ryzom posts

One Shots: Just when you thought the snows were over

by Krystalle Voecks Mar 10th 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Screenshots, Ryzom, One Shots

With a recent patch offering some much appreciated code updates (including Win7 support) Ryzom is still rolling along, thanks to its devoted player-base. However, it would appear that much like the waves of winter in the Northern hemisphere, Atys is experiencing snowfalls that keep coming back as well. Our Ryzom regular, Steven K., writes in to explain this wintry shot: Having my fill of another snowfall this morning, and not in the mood to brush the snow off the roof of my small home in Yrkanis, I went searching for some inspiration. I found it sitting in an unlikely spot. So I quickly plopped down my easel, and my bum, and scribbled this painting out before the sun melted the snowflakes off the overhanging trees.

One Shots is all about you -- so we need you to send in your screenshots. All you have to do is email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post them out here on Massively and give you the credit. How cool is that!

Gallery: One Shots: Gallery II

Tags: Atys, one-shots, ryzom, saga-of-ryzom, screenshot, screenshots, steven-k

One Shots: A lonely sunset

by Krystalle Voecks Feb 22nd 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Screenshots, Ryzom, One Shots

The lovely world of Atys may not be a place that many have walked, but thankfully we have excellent readers who send us notes from Ryzom on occasion. Any game that has fans dedicated enough to raise money in an attempt to buy it rather than see it shut down, certainly has something going for it!

Today's lovely Ryzom One Shots comes to us from Steven K. who writes in: Just a league or so Northeast of Pyr, tired and exhausted from hunting, I found a shaded locale from which to rest. Nearby, a Capryni grazed is solitude. I wonder if he, like myself, longed for the days where many more Homins populated Atys and helped protect the Capryni from the constant harassment of Gingos and Goari.

If you're playing a game we don't see here often -- or perhaps have never seen here -- we definitely want to hear from you! There are tons of great MMOs out there that don't get nearly enough love, but we need you to send your screens in for them. Just email them to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description. Yours could very well be the next one we feature.

Gallery: One Shots: Gallery II

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: one-shots, ryzom, science-fantasy, screenshot, screenshots, winch-gate-property-limited

Ryzom launches 1.7 patch

by Eliot Lefebvre Dec 17th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Patches, Ryzom, News items

Ryzom might be a five-year-old game, but despite the few hiccups it went through, it remains an attractive and diverse game with a number of features still not widely found in the genre. Having celebrated its anniversary earlier this year, the game continues to roll along at a steady clip, exemplified by the newly-released patch 1.7. The patch's title, The Kitin's Lair, alludes to one of its central elements: a new zone, the first part of the aforementioned lair. Kitins are one of the game's central adversaries, and so the patch's warning to avoid entering the lair alone is no doubt well-advised.

That's hardly the only feature in the latest patch, however -- the game has also added an overhauled mail system, in-game forums for roleplaying and guilds, and the ability to enter viewable character biographies built in to the game's engine. The game has also adjusted the level display system, now using numbers to indicate the target's level only when it is close to that of the player. The addition of official Windows 7 support makes Ryzom more accessible, so the game's players would do well to take note of what the patch brings, and those of you who've never heard of the game may want to give it a fresh look.

Tags: kitins-lair, news-items, roleplaying, rp-profile, ryzom, ryzom-patch-1.7, saga-of-ryzom, system-updates, win7, windows-7

One Shots: And the moon looks down

by Krystalle Voecks Oct 16th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Screenshots, Ryzom, One Shots

While they say that life is tough on Atys, it certainly is very eye-catching as well. This alien science-fantasy shot from within the world of Ryzom shows off both terrain and something strange in the skies. It almost resembles an eye to us. That said, we'll let Vendayn explain the scene: I'm Vendayn, otherwise known as Vendeyn in Ryzom. The visuals continually impress me in the game. The planet can be considered one giant plant. Here you see the planet with a ring around it, with the planet's roots going overhead. [There is also] a peaceful view of an island.

We love to see MMOs from small to large, but we need you to send in screenshots of your adventures! Try as we might, we just haven't perfected that time machine so we can play everything we want to. If you'd like to help us out (with the screenshots - unless you have a functional time machine, in which case we'd take one of those too) send your images to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com. Be sure to add in your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it up here and give you the love.

Gallery: One Shots

(Of course, if you send a functional time machine, we'll meet you last week and buy you a round.)

Tags: one-shots, ryzom, saga-of-ryzom, screenshot, screenshots, vendayn

Ryzom deploys patch 1.6, extends web applications system

by Seraphina Brennan Oct 13th 2009 at 11:30AM

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, Ryzom, News items

Ryzom has moved forward with their interactive web application goals, and with their newest patch players will be able to check mail both in-game and out of game.

While Patch 1.6 cleans up a few bugs, adds a few more tattoos to the game, and tweaks the GM's event creation tools, it also opens up the Ryzom player developers project even further. Beginning with the mail and notes applications, players will be able to log into the game's website to send/read their e-mail as well as review their in-game notes as long as they retrieve their API key.

Tags: api, developer-tools, event-tools, patch-1.6, php, ryzom, volunteer, volunteer-developer

The Daily Grind: What's your favorite indie MMO?

by Seraphina Brennan Oct 9th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

There's never enough credit given to the indie MMO developers. These are the teams that usually put it all on the line with the hope of making a darn good MMO for people to play in. They don't have the budgets that the big teams do, and sometimes they don't have the graphics, but what they always have is the soul and innovation to put out their title.

So today's Daily Grind is dedicated to the independent teams out there. And, in honor of them, we ask you what your favorite indie MMO is. You've got lots of choices, from Love to Face of Mankind to Neocron to Fallen Earth to Ryzom to Istaria to Darkfall to A Tale in the Desert to many others. We could keep going, but you'd probably get bored of us naming off all of these games.

So tell us of your favorite indie MMO! For good measure, tell us some stories about your indie MMO of choice! Go go go!

Tags: a-tale-in-the-desert, darkfall, face-of-mankind, fallen-earth, fom, indie-mmo, istaria, love, neocron, opinion, ryzom, the-daily-grind

One Shots: Happy 5th anniversary, Ryzom!

by Krystalle Voecks Sep 17th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Screenshots, Events, in-game, Ryzom, One Shots

While we work very hard to bring you tons of excellent daily MMO coverage, occasionally something will slip by that we don't catch in time. Thankfully we have some truly excellent readers who send us tips - or occasionally will drop us a screenshot from a celebration! Take, for example, this great image captured by our friend Petter Mårtensson, who writes over on Gamereactor Sweden and is a huge fan of Ryzom. Here's his note:

I thought I'd share this lovely picture from the 5th anniversary event which took place in Ryzom [yesterday]. The GMs set up a race in the Zora jungles, but gave it a bit of a twist and shrunk all our Mektoub mounts. (You can see some ordinary sized mounts loitering in the background.) It felt quite silly to race through the jungle on a mount almost smaller than yourself, but it was a lot of fun. The event ended with some giant monster slaying and a party in a secret oasis which normally isn't available to players. Everyone there had a wonderful evening, celebrating the birthday of a great and very different MMO!

If you know a game we don't get to look at often - or happen to catch a celebration - we'd love to see some screenshots from it. Just email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick blurb about what's going on. We'll post it out here and give you the love for sending it in.

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: 5th-anniversary, one-shots, petter-martensson, ryzom, saga-of-ryzom, screenshot, screeshots

Code something for Ryzom's new API, win cash!

by Seraphina Brennan Jul 21st 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Contests, Culture, Game mechanics, Launches, Ryzom

If you're bored, have some free time, and enjoy coding programs then do we have the contest for you! The team over at Ryzom have put together a brand new API for their game, and they're celebrating its launch with a contest for budding developers! Even better, the prizes are all monetary!

What the Ryzom team is looking for is people who can utilize their new API for whatever gadgets, tools, or websites they can dream up. The winning use of the API will be the one that displays innovation, usefulness, ease-of-use, multilingual support, validity and completeness, and optimized coding. Popularity, stability, and availability will be taken into consideration as well with all coding entries.

The winning entry will receive 3,000 euros (approximately 4,200 US dollars), second place will receive 1,000 euros (1,400 US dollars), and third place will be netting 500 euros (700 US dollars.)

So what are you waiting for? Get coding!

[Thanks, J3kyll!]

Tags: api, coding, contest, gadget, money, ryzom, ryzom-online, ryzom-ring, tools, websites

One Shots: Hey guys, over here!

by Krystalle Voecks Jun 25th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Ryzom, One Shots

One of the things we really like to do with One Shots is to show off worlds that we don't get to look into very often. Take, for example, today's interesting screenshot from Ryzom that was sent in to us by Prisemy. It's certainly a surprisingly good-looking game for having initially been released in 2004! With a few of his own thoughts, here's what Prisemy had to say. I decided to give Ryzom a try after reading on Massively about the new update and whatnot. I have to say this is the most gorgeous MMO that nobody is playing. These Kami look as perplexed as I feel as I head off newbie island for the mainland. Where is everyone?! Don't they know there is a free trial?

If you're playing in a small game that you feel is really underrated by the general MMO populace, why not find a great screenshot of the game and email it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com. Add your name, the name of the game, and a brief description - links to trials are handy too! We'll post it out here and who knows - you may interest people in coming by to check your favorite game out!

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: nevrax, one-shots, prisemy, ryzom, screenshot, screenshots, the-saga-of-ryzom, winch-gate-property-limited

Ryzom's patch 1.5 also brings a brand new roleplaying website

by Seraphina Brennan Jun 12th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Events, in-game, Forums, Launches, Patches, Ryzom, Roleplaying

Roleplaying is on most MMORPGs, but it can be hard to find. Sometimes the greater roleplaying community all flocks to one server, leaving you in the dust if you happen to make a character on another server without knowing it. Sometimes they're spread across all servers, only holding events at times you can't make because of your schedule. And still other times there are just very few roleplayers in a game, and that's how it is.

Well if you were looking for roleplay, look no further than Ryzom. Accompanying patch 1.5 is a brand new area of Ryzom's website -- a whole site dedicated to the roleplaying community. Roleplaying is pretty big business in Ryzom, so it serves the company well to create a whole series of tools aimed directly at roleplayers.

The big part of this announcement is the integration of the animation team with the roleplaying website. The community will be able to work hand in hand with the animators to aid their events and create things that the roleplaying community desires.

To celebrate the launch of the site, an event will be held to gather the community tomorrow, June 12th, at 7 PM GMT (2 PM EST.)

[Thanks, Petter!]

Tags: event, in-game-event, mmorpg, patch-1.5, roleplay, roleplaying, rpg, ryzom

Ryzom reverting to paid subscription

by Krystalle Voecks May 12th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, Ryzom, News items

Ryzom, originally slated to be shut down, was saved from going offline by Winch Gate Property, Ltd. From there, there have been two large updates to fix bugs and add new features to the game over the last 8 months. Now, the team behind Ryzom have let us know that they're ready to move the game back to a subscription model. By doing this, they hope to be able to fund further development on the game for the community, and also allow for more events.

The subscriptions will start at $10.95 per month, with a discount for multiple-month subscriptions. Added to that, they're also planning to offer a three-week free trial for current Ryzom players to hook their friends in with! The new trial also doesn't restrict play or levels, allowing any interested new players to really see what Ryzom's 'science-fantasy' world is all about. We're glad to see another MMO staying online, and hope to hear about more exciting things happening in Ryzom's future.

Tags: billing, ryzom, subscription, subscription-cost

Ryzom switching to billing 'soon'

by Krystalle Voecks Mar 29th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, Ryzom, News items

While the players of Ryzom have enjoyed playing for free for the last while, it appears that the time is approaching for that to end. An announcement on the Ryzom forums indicates that they're working on changing the game back over to being under a pay-to-play monthly subscription. After initially seeing the game taken offline last year, then bouncing back, It's been a hell of a ride for the Ryzom faithful. While this most recent reincarnation seems to be doing well, only time will tell if the move back to a monthly subscription model will help it grow further in terms of new content and players or not.

That said, if you've wanted to check out Ryzom, you'd better get on the ball. From what their forum message indicates, you only have a few weeks left before its free-to-play status is history. Who knows, you might find yourself enjoying it so much that you roll to a monthly subscription when the time comes too.

Tags: billing, forum-post, ryzom, saga-of-ryzom, subscription

One Shots: Sand-free drinks are important

by Krystalle Voecks Mar 24th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Screenshots, Ryzom, One Shots

We've often discussed how much we dig the idea of user-generated content, and while there are some MMOs making inroads into it, Ryzom has had user-generated content for some time. Today's lovely and tropical screenshot (perfect for the warm weather of spring) comes to us from Petter Mårtensson, MMO fiend and fellow games writer, who writes in: Thought I'd send you a screen from Ryzom, a game which truly deserves more attention these days. It's my fyros Anioo in her new set of heavy armor, standing outside the bar in Thesos. The bar itself is owned by the barkeep Pecus Cegrips, who always make sure that the drinks are free from sand. Which is a good thing, considering Thesos is located in the Burning Desert in the northern parts of Atys.

If you're playing an MMO we don't see often - or even one we see regularly - we want to see your screenshots! Who knows - you may recruit some new players to check out your game. Just email those screens to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the game, and whatever you'd like to say about the screenshot. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for sending it in.

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: one-shots, ryzom, saga-of-ryzom, screenshot, screenshots

Ryzom going to monthly subscription

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 6th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Business models, Ryzom, News items

Ryzom has been up and down, with changes in models, cancellation, and being re-launched. Recently, it's incarnation has been a free-to-play game, but word has come down the wire that to continue running Ryzom, they need to reinstitute some type of fees.The good news for those who loved Ryzom before, or who perhaps are newish to this world, is that the fee structure will be less expensive than previous incarnations. The better news is that they will continue the current free-to-play model until the end of January, in case you were considering checking it out but hadn't yet.

For month-to-month, you will pay $10.95 (7.95 €, £ 7.75); for three months at a time you'll get a discount down to $10.25 per month (7.50 € of £ 6.98 per month); 6 months will cost you $9.49 per month (6.99 € or £ 6.63 per month); and finally a year's subscription will discount furthest breaking down to $8.83 per month (6.50 € or £ 6.15 per month). With as many folks who are opting to give up on extra MMO accounts due to the cost, the price break may well keep Ryzom afloat - or even attract some players who want to try out a visually exciting new world for a bit less than the $15 many MMOs charge these days.

[Thanks, AterNox]

Tags: change-in-pricing, free-to-play, monthly-fee, ryzom, saga-of-ryzom, subscription

A five-hour look at Ryzom

by William Dobson Dec 21st 2008 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Classes, Game mechanics, Crafting, Ryzom, Opinion

Ryzom certainly has a very shaky time-line, changing business models, being canceled and then saved. This sounds like a bit of a disaster, but in reality, it's proved that it can survive in the often-harsh MMO industry. A huge part of this resilience is the game's loyal fanbase, and in a recent first-impressions piece over at Eurogamer, it looks like the single server's community is still going strong -- in fact, it might be one of the reasons to give Ryzom a try.

The author of the article documented his first five hours with the game, reporting on each hour's experiences. He learned about the lack of restrictions with class choices, the stanza system (which allows players to customize their abilities), and discovered that Ryzom is definitely a lot more hardcore in terms of the hand-holding gameplay hints that most MMOs offer these days. Luckily, he found a lot of real people willing to help him out in learning the ways of the world.

This all sounds fine and dandy, but there are a lot of negatives too -- chief among these, the unintuitive crafting system, the grinding to raise different levels, and the harsh penalties associated with failure. These things are apparently bad enough to turn a lot of folks away, but for some, it's easy to look past them and enjoy what is there. We'd be interested to know where our readers stand on this title at this more peaceful stage in its life.

Tags: crafting, first-impression, first-impressions, grinding, ryzom, stanzas