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Guild Wars 2 dev blog talks achievements, Thief tweaks

Jef Reahard — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Guild Wars 2

It's been a trying year for impatient Guild Wars 2 fans, but 2011 is closing on something of a high note due to recent beta rumblings as well as an increase in the ArenaNet information trickle. The latest blurb is a year-end development update courtesy of Eric Flannum and Jon Peters, and Flannum kicks things off with a fairly detailed look at the game's achievement system.

As it turns out, GW2's achievements come in three flavors, and they comprise long-term goals, dailies, and monthly tasks that "encourage a variety of play and reward you with gold and experience."

Peters details recent changes to Thief class gameplay, and he pays particular attention to the steal and backstab abilities. He also spends a bit of time talking about improvements to combat timing and animations. "Making these improvements has been really interesting and fun because it has shown us how our game can feel appropriately action-oriented without taking away the familiarity of the MMO genre," Peters explains.

Guild Wars 2 dev blog talks achievements, Thief tweaks originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flameseeker Chronicles: The news doors haven't shut... yet

Rubi Bayer — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles

More news! More updates! Be still my heart! No, seriously. It does my fangirl heart such good to see all of these cool updates and details about Guild Wars 2 over the past few weeks. Between the animation updates, the skill updates, and the earnings call, there's plenty to discuss.

I was so excited to see the updated cutscenes, although I couldn't stop giggling at the male character shifting from foot to foot -- I kept waiting for him to ask the Priestess of Dwayna where the bathroom was. That's not a reflection on ArenaNet's design team so much as a testament to my years as the mother of a boy. It's all about the bathroom humor around here.

The new skill acquisition system was great in my book, and the news from the earnings call... well, why don't you follow along after the cut and we'll delve into all of that more deeply.

Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: The news doors haven't shut... yet

Flameseeker Chronicles: The news doors haven't shut... yet originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BioWare devs talk SWTOR combat animations, answer PvP questions

Jef Reahard — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, PvP, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dev Diaries

Grab yourself a tall glass of blue milk, Star Wars fans, as BioWare has released a lengthy new edition of its Studio Insider feature to carry you through your Friday afternoon.

The update features principal lead animator Mark How talking about -- wait for it -- animation! To be more precise, How tells us all about The Old Republic's combat animation, and he even tosses in an interesting video clip that features different stages in the development of a Jedi force leap and a Republic trooper full auto firing animation.

How also gets into the challenges inherent in melding the lightsaber battles from the Star Wars films with the design limitations of an MMORPG. "Players do not enjoy having character control taken away from them because of an action or animation," How explains. "It was particularly challenging to develop animations that allowed for visually appealing combat while still allowing the players complete control over their characters." How successful were BioWare designers in this regard? That remains to be seen, but you can get a feel for their approach by reading How's blog.

Finally, this week's Community Q&A feature continues the combat focus, and lead PvP designer Gabe Amatangelo has the answers to a few burning questions from the TOR faithful.

BioWare devs talk SWTOR combat animations, answer PvP questions originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Darkfall dev diary talks new UI, quest content, and more

Jef Reahard — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Darkfall, News items, Dev Diaries

Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras returns with another activity report on the Darkfall Epic Blog, and the focus is fairly broad. He touches on the dynamic quests and lore-driven events we mentioned last week, as well as upcoming world optimizations that include aggressive wildlife based on location and time of day, new monster families and epic mob encounters, and improvements to both player character models and monster animations.

Those of you who haven't been able to get past Darkfall's unique user interface will also have reason to give the game a second look in the near future, as Flambouras states that Aventurine has decided on a new GUI framework and tools. "These should yield a vastly improved user interface. The next phase for the GUI is the architecture and adapting the current GUI functionality to the new framework," he says.

Other notable items include the mention of a completely new environmental sound system as well as an in-game political map which will feature clan associations, vendor and bank locations, and various other resources. Check out all the details on the official Darkfall blog.

Darkfall dev diary talks new UI, quest content, and more originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 21 Nov 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An animated video diary from the team behind Super Hero Squad Online

Eliot Lefebvre — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, Video, Previews, News items, Kids, Super Hero Squad Online, Dev Diaries

Animation is responsible for a lot in an MMO. A lot of the visual personality of the game is conveyed through animations, both the mechanically important ones for special abilities and the ubiquitous flavor emotes such as dancing. So Super Hero Squad Online has both an advantage and disadvantage for the development team -- they're working with characters who have a lot of established personality, but that means there's even more emphasis on getting everything just right. A new video development diary from the team shows off the process of bringing a character to life in the game, with Wolverine getting the starring role.

The video moves step-by-step from the initial modeling and texturing process through the skeleton modeling and manipulation, while also showing off several of the animations that Wolverine will (presumably) be sporting in the final game. There's a great deal of attention to detail and the fine points of what makes each character tick, so if you're looking forward to Super Hero Squad Online, click on past the break to see how the team is putting a lot of expression into little movements.

Continue reading An animated video diary from the team behind Super Hero Squad Online

An animated video diary from the team behind Super Hero Squad Online originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fallen Earth's newest patch addresses animations

Jef Reahard — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Patches, News items, Post-Apocalyptic

One of the fan criticisms often leveled at Icarus Studios' post-apocalyptic sci-fi MMO Fallen Earth is the quality of some of the title's combat animations. With the launch of the game's newest update, Icarus has begun to address these concerns by polishing the animations for both dual-wielding and melee combat reactions.

The 1.6.2 patch, which hits the live server today, also brings particle and sound synchronization on melee combat as well as user interface tweaks and a small bug fix pertaining to the respec system. Finally, in case the wastelands weren't gritty enough already, the Fallen Earth team has re-enabled blood spatters and sounds for normal, glancing, and critical hits with regard to melee combat. Check out the press release and the full patch notes for all the details.

Fallen Earth's newest patch addresses animations originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Final Fantasy XIV unveils the next part in the Making of Eorzea

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Previews, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV

Any veteran player of Final Fantasy XI will be quick to talk about the marvelously detailed and realistic monsters found across the game. It's been clear from the start that Final Fantasy XIV will continue in the tradition, and the most recent video documentary released by Square-Enix demonstrates that in loving detail. Examining the production of the game's monsters in depth, the video is embedded after the cut and is a visual treat for almost any fan of the series.

As the video explains, the process of creating a monster for the game starts with the team essentially sculpting a virtual model at a polygon count far too high for use in the game. That model is used as the basis for the detailed and intricate final models, several of which are allowed to strut their stuff in the video. From the giant sea serpent seen in the benchmark to old standbys like the malboro, it's clear how much work has gone into making each part of Final Fantasy XIV's wildlife seamless and believable. Take a look past the break for the video, and if your interest is piqued, you might wish to try and get into the beta.

Continue reading Final Fantasy XIV unveils the next part in the Making of Eorzea

Final Fantasy XIV unveils the next part in the Making of Eorzea originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Craft of Gods continues refining their craft

Krystalle Voecks — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, New titles, News items, Craft of Gods

Beware the old gods, travelers. While the ground you trod upon currently may well seem solid, danger lurks at every turn, waiting to turn you into deity-kibble! But if you love all things fantasy -- and love the idea of supporting indie studios -- then the upcoming MMO being developed by Cyberdemons and released by Kalicanthus Entertainment, Craft of Gods, may be something you want to look into.

Currently in an open beta phase, Craft of Gods is based on Slavic history. Yes, indeed -- this means gods with enormous elemental smitey-hammers -- and the humans who dare to cross their paths. In short, the perfect types of stories for heroic tales told by firelight. In terms of recent updates to the game, players will notice that the UI has been revamped to make it more user-friendly, and a bunch of close-combat animations have been added in since we last touched on the game's development.

If you're curious, be sure to check out the shiny new screenshots below, or pop over to their site to sign up for the beta. But you'd better get a move on if you're after beta love -- the game is set to launch on May 27th, with those who pre-order landing a wild-looking mount, a flame cloak, and an epic weapon.

Gallery: Craft of Gods

Craft of Gods continues refining their craft originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Issue 17 details for City of Heroes

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Patches, News items

If you play City of Heroes, you're looking forward to the upcoming Issue 17. We've heard some of what can be expected from the big pre-expansion drop, but much of it was cloaked in vague terms -- improvements that didn't have any hard data attached to them, like the promise of new missions and UI revisions. But the official site has put up a page on the coming features for the update, and it helps clarify some things we didn't know about, as well as offering some excellent news besides. And it promises the end of Positron's dreaded unending task force! (It'll still be there, but it will be split into two parts and improved all around.)

Continue reading New Issue 17 details for City of Heroes

New Issue 17 details for City of Heroes originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fallen Earth's State of the Game: Upcoming additions and more

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, Fallen Earth, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items

When it comes to transparency regarding patches, Fallen Earth might have just won that category in spades. The latest State of the Game article on their site is more than just an overview of the direction they want to take the game in, it's a patch by patch listing of the features that the development team will be bringing to the table.

Patch 1.3 will be expanding the game with the introduction of Kaibab Forest and Deadfall Point, as players will run a brand new plotline to push back the radiation zone and find more secrets hidden in the wasteland. The new areas come with a brand new level added to the cap, so all of that experience gained from the new area won't go to waste.

Continue reading Fallen Earth's State of the Game: Upcoming additions and more

Fallen Earth's State of the Game: Upcoming additions and more originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Impressions: Alganon

Eliot Lefebvre — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Launches, New titles, First Impressions, Alganon

Today's First Impressions could use a little bit of external reading before you go too deeply into it. So I'm going to start by linking an article that's nearly seven years old but still excellent -- Fantasy Heartbreakers.

Now that you've all clicked "Back" in some confusion or just avoided the link in the first place, some explanation. The article is the origin of a term that pen-and-paper RPG fans have come to use to describe a certain type of game referenced in the article. It's referring to the countless game companies who thought they could make a game that was better at being Dungeons and Dragons than, well, Dungeons and Dragons. Many of the games in question weren't bad games -- sometimes even good ones -- but they were built on the fundamental premise that they would be "like D&D but with X."

Some of you probably see where this is going, or got it as soon as you saw the term. Because we're all very aware of how predominant World of Warcraft has become in the MMO marketplace, to the point where it's the essential standard that other MMOs are judged against. Alganon, then, could be seen as our genre's first fantasy heartbreaker. Because it's genuinely tough not to play the game and see that there's some really good stuff in here.

Continue reading First Impressions: Alganon

First Impressions: Alganon originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lord of the Rings Online to make drastic combat changes with Siege of Mirkwood

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, News items

It's very rare that you hear about a game changing how combat works at a fundamental level, but that's exactly what Turbine is doing in Siege of Mirkwood. We hope you guys weren't in love with weapon speeds and slow animations, because those are two of the things that are getting major overhauls.

In the latest developer diary, it's been revealed that weapon speeds will now be standardized by weapon level and type, making sure that all one-hand maces of the same level swing at the same speed. This is key, as previously players were taking slower weapons to maximize their damage, even if it wasn't appropriate for their class. (Turbine was looking at you, mace wielding burglars.) Weapons have also gotten increased speed but lowered damage to compensate for their fast swing rate.

Continue reading Lord of the Rings Online to make drastic combat changes with Siege of Mirkwood

Lord of the Rings Online to make drastic combat changes with Siege of Mirkwood originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why You Should Be Playing Aion: Chain combat

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Game mechanics, New titles, Hands-on, Why You Should Be Playing

"Why you should be playing ..." is a freeform column from Massively.com intended to inform you about our favorite parts of our favorite games. We want you to know why we're playing them, so you can know what to play.

I didn't give Aion the world's most glowing set of remarks last time I visited it, so I thought I should at least stop by and spend some time on a part of the game that I do actually like -- chain attacks.

Chain attacks do many things to help Aion's combat move smoothly and efficiently. They clean up the UI, they offer flexible choices, they keep the combat looking fluid, and they're a lot of fun to pull off.

Continue reading Why You Should Be Playing Aion: Chain combat

Why You Should Be Playing Aion: Chain combat originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Free Realms adds guild support and new quests with today's update

Seraphina Brennan — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Game mechanics, Guilds, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Casual, Free Realms

Today's a good day for you, if you're a Free Realms wanderer. Rejoice as the new update brings guild support, new animations, and some brand new quest lines straight to you!

The big addition for the update is obviously the guilds. Finally you can invite people and form guilds, as well as have a chat channel all to yourself. Past that, however, is the addition of six new quests which lead into a larger storyline. What do the content creators of Free Realms have up their sleeves? Well, you just need to complete the quests and find out for yourself.

For the full notes on today's patch, jump on over to the Free Realms update page and check it out. It's not that long, but we're sure pretty much everyone is focusing on the addition of guilds anyway.

Free Realms adds guild support and new quests with today's update originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Book 14 screens show off Minstrel animations and Armethial

William Dobson — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Lord of the Rings Online, Classes, Patches

Turbine has sent along some brand new screenshots relating to the Lord of the Rings Online Book 14 update, primarily to display some of the Minstrel animations that are going to be introduced. We've added these high quality shots to our Book 14 gallery, and in them you can see various Minstrels playing their instruments like never before.

As well as the Minstrel shots, we are treated to a close-up of Armethial (who we caught a quick glimpse of in our Book 14 video tour and gallery) looking undeniably bad-ass on her home turf. The new screenshots can be found at the end of our gallery, along with the other pictures we've collected from Book 14 so far.

Gallery: Lord of the Rings Online Book 14 Gallery

New Book 14 screens show off Minstrel animations and Armethial originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LotRO's new Minstrel animations

Brenda Holloway — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Classes, Patches

Is your Minstrel looking down-in-the-dumps? Is he plunking despondently at the strings of his tired old lute? Does every song she sing sound like "Happy Birthday To You" and it doesn't sound like she means it? Has your Minstrel just "accidentally" stepped on his third harp this week? Well, help is on the way. All-new animations for the minstrels of Lord of the Rings Online are up on the Roheryn test server, and Sabacao has mastered them all. Check them out below the cut.

LotRO's new Minstrel animations originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Conan's female avatar DPS bug will take weeks to correct

Michael Zenke — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Bugs, Patches

A few weeks back our own Adrian Bott took a close look at a very ... unique ... bug in Age of Conan. It seems that differing animation cycles in the game have resulted in an unforseen side effect: female avatars do less damage then male ones. At the time, the Funcom developers said they'd let us know as soon as they could about a fix. Today they let us know, but the news is mixed. The good news is that 'straight damage' (what they call white damage) has been fixed. Simple autoattack routines use few animations and they've all been fixed and pushed to the live servers.

The problem comes in with the much-vaunted realtime combat system, which requires heavy use of combos and unique animations. There are almost a thousand of those animations, and every single one will apparently have to be tweaked by animators and then retuned by a designer. "I know that many of you will probably be disappointed to hear that it might take us as much as another three to four weeks to solve this issue, for which I can only apologize, but we want to make sure that we devote the amount of time that an issue of this magnitude and importance deserves ... I have to stress that even with our internal goal set and everything currently proceeding on schedule I cannot currently promise that this will be patched to Live at the projected date."

Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out our Age of Conan destination page, including all of our interviews, hands-ons, galleries and original features!

Conan's female avatar DPS bug will take weeks to correct originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exemplary conduct: WoW expansion adds over 80 new emotes

Samuel Axon — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions, News items, Opinion

There have been some leaks from the "friends & family" alpha test for World of Warcraft's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Our sister site WoW Insider has kept up with some of the finer details from the leak, but one recent bit of info got us thinking.

The info: WotLK will add over 80 new emotes to WoW players' social repertoire. That's awesome, but it leads us to ask a question: why don't social emotes get more attention in the MMO genre? In general, things like that are sporadically tacked on as small bonuses, if they get added at all. Developers don't make them a big priority. We understand the reasons; gameplay always comes first, right?

Well, maybe not always. MMOs are unique in gaming because of their social and community aspects. Emote animations play a part in social interactions. Maybe developers should think about more than just raid mechanics. Maybe they should consider devoting resources to expanding social interaction features. You don't have to be a Bartle Socializer to appreciate emotes, do you?

[Via WoW Insider]

Exemplary conduct: WoW expansion adds over 80 new emotes originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AFS mechs' new animations show their mettle

Chris Chester — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, Patches, Tabula Rasa

As is usually the case, there were a lot of things that we wanted the Destination Games team to put into Tabula Rasa's patch 1.5 that we don't see in the build on the PTS. The opacity of the development process usually has that effect. But one of the nice benefits of our ignorance is that we are often quite pleasantly surprised by the unexpected things that we find every time a new build shows up on our a desktop. One of the things that eluded as when the patch notes were posted yesterday, but which delighted us when shown in motion is the new attacks and animations for the mechs that patrol the heavier AFS bases.

One player who goes by the name of Flashburn on the Planet TR forums was courteous enough to record these new animations for our viewing pleasure. Notice the way the mech raps on his head to unjam the rockets. It's subtle, but worthy of a chuckle. And who can't be at least slightly awed by that new jumping attack? Are these new animations in some a way preview for what's ahead with the long-promised personal armored units? We can only speculate at this point, but we're suddenly excited about the prospect all over again. We'll have more on the new build as we explore it.

AFS mechs' new animations show their mettle originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Animations to die for

Akela Talamasca — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Game mechanics, Opinion, Roleplaying, Humor

I was chatting with a friend the other day (shut up! I do too have friends!) and we were playing reference poker -- you know, someone makes a comment referring to some aspect of pop culture, and the other person replies in kind. She said ' ... you are eaten by a grue.' I made the obligatory Zork return reference and we moved on, but the bit about being eaten stayed with me for some reason. That night, I was running around in WoW and realized that nobody in Azeroth is eaten by anything.

Why can't we have encounter-specific death animations? I, for one, would love a chance to be messily devoured by a Sludge Beast! I can imagine the horrific wounds as it slid over me, eating away at my flesh until only bones remained. A much more affecting experience than merely swooning and dropping dead, as though nothing more mortal than narcolepsy had occurred.

Or how about a set of pre-built death animations, available at the touch of a key? Everything from 'clutching at your heart: myocardial infarction', to 'going white as a sheet and dropping dead from fright', to 'Scanners cranial explosion'. In fact, wouldn't this make pulling off the ol' 'Feign Death' trick a lot more fun? I'm telling you, it's the little things in life that make existence bearable. Let's see more creativity with our dying moments, developers! Believe me, you stand to ... make a killing. Hahaha! Oh, I slay me.

Animations to die for originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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