One of major themes developing this year at GDC 2010, in terms of
MMOGs, is that the free-to-play and microtransaction model is
no longer the outsider or red headed stepchild of the genre, but will
soon become the dominate model for the business. This is a
point not lost on us here at Ten Ton Hammer, and indeed, it is one we
have been reiterating now for quite some time. One of the main factors
in the advancement of non-subscription gaming has been the quality of
the games being released; no longer are they simply cheap imitations of
AAA titles, but rather strong franchises with innovations and a growing
legion of passionate fans.
One of the companies at the forefront of this emerging sector is
GamersFirst, a publisher with a broad range of titles and game genres
with an almost eponymous mission statement –making sure the
gamers come first. We sat down with several key members of
the team here at GDC ’10 to get some insight on their
philosophy, learn about new developments with existing titles and get a
preview of some upcoming titles (as well as being teased
about a forthcoming title that shall not be named at this time).
On the panel were Producers Joseph Willmon and Jon-En?e Merriex,
Associate Producer Brian Konar, Director of Game Operation Joe Rush and
keeping us all in line was our gracious hostess Ronjini Mukhopadhyay,
Senior Manager – Public Relations and Events. One
thing was evident within moments of sitting down and talking with this
group was that there was no carefully crafted marketing plan at work
here, it was a group of passionate individuals who love what
they’re doing and who know that the core of their business is
not the games that they bring to market but rather the community that
plays them.
While we spoke about several of the companies titles at length, there
were a couple that stood out and were featured during our discussion
and we will spotlight them below.
style="font-weight: bold;">Sword of the New World
This long running title is among the more popular of the games
currently being published by GamersFirst.
style="font-style: italic;">Sword of the New World
is an MMORTS that has been running since 2007 and is based upon the
European exploration of America. The game recently celebrated the
launch of a new expansion pack “Echoes of An Empire, Volume
2” which added new raids, new pets, two new UPCs (the game
allows players to control more than one character at a time through the
use of its UPC system), new costume boxes and a revamp of the item shop.
The game is truly multi-layered with players participating not only in
combat, both PvP and PvE based, but also in politics as the game
centers on a political PvP system that features players running for
office in an effort to control the colonies. Jon-En?e
Merriex stated that “Many people view it (
style="font-style: italic;">Sword of the New World)
as an MMORPG, but really there are so many more strategy elements to it
and the Political PvP system is the crowning point of the strategy
elements.“ Merriex also piqued our interest when he expanded
on the weekly faction based colony battles; these skirmishes take place
every Saturday and the winning faction is rewarded via a percentage of
the game’s auction house sales for that week.
Players of the game will want to take special note of these events as
they have a new twist planned for the upcoming week that is not to be
missed.
Several other key upgrades are coming to the game as well in the form
of a teleportation system that will allow players to move quickly
between all colonies controlled by their faction and updates to the
game’s user interface in the way of greater customization.
style="font-weight: bold;">Victory
When many gamers think of MMOG, the first image that comes to mind is
that of swords and sorcery, fantasy based themes of knights and
warriors and maidens fair. But gamers are a restless bunch and after
almost two decades of running around in the forests chasing orcs, we
have begun to emerge and clamor for something different. To satisfy
these new found desires, many game developers have begun to explore new
worlds and take risks on ideas that would have never seen the light a
day a few years ago.
GamersFirst is rolling out a new title that fits this bill in the form
of Victory,
a racing game set in post-apocalyptic world of 2062. With
style="font-style: italic;">Victory,
players can select a male or female avatar to pilot their vehicle, but
the real avatar to identify with will be the car itself. The vehicles
will be fully customizable and will feature three separate blocks that
can be tailor made to the player’s exact desire; going with
the three distinct blocks allows for the customization to be nearly
limitless. The game will feature an item shop that will feature some of
the more advanced customization options but will not offer any
advantages to paying customers that non-paying players
wouldn’t be able to attain with an investment of time. Brian
Konar ran me through a quick demo video of the game that featured
in-game action
that should easily satisfy players need for speed. The
game features multiple tracks that are all based on real world race
tracks, but have been re-imagined to fit within the post-apocalyptic
theme.
style="font-weight: bold;">Takiodom
Continuing in the vein of non-fantasy based gaming, Joseph Willmon
introduced us to
style="font-style: italic;">Takiodom,
an online space themed MMOG that features a PvP centric style of
play. Similar to
style="font-style: italic;">Black Prophecy,
Takiodom
incorporates twitch based ship to ship combat that can be played with
standard keyboard/mouse controls or a game pad. The game world is large
and complex with multiple systems in place to satisfy everyone from
hardcore PvP junkies to the economics major who is running a
commodities spreadsheet on their second monitor. There are no
classes in the game which opens up the game to customization as players
can assign their skill points and build their ship to fill the role
they feel most comfortable in, such as a long range sniper with limited
mobility, a heavy bomber that can lay the hurt on space stations or
ground based targets, or a nimble and deadly dogfighter that likes to
get up close and personal.
Competition is key in this game with several mechanisms planned that
will let players know who the biggest and the baddest players are in
the universe. Another major theme here is risk vs. reward with only a
few areas planned “where players are led by the
hand” according to Willmon; with MMOGs becoming ever easier,
the hardcore players should appreciate the dangerous environs that
exist in Takiodom.
The game has existed in the Asian market for some time so it is fairly
polished and only needs the finishing touches of localization to bring
it live to the North American market, with release scheduled for Q4
2010.
GamersFirst was one the first to bring free-to-play to North America,
if not the first, and with 28 million registered users they continue to
be among the most innovative and dedicated of the publishers.
Stay tuned for more about their existing and pending titles, and be on
the lookout for a big announcement soon about a possible new addition
to the roster (or two).
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Sword of the New World Game Page.
