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Earthrise - Yet an other stink'n MMO!

WrenWren ninja_birdRegistered User regular
edited January 2009 in MMO Extravaganza
why do companies still make these things? god! oh well, here's info on one that sounds neat.

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Earthrise is a post apocalyptic science fiction MMORPG set in the distant future.

In the aftermath of the Third World War, mankind has managed to survive and build a new society: the prosperous city of Sal Vitas. Cloning, nanotechnology and quantum engineering are part of a new reality. Thanks to these technological advances, the human species has become immortal; each individual’s consciousness is stored in a data vault, ready to be uploaded into a cloned body as necessary. New energy sources have been discovered. There is a unified government that takes good care of those citizens who abide by its strict laws. Paradise, it appears, might really have come to Earth, and the people have embraced it.

But not everything is as perfect as it appears. By exercising full control over the cloning process, Sal Vitas' government decides who will live and who will not, playing the role of God on Earth. Insurgent forces have accused the city's rulers of crimes against humanity. Armed factions fight for resources and power within the new system. And from the waves of discontent, a rebellion has fomented and formed a shadow government: Noir.

Featuring a unique skill-based advancement system and player-driven economy, as well as extensive, meaningful player-vs.-player combat, Earthrise gives you innumerable choices to forge your destiny. Whether you're a noble soldier in the raging conflict between the Utopia and the rebellion, a criminal hiding from the law or a world-renowned engineer whose power extends into intricate trade and politics, your actions will echo throughout the game world.

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Key Features:
dash.png A unique post-apocalyptic setting where the cloned remnants of mankind battle to survive and rebuild. Yet while humanity may have evolved, human nature remains as treacherous as ever…
dash.png Highly customizable characters with over 100 different skills, abilities, and tactics. No artificial "class" restrictions get in the way of making the character you want.
dash.png Fast-paced action combat featuring dynamic targeting, customizable power armor, huge mechanized exoskeletons, and hundreds of high-tech weapons.
dash.png Sophisticated Player versus Player (PvP) mechanics that let you fight for the established order, join the revolutionary underground, or carve your own bloody path as an independent criminal.
dash.png Territorial conquest and defense that matters. In your domain, you create your own rules – or let anarchy reign.
dash.png Character progression that keeps you advancing in your career even when you’re not logged in.
dash.png An advanced market-based economy with in-game supply and demand based on player activities.
dash.png Deep crafting mechanics that let you design and manufacture unique items from customizable blueprints and raw resources.

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Pretty Pictures:

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Additional Information, from Devs:

Crafting
Any info on the types of crafting available? Will it be the standard breakdown of armour/weapons/accessories or will there be a few more specializations, maybe like weapon upgrades or armour mods or vehicle creation (multi-discipline required, eg engines, transmissions, armour etc).

This week we would like to focus on crafting and answer Triox’ question. As we mentioned before, every item in Earthrise will be crafted by its players. This includes not only the usual fare of weapons, armor and devices but everything from mixing their own drugs and medicine to cooperative construction of buildings and vehicles, including mechanized exoskeletons. Crafting in Earthrise is a complex process that is easy to understand but ultimately difficult to master. The basic rule of crafting is that every item is made of components and every item can be broken down to its composites. Some components are used for specific items, others are used in a wide array of items – for example, a hand gun grip can be used in the creation of various hand guns, while electronic chipsets can be used to create specific devices. Players often will break down items to their components in order to combine some of them with other components to produce new, different items. Crafting and salvaging requires specific skills, depending what item is created or salvaged down, and players will have access to dozens of skills, covering mechanics, electronics, engineering, construction and programming in several futuristic industries. Here is a quick and simple example – let’s have two hand guns, a simple “Kruger” and an advanced “Raider” with electronic aiming. Using his weapons engineering skill, a player can deconstruct “Kruger Hand Gun” down to “Hand Gun Grip” and “Kruger Mechanism”, and then combine the “Hand Gun Grip” with “Raider Mechanism” and “Raider Aiming Processor” to produce the electronics-assisted “Raider” hand gun. Often complex items will require several tiers of components construction before the player can create the final product, and each of those components will require different skills to craft. We want to make most complex and powerful items in the game a serious crafting investment, often requiring two or more crafters or varying skills and expertise to work together in order to tailor each element of the final item. That is not to say that Earthrise favors custom-crafting of individual items only – majority of items will be rather simple to mass produce given components are available and will provide everyone with the means to join the conflict between Continoma or Noir, or carve their own name in the history of Enterra.

Transformation of one type of item to another - either through crafting or salvaging - has damaging effect on the used resources and the final item will always have lowered quality value compared to the input components, depending on player's crafting skill. This renders impossible the infinite transformation of items - even for a true expert, constant crafting and salvaging of the same item will make the resources useless and any item made of them prone to quick damage and lessened effect. This is when items will "break" completely - when they cannot be any more repaired, or effectively salvaged to craft a new useful item.

Factions
(via Carnun) How will the player choose his/her faction? Will we be birthed to a faction of our choosing (i.e. at character creation) or will the player be able to choose at a later time. Will we be able to go turncoat?
This week we will answer Carnun's question regarding Faction affiliation for new players. It's a very interesting question because unlike other games on the market, choice of affiliation is not forced on the player from the very beginning of the game. Players can change their affiliation from Continoma and Noir at any time as long as it serves their needs and they can live up with the consequences of such betrayal.

When a new player leaves the crystomatic databanks containing his DNA and saved memories and sets his foot on the island of Enterra, he has no affiliation with any faction. Despite being utopian but ultimately corrupted society, the Continoma-ruled city of Sal Vitas believes that citizenship should be a natural choice for its new citizens. At this point players can make a choice - accept to join Continoma and reap the benefits of its new and bold society - with security and economic opportunities abound - or directly walk away into the wild and risky locations where they can meet with the Noir rebels, either NPCs or Noir characters who might embrace and protect them (unlike Continoma, Noir protection will depend slightly less on NPCs and more on the player's collaborative actions). While such choice will be very risky for newly created characters that have yet to hone their skills, they can do it - and if they pull it off, such actions might even be recognized later on. This allows new players who have yet to taste the world of Enterra make the natural choice of serving Continoma and be allowed to develop with acceptable level of security and support, while experienced players who enjoy challenges can immediately affiliate with Noir early on.

As mentioned above, change of affiliation between Continoma and Noir may happen at any time. Such change won't happen automatically. Every action will count against the reputation towards each faction and players can be seen as zealots or untrustworthy Continomians or Noir supporters. Shift between Continoma and Noir will happen only when the player strictly chooses to. Still players have to prove their interest in the opposite cause before they are accepted among the rival faction. Frequent change of faction affiliation is another factor to count in - players will find it harder to gain trust of their new brethren if they have been turning their coat too many times too often. Finally, turning to the other side in the conflict while the player is in a Party or a Guild will have it's severe repercussions - each Guild has its own affiliation to Continoma and Noir and in a game featuring territorial conquest, traitors among the lines will rarely be tolerated. Players will have to choose wisely.

Skills/Customization Thereof
What do you have planned to make sure characters differ? If everyone can get every skill then wont people find "the best" skills and equipment and all end up being the same?
Many MMOs have problems with balancing skills and try to separate players in alternative development paths - classes is the best example - so achieving powerful combinations is limited to one path only, a fighter, a warrior, a thief and so on. Each class has its powerful abilities and developers try to balance them to their best knowledge. Characters in Earthrise will not have classes or take exclusive character development paths. Players will have the same choice of skills and abilities. That alone will not lead to ultimate builds because many skills will not provide players with passive bonuses that directly affect their success in various actions, but instead unlock wide array of carefully balanced abilities they can use in different situations. These abilities will be customizable action templates that can be further enhanced using special system we will announce in detail soon. This system will allow players to modify their abilities to a certain extent. They will be able to create new abilities builds and receive a slight boost but there will always be some disadvantage that they have to live with and take into consideration in almost every situation the ability comes in play. Think of this as the paper/rock/scissors game, where “the best” character template will be beatable by another “best” character template.

Characters may have the same skills developed to the same value and have access to the same abilities, but their choice of modifications of abilities will shape their skills and game play approach. There will be abilities that will make you powerful for a price, but there won't be abilities that let you own the game. There might be alternative ways to achieve certain effects in the game, and players will have to put a lot more strategy and combinational thinking rather than picking the latest, most powerful sounding ability and jumping into the fray.

Same goes for equipment. The system we mentioned above and the modification aspect of the crafting system will be very similar. It will be extremely difficult for a crafter to come with the very best, ultimate, uber equipment in the game, and if he cannot craft it, don't expect players to be walking around looting epics. All items will come from the labor of other crafters, designers or manufacturers. We are talking about hundreds of different item templates, hundreds of different designs that can be combined together cumulatively. Quality of manufactured items will also be a very important factor, including several very cool ideas we are juggling with that throw a little sense of luck in the equation. Players might even find out that there are multiple approaches towards attaining certain effect from a weapon, armor or a device. That is mentioned to illustrate that the equipment market will be very rich in flavor and complicated. Coming up with the best equipment will not be as easily attainable as reading a walkthrough and repeatedly raiding a location. Don’t forget that items get worn out and they break. Sure, a player might at some point have access to the most powerful weapons in the game and that would give him an advantage... but that is temporary, as weapons break and his great investment in achieving that power will wane away.

Then there's PvP. Because of the loot system we implement in the game, the power curve will be much smoother and provide much more player-centric rather than item-centric experience. The "best" weapon in the game will be powerful, but will not lack balance and raise issues among the gamers.

In a summary, learning all the skills or achieving the best equipment in Earthrise will be difficult, but attainable. At that point players will not face a static system where there's one clear answer, but a customization system that unleashes countless alternative solutions for every possible situation in the game.

Questing *NEW*
“We have received lots of new questions this week, and one we would like to answer this time is Commi3's question about what types of quests will be available in Earthrise. Quests will be significant portion of the PvE gameplay in our game and several separate systems will be present to make sure the player has a lot to do if he is not ready or interested to dive deeper in the PvP and economic gameplay. While Earthrise is a more complex type of game where cooperation between players is highly encouraged on many levels, we want to retain one of the important features of casual game design - we want to allow players to solo in a multiplayer environment and advance their characters without requiring them to find a group to play with. The best way to do this is through extensive amount of quests for players to toy with.

The most common and well recognized type of quests to any MMO player are the standard storyline made of main and side quests, ranging from simple FedEx or Kill Foozie tasks to complex challenges made of multiple tasks. While most of the gameplay resolve around a sandbox model where players actions are paramount, Earthrise will provide players with a complex setting and environment, along with compelling storyline where players can invest time if they desire to. These quests will develop around the conflict between Continoma and Noir and many of them will have multiple solutions in order to allow players to choose their side - or change it. While some quests will always be available for players to look back and change what they have done, most of these quests will not be repeatable.

At any time players can leave the main storyline aside to invest as much time as they want in the game generated random quests. These randomly generated quests using wide variety of templates are given out by the many smaller organizations on the island of Enterra through centralized mercenary system which players can access easily in many places rather than forcing the player to walk dozens of miles to hunt down citizens in distress. Each of these random quests is provided by one of the organizations in the game that the person in distress is associated to. Each time the player completes such a quest, his reputation to several organizations change. It's not a simple "do this and we'll all love you" proposition. While your reputation to one organization and to a small degree all friendly organizations will certainly grow, all neutral and to a larger extent all enemy organizations reputation will be lowered. Players won't have a chance to be at a good standing with all organizations in the game - they'll have to make choices and put a lot of work if they want to amend those choices later. Having a good standing towards one organization allows players to ask Favors from this organization - such as access to technology and designs the faction has monopoly on, and other great things we have in store.

We are also working on other types of quests we can't reveal at this time due to early stage of development, but when the time is right, we'll get back to the subject.”

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FAQs:


What is Earthrise?
  • Earthrise is a post-apocalyptic science fiction MMORPG, set in the dark future of the planet Earth. The game is designed to run on the Windows operating system, and will be launching in 2009.
Is Earthrise skill based or class based?
  • Earthrise is entirely skill based, which gives much greater flexibility for character customization. Players will be able to select from hundreds of different skill, ability, and tactic options, and no choices are ever permanently foreclosed.
Will there be a subscription fee?
  • Yes. Players will need to pay a monthly fee to play Earthrise.
Will there be PvP in Earthrise?
  • Yes. PvP will be an important part of the game. Players will have the opportunity to kill other players – but not without consequences.
    Another PvP aspect in Earthrise will be guild rivalries. Guilds will be able to declare war on each other and fight for power and resources. Such wars will be prohibited in the security zones, but will not be punished in the other territories.
    There must be a good reason for PvP players to risk everything to make a kill. What will making a PvP kill grant you?
    • Reward?
    • Faction?
    • Fame?
Will characters be wearing customizable armor?
  • Armor will have multiple size classes and allow for creative combinations to suit almost any type of personal style or objective.
Will crafting be a simple "click and create" or will there be player skill associated with creation?
  • Crafting is divided in two separate processes. The first process, Design, allows players to create special product enhancements to include in their recipes, which are then implemented into the final crafted item. Creating a new design requires player skill and patience. The second process, Manufacturing, is the process of using a recipe with the proper factory conditions to produce a final item from raw or processed components, and will be straightforward enough to allow for mass production.
Is Earthrise solo-friendly or does it force grouping?
  • The main storyline and all associated quests will be completely solo-friendly and allow each player to explore the island of Enterra at their leisure without requiring additional help – but there will be additional challenges where a player may need friendly support. Also, many of the player-versus-player (PvP) mechanics will be party and guild oriented for those who seek to become involved in the grand struggle for domination over controllable zones and their resources.
Is this MMO for the casual gamer or for the hardcore?
  • The game has been designed for both types of players meeting in the world of Enterra. Casual players will enjoy constant adventure not normally found in MMOs, while hardcore players will be given the opportunity to immerse themselves in merciless PvP and PvE action, economics that truly allow the unscrupulous trader or devoted crafter to gain influence and power over the market, and the ability to control the future of Earthrise with either money or force.
I’ve never heard of Masthead Studios before – Who are you?
  • Masthead Studios is Bulgaria’s largest game development company, with a team consisting of young and enthusiastic artists, programmers and game designers with experience from numerous gaming projects. Earthrise is Masthead’s first project, and is likely Eastern Europe’s most ambitious so far.
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Basically the only thing you guys care about, aside from pictures:

[MS]Ostiak - We plan to start betta testing in Summer-Autumn 2008, details will be posted on the official site

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Posts

  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Basically it sounds a lot like EVE in some regards. First, no classes, all based on your skills. Skills which will continue to level up even when offline. Factional combat and you can basically kill anyone or anything, but with penalties (like ass-raping) in "safe" zones. EVERYTHING is crafted by players, apparently. I'm sure there's also NPC loot to be found as well as quest rewards, like EVE.

    Also I don't believe there's any word on what kind of battle system it will incorporate.

    anyhow, thought someone might be interested.

    edit: also pvp loot will be what the person is using (though you can insure your items). again, like eve

    Wren on
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  • SegSeg Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Asheron's Call is another game that uses a no class, skill-based system.

    This looks interesting.

    Seg on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    but EVE is currently very popular and also sci-fi. so I thought the parallels might be easier to see

    Wren on
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  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Well in many ways, Asheron's Call had a pseudo class system, because for a long time, you had no ability to reset what skills you specialized in. You'd start with specing a melee weapon and melee defense, and you'd basically be stuck as a melee character forever.

    Good thing it sounds like in this case, you either won't have to make choices like that, or you'll be able to reverse them.

    Septus on
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  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    in EVE the only thing you lose by spending time learning a skill, is the time learning the skill. which isn't a lot of time at all for the low level stuff. by the time you're investing months in large hybrid 5 or battleships 5 or whatever, you already have a clear idea of what you want. and learning a skill doesn't close off any others.

    not sure how ACs worked

    Wren on
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  • SegSeg Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Wren wrote: »
    in EVE the only thing you lose by spending time learning a skill, is the time learning the skill. which isn't a lot of time at all for the low level stuff. by the time you're investing months in large hybrid 5 or battleships 5 or whatever, you already have a clear idea of what you want. and learning a skill doesn't close off any others.

    not sure how ACs worked

    Well in AC there were levels, as you leveled you gained skill points, those skill points you use to buy skills. The experience you earn from killing mobs, you spend in a skill to raise its level and your skill at it, or if you used the skill you earned some experience into it. The level cap was 126, but you could keep earning experience to put into skills beyond that point, up until something like 4 billion experience had been spent in a skill. But about two years ago Turbine lifted that level cap to 275 or something. And everyone who had been 126 for the past several years now saw their real level as generated by Turbines calculations.

    People could choose to be a Magic User, a Missile User and a Melee User, but they ended up severly underpowered compared to players who chose a more focused route for their skill points.

    When it was in its 4th or 5th year Turbine added a way for people to untrain skills so that they got the Skill Points back and the experience that they spent on the skills. And put a time limit on how often people could pick up the items used to untrain skills.

    It wasn't exactly like Eve but it was also in the market around the same time as Everquest.

    I look forward to seeing how this Earthrise game turns out, the only non-fantasy MMO I have played has been CoH so far, so another non-fantasy MMO will be nice.

    Seg on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    well there's no levels in this, like EVE does. so I assume its like eve's system

    that AC system with no refund just sounds like its trouble.

    Wren on
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  • Darkblade_1Darkblade_1 __BANNED USERS regular
    edited March 2008
    I'm hoping it's gain-by-use styled skill system ala UO.

    I've been waiting so long for another UO..

    so long..

    Darkblade_1 on
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  • Little JimLittle Jim __BANNED USERS regular
    edited March 2008
    what a fancy OP

    colour me impressed

    unfortunately I don't think I'll have the hardware to try this thing out when it's released

    Little Jim on
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  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I'm hoping it's gain-by-use styled skill system ala UO.

    I've been waiting so long for another UO..

    so long..

    well since you can keep on training your skills even when off-line, I'm assuming its gain-by-time. but who knows.

    Wren on
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  • citizen059citizen059 hello my name is citizen I'm from the InternetRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Wren wrote: »
    well there's no levels in this, like EVE does. so I assume its like eve's system

    that AC system with no refund just sounds like its trouble.

    At first it wasn't a big deal because it was launched in 1999. Phrases like "skill refund" didn't really cross people's minds.

    As games grow and balance changes, that sort of thing becomes a viable way for players to change the way they play without having to start all over with a new character.

    But yes, I'd like to see more skill based games. This looks interesting and I'll definitely keep tabs on it.

    citizen059 on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    funnily enough I loved MxOs skill system.

    but I'm a sucker for modern mmo's, which there are basically none of. there's that one being done SOE (agency I think?). but its SOE. seriously.

    SOE

    Wren on
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  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Man, this already looks like sex. If it turns out to be good it'll probably tear me away from orcs and humans for a good while.

    I saw "Vault Network" in that one screenshot, and immediately thought of fallout; I've been waiting for an MMO in that or a similar environment for quite a while now.

    Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
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  • 815165815165 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    This does seem pretty interesting, by the time it's been released I'll have forgotten about it entirely though.

    815165 on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    After reading some interviews and such, you level your main skills during actual gameplay and when off-line, you will passively level up social skills. I'm not really sure what that means though. Social is crafting or what? Who knows.

    Also doesn't really say how skills are advanced either. Through use or just time or whatever

    Wren on
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  • EnigEnig a.k.a. Ansatz Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Seems kinda interesting, though the only thing that stands out to me is the territorial control. I liked that a lot about EVE.

    I wonder how long MMO devs will keep relying on a monthly fee. There are getting to be way too many. Most people just want to subscribe to one at a time.

    Enig on
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  • ze swift classze swift class Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Ooh interesting.

    ze swift class on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Enig wrote: »
    I wonder how long MMO devs will keep relying on a monthly fee. There are getting to be way too many. Most people just want to subscribe to one at a time.

    for as long as people keep paying monthly fees. which is currently millions of people

    Wren on
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  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    added some new information from the devs about questing.

    sounds familiar

    Wren on
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  • lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Wren wrote: »
    added some new information from the devs about questing.

    sounds familiar

    Reminds me of Anarchy Online missions.

    lowlylowlycook on
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  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I was going to say EVE

    Wren on
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  • TavTav Irish Minister for DefenceRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    It looks more like HL2 then an MMO. I'll wait till I see some gameplay videos and stuff before passing judgement, because I've gotten excited about things like this before :(

    Tav on
  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    This looks a lot like Shattered Galaxy in some respects.

    electricitylikesme on
  • RuddurBallRuddurBall Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Neeccrroo!

    So closed beta sign ups are up out. I just stumbled across this game on Joystiq and signed up on a whim. Is anyone else even remotely interested? An EVE/Tabula Rosa combo doesn't sound like a bad way to pass the time until SWG: TOR comes out. Although, they do describe the game "Earthrise is Masthead’s first project, and is likely Eastern Europe’s most ambitious so far." so chances of them over promising and underachieving are larger than zero.

    RuddurBall on
  • delrolanddelroland Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Art direction looks cool, at least, unless there's only like 3 alien models in the game (i.e. the ones we've seen in the screenshots already).

    delroland on
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  • TrebzTrebz Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Saw an article on Kotaku mentioning closed-beta sign ups, I figured "What do I have to lose?" I'm liking the post-apocalyptic theme, and even if it goes rotten, that's what beta's for. Hopefully I'll have the fortune to be one of those lucky peoples that get to play first.

    Trebz on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    signed up'd.

    Wren on
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  • ApplekingAppleking __BANNED USERS regular
    edited January 2009
    interesting.....

    Appleking on
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  • delrolanddelroland Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I'm kind of concerned that they require an address and phone number for beta sign-up, though. Shouldn't they just ask for birth date and a valid email?

    delroland on
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  • A duck!A duck! Moderator, ClubPA mod
    edited January 2009
    delroland wrote: »
    I'm kind of concerned that they require an address and phone number for beta sign-up, though. Shouldn't they just ask for birth date and a valid email?

    Uh, they do ask for email.

    A duck! on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    psh they can make calls half way cross the fucking globe if they want, its their bill

    Wren on
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  • DecoyDecoy Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    delroland wrote: »
    I'm kind of concerned that they require an address and phone number for beta sign-up, though. Shouldn't they just ask for birth date and a valid email?

    It's because they want to make sure that if you bash their game they can find you and whoop your ass.

    <Knock Knock>
    You: Hello
    Them: Do you post under the alias of MagnoliaFan on the Earthrise beta message board?
    You: Yeah. Why?
    <Enter beat down here>

    Snooch to the nooch!


    +5 cool points if you caught the reference.

    Decoy on
  • RuddurBallRuddurBall Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Decoy wrote: »
    delroland wrote: »
    I'm kind of concerned that they require an address and phone number for beta sign-up, though. Shouldn't they just ask for birth date and a valid email?

    It's because they want to make sure that if you bash their game they can find you and whoop your ass.

    <Knock Knock>
    You: Hello
    Them: Do you post under the alias of MagnoliaFan on the Earthrise beta message board?
    You: Yeah. Why?
    <Enter beat down here>

    Snooch to the nooch!


    +5 cool points if you caught the reference.

    They also need all your contact information so they can fit you with a homing anklet to make sure you spend all your waking hours (and most of your sleeping hours) beta testing their game.

    On another note... Seriously? +5 pts for this? This wasn't exactly the most esoteric of references. What’s next, +10 cool points for “Don’t taze me bro?”

    RuddurBall on
  • DecoyDecoy Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    RuddurBall wrote: »
    Decoy wrote: »
    delroland wrote: »
    I'm kind of concerned that they require an address and phone number for beta sign-up, though. Shouldn't they just ask for birth date and a valid email?

    It's because they want to make sure that if you bash their game they can find you and whoop your ass.

    <Knock Knock>
    You: Hello
    Them: Do you post under the alias of MagnoliaFan on the Earthrise beta message board?
    You: Yeah. Why?
    <Enter beat down here>

    Snooch to the nooch!


    +5 cool points if you caught the reference.

    They also need all your contact information so they can fit you with a homing anklet to make sure you spend all your waking hours (and most of your sleeping hours) beta testing their game.

    On another note... Seriously? +5 pts for this? This wasn't exactly the most esoteric of references. What’s next, +10 cool points for “Don’t taze me bro?”


    Hah, not everyones a Kevin Smith fan, and even the ones that are, I know plenty who H-A-T-E that movie. Plus, if you take out the Snooch, I bet you lose most people anyway.

    Decoy on
  • delrolanddelroland Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Hey, it's not paranoia or anything. It's just that I don't ever remember having to give this info for other beta tests I have been in. I don't want to start receiving a bunch of junk mail and marketing phone calls if this "free"-to-play MMO goes belly-up and needs to make some money on the side.

    delroland on
    EVE: Online - the most fun you will ever have not playing a game.
    "Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
  • A duck!A duck! Moderator, ClubPA mod
    edited January 2009
    delroland wrote: »
    Hey, it's not paranoia or anything. It's just that I don't ever remember having to give this info for other beta tests I have been in. I don't want to start receiving a bunch of junk mail and marketing phone calls if this "free"-to-play MMO goes belly-up and needs to make some money on the side.

    Then give them a fake address? I have never, ever given actual contact information to these companies beyond a disposable email address.

    A duck! on
  • PonyPony Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I signed up for the Beta.

    Pony on
  • Just_Bri_ThanksJust_Bri_Thanks Seething with rage from a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited January 2009
    This sounds so much like a setting I was envisioning myself...

    Just_Bri_Thanks on
    ...and when you are done with that; take a folding
    chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
  • AccualtAccualt Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Quoted because of jail and I want to read the OP because <-- sci-fi nerd.
    Wren wrote: »
    why do companies still make these things? god! oh well, here's info on one that sounds neat.
    head1.jpg

    Earthrise is a post apocalyptic science fiction MMORPG set in the distant future.

    In the aftermath of the Third World War, mankind has managed to survive and build a new society: the prosperous city of Sal Vitas. Cloning, nanotechnology and quantum engineering are part of a new reality. Thanks to these technological advances, the human species has become immortal; each individual’s consciousness is stored in a data vault, ready to be uploaded into a cloned body as necessary. New energy sources have been discovered. There is a unified government that takes good care of those citizens who abide by its strict laws. Paradise, it appears, might really have come to Earth, and the people have embraced it.

    But not everything is as perfect as it appears. By exercising full control over the cloning process, Sal Vitas' government decides who will live and who will not, playing the role of God on Earth. Insurgent forces have accused the city's rulers of crimes against humanity. Armed factions fight for resources and power within the new system. And from the waves of discontent, a rebellion has fomented and formed a shadow government: Noir.

    Featuring a unique skill-based advancement system and player-driven economy, as well as extensive, meaningful player-vs.-player combat, Earthrise gives you innumerable choices to forge your destiny. Whether you're a noble soldier in the raging conflict between the Utopia and the rebellion, a criminal hiding from the law or a world-renowned engineer whose power extends into intricate trade and politics, your actions will echo throughout the game world.

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    Key Features:
    dash.png A unique post-apocalyptic setting where the cloned remnants of mankind battle to survive and rebuild. Yet while humanity may have evolved, human nature remains as treacherous as ever…
    dash.png Highly customizable characters with over 100 different skills, abilities, and tactics. No artificial "class" restrictions get in the way of making the character you want.
    dash.png Fast-paced action combat featuring dynamic targeting, customizable power armor, huge mechanized exoskeletons, and hundreds of high-tech weapons.
    dash.png Sophisticated Player versus Player (PvP) mechanics that let you fight for the established order, join the revolutionary underground, or carve your own bloody path as an independent criminal.
    dash.png Territorial conquest and defense that matters. In your domain, you create your own rules – or let anarchy reign.
    dash.png Character progression that keeps you advancing in your career even when you’re not logged in.
    dash.png An advanced market-based economy with in-game supply and demand based on player activities.
    dash.png Deep crafting mechanics that let you design and manufacture unique items from customizable blueprints and raw resources.

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    Pretty Pictures:

    OT_18.jpg
    OT_17.jpg
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    earthrise08030601_1204777576.jpg
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    Additional Information, from Devs:

    Crafting
    Any info on the types of crafting available? Will it be the standard breakdown of armour/weapons/accessories or will there be a few more specializations, maybe like weapon upgrades or armour mods or vehicle creation (multi-discipline required, eg engines, transmissions, armour etc).

    This week we would like to focus on crafting and answer Triox’ question. As we mentioned before, every item in Earthrise will be crafted by its players. This includes not only the usual fare of weapons, armor and devices but everything from mixing their own drugs and medicine to cooperative construction of buildings and vehicles, including mechanized exoskeletons. Crafting in Earthrise is a complex process that is easy to understand but ultimately difficult to master. The basic rule of crafting is that every item is made of components and every item can be broken down to its composites. Some components are used for specific items, others are used in a wide array of items – for example, a hand gun grip can be used in the creation of various hand guns, while electronic chipsets can be used to create specific devices. Players often will break down items to their components in order to combine some of them with other components to produce new, different items. Crafting and salvaging requires specific skills, depending what item is created or salvaged down, and players will have access to dozens of skills, covering mechanics, electronics, engineering, construction and programming in several futuristic industries. Here is a quick and simple example – let’s have two hand guns, a simple “Kruger” and an advanced “Raider” with electronic aiming. Using his weapons engineering skill, a player can deconstruct “Kruger Hand Gun” down to “Hand Gun Grip” and “Kruger Mechanism”, and then combine the “Hand Gun Grip” with “Raider Mechanism” and “Raider Aiming Processor” to produce the electronics-assisted “Raider” hand gun. Often complex items will require several tiers of components construction before the player can create the final product, and each of those components will require different skills to craft. We want to make most complex and powerful items in the game a serious crafting investment, often requiring two or more crafters or varying skills and expertise to work together in order to tailor each element of the final item. That is not to say that Earthrise favors custom-crafting of individual items only – majority of items will be rather simple to mass produce given components are available and will provide everyone with the means to join the conflict between Continoma or Noir, or carve their own name in the history of Enterra.

    Transformation of one type of item to another - either through crafting or salvaging - has damaging effect on the used resources and the final item will always have lowered quality value compared to the input components, depending on player's crafting skill. This renders impossible the infinite transformation of items - even for a true expert, constant crafting and salvaging of the same item will make the resources useless and any item made of them prone to quick damage and lessened effect. This is when items will "break" completely - when they cannot be any more repaired, or effectively salvaged to craft a new useful item.

    Factions
    (via Carnun) How will the player choose his/her faction? Will we be birthed to a faction of our choosing (i.e. at character creation) or will the player be able to choose at a later time. Will we be able to go turncoat?
    This week we will answer Carnun's question regarding Faction affiliation for new players. It's a very interesting question because unlike other games on the market, choice of affiliation is not forced on the player from the very beginning of the game. Players can change their affiliation from Continoma and Noir at any time as long as it serves their needs and they can live up with the consequences of such betrayal.

    When a new player leaves the crystomatic databanks containing his DNA and saved memories and sets his foot on the island of Enterra, he has no affiliation with any faction. Despite being utopian but ultimately corrupted society, the Continoma-ruled city of Sal Vitas believes that citizenship should be a natural choice for its new citizens. At this point players can make a choice - accept to join Continoma and reap the benefits of its new and bold society - with security and economic opportunities abound - or directly walk away into the wild and risky locations where they can meet with the Noir rebels, either NPCs or Noir characters who might embrace and protect them (unlike Continoma, Noir protection will depend slightly less on NPCs and more on the player's collaborative actions). While such choice will be very risky for newly created characters that have yet to hone their skills, they can do it - and if they pull it off, such actions might even be recognized later on. This allows new players who have yet to taste the world of Enterra make the natural choice of serving Continoma and be allowed to develop with acceptable level of security and support, while experienced players who enjoy challenges can immediately affiliate with Noir early on.

    As mentioned above, change of affiliation between Continoma and Noir may happen at any time. Such change won't happen automatically. Every action will count against the reputation towards each faction and players can be seen as zealots or untrustworthy Continomians or Noir supporters. Shift between Continoma and Noir will happen only when the player strictly chooses to. Still players have to prove their interest in the opposite cause before they are accepted among the rival faction. Frequent change of faction affiliation is another factor to count in - players will find it harder to gain trust of their new brethren if they have been turning their coat too many times too often. Finally, turning to the other side in the conflict while the player is in a Party or a Guild will have it's severe repercussions - each Guild has its own affiliation to Continoma and Noir and in a game featuring territorial conquest, traitors among the lines will rarely be tolerated. Players will have to choose wisely.

    Skills/Customization Thereof
    What do you have planned to make sure characters differ? If everyone can get every skill then wont people find "the best" skills and equipment and all end up being the same?
    Many MMOs have problems with balancing skills and try to separate players in alternative development paths - classes is the best example - so achieving powerful combinations is limited to one path only, a fighter, a warrior, a thief and so on. Each class has its powerful abilities and developers try to balance them to their best knowledge. Characters in Earthrise will not have classes or take exclusive character development paths. Players will have the same choice of skills and abilities. That alone will not lead to ultimate builds because many skills will not provide players with passive bonuses that directly affect their success in various actions, but instead unlock wide array of carefully balanced abilities they can use in different situations. These abilities will be customizable action templates that can be further enhanced using special system we will announce in detail soon. This system will allow players to modify their abilities to a certain extent. They will be able to create new abilities builds and receive a slight boost but there will always be some disadvantage that they have to live with and take into consideration in almost every situation the ability comes in play. Think of this as the paper/rock/scissors game, where “the best” character template will be beatable by another “best” character template.

    Characters may have the same skills developed to the same value and have access to the same abilities, but their choice of modifications of abilities will shape their skills and game play approach. There will be abilities that will make you powerful for a price, but there won't be abilities that let you own the game. There might be alternative ways to achieve certain effects in the game, and players will have to put a lot more strategy and combinational thinking rather than picking the latest, most powerful sounding ability and jumping into the fray.

    Same goes for equipment. The system we mentioned above and the modification aspect of the crafting system will be very similar. It will be extremely difficult for a crafter to come with the very best, ultimate, uber equipment in the game, and if he cannot craft it, don't expect players to be walking around looting epics. All items will come from the labor of other crafters, designers or manufacturers. We are talking about hundreds of different item templates, hundreds of different designs that can be combined together cumulatively. Quality of manufactured items will also be a very important factor, including several very cool ideas we are juggling with that throw a little sense of luck in the equation. Players might even find out that there are multiple approaches towards attaining certain effect from a weapon, armor or a device. That is mentioned to illustrate that the equipment market will be very rich in flavor and complicated. Coming up with the best equipment will not be as easily attainable as reading a walkthrough and repeatedly raiding a location. Don’t forget that items get worn out and they break. Sure, a player might at some point have access to the most powerful weapons in the game and that would give him an advantage... but that is temporary, as weapons break and his great investment in achieving that power will wane away.

    Then there's PvP. Because of the loot system we implement in the game, the power curve will be much smoother and provide much more player-centric rather than item-centric experience. The "best" weapon in the game will be powerful, but will not lack balance and raise issues among the gamers.

    In a summary, learning all the skills or achieving the best equipment in Earthrise will be difficult, but attainable. At that point players will not face a static system where there's one clear answer, but a customization system that unleashes countless alternative solutions for every possible situation in the game.

    Questing *NEW*
    “We have received lots of new questions this week, and one we would like to answer this time is Commi3's question about what types of quests will be available in Earthrise. Quests will be significant portion of the PvE gameplay in our game and several separate systems will be present to make sure the player has a lot to do if he is not ready or interested to dive deeper in the PvP and economic gameplay. While Earthrise is a more complex type of game where cooperation between players is highly encouraged on many levels, we want to retain one of the important features of casual game design - we want to allow players to solo in a multiplayer environment and advance their characters without requiring them to find a group to play with. The best way to do this is through extensive amount of quests for players to toy with.

    The most common and well recognized type of quests to any MMO player are the standard storyline made of main and side quests, ranging from simple FedEx or Kill Foozie tasks to complex challenges made of multiple tasks. While most of the gameplay resolve around a sandbox model where players actions are paramount, Earthrise will provide players with a complex setting and environment, along with compelling storyline where players can invest time if they desire to. These quests will develop around the conflict between Continoma and Noir and many of them will have multiple solutions in order to allow players to choose their side - or change it. While some quests will always be available for players to look back and change what they have done, most of these quests will not be repeatable.

    At any time players can leave the main storyline aside to invest as much time as they want in the game generated random quests. These randomly generated quests using wide variety of templates are given out by the many smaller organizations on the island of Enterra through centralized mercenary system which players can access easily in many places rather than forcing the player to walk dozens of miles to hunt down citizens in distress. Each of these random quests is provided by one of the organizations in the game that the person in distress is associated to. Each time the player completes such a quest, his reputation to several organizations change. It's not a simple "do this and we'll all love you" proposition. While your reputation to one organization and to a small degree all friendly organizations will certainly grow, all neutral and to a larger extent all enemy organizations reputation will be lowered. Players won't have a chance to be at a good standing with all organizations in the game - they'll have to make choices and put a lot of work if they want to amend those choices later. Having a good standing towards one organization allows players to ask Favors from this organization - such as access to technology and designs the faction has monopoly on, and other great things we have in store.

    We are also working on other types of quests we can't reveal at this time due to early stage of development, but when the time is right, we'll get back to the subject.”

    sep.png


    FAQs:


    What is Earthrise?
    • Earthrise is a post-apocalyptic science fiction MMORPG, set in the dark future of the planet Earth. The game is designed to run on the Windows operating system, and will be launching in 2009.
    Is Earthrise skill based or class based?
    • Earthrise is entirely skill based, which gives much greater flexibility for character customization. Players will be able to select from hundreds of different skill, ability, and tactic options, and no choices are ever permanently foreclosed.
    Will there be a subscription fee?
    • Yes. Players will need to pay a monthly fee to play Earthrise.
    Will there be PvP in Earthrise?
    • Yes. PvP will be an important part of the game. Players will have the opportunity to kill other players – but not without consequences.
      Another PvP aspect in Earthrise will be guild rivalries. Guilds will be able to declare war on each other and fight for power and resources. Such wars will be prohibited in the security zones, but will not be punished in the other territories.
      There must be a good reason for PvP players to risk everything to make a kill. What will making a PvP kill grant you?
      • Reward?
      • Faction?
      • Fame?
    Will characters be wearing customizable armor?
    • Armor will have multiple size classes and allow for creative combinations to suit almost any type of personal style or objective.
    Will crafting be a simple "click and create" or will there be player skill associated with creation?
    • Crafting is divided in two separate processes. The first process, Design, allows players to create special product enhancements to include in their recipes, which are then implemented into the final crafted item. Creating a new design requires player skill and patience. The second process, Manufacturing, is the process of using a recipe with the proper factory conditions to produce a final item from raw or processed components, and will be straightforward enough to allow for mass production.
    Is Earthrise solo-friendly or does it force grouping?
    • The main storyline and all associated quests will be completely solo-friendly and allow each player to explore the island of Enterra at their leisure without requiring additional help – but there will be additional challenges where a player may need friendly support. Also, many of the player-versus-player (PvP) mechanics will be party and guild oriented for those who seek to become involved in the grand struggle for domination over controllable zones and their resources.
    Is this MMO for the casual gamer or for the hardcore?
    • The game has been designed for both types of players meeting in the world of Enterra. Casual players will enjoy constant adventure not normally found in MMOs, while hardcore players will be given the opportunity to immerse themselves in merciless PvP and PvE action, economics that truly allow the unscrupulous trader or devoted crafter to gain influence and power over the market, and the ability to control the future of Earthrise with either money or force.
    I’ve never heard of Masthead Studios before – Who are you?
    • Masthead Studios is Bulgaria’s largest game development company, with a team consisting of young and enthusiastic artists, programmers and game designers with experience from numerous gaming projects. Earthrise is Masthead’s first project, and is likely Eastern Europe’s most ambitious so far.
    sep.png


    Basically the only thing you guys care about, aside from pictures:

    [MS]Ostiak - We plan to start betta testing in Summer-Autumn 2008, details will be posted on the official site

    Accualt on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    here's some more info on the experience
    Today, our community asked, "Can you elaborate on the "three pools of XP", as noted in a recent interview and discussed by this post?"

    Let's see what our developers had to say...

    Experience? We got it, in fact, all three types of experience. But in case you find that boast confusing at best, we have to tell you more about how your character will advance in Earthrise.

    Three types of experience will be available in Earthrise, allowing your Enterran alter-ego to advance through combat, crafting and social activities without enforcing a single, authoritative way of developing your character whether you like it or not. As you shoot and hack your way through the denizens of the dangerous island, you will accumulate combat experience used to unlock skills with combat abilities and tactics that enhance their abilities, as well as passive trainings that strengthen your character. If you stay away from combat, your character can develop through crafting, extracting elements from debris and mutant tissue, constructing various items, designing new enhancements for your items and even repairing items on the go. The final pool of experience, last but not least important, is the social experience that players will acquire through offline gameplay and will invest it in new more influential and better paying jobs as your characters climb the corporate ladder. Each experience pool will be separate from the others, allowing a character to specialize in one of the three forementioned areas depending on their actions in the game. While your character could ultimately develop in all areas and no artifical limitations will be set, your only boundary will be time - as developing your character as a jack-of-all-trades will be very time consuming - and your own goals you've set for yourself and your character.

    Wren on
    tf2sig.jpg
    TF2 - Wren BF3: Wren-fu
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