Tag: Mechscape

Jagex's Problem With "Not RuneScape" Continues On


By the time you read this, Transformers Online will have already been delisted from MMO Fallout. To find out why, continue reading. Back in July, Mark Gerhard wrote about how Jagex is done messing around with pet projects (read: massive financial disasters) like 8Realms and FunOrb, and that the company would only focus on serious developments from there on out.

“I think to other projects, like 8Realms and things like that, I think that was one of the last hobby projects that we carried through, and obviously that was evident. Now it’s just working on the projects that matter.”

In order to continue on to Transformers Universe, we must first take a stroll down Jagex memory lane. RuneScape launched in 2001 and is a massive success and continues to bring in mucho dinero. FunOrb launched and was subsequently abandoned without even as much as a goodbye to the community. The FunOrb team was whisked away to 8Realms, which was also an unmitigated disaster of marketing and was canned mid-beta. Meanwhile on the serious MMO side of things, Jagex’s first true MMO after RuneScape was shuttered, twice, because a few years and countless millions are what it took before someone said “this isn’t fun.” First as MechScape and then as Stellar Dawn. As for Transformers Online, I noted:

“Jagex’s previous projects are a fine example that, left to their own accord, the company will screw around for a few years, waste countless millions and the good faith of their community, and eventually scrap the game entirely because it didn’t turn out fun. Nobody wins, not the developers who are laid off, not the community, and not the investors who expect their money to be spent wisely.”

So why isn’t Transformers Universe listed on MMO Fallout anymore? Simple: It is no longer an MMORPG. Jagex has announced that the game will be re-envisioned as a MOBA more along the lines of League of Legends or World of Tanks than the traditional MMORPG that Jagex has been leading us along with over the past year or so. Who do you have to thank for this? One Alex Horton.

“Transformers are about war; they’re about action. They don’t carry gold, bake bread, catch fish, cut down trees. But for all they take away, they throw open so many more opportunities. Maybe there’s more in a selection of characters and abilities, and the strategy in that, than there is leveling a character endlessly and going through fuck loads of boss battles.”

Rather than creating a character through the robust creation system Jagex had been showing off at conventions, players will collect Jagex-created robots and battle them out in a story-driven arena.

What has Jagex learned after all of this time? Judging by the sudden change of pace, nothing. According to the article, work only began in “in earnest” on Transformers Universe in early 2011, meaning Jagex was selling yet another MMO in which very little content was likely actually completed despite a very ambitious and unrealistically set launch date. Now, as with MechScape, we find out at the last minute that the game “just wasn’t working out,” and would be recreated in another form.

Like I’ve been saying the whole time, Transformers Online has a far higher chance of seeing release than Jagex’s in-house properties, and for another simple reason: Hasbro. Contracts and deadlines, both of which I can assume exist for Transformers Universe. Hasbro is risking its own money and reputation on the launch of Transformers Universe, and you can bet that we will see one of two outcomes: Transformers Universe launches, or Hasbro pulls the IP.

Of course this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

(Source: Polygon)

Jagex’s Problem With “Not RuneScape” Continues On


By the time you read this, Transformers Online will have already been delisted from MMO Fallout. To find out why, continue reading. Back in July, Mark Gerhard wrote about how Jagex is done messing around with pet projects (read: massive financial disasters) like 8Realms and FunOrb, and that the company would only focus on serious developments from there on out.

“I think to other projects, like 8Realms and things like that, I think that was one of the last hobby projects that we carried through, and obviously that was evident. Now it’s just working on the projects that matter.”

In order to continue on to Transformers Universe, we must first take a stroll down Jagex memory lane. RuneScape launched in 2001 and is a massive success and continues to bring in mucho dinero. FunOrb launched and was subsequently abandoned without even as much as a goodbye to the community. The FunOrb team was whisked away to 8Realms, which was also an unmitigated disaster of marketing and was canned mid-beta. Meanwhile on the serious MMO side of things, Jagex’s first true MMO after RuneScape was shuttered, twice, because a few years and countless millions are what it took before someone said “this isn’t fun.” First as MechScape and then as Stellar Dawn. As for Transformers Online, I noted:

“Jagex’s previous projects are a fine example that, left to their own accord, the company will screw around for a few years, waste countless millions and the good faith of their community, and eventually scrap the game entirely because it didn’t turn out fun. Nobody wins, not the developers who are laid off, not the community, and not the investors who expect their money to be spent wisely.”

So why isn’t Transformers Universe listed on MMO Fallout anymore? Simple: It is no longer an MMORPG. Jagex has announced that the game will be re-envisioned as a MOBA more along the lines of League of Legends or World of Tanks than the traditional MMORPG that Jagex has been leading us along with over the past year or so. Who do you have to thank for this? One Alex Horton.

“Transformers are about war; they’re about action. They don’t carry gold, bake bread, catch fish, cut down trees. But for all they take away, they throw open so many more opportunities. Maybe there’s more in a selection of characters and abilities, and the strategy in that, than there is leveling a character endlessly and going through fuck loads of boss battles.”

Rather than creating a character through the robust creation system Jagex had been showing off at conventions, players will collect Jagex-created robots and battle them out in a story-driven arena.

What has Jagex learned after all of this time? Judging by the sudden change of pace, nothing. According to the article, work only began in “in earnest” on Transformers Universe in early 2011, meaning Jagex was selling yet another MMO in which very little content was likely actually completed despite a very ambitious and unrealistically set launch date. Now, as with MechScape, we find out at the last minute that the game “just wasn’t working out,” and would be recreated in another form.

Like I’ve been saying the whole time, Transformers Online has a far higher chance of seeing release than Jagex’s in-house properties, and for another simple reason: Hasbro. Contracts and deadlines, both of which I can assume exist for Transformers Universe. Hasbro is risking its own money and reputation on the launch of Transformers Universe, and you can bet that we will see one of two outcomes: Transformers Universe launches, or Hasbro pulls the IP.

Of course this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

(Source: Polygon)

Jagex's Problem With "Not RuneScape"


In the Jagex family you really only fit into one of two categories: RuneScape and Not RuneScape. What is the difference, you ask? Well, the RuneScape category is successful and the “Not RuneScape” category is not.

1. FunOrb Was Abandoned And Left For Dead

As per numerous Jagex posts on the RuneScape forums, Funorb is discontinued and no longer supported. Not only did Jagex abandon Funorb when the service wasn’t as profitable as they had hoped, there was never an official announcement that development had ceased. Instead Jagex whisked the Funorb developers silently, without informing anyone that development had ceased, and moved the entire team over to 8Realms. To this day, the Funorb website still does not display any indication that the service has been discontinued, unless you count that the latest news post is dated 2010.

Funorb still runs today, likely because there are still a small number of people who still hold on to the service and the website probably costs very little to keep running, but it is fully discontinued and has no moderators working on it. To top things off…

2. 8Realms Never Launched…

A second blow to Funorb fans. 8Realms was supposed to be Jagex’s first in-house game developed on a platform other than Java, not to mention Jagex’s first developed game to feature a fully functioning cash shop that offered real advantages to throwing large sums of money. I gave a quick hands-on impression of 8Realms, and while the game was enjoyable, it carried a fatal caveat: regular server wipes. In all, the game was one giant race to the end, and whenever someone made it to the end, the entire server was wiped and everyone started again.

For a game attempting to coerce players into opening their wallets for those delicious gems, 8Realms was set to be a very expensive experience. One with little payout, considering only one player could actually win and then all of your money spent was for nothing. In the end, 8Realms gathered a whopping ten percent of the income needed to stay afloat, and was trashed in beta.

3. Stellar Dawn/MechScape Show Woefully Substandard Community Relations

Having written this website for as long as I have, I am well acquainted with how MMOs are marketed: years ahead of time. Not only are these games in development for years before they are even announced, the announcement can take place two, often three or more years before the game ever hits store shelves. I even had a term for this: hype fatigue, to describe a point after a game is announced where interest wanes due to long development cycles. In the case of the MMO industry, where titles can and have been delayed well over a year, this effect is rather widespread.

When MechScape was under development, Jagex refused to talk about the game at all. Then-CEO Geoff Iddison would give an interview every now and then to reassure the community that the game would be out in 2008, and that the product they were creating was so great, it might even surpass RuneScape. For the length of its development up until the game was finally cancelled months after its intended launch date, not a single screenshot or video capture of the game was released to the public. Jagex refused to talk about more than concepts and vague promises, and ultimately the game was canned (and possibly so was Geoff Iddison) for not living up to expectations.

MechScape was cancelled to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, and in its place Stellar Dawn was born. In their announcement in 2009, Jagex stated that not only would Stellar Dawn succeed where MechScape failed, it was ready for release in 2010. I hope you see where I’m going with this. Following in the tradition of its predecessor, and proving that Jagex had learned nothing from the lack of communication with its community (or the press) about MechScape, Jagex silently worked away on Stellar Dawn throughout 2010, pausing in July to launch the official website with a “coming 2011” banner. At this point, Jagex had already announced Transformers Universe for a 2012 launch date, leaving me asking: Does Jagex even care about Stellar Dawn?

Well, 2011 came and went without a single video clip, screenshot, or the kind of details you might expect from an upcoming MMO (or any other release), and in March 2012 we finally learned that Stellar Dawn has been put on developmental hold so Jagex can focus on their other products. In fact, Jagex’s communication over Stellar Dawn was so poor that the official website displayed a “coming 2011” banner well into 2012 before the game was put on pause.

4. Transformers Universe Is Following The Same Path

I have to say, I have more optimism for Transformers Universe, and I will explain why: Third party IP holders. This isn’t Stellar Dawn or MechScape or Funorb, or 8Realms where Jagex owns everything surrounding the game and can develop and release to their heart’s content. Oh no, Transformers Universe means contractual obligations. Hasbro is the master and Jagex is the humble servant, making sure that the game is developed in a manner that is approved, on a timeline that is approved, and ready for launch by a date that is approved.

I said the same thing with the company being run by investors: Jagex’s previous projects are a fine example that, left to their own accord, the company will screw around for a few years, waste countless millions and the good faith of their community, and eventually scrap the game entirely because it didn’t turn out fun. Nobody wins, not the developers who are laid off, not the community, and not the investors who expect their money to be spent wisely.

Mark Gerhard recently interviewed with Develop Online, where he mentioned that the company was abandoning its “hobby” projects and giving serious focus to its current and future titles. Good. All it took to reach this conclusion was two failed MMOs, one failed MMORTS, one failed games portal, and one CEO.

Jagex’s Problem With “Not RuneScape”


In the Jagex family you really only fit into one of two categories: RuneScape and Not RuneScape. What is the difference, you ask? Well, the RuneScape category is successful and the “Not RuneScape” category is not.

1. FunOrb Was Abandoned And Left For Dead

As per numerous Jagex posts on the RuneScape forums, Funorb is discontinued and no longer supported. Not only did Jagex abandon Funorb when the service wasn’t as profitable as they had hoped, there was never an official announcement that development had ceased. Instead Jagex whisked the Funorb developers silently, without informing anyone that development had ceased, and moved the entire team over to 8Realms. To this day, the Funorb website still does not display any indication that the service has been discontinued, unless you count that the latest news post is dated 2010.

Funorb still runs today, likely because there are still a small number of people who still hold on to the service and the website probably costs very little to keep running, but it is fully discontinued and has no moderators working on it. To top things off…

2. 8Realms Never Launched…

A second blow to Funorb fans. 8Realms was supposed to be Jagex’s first in-house game developed on a platform other than Java, not to mention Jagex’s first developed game to feature a fully functioning cash shop that offered real advantages to throwing large sums of money. I gave a quick hands-on impression of 8Realms, and while the game was enjoyable, it carried a fatal caveat: regular server wipes. In all, the game was one giant race to the end, and whenever someone made it to the end, the entire server was wiped and everyone started again.

For a game attempting to coerce players into opening their wallets for those delicious gems, 8Realms was set to be a very expensive experience. One with little payout, considering only one player could actually win and then all of your money spent was for nothing. In the end, 8Realms gathered a whopping ten percent of the income needed to stay afloat, and was trashed in beta.

3. Stellar Dawn/MechScape Show Woefully Substandard Community Relations

Having written this website for as long as I have, I am well acquainted with how MMOs are marketed: years ahead of time. Not only are these games in development for years before they are even announced, the announcement can take place two, often three or more years before the game ever hits store shelves. I even had a term for this: hype fatigue, to describe a point after a game is announced where interest wanes due to long development cycles. In the case of the MMO industry, where titles can and have been delayed well over a year, this effect is rather widespread.

When MechScape was under development, Jagex refused to talk about the game at all. Then-CEO Geoff Iddison would give an interview every now and then to reassure the community that the game would be out in 2008, and that the product they were creating was so great, it might even surpass RuneScape. For the length of its development up until the game was finally cancelled months after its intended launch date, not a single screenshot or video capture of the game was released to the public. Jagex refused to talk about more than concepts and vague promises, and ultimately the game was canned (and possibly so was Geoff Iddison) for not living up to expectations.

MechScape was cancelled to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, and in its place Stellar Dawn was born. In their announcement in 2009, Jagex stated that not only would Stellar Dawn succeed where MechScape failed, it was ready for release in 2010. I hope you see where I’m going with this. Following in the tradition of its predecessor, and proving that Jagex had learned nothing from the lack of communication with its community (or the press) about MechScape, Jagex silently worked away on Stellar Dawn throughout 2010, pausing in July to launch the official website with a “coming 2011” banner. At this point, Jagex had already announced Transformers Universe for a 2012 launch date, leaving me asking: Does Jagex even care about Stellar Dawn?

Well, 2011 came and went without a single video clip, screenshot, or the kind of details you might expect from an upcoming MMO (or any other release), and in March 2012 we finally learned that Stellar Dawn has been put on developmental hold so Jagex can focus on their other products. In fact, Jagex’s communication over Stellar Dawn was so poor that the official website displayed a “coming 2011” banner well into 2012 before the game was put on pause.

4. Transformers Universe Is Following The Same Path

I have to say, I have more optimism for Transformers Universe, and I will explain why: Third party IP holders. This isn’t Stellar Dawn or MechScape or Funorb, or 8Realms where Jagex owns everything surrounding the game and can develop and release to their heart’s content. Oh no, Transformers Universe means contractual obligations. Hasbro is the master and Jagex is the humble servant, making sure that the game is developed in a manner that is approved, on a timeline that is approved, and ready for launch by a date that is approved.

I said the same thing with the company being run by investors: Jagex’s previous projects are a fine example that, left to their own accord, the company will screw around for a few years, waste countless millions and the good faith of their community, and eventually scrap the game entirely because it didn’t turn out fun. Nobody wins, not the developers who are laid off, not the community, and not the investors who expect their money to be spent wisely.

Mark Gerhard recently interviewed with Develop Online, where he mentioned that the company was abandoning its “hobby” projects and giving serious focus to its current and future titles. Good. All it took to reach this conclusion was two failed MMOs, one failed MMORTS, one failed games portal, and one CEO.

Jagex: Stellar Dawn? No, Transformers!


Jagex is an inspiration of hope in the MMO genre. Born out of a side project by Andrew Gower, Runescape has since gone on to become the most popular free to play MMO gracing our internets, crafting a membership system that not only gave an enormous amount of content for a low price, but also creating a free to play portion that not only continues to evolve, but offers a safe haven for men of questionable age to become the sexy seventeen year old girl looking for a relationship of questionable legality with a studly rich boyfriend, that they’ve always dreamed of being. In the past few years, Jagex became publisher for War of Legends, an Evony-style game, became their own mini-game developer (FunOrb), bought the Iphone game Undercroft, and

Now, for those of you keeping track, Jagex has been in development of Stellar Dawn, originally Mechscape, originally announced in 2008 for a 2009 release, followed by a 2010 release, with our latest news being a 2011 release. Considering these delays, I noted the absurdity that Jagex was working on a third MMO, an untitled fantasy title that is not Runescape 2. Granted, the FunOrb team hasn’t put out a new game since September 2010, so Jagex does have some resources that could be thrown onto a fourth mmo, right?

Yes, I said fourth MMO, if you hadn’t discerned such from the title. MCV is reporting that Jagex has entered into a deal with Hasbro to make Transformers into an MMO for release when? 2012, according to the report. Mark Gerhard was quoted saying:

“There is a huge appetite for an online Transformers game and we will utilise every bit of our development and publishing expertise to deliver a dynamic and action-packed game that Transformers fans will find irresistible.”

More on the Transformer MMO’s delay to 2014 when it comes…and assuming MMO Fallout is still online then.

Mechscape Cancelled, Stellar Dawn Coming 2010


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It always pains me to see an MMO fail before it is even launched. As is the case with Mechscape, Jagex’s upcoming Science Fiction MMO, a spiritual successor to Runescape, as CEO Mark Gerhard confirmed to Eurogamer today that the title is indeed canned.

In an interview with Mechscapeworld.com, Mark Gerhard had this to say:

“Sadly the game was not as complete as we wanted and we spent the first few months trying to “fix” the game where we could. About a month or so ago we took the decision to stop trying to “fix it” as we still wouldn’t have the game we wanted and the game certainly did not meet all the objectives and specifications established in the original game design document and therefore it would be better to go back to the founding principles and build the game we always wanted –Andrew [Gower] is now overseeing the project and working very closely with the team to build Stellar Dawn, not all was lost as we naturally have developed the game engine substantially over the last few years and the new designs benefits massively from this as well as a ton of experience within the team as to what works and what doesn’t. So whilst the content and a lot of the game play will change from what was previously built almost everything else will go straight back into Stellar Dawn.” – Mark Gerhard

With the death of one comes the rise of another. Innovations brought about by the production of Mechscape have gone towards the production of Stellar Dawn, a different yet somehow similar MMO to the little guy who never had a chance.

Hopefully Jagex has learned the same truth that Richard Garriot learned with Tabula Rasa: Just because you are an established name, does not guarantee all of your products will succeed.

On that note, it is good to see Jagex catching up to the rest of the mmo world in terms of features. The company just launched a name changing service, and is currently beta testing a feature to see a log of your character’s activity, including amount of time played (see WoW Armory)