Storybricks, the developer behind the AI platform created for Everquest Next, is no more. Last month we learned that Storybricks and Sony Online Entertainment were parting ways, a severance that CEO Rodolfo Rosini now states is of no fault of SOE’s.
It was our own decision and Sony Online Entertainment (now Daybreak Games) bears no fault for it. Sony Online Entertainment had been up for sale for a long time so our exit had no connection with the Columbus Nova acquisition.
Plans to sell the Storybricks tech went sour after a buyer was unable to be found and everyone involved is now working at other companies. Rosini still wants the AI platform to be widely available, and is planning on releasing a few side projects unrelated to Everquest Next in the hopes that those dreams can be realized.
At one point, Storybricks even attempted to buy Sony Online Entertainment, but the deal fell through with Sony Japan due to questionable terms.
Make no mistake the company needed cuts badly, and we would have cut and cut deeply. Possibly as deep as Columbus Nova did but maybe we would have cut more senior management and less game developers instead. It was our intention to try to acquire the 38 Studios assets and made them available to players in EQN. Moreover we would have probably changed the server infrastructure allowing people to run their own servers. It would not have been a very canonical EverQuest but we would have done the best to service our customers with the limited budget of an independent studio who wanted to punch above its weight.
Daybreak Game Studios has announced that they have cut ties with Storybricks and will continue developing the game’s AI in-house. The comment came during a live stream where the team also revealed hopes that the game will come to Xbox and Playstation.
“We are not working with Storybricks any more. We made the decision that it was in the best interest of the game to take that work in-house.”
Storybricks has become my new grammar peeve for this year. When people refer to the cancelled story-building MMO, they are thinking of the Kingdom of Default project. Storybricks, unless I have read the whole ordeal wrong, refers to the platform through which the AI is given its behaviors. Who could have thought that after Storybricks had its rather disastrous Kickstarter campaign, that the next announcement would be partnering with a major game studio? Yes, Storybricks as a product on its own may not have drawn cash from Kickstarter, but it was certainly promising enough for Sony Online Entertainment to take notice.
Hopefully this will be a success story worth talking about when Everquest Next hits next year.
Remember Storybricks? The last we had heard, the game Kingdom of Default had been cancelled so that the AI structuring technology could be properly developed and used on other video games. We were told that several projects were in development, however nothing specific could be offered at the time. Well buckle your seatbelts, because the Storybricks team has put out an email explaining that they are collaborating with Sony Online Entertainment to bring the Storybricks AI platform to Everquest Next.
After several months of working together with Sony Online, we can finally reveal that we are collaborating on EverQuest Next. EQN is “the biggest sandbox ever designed” and we are extremely happy to be working on the most innovative MMORPG under development. This is just a tiny announcement as we can’t give any specifics about what we are doing on EQN yet. But we want to thank all our supporters for your patience and let you know that we are doing remarkable things.
Remember Storybricks? We covered the game back when it was first announced, including a small interview, and a quick look. Namaste Entertainment has a pretty radical idea: AI in MMOs has not been progressing alongside the evolution in sound and graphics. So the game set forward to build an engine that could allow characters to have their own life. The goal is to create an AI that doesn’t just run on a preset treadmill, or stand in place until the player talks to them or attacks them. The AI has its own goals, moods, and have the ability to interact with one another and perform actions on a higher level.
On one hand, the Kingdom of Default game has been shelved. On the other hand, the game and technology has brought in interest from outside studios wishing to make use of the technology.
“We have several projects underway, on several platforms and with diverse types of gameplay, all exploiting our unique AI possibilities. Several studios have shown interest in what our technology can offer and we are looking forward to working with them to create amazing games. Working with partners now means that all our projects are now under NDA, so we cannot be as open as we have been in the past. But we can assure you: these projects are pretty awesome.”
We wish the Namaste team the best of luck in their future endeavors, and we hope to see the Storybricks technology in some fashion in the future.
“Kingdom of Default was a first test of our technology, a browser game for users to write their own stories and interact with complex artificial intelligences. But we realize the alpha had a lot of problems: it was not enough of a game for traditional MMO audiences, too complex for casual players and too much of a game for educational uses (apparently the ‘zombie’ feature was a big no-no for some schools).”
I hate to be the pessimist, but with 65 hours left on the Kickstarter and about $225,000 left to go, I think there is a small chance Storybricks may not make its goal in time. Now, I’d hate to see Storybricks fade into the background after the Kickstarter falls through, so I got in touch with Brian “Psychochild” Green and asked if the developer has any plans moving forward.
“We’ve been considering alternatives and will start up another Kickstarter project focusing on more of a game if it seems appropriate.”
Here’s hoping development continues on Storybricks despite this setback. Although the team may not have reached their goal this time around, the increased media exposure through Kickstarter has hopefully helped the fledgling MMO receive the attention is very much deserves.
And hopefully the next time I update this story, it will be with good news.
Looking at my calendar, there are approximately 17 days to go until the Storybricks Kickstarter runs out of time. As of today, 347 backers have contributed $21,522 to the fund, which means there is a long way to go before the $250,000 goal can be reached. Here at MMO Fallout, we are supporters of the indie-MMO development scene, so when the opportunity arose to interview the team behind Storybricks, I jumped at it.
First, a little about Storybricks itself. Storybricks is a toolset where players are able to create their own worlds, populating them with NPCs that are programmed to react not just to the player, but to each other. The alpha build, which is still available here, is a small yet very impressive proof of concept. I recommend you check it out if you have an hour or so.
So how did Storybricks come to light? As is the case with many off-the-beaten-path titles, Storybricks has its origins in a group of MMO and MUD players with a dream of one day creating their own world, dissatisfied with the products being offered by other developers. So a team of eight full-time and three part-time developers began work on Storybricks around a year ago, culminating in the recently released alpha-module with the full release next year.
The initial pitch for Storybricks, before most of the team even joined, was to put advanced AI into our own MMO to create more believable NPCs. We kept a lot of that concept but we focused on the Storbricks tool to let people tell their stories within an MMO we develop instead of just having designers make more advanced NPCs.
While the current alpha build only showcases a fantasy theme, the toolset is flexible enough that Storybricks will be able to encompass many more settings. Without going too specific, the themes of dystopian science fiction and Three Musketeers were mentioned briefly.
In the long term, Storybricks is all about customization, allowing people to create their own worlds and characters to match the stories they wish to tell.
For NPCs, we would like a creation system like the character creation system found in many RPGs. We’d like people to be able to customize the characters to a high degree to match the story they want to tell. We have also designed a system for letting people edit a location. Instead of a set location, people can edit the tiles of a location to swap in and out features. Our goal is to allow a lot of customization without making players feel they have to do busywork like placing individual trees.
So Storybricks is on Kickstarter for a very real reason: Funding. So I had to ask, why are investors so hesitant to fund the title?
Considering women in Shakespeare plays were played by men, this is stunningly accurate.
I think the big hesitation from investors and from the audience has been trying to figure out exactly what Storybricks is. People who have played a lot of tabletop RPGs or who have played MMOs for a long time “get” Storybricks more than others do. It’s so different that when people try to compare it to existing games, the comparisons don’t quite work. It’s not a toolset like Neverwinter Nights, it’s not a traditional MMO like World of Warcraft, it’s not a construction setting like Second Life. So we’ve had a hard time coming up with a good way to describe it to people to let them know why Storybricks is so awesome and why we feel it’s the future of MMOs.
Expect more on Storybricks as it develops. I want to thank Brian Green and Kelly Heckman for taking the time to answer my questions.
I know I am not the only MMO gamer who has said to myself “I want to make my own MMO. With blackjack and hookers.” I don’t know about the latter two, but thanks to the power of Kickstarter I discovered a developer who not only shared my thoughts but wanted to make my dreams come true. In comes Storybricks, a toolset in development that will allow people to build their own living MMO worlds.
I was able to sit down with an alpha build of Storybricks. The game has a long way to go, but the foundation is present and it looks promising. Essentially, as a player you are able to set NPCs in the world and designate their behaviors, responses, desires and interactions. To try out some of the features, I created a small city populated by just a handful of NPCs. Upon entry, the player enters with a coin and is direct toward a guard by the omnipresent narrator. The guard informs the player that the king has been corrupted and the player must procure his ring so that a new king can be crowned. In order to receive this, the player must talk to a wealthy citizen who trades a coin for a scroll. The (enchanted) scroll is given to the king and the player steals his ring. In return, the guard gives the player an apple (yes, not the best reward).
Short? Yes, but evidence of the prospects in Storybricks as a product. This is all accomplished with a very easy to learn toolset that directs how the player interacts with NPCs and how they interact with each other. The wealthy player is given the desire for coin, and is willing to trade the scroll given to him in the editor. The corrupt king desires magical artifacts, and “trades” his ring when the player when given the scroll. Given more time fiddling with the editor, it might be possible to have the corrupt king removed from his position and replaced with a new “good” king NPC, with the old one jailed.
If you haven’t already, check out the Storybricks Kickstarter page. There is far more information here including how you can play in the early alpha test. And if you like the idea, make a pledge. For a mere $15, you can get access to the game when it launches and one year of premium service (perks not entirely grounded).
Check out the Storybricks website here. I have an interview with the Storybricks team that should come out this weekend.
Kickstarter and independent developers are starting to become great friends, so it is no surprise that indie MMO teams have come forward to get some startup cash without as much reliance on investors or publishers. I have two currently running funds for MMOs to advertise to you, and will let them speak for themselves, but since this a rather touchy subject, let me explain some details of Kickstarter to you:
You are making a pledge. If the Kickstarter does not reach its goal by the due date, no money will exchange hands.
A successful kickstarter does not guarantee that the product will see release. Remember: You are playing investor. Spend your money wisely.
1. Squad Wars
Space Combat the way it was meant to be: Fast, uncompromising, and totally intense. Jumpgate Evolution might be dead and buried, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get a spiritual sequel to the series. In development by the creative forces behind Jumpgate, Squad Wars is an MMOG based on scripted scenarios with fast paced dogfights, giant space fights, and massive capital ships.
END Games is offering some pretty nice perks for pledging, from beta access to in-game credit, xp boosts to badges to your own vote in which scenarios are built first.
Personally I am looking forward to Storybricks more than most other AAA titles, for the simple factor of the story telling. Storybricks allows players to create their own worlds in a fashion you may be aware of in tools like RPG maker. Using visual editors, players are able to create NPCs that interact with one another, the world, and the player, in order to tell vast, amazing tales.
Storybricks is being supported by Brian Green, who some (some) of you may remember from the great grandaddy of graphical MMOs, Meridian 59. I personally backed up Storybricks with a $45 donation.
MMO Fallout 