What is TUG? TUG is a single and multiplayer survival sandbox game offering massive procedurally generated worlds drawing from Minecraft, Fable, Dwarf Fortress, Eve Online, and more. The game will feature many of the things you’ve come to love from a game like Minecraft, with the addition of integrated modding support, pet companions, and more. What is unique about TUG is you actually start the game off as a child, defenseless and only able to use your wits to survive. As you grow, you will be able to learn more trades, becoming an elite adventurer or a master craftsman.
Our friends over at Worlds Factory have pulled an exclusive interview with TUG developer Nerd Kingdom, and they give a good deal of discussion on the game’s mechanics and what is and is not planned for development and post release. You can check the entire interview out at the link below.
There is a sickness going around Defiance, and I’m not even talking about the Hellbug menace. Trion has launched a mini-event in Defiance that has players finding data recorders detailing a new Irathi-born disease that has spread to humans. The event is small, has no indication on when it will end, and may spiral into a larger story related to an upcoming episode of Defiance on Syfy or possibly just fizzle out and become nothing. Who knows? I certainly don’t. All I know is that I won’t be eating my pirogi in Shondu’s Consolate for a while.
MMOrning Shots is a (mostly) daily line of screenshots from various MMOs. Most are taken in-house or come to us in press releases, but if you would like your screenshot featured, send it over to contact[at]mmofallout[dot]com with the subject “MMorning Shots.”
“Interested” isn’t quite the word I would use to describe my attitude toward Blizzard’s upcoming MMO, Titan. It isn’t anything personal against the developer or the game itself, it’s just that at this early of a stage in development where everything we know about the title is from rumors and even the title itself is in codename phase, to get excited for Titan makes about as much sense as getting your hopes up for Sony Online Entertainment announcing Video Game: The Video Game. I say this because the news that Blizzard has drastically reduced the development team and has rebooted the title with a new direction and a delay until 2016 means nothing to me.
Rebooted to what? From what? I can hardly be happy or sad to see the old version go when I knew absolutely nothing about it. I’m sure that if Titan does indeed find its way to release, in some form or another, we will eventually find out what the original game was intended to be. Until then, you can’t miss what you never knew you had.
“Interested” isn’t quite the word I would use to describe my attitude toward Blizzard’s upcoming MMO, Titan. It isn’t anything personal against the developer or the game itself, it’s just that at this early of a stage in development where everything we know about the title is from rumors and even the title itself is in codename phase, to get excited for Titan makes about as much sense as getting your hopes up for Sony Online Entertainment announcing Video Game: The Video Game. I say this because the news that Blizzard has drastically reduced the development team and has rebooted the title with a new direction and a delay until 2016 means nothing to me.
Rebooted to what? From what? I can hardly be happy or sad to see the old version go when I knew absolutely nothing about it. I’m sure that if Titan does indeed find its way to release, in some form or another, we will eventually find out what the original game was intended to be. Until then, you can’t miss what you never knew you had.
Funcom has released their Q1 2013 financial details and the news is…good? Revenues have almost tripled compared to the same time last year thanks to the launch of The Secret World last year, which along with Age of Conan now make up the bulk of Funcom’s revenue. As many of you know, Funcom consolidated its live teams to the hub in Durham, North Carolina. Moving forward, the focus is on the developer’s currently operational games as well as a small number of titles currently in development.
As per the above, the company expects the positive effect from the restructuring to materialize in full in the second half of the year. However, significant cost savings were realized in 1Q13 and the operating costs decreased by 1,197 TUSD compared to the previous quarter and by 2,232 TUSD compared to 1Q12.
The Secret World enjoyed its first full quarter under the new buy to play system, increasing player numbers and retention along with the launch of Issue #6: The Last Train To Cairo. Issue #7 releases this summer. Anarchy Online experienced a server merger which increased activity and players on the remaining servers. Funcom continues to work on the major engine upgrade to Anarchy Online. The Lego Minifigures MMO is on schedule for release and is currently in development for the PC in both client and browser form, as well as tablets.
One of Funcom’s lesser known titles, Fashion Week Live, was sold to 505 Games in Q1 2013. Funcom’s Montreal studio is currently working on bringing the Dreamworld technology to tablets, opening new opportunities for the developer. Funcom expects more cost reductions and lower revenues in the second quarter.
Funcom has released their Q1 2013 financial details and the news is…good? Revenues have almost tripled compared to the same time last year thanks to the launch of The Secret World last year, which along with Age of Conan now make up the bulk of Funcom’s revenue. As many of you know, Funcom consolidated its live teams to the hub in Durham, North Carolina. Moving forward, the focus is on the developer’s currently operational games as well as a small number of titles currently in development.
As per the above, the company expects the positive effect from the restructuring to materialize in full in the second half of the year. However, significant cost savings were realized in 1Q13 and the operating costs decreased by 1,197 TUSD compared to the previous quarter and by 2,232 TUSD compared to 1Q12.
The Secret World enjoyed its first full quarter under the new buy to play system, increasing player numbers and retention along with the launch of Issue #6: The Last Train To Cairo. Issue #7 releases this summer. Anarchy Online experienced a server merger which increased activity and players on the remaining servers. Funcom continues to work on the major engine upgrade to Anarchy Online. The Lego Minifigures MMO is on schedule for release and is currently in development for the PC in both client and browser form, as well as tablets.
One of Funcom’s lesser known titles, Fashion Week Live, was sold to 505 Games in Q1 2013. Funcom’s Montreal studio is currently working on bringing the Dreamworld technology to tablets, opening new opportunities for the developer. Funcom expects more cost reductions and lower revenues in the second quarter.
Today’s MMOrning Shot comes from RuneScape’s concept art division. It appears to be related to upcoming content Jagex has said will be related to the gods returning to RuneScape after the death of Guthix and the destruction of his non-intervention edicts.
MMOrning Shots is a (mostly) daily line of screenshots from various MMOs. Most are taken in-house or come to us in press releases, but if you would like your screenshot featured, send it over to contact[at]mmofallout[dot]com with the subject “MMorning Shots.”
When I first discussed ROBLOX, I referred to it as a virtual toy box, as if someone took a box full of Lego bricks and made them sentient and programmable. It isn’t an MMORPG along the lines of World of Warcraft, but it can be if the right person is doing the building. It isn’t specifically designed to be a first person shooter, but that hasn’t stopped its players from turning it into one. Just about anything you can think of to build, someone has probably already done it, and yet the community still comes up with new stuff to do. You can play paintball, survive Slenderman, take charge of a fishing ship, fight back a zombie outbreak, or enjoy a fun obstacle course.
Usually when I write about ROBLOX I get responses pointing to the fact that there are a lot of outside properties on display in ROBLOX creations, to which I have to say I’m not surprised. ROBLOX is a game that brings to life the child-like wonder and imagination of its players, so it only stands to reason that in the same way that kids play out their favorite video games or television shows, that the creations in ROBLOX will also draw heavily from areas like Minecraft, Naruto, Spongebob Squarepants, DragonballZ, Skyrim, etc.
ROBLOX has seen a massive push over the past year or so to optimize the engine and allow for a smoother experience for creators and players. Improvements allow for objects to interact with each other in a much more realistic fashion, without the kind of performance drain seen in previous builds of the engine. This has allowed for more optimized and realistic explosion effects, for objects to collide and interact with each other in the way you would expect them to, and more.
The most recent engine update brought in dynamic lighting, allowing players to add in some ambiance to their creations. It sounds like a minor change, but as you can see in the screenshot below, the effect is very noticeable. The update is still technically a work in progress, with more additions coming to better optimize the system and beef up its visual effects.
It is important to note that dynamic lighting is an optional addition, and must be programmed into the world by its creator, so only a small (but growing fast) number of creations are using it at this point and builders are still getting used to how the system works. Still, the recent changes to ROBLOX are all the proof that we need that the game still has a very long life ahead of it, with plenty of new toys on the horizon for its builders to play with.
I will also be working on a series of ROBLOX videos looking at various creations, starting with the first that should come out this week (I apologize for the lack of specificity, but my “real job” schedule has me working over fifty hours a week). You can check out ROBLOX for free over at the main website.
I love Side Quest, as many of you are fully aware. During the few months that the game was open to the public for early development testing, I can honestly say that I played it more than any other game in my library, much to my enjoyment and the dismay of whoever had to field my bug reports. For those of you out of the loop, I described Side Quest in one article as Patapon meets fantasy MMO. Your heroes move across the screen on their own volition, and it is up to you to manage special attacks, potions, and anything else that may be present on the battlefield. Where Side Quest strives to be make a name for itself is in the boss battles, each with a unique battle mechanic. One tasks the player with riding down a fast moving river on a log raft, maneuvering the log to avoid rocks while still paying attention to the giant squid attacking them. It also has a rather humorous story and a fine pvp battle system in both synchronous and asynchronous.
Now the first Side Quest asked for $10,000 on Kickstarter and fell rather short of their goal. The team has gone back to Kickstarter to fund the second half of this sports reference before the game can launch. The Fractal Entertainment crew is asking for five grand, offering a number of rewards including the ability to design your own weapon, armor, or even an NPC. There are the usual grab bag of rewards available, including cash shop coins and beta access, as well as a meet and greet at higher levels.
Rift’s conversion to free to play is turning out to be pretty awesome, if I do say so, and I do. Generally when other MMOs go free to play and decide to keep hold of their loyalty programs, they either award loyalty for all players or they do so only to those who subscribe to the premium membership. In the case of Rift, Trion is doing a little of both. Loyalty points no longer accrue simply from subscribing to the premium service, since a subscription is no longer necessary. Instead, players will fill their loyalty meter by subscribing, purchasing or spending credits, or via Rift’s new REX.
The Loyalty system is, at its core, the same philosophy – it’s our way of saying thanks for supporting RIFT. If you choose to spend real money in RIFT you’ll gain Loyalty (with one little loop hole discussed below *wink*). As you accrue Loyalty, your Loyalty meter will fill and unlock new rewards, like Special Costumes only available through Loyalty, the ability to change your target icon to Elite or Raid status, and unique dimensions.
REX is, as you may have guessed, Trion’s version of PLEX: Cash shop credits that can be bundled and sold to other players, effectively allowing the game to be fully accessed for free. Current and former subscribers will be happy to know that their previous months of service in Rift will count toward their starting set of loyalty currency, and you will be able to keep your already obtained loyalty items.
