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Xsyon beta update adds architecture skills, revamps terrain

Jef Reahard — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Bugs, New titles, News items, Xsyon, Post-Apocalyptic

Yep, Xsyon's still around, and the post-apocalyptic sandbox MMORPG from Notorious Games continues its beta testing phase with a full client and server update this week. The patch has also wiped all your beta characters as well as the world terrain, making way for smoother texture revisions that should be visible as you read this.

Other significant patch details include the architecture skill (which allows players to create walls and buildings), the masonry skill (designed to complement architecture), and various tweaks to combat and characters. Among these is a revision to the alignment system that flags both defenders and attackers. Finally, the new client boasts several bug fixes related to collision detection, memory leaks, and animation fixes.

Check out the full list of improvements on the official Xsyon forums.

Xsyon beta update adds architecture skills, revamps terrain originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Building MMO landscape scenes, part 2

Brendan Drain — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST

Continue reading Building MMO landscape scenes, part 2

Building MMO landscape scenes, part 2 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Building MMO landscape scenes

Brendan Drain — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, Age of Conan, EverQuest II, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry, Hands-on, Academic, Virtual worlds

Landscapes have been a staple component of almost every MMO in recent memory. With the exception of some sci-fi titles, most MMOs take place on the land of some imagined island or continent. Some use stylised fantasy landscapes that run smoothly on even low-end computers while others have managed almost photo-realistic visuals at the cost of performance. But have you ever thought about what's going on behind the scenes in your favourite MMO? Most of us don't think about how the computer is actually drawing the terrain we run around on. We don't give much thought to the different ways each MMO renders the water in lakes, rivers and oceans. And just how does your computer render so many trees and plants without grinding to a halt? As part of my masters degree in computer science, I got to grips with a number of these techniques and found it a fascinating thing to learn about. Now when I play a new game or see MMO screenshots, I can't help but think about what the computer is doing in the background and how particular visual effects could have been achieved.

In this technical article, I talk about some of the components of an MMO landscape scene and a few of the techniques used in creating the graphics behind them.

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Building MMO landscape scenes originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earthrise dev blog shows off the beauty and horror of the Cascade Mountains

James Egan — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Lore, New titles, Earthrise

The first MMO we're going to see from independent game developer Masthead Studios is Earthrise, a post-apocalyptic title that's bringing some new things to the table in the sci-fi/post-apocalyptic genre. If you've played games like Fallout 3, the setting of Earthrise will be quite different from what you might be expecting. The game will take place on a sprawling island called Enterra, with regions and environments ranging from lush jungles to futuristic urban centers. Of course Earthrise will have the requisite shattered city environments we'd expect of a post-apocalyptic backdrop, as well.

Masthead Studios recently explained how terrain will impact gameplay, having written about some of the game's man-made environments like the Industrial Area. Now they're ready to discuss more about Enterra's natural environment with the Cascade Mountains, the focus of the latest Masthead Studios dev blog they've written for MMORPG.com.

Continue reading Earthrise dev blog shows off the beauty and horror of the Cascade Mountains

Earthrise dev blog shows off the beauty and horror of the Cascade Mountains originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earthrise devs on how terrain will impact gameplay

James Egan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, PvP, Earthrise

Earthrise is the first massively multiplayer online game from Masthead Studios, an independent game developer in Bulgaria. The game has a dystopian setting, a single (but vast) island refuge is all that remains of the human race after the world was bathed in nuclear fire. As expected of a post-apocalyptic MMO, there will be areas of the game that are comprised of blasted out buildings and various gutted structures, but the island setting of Enterra will offer a wide variety of terrain for players to explore and exploit.

Moll, Earthrise's community manager, explains in a recent blog post: "As we developed Earthrise, we made sure that the world is tailored in such a way so it provides different game experiences - the whole island is divided almost equally between plains, hills and mountains."

Continue reading Earthrise devs on how terrain will impact gameplay

Earthrise devs on how terrain will impact gameplay originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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