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H1Z1 graphics programmer hints at other weather types
SOE Graphics Programmer Ryan Favale is the target of a new H1Z1 video. In it, he discusses the games that he's playing, notable bugs, and his role on the upcoming zombie sandbox. Favale said that he's primarily working on the dynamic weather system. "That's my main job on H1Z1, to bring as many weather conditions and effects and environmental immersion as possible," Favale said. He teased the possibility of hurricanes, tornadoes, and dust storms, but didn't promise that they'd make them into the game. You can watch the video after the break.
Justin Olivetti07.12.2014
DC Universe Online dev weighs pros and cons of recent update
Lead Content Designer Donovan Kennedy has a new dev blog up on Gamasutra in which he breaks down the challenges the team faced with DC Universe Online's recent Amazon Fury Part 1 DLC pack. He first identified three "strengths" of the DLC: helpful early internal feedback, cool story missions, and the opportunity to visit familiar locations. "These missions were right on target and players have given overwhelmingly positive feedback-not just on the cool game mechanics, but also for Wonder Woman and Circe's personalities really supporting their personal objectives and how they interact with the other Amazons," Kennedy wrote. On the flip side, Kennedy said that the studio over-planned the map, needed more internal playtesting, and got pushback from players not always happy that they had to learn new combat mechanics for a couple of the missions. He was especially apologetic about pushing out an update that wasn't fully polished: "When Amazon Fury was pushed out to our public test server, there were a few glaring bugs that came back to bite us (after they were found by players -- ouch!)."
Justin Olivetti07.11.2014
Star Wars Galaxies lead designer passes away
Massively is saddened by the news that veteran MMO designer Ben Hanson has passed away, according to a recent tweet by friend and fellow designer Raph Koster. Koster and Hanson worked together on Star Wars Galaxies's Jump to Lightspeed expansion, on which Hanson was the lead content designer. In addition to working at SOE, Hanson worked with Simutronics, Origin, ArenaNet, and Digital Anvil during his long career. Our deepest condolences go out to Ben Hanson's family and friends.
Shawn Schuster07.11.2014
EverQuest II throws bonus XP weekend, extends summer promotion
EverQuest II is opening up the throttle on in-game promotions this month, as Executive Producer Holly Longdale announced on Twitter that the game will be host to a double XP weekend from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening. In addition to that, EverQuest II is extending its Gear Up, Level Up promotion through the end of July. During this period, players will get bonus Etyma and a discount on the upcoming expansion. Subscribers are treated to even more goodies, including a 25% XP bonus and a discount on purchasing heroic characters.
Justin Olivetti07.10.2014
SOE teases H1Z1's dynamic weather
We all know that the most important thing to your MMO immersions when you're neck-deep in zombies and dastardly corpse-looting player-killers is whether you can wear a t-shirt in a blizzard with impunity. Worry not, roleplay fiends, for SOE has today teased its dynamic weather system for upcoming survival MMO H1Z1 via a septet of screenshots that show the effect of changing seasons on the environment. Enjoy!
Bree Royce07.10.2014
Landmark contest winners enshrined in game world
The vaunted Landmarks of Landmark Competition is over, and the player architects who out-designed the rest have secured a spot in special claims across the game world. These structures will be retained for and used when the game goes live. The contest winners' displays are one part of a modest-sized patch for Landmark that was released today. The patch also added customizable keybindings, Marketplace recommendations, and new craftable outfits that come in various colors (mmm... minty).
Justin Olivetti07.10.2014
SOE Live player panels include support for military gamers
SOE Live posted its list of player panels today for its convention, with topics ranging from supporting military gamers to fansite management. The full list is as follows: Friday, August 15 11:00 am - 12:00 pm -– EQ2U & Dragon's Armory 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm –- Live Together, Die Alone: Surviving H1Z1 as a Group 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm –- Inter-Outfit Operations in PS2 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm –- Become Your Character: Tricks and Tips for Cosplay 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm –- Military Gamers: Taking Care of Each Other Saturday, August 16 10:00 am - 11:00 am -– Social Media/Steaming & Fansites 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm -– Effective Guild and League Management 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm –- Improving Your EverQuest 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm –- DCUO – Advanced Raid Tactics 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm –- The New Conglomerate 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm -– Hardcore Decorating in EQII 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm –- EQII Game Macros, ACT Triggers, and You!
Justin Olivetti07.08.2014
SOE trademarks The Darkened Sea and Altar of Malice
Two names sit on an onyx altar. You tip-toe up to them and gaze upon their majesty. There is no explanation, no revelation, just words sitting in a void. This is both tantalizing in the possibilities and maddening in the silence, causing you to clutch your fists and whisper, "What do they mean?" These words are "The Darkened Sea" and "Altar of Malice," and they are names trademarked by SOE this past week. Past the titles themselves and a description as "downloadable RPGs," we know nothing else, although they sound very much like expansion names for MMOs in SOE's library. The names were trademarked on July 2nd in California.
Justin Olivetti07.07.2014
Landmark video goes spelunking in caves
Caves are boring, right? WRONG! Well, wrong if you're in Landmark, at least. Caves are a relatively new and unfinished feature to the game, and in a new video, the developers attempt to explain what makes them an exciting part of the exploration process. Landmark's caves are layered on top of each other, with each cave system corresponding to the surface biome. Right now, players can delve into only the first tier of caves, but in the future they'll be able to go as far as three tiers down in the search for treasure and crafting mats. You can watch the full developer video after the jump!
Justin Olivetti07.05.2014
Norrathian Notebook: Building EverQuest Next in Landmark
From the first surprise announcement of Landmark at SOE Live last year, fans have been interested to know how exactly that sandbox would tie into the much anticipated EverQuest Next. In big bold letters on the main site, the devs declare, "EverQuest Next is still in development... and you can help us build it!" So how exactly is that going to come to pass? Through Landmark. Landmark might be a separate game in and of itself, but players can actually build structures there that might one day be gracing the landscape of EQN. At first, we knew only that those structures would be judged and picked through contests. However, with May's racial Round Table vote and the recent implementation of The Workshop, the actual process has begun. And you can get in on it right now!
MJ Guthrie07.03.2014
EverQuest II producer letter outlines summer plans
July and August will be a busy time for EverQuest II, if a recent producer's letter is to be believed. Starting this month, more items have been added to the status point merchants, special summer ethereal weapons have been included, Tinkerfest will return, an Aerakyn legend quest will challenge players, and a new instance called Ages End: The Final Chapter will provoke all kinds of mystery. SOE is also running a sale from July 3rd through the 8th on previous holiday items and other store goodies. Then when we hit August, EQII players will have more loyalty items, a Nexus duo challenge instance, more moonlight enchantments, and status point XP bonus days to enjoy.
Justin Olivetti07.02.2014
DC Universe Online adding League Halls this summer
Just because reruns dominate the TV during the summer doesn't mean that geeks need to submit to rehashed entertainment during these months. Why, DCUO has canceled the annual family road trip to pump out a new DLC that's coming later this summer, just to keep everyone happy. The game's 11th DLC is called Halls of Power Part 1, and it will send player heroes into a new saga looking back at the ancient past in the Fourth World. The DCUO dev team is creating five additional raids, alerts, and operations to go with the update, and players will have six new skill points to earn. However, the crown jewel of Halls of Power Part 1 is the implementation of League Halls, which looks to be DCUO's answer to guild housing. League Halls will be added shortly before the DLC for free to all players. [Source: SOE press release]
Justin Olivetti07.02.2014
H1Z1 releases E3 gameplay demo
Unless you were personally at E3, you didn't get to see the H1Z1 gameplay demo shown to the media, but SOE rectifies that injustice today with a new video in which Senior Designer Jimmy Whisenhunt walks viewers through a version of the same demo shown at the con. Clocking in at over 11 minutes, the video demonstrates resource acquisition, crafting, driving, scavenging, archery, dynamic weather, and more gameplay elements. You know -- killin' baddies, choppin' trees, just a day in the life of a dude with a rusty jeep and a zombie plague chasing him down.
Bree Royce06.30.2014
SOE Live schedule has been posted
Today's the last day for SOE Live 2014 early bird registration. Still on the fence about attending? Not sure if there will be enough awesome events there to justify your presence? Good news, then; the official schedule has been posted, so you can figure out exactly what's going down and when. Fan site EQ2Wire has highlighted the general events as well as the material specific to EverQuest Next, EverQuest II, and Landmark. Landmark players will enjoy the largest number of events, including a special mega-build event on Thursday and a panel explaining how the game will interact with EverQuest Next. There will also be details about the next EverQuest II expansion, previews of combat for EQN and Landmark, and plenty of community Q&A sessions. Take a gander at the full schedule if you need a little more information to justify your attendance.
Eliot Lefebvre06.30.2014
SOE explains PlanetSide 2 patch scheduling
Have you ever wondered why MMO studios patch their games when and how they do? Well, wonder no more, at least in PlanetSide 2's case. SOE producer David Carey recently took to Reddit to explain why the MMOFPS' server downtime typically starts during European prime time. PS2 is a worldwide game, Carey says, and so bringing the EU shards down independently isn't feasible. "We can't have multiple client or server versions out in the wild at the same time," he explains. "Another reason is that we update once a week or more on average," Carey continues. "We need people to run the patches, so we really can't just say 'hey you guys are working overnight tonight and maybe two other nights this week, we'll let you know.' I mean, they have families and that's just not fair. So that rules out some time slots like 2:00 a.m. local other than for emergencies."
Jef Reahard06.30.2014
H1Z1 working hard on Steam early access prep
SOE Technical Director Tom Schenck penned the first dev blog for H1Z1 yesterday, saying that the team is in overdrive preparing the title for its debut on Steam Early Access. However, in regard to a specific date as to when H1Z1 will be publicly available, Schenck wasn't sharing. Schenck said that the team is strongly focusing on getting the antagonists to look and play the part: "High priority on our Early Access feature list is polishing group behavior and tuning Emergent AI systems to the entire ecosystem. Our AI team is going nuts regulating interactions for all of the NPC characters in the game including zombies, deer, wolves, and more." Other stated priorities for the team right now include fine tuning melee combat, maxing out performance, and bug hunting.
Justin Olivetti06.28.2014
PlanetSide 2's Hossin update is live but not entirely done
PlanetSide 2 players are today logging into the Hossin patch, a major update with a new continent with more than 80 new bases in a new biome. The update includes the first phase of the new continent locking mechanic for territory control and perks for guilds -- sorry, outfits -- including new recruiting, decal, and capturing systems. Creative Director Matt Higby warns, however, that "Hossin is not finished": If we wanted to "finish" Hossin without sacrificing the quality level we've established, it would probably be 3 months before it was ready to go live - we don't want to wait that long, and we don't think you want to either. [...] Right now about 50% of the bases on Hossin are "done" to the point that we're completely satisfied with the quality of the level design and visuals, about 25% of the bases are first pass [...] and another 25% are [placeholders]. We expect these bases to function correctly, provide all the necessary utilities to make the game work - they're just not 100% up to our standards of level design quality quite yet. Higby calls this the "Early Expedition" approach and says the teams will continue work on the "beta" continent over the next few months. [Thanks, theKavorka.]
Bree Royce06.26.2014
EverQuest Next's vampires will not sparkle
In the latest EverQuest Next roundtable video, SOE Senior Brand Manager Omeed Dariani and Lead Content Designer Steve Danuser team up to offer a counterpart to the villain vote from earlier in June, when players voted Ambassador D'Vinn into the game. This week, the studio focuses on other iconic franchise characters. While Danuser and Dariani note that all the characters mentioned will be present in the game or at least its lore, some will find themselves in new roles since EverQuest Next is a reboot of the franchise, not a chronological continuation of past storytelling. Lucan D'Lere, for example, will still be associated with Freeport, but he might make different life choices this time around. But it was the Dark Elf vampire Leone who won the poll because, well, EverQuest players. Danuser promises that the rebooted version of Leone and his friends will not sparkle. Finally, this is apparently the last edition of these roundtable videos. Future episodes, SOE says, will be rolled into the team's Workshop Show livestreams.
Bree Royce06.21.2014
SOE relies on players to report inappropriate posts
If you see something, SOE definitely wants you to say something. EverQuest II CM Linda Carlson responded to a post on EQ2Wire to say that the studio depends on its players to help police the "meeelions" of comments in its forums. "Unless we are actually perusing the forums when something comes up, we do indeed rely on players helping to keep the forum community a reasonable and comfortable place to post by reporting disruptive or inappropriate posts," Carlson said. Carlson went on to give advice on how to constructively post on forums and avoid unnecessary conflict with other posters, including "Never post angry. Never post drunk." and "Two trolls do not make a right."
Justin Olivetti06.19.2014
Smedley plays H1Z1 on Steam, talks early access
John Smedley tells Reddit that he has played H1Z1 on Steam. "It's our first step toward early access launch," he writes, though the date is still up in the air. "We don't mean to be coy about the date," he says. "We just realized after that initial date it would be smarter to announce it after our feature list was complete. So expect to hear more on the date fairly soon." Smedley also mentions a few features that the dev team is currently working on, including bow crafting, "shooting a deer in the eye with the bow," and more. [Header image by H1Z1Jane via SOE]
Jef Reahard06.19.2014