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Embers of Caerus *New SandBox MMO*
username509
Member CommonPosts: 635
Embers of Caerus
Rough estimate release date is late 2015 currently in friends and family alpha.
Official website http://www.embersofcaerus.com
What we know so far
Their using the trinigy game engine.
It sounds like a sandbox MMO very much like Mortal Online.
There are only 5 or 6 developers working on this project. One of the developers has plenty of experiance in making games, but most of the developers are relatively new to developing MMO's.
The developers don't want to call this game a "sandbox" but from what they describe the game sounds like a quintessential sandbox mmo. It feels like they don't want to call the game a sandbox only because most other so called sandbox games were released with less then steller results.
Embers of Caerus (pronounced Karus) is supposed to have realistic combat. There's no tab targeting.
The game world is going to be many many times larger then the game world of Mortal or Darkfall. The game world will consist of multiple large continents with different climates like cold and snowy, arid desert or tropical forests.
There will be "boats" and horse mounts. You can not put boats or horse mounts in your inventory like in darkfall.
There are said to be already 100+ buildable buildings players can create.
The developers tend to have wars over resources, or in game religions, instead of just bragging rights or mindless deathmatches. The developers intend to design a game were battles are fought in game for the same reasons battles were fought in the middle ages.
The game is heavily influenced by Eve Online, as well as Mortal Online, ShadowBane, Dark Age of Camolot, Meridian 59, and Darkfall. All the developers are avid gamers and are influenced by these games.
The developers are are using what they learned from the successes and failures of other MMO's and trying to use that information to create a more perfect game.
-Sources
http://www.thesandbox.mmosmacktalk.com/?p=253
Here's their "vision" straight from the horses mouth. http://www.embersofcaerus.com/content.php/137-The-Vision
Here's a pre alpha video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5--1rZR7VTo&hd=1
As for the down side, it's a REALLY small dev team. The game won't be released for litterally years so don't hold your breath on this one. It's better to play another sandbox MMO and maybe switch over to this one if it's any good 4 or 5 years from now when it's released. The trinigy engine doesn't look like a "proven" engine for MMO's and they may experiance many of the same problems Mortal Online did with there network solution. They only have enough funding for the next 6 months although they say it shouldn't be a problem getting more funding in that 6 month time frame. All in all this game has "potential" but then again that's what we said about Mortal Online, Xyson, and Darkfall and look were that got us. For the time being I'm sticking with Mortal.
Hey, Forum Mod's do you think I can get tipster status for this post? I didn't see Embers of Caerus posted anywere else on mmorpg.com I think this is the first post about this game. Thank you....
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!
Comments
Hero Engine accepts almost all indies applying to get into beta. That's a upgrade option which would yield better gameplay mechanics and base engine. It would also expedite the process of making a mmog with their source codes, and examples. Big World is another solution, less examples but its basically straight forward. Hero does "area" inside zones. So tecnically zones make up x areas that spin together. Though I think this is retarded, and for majority of the reasons I don't like working on Hero Engine, the examples that come with it can make prototyping easily done in teams of 5 and 6. You mainly just focus on particles and artwork, as any code written in Hero Engine is written VB-like with the functionality of C++ control. As for Big World, its written in plain C++ and Python for gaming scripts.
For my personal taste, and a bigger budget go with Unreal Technologies Atlas. Though a bit pricey, it turns unreal engine 3 into a full scale mmog with all the functional tools of the unreal engine.
I struggle not with life, money, emotions, and world, but against old mindsets and selves to be proven obsolete in a age and time of rapid changes. Go create fun, so you can have fun.
There is some good points,but saying "i would never box the players into a set role" is a huge mistake,this is a RPG or is it not?Your dream is to join the game with no goal or role just join as a nobody?That doesn't sound like some amazing role i would like to play in a game.
Also point and click is not really the best design for pvp,it is in real life,but this isn't real life there are too many factors involved and missing.
Even the perfect fps shooter with awesome map design will still fail due to latency,so trying to mimmick realsitic combat but with many more problems involved is a bad thing.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Sounds mysteriously like a sales pitch... Are you after funding OP?
I don't see how your post was in any way on topic, but I'll bite.
What other games beside Mortal uses Atals technologies? I thought Atlas network solution was only used by StarVault, and they haven't had any other games released using Atlas MMO techonologies. You can't use Atlas with the UDK (unreals free developers kit for indy developers) so Indy developers for the most part stay away from Unreal for cost reasons.
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!
Your a themepark gamer arn't you? :}
That's ok. This game is just not for you.
As for the post about funding, No I'm not trying to raise money for this company. I am in no way affiliated with Forsaken Realms, or any other MMO company. I'm a sandbox gamer and I just thought this was an interesting project.
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!
Sadly this game will end up either scrapped or released in some horrible condition and end up closing shortly after release. Could be wrong but I doubt it.
Ok, I do not think you have ever heard the word map, let alone atlas, but I will bite. I've run out of ideas now, I tried two and they didn't work, bollox.
Great concept, but they want to offer a game for casuals, as he wrote and for example, my dad is a 76 yrs old casual and pretty much incapable to play a game with a point and click combat so he would not be able to play his beloved hunter style character.
Point and Click combat rule to many people out!
The rest of the concept is the wet dream of a mmo-player!
Maybe SOE can step in at that point?
If they would make that right anything would be forgiven^^
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
Agreed.. I implied that in my last paragraph.
However it should be stated that no indy sandbox company I know of has actually "failed" as in forced to declare bankruptcy and shutdown their game even after buggy launches so it could be safe to assume this game might actually succeed at some level.
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!
Sounds like he doesn't like the idea of classes. Mistake? No, just a different system. The best sandboxes, imo, are classless. I'll definately be keeping an eye on this, even the pre alpha video looks great.
If your looking for a sandbox with world of warcraft style combat you might want to try Dawntide.
BigGayNorman your post was incomprehesible. Please sober up and try again.
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!
one game that comes to mind is Seed. I dont know if I'd call it a sandbox..infact I dont really know what I would call it.
Beta testing started on February 1, 2006. Open beta testing started on April 25, 2006. The game was released to the public on May 2, 2006.
As of September 28, 2006, Runestone decided to file a bankruptcy petition to the court of Aarhus, Denmark. A public statement [1] explained that the lack of money was caused by failing to achieve a partnership deal with publishers and MMO companies.
anyone remember that little gem?
Gem? More like turd.
Seriously though we can't really call Seed a sandbox. There was no PVP, there was no destroying anything. In a true sandbox players have the ability to create and to destroy.
Eitherway in the past 5 years no indy sandbox MMO developer had went bankrupt and had to shutdown there game servers after going live.
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!
LOL..you are right. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to mention Seed. I mean when will I ever get that chance again? Sadly I was in the Seed beta and it was the worst nightmare I have ever seen. Made AO and VG look polished at their launches.
BigGayNorman your post was incomprehesible. Please sober up and try again.
Get your old man to try World of Tanks Blut. And username509, I will have you know that I am half cut.
Hehe, he was to young when the war was still going on but he tells storys of his father and uncles who have been lucky to survive tank attacks having the tanks overrun them and the most serious injury was a contused ankle.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
Stopped reading right there.
Are you joking? Being in the game field, it does not take 100 people to make a game, also indies have the freedom to make other games, unlike AAA's do because they follow the WOW forumla and need to make millions and pay out millions.
I give indies alot of respect because the games come out of there heart, not out of there pocket like AAA's do . So for you to make that comment, is a joke to me. You gamers have no idea what it takes to make any game, let alone a MMO, so for these games to do this, congrats , and the work I seen so far looks pretty good for some rookies. They look like that have talent and passion, and thats what you need in this buisness, but beware to many trolls around anymore that like to whine and complain and have no understanding about what it takes to make a game period.
By the way to the people who are making rude comments, keep playing WOW clones.
If any indie team can do it, these guys are the ones. They are well-familiarized with the failings of MO any other sandbox's.
55 Developers, close though
We have a total of 55 developers; artists, coders, writers, audio engineers and composers, as well as support staff. We have a very well rounded team that is steadily growing as more and more support builds for what we're working towards. While we are always looking for more help/skill to further the project along, we don't just accept anyone that offers. We have standards and require a significant amount of skill as that is the only way to ensure that EoC reaches the quality that we are aiming for and that the gaming community deserves.
I wouldn't consider our team small at all, though I believe you may have taken our management list to be our team list, which would explain why you thought we only had 5 members. This is not the case, as I said, we actually have 55 members on the team, and we are organized into divisions and task groups that specialize in different areas. Those listed on our company page are simply the heads of their particular department.
A majority of the team are long time game players and we are drawing from our own experiences and knowledge of past games (both the successful and failures) in an attempt to meld the best of each together into a unique world and story. Don't let that fool you though, the team we have assembled is highly skilled and we have a number of very experienced individuals helping guide us.
The reason we're not keen about calling the game a sandbox is because it has elements from other genres such as RTS for example. That and the fact that sandbox, to us as gamers ourselves, means something entirely different than what most developers seem to think it means.
A lot of sandbox titles seem to show that their developers believe sandbox is synonymous with empty - this is not the case with our team. We have taken steps to ensure that there are primary as well as secondary story lines, some of which will move along without player interaction causing the world to subtly change, while others require player involvement to move them forward down one of the many possible paths. We have a very strong writing team, and they have been working hard to ensure the world is full of events, story lines, mysteries and lore for players to discover and take part in if they wish.
We're also taking great care to make sure the world is full of things to do besides fighting. When we release the full list of the possible paths for players to take, I am certain that many community members will be very interested and excited to get started.
There may be some elements that require targeting, such as for certain spells or actions, but generally speaking, there will be aiming rather than 'tab-target' or other similar methods.
There are four primary continents with additional lands dotted throughout the oceans. Each of the four primary continents have their own weather/climate culture and theme, and are home to different player 'races'. Each culture will have unique buildings, and 100+ is a good estimate, especially when considering structure expansions.
Horses, nor ships will fit into a player inventory, nor could they carry the weight of them.
We firmly believe that any game that builds itself around the idea of pvp just for the sake of combat is severely limiting itself in many ways. We intend to have realistic economics, trade, logistics, territory control, resource control, siege mechanics, player controlled religions and more. These things combined will offer players incentive to fight to protect what is theirs, take what belongs to someone else, or for any number of other reasons - of course including the typical bad blood between players and their associations will surely play a role as well. The story lines themselves may also contribute to this for some players.
Havoks engine is incredibly powerful and versatile, and we did not make the decision to use it lightly. We in fact tried another engine prior to this oneand found that it was not what we needed, and so we made an educated decision to go with Havok. We believe that not only has the engine proven itself enough, but the team behind it more than capable of assisting us with any support we might need and helping ensure a stable and solid game.
EoC is in it's early stages of development, however we are well beyond the pencil and paper stage, and moving forward with world building, coding and art, very nicely. We are on target with our goals, and barring any catastrophes we will reach where we intended to be on or before that 6 month mark.
We have been mentioned a few times in other threads but have not officially announced EoC on MMORPG yet as there are things we would like to finalize and have ready to present to the community first. We do thank you for the mention though, and appreciate the comments and constructive criticism from the MMORPG.com community.
We welcome you to follow our project and all of the information you need to do so can be found here:
http://www.embersofcaerus.com/forum/showthread.php/170-Stay-in-contact-with-us!
A couple of new information releases:
podcast - http://thesandbox.mmosmacktalk.com/?p=368
Video -
Enjoy!
We have released a new Lore-based blog entry:
http://www.embersofcaerus.com/content.php/170-Designing-Valedonia-Dalwyn-blog
Enjoy!
Merry Christmas everyone!
And here is our gift for you all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3sK3acLkCg&hd=1
Enjoy!
Some guy came on their IRC and leaked their world map. Some interesting stuff inside!
http://www.embersofcaerus.com/hidden/caerus_map_v5.jpg
Enjoy
haha yeah this was a great April fools day prank