Monthly Archives: April 2016

Offworld Trading Company

Offworld Trading Company is a 3D sci-fi real-time strategy game developed by Mohawk Games and is available for purchase on Steam Early Access for PC and Mac. Offworld Trading Company brings players to Mars, where they must cultivate its resources and prove that their colony is the superior economic power through various means. New technologies, resources, and goods await you on this foreign planet, but you will soon realize that your most valuable asset is your economic wit.

Features:

Economic Power: Use economic espionage, stock prices, and even patents to drive your opponents out of the market. There is no military here to help you physically take down other colonies.

Dynamic Campaign: Offworld Trading Company’s singleplayer campaign will respond to your economic choices to ultimately determine your colony’s fate.

Resources and Goods: Use thirteen different resources to create new goods that you can sell on the market.

Star Trek Online Update 11.5 Astika Battlecruiser Raffle Event

To celebrate the launch of Star Trek Online: Season 11.5, we’re teaming up with Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios to give 5 lucky winners a Vaadwaur Astika Heavy Battlecruiser.

Battlecruisers of the “Astika” class further reinforce this focus on offensive force while also being capable of withstanding heavy incoming fire, thanks to its sturdy craftsmanship and many versatile capabilities. See giveaway thread for full specs!

 

To Enter the Raffle:

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Old School RuneScape’s Legacy Server Success

By Mathew Kemp, Old School RuneScape Product Manager

Old School RuneScape's Legacy Server Success

Building on the past: How RuneScape’s official legacy server avoided cannibalism and became an eSport

It’s more than three years since we had our first discussion about releasing legacy servers for RuneScape. However, we can now say that releasing Old School RuneScape was one of the best decisions we ever made.  Since Old School RuneScape’s launch in February 2013 we have seen just short of seven million players log in with over two and a half million becoming members.

During that time Old School has of course faced a number of challenges, but here’s how we overcame them and how we took a version of RuneScape from 10 years ago and made it relevant for todays’ gamers.

The legacy risk

During the early discussions there were of course many concerns such as: Was it even possible? How long it would take? And, whether there was the potential for cannibalisation of the existing RuneScape player base? We knew our players wanted legacy servers, as with most MMORPG communities they were not shy in telling us what they wanted. Even though we were quite certain about the initial surge of interest these servers would get, we wanted to test this so we asked our players via a poll if they would play. When half a million of our customers said they want to play it… we kind of had to do it.

Another big question mark was whether the legacy servers would have any longevity. To manage this risk a small team of three people was put together to manage the servers and community until the initial interest had died down, at which time resources could be reallocated.

The risk seemed low, allocated resources could all be temporary, and with half a million players saying they would like to try it, the risk of cannibalisation was outweighed by the potential for new customers. At the very least, Old School RuneScape would be a quick nostalgia hit for disenfranchised players.

With legacy servers comes legacy technical debt

Once Old School RuneScape had launched it quickly became apparent that the community wanted game updates. However, initially we were very limited in what we could deliver. Since RuneScape as a game had progressed during the intervening years, so had all the tools we used to develop it. We were in the unenviable position of having to recreate all the tools we used to develop the game back in 2007 so we could update it. At no point had anyone thought, “We ought to keep all these old versions of the development tools just in case.” I mean why would they?

The lack of development tools was not our only technical debt, we had to rework anti-cheating software, optimise areas of the code, and fix some pretty major bugs for a second time.

Community tribalism

Something which should not really surprise anyone is that there was a rivalry between the communities of the Old School RuneScape and RuneScape. Over time this rivalry increased with the Old School community taking the stance of being purist, and the RuneScape community positioning themselves as progressive.

Although the Old School community saw themselves as purists they still wanted change, so to ensure the rate of change was acceptable to those players we allowed them to vote on every update that happens to the game. If 75% of those voting did not agree, the update didn’t happen. This gave a very strong sense of ownership of the game to the community; they were in control.

What was a surprise was that the tribalism shown by the community started to manifest itself among the development teams. As the small team was left to get on with things they developed their own ways of making things happen without relying on other teams. Although this self-sufficiency might be much sought over by many people, it has a hampering effect when it has to fit into companywide objectives and strategic planning across products.

It came to a point where the Old School RuneScape team needed more integration into the wider RuneScape studio. This was achieved by creating stronger relationships between staff and line managers that traversed different teams, as well as including the Old School team in more of the studio level decisions.

Game positioning

After about six months we started to see player numbers settle and we could see that very few players migrated between Old School RuneScape and RuneScape. What we were not seeing was one game cannibalising the other, so we wanted to understand why a player would play one game and not the other.

Through a series of surveys and data gathering from the game servers we saw there were some distinct reasons why people played Old School RuneScape. The three key reasons were the old combat system (which was changed in the main game in 2012) the grinding of levels, and the straightforward membership monetisation model. This made it very easy to position Old School RuneScape as complementarily to RuneScape and give us a very clear direction of where the game could go. More importantly, it identified areas we could branch into much more effectively than we could have done with RuneScape on its own.

For example, the old combat system leant itself well to PvP combat, which in turn allowed us to take our first steps into the eSports market last month with considerable success.

When legacy becomes THE legacy

Although the initial impact of legacy servers on RuneScape was expected to be short and sweet, it has grown into a major part of Jagex’s business. The Old School team is now five times the size it was when it started and has more members than the launch period, showing it can reach out to a wider market than the initial audience.

The modernisation of RuneScape meant tensions increased between the traditionalist and progressive RuneScape player base. However, Old School RuneScape gave the traditionalists a safe home and allowed for the continued modernisation of RuneScape without alienating a key part of our player base.

There have been challenges in overcoming the technical debt that suddenly appeared, as well as, ensuring that the product sits well within a wider business. However, it offered something our existing games did not offer and has allowed us to start expanding the RuneScape franchise into new areas such as eSports and streaming.

By keeping the risk of legacy servers low and being focused on how they can grow the franchise, this adventure has just started.

Mathew Kemp is product manager for Old School RuneScape at Jagex Games Studio.

Riders of Icarus Closed Beta 2 Announced

Riders of Icarus Closed Beta 2 Announced

Nexon has announced the second closed beta phase for its upcoming MMORPG, Riders of Icarus.

Phase 2 will run from April 21 through April 28, and sign-ups are still available. Testing regions have now been expanded to include Europe, South America, Australia, and Oceania. The test will be under strict NDA.

Beta testers will earn special capes depending on the tests that they participate in, including a Gold Dragon Cape for those who participate in all three beta tests.

Many significant changes have been made to the game since the first closed beta, including making mounts accessible earlier in the game.

Full details on the closed beta test is available here.

Endless Legend Shifters Review – Great Addition to a Polished Game

By Jordan Hall (ApocaRUFF)

 

 

Endless Legend Shifters

 

Endless Legend Shifters is the latest expansion added to Amplitude Studio’s acclaimed Endless Legend series. It adds new features, improves old features, and introduces the Allayi, a new playable faction. That’s not all, though, as new buildings and tweaks are introduced to the game as well. We’ve been following the development of Endless Legend from the start, and we’re excited to see just how far along it’s come with Endless Legend Shifters.

 

New Faction

The Allayi are the newest faction in Endless Legend. They have a special relationship with the new Pearls found in the game and have dedicated themselves to protecting the planet. Being a magica tribe that shifts with the seasons in drastic ways, they’re a fairly balanced faction that has proven to be a joy to play. The introduction of the Winter changes and Pearls of Auriga give them a really unique style of play, though all factions benefit from these additions.

 

Endless Legend Shifters Review

A very interesting faction.

 

One of the biggest selling points of the Allayi is their ability to “change with the seasons.” To start out with, you don’t have much control over these effects. But as time goes on, that may change. Further, this “Shifting” (Get it? Shifters, so the units Shift?) is something that all factions can make use of. Generally in summer, units become more passive, becoming better at defense and not costing as much in terms of upkeep. In winter, they become better at offensive actions. This is a bit odd, as you would assume that in winter units would become more dormant (Aka more defensive-oriented). Odd, but interesting that they flip the typical seasonal playstyle of most factions on its head.

 

Endless Legend Shifters - Allayi Battle Endless Legend Shifters - Allayi City

As you can see, the Allayi’s “shift” is reflected in their color scheme. In summer it is a white-orange color scheme, while winter is represented by a black-blue color scheme.

 

In terms of units, the Allayi have a very ‘flowing’ theme. Your first units will be Seekers, which are a form of cavalry. Early on you will be introduced to the Skyfin, which is essentially the best Pearl hunter in the game. Both of these units make fantastic scouts, and even the “non-scout” units have a rather high mobility compared to units from most other factions. This orientation on mobility accomplishes two things: allowing the Allayi to be superb Pearl hunters and explorers and giving the Allayi a very unique play-style and strategy.

 

Endless Legend Shifters Review

Probably my favorite unit in the game so far, simply because of the way they look.

 

The Allayi have an Eastern feel to their design. I have a feeling that Japanese folklore may have been part of the inspiration for this race. They are a very mystical race with animal-like features and floating ‘wings’ behind them. Their coloring, white with highlights of blue and/or orange, give them a very pure look that compliments the lore behind them. Their cities also have a very pure, white-centric design with smooth curves and calming shapes. You can tell that the art team put a decent amount of effort in the design of the Allayi.

 

Endless Legend Shifters Review

The Allayi cities have a very clean, mystical look to them.

 

Winter

Winter has changed from being just an annoyance you have to put up with, to an interesting new scenario that forces you to make tough choices. It used to feel like you were just **** out of luck whenever winter blew by. For me, winter is usually an important part of strategy games – it allows me to sit back and re-assess my strategies and do some important prep work for the spring and summer to come. But Endless Legends just wasn’t giving me the opportunity to do that. With these new changes to winter, that’s all been turned around and I’ve found myself actually looking forward for winter more than a few times.

 

Endless Legend Shifters Review

Winter still retains some of its ‘classic’ debuffs.

 

Pearls

As I mentioned, The Allayi have a special relationship with the Pearls of Auriga. These Pearls are harvested during the “Dark Season” (aka Winter) and can be found in ruins as loot. All factions can gather this new resource, but the Allayi excel at it. If you choose to play the Allayi, early on you will be given a quest-line that prepares you for use of the Pearls, by guiding you through the construction of an Altar of Auriga.

 

Endless Legend Shifters Review

Fear not, this quest-line will introduce you to this new Pearl system! And give you some neat rewards along the way.

 

The Altar of Auriga can be used, along with the Pearls of Auriga, to grant powerful blessings that can benefit you in varying scales. Pearls can also be used to impact the effects of winter, with certain building options only being available via Pearls. As you might imagine, Pearls are one of the biggest features of this up-date, probably just as massive as the new faction added. Which is great, because when I originally heard about this update I feared that I might be forced to play as the Allayi if I wanted to enjoy this expansion. Luckily, every faction can make use of these features, meaning that you can play as your favorite faction and still participate in most of the Shifters’ content.

 

Endless Legend Shifters Review

 

Other Changes

Of course, expansions aren’t just new features. They’re also a chance for developers to drop a hefty amount of tweaks and changes on the game. Shifters is no different in this regard, with a decent number of updates (mostly buffs) being given to the previous expansion, Shadows, content. If you take a look at the changelog you’ll notice a whole lot of “Fixed,” which is highly appreciated. Not that I ever ran into many issues with Endless Legend, I just like it when a developer is constantly improving the game with an obsessive attention to detail.

 

Conclusion: Still Excellent

I’m going to begrudgingly say that Shifters is the best expansion to hit Endless Legends yet. Why begrudgingly? Well, I just have a soft spot for the hulking Guardians from the Guardians expansion. But the tweaks and features introduced in Shifters are, in my opinion, the most superior update to the game yet. Endless Legend is proving to be one of those fantastic games that you can come back and play over and over without getting bored thanks to all the great updates Amplitude is pushing out. I truly look forward to seeing what’s in store for Endless Legend and other Endless games in the franchise!

 

Tree of Savior Investigates Possible Steam Exploit

Tree of Savior Investigates Possible Steam Exploit

The Tree of Savior community has been talking across official forums and Reddit communities about possible exploits through Steam.

Reports have included both a way for Brazilian players to obtain Tree of Savior and its premium items for free through Steam, and an infinite money exploit (possibly related to the same exploit).

IMC Games has recently responded to these complaints on their forums with the following message:

It has recently come to our attention through other channels as well that some players are allegedly acquiring Tree of Savior DLC illegally through Steam.

We appreciate the concern of those who reported this and would like to announce that we are currently discussing the issue with Steam in order to, if proven to be true, determine what can be done to stop these activities.

What sanctions will be applied to any players who may have obtained the DLC illegally is also under discussion, and we will update you once we have the details set.

This is another struggle for the Tree of Savior English version, which has previously had issues with its Early Access program.