f13.net

Stray Bullet Games of SB fame licenses Hero engine.  News at 11 (http://www.warcry.com/news/view/69303-Virgin-Games-Stray-Bullet-and-Colony-Studios-Select-HeroEngine) At least they learned something from SB's mistakes... my guess it will be hero.exe instead of sb.exe errors that will drive everyone crazy :) On more serious note, anyone nows what Hero engine is capable of?

The HeroEngine just reminds me of Vanguard.

A longer development cycle than Dorkfall Online.

Hero's Journey was announced back in 1999. You know the engine has to be like swiss cheese filled with rat turds.

Heh.  When I heard "Hero Engine" I immediately thought, "About damned time someone used the Champions ruleset, D20 sucks!"

Ah well.

I'm guessing it's cheap.

Not as cheap as you'd think....and certainly not as cheap as Torque :P

smart move

Considering both BioWare and now SBG have seen the merits in the toolset and the engine, I'd be willing to give it more credit then that.

From what I saw at E3 of the Hero's Journey demo, it looked like ass (character design-wise), but it looked like the engine could pull off some really cool stuff.

Actually, a lot of the stuff in CoH, when poked sufficiently, worked out a lot like Hero/Champions.

I agree that someone should use Hero for a game.  It's a much more... inherently flexible and yet also balanced ruleset than many.

--
Alkiera

From what little I've heard out of Austin, Hero has some compelling features. Development seems to be more or less "live." For example, it's only 15 seconds from "let's see what happens if we change those numbers" to testable in-game. I also hear the entire team is able to see each other's content changes in real time, with no lag.

HeroEngine has been in development so long because Simutronics is small. Also, they're still busy raping people with extra charges in their MUD offerings.

Seriously. They charge for in-game events and merchants. And they're not cheap (I think one at one point in Gemstone cost something like $100 for a 3-day event).

Totally off-topic, but I approve of all the Amethystium in Stormwaltz's music list.

My first "MMO".  And yeah, me and my wallet remember quite well the hourly charges for Gemstone along with the long distance fees that went with it.

I wonder if kids nowadays can even contemplate what "online gaming" meant around 15 years ago.  Putting your 64Kbps modem on autodial until you finally get into that BBS?  Priceless.

it performed well at the AGC.  Looked good and had impressive world building tools.  Everything else you can bring to the service (IM presence, etc.)

Back on Prodigy (Yeah, remember them?), I managed to run up $100+ in a single month. I had no idea I was being charged hourly. I lost internet access...for a year.

Thankfully, by the time I got access again, Simu had moved to a web-based outfit, and had monthly subs.

I have no idea how much time I sunk into that game over the years, and I never even really got that high in level (talk about grinds, lolz).

64kbps? Man, I remember getting my first 2400baud modem. IT SCREAMED MAN. And then 28.8 came along and my performance was adequate enough for Telerena. I dual boxed that damn game. Back then, I thought the $9.95 a month fee was exorbinate. Total highway robbery.

But man, those were the days IRQ conflict, turning off system sounds in DOS, and phone bills in the $2-$300 range. Every month until Erols became a monthly fee.

Hypothetical question, lets say SBG turns around and decides to make a mmorpg that does not appeal in any way to existing hardcore PvP community. How would you, as a Community Manager, handle inescapable onslaught of negative reviews, bad publicity and ill will that quite possible will be sufficient to drown release from unknown to larger masses studio and not based on any well-known IP? Do you think all negative reviews, that do not necessary reflect quality of the game but rather failed expectation of community, will be enough to doom it?

(http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart2_files/Subscriptions_11327_image001.gif)

Pika?

I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be too much outrage, knowing the majority of "MMO players".

Which would be a damn shame, because I'd like to see more heavy-pvp mmos.  If you want PvE go fucking play WoW.

According to the chart, UO will probably have more subscribers than SWG at some point in the next year if the graphics revamp attracts any new old players. Which it will.

But what does this have to do with Shad^h^h^h SBG?

That chart is weak, pie charts or fuck off I say.


As for Sinji's point, I dont think that matters, by the  time the general public is even hearing about their game all but the most hardcore outraged fanboi will have gotten tired of trolling SBG's forums bitching about how they have deserted them.  The large majority of WoW players dont even know what SB was.  Therefore the large majority of MMO gamers dont even know what SB was.

Irrelevant I say.

Way I see it:

Optimistic case is that you are another nameless studio trying to get crumbs of Blizzard table.

Pessimistic case is that you get pounded by disgruntled 'to crush' fanbois that gets your new title mistaken for failed hardcore PvP title.


Big problem I see is that you will have difficulty going middle-ground. If new title at all has elements of PvP it will inevitably get compared to SB.