This week in MMO crowdfunding, it’s been superhero insanity, and I don’t even mean City of Heroes. We got updates from Ship of Heroes and Heroes and Villains, but also City of Titans. In fact, the Titans crew dropped some exclusive screenshots our way, showing off an enemy costume mid-way through design just ahead of the game’s appearance at Norwescon in Seattle this weekend. “It’s for an NPC mob, so it’s not as nice as player costumes, and it’s got a generic face, no hair because we’re working on the costume,” Missing Worlds Media’s Chris “Warcabbit” Hare told me. “But we are going to try to have male and female for most minions that aren’t robots or whatever.” Over in Star Citizen, the 3.5 alpha finally rolled from the PTU to the “live” servers, meaning you can roll a lady and mess around with the new AI at will, though it looks as if CIG is still open to feedback on things like … [Read more...] about Make My MMO: City of Titans’ enemy mob design, Oath’s Kickstarter, and Star Citizen 3.5
Oklahoma city land rover
EverQuest previews the city of Mearatas in the upcoming Burning Lands expansion
Let’s get real here, the duende in The Burning Lands expansion for EverQuest are not happy to have mortals around. They certainly don’t want mortals running around in their city of Mearatas, which is sort of their place to go away from mortals. But you’re going to need to get in, because that’s how these expansions go, and since they aren’t actively trying to stop you odds are that they could use some mortal help. They’ll just be pissy about accepting it. However, while they will grudgingly accept that you have a right to earn entry, they’re still keeping the doors locked when you arrive there. Fortunately for you, the efreeti have torn a hole open leading into the city, which seems like the sort of thing where you could clear out the hole to make them grateful and get into the city, doesn’t it? Check out the full preview of this gem-inspired city on the official site. … [Read more...] about EverQuest previews the city of Mearatas in the upcoming Burning Lands expansion
Here’s how Albion Online is revamping the royal cities, crafting, and faction warfare in Merlyn
Albion Online Game Director Robin Henkys has big plans for the game’s fourth major update, Merlyn. As he lays out in a new dev video, one of the key focuses of the update is that age-old problem in MMORPGs: How do you keep the core cities populated once players have moved on? Sandbox Interactive plans to make the royal continent’s cities more desirable with economic bonuses – for example, refinining bonuses (different for every town, but not in alignment with the biome the city’s in) and crafting bonuses (the forest city will grant bonuses to crafting bows). Gatherers, on the other hand, will find that the areas immediately outside the cities will have more resources of some types, with less in the more distant lands, thereby encouraging trade. Of course, there’s much more in the update; Sandbox actually considers the faction warfare changes to the be most important, and the cities factor into that too as each city will be granted a special resource and … [Read more...] about Here’s how Albion Online is revamping the royal cities, crafting, and faction warfare in Merlyn
Massively OP Interview: Dual Universe demo shows off advances in city building, space travel
When you work in video games, you often get asked what new titles you are looking forward to. While experience has been teaching me to temper my enthusiasm, I do have one that I’m excited to play. I first got to experience Dual Universe in-person at PAX West last September, and since then I’ve been eagerly anticipating its release! Why? That title pretty summed it up well: It’s a persistent, seamless, sandbox universe. More than that even, it is a hotbed of creativity thanks to its voxel foundation. So I’ve had a taste of what can happen in a world that customizable, and I hunger for more! That meeting with Jean-Christophe Baillie, the president and founder of NovaQuark, was seven months ago. How has development been coming along since then? How does the game look today? I got to sit down with Baillie for an update on progress and a new tour through the universe a few weeks ago. In my first demo, I saw promise. This time, I saw more of that promise … [Read more...] about Massively OP Interview: Dual Universe demo shows off advances in city building, space travel
Royal Quest Invites Players to the Northern Lands
1C Company is proud to announce the release of a huge content update to Royal Quest: Gateway to the North. Gone are the days of a mild Elenian afternoon, or telling tales of the Snow Island. Now you can go and explore for yourself. The North is no fairy tale; it’s real. Before King Roland ascended the throne, those who were brave and reckless often found themselves heading north. Whether they were outlaws trying not to be found, or scientists looking for something rare and valuable, slowly, the city-state of Aranta would grow among these snowy wastes. Aranta is now getting ready to join Elenia in this update. The city has become the perfect starting point for the exploration of the Northern Lands. New maps, wondrous furs, extinct animals frozen in the ice, secrets and treasures of centuries gone by! They say one can find many ancient relics in the Northern Lands – and even sources of power surpassing Elenium. All it takes is to send an expedition on a search of these … [Read more...] about Royal Quest Invites Players to the Northern Lands