoft is using it to full effect with a behavior occasionally cursed by users of Windows Phone 7 devices: the camera settings return to their defaults every time you load the camera app. Responding to a comment in the official Windows Phone Blog, a Microsoft rep says that the settings reset was actually "a decision by the team," noting that if you need to pull out your phone for a quick shot, you'd rather not have to fiddle with whatever wacky settings you had set up on the prior use. Continuing, he writes that "feedback from folks like [the commenter] has the team seriously looking at that option to see if there is a more optimal option," so it could change -- so your dream of shooting absolutely everything in sepia tone might be realized with a little less strife down the road.
Make a billboard for City of Heroes, win fantastic prizes
Whatever part of City of Heroes you traverse, there is a constant -- the billboards. From Praetoria's official billboards extolling the virtues of working for the state to the civil and capitalistic advertisements dotting Paragon City, no part of the game is free of advertising, albeit for fictional products or services. And the newest contest for the game is asking players to help add to that storied tradition of fake advertisements via the creation of your own billboard, advertising a new service or product within the game's setting. The contest is open for entries until Monday, January 24th, allowing players ample time to design and send off their best possible advertisements for the game's setting. Obviously, the contest comes with the usual restrictions that disallow players from making offensive, copyrighted, or libelous advertisements, but other than that the sky is the limit. And the prizes? Nothing less than every single add-on for the game, including exclusive convention costumes, for the first-prize winner. Read the full rules and restrictions here, and if you want to make a mark on City of Heroes, get ready to start selling.
Storyboard: The unshuffled mortal coil
Welcome to this week's Storyboard, which originally was going to be very different than normal until I started writing my first idea. I discovered an important fact halfway through the writing -- the idea was really stupid. So I killed it, and that segues nicely into what I want to talk about: Death. Sooner or later every group of roleplayers in an MMO has to deal with it, and considering how many worlds have certain monsters roaming about whose only purpose is delivering untold harm to player characters, it's probably going to be sooner. Of course, death poses all sorts of problems in game design anyway -- what are the penalties, what are the lingering effects, is it a major inconvenience or a small hiccup, et cetera. But it poses a unique problem for roleplaying, because as it stands, you don't stay dead for long no matter what. So how do you deal with the implications of a world where death is less of a great beyond and, at most, a lost potential character title?
Storyboard: Problem children, part the second
Creating characters is hard work. It's hard enough when you're just concerned with making a really cool melee character who can kick other melee characters up and down the block, and it gets infinitely harder when you're trying to put together something that at least looks like a three-dimensional individual at the right angle. That having been said, there are certain ideas that are just problematic, character types that might seem like a good idea when you're staring at the screen but become a really bad one as soon as you hit "create." Our last look at problem characters focused on the sort that you know you're creating at the time, the sort that sound nifty in your head but cause some serious problems in actual play. This time we're looking at the other side, the sort of thing that's far easier to notice while interacting with characters rather than while creating them. But it's still well worth keeping these types in mind so that if you start traveling down these roads, you can make a turn. On to the problem children!
Final Fantasy XIV releases new Gridania assets
With only a few days left until release, Final Fantasy XIV has lifted the shroud surrounding the third of the starting city-states for new characters. Gridania, nestled in the Black Shroud, is a city built into the very structure of the wood around it, filled with reverence for the spirits and creatures that dwell in the environment. The newest pictures have been put together in a gallery showing off the environment of the city -- as well as a hint of the Garlean Empire. A city of warm earth tones and expansive wooden buildings, Gridania manages to carry its own distinct feel from its sister cities, especially with the stained-glass architecture that dominates the adventurer's guild. While the preview images lack the callbacks that the recent Ul'dah reveal carried, they still show off an environment that is both engaging and alien. Take a look at the full gallery, and keep your eyes open to see if Final Fantasy XIV has any more secrets to reveal prior to next week's launch. %Gallery-102406%
Praetoria unveiled in depth for City of Heroes
If you play City of Heroes, you're probably not counting the days until the release of Going Rogue just yet, as it's a little too far in the future. (Fifty-one days if you count today, incidentally.) But August will be here before we know it, and today the official site takes a look at a portion of the expansion which is at once easy to forget and yet ubiquitous: the world of Praetoria itself, the utopia created through absolute power. As we've known for quite some time, it's similar and yet slightly different when compared to the setting of Paragon City -- both familiar and threatening. Emperor Cole's near-total salvation of humanity resulted in a sweeping change of the world as a whole, as discussed in Tyrant's biography quite some time ago. Praetoria is a world without borders or nationalities, wherein everyone is a citizen of the empire rather than the panoply of countries in the real world. The tantalizing hints of the world's architecture are readily visible in our gallery, which showcases both the concept art and the in-game layouts of the major new setting for the expansion. Take a look at our gallery, and head to the official site for more information on the twisted mirror of City of Heroes. %Gallery-96271%
The Secret World broadcasts footage from the streets of Kingsmouth
What horrors lie in Kingsmouth when the fog comes to rest? Well that's for you to find out! Thanks to a tip from a certain Erling Ellingsen, we've been pointed to a brand new trailer for The Secret World. It seems that someone has hacked into the security cameras around Kingsmouth, giving us a look at the town's various areas. All of this is set to an unknown narrator explaining exactly how Kingsmouth turned from a small, All-American town into the black pit that it is today. It's important to note, however, that this video is only a preview of the Kingsmouth location -- it's not a gameplay trailer. Erling attached this "quotable quote" in his e-mail: "This is a part of a ramp up of the communication we're doing around The Secret World. We wanted to give gamers a very quick glimpse into the game and the universe, without giving away exactly how the game looks in motion and in all its glory. We're saving that for GDC actually." So GDC it is then! We'll be there! But, while you're all waiting for GDC, go on over to Gamespot and learn more about Kingsmouth. (Also, we saw your Lovecraft Lane street sign! We see your references!)
Rockstar: LA Noire getting cover story reveal next month
In the very same official Q&A where it finally responded to the complaints of the Rockstar Spouses, Rockstar brings up an old friend we haven't heard from in a while: L.A. Noire, the "innovative," possibly console-based, "Ellroy-esque" game that's been in development almost since its noir inspired Los Angeles setting was current. It says that we'll finally get a good look at the game and why it's supposed to be so great as soon as "next month" courtesy of "a big cover story." What magazine? That's still a hush hush, on-the-QT and off the record secret. But said cover story (Time? Popular Science? Dog Fancy?) will reportedly contain information about why both the look and "the amazing new technology" of the game are worth the wait. We would say not to hold your breath, but everyone still holding their breath for LA Noire turned blue and passed out about a year ago. Still, we're interested, so we'll keep eyes peeled on the magazine stands next month. [via G4TV]
Earthrise shows off The Arboretum in developer journal
The Earthrise developers at Masthead Studios are turning out a series of blogs which explains the various zones of the post-apocalyptic setting of Enterra island. These developer journals hosted on MMORPG.com introduce us to the varied terrain and its inhabitants, while framing it all in context of Earthrise's lore. So far they've walked us through the burnt out factories of the Industrial Area, the dangers of the Cascade Mountains, and what happens when mutant ecosystems collide in The Hatchery.Their latest dev blog focuses on "The Arboretum" which is the refuge of the Nathura Society, largely comprised of scientists who maintain neutrality in the civil war between Enterra's main factions -- Continoma and Noir. The Nathura simply want to be left alone so they can pursue their ideal of engineering a truly symbiotic relationship between humans and the natural world.
Earthrise dev blog advances lore with The Hatchery
Earthrise is an upcoming MMO where you will play as a survivor of nuclear and biological devastation from the Final Wars, living in humanity's sole refuge, a vast island called Enterra. The latest dev blog hosted at MMORPG.com from the Earthrise developers at Masthead Studios is called 'The Hatchery', which takes the game's lore a step forward. Or rather, it takes a step back to the centuries preceding the human race's rebirth via cloning technology. In the years that humankind remained dormant in the Librarium (cloning facility), man-made nano-viruses altered the world's ecosystems. As the environment began to regenerate after nuclear annihilation, separate ocean ecosystems slowly emerged. A vast colony organism became dominant and sought to expand its growth to the surface world. As it evolved, it released swarms of spores that traveled through the ocean currents like scouts, which looked for a surface habitat with enough biomass to support the colony's next stage of life. It found Enterra.
EVE Online novel The Burning Life to focus on pirate factions
For many players, EVE Online is a game where the developers provide the galactic setting of New Eden but it's them, the playerbase, who makes their own stories. They join together or band against their rivals in alliance warfare, drug cartels, pirate organizations, and industrial powerhouses. The complex interplay of involvements that allow the game's players to establish and destroy invariably triggers cascades of drama. This is the point of the sandbox design of the game, what you do in New Eden affects other players on some level. For some players, EVE is just about their interactions with one another and the fiction underpinning of the game is of marginal concern. While not all players choose to immerse themselves in the game's backstory, the setting is actually quite rich -- built on roughly six years' worth of lore fleshed out in the Chronicles, short stories that provide snapshots of the various levels of activity in New Eden.
Massively Interview: Masthead Studios' CEO on Earthrise and freedom of choice
There is a slow but steady shift in direction in the MMO industry from being dominated by fantasy titles to one where gamers have other options, namely in terms of sci-fi and post-apocalyptic games. The smaller game studios producing these titles have some big challenges ahead of them, not the least of which is whether or not MMO gamers will embrace settings and gameplay elements that depart from the fantasy MMO paradigm. One of those newcomers to the MMO scene is Masthead Studios who are developing the post-apocalyptic Earthrise.This first title from Masthead Studios will present gamers with a futuristic, dystopian setting where two major factions struggle for control over the island of Enterra, the last refuge of humanity after the burn. Continoma are the technocratic elite; they hold the keys to genetic immortality and enforce their ordered societal views on the population they've resurrected. The game's other major faction, Noir, is a shadow government -- the resistance. Earthrise's setting and factional struggles aren't limited to simple right-and-wrong scenarios, though, and this carries over to the gameplay. Players or guilds may align with one faction or another for their own benefit, but the game's numerous sub-factions provide other options for allegiances, or even the possibility of shifting those allegiances. We had the opportunity to see Earthrise firsthand at GDC 2009 but we've always got more questions. Fortunately, Masthead Studios was willing to oblige. We've had another chance to speak with Masthead Studios CEO Atanas Atanasov about some of the core concepts and lore behind Earthrise, and how their approach to the game and the genre should allow a great deal of freedom for players.%Gallery-48760%
Latest EVE Online Chronicle a moral tale of sabotage and retribution
EVE Online differs from other massively multiplayer online games out there in that it's as much a setting as it is a game; its galactic setting of New Eden isn't divided across shards. This helps the game's lore creators conjure up a sense that the stories of New Eden echo throughout and define a single expansive galaxy, at least for those who choose to get into the game's backstory.EVE's lore has been building up for years as short Chronicles and even in novel form, creating a substantial yet growing body of work that fleshes out the gritty setting. We don't cover all of the Chronicle releases at Massively but we do tend to highlight those that have a direct bearing on the game's lore, rather than those that add flavor. Still, now and again a story comes along that really stands out. That was the case with this week's Chronicle titled "All These Lives are Fit to Ruin" by CCP Abraxas, the description of which was one simple word: "Sabotage". This caught our interest and, in this writer's opinion after having read the Chronicle twice, "All These Lives are Fit to Ruin" may be one of the best stories Abraxas has written thus far.
Star Trek Online producer blog explains early choices made in development
One of the massively multiplayer online titles eagerly awaited by sci-fi fans is Star Trek Online, currently in development at Cryptic Studios. Star Trek Online's executive producer Craig Zinkievich has written a dev blog for MMORPG.com titled "Focusing the Experience." Zinkievich discusses that initial excitement the Cryptic Studios team had when they obtained the license to create Star Trek Online, and the process of deciding what the IP's MMO universe should encompass. This was no small task. The Star Trek universe spans decades across multiple television incarnations and film, so the challenge wasn't so much about what to include, but what not to include while making sure that the setting is fleshed out. The developers asked themselves how they could make the MMO universe of Star Trek Online a place where there's more to being part of the setting than energizing transporters all day. And how to incorporate the roles of characters seen in Star Trek television and film into the MMO?
Aion video tour shows off the Altgard zone
A number of fantasy MMO gamers who are looking for an aerial twist on combat, or simply the ability to soar, are looking forward to Aion: The Tower of Eternity. The latest title from NCsoft is expected to release sometime in Fall 2009, and the developer has been releasing a series of zone tour videos to stoke people's interest in the game. The latest video NCsoft has released shows off the Altgard Zone, with panoramic otherworldly scenes of the world's surface and even its subterranean depths. If you're interested in seeing Aion's Altgard, we've got a YouTube embed of the video for you below the cut.
Facebook users get first peek at EVE 'Apocrypha' video
Facebook users got a first look at the in-game video opening for EVE Online's next expansion, Apocrypha, earlier today. The narration explains a fundamental aspect of the game's lore, that as a capsuleer in EVE, you're essentially an immortal and often viewed as a demigod. But in the game's setting of New Eden, you're faced with others of your caliber, individuals as driven to succeed and rule as you are. No further details about the new features in Apocrypha are revealed in the video, aside from a superimposed iris and wormhole. Unfortunately a download or embed isn't available at the time of writing, but a working cut of the footage can be viewed on the EVE Online Facebook page.
Wii Warm Up: Underused ideas
We see a lot of games in which you race cars or karts, play as some sort of soldier or agent (sometimes in space), or a young man with a large weapon of some sort, which he and his friends must use to stave off impending doom. You get the idea, and you know the patterns. But what would you like to see that isn't used a lot? Through out your creative settings or ideas. Arctic regions? Werewolves? Mowing lawns? Oh, wait, we did that.
EVE Online getting audio revamp
The music in a massively multiplayer online game tends to be an unappreciated aspect of the gameplay experience. When we play games we primarily notice the visual. Although the ambient sound surrounding us helps set the tone, it's almost always less commented upon. This is a shame because there really is some excellent music that's created for these games. EVE Online is a game that has some rather unique music that, for some, fits the galactic setting of New Eden. But still, a number of EVE players opt to turn the music off and play to their own soundtrack. EVE players who are really into the music that permeates the game will love the latest dev blog from CCP RealX. He details how he's created the game's music in the past, both in terms of hardware and software, as well as his approach to his work. RealX says, "I tried to make use of the panning as a compositional element, making swells and sweeps come up from behind and sweep past the listener." But he's looking to make EVE's music a bit more engaging as time goes on, giving more players less of a reason to disable the sound in favor of their own iTunes library, stating "what doesn't grow must wither and die."
EVE illustrator breathes a dark, gritty life into the game's setting
Writer Annalee Newitz from the sci-fi centric io9 blog recently took a look at some of EVE Online's memorable artwork, by Icelandic concept designer B. Börkur Eiríksson (apparently also known as "Nag" according to The Art of EVE book). Börkur has been the Lead Artist/Illustrator at CCP Games since 2004, imbuing New Eden's futuristic backstory with his very dark, gritty style that really helps set the tone. On Börkur's "Industra" -- a depiction of a gloomy, burn out industrial city -- Newitz writes, "This image of a future city... feels to me like some anachronistic mashup of impressionist art and science fiction. The people in their hats and bonnets look almost nineteenth century..."io9 has a sampling of Börkur's artwork, but his online gallery -- Björn Börkur Eiríksson: Industrium -- is the prime place to find numerous examples of his work, divided between Concepts/Illustrations and Sketches/Speedpaints. EVE Online fans will recognize much of this artwork, which has been featured alongside fiction appearing in E-ON magazine and the official site's Chronicles over the years. If you're a fan of unidealized depictions of the future -- hell, if you just liked Blade Runner -- you'll probably appreciate the artwork of B. Börkur Eiríksson. [Via CrazyKinux]
