Yearly Archives: 2015

Boltus

Boltus is a 3D MOBA title created by Twin Echoes. Featuring a unique mix between MOBAs and Pinball, Boltus creates a challenging experience with solo challenges, co-op play and PvP.

Features:

Changing levels: Spend charge to reshape the levels and arenas to match your character build and strategy.

Fast paced: Players will love the pacing of the game, testing their reaction times combined with a good selection of skills to also test their quick decision making.

Multiplayer modes: Either fight with or against a friend in one of Boltus’ co-op campaign or arena modes.

First Dota 2 Valve Major presented by ESL

First Dota 2 Valve Major presented by ESL news header
The first of the Valve Majors will be presented to the Dota community by ESL in what is Frankfurt, Germany’s iconic Festhalle from November 16-21. Sixteen of the best Dota 2 teams will battle it out for US$3 million in prize money, with the group stage of the competition to be played out offline in Frankfurt in the week leading up to The Frankfurt Major.

“We are honoured to have been given the chance to bring the first official Dota 2 Valve Major to life,” said Ulrich Schulze, Vice President of Pro Gaming at ESL. “We’re excited to be heading back to Frankfurt for a second time this year, for what is sure to become a legendary piece of Dota esports history.”

Attendance to the Frankfurt Major will be open to the public: only the day of the finals, Saturday November 21, will require a ticket. Finals day tickets will be sold in two separate waves (please see below for dates) and will be priced at €50.

A few important dates moving forward:
·         September 27: tickets go on sale
o    First wave begins: 11:00AM CEST
o    Second wave begins: 7:00PM CEST
·         October 1: open qualifier registration
·         October 5: invited teams made public
·         October 6-9: open qualifiers take place
·         October 10-13: regional qualifiers take place
Further information can be found online at www.eslgaming.com and on Valve’s official Dota 2 blog.

Storm United

Storm United is an MMOFPS by Pixelbeam. As a multiplatform FPS available for the PC, Mac and Linux, Storm United unleashes quality FPS gameplay similar to Quake and Counter-Strike.

Features:

Create your arsenal: In Storm United, everything from weapons to gear to vehicles has to be crafted or traded. Become part of a clan, produce components and equipment, build large production facilities and conquer areas rich in materials you need.

Tons of game modes: With over six game modes and counting, enjoy classic FPS battles such as team deathmatch or team-based modes like bomb defusal.

Multiplatform: Enjoy Storm United on PC, Mac and Linux. A mobile phone and tablet version is also in development.

Visionary Realm Acquires Seed Funding for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen

Visionary Realm Acquires Seed Funding for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen news header

Visionary Realms — a startup studio from globally renowned designer, Brad McQuaid — announced today that it has received the seed funding required to bring their first MMO game, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, through prototype and into alpha.

The funding came from an angel investor and has allowed Visionary Realms to expand its team, build a prototype of the game, and launch two new websites to showcase both the company and the game. Additionally the funding has granted the studio enough resources to bring the game into an alpha phase, where external players will get a chance to test it and provide early feedback.

“This has been a game changer for us,” stated Chief Creative Officer, Brad McQuaid. “We’ve been able to fill in some key roles, from artists to programmers and designers. This in turn has allowed us to complete the last pieces of the prototype and we are now preparing the game for alpha. Now is when things start to get really fun — we have a playable game we can soon start to show. We can’t wait to start bringing in players to get their thoughts.”

Visionary Realms aims to begin Pantheon’s alpha phase by the end of the year, ultimately targeting a 2017 release.

Albion Online Offers Insight to Map Creation

Albion Online Offers Insight to Map Creation news header

With the closed beta of Sandbox Box Interactive’s medieval sandbox MMO Albion Online scheduled to kick-off this November, the development team has released an insightful blog, covering the intricacies of map design for its ambitious cross-platform (PC, Mac, iOS and Android) online universe.

 

Level design is at the very core of the Albion Online experience. In the latest blog How a Map for Albion Online is Designed, by Sandbox’s level design team, they discuss the process required to achieve three goals of level design: balancing, entertainment and visuals.

 

The process begins with a rough sketch created according to several design rules outlined in a requirement sheet. The next step is to build a map template into Unity, where the level design team sketch the terrain, hills, lakes and important landmarks to get a decent visual representation. Once the rough map is imported, it then undergoes several stages of design, from marking the positions of key landmarks to creating height differences and making the map feel “alive”.

 

With all details in place, the map is then exported to a 2D display “world editor” where it is connected with other Albion maps. Afterwards, it is imported into one of the development builds for further testing and balancing. For a small map, it takes the design team 35 hours from turning a rough paper sketch into a fully realized world in the Albion Online universe. Albion Online’s maps go through vigorous testing, so they are as detailed and balanced as possible, which is imperative for a well-designed game map.

Dark Era

Dark Era is an fantasy MMORPG by NGames. Using an in-house 3D Engine, Dark Era allows players to enjoy the game in either a downloadable client or a web browser.

Features:

Upgraded 3D Engine: Dark Era offers high-quality visuals and combat. The 3D engine provides excellent game graphics, light and shading feel vivid and real.

Innovate Gampleay: Dark Era abandons the traditional web game themes based on history or magic. Instead, it adopts the notion of time-space. Dark Era is also the first web game that uses horizontal fights scenes, presenting the most featured hand-to-hand combat in web games.

Leisure Fun: Enjoy a private garden where they can plant holy trees, collect ores and raise illusory beasts.