Tag: Stellar Dawn

Mark Gerhard: Third MMO Coming, Clarifies Comments


Boobscape.

With the cancellation of Mechscape, you might think Jagex would put most of their focus on their current MMO Runescape and upcoming MMO Stellar Dawn, but in an interview published today by Eurogamer, CEO Mark Gerhard thinks otherwise. When questioned on the technical aspects of Runescape and Stellar Dawn, Gerhard stated the following:

“A lot of what we’ve done to push the boundary for Stellar Dawn will benefit RuneScape and another MMO we’re working on,”

In the same interview, Gerhard was asked if Jagex would like to go back to a fantasy MMO, to which he replied;

“We do, we totally do. We’re working on it as we speak.”

Luckily for those of you playing Runescape, Gerhard stated that Jagex still sees the game as their foremost product for at least ten more years. 2020 Runescape? That is a lot of discontinued holiday items! I reported just last week on Mark Gerhard referring to Free Realms as “insipid,” to which the Eurogamer interviewer was keen enough to get a following comment:

“Having played Free Realms there’s very little I get out of it. To me it just screams design by committee: 20 different people from 20 different focus groups to say, “Let’s have a little bit of this for the girls, let’s have a little bit of that for the boys, let’s get the six-year-olds, let’s get the 16-year-olds.” If you want a game for a six year-old you’ve got it, it’s called Club Penguin.

If you take a brand that accentuates its own identity, it’s going to resonate with the target demographic really well. Free Realms tries to be all things to all men and women and ends up being nothing.”

Check out the full interview, as Gerhard gives some insight into why Mechscape was cancelled, what parts are continuing to Stellar Dawn, among other issues.

More on Stellar Dawn, Runescape, and this new MMO as it appears.

Jagex: Stellar Dawn 2011, We Swear


Previously known as Mechscape

Previously known as Mechscape, Jagex’s entry into the Sci-fi genre of MMO brotherhood has had a shaky startup. Not only has the title been delayed, canned, delayed again, seen two CEOs, but there hasn’t been much in terms of coverage for the fledgling title. Promised to not be “Runescape In Space” (likely why Mechscape was dropped as its name), Stellar Dawn is set to be Jagex’s biggest new offering to date, next to Dungeons of Demonheim on Runescape.

Luckily, Stellar Dawn has officially launched its website with an early 2011 release date. Over on the Stellar Dawn website, you can apply for the closed beta, check out some concept art, and join the forums to discuss the upcoming game.

More on Stellar Dawn as it appears.

Mechscape Cancelled, Stellar Dawn Coming 2010


banner_runescape

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)