Tag: Masthead Studios

Earthrise Posts New HTML5 GUI


Let’s talk about the dead coming back to life. Some of you may recall a long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, that Earthrise shut down due to a lack of funds to fully bring the game over to a free to play platform. If you don’t remember, just re-read that last sentence until it sticks. Got it? Good. While Earthrise had a great PR department selling the game before it launched, the product that shipped barely made a dent in its pre-release hype. In fact, it barely made a dent in anything. After Earthrise released, it virtually vanished off of the face of the MMO press, showing up every now and then to let everyone know that the servers were barren and so were the coffers at Masthead Studios. Major problems from lag, disconnection issues, crashes to desktop, and the actual content of the game kept Earthrise from reaching its potential, and finally the game choked to death on a pretzel with the sound statement that one day, a generous necromancer known as SilentFuture would raise it from the dead.

In the original notice, Earthrise 2.0 was planned for a quarter four 2012 launch. It is probably safe to say that we’ll be looking at a 2013 launch, but just to keep the players satiated for the time being, the above screenshot was posted in an announcement that Earthrise will be using an HTML5 user interface, rather than Flash. Not necessarily the best update possible, but a positive sign that the folks at Silent Future haven’t fallen into the same black void of development that has devoured, say, the guys working on Earth Eternal’s reboot.

Then again, one could say that any news on Earthrise is good news at this point.

Earthrise Is Back: SilentFuture Takes Over


Looks like we haven’t seen the last of Earthrise. SilentFuture announced today that they are taking over the MMO, giving the game a fresh coat of paint and a new skeletal structure, and gearing it up for launch late this year. Interestingly enough, Earthrise will no longer be a post-apocalyptic game, but rather set during the apocalypse itself. The game will release as the free to play format Masthead Studios wanted but did not have the money to achieve.

Wuppertal-based development studio SilentFuture has taken over the online science-fiction roll-paying game “Earthrise”, and is already working on an overhaul. Shut down by developer Masthead in February of 2012, the sandbox MMORPG is receiving a new background story from SilentFuture with the corresponding facelift as well as essential improvements in both gameplay and technology. The relaunch is planned for the fourth quarter of 2012.

More to come.

(Source: Earthrise Website)

Earthrise MMO Is…Back? Countdown Appears On Website


During its short life on earth, Earthrise followed a well known and much feared trajectory of MMOs: Releasing far too early and never gaining a following. Of course it doesn’t help that the game comprised of little more than grinding combat and crafting, coupled with performance issues that drove away much of the user base. In December, Earthrise dropped its subscription fee for existing players with the promise of full free to play to come at a later date. After the servers went offline for a full month due to “maintenance,” Masthead Studios announced that the game would be coming to a close in February, citing lack of resources.

Well something is afoot over at the Earthrise website. A countdown has appeared leading up to 6pm Eastern on May 10th. Did Masthead Studios find an investor? I find the prospect likely.

(Source: Earthrise Website)

 

Earthrise Shutting Down Today For A Better Tomorrow


“We did our best to revive the game in 2011, but the time was not enough to keep up with the user requirements. There is a huge interest in high quality open world sandbox MMORPGs, unfortunately the big publishers do not show any interest in the genre. It is unfortunate that low budget companies like ours are trying to bring innovativeness in the already saturated MMO market. I hope that one day an independent studio will be able to release the long anticipated open world sandbox MMO, which everyone is talking about, but no one is making. We tried, but did not succeed. We would like to apologize to those who were disappointed from Earthrise and to thank everyone who supported us during the years.”

The MMO industry every year becomes a less friendly place for independent developers, thanks in part to the Rule of Saturation. Unlike Square Enix, who have the coffers and investors to pour millions of dollars and well over a year to bring Final Fantasy XIV to a state that could be called enjoyable, Masthead Studios does not have the same kind of funding and as such has announced today that Earthrise will close down.

In a post on the official forums, The Editor mentions that the developer was unable to find an investor, but that this may not be the end for Earthrise:

“We don’t abandon the Earthrise project completely. But it will be postponed for better times. We even thought to continue providing services for game for free, but it would still require investments. Instead of that we decided to focus on other projects, but it will be Ostiak, who can give additional information. Meanwhile we will keep the Earthrise forums and we will still use them. I hope one day I will put much better news there.”

Earthrise had a free to play version that partially launched in December for previous account holders, and then the servers went offline between December 8th and January 7th for server maintenance.

(source: Earthrise Forums)

Earthrise Servers Have Been Offline Since December 8th


What a poor time to schedule a “Why Aren’t You Playing” article.

Due to restructuring of our activities and change of the server location, the Earthrise servers will be going offline for 1 week between 8th of December and 16th of December. During that time you will not be able to login and play the game. All accounts will be compensated with added value to their free to play status when the game goes free to play in 2012.

It appears that when Masthead Studios took down Earthrise to migrate servers, they also decided to throw in some upgrades. As a result, the servers are still down with an estimated relaunch of “when it’s done.” Possibly January. Hopefully January.

At this point, as I had posted previously when progression has been made and it is decided to release the game in a more playable mode it will be posted. The negativity in the comments do not speed the process up at all. We do applogize for the delay but more effort is being made to full polish the build before any release.

Oops. In the meantime, is anyone up for a game of M2?

(Source: Earthrise Forums)

Earthrise Moving To Free To Play: December 1st


Earthrise is one of those MMOs that journalists (or myself) look at and cringe. We’d love to see it succeed, because we support indie developers, but since we can’t cherry pick the news coming out of the title to put it in a better light without compromising our integrity, the end result is the perception of a group of writers forming a circle and kicking the company to death. On the other hand, my biggest problem with such MMOs is when the developer charges premium rates for a product that is not, by any means, premium quality. Look at Runescape, which could never have gotten away with a $15 monthly subscription back in the old days when it looked like this.

Then again, I consider any announcement of free to play to be a good thing, and that is exactly what we are here to discuss. Masthead Studios announced that Earthrise will be making the big dip into free this December. The actual transition does not take place until early next year, the December 1st date is for current and former players who had already purchased a copy of the game to play for free.

“The free-to-play model will offer convenience for players, it will not be ‘pay to win’ with items that ruin the balance of the game.”

The team plans to roll out the free to play system in a manner in which players can access without the servers crashing, and rather than opening the floodgates will be allowing players in intervals.

“Meanwhile Earthrise will be used as a test for the new free-2-play model and Masthead will limit the creation of new accounts. Invitations will be sent to selected new players and a new sign-up option will be provided. All existing subscribers will receive a number of invitations to bring their friends in the game. “

Come Back To Earthrise: 14 Days


Masthead Studios just released patch 20557 on to the live server, bringing in a slew of new features including (among other things) ride-able vehicles. You can read the entire list of patch notes here. More importantly, Masthead is so proud of their patch that they want you ex-players to come back and check out all that is new with Earthrise. Starting October 21st (yesterday), players are invited to log in for fourteen days to get a feel for the world and, oh I don’t know, refill that subscription you left so long ago.

Oddly enough, Masthead Studios hasn’t made any formal announcement that I’m aware of. MMORPG.com has reported on the welcome back weeks, but I don’t believe any emails have been sent out to former players. I’ve noted in the calendar how long this program should last.

Earthrise: More Price Cuts! Lower Subscription Fees!


Earthrise. It’s a game by Masthead studios, which is not just the name on a shirt that I got for free then took a shaky photograph of. Since its launch earlier this year, Earthrise has seen a slew of sales looking to bring in new customers, culminating in a price drop in June to $29.99. Apparently not bringing in as many people as Masthead hoped, the developer announced a further price drop for the client:

Masthead Studios, a leading independent developer of MMOs, announced the reduction of the game client and monthly subscription prices. The company decided to lower the price of game client by 60% starting 5th Aug 2011. It will cost 12 Euro for EU players and $14 for Non-EU players.

The price of a 6-month subscription will also be reduced to $50, or about 8 dollars per month.

Earthrise: Come Back, Old Players!


Earthrise wants you back to see a cool thing they just added into the game. With a list of patch notes substantial enough for Masthead Studios to call it an expansion, Earthrise launches the welcome back program, offering ten days (starting today) for veteran players to return to the relatively new MMO. If you’ve played in the past and never renewed your subscription, you will find yourself able to log in starting today through the 23rd.

So head on in, if you haven’t already, to experience if the game has changed for the better since your last encounter.

Earthrise: Come Back, Old Players!


Earthrise wants you back to see a cool thing they just added into the game. With a list of patch notes substantial enough for Masthead Studios to call it an expansion, Earthrise launches the welcome back program, offering ten days (starting today) for veteran players to return to the relatively new MMO. If you’ve played in the past and never renewed your subscription, you will find yourself able to log in starting today through the 23rd.

So head on in, if you haven’t already, to experience if the game has changed for the better since your last encounter.