Hi-Rez buys Tribes IP; plans MMO

[UnSub]

Starting in 2011.

I can't see how this doesn't eat straight into their Global Agenda playerbase, but perhaps that's the longer-term plan.

[jakonovski]

So Global Agenda 2 becomes Tribes 3. I'm cautiously positive, as long as they include a competent physics engine in the game. Preferably with destructible terrain.

[DayDream]

I'd wager both of those, a competent physics engine and destructible terrain, aren't going to be in MMOs for at least 10 years.  I think the technical problems, at least for the USA, of implementing that sort of thing for many players together are gunna make that impractical until the broadband infrastructure in the USA is updated.

[Malakili]

Oh god, they're going to ruin it.

[Chinchilla]

We shall see. Hate to put my opinion since I could (hopefully) be pleasantly surprised.

[Mrbloodworth]

Sweet!

From the forums, incase you cant see it:

"SHAZBOT

Here is a brief update on what’s been happening at HiRez Studios.

Those of you that have been playing Global Agenda know that over the last year we have been consistently adding new features/content and releasing it at no charge to the Global Agenda community. We plan to continue doing this on an on-going basis as much as possible and over the next couple of months everyone will see new maps, raids, flair, and weapons (starting with the Halloween event next week).

As most of you know, Global Agenda is an ambitious project that incorporates many different gameplay modes (PvP, PvE, AvA, Raids, Open Zone, DA). Over time we had many requests for additional game play modes, especially larger spaces and fights. Earlier this year we released the Sonoran Desert quest zone as an area that would help players ease into the game while testing our technology limits for having large areas and many players in the same zone. Our plan for a first paid expansion was to continue on that path with Warzones which were designed as large open areas where players can PvP.

As we worked on Warzones we found too many design and programming issues to make it practical. Global Agenda was designed around 10v10 team play and there was no practical path found to scale it up in a significant way (to large scale numbers like 100 players in a single area). As a result we plan to continue releasing more Global Agenda content but only in the formats players are already familiar with. (Special Ops, Raids, Merc Missions, etc)

While we know that some players will be disappointed in the lack of warzones, we also have some good news.

We can’t transform Global Agenda to a large scale battle format but since we liked this concept a lot, we decided to create a new game based on large scale fighting. In order to develop the new game many significant steps had to be taken, including: A significant rewrite to the unreal engine servers to allow for 100+ players to be fighting in the same map, a new UI system that is more efficient, a different implementation of character visuals, a new terrain system, etc. In addition the combat gameplay required many significant changes as well.

While working through the design we kept coming back to one old and loved game that represented many of the concepts we where incorporating into the new game (Jetpacks, vehicles, large open space, three armor types, futuristic weapons, etc). Many of you will know this game as Tribes, the original on-line multiplayer shooter. As of now, HiRez Studios is the proud new owner of the Tribes franchise.

We now have two groups in the studio, one working on continuing to build Global Agenda and a new group working on the Tribes Universe project. We are also moving to a new larger office space in another month that will help us accommodate our growth.

I’m sure many of you have questions, so here are a few quick highlights for Tribes Universe:

* Three Tribes (factions)
* Full clan (agency) support
* First person view (third person for some vehicles)
* Full vehicle support (ground and air)
* Full persistent world with territory control (no instances)
* PvP focused
* Huge outdoor maps (about 10x the area of sonoran desert)
* Large scale fights (100+ players)
* Jetpacks, skiing, lots of weapons, etc

Alpha testing will begin at the start of the year (about 3 months from now) and Global Agenda players with level 50 characters will have priority in entering Alpha and Beta testing

Thanks for your support

Erez.

P.S. More information on Tribes Universe will be coming in the near future along with an Alpha/Beta registration web site."

[Sky]

Tribes IP? Who cares about the IP? It's all about the gameplay, and even that has a lot of wiggle room. There was no Tribes IP or skiing in Planetside and it was basically Tribes mmo.

I'd be amazed if they can pull off the gameplay on a true mmo scale.

Also, "original online multiplayer shooter" 

[Surlyboi]

Tribes IP? Who cares about the IP? It's all about the gameplay, and even that has a lot of wiggle room. There was no Tribes IP or skiing in Planetside and it was basically Tribes mmo.

I'd be amazed if they can pull off the gameplay on a true mmo scale.

Also, "original online multiplayer shooter" 

Pretty much this. I loved me some Tribes back in the late 90s, early aughts and I played the absolute SHIT out of Planetside too. The two were almost interchangeable for me. Do Planetside over again right, with or without the Tribes IP and I'm so fucking there.

[Typhon]

Tribes IP would seem to lend itself to EVE-style player-owned corporations versus 3-sided (there were 5 tribes factions, the four human and one bio-derm).

Question: I never played Planetside but it seems like the major thing that wasn't done "right" was the subscription.  If someone re-did Planetside as F2P with cosmetic and convenience items cash shop, how close to "right" would that be without any other modification?

[Ratman_tf]

Question: I never played Planetside but it seems like the major thing that wasn't done "right" was the subscription.  If someone re-did Planetside as F2P with cosmetic and convenience items cash shop, how close to "right" would that be without any other modification?

IMO the big flop for Planetside was the first expansion. Core Combat. That kind of set the tone for every expansion or content patch for the game.  A lack of understanding what the players want, and what made the game fun.
I liked the original subscription model. I stopped playing because the content additions were crap.

Re: Tribes IP. Meh. Tribes was fun, and I loved it, but it's time to move forward. There are good things to learn from Tribes and Planetside, but just slapping the name on a game doesn't mean shit.

[AutomaticZen]

Glad they were honest about it. 

"We were making a game and realized we were doing a Tribes MMO, so we figured we'd buy the IP."

Tentatively hopeful.

[Mrbloodworth]

Planetside issues were the subscription pitched to FPS players, And that they made the game as if it was a one off title. It had little room, or tools to expand anything, not to mention its use of front loading assets, lastly, client side hit detection.

Anyway I have some faith Hi-rez can do a shooter MMO justice, no matter the IP. Funny thing is, there is some cross pollination here with Firefall.

[Malakili]

I think Planetside has exactly the right *idea* for a FPS MMO though.  Huge amount of space, objectives littering the world to fight over, and then basically leave it up to the players beyond that. 

The more they add to this, the less i'm interested actually.  please no gear, no levels, no noting, no crafting just give a massive world to fight over, let me customize my kit tribes 2 style (with no unlocks, just being able to use everything from the beginning), and I'll play this for years.  I just think that Global Agenda is basically the exact opposite of how to do an FPS MMO, so hopefully they don't go in that direction

[DLRiley]

Not buying a Hi-rez game till 6 months after launch, global agenda left a $50 bad taste in my mouth. How you manage to make shooting someone in the face feel wrong is completely beyond me. In a sense global agenda is the perfect fps mmo, its a pve game like DDO.

[Mrbloodworth]

I can imagine, the client is only about 30$. 

[DLRiley]

I can imagine, the client is only about 30$.  

Yeah nearly a year later. I bought it at launch. And $30 is overpriced at that.

[Azazel]

I played Planetside at launch, and it was decent enough for the 30 days. My main problem was the lag, being a FPS played across the pacific - more trouble than in something like EQ. But it was still playable and fun most of the time. It just wasn't enough fun to justify the sub fee, and by the time they went limited F2P or whatever it was, I wasn't interested enough in going through it all again with the large download and recovering the account and so forth. This has potential.

[Mrbloodworth]

I can imagine, the client is only about 30$.  

Yeah nearly a year later. I bought it at launch. And $30 is overpriced at that.

U mad?

[DLRiley]

I can imagine, the client is only about 30$.  

Yeah nearly a year later. I bought it at launch. And $30 is overpriced at that.

U mad?

hell yes i'm mad.

[NiX]

This is rich.

[LC]

The first Tribes is my favorite fps of all time. I hope they don't fuck it up like the last two attempts did.

[Mrbloodworth]

Massively Exclusive: Hi-Rez talks Tribes Universe

[NiX]

Oh shit, he said Planetside.

[DLRiley]

oh shit he said hardcore fps and planetside in the same sentence.

[Mrbloodworth]

Oh shit, he said Planetside.

A few times even.

[HaemishM]

And he said it'll be primarily first-person. All these things make me much more interested.

[UnSub]

And he said it'll be primarily first-person. All these things make me much more interested.

You know you are just going to end up sitting on the floor, bottle of whiskey in hand and crying over a broken heart, right? 

[Furiously]

He also said Unreal, which there are already a shit-ton of hacks for.

[Viin]

I believe the current Global Agenda game is built on the Unreal engine. I haven't heard of any hacks for it, but I haven't looked either.

[Furiously]

They are usually pretty obvious when they are there in global agenda. Their stats will be so crazy high, like 20 kills in one mission as a smg using recon... (Which they all are)...

http://globalagendahack.com/global-agenda-aimbot

[Ratman_tf]

They are usually pretty obvious when they are there in global agenda. Their stats will be so crazy high, like 20 kills in one mission as a smg using recon... (Which they all are)...

http://globalagendahack.com/global-agenda-aimbot

And that's why I can't get into online shooters. 

[Mrbloodworth]

The existence does not mean that they are heavily used however.

I have been playing GA since launch, and have not felt really any situation I thought was suspect. Lets hope they don't trust the client to much in the search for giant battles.


Also:  http://www.tribesuniverse.com/

[LC]

The existence does not mean that they are heavily used however.

I have been playing GA since launch, and have not felt really any situation I thought was suspect. Lets hope they don't trust the client to much in the search for giant battles.


Also:  http://www.tribesuniverse.com/

Signed up.

[DLRiley]

The existence does not mean that they are heavily used however.

In GA case it doesn't matter. Hitting 9/10 of your shots doesn't even insure a kill 90% of the time. Most people take off running if you hit 5 consecutive shots, and given a 1:1 ratio between shot fired and shot hit doesn't get someone to even below 15% before you hit 0% energy. And that is assuming there are differences in levels. Its been an epic flaw with the game that they won't be fixed because it works fine for pve.   

[Mrbloodworth]

The existence does not mean that they are heavily used however.

In GA case it doesn't matter. Hitting 9/10 of your shots doesn't even insure a kill 90% of the time. Most people take off running if you hit 5 consecutive shots, and given a 1:1 ratio between shot fired and shot hit doesn't get someone to even below 15% before you hit 0% energy. And that is assuming there are differences in levels. Its been an epic flaw with the game that they won't be fixed because it works fine for pve.  

I happen to like that style. I'm not a huge fan of the counterstrike/Medal of Honer/Battlefield style of shooters I prefer them more arcadey and lacking head-shots. What you speak of is not a flaw, its a design decision. It has little to do with PvE, but it does make for some fun PvE encounters. Planetside played about the same way.

I think your energy issues are a bit overblown however. Your %'s are off.