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Earthrise is a new title that we haven't seen much of thus far beyond screenshots and concept art. Still, it's one that's holding the interest of a small but growing community, waiting to see if the game will offer an experience that's a far cry from a fantasy MMO. In making the game a departure from the fantasy genre, the Earthrise creators at Masthead Studios have been fleshing out the game's lore and relaying it to potential fans through its own newsletters and some media exclusives, at IGN's RPG Vault in particular.

IGN continues its series of Earthrise previews, focusing on the lore of the post-apocalyptic setting. That is to say the old world is dead, wiped out in World War III. Those who weren't part of the Continoma-selected elite are either ash or reduced to slavering mutants prowling Enterra in search of their next meal. The previous piece titled Continoma: The Beginning focused on the corporate entity that rose to power and came to rule what was left of the earth following the near-annihilation of human society. IGN now looks at what happened after the burn in "Continoma: The Rebirth." Check out their piece for the full story on the pioneers of Earthrise who work to rebuild society to utopian standards, and the anarchists who resist the order of this new establishment.

Earthrise is the upcoming post-apocalyptic MMO being developed in Bulgaria by Masthead Studios. We've been keeping an eye on this title at Massively, but admittedly it hasn't been that difficult so far. Although Masthead Studios is a comparative newcomer to the MMO industry, the company has been doing a good job of raising awareness of Earthrise through the press, while fostering an active community which is eagerly awaiting beta.

Their latest media coverage comes to us through Massimo Villa's interview with Earthrise's Kamen Atanasov, Sound Effects Designer for the title. The interview touches on how Atanasov progressed from being a freelance sound designer to working on the audio backdrop of Earthrise. If you're curious about the development of this title, check out this Q&A with Kamen Atanasov.

[Thanks, Nolvadex.]

The team at Masthead Studios has released another batch of info on the upcoming Earthrise MMO, through their August newsletter. It's become standard for the Masthead newsletters to profile members of the Earthrise team. This time it's Composer Pavel Benov who's featured. He talks about how he drew upon his punk and hardcore roots to create Earthrise's soundtrack, which will be a fusion of experimental ambient and industrial.

There are also some highlights of the previous month's coverage of the post-apocalyptic title. But most of the revelations come through their Community Manager, Moll, who touches upon where Earthrise is in terms of beta testing. In addition, 'Issue IV' of the Earthrise newsletter has more concept art from the Eastern Gardens Creatures, showing off the npc spawns that will be devouring players when the game goes into beta, which Moll says will be later this year.

More information about the lore of Earthrise has surfaced, giving readers a preview of the post-apocalyptic MMO's setting of Enterra. Although still in a pre-beta stage of development at Masthead Studios, some details were already known about the organizations in Earthrise. The newest information comes from IGN's RPG Vault, which has released their first of three installments on the lore of Earthrise.

The IGN pieces will focus on Continoma, the corporate entity that governs the lives of Enterra's citizens. "Continoma: The Beginning" looks at how the Continoma Project developed into humanity's only viable chance for survival, via genetic rebirth which followed the cataclysmic Third World War. If you're a fan of the lore in your MMOs and sci-fi is your thing, check out the full story over at RPG Vault.

Masthead Studios has given beta-hopefuls another taste of what's to come in their sci-fi MMO Earthrise. Following the format of their previous two newsletters, Masthead Studios showcases some of what they've created to date on the road to the Autumn 2008 Earthrise beta.

The Earthrise newsletter 'Issue III' announces a fan art contest with autographed concept art to be given away as prizes. On that note, they've also posted concept art of the Eastern Gardens creatures. Earthrise's Community Manager, Moll, highlights a number of interesting discussions on the official forums, namely player accountability (spying, scamming, alt play) and the factions that will polarize players in the game. Check out the latest Earthrise newsletter for the full low-down on how the game is shaping up.

During a recent interview with Earthrise's Nikolay Stoyanov, we get a candid look into the influences and goals of this talented Art Director. This interview is mostly about himself as an artist, but there are also some points made about the game itself.

Still though, we think it's a welcome change to hear an interview that is more about what makes a game developer tick. Once you learn more about the developers, you get a better feel for the game, why they made it and how much of their heart and soul they've put into it. In Stoyanov's case, he cites some examples of the biggest challenges he has faced so far with Earthrise. He also craftily avoids a question regarding any other MMOs he'd like to work on, and finishes off the interview with some helpful advice for aspiring game artists or designers.

The creators of the sci-fi MMO Earthrise have been very active in recent months -- granting a number of interviews, releasing monthly newsletters, and participating in dev chats. Stratics recently hosted the third Earthrise 'House of Commons' dev chat, with three members of the Masthead Studios team.

The Masthead Studios devs that took part were Atanas Atanasov (CEO of Masthead Studios), Apostol Apostolov (Lead Game Designer), and Moll (Community Manager). Their discussion ranged from the professions available to players to the extensive crafting system in the game. Read on after the jump for details straight from the devs about what we can expect from Earthrise.

Masthead Studios has released the second newsletter for their upcoming sci-fi MMO Earthrise. As with their first newsletter, it's full of hyperlinks to images and audio related to the game, however there are a few new additions this time around. We've read about the game itself in recent months, but until now little has been known about the people behind the scenes who are working to make Earthrise a reality. The newsletter features an introduction to the members of the Earthrise development team at Masthead Studios in the form of a short Q&A for each developer.

Each of the devs discusses what brought them to work on the project, their influences, and what they do at Masthead Studios to further the creation of Earthrise. There's also screenshots of a new area on Enterra called The Nest and a hyperlinked recap of Earthrise's media coverage in the last month. But the real focus of the Earthrise newsletters is on the community, and a number of issues are showcased in the latest iteration.

The new player experience is not only crucial to any game's success, but it is particularly important to an MMOG, where developers can lose out on subscription income if players don't see anything that grabs them initially. So in a recent interview over at Ten Ton Hammer, Atanas Atanasov, the CEO of Masthead Studios discusses how Earthrise will approach this concern.

He mentions the fact that character creation will be fairly involved, with the ability to customize many features of your character, yet you won't be overwhelmed with too many choices on class or statistics right away. Atanasov also mentions that Masthead Studios has developed their own game engine from scratch that will utilize both DirectX9 and DirectX10 so that it will be accessible to more computers. Be sure to check out more of the in-depth interview over at TTH for more information.

Masthead Studios has released information about the factions that will populate the post-apocalyptic setting of Earthrise. These groups are referred to as 'organizations' rather than factions; players will work with them to gain access to 'design technology'. This acquired technology can be applied to items, 'creating unique, powerful, and highly sought-after creations.'

The details released thus far on these four organizations in Earthrise suggest that the game will have high science/technomagic and psionics, as well as 'light' peacekeepers and 'dark' mercenaries. The organization descriptions also give some clues as to how they will relate to one another in the game's Enterra Island locale.

Being grounded in this case is a positive thing. Honest. Moll, the Community Manager for the sci-fi MMO Earthrise, typically fields a 'Question of the Week' over at the game's forums. This time, Moll answered a few related questions in one go, writing about the physics engine in Earthrise. Moll stressed that Masthead Studios wanted to balance client requirements with server load, while trying to build a realistic experience for Earthrise's players:

"The physics engine will run simultaneously on the client and on the server. The server will ensure that the physics results from the client are feasible and prevent cheating. We are using a 3rd party physics core, which can take advantage of hardware and GPU acceleration and also have some internally-coded subsystems." Sound will be tightly integrated with all physics effects in the game, adding another layer of realism. Best of all is the revelation about Earthrise's physics engine: it will feature ragdoll style effects.

Masthead Studios has licensed SpeedTree modeling software to add a higher degree of realism to their upcoming MMO Earthrise. The software suite is now used extensively in the game industry for foliage modeling. What, you've never heard of SpeedTree? Well you've almost certainly seen it before. You're not likely to stop and notice the trees and shrubs as the FBI and military are trying to cut you down with automatic weapons in GTA IV. You probably won't admire the indigenous plantlife while you're trying to frag your opponents in Unreal Tournament III either. But the unnoticed backdrop for your carnage in these games was built with SpeedTree. While we may not pay attention to them directly, these details that permeate our virtual environments can have a big impact on our immersion in those settings. Neverwinter Nights 2, Crackdown and Viking: Battle for Asgard are other prominent titles enhanced by SpeedTree.

Earthrise is in good company on the MMO front with Masthead's decision to use SpeedTree, joining the ranks of Stargate Worlds, Fury, and Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. If the actual game environments can live up to the screenshots Masthead Studios has released, Earthrise stands to be one gorgeous MMO.

Some of us at Massively just can't seem to get enough info about the upcoming sci-fi MMO Earthrise. Hitting their forums regularly and following the recent surge of Masthead Studios interviews surrounding the title still leaves this blogger hoping for something more. But it seems those unspoken wishes have been granted -- Masthead Studios has released their first monthly Earthrise newsletter and will continue to churn out newsletters right up until it's time for launch.

The May '08 newsletter showcases a section of hyperlinks to Masthead Studios' media coverage over the past two months. This issue also features Community Corner, a recap of the major news and topics found on the official site's forums offered up by Moll, Earthrise's Community Manager. In addition, there's a statement by Atanas Atanasov, CEO of Masthead Studios, as well as some obligatory new Earthrise screenshots.

New details about the sci-fi themed MMO Earthrise have emerged, thanks to MMOCrunch's recent interview with Atanas Atanasov, the CEO of Masthead Studios.

Gameplay in Earthrise is chiefly skill-based and Atanasov explained in detail the limitations of the skill system, or more accurately -- the lack of limitations. The game mechanics will not limit the skills available to a player character, regardless of faction chosen. However, many skills will only come into play through the use of equipment that utilizes them.

As a skill-intensive game, Earthrise will not rank characters by level. A character's gameplay options are kept in check by their physical attributes (Physique and Intellect) and their genetic code. Gene modification is available at a cost and will allow players to tweak their potential, opening up new possibilities. This is in keeping with Earthrise's system of character customization, which they've stated is largely free of class restrictions.

The Italian game site Alteregonline has a new interview with the CEO of Masthead Studios, Atanas Atanasov. In it which he reveals a few more nuggets o' knowledge about their upcoming sci-fi MMO, Earthrise. The site also has an exclusive new screenshot. When you first go to the site don't worry that it's all in Italian. Just scroll down until you find the English translation towards the bottom.

When asked about the endgame, Atanasov said that term was very broad. When players max out their skill development they can do other things, like fight the biggest and baddest monsters in the game. If that doesn't interest them, PvP dominance via territory conquest is an option. Players can also gain economic power via brokering the world's resources or focus on crafting and selling the phatest loot in the land. Endgame content is important them, and the gang at Masthead realizes that if there's nothing to do -- players will leave. They hope to circumvent this with enough content at launch, as well as regular updates and expansions.