stargate-worlds
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SGW builder describes the challenges of making an MMO
French Stargate SG-1/Atlantis fan site Stargate Fusion landed an interview with Stargate Worlds world builder Josh Kurtz. The interview understandably represents a Stargate SG-1 fan's interests more than it does those of a gamer, but presumably if you're interested in SGW at this early point in development you're already a fan of the franchise to begin with.Kurtz talked about the relationship the SGW team has with the producers of the TV series and about the rules the team follows to make sure they stay faithful to the source material. He also described the challenges of making an MMO, saying "the MMO market is a dangerous place because to be honest the exploration of how to build one and what will make a good one has only just begun."He's confident (of course) that the team at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment is going to be able to rise up to the occasion and produce a top tier game.[Via WarCry]
Yet another Stargate Worlds interview, this time with actual details
There have been a couple talks with Stargate Worlds devs or reps this past week. There was the live chat last Friday, and then there was the Kevin Balentine interview at WarCry that we wrote about yesterday. Some vague revelations were made, but both instances were light on details.Well, there was another interview this week, this time at MMOsite.com, and we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of information contained within. Kevin Balentine listed several of the races and classes and explained character advancement and combat a little bit. For example, Goa'uld characters include "the classic Goa'uld with minions, the stealth-oriented Ashrak and a combat-oriented Goa'uld." The floodgates of information still aren't completely open, though; the rest of the interview was the same fluff we've been seeing time and again.Oh, and Balentine assures us that beta time is "rapidly approaching." So that's kind of exciting.
Stratics interviews Stargate Worlds' Kevin Balentine
When Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment revealed back in March that it would be outsourcing some of its game design jobs for Stargate Worlds, a lot of people took that as a bad sign. Outsourcing game design? That's kind of like the Conan O'Brien sketch in which Conan absurdly outsourced the show's writing to India (though, if the WGA strike keeps going for too long, you never know what might happen).Stratics interviewed Kevin Balentine this week, and he defended the decision to outsource design by saying that it cuts back on a lot of the detail-oriented busywork that consumes lead designers' time, so that time can be spent designing more unique, story-based missions or quests. Maybe that will alleviate some people's fears. The interview is fairly short, but Balentine also talks about instancing, squad-based combat, and a couple of other things.
Stargate Worlds dev chat is not entirely without new info
Information about Stargate Worlds is oh-so-sparse. That's why we were excited to hear that MMORPG.com was to host a live chat with several of the developers behind the game. The chat happened yesterday and we did get some juicy details on a few things. Player quests will be tied into the story line. We're guessing they'll be similar Lord of the Rings Online's quests. Also, quests can be acquired through means other than talking to NPCs. The game's puzzle system allows archaeologists and scientists to level up in their fields outside of combat.And yes, it's been confirmed that the character advancement is level-based. A fan asked whether it was level or skill-based and the developer didn't even understand what the fan meant by "skill-based." If only the MMO industry could remember the days before EverQuest! The developers consistently dodged questions like "what makes Stargate Worlds better or unique compared to competing games" by either saying "it's Stargate" or, well ... that's pretty much it. Even when they were asked a question along the lines of "what makes this game special, and don't say anything about it being Stargate," they still sneakily fell back on "it's Stargate."They did say that the combat system is unique because it's influenced by squad-based shooters, but even that sounds strangely familiar. Hopefully we'll see some more promising info come up as Cheyenne gets further along in SGW's development cycle. In the mean time, read the vagueness that is the chat log or the summary article.
Stargate Worlds features crafting tech trees, may see Atlantis expansion
Warcry caught up with Cheyenne Mountain's PR guy, Kevin Balentine, at E for All and drew a few answers out of him about the company's upcoming title Stargate Worlds. Balentine mostly played it close to his chest, but even though he spent some time covering stuff we already knew about the Goa'Uld, we did learn a few things.He talked about the challenges of adapting the Unreal Engine for use in an MMO. He then described crafting, which will apparently have players upgrading their gear with selections from different tech trees that correspond to the major races. Also, Cheyenne hopes to add new gate addresses on a regular basis, and to change the world(s) over time so that playing through from level one might be a very different experience the second or third time around.And the most interesting revelation? The lost city of Atlantis may be part of the first expansion!Real or deep specifics on all this stuff were sparse, but we're still a ways off from launch so that's no surprise. Read the full interview if any of the above piqued your interest. Warcry got a hold of a couple new screenshots as well.
Let's talk about Goa'Uld baby
When MMORPG.com sat down with Kevin Ballentine, Marketing Manager for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, to discuss the making of Stargate Worlds, they were determined to string us along a little before they gave us the real skinny on the game. Luckily we only had to wait a week before the bulk of information began to pour through. And by bulk of information, I mean Kevin shed some serious light on the race we know as the Goa'Uld. In SGW we can expect a reformed Goa'Uld, a people who had dropped the goody-two-shoes act and have tipped their hand, as it were. It doesn't mean that they aren't up to the same old tricks, it simply means that these baddies are just plain behaving badly. Refreshing, isn't it? Where they used to sit on high issuing orders from overly ornate Egyptian thrones, in the MMO you will see that they are not above getting their hands dirty, so the Goa'Uld will definitely be more participatory in their own maniacal schemes. Sounds like good times will be had by none, unless some heroes step up to defend what's right in the universe.
Stargate Worlds release date announced
Ten Ton Hammer has released a small tidbit from their cash of news after talking with Kevin Ballentine, the marketing director for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment. So far, the only piece of info they are letting slip through is the fact that Stargate Worlds finally has a release date:We've got a playable version of the game inside of our building. I'm not prepared to release our beta schedule yet, but I can say that we're going to be releasing the game in the fourth quarter of next year. You can do the math and figure out when our beta program will be.So my guess is we will be seeing a beta in the near future, but really anything goes in the beta business. I am wondering exactly how they are going to pull such a massive concept off. I mean, exactly how many Stargates are there in the universe? Yeah, I thought so. This is going to be one huge world.
Are we all just here to grind?
I don't often look to the Hollywood Reporter for, well, anything. So when I read an article talking about MMOs, I was a little skeptical. But as it turns out they have some interesting things to say about WoW and the MMO market. Most of the article is a large advertisement for Mesa Studios' latest endeavor, Stargate Worlds, but being that WoW is the top dog in MMOs today, they spend a lot of time talking about what makes WoW successful. They say that the grinding element is, in part, one of the reasons that players keep playing World of Warcraft. Now, Mr. Ybarra, the gentleman from Stargate Worlds sounds as if he doesn't have much experience with WoW as an actual game when he says this: The paradigm for customer retention at 'WoW' and most of the other MMOGs is to build a game that takes the player 2,000 hours to reach Level 500...
