post-apocalyptic posts

Masthead Studios CEO updates on Earthrise progress

by James Egan Nov 23rd 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Guilds, Interviews, New titles, PvP, Earthrise

Earthrise fans will still have a bit of a wait ahead of them in terms of getting into open beta, but development and improvements are ongoing through the current closed beta. Masthead Studios CEO Atanas Atanasov was recently interviewed by MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller, updating Earthrise fans on the game's current status and details of some of the game mechanics of skills and tactics. Noteworthy -- Atanasov discusses why Masthead Studios chose to develop a sandbox MMO and foster a player-driven setting, rather than a more typical game where players move quickly through the content and then wait for the next expansion to release.

"The sense of involvement and power to create and change can invigorate and keep players glued to the game for years to come," says Atanasov. On that topic of sandboxes, the interview also discusses how MMO titles like Ultima Online and EVE Online have been part of the inspiration for Earthrise.

Tags: atanas-atanasov, closed-beta, earthrise, game-mechanics, guilds, interviews, masthead-studios, new-titles, open-pvp, post-apocalyptic, pvp, sandbox, sci-fi

Masthead Studios wraps up Earthrise crafting series

by James Egan Nov 9th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, New titles, Crafting, Earthrise

MMO fans who enjoy the crafting aspect of their games might be interested in what Earthrise will have to offer. The post-apocalyptic game's creators at Masthead Studios have been dropping quite a bit of info about how crafting will work, culminating in a two-part overview of Earthrise's crafting system. Masthead explained how gathered materials can be used to craft an item tailored for a specific purpose in last week's installment. They continue this week with the second half of "The Crafting Process" which walks us through the creation of a finished product.

Masthead's overview explains how players will manufacture the various modules which are assembled into the final product in factories. In this case, the example is of an assault rifle customized for the specific goal of taking down the Burzun mutants that prowl Enterra island. The second part of The Crafting Process also looks at how that weapon a player manufactures can be disassembled and upgraded to higher tiers of technology further down the line. Check out the latest installment of Masthead's Question of the Week series, The Crafting Process Part 2, for the best look we've had thus far at the game mechanics surrounding crafting in Earthrise.

Tags: burzun, crafting, earthrise, game-mechanics, masthead-studios, new-titles, post-apocalyptic, qotw, sci-fi

Masthead Studios delves into Earthrise crafting process

by James Egan Nov 2nd 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, New titles, Crafting, Earthrise

Earthrise creators Masthead Studios have already made clear that their forthcoming title will be a far future sandbox MMO, a post-apocalyptic setting where PvP will be a major aspect of gameplay. What hasn't been as clear is exactly how the extensive crafting process they've discussed in the past will actually work out in normal gameplay. Certainly we've heard a great deal about customization of crafted goods and the potential to become well-known for your own variations on items, but we never had a real overview of those game mechanics. That is, until now.

Masthead aims to dispel any confusion surrounding Earthrise's crafting system in a two-part series of blog posts that kicked off today as part of their Question of the Week offering to the community. "The Crafting Process", part one of two, poses the theoretical example of a player -- let's call him "Tim" -- who clearly hates Burzun mutants. Enough so that Tim wishes to craft an assault rifle specifically tailored for killing this particular type of mutant. Masthead Studios walks the reader through the skills required to create such a weapon, the components that must be gathered, and how Tim will be able to extract needed resources from those materials.

Tags: burzun, crafting, customization, dev-blog, dev-blogs, earthrise, game-mechanics, masthead, masthead-studios, new-titles, post-apocalyptic, qotw, sci-fi

Earthrise crafting process explored further

by James Egan Oct 28th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Forums, Game mechanics, New titles, Crafting, Earthrise

Earthrise developers Masthead Studios revealed more about the title's in-depth crafting system in the latest Question of the Week on the official game site. One of the game's strengths is its degree of item customization. Earthrise fans have wanted to know how they'll actually be able to customize items or manipulate the crafting process for better results, and Masthead provided some of the answers this week.

They've stated that the game will allow crafters to combine resources in various ways, creating new synthetic materials that can positively influence the outcome of the manufacturing process. If you've been following along with the Masthead Studios announcements about crafting in Earthrise, you'll want to see "Crafting: Product Manipulation, Combines" for more on how the system will work.

Tags: crafters, crafting, earthrise, forums, game-mechanics, mass-production, masthead-studios, new-titles, post-apocalyptic, qotw, sci-fi

Massively's Fallen Earth trial key giveaway and in-game events

by Krystalle Voecks Oct 23rd 2009 at 2:30PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Events, in-game, News items, Hands-on, Massively Event Coverage, Giveaways

As we mentioned last week, we have quite a treat for you today as part of the Fallen Earth Halloween event. We're happy to present 2,000 trial keys for anyone interested in trying out this indie post-apocalyptic game before forking over the cash. This special trial key is good for 15 days, which will bring you through their entire Days of the Dead Halloween event, as well as our own upcoming in-game events.

To get your trial key, simply visit our giveaway page and follow the posted directions. For more information on our in-game events - including a great developer interview - keep reading below.

Tags: days-of-the-dead, fallen-earth, fallen-earth-llc, free-trial, giveaway, halloween2009, icarus-studios, in-game-event, post-apoc-radio, post-apocalyptic, trial-key, zombies

Earthrise developers seeking community input on alts

by James Egan Oct 19th 2009 at 7:00PM

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

Earthrise is an indy-developed science fiction MMO on the way from Masthead Studios in Bulgaria. The developers have stated that Earthrise will be a sandbox game, with a large part of the player experience based on what guilds try to accomplish in the post-apocalyptic setting of Enterra. Given this emphasis on player-driven content, Masthead Studios has been running a Community Consensus over the past few weeks where the devs seek input from Earthrise fans on various aspects of the game's design.

Today Masthead Studios wants to hear what the community thinks about alts. In most MMOs having extra character slots is expected, but alt play in a sandbox game where players will engage in espionage could get out of hand. Would the ability to easily for any player to create a cell of spy alts unbalance the game, or should there be a tight limit on character slots per account?

Tags: alt, alts, community-consensus, earthrise, enterra, espionage, masthead-studios, new-titles, opinion, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, spies, spy, spying

Listen to new tracks from the Earthrise soundtrack

by James Egan Oct 17th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, Earthrise

Masthead Studios, the creators of post-apocalyptic MMO Earthrise, just reached out to Massively and gave us access to two tracks from the upcoming game's soundtrack. The tracks are titled Flooid and Shiv Out, composed by Pavel Benov who we've mentioned in the past for creating a blend of ambient and industrial music for the game.

Both tracks are electronica, which seems fitting for this sci-fi MMO. When you're creating the music that sets the tone for a futuristic game where the old world is dead and gone, lost to nuclear and biological warfare, something orchestral as heard in a fantasy MMO might not really work. Earthrise is a game about a cloned society of technocratic elite reborn in the far future -- a time where advanced technology dominates and defines the lives of all of the world's remaining inhabitants -- so going electronic with the game's music was probably the right choice. Give the Flooid and Shiv Out tracks linked above a listen and let us know what you think. If you like these tracks, you might also want to check out Benov's Dystopia Sunrise and Lay Waste as well.

Tags: composer, composition, earthrise, electronica, masthead-studios, music, new-titles, pavel-benov, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, score, soundtrack

Neutrality and criminality in the dystopian setting of Earthrise

by James Egan Oct 12th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, New titles, Earthrise

The developers at Masthead Studios dropped some info about their post-apocalyptic MMO Earthrise today, explaining how they've designed the game to allow freedom of choice. In true sandbox style, players will not be forced to choose between the main factions of Continoma or Noir and can, in fact, remain neutral. Earthrise Community Manager Moll writes in the latest Question of the Week, "Aside from Continoma and Noir as major Factions, there are 10 smaller political groups (called Organizations), and 4 of them will be Neutral and will provide neutral players with quests that allow them to build their Reputation and unlock rewards that cater to their political standings."

Cloning, which may prove to be one of the most vital services players will require, will be independent of faction standings, Moll explains. On that topic of cloning, Earthrise fans have also wondered how criminals can gain access to the same advanced infrastructure used by the more legitimate factions. Or, for that matter, how do criminals gain access to the various resources and markets used by non-criminal players?

Tags: community-manager, continoma, crafting, criminals, earthrise, factions, game-mechanics, masthead-studios, moll, neutrals, new-titles, noir, organizations, post-apocalyptic, qotw, sandbox, sci-fi

Catch an insider glimpse of a Fallen Earth meeting

by Krystalle Voecks Oct 2nd 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, New titles, Humor

If you ever thought to yourself how cool it would be to work for a video game company - well, obviously you're not alone. However, the team at Fallen Earth, LLC have decided to release a video that's part-trailer and part behind-the-scenes at their indie studio. Entitled only "Fallen Earth Marketing Meeting" it shows off not only the team's passion for Fallen Earth, but reveals that one guy who still hopes for "elves... magic" in the mix. Aww, poor misguided soul.

For a very silly look at an up-and-coming studio (and of course, their new MMO) be sure to check out the very tongue-in-cheek "marketing meeting" video behind the break.

Tags: fallen-earth, fallen-earth-llc, fe, icarus-studios, indie-studio, meeting, post-apocalyptic, silly, video

Earthrise developers seeking player input

by James Egan Oct 1st 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, Earthrise

Players having more input or control over the games they play is an interesting direction some MMO companies are taking. While not every company will establish something structured as EVE Online has with the Council of Stellar Management or (as Massively reader Se7en pointed out yesterday) Star Wars Galaxies has with its Galactic Senate, the simple fact that game developers are making efforts to allow more player input is encouraging. Masthead Studios is a newcomer to the MMO scene with Earthrise, a far future post-apocalyptic title, but already they're showing an interest in getting player feedback as they develop the game. The devs at Masthead will now have a "Community Consensus" on the Earthrise forums which brings up key issues with the game's design, to learn how players feel about these aspects of the title.

It's not clear yet exactly how much input the players will really have on Earthrise but if the devs are willing to listen to the playerbase, we'd say this is a step in the right direction. The first Community Consensus deals with an issue that will likely be hotly debated -- adding additional incentive for player killing, with greater benefits at higher levels of notoriety.

Tags: community, community-consensus, community-manager, criminal, criminal-karma, earthrise, game-mechanics, insurance, masthead-studios, moll, new-titles, notoriety, outlaw, pk, player-killer, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi

Fallen Earth's art director talks about updating the apocalypse

by Krystalle Voecks Sep 27th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, New titles, News items

When it comes to an apocalypse, you might think that you could bang up some destroyed buildings, slap some dirt on them and call it a day. But as we learned from a recent guest dev blog on Curse with Fallen Earth's Art Director, Chris Deavellar, there's a lot of work that goes into creating a believable, realistic apocalypse. Players who are currently finding their way in Fallen Earth will undoubtedly be glad to hear that graphical updates like the one above in the works, and will be coming to us down the road. Additionally, as part of the updates that they're working on, these new building formats and textures will help to reduce the memory needed to render all the original, legacy buildings.

In all, it's a great post, offering up some frank "making-of" type information for those who are curious about how this indie studio is moving forward with their work on Fallen Earth. Also included are a series of interior and exterior images showing before and after - updates that will help to improve the overall look and feel of the game. For an apocalypse, we think it looks pretty cool, and can't wait until we ride into Embry and see all new, less memory-intensive buildings.

Tags: artwork, before-and-after, destroyed-buildings, fallen-earth, fallen-earth-llc, fe, icarus-studios, post-apocalypse, post-apocalyptic, textures

Survival tips for Fallen Earth

by James Egan Sep 26th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Game mechanics, Guides, Tips and tricks

Fallen Earth is one of most recent titles to arrive on the MMO scene. If you weren't a beta tester, though, you might have some questions about the best way to progress in the game. Syp over at Bio Break put together some tips to help Fallen Earth players get a handle on the game, and hopefully points out a few overlooked aspects of this post-apocalyptic title. Some of his tips are practical and relate to game mechanics or common mistakes made, others are simply advice from someone who's clearly spent a lot of time wandering the wasteland.

Pair Syp's "20 Tips for Fallen Earthers" with Massively's "FAQ That" for Fallen Earth and you should be well on your way to getting the most from the newly released title. Also don't miss our Fallen Earth guides -- A WoW player's guide to Fallen Earth and the Beginner's guide to horse crafting -- for a closer look at what this MMO can offer.

Tags: bio-break, fallen-earth, fallen-earth-llc, game-mechanics, guides, icarus-studios, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, syp, tips, tips-and-tricks

Fallen Earth launch day roundup

by Shawn Schuster Sep 22nd 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Launches, New titles, Massively Event Coverage

In addition to Aion's launch, today is also the official launch day for Fallen Earth, the post-apocalyptic MMO that is already gaining indie cred among old school MMO gamers. As a way to get our best Fallen Earth coverage into one place, we created this handy roundup for you to peruse while the servers are down before launch. We have helpful game guides, a FAQ and posts from our developer diary series that ran during the summer. This won't be it though! You can bet we'll be pumping out more Fallen Earth feature articles very soon.

	A WoW player's guide to Fallen Earth At Massively, we like to focus on making more MMOs accessible to more people. That accessibility to other MMOs is initially started by the 800 lb gorilla: World of Warcraft. Without WoW, a large percentage of MMO players would not be enjoying their current game today, even if they haven't stuck by WoW this whole time.
	FAQ That: Common answers to your basic Fallen Earth questions It's not easy figuring out what to do with yourself in the post-apocalyptic world, but thankfully we here at Massively have been working on compiling a list of questions that should help make your first steps in this strange new version of Earth a bit easier.
	Beginner's guide to horse crafting in Fallen Earth When you think of post-apocalyptic mounts, you probably imagine a gas-sipping motorcycle, an armored truck or the last of the V8s, right? Yet, a very practical way to get around when society falls is on horseback. In Fallen Earth currently, a horse mount is probably your best option -- especially considering the fact that you can get one very early in the game.
	First Impressions: Fallen Earth To say that it is an ambitious step into the field is an understatement of some pretty extreme proportions. It's not every day an MMO company decides to drop an MMO smack into the middle of a scale map of the Grand Canyon. More properly, a post Shiva-virus and nuclear post-apocalyptic Grand Canyon. Ambitious? Definitely. Whether or not it works, well... read on for my First Impressions, and make your own call once you have more of an idea what's in play here.

Tags: fallen-earth, launch-day, mmo-roundup, post-apocalyptic, roundup

FAQ That: Common answers to your basic Fallen Earth questions

by Krystalle Voecks Sep 21st 2009 at 7:30PM

Filed under: Fallen Earth, Guides, Launches, New titles, FAQ That

We know. Life in Fallen Earth takes some getting used to. The virus has wiped out most of humanity, and there were nukes dropped in Asia because everyone was relatively sure someone over there designed the killer flu. What's left of humanity seems to be crowded into the Grand Canyon. We're all living in the shadow of a madman's legacy, and the world has - pardon the phrase - gone to hell in a hand-basket. It's not easy figuring out what to do with yourself in the post-apocalyptic world, but thankfully we here at Massively have been working on compiling a list of questions that should help make your first steps in this strange new version of Earth a bit easier.

Need a hand finding your way around? Join us behind the break for the first official installment of FAQ That - our irreverent take on those first, painful days of Noob Chat in your favorite new MMOs.

Tags: fallen-earth, fallen-earth-llc, faq, help, new-player-questions, post-apocalyptic

Earthrise interview details mechas, game environments and tactics

by James Egan Sep 21st 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Interviews, New titles, Earthrise

Among the independent game studios out there working on something a bit different for the MMO scene is Masthead Studios in Bulgaria. The studio is developing Earthrise, a post-apocalyptic MMO with a setting that's more far future sci-fi than the near-future burned out world of a title like Fallen Earth.

While the game's launch is still off on the horizon, Masthead Studios has been keeping Earthrise's fans informed about various aspects of the game, either in Question of the Week installments on their official site, or through interviews with the gaming press. The latest Earthrise interview is from GameSNAFU, who recently spoke with Atanas Atanasov, CEO of Masthead Studios.

Tags: atanas-atanasov, bulgaria, earthrise, espionage, game-mechanics, gamesnafu, interviews, masthead-studios, mechas, new-titles, post-apocalyptic, pvp, sandbox, sci-fi, trust