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BHG PREPARES FOR NEXT PROJECT
(4 February 2004, 11:36 | Misc) This just arrived in our mailbox. Apparently Big Huge Games is already working on their second game.
Big Huge Games Licenses SpeedTreeRT™ for New Project
COLUMBIA, SC – Big Huge Games, developer of the widely-acclaimed Rise of Nation® strategy game, has licensed SpeedTreeRT for an upcoming game title.
"We chose SpeedTree for the phenomenal CAD abilities of the program, which we`ve used to create believable and compelling environments for our next game," said Big Huge Games founder and Vice President Tim Train. "This software package has saved us invaluable time. Once we had tried the free evaluation version, we knew we had to upgrade to the full product."
Big Huge Games has not revealed the name or any details of the new title.
Rise of Nations has won broad recognition since its May 2003 release, including best title of the year accolades in numerous categories from GameSpot and TechTV. An expansion pack to the game, Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots, will be released in spring 2004.
SpeedTreeRT, released in December 2002 by Interactive Data Visualization, delivers lowpolygon, highly realistic trees, with adjustable wind effects, seamless LOD transitions, and an included library of hundreds of tree models from more than 80 core species. SpeedTreeRT includes SpeedTreeCAD, a Windows application used to create and edit animated trees in realtime.
Interactive Data Visualization, Inc. (IDV), develops software products with a focus on realtime three dimensional applications for the game development, visual simulation, engineering visualization, and animation industries. IDV, a privately held corporation, was founded in 1999 in Columbia, South Carolina. For more information about IDV, visit www.idvinc.com.
One this is certain: the next BHG game will have trees! :) - MarkG
WEEKEND CHALLENGE SET
(3 February 2004, 20:13 | RoN) Grab the game`s third patch, sign-up and show up to Rise of Nations Empire`s (RoNE) Rise of Nations challenge this weekend is the call to virtual arms by the fansite`s `ChaosX`.
Three rounds will be played on both Saturday and Saturday at the same respective times and locations save the last match-up. [The [w]inner of each round will be invited to the final round next weekend for final free for all game, the RoNE staff member notes in closing. - DanQ
LEGACY RE-INTRODUCTION ATTEMPT
(3 February 2004, 19:50 | Misc) A Java-based remake of the original Master of Orion is the current self-imposed project of series fan Ray Kerby. [M]y attempt [is] to preserve [this] game in a format that will be transportable to multiple platforms for many years, he says. Secondly, it is my attempt to learn the ins and outs of the Java programming language.
Java MOO, as it has been officially dubbed, has been in development since December of 2002. A series of screenshots are available for viewing along with a summary of completed components of the title and what has yet to be taken on. A blog that began in January of this year keeps site visitors regularly apprised of Kerby`s progress or lack thereof.
Over the years, there have been many attempts by motivated players to re-create the original MOO, and some of those attempts are still proceeding, the independent developer writes. This continued devotion to a DOS game that is over [ten] years old should give you some idea of how good it was.
No hints as to when J-MOO will be finished are provided on-site. - DanQ
FANSITE GRABS REYNOLD`S EAR
(3 February 2004, 19:42 | RoN) Fansite Rise of Nations Revolution has grabbed the ear of Big Huge Games (BHG) President Brian Reynolds to discuss the latter`s Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots title presently in development. Scheduled for commercial availability this April, it will be the first expansion pack to RoN released last year.
Topics touched upon include precursor attempts of implementing governments into RoN originally which are now a key feature of the add-on. [T]he most significant "failures"... was a Civ-style set of governments which had both positive and negative effects as well as the ability to switch back and forth between government forms more or less at will. It turned out that in the frenetic pace of an [real-time strategy] game players weren’t really able to trade off the plusses with the minuses and mostly got confused and frustrated. He also confirms that their is no `anarchy` period, a common trait in the Civilization franchise, but that the government power you choose [at the outset] remains with you throughout the game even when you evolve to a higher form of government.
The national bonuses of the new Lakota civilization, and the art set and powers of the Indians and Persians, are discussed next followed by anticipated `Conquer The World` updates. On the latter most of these, Reynolds confirms that no multiplayer version has been created. After a brief stopover on the scenario editor, the testing period of RoN`s third beta was tackled and the lessons BHG have learned from the process. The wait... was too long for some players, the interviewee observes.
At the beginning of the interview RoNR`s `Nox` asked Reynolds if he knew, and if so could reveal, how many copies of RoN have been sold to date. The BHG chief had to respond in the affirmative to the first part of the question, but no to the second. - DanQ
FRENCH-LANGUAGE TOURNAMENTS ON TAP
(3 February 2004, 19:22 | RoN) Two Rise of Nations French-language tournaments are on tap for this month already. On February 7th, Ground Control will host a one-on-one event which will run at normal or high speed depenidng upon the consensus among players in individual brackets. Other settings include `Survival of the Fittest` and a win can otherwise be obtained by a player controlling 75% of a game map at any one time.
Meanwhile on February 20th, the Celtic Warriors (CW) will hold their fourth event of this type beginning at 10:30PM CW server time in the `Unrated Room 5` of GameSpy Arcade, RoN`s official multiplayer matchmaking service. - DanQ
NO `ACSR DAILY` FOR FEBRUARY 2ND, 2004
(3 February 2004, 09:15 | Misc) There will be no "ACSR Daily" edition on Apolyton Civilization Site Radio (ACSR) for February 2nd, 2004 as there was no news reported on-site that day.
"ACSR Daily" broadcasts will resume following the next day with news coverage on-site. - DanQ
