Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

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-Enѐe 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.

Sword of the New World

This long running title is among the more popular of the games currently being published by GamersFirst. 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-Enѐe Merriex  stated that “Many people view it (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.

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 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.

Takiodom

Continuing in the vein of non-fantasy based gaming, Joseph Willmon introduced us to Takiodom, an online space themed MMOG that features a PvP centric style of play.  Similar to 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).