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The Elder Scrolls Online using HeroEngine 'as a whiteboard'

Jef Reahard — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, The Elder Scrolls Online

Fan outcry over the announcement of The Elder Scrolls Online was long and loud, not just for the presumed MMOification of a beloved single-player franchise, but for the toolset chosen by ZeniMax Online Studios to bring the world of Tamriel to its new audience.

Game Informer confirms that ZeniMax is using the HeroEngine -- which also powers Star Wars: The Old Republic, and which has come under fire from some in the MMO fan community. Game director Matt Firor says that the firm isn't using the engine like you may expect, though.

"Think of HeroEngine as a whiteboard for us -- a great tool to get some ideas in the game and start looking at them while the production engine was in development," he explains.

[Thanks to Austin for the tip!]

The Elder Scrolls Online using HeroEngine 'as a whiteboard' originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 26 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HeroEngine licensing takes off thanks to SWTOR's success

Jef Reahard — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous

The HeroEngine is making waves in MMO development circles these days, primarily as a result of BioWare's having used it to build Star Wars: The Old Republic. Idea Fabrik says thousands of would-be developers have licensed the tool suite in recent weeks.

The firm has also seen a sharp increase in subscribers for its HeroCloud service offering, which is basically a hosted system for making online RPGs, FPS titles, and social/casual games. Idea Fabrik COO Neil Harris says the technology is now a proven commodity thanks to its widespread adoption. "We crossed a major milestone once large games built on HeroEngine proved that our server technology can handle a hugely successful game. This lowers the perceived risk of developers in adopting the HeroEngine platform," he said.

The HeroEngine is also powering several indie sandbox titles, including Origins of Malu, The Repopulation, and Dominus. The engine was initially developed by Simutronics for a now-defunct MMO called Hero's Journey.

[Source: Idea Fabrik press release]

HeroEngine licensing takes off thanks to SWTOR's success originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New studio formed from veteran MMO talent

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous

Video game development bears a certain similarity to rock music, insofar as a successful project usually leads to people breaking off and going in new directions. Of course, unlike the frequently unsuccessful solo careers in the music industry, breakaway studios can often reach new heights. Second Star Interactive is a new studio working as a division of Idea Fabrik, the company behind the HeroEngine being used by upcoming games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic. The team's goal? To release a new game using the engine by the end of 2011

It's a tall order, but there's a solid log of talent on the team -- Mythic Entertainment and Warhammer Online veterans such as Darrin Hyrup, Lori Hyrup, and Cooper Buckingham working alongside Ultima Online's Tim Cotten and Eric Piccione. While there are no details to be had on the game at this time, it's certainly being put together by a team with the experience to make it excellent. Time will tell what comes out of the studio, but we should be seeing something new by the end of the year.

New studio formed from veteran MMO talent originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Funcom and Stray Bullet license Allegorithmic's Substance Air platform for their MMOs

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Horror, Business models, News items, The Secret World

Two developers have simultaneously turned to a brand new texturing solution for their future MMOs, according to Gamasutra. Both Funcom and Stray Bullet have licensed Allegorithmic's "Substance Air" middleware package, a new set of programs that lets developers keep high resolution textures as extremely small files and even let users modify textures for in-game customization options.

Funcom is almost a given for which game this would apply to, as The Secret World is the only game currently on their radar. Stray Bullet, best known as the creators of Shadowbane, is a bit trickier when it comes to saying how it will impact on their new MMO offering.

Simply known as the "future fantasy MMO," Stray Bullet has also licensed Simutronics's HeroEngine, the same engine that's currently powering Star Wars: The Old Republic. What they're up to is anyone's guess, but the presence of the extremely versatile HeroEngine and the addition of Substance Air could be pointing to a nice level of user-customization and/or "on-the-fly" developing coming with their latest unannounced fantasy offering.

Funcom and Stray Bullet license Allegorithmic's Substance Air platform for their MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steampunk MMO Gatheryn opens closed beta registration

James Egan — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Gatheryn

The developers at Mindfuse have been hard at work on Gatheryn, a steampunk MMO that Massively got a preview of at GDC 2009. The HeroEngine-powered Gatheryn will incorporate casual and minigame elements in addition to standard MMO game mechanics. Now gamers will have a chance to see what the title has to offer in the Gatheryn closed beta, for which Mindfuse has announced they're taking registrations.

Closed beta applicants accepted in this first wave of invites will get the first glimpses of Gatheryn offered to the gaming community, but getting your info submitted early puts you in the pool Mindfuse will draw from with future beta invitations. If you're interested in checking out the steampunk MMO, you can sign up on the Gatheryn beta registration page.

Gallery: GDC09: The World of Gatheryn

Steampunk MMO Gatheryn opens closed beta registration originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 May 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interview with Simutronics CEO David Whatley

Jon Shute — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Hero's Journey, Interviews, MMO industry, Star Wars: The Old Republic

The MMO Gamer have interviewed David Whatley, the President and CEO of Simutronics, who are making HeroEngine and their upcoming MMO called Hero's Journey. HeroEngine is billed as a streamlined engine for creating MMOs with development taking place inside the games themselves so that all of the development team can work together in a live environment with changes being seen by the entire team immediately. So far the highest profile game to use HeroEngine is Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The interview covers their design philosophy of bring their experience with MUDs into MMO development, how they became a middleware company after people started to want to use their engine and how they're hoping that their technology will reduce development times and costs for any games that use it. Whatley also points out that until a AAA game, he suggests Star Wars: The Old Republic, released there won't be any empirical data on how much time using their engine will save a developer but he believes that it will mean games can be developed in about half the time. This saving can either be used to produce a game twice as quickly, or to develop twice the game that you would normally be able to produce.

You can check out the full interview over at The MMO Gamer.

Interview with Simutronics CEO David Whatley originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 May 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HeroEngine does more than just power The Old Republic

Kyle Horner — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Look, we're sure you probably know HeroEngine primarily for being the metal beast under Star Wars: The Old Republic's figurative hood. Well, it does more than just power BioWare upcoming space opera epic! HeroEngine has been licensed for use in KizPlanet, being made by game firm Kiz and a, "groundbreaking new science-fiction MMO" by newly formed Colorado-based Zaloli.

HeroEngine also made quite a splash recently at GDC 2009, and we took a very hard look at just what makes it so very impressive. If you're looking for the quick and dirty, this sweet baby is one engine to rule them all, more or less. In BioWare's care, they completely modified the software to fit their needs for Star Wars: The Old Republic. So in essence, yeah, it's kinda like the one ring.

HeroEngine does more than just power The Old Republic originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC09: How HeroEngine revolutionizes MMORPG game design

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Hero's Journey, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Hands-on, Virtual worlds

Let's be frank, MMOs are a pain in the rear to design. You have large teams working collaboratively to build huge expanses of terrain, hundreds upon thousands of objects in the world that players can interact with, server architecture to worry about, and even more in-depth things that the standard player may not even notice or consider.

But if you've been on the site recently and have been checking out our coverage of the GDC, then you may have heard us and developers talking excitedly about HeroEngine, the new MMO developing tool from Simutronics. HeroEngine is powering games like The World of Gatheryn and this funny Star Wars game from those BioWare people, as well as other companies that haven't announced their new projects as of yet.

So why is HeroEngine so amazing? Well, we got the inside scoop straight from Simutronics as we visited their booth at the GDC.

Continue reading GDC09: How HeroEngine revolutionizes MMORPG game design

GDC09: How HeroEngine revolutionizes MMORPG game design originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wired's vaporware column adds Hero's Journey next to Duke Nukem Forever

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Hero's Journey, MMO industry, New titles, Opinion

And everyone at the Massively offices scratched their heads at the same time and said, "Huh?" All right, so Hero's Journey has been in production for, well, forever, but just because the game isn't coming out anytime soon doesn't exactly warrant it on the vaporware list at position number 8.

Especially as the game's engine, the now well-known HeroEngine, has been licensed by BioWare for this Star Wars game you might have heard about. The HeroEngine development has caught on like wildfire, and even Simutronics's own Neil Harris has said to Massively that the game is on the back burner while the engine development is in the forefront.

But, they still haven't left the game entirely in the dust. They've said that the game still has a long way to come in terms of content and polishing, but they're still letting people log in and play -- even when they're not around. The website even features in-game footage and screenshots, a bit more than Duke blowing some smoke at the camera and uttering a classic Duke-ism.

With all that said, Hero's Journey hasn't been pressing for release or gaining undue hype. It's a game that has been sitting in the corner, lurking, waiting for the right moment to strike. Plus, with most vaporware, we're usually left hanging -- wondering what exactly those developers have been doing with their time when they should have been developing. With Simutronics, we know exactly what they've been doing -- making a great engine. So that leaves the question, is it still vaporware if we know we shouldn't expect it?

Wired's vaporware column adds Hero's Journey next to Duke Nukem Forever originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HeroEngine/SWTOR interview pt. 2

Michael Zenke — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Massively Interviews, Star Wars: The Old Republic

In the press release for the announcement, you mention that the product will help developers make games more quickly. Isn't it a given that massively multiplayer games have lengthy development cycles?

Neil: The whole point of building HeroEngine is so that they can work faster. I mean, some teams want to spend five years building a game and with HeroEngine, they'll be able to a lot more and better game in the same amount of time. Other teams want to build a game in a year and they'll be able to build a game of professional, commercial-grade quality using Hero Engine.

The other advantage is, that building this technology is really expensive and time-consuming and it costs a lot to maintain. The more teams you have using HeroEngine, the more cost-effective it is for everyone, because you're spreading the development burden across a lot of different companies. So it really makes sense. There's really a scale economy for the industry to move toward using HeroEngine for development.

Continue reading HeroEngine/SWTOR interview pt. 2

HeroEngine/SWTOR interview pt. 2 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively interviews the makers of The Old Republic's game engine

Michael Zenke — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, Massively Interviews, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Earlier this week, the official announcement went out that BioWare has spent the last two years making Star Wars: The Old Republic aided by the middleware MMO development toolkit HeroEngine. Certainly interesting, but a bit faceless. Why was the respected developer using this toolkit? What are the benefits, and how did HeroEngine get hooked up with SWTOR in the first place?

We had the chance to answer all of these questions by speaking with Neil Harris. Neil is an Executive Vice President for Simutronics, the creators of HeroEngine, and shared with us an overview of their collaboration with BioWare. Join us as we talk about the fateful meeting between Simutronics and Gordon Walton that lead to their collaboration, BioWare's reliance on the software, and some encouraging news for players who may still be looking forward to their demo game Hero's Journey!

Read on to the full interview >>

Gallery: Star Wars: The Old Republic Concept Art

Continue reading Massively interviews the makers of The Old Republic's game engine

Massively interviews the makers of The Old Republic's game engine originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BioWare chooses HeroEngine for SWTOR development

James Egan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

It was announced today that BioWare has chosen the HeroEngine from Simutronics to develop Star Wars: The Old Republic. We're already hearing the unasked question: What is the HeroEngine, James, and why should I care?

The name 'HeroEngine' may ring a bell with some Massively readers, as it's often associated with the Hero's Journey MMO. Hero's Journey is a title created by Simutronics that demoes the capabilities of their development platform and tools. The HeroEngine is a collaborative platform that allows for development in real-time, where teams in different locations can build the world while simultaneously playing the game live, with changes that take effect instantaneously. That is to say, no nightly builds are required with the HeroEngine. For us, the players, BioWare's use of the HeroEngine means Star Wars: The Old Republic may come to market sooner.

BioWare chooses HeroEngine for SWTOR development originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gathryn incorporates new engine technology

Shawn Schuster — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Historical, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Gatheryn

The World of Gatheryn, an MMO which, despite its name, is not about mining nodes and chopping wood, has just announced its implementation of the Simultronics HeroEngine for this upcoming Victorian-age MMO.

In a statement by Joseph Walters, Lead Designer and Chief Executive Officer of MindFuse Games, we get an explanation of why these "off-site" engines are becoming so popular for smaller MMO developers like MindFuse, "The engine enables our team to spend time creating the experience instead of recreating the already-proven type of server side MMOG technology that Simutronics has built so effectively."

Be sure to check out more information on the Gatheryn MMO, as well as what this Simultronics HeroEngine has to offer.

Gathryn incorporates new engine technology originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zenimax Online bulks up with HeroEngine

Chris Chester — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:29:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, New titles

In the latest story in a painfully slow drip, Zenimax Online Studios, the new massively multiplayer cousin of Bethesda Softworks, has announced a partnership with Simutronics to license their HeroEngine development platform. HeroEngine includes a number of middleware tools like SpeedTree, FaceGen, and Scaleform GFx as well as a development suite that allows developers to update their games in real-time, instead of using a series of cumbersome builds that are apt to change day to day.

Among the other big name clients using HeroEngine is Bioware Austin, who are themselves currently in the process of developing their first MMO. Personally, I think any news that lends itself to speeding along development of Zenimax's new project (which may or may not be Elder Scrolls Online), is welcome news. In an age where the development cycle for blockbuster games is in the ballpark of three years, developers need to search out any kind of shortcut they can find. And at the very least, this is the sort of shortcut that lets them focus more of their efforts on those facets of the game that we actually see.

Zenimax Online bulks up with HeroEngine originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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