Guess what still exists?

[Triforcer]

This.  Only the old schooliest of ya'll will remember this gem.

www.atriarch.com

From their news page (April 2008):

We were excited to see a few long-time Atriarch fans at the IMGDC conference last month. Just like the GDC in February, many people who have been quietly following Atriarch's development--albeit slow--progress are starting to come out of the alien woodwork. There continues to be a yearning out there for a world that is unique, imaginative, and unusual. We believe that Atriarch will be that world. This motivates us to keep fighting the challenges that face an independent developer. To those of you still following our journey: you're awesome! Woohoo!

World Fusion is now implementing a new internship program, as we have done before with great success. In exchange for the excellent work on Atriarch, our previous interns gained real world, commercial game development experience that led to industry jobs. Two previous interns went on to become leads for other game companies, and both had no game development experience before working for World Fusion. We will post more information about this program in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you would like to be considered for this, please e-mail us and we'll put you on the contact list when the details are available.

Internships at an MMO in development since 1998: path to success?

[Tale]

yeah you really can keep anything going

[schild]

oh wao

Atriarch is still around. Awesome.

[Nebu]

1998 is old school?  Hmmmm.

[schild]

For MMOGs, sure.

[Teleku]

Yeah, I remember excitedly reading the details of Atriarch around the same time I started EQ, which was the day it launched.

Atriarch, Sovereign, and LOTR Online (it has permadeath!) looked so exciting!  The future was grand!

[WindupAtheist]

Then they made nothing but 5000 remakes of EQ and I was left playing UO forever.  Sigh.

[squirrel]

1998 is old school?  Hmmmm.

Well, kinda yeah. I mean dude, it was a decade ago. For the MMOG genre that's kind of a while.

[Koyasha]

The news archives on their site even go back to 99...  I don't know, if I was them I'd kinda want to hide the fact that I'm apparently trying to compete with Duke Nukem Forever in that certain un-envied field of game production.

10. What are the recommended requirements?
We are recommending that you have a computer running a minimum of 500 MHz with 256 RAM and a Geforce2 MX or better.  While Atriarch will run on a machine with lower specifications, the performance will decrease.  (Your machine specs will not necessarily prevent you from testing.  We need testers with lower specs as well.)  This test currently runs on Windows only and an Internet connection is required.

That part is comedy gold, though.  Do you think they can even find someone with lower specs?

[Nerf]

I could try to run it on my phone, I *think* its a bit lower than that.

[Aez]

It's a nice little strategy.  You take an intern and ask him to make a 2 min promotional video while you party all day long at work (if you show up) then run around with your promotional video until you secure an other 6 month of financing.  It practically sells itself :

We have been developing it for 10 years. Look, we have a guy walking on grass, our targeted demographic totaly dig that.  *Talks about WoW money.* With only a small investment you can reap the reward of our past bankrupted investor!

[Schazzwozzer]

Wow, I'm mostly surprised to see that they're still getting funding.  From their news, dated March 2008:

Serafina, World Fusion's President and Atriarch Designer, will be giving a presentation at the Independent MMO Game Developer's Conference on March 30. IMGDC is a conference specifically for independent development teams and companies. She will talk about the different strategies World Fusion used to generate revenue so World Fusion could continue to work on Atriarch as an independent developer. She will also discuss which strategies did not work.

I'm less inclined to assume that they're partying every day than I am to just assume that they're a handful of "creative" types who're terribly ill-suited to managing a project, unable to retract themselves from what looks to be a death march.  It seems to be pretty common in the games industry, but the MMO genre in particular seems to attract these kinds of projects. 

[Lantyssa]

I was wondering what happened to them just the other day.

[CharlieMopps]

Wow, those screenshots look terrible... They couldn't give that game away.

[Venkman]

Atriarch began life where Spore will actually end. It started with the idea of a fully deformable actual globe with these wierd bio/alien type forms in a massive RTS/RPG hybrid. In 1998.

For anyone wondering how a mere 10 years ago is "old skool", think about how UO (pre Trammel) and EQ1 (just barely playable) existed, alongside M59 and I think the last remnants of The Realm at the time. This is only I think a year or so since the entire term of "MMO" was even coined.

That's a long time ago.

[Hutch]

Guess what still exists?

Can a thing still exist, that has never existed?

[Nebu]

1998 is old school?  Hmmmm.

Well, kinda yeah. I mean dude, it was a decade ago. For the MMOG genre that's kind of a while.

I suppose you're right.  I was developing content for MUD's almost a decade earlier.  I guess I still consider MUD's and MMO's to be more closely related than I ought to. 

[Venkman]

I'm with you there. But I think what defines MMOs more than just the graphical overlay to MUDs is the audience it attracted, and the growth that came as a result.

There was a time before MMOs for most people, even though veterans such as yourself see a more clean direct evolution.

I continue to wish I had gotten into MUDs. I didn't even know about them until after I started going from just gaming UO to talking about it.

[Dren]

I was playing MUDs back before the MMO's (1988-1992), but I think I'm more of a graphics whore than most old-schoolers.  I really remember there being a distinct break from the traditional MUD's in around 1993-1995.  It really began for me with Shadow of Yserbius (Sierra Online.)  There may have been others just starting out (The Realm, Meridian 59, etc.)

I believe UO launched in 1997.  I started playing it a month after launch.  UO, for me, brought my own personal vision of what massive online gaming could be, or at least a start for it. 

Yes, I remember this "idea of a game" back then and had written it off two years into it.  Anything pre-2000 at this point is ancient in the MMO industry. IMHO

[ahoythematey]

Like Lantyssa, I've been wondering what happened to Atriarch.  I hope they pull off a miracle and actually release the game, it would be nice to have something other than high-fantasy on the market.

[Jayce]

From their news page (April 2008):

...To those of you still following our journey: you're awesome psychotic! Woohoo!

Gives it a whole different flavor, and some veracity, I might add.

[HaemishM]

Every few months, I wonder what happened to these folks. They have great ideas that will never ever make it into a real-life for pay MMOG, unless they are funded by a completely rich whackjob.

[Nebu]

Every few months, I wonder what happened to these folks. They have great ideas that will never ever make it into a real-life for pay MMOG, unless they are funded by a completely rich whackjob.

Like Vanguard and Tabula Rasa?

I think there may be hope.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, those kind of whackjobs, only with the cognizance to hire someone with talent.

[cmlancas]

http://www.atriarch.com/screenshots/screenshots/121699/05.html

It's so terrible that it actually looks camo'd!

[Krakrok]

Atriarch began life where Spore will actually end. It started with the idea of a fully deformable actual globe with these wierd bio/alien type forms in a massive RTS/RPG hybrid. In 1998.

Populous: The Beginning had that in 1998.

[NiX]

Can a thing still exist, that has never existed?

I was in the beta way back when and it exists. It was buggy as all fuck, but it exists.

[Evil Elvis]

Well... there was only about a 12 hour period where anyone actually connected to the server before they basically pulled the plug on the beta and said they weren't as ready as they thought they were.

The client was only around 200mb if I remember correctly 

[raydeen]

And downloaded and patched through IE. That was fun. Not.