Monthly Archives: January 2013

Ecol Tactics Online

Ecol Tactics Online is a turn-based browser strategy game where players recruits mercenaries and defeat evil monsters; customize your skill builds and gather a diverse cast of characters and prepare for war against evil hordes of monsters and their creator. Aspiring to be like the heroes that rescued you, they invite you to join them on their quest for wealth and great fortune. After completing many quests you decided that you are ready to venture out with your own band of mercenaries. Unbeknownst to you dark days are ahead. An invading army of monsters is ready to wreak havoc on the kingdom and its queen. With amazing “old school” pixel art themes, deep character customization, skill crafting, equipment upgrade, and personalized costumes, all characters are unique to their players.

Features

Strategic Battles: Strategic Decisions decide the Battle, Customize your skill builds, gather a diverse cast of characters to watch your back.

Old School Tactical Gameplay, Now Online: Amazing pixel art in an fully imagined isometric world. Reminiscent of classic tactical turn based RPGs.

 

Feature Packed Without Client Requirement: Finally Browser Game with real combat and animations. Stop staring at spreadsheets and count down timers and play a real, responsive, strategic Tactical RPG.

 

Expansive Storyline: Experience expansive story line spanning 4 different continents, a full scale engrossing score, hundreds of side quests, all within your browser and no downloads!

En Masse Entertainment Hires Nexon Big Shot as COO

En Masse Entertainment Hires Nexon Big Shot as COO

 

 

En Masse Entertainment, a player-driven publisher focused on delivering fun and innovative online games, announced today that MMO veteran Chris Lee, formerly the company’s vice president of publishing, has been promoted to CEO. Additionally, two new hires have boosted the company’s senior management team: Soo Min Park, formerly a vice president in multiple roles at Nexon America, has been hired as COO and will report to Lee, while Bryan Koski, formerly the group marketing manager for the Halo franchise at Microsoft, has taken the role of director of marketing. Koski joins En Masse after successfully launching Halo 4 (and previous Halo titles) along with other franchises such as Forza Motorsport and Fable in his previous position as a global marketing manager. In addition, Brian Knox, who oversaw the North American development of TERA, has been promoted to executive producer.

 

 

“The additions to our management team are all about building the foundation for a strong future in 2013 and beyond,” said Lee. “Publishing games in today’s marketplace requires a group of leaders with diverse backgrounds in order to succeed. Now, En Masse is in an even better position to bring fun and innovative games to players.”

 

 

Lee is a respected games industry veteran of more than 14 years who successfully managed the marketing for blockbuster franchises including Halo, Age of Empires, Need for Speed, and Aion at Microsoft, Electronic Arts and NCsoft respectively, before joining En Masse Entertainment in 2009 as its first publishing VP. Lee worked with his team along with global partners to launch TERA in the Western market. The recipient of multiple industry honors and accolades, including “Best PC Game” and “Best MMO” at E3, TERA gives players the best of both worlds: the depth of a traditional MMO alongside the visceral gratification of an action game.

 

 

An experienced gaming executive, Park has worked in online gaming for more than 15 years, including a 12-year stint at Nexon where he held a number of management roles. Most recently, he was VP of technology at Nexon and previously held titles of VP of social game operations and VP of game operations at the online gaming company. As COO of En Masse Entertainment, he will oversee all company operations, including technology, localization and production. He replaces Patrick Wyatt, who left the company in 2012 but remains an external advisor.

Topia Online Interview – An Indie Dream Made Reality

Topia Online Interview – An Indie Dream Made Reality

By Bryan King, OnRPG Journalist

Answered by:  Josh Griffith, Topia Online Lead Developer

 

 

Topia Online is one of those MMOs that piques your interest, not necessarily because it’s the perfect MMO concept, but it’s definitely unique. Described as a completely player run game, Topia Online doesn’t just ask for player-built economy, towns, or political alliances, but players will use in-game scripting tools and the in-game map editor to create a world that is completely to their own liking. I got the chance to speak with Josh of Topia Online, to discuss what this Indie MMO can provide for the sandboxer in all of us.

 

 

OnRPG: Hello Josh, first off, can you please introduce yourself to readers?

 

Josh: My name is Josh, and I’m the owner and lead developer of Topia Online.  I’ve been a professional software developer for about 10 years.  My background mainly consists of writing advanced web applications for enterprise organizations.

 

 

OnRPG:  At this point in development, would you say that there were any snags your team hit in early development?

 

Josh: Yes, some of our technology choices have had to change throughout development as we identified problems that will occur in the long-term.  For example, originally we were creating all of the character animations by using hand-drawn pixel art.  We’ve recently upgraded our engine to support dynamic animations using bones, physics, and transformations.

 

OnRPG: Did your team have any sort of inspiration while creating the game? Whether it was books, movies, or other games, did you guys utilize some source of media to better shape Topia Online into the imaginative sandbox it is becoming?

 

Josh: We’re influenced by a lot of games we’ve played in the past, including games such as Ultima Online, Minecraft, Terraria, Dwarf Fortress, and Dungeon Keeper.

 

 

OnRPG: Your team is currently utilizing Kickstarter as a funding source, with a goal of $50,000. Kickstarter has come under criticism lately for its traditionally unconventional method of funding. Why did your team decide to utilize Kickstarter as opposed to other methods of funding?

 

Josh: Kickstarter is an experiment for us, and it’s helped our game get a lot of attention.  It hasn’t exactly proven to be a holy beacon of funding for indie companies, but it’s a great opportunity to help prove whether there is an audience for a particular game concept.

 

 

OnRPG:  How exactly do players go about creating scripts in-game, and how simple would it be for a new player to become acquainted with the system?

 

Josh: Many players will have no scripting experience when they start playing Topia, and we’ve used that assumption to design tutorials and guides to help them.  We’ve already introduced the system to dozens of people that have never written a script, and they are able to tinker and experiment with the examples to produce some interesting effects.  We believe that games are an excellent teaching tool, and Topia offers a simple environment to learn a valuable skill.

 

 

OnRPG: From a crafting or economic standpoint, what does Topia Online offer for everyone’s inner-merchant?

 

Josh: Topia’s economy is based on an asset called ‘influence’.  It’s not only the central currency, but is also used to learn new skills, hire ‘minions’, claim land, create laws, and sometimes is even used for crafting.  Because there are so many deflationary measures, the economy in Topia Online will stay strong and not suffer from drastic inflation like other MMORPGs.  Merchants will actually be able to sell goods and then use the influence to raise their skills.  This is important, because it allows players to advance without forcing them to ‘grind’ specific activities.

 

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OnRPG: Topia Online boasts a “Hardcore” gameplay system; can you go into more detail about this?

 

Josh: In order to reduce inflation, provide a challenge to players, and enable a dynamic world with consequence, we’ve had to implement significant penalties for death.  In Topia Online, when you die, your character’s equipment will be left behind and he will lose all of his skills.  We’ve been careful to create a balance between death penalties and frustration/fun factor.  We do not want anyone to get frustrated because they’ve died, so we’ve made sure that skills can be obtained without grinding.  Also, influence is associated with your account, which means your new character can rapidly advance using your account’s pool of influence.

 

 

OnRPG: In the same vein of thought, how extensive is Topia’s Player versus Player system?

 

Josh: Since all creatures in Topia Online are controlled by players, there is no such thing as ‘PvE’.  However, unlike other MMORPGs, combat in Topia Online is less frequent.  Although you may be battling many creatures throughout the day, it will be less about ‘grinding’ and more about removing a player from the world for a strategic benefit or gain.

 

 

OnRPG: What exactly is the “Monster Play” feature?

 

Josh: Unlike other MMORPGs, players control all of the creatures and monsters in Topia Online.  Such creatures include wolves, slimes, giant spiders, zombies, elementals, minotaurs, ghosts, and even dragons.  A player’s game account accrues ‘monster points’ that he uses to unlock or create monster characters.  In order to earn the greater monsters, they must first earn points by playing as simpler creatures.  Each creature will earn monster points by performing in a certain way.  However, often times monster points are accrued simply by surviving and aging.

 

 

OnRPG: What type of player do you feel Topia Online will cater best to? The casual player? The hardcore player?

 

Josh: We think that Topia will appeal most to more ‘experienced’ players that do not need to be told ‘what’ to do in an online game.  Many MMORPGs have a series of rigid quests laid out almost like a ‘theme park’.  Players in these MMORPGs are told where to go, and given very simple sets of instructions.  Topia Online will be better received from more gamers that are tired of clearing cellars of rats.  In other words, it’s going to cater to people that want to try something different.

 

 

OnRPG: With a highly expandable interface and low-end graphic requirements, could we potentially see Topia Online on mobile devices?

 

Josh: Topia Online will indeed be playable on mobile devices.  However, many of the ‘editor’ features such as scripting will only be available on desktops.

 

 

OnRPG: Where do you see Topia a year after launch?

 

Josh: A year from Topia’s launch date, the community will have developed hundreds of features that our development team would never have had the budget to create.  Vast cities will exist with thriving ecologies, there will be political strife, and there will be thousands of spells, crafts, and advanced tools available that the community has built.

 

 

OnRPG: What type of events will Topia Online provide for the community?

 

Josh: Topia Online will not have any sort of ‘server-scripted’ events.  Players on the other hand will trigger drastic changes to the game world through magic and other powers.  For example, a player may achieve the skills and resources necessary to create a sort of ‘zombie apocalypse’ that can ripple through the entire game world and raise all of the corpses from the dead.  The truth is, we as developers do not know what sort of events the players themselves may end up triggering.

 

OnRPG: When can we expect to see Topia Online’s release?

 

Josh: Topia Online has a planned release of late March as long as our Kickstarter is successful.

 

 

OnRPG: Anything else for our reader?

 

Josh: Many have expressed concern of Topia’s fate if our Kickstarter goal is not met.  Although it may impact our release plans, we are dedicated to launch the game in 2013 regardless of whether we are able to raise the funds to expand our development team.

 

 

To learn more about this title be sure to check out their Kickstarter Page for details!

Arctic Combat Content Update Rolls in with the EU ESL Tournament

Arctic Combat Content Update Rolls in with the EU ESL Tournament

 

Arctic Combat

 

WEBZEN Inc. announced new contents for the multiplayer online tactical FPS game, ‘ARCTIC COMBAT’ and sign-ups for the ESL Country Championship.

 

 

On January 3rd, Arctic Combat will reveal the newly added contents with the New Year update, including a new game mode ‘Explosion’, a new map, ‘Repair Yard’, which is available with this new mode. Arctic Combat Veterans now have additional new equipment to customize their weapons, by modifying them with Mulitcam paint and Micro T1 scopes and a new passive skill ‘Quick Reload’.

 

 

Additionally, for the competitive Veterans League, WEBZEN is starting the first rounds in Europe for the 2nd World Championship – a global tournament that will pit clan vs. clan, then country vs. country, culminating in an epic battle between the very best from North America against Europe’s finest Veterans. Applications for the Country Championship will continue until January 5th at the ESL website, and the qualifying round is scheduled to begin 0n January 7th 2013. Participation details can be found at the official AC website (ac.webzen.com). Meanwhile, the Country Championship for the NA region will soon be revealed.