source engine chosen for mmorpg

[killahsin-[CE]]

http://www.twilightwar.com/

SMILING GATOR PRODUCTIONS CHOOSES SOURCE(TM)

Source Engine Licensed for Massive Multiplayer Roleplaying Game

September 21, 2004 - Valve®, developer of innovative technologies and award-winning games, today announced a Source engine licensing partnership with Smiling Gator Productions. Already in development, Twilight War: After the Fall is a Source-based Massive Multiplayer Roleplaying Game (MMRPG) for the PC.

The Valve Source engine technology, the same used to create Half-Life 2, gives developers the ability to create expressive digital actors and physically simulated worlds. It also offers advanced rendering capabilities and the industry's most convincing artificial intelligence.

"The Source engine is one of the gaming world's premier technologies, we are thrilled about the features it will bring to Twilight War: After the Fall," says Kingsley Montgomery, Vice President of Development at Smiling Gator Productions. "Its combat system, physics, and advanced AI are exactly what we were looking for to enable the exciting features we are developing for our game. We evaluated several game engines and concluded that Valve's was the only choice for us. In addition to being a top-notch product, their support has been excellent."

Smiling Gator Productions joins Troika Games and Arkane Studios as announced Source licensees. Source is designed for the creation of games from all genres, and contains a host of proprietary tools for level editing, character direction and more.

"We are eager to see the Source engine used for an MMRPG by Smiling Gator Productions," said Gabe Newell, Valve's C.E.O. "The ability to render realistic environments and create compelling characters with true-to-life emotional expressions will be a great innovation for one of the industry's most promising genres."

For more information on Smiling Gator's Source-based game, please visit www.twilightwar.com.

For more information on Source, please visit www.valvesoftware.com/sourcelicense/.

About Valve
Founded in 1996, Valve creates entertainment software titles, including Half-Life®, Counter-StrikeTM, and Team Fortress®. Valve's portfolio accounts for over 12 million retail units sold worldwide, and over 88% of the online action market. More information about Valve is available through the company's Web site at www.valvesoftware.com.

About Smiling Gator Productions, Inc.,
A Florida Corporation, 100% owned by its management and employees, uses state of the art technologies to create massive, persistent virtual worlds with compelling content and challenging gameplay. SGP is currently staffed with a dozen in-house designers, artists, and software developers, all devoted to the challenge of the gaming industry. Started in the waning months of 2003, SGP has but one goal - creating worlds you want to be a part of. For more information, visit www.smilinggator.com.

 

[Llyranor]

Funny how all the games that'll use Source so far are all RPGs.

 

[thefiznut]

Nice =]

 

[Vegeta897]

Does this include the physics engine?

How does an MMORPG use physics?

Well... I suppose it could..

Good news either way. The HL2 legacy is spreading so far, before the game is even out.

 

[Jadewolf5675]

Funny how all the games that'll use Source so far are all RPGs.

All 2 of them...

 

[Ames]

Please don't be bad. Please don't be bad. Please don't be bad. Please don't be bad. Please don't be bad. Please don't be bad. Please don't be bad.



Smiling Gator has just started making games. I don't trust them. :|

 

[killahsin-[CE]]

this is a fpsmmog. So i assume it will use physics just liek every other fps =)


here is an interview for you all
http://www.gamergod.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=67

 

[Llyranor]

All 2 of them...

Troika --> Bloodlines
Arkane Studios --> Arx Fatalis II

Plus this thingie.

 

[Ames]

Where was this announced? I don't see it anywhere on the website.

EDIT: Nevermind.

 

[Vegeta897]

this is a fpsmmog. So i assume it will use physics just liek every other fps =)


here is an interview for you all
http://www.gamergod.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=67

Woah! Sounds cool!

 

[Lobster]

Thats cool, and im glad we are seeing RPG's use source, the charecters and possibilities for interactivity just make it an obvious choice.

 

[Biozeminade]

Funny how all the games that'll use Source so far are all RPGs.

I think most games are RPGs. I mean, hell Half-Life 2 is a FPS but it's also a roll playing game, since you are playing the role of Gordon Freeman!

 

[UndercoverBob]

i wonder if all these games using the source engine will have the shadow glitch

 

[killahsin-[CE]]

i wonder if all these games using the source engine will have the shadow glitch

Not even HL2 will have the shadow glitch. The guy from Natural Selection stated this.


edit: sorry that was a bad typo lol, now = not

 

[Ames]

i wonder if all these games using the source engine will have the shadow glitch

VtM:B has a different lighting engine so it's definitely not there.

I wonder if these games will use Steam....

 

[oldagerocker]

If the developers of MMORPG's are using Source over other engines then this is really good news for Sourceworld
I wish everyone would stop going on about the shadowglitch...!

 

[killahsin-[CE]]

yes my original post was meant to say not even hl2 has the shadowglitch. People are obsessing over a bug that will not even be in the final build.

 

[ViolenceJack]

No game has really "used" physics until HL2. All other games with higher quality physic engines just seem to be a novelty thing used to make things look good when they die.

Its not a first at least. Lineage2 was made upon the unreal engine, modified of course

 

[Ames]

Its not a first at least. Lineage2 was made upon the unreal engine, modified of course

And look how that turned out. :dozey:

 

[SAJ]

I doubt whether they will use physics much(bandwidth issues) , but I imagine they will make extensive use of the "face posing" technology thats embedded in source.
Unfortunately, judging from their website their game wont set the world on fire . It seems that they have little more than some concept art and a wishlist of features drawn up by developers who ,as yet , have little concept of the arduous(sp?) task ahead of them.

 

[killahsin-[CE]]

I doubt whether they will use physics much(bandwidth issues) , but I imagine they will make extensive use of the "face posing" technology thats embedded in source.
Unfortunately, judging from their website their game wont set the world on fire . It seems that they have little more than some concept art and a wishlist of features drawn up by developers who ,as yet , have little concept of the arduous(sp?) task ahead of them.

the bandwith issue has been discussed heavily by valve. You can determine what is client and what is server side yourself. So some very neccicary things will be server side and soem of the astheiatic things will just be client most likely.

 

[SAJ]

Very true...for 16-30 player fps games.
To send colision , trajectory and velocity data to and from all clients in the vicinity of a physics "event" would be a total nightmare.
Not worth doing if its only for eye-candy, or certain death to a project of that size if its intrinsic to gameplay.

Edit: reread your post , and to be fair, you have a more valid point(now that I read it properly) than the one I was responding to in my head.
* bad SAJ !!*
As long as its eyecandy physics that dont affect other players , valves tech would be very useful in preserving bandwidth.
You sir , are correct.

 

[killahsin-[CE]]

Thats why the eye candy only issues would all be client side only. While the server just does its normal predictions, and the real stuff would be server side.

 

[The Dark Elf]

For a "futuristic" MMORPG it sure as hell looks like a Medieval/Fantasy MMORPG.

 

[killahsin-[CE]]

I believe its 21st century post apocalyptic but yeah thew concepts don't really show that, well except for the one or 2 city scape ones

 

[caido_souls]

This could be a uneasy step for valve, anyone played Planetside? For people who don't know about it, Planetside is run by Sony and its a FPS with thousands fighting at once. The specs for these types of games are stupidly high, and because so many people will be playing if Planetside is anything to go by there is alot of moaning and complaining to the developers ALL the time.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

They are licensing the engine though, not actually making the game. Besides, when this game comes out, it will be quite a while after Planetside was first released.

 

[Adidajs]

i think it would be good for the developers to have their game on steam. much, much larger market potential. i just wouldn't want to preload all of it since i'm not into rpg's.

 

[Sparta]

Not even HL2 will have the shadow glitch. The guy from Natural Selection stated this.


edit: sorry that was a bad typo lol, now = not

so Half-life 2 WONT have a shadow glitch now? can i see a link for that if its ok?

 

[tuemmykids]

I just don't see how they're going to make those huge maps. Stepping into a Loading screen in the middle of a fight would suck.

 

[The Dark Elf]

I just don't see how they're going to make those huge maps. Stepping into a Loading screen in the middle of a fight would suck.

There will be ways around it since they have access to the source code, they could effectively re-write huge chunks of the engine, if they wanted to.

It's just mod makers who only have access to the SDK that can't make big maps like that.

I suppose this company has a way of getting around the upper limit of 256 players too, since they've been claiming thousands of players at once.

 

[Alig]

I just don't see how they're going to make those huge maps. Stepping into a Loading screen in the middle of a fight would suck.

Its not that seemless to just step into one. If its anything like the MMO i just quit then zoning does'nt take long at all...less than a second and they are marked out so you know your about to zone.

 

[Razor]

For a "futuristic" MMORPG it sure as hell looks like a Medieval/Fantasy MMORPG.

At first, it reminded me very much of Mad Max, but it is a post-apocalyptic world with aliens and thingy-ma-jigs.

 

[ViolenceJack]

And look how that turned out. :dozey:

to be fair, Lineage2 was run by a few guys in a shed or somin and it was in the p2p beta phase which is very bad. Probably one of the best thing about it taking so long for a MMOG to come to europe is alot of the time they pass the painful p2p beta phase of the game.

 

[gh0st]

alve's portfolio accounts for over 12 million retail units sold worldwide, and over 88% of the online action market. More information about Valve is available through the company's Web site at www.valvesoftware.com.

jesus, ive never thought of it that way.