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Ever, Jane updates on test builds and the ever-lost hankie
Yes, there is a hankie to worry about in the latest development build of Ever, Jane. Mrs. Hatch's hankie, to be specific. She's lost it before, she's lost it again, and it's up to players to retrieve it, assuming they'd like to curry favor with Mrs. Hatch. The build also adds a number of endgame raiding systems, by which we of course mean the first pass of the game's gossip and sleuthing system, key to the overall social experience of the game. Essentially, the gossip system allows you to craft a few different potential responses to NPCs and to track what other characters are saying about your character. This means that in addition to assassinating or bolstering the reputations of others, you can also try to sort out your own reputation for good or for ill. Take a look at the full update for an explanation of the system, future updates, and other improvements in the most recent build.
Massively's Third Annual Frindie Awards
It's time once again for me to throw out my awards for the best of free-to-play, indie, and oddball MMOs, a real niche-within-a-niche. It might seem that I am assigned many of these titles as though I were some modern day Mikey, but the truth is that I get a huge thrill out of finding a new game but get even more of a thrill when I realize that no one is covering it. I had to really think hard about the criteria for the awards this year, mainly because "indie" is quickly becoming one of those often hard-to-define words, alongside "MMORPG" and "free-to-play." Fortunately, I think I know it when I see it. I kept my choices to games that I have actually played this year. I wanted to avoid games that appear to be really cool. If you want a more broad batch of prizes, check out Massively's best of awards. (Side note: I voted for Defiance as my game of the year.) These awards are for games that are being created on a shoestring or independent of massive budgets. Some of them are connected to some money, of course, but instead of trying to define "indie," I will only repeat: You'll know it when you see it.
Women are a major marketing target for Ever, Jane
Maybe you're not quite the target market for Ever, Jane. You may not like the works of Jane Austen, for example; that would be a major deterrent. But according to project head Judy L. Tyrer, one of the major areas she wants to target is the women's market, which she feels is neglected by companies as a whole. She feels that one of the major failings of game companies is failing to realize how large the game market is for women. Tyrer goes into more depth about the game's mechanics, noting that what appealed to her as a designer was the rigid stratification of social classes in Austen's work. Social movement is a major element of the gameplay, with most of players' time devoted to attending balls and gossiping about one another. No word on endgame raids against Mister Darcy or whether or not wit will be seen as an overpowered stat.
Ever, Jane meets Kickstarter goal
Good news, Austenites: Your shared dream of a backstabbing dinner party MMO is one step closer to coming true today as Ever, Jane has met its Kickstarter goal. "Thank you all so, so much!" Lead Developer Annabel Smyth gushed. "I can't quite put into words what I feel right now -- overjoyed, overwhelmed, over... over the moon, if you'll forgive the cliché. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The Jane Austen-themed title passed its $100,000 funding goalpost just before its campaign month was finished. The team said that while it will continue to run the free prototype, the weeks ahead will be concentrated on setting up an account system, establishing funding stretch goals, and hosting in-game end-of-year parties.
Sixteen games that ease the MMO level gap -- and how they do it
There's nothing I hate more than logging into an MMO, running across a friend, and being hit by the wall of levels that separates us. She might act as if she's OK hanging out with a newbie, but the truth is that she'd rather be off doing high-level things with her high-level buddies. If only there were a way for us to jump into combat (or anything else) together from the get-go! In many MMOs, that level gap is not an issue. There are a lot of creative ways to get around the problem, and some MMOs meet players more than halfway. Of course, there are a lot of MMOs that force players into a level-encased tunnel of grind, but today we want to shine some light on some of the ways MMOs help salve the level gap sting.
Jane Austen MMO looks for funds and decorum
Say goodbye to swords and sorcery, and say hello to gossip and high society relationships! Ever, Jane, a social MMO that takes inspiration from the works of Jane Austen, is looking to raise funds through a Kickstarter project. Ever, Jane puts players into prim and proper avatars who build stories, gossip against each other, explore family connections, and go to dinner parties. Mini-games are there to flesh out the challenge of navigating this type of life and include sewing, ballroom dancing, and puzzles. 3 Turn Productions is attempting to raise $100,000 to get the modest MMO off the ground by May 2014. Currently there's a downloadable prototype available to tinker with, so give it a whirl and see if it's worth your investment dollars. [Thanks to Sharvis for the tip!]
MMObility: How Facebook's recent changes affect MMOs
As you might be aware, Facebook is officially changing its policy on how an embedded MMO interacts with the famous social network. I'm no fan of reading through lines of policy changes and attempting to interpret them exactly, namely because reading about changes and fully experiencing them are two different things. Both can lead to different conclusions, as well. I want to know how these changes affect MMO developers. I would also like to clear up what Facebook is. I've covered it many times before, but there is always a section of players and readers who have no idea or have only heard what Facebook is and what it does. To many of them, Facebook is FarmVille and spam, period. While I will not deny the existence of either of those things, I'd rather take this week to break down what Facebook is to developers, how it actually works, and how recent changes might affect players like yours truly who enjoy playing games through, on, or by utilizing Facebook.
Rise and Shiny: IMVU
I can see now what many of you might say about IMVU, especially after watching the embedded video. I know that many players will find the game, the world, and the virtual social connection nothing but an excuse for strangers to get together to talk dirty. As soon as I saw the game, I knew that it was trying to cover a few different bases, but I never worried about the appearance of virtual sex or sleazy creeps. Remember, I've been playing Second Life since 2004, and even that world is horribly misrepresented when someone says it's "nothing but virtual sex." That's simply not true. IMVU is a much more stripped-down social experience than Second Life, but it still holds its own. I actually found myself enjoying the heck out of certain aspects probably because I like a game to actually work as promised. IMVU runs in a browser-like environment but still looks respectable most of the time. I am as surprised as anyone that I had a darn good time.
Previously on MV TV: The week of September 15th
Ah, what a week in livestreaming for the Massively crew! Luckily, no one was discouraged by the fact that I was unable to stream my usual amount because I was waiting on a new PC to arrive. What brave soldiers, what fearless souls! I begged them to go on without me, and... well, they did. Pretty easily, actually. Be sure to bookmark our livestream schedule page so you won't miss another! Anyway, what did we do on to stream? Well, tons of stuff. I took some of the very best streams from last week and assembled them in one easy-to-swallow pill. All you have to do is sit back, relax, and watch the wackiness! Like what? Like Richie taking on some more Guild Wars 2 in beautiful HD; MJ leaping bravely into The Secret World, EverQuest II, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, City of Heroes and Aion; and Mike PvPing in EVE Online and World of Tanks. I rounded things off with my one stream of the week: a look at IMVU, a social MMO for those who really, really like to go goth.
Rise and Shiny: There
I remember years ago staying up very late, usually on the weekends, chatting about politics or religion in a wonderful social MMO called There. My wife and I would join a bunch of online friends to haunt parties and other gatherings, often getting booted out because we would bring up sensitive topics or would act too silly. There was a great world to cut my social MMO teeth on. I had already been playing Ultima Online and EverQuest starting around '99, but There was a brand-new experience. I loved it. Social MMOs are a rare thing, often ruled by half-naked people and driven by mature themes. While There did have its "private parties" (if you know what I mean), it was generally a friendly place with a better creeps-to-normal-people ratio than other social MMOs. The game shut down in 2010, and I honestly thought it was gone forever. Somehow I missed the fact that it relaunched not so long ago, and this past week I was able to not only log in to the game but resurrect my avatar from all those years ago. Unfortunately, the game seems largely empty, but I do normally visit MMOs during the day. Still, I took a few screenshots and compared them to older ones just to show how things have changed. What a week. What a nostalgic, wonderful week.
Rise and Shiny: Knight Age
Knight Age is an adorable new Anime MMO brought to us by Joymax. I want to emphasize the word adorable because the game is perfectly designed to illicit a reaction that is something along the lines of "Awww, look how cute that is! My head is explo.." and it really does have that effect. In fact I love the graphics of Knight Age so much that I would give anything to see an MMO developed that looks like Knight Age yet has the hardcore ruleset of, say, a Wurm Online or Darkfall. Yes, I am entirely serious. Strange how many players tend to think that "serious" or "hardcore" titles need serious or machine-taxing graphics. That's simply not true; just ask a World of Warcraft raider. The point is that the graphics of Knight Age are one of my favorite things in the entire universe. The characters are chunky and solid, the animations are smooth, and the game runs like butter. Does this mean I do not like more realistic graphics? No, it means that I like all sorts of graphics and all sorts of gameplay. It's possible for a writer to enjoy different things. I know, crazy huh? But what does Knight Age offer other than amazingly awww-rific graphics? Some interesting gameplay, that's what, and a soft grind. Allow me to explain.
E3 2012: Dragon Eternity's cross-platform warfare and weddings
Harken back, o reader, to ye olden days of E3 2012, if thou canst recall, as a great and powerful force of dragons has arrived among us. OK, so E3 wasn't that long ago (although it often feels like it), but something dragon-like has certainly surfaced: During the expo, I saw an impressive demo of Dragon Eternity, a cross-platform fantasy MMO from Game Insight, and as of this morning, the embargo on all the details of that demo has finally lifted. Hit the break and I'll tell you all about it!
Zynga's CastleVille hopes to enter MMO territory
Zynga, maker of social games FarmVille and CityVille, has declared its intention to take the plunge into the MMO market with a new game: CastleVille. "Zynga is bringing massively multiplayer role-playing games to the mass market," creative director Bill Jackson announced from Zynga's San Francisco HQ. What game mechanics justify calling the game an MMO? According to Jackson: You can build your castle, show it to your friends, and craft things like potions or armor. You can follow the game's story and its characters. You can trade and barter with friends by visiting their towns. And you have to defend your town against beasts who are outside the walls. The game has more personalized storytelling; players explore the world around them. You meet characters and make them happy and unlock new characters as you progress. Chief executive Mark Pincus echoed his company's bold plans: "We want to give you more of a World of Warcraft feeling, but packaged up in something you can understand in three clicks and five or 15 minutes."
E3 2011: Lucent Heart's charming social experimentation
Recently, we took a look at Lucent Heart and found a game that was interesting but slightly confusing. Sure, the game offered some standard questing and interesting systems, but overall our experience barely scraped the surface. Described as a "social MMO," Lucent Heart features some very different systems that are normally only found in other community-heavy games like Nexon's Mabinogi. If someone plays it expecting only kill-10-rats-style gameplay, he will easily miss half of the appeal of the title. At this year's E3, we sat down with Gamania, publisher and developer of Lucent Heart, to clear up the details behind some of these... different systems. The publisher has 1,500 employees world-wide and is headquartered in Taiwan, with branch offices in Hong Kong, China, and Korea. The Japanese U.S. office started in 2009 and previously published a game called Hero 108, which is currently on hold pending a revamp. Click past the cut and see what we talked about!
MMObility: Travians and socializing on any device
Last week I told you a little bit about Travians, a neat little mobile- and browser-based game brought to us by the same good people who brought us Travian. (Notice the singular title of Travian, the island-based MMORTS.) I was intrigued as soon as I saw it mainly because it looked like it was doing something different: creating a mostly non-combat experience that is so very rare in today's market. I had also a lot of experience with Travian before, and despite not enjoying some of the aspects of the game, I enjoyed playing with friends. I hoped that Travians would allow a player to insert a single avatar into the greater world of Travian islands, and that's sort of what you do. If you have played The Sims before, you'll have a basic idea about the what you have to do in Travians. You must point your little person to the bathroom, aim him toward a food source, and even tuck him into bed. Your character won't die or wet the floor if you don't perform successfully, but he will lose some ability to gain experience and other points. If you have enjoyed a conversation while in an online game, found yourself crafting away an evening, or spent a great deal of time decorating your virtual home, you'll have a basic idea about the optional activities in Travians. Click past the cut and I'll tell you more! %Gallery-124785%
Outspark details Seven Dragons browser MMORTS
There's a new MMO in the Outspark stable, and the creators of Divine Souls and Fiesta are branching out with its latest release. Seven Dragons is a browser-based real-time strategy title built on questing, character development, resource building, and PvP battles. Seven Dragons features three combat modes with wildland monster hunting, player city invasions, and arena combat making up the majority of the game's armed conflict. Being an MMO and RTS hybrid, Seven Dragons also boasts city building, resource management, and of course, the chance to match wits with the titular wyrms. Check out the game guide on the official Outspark website, and start playing for free in the browser of your choice.
First Impressions: Gunshine
Gunshine is a good example of a game that will probably be lumped into the "Facebook game" category. I bring this up only because the game uses Facebook as a vehicle for its content, yet it also takes advantage of some of the social aspects of the network. The truth is that it launches in its own window, so really it's as much of a "Facebook game" as Free Realms is. Many MMORPGs of all shapes and sizes use Facebook's social tools occasionally at the same level that Gunshine does. So let's be clear: There is no farming or coin-clicking in Gunshine. It is simply a top-down shooter, and a cute one at that. While I soloed most of the time in the game, I was aided by the occasional extra player or rented NPC mercenary. What I found was a game that has a lot of potential, makes great use of Flash, and is a good amount of fun. But I found plenty of issues as well. Join me past the cut and I'll tell you about it.
A Tale in the Desert launches Tale 5 today
For all that the MMO industry is occasionally decried as being a large gathering of copycats, there are some interesting outliers amidst a field of fantasy kill-fests. A Tale in the Desert is a prime example -- set in ancient Egypt, with a focus on character interaction and nonviolent problem resolution, it's really in a class of its own. And with the new installment of the game launching today, it's the perfect time for players who aren't familiar with the game to start mingling with newcomers. The fourth installment wrapped up in July, which makes for a quick turnaround into the newest iteration. Unlike many other games in the genre, A Tale in the Desert runs for a while, then rests and starts over with new systems in place. This installment is featuring new Foraging and Aquaculture mechanics, allowing new ways to harvest plants and the ability to grow papyrus. The game is free for the first 24 hours of play, and each iteration tends to last for around six months. If the idea of a combat-free, crafting-focused game appeals to you, now would be the perfect time to head out into the lands of the Pharaoh.
Rumor: Blizzard's next MMO to be an MMOFPS
Yep, another MMO rumor for you guys about the Blizzard's next title. While Blizzard has been very adamant in saying that their next MMO would be very different from World of Warcraft, there might be more difference here than just the game's setting. The French gaming site NoFrag is reporting that Blizzard's next game will include an FPS portion as well as a social portion, splitting the player between two systems. While the player will be able to meet people, chat, and make friends in the social area of the game, they will also be able to then launch into the FPS portion with their friends and battle over objectives. Adding this to the widely spread rumor that this next game is going to be a sci-fi title and Kaplan's hints that the game might be hitting consoles? We have a feeling we might be looking at a cyberpunk setting here, if players are switching between two "modes" of play. The social play would be set in the real world while the FPS would be set in a virtual landscape. But, of course, that's just our best guess. [Via Blue's News]
Civilization building MMO Dawntide sets sights on closed beta
If you ever wanted the chance to create your own society and then rule over it with an iron fist, then you may want to check out Danish developer Working As Intended's first title, Dawntide.Dawntide is taking a more experimental approach to their MMO by attempting to capture all of the Bartle gamer types in one swing -- the explorer, socializer, killer, and achiever. To that end the game is offering meaningful combat, a player driven economy, territorial ownership, item "invention" mechanics, and options for players to create their own societies. Their goal in having players create societies is a hope that this type of play will offer options for everyone -- the socializer to create traction for their government, the explorer to find suitable areas of land, the achiever to push forwards with new ideas and items, and the killer to protect or upend these ideals.Dawntide has just opened up their applications for phase one of closed beta, and you can get into the ground floor by filling out the form on their main website.
