Exile Online: A Fantastical Sci-Fi Dystopian Cyberpunk Universe a Dev Journals at MMORPG.com

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Exile Online: A Fantastical Sci-Fi Dystopian Cyberpunk Universe a Dev Journals at MMORPG.com

Exile Online has been in quiet development for quite awhile now, even going silent for a short time. But the team is ready to reveal more about what is called "a fantastical sci-fi dystopian cyberpunk universe'. Built using the Hero Engine, Exile Online has had no outages or interruptions in service and development is moving full steam ahead. Find out more about Exile Online in this exclusive developer diary by Project Lead Dan Anderson.

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Harbinger1975

I'm a bit worried that they're using the Hero Engine. SWTOR uses it and it seems VERY unforgiving. But from what I've read, the game shows promise. But we've been told these promises before. But I would like to see this game fulfill it's promises.

Leiloni

Concept sounds interesting but a few thoughts:

1. Grammar is terrible. You need to find someone fluent in English and with a good editorial eye to write any future public facing content.
2. Hero engine. I have similar concerns as the above poster. However the UI needs an overhaul. It looks almost exactly like the SWTOR UI and that was a fairly unique UI. So you don't want to copy/paste someone else's work.
3. I know it's early and thus worth a mention since you can still fix this, but character models and animation both need a ton of work. It's bad.
4. Apologies if this was addressed in the video but I had to watch with the sound off, but what kind of combat?
5. Further questions - game features in general, what are they? Basic ideas of expected gameplay are not specified. Not sure what I'm reading here.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Sevala

Lost me at Hero Engine. Concept seems fine though. I am guessing they will go about 10-14 months of Dev time before flopping over the engine though and either folding up or having to rebuild (See Repopulation).

TheOctagon

'Players will have the freedom to advance their character in any way they see fit. Whether this be through combat or other less than lethal means.'

Open world PvP?

Another niche game...

Katilla

SWTOR called, they want their UI back and said you really need to switch engines and have better player models.

LrdEtrius

Are we in 2010 yet?

Prometheus2015

Harbinger1975 said:

I'm a bit worried that they're using the Hero Engine. SWTOR uses it and it seems VERY unforgiving. But from what I've read, the game shows promise. But we've been told these promises before. But I would like to see this game fulfill it's promises.

Hero Engine is actually a fun and challenging engine to work on. It takes a bit more effort to get a nice looking game when compared to unity or unreal. That is all set to change in the coming months as it is currently undergoing prep work for a total renderer replacement and upgrade to DX11 which we are excited for. It offers us unparalleled networking capability compared to all other engines we have considered in the past which is why it wins out when making an MMO.

At this stage in development we are concentrating on gameplay systems for the most part above and beyond things such as characters, animations and effects (for the time being).

As time goes on and we travel the road, certain things will be fully replaced. The GUI in particular is not the final design. It was made so the programmers had something to use other than white and blue boxes that came with the engine.

Mitara

Quirky animations and dark and gritty world look. Sounds like a winner

Gammaflux

Hero Engine was used for The Repopulation sandbox sci-fi MMORPG and they had to move to Unreal after years of developements. This Exile Online looks exactly like The Repopulation, same textures, same 3D objects, same UI. Looks like a clone. I am afraid of it will have same result: nothing. I even spent money in The Repopulation. Wasted of course. They rebuilt the game using Unreal and made Fragmented that is still under developement but after so many years obviously outdated...

Prometheus2015

Mitara said:

Quirky animations and dark and gritty world look. Sounds like a winner

The animations will be undergoing a total overhaul well before release. Quirky is still a good thing though eh

Prometheus2015

Gammaflux said:

Hero Engine was used for The Repopulation sandbox sci-fi MMORPG and they had to move to Unreal after years of developements. This Exile Online looks exactly like The Repopulation, same textures, same 3D objects, same UI. Looks like a clone. I am afraid of it will have same result: nothing. I even spent money in The Repopulation. Wasted of course. They rebuilt the game using Unreal and made Fragmented that is still under developement but after so many years obviously outdated...

As time goes on and development continues, we can not wait to prove our concept by making a game that you will want to play.

Karuman

For a pre-alpha stage game, this is looking pretty good! As far as using SWTOR as an example, just keep in mind that the Elder Scrolls Online also uses the same game engine and it's a decent looking game. I look forward to see what Exile looks like in the future when they have some of their current assets replaced.

psiic

Wow you guys have a LONG rough road ahead of you. Good luck, but if I were you I would skip kickstarter and look for a conventional investor. Unless the plan is to fill your coffers with free kickstart dollars to make you look more appealing to a conventional investor.

AoHKrun

For the past 3 years I've watched the progress of Exile Online from an outsiders perspective, and I can say I've not seen a team, indie or AAA, with more dedication to their project or goals. When they saw a better approach at implementing an idea, they were not afraid to do so, however, in that time they have not sacrificed the original game concept. They had a plan and have done a great job thus far in executing it. Alot of teams begin strong, and then somewhere along the way, begin trying to please everyone. If this were doable, the big guys have the money to have accomplished this a long time ago and there would be no need for new games. Stick to your guns Exile Online, and finish this.

OniReaver

Actually pleasantly surprised by the currently available info about it, looking forward to hearing more when the kickstarter launches. I'll remain cautiously optimistic.

Prometheus2015

Any questions or thoughts, be sure to ask

Prometheus2015

Our Kickstarter is now live and active. Lets see what we can do. Any shares and likes on social media will greatly help. If you have any friends or fellow gamers that are into scifi or cyberpunk give them a headsup.

All backers are greatly appreciated. Thanks to all you Exiles out there.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1110988854/exile-online-a-dystopian-cyberpunk-mmo

Prometheus2015

We have swapped out the intro video with a much higher quality version. Turns out the video codec we used to encode it first time around sucked and wouldnt show the true 60fps frame rate that it should have.

We think the quality is massively improved over what it was originally.

Prometheus2015

We have created a development roadmap page on Trello. This allows everyone to see what we have already created, what we are working on and what we have still to do in our current phase. Have a gander. Any questions feel free to ask

https://trello.com/b/Thq5EAPy/exile-online-development-roadmap

Prometheus2015

Getting ready for Eurogamer 2016.

While we will not be in a state ready to have a public stall set up demoing the game, we will still be there and will be able to meet other developers and gamers.

Let us know if you are attending this year and we can all meet up and have a little Q&A.

vadio123

Same time look interresing , look crapy but any mmo beside space/fantasy in this day  worth look
Maybe can revive spirit of face of mankind on me

Prometheus2015

Our first Kickstarter has just ended unsuccessfully with a total of £3,026 pledged.

This was forecast from quite early on, but even though it was a failure in terms of securing the funds we were looking for, the extreme volume of PR and word spreading we achieved made it well worthwhile alone, with various articles and entries on gaming websites here and there.

We have gotten a lot of feedback regarding the game, most of it very positive and constructive. From this, we have been able to come to a few major conclusions as to why we were unsuccessful this time around.

Needless to say we will be taking that feedback aboard and will action the points bought up so they are sorted out as a matter of urgency in our current development phase.

The things we will be concentrating on most, from the above mentioned feedback will be -

- Gameplay content such as mission and npc systems
- Character enhancements
- Lighting and shading work

Thank you to everyone that pledged and to all of those that helped us spread the word about the campaign. Development will continue unabated so stay tuned for updates in the coming months.