Hi-Rez Studios, developer of Global Agenda, had a
serious problem - they wanted to provide their players with larger
scale battle scenarios than their existing engine could handle.

Somehow
during the development of a new project that would satisfy those
desires they were able to acquire the rights to the franchise that was
serving as their main inspiration; Tribes. While
all the details haven't yet been revealed, there has been an official
post on the href="http://forum.globalagendagame.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=153&t=27766"
target="_blank">Global Agenda forums:


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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 you support



Erez.



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

You can see the thread for yourself using the above link, but you will
need to register to do so. Stay tuned to Ten Ton Hammer for further
details as they develop.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Tribes Universe Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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