I am sorry if there was any confusion with the information I gave out before concerning delays. When I mentioned that this move would result in significant delays I should have specifically mentioned that this of course would also affect the engine work. We are not going to be able to release the engine in Q1 but we are still hoping for an "Early Beta" in Q1 or early Q2...but at this point it is still dependent on the release of the new version of the engine in Conan as to how much resource we will get in getting it set up and running. There are a few visual glitches (shadows, water and grass) I absolutely want repaired before we open it up...but we need external assistance in resolving those before we continue. I have to admit to being a bit critical of what I will allow outside the building with our expectations being so high. On a positive note the more time the artists get before we open it up the better the first versions will look. Work is getting close to complete on new bodies and heads and a great deal of the "high impact + most used" resources (trees rocks etc) are being upgraded at a good pace while we wait for the tech to come together.
This engine upgrade is Funcom running joke, the Funcom Duke Nukem Forever. It's been in the work for at least 5 years, i first heard of it in 2006 when i was playing and it was supposed to be up and running the year later. I dont believe them anymore.
This engine upgrade is Funcom running joke, the Funcom Duke Nukem Forever. It's been in the work for at least 5 years, i first heard of it in 2006 when i was playing and it was supposed to be up and running the year later. I dont believe them anymore.
I don't believe them either. Its just been too long and every time they say anything about it they always have an excuse. Not only will Duke Nukem come out before their upgrade, but world peace will break out sooner.
Ok so it reads like age of conan gets their engine upgrade first which I know is a few weeks away since I play that game as well and test on the test server. It also reads like the longer we wait the more they accomplished art work that needs to be redone. At this point AO II could have been made. I say throw it on a test server and let the chips fall where they may.
Artists and some other support roles dedicated to AO are still in Oslo
13 people total spread over the globe.
Much of the AO engine work is being done by the AoC graphics coders, as the AO rendition is just a (large) subset of the AoC Dreamworld Engine.
That AoC engie went Live on Tuesday, looks like they'll need 1 or 2 rounds of patching to smooth it over(looks outstanding in nVidia graphics, low-end ATi solutions need major polishing), then those coders go full bore to finish off the AO engine. As Means stated the other week, they are jsut waiting for those coders to clean up some sky and water issues in the AO engine, then they can move into Beta.
I'll be honest is in that I'm ok with the buildings and the environment etc, even the mobs are passable its just actually characters that are so dated for me which puts me off.
They have been posting a few of the new character heads as their Bejing office produces them. Expecting a big layotu of all 300+ heads soon. Bodies are also getting a rework, but it will all be surface changes. The avatar animations will be unchanged from their creation some 10 years ago.
I stopped looking forward to this years ago. It was the only thing that kept AO installed on my computer and why I kept my free account. I would have loved to sign back but saw no real reason until they updated the engine like they said they were going to. Saw that they weren't really serious about it when Age of Conan was announced and then released. Then Secret World, etc.
I hate to say it but I believe that player numbers- on RK2 anyway-- have finally fallen below critical mass. I think it's pretty much game over at this point.
Nice to see some new eye candy, it sure has been a while since last time. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the new engine work has dragged out so long over time that the engine itself isn't enough to solve the decreasing population issue. The rebalancing must also be done, as must the old content overhaul (newbie experience, quests like Sheol and Ado etcetera) and the addition of new content for title levels 4-7. So in other words, FC has a lot of work to do and I hope it's not too late. I would love to reactivate my accounts at some point.
Meh, Funcom has never really been a large company, and with the Dev team for AO being so small, I can understand why the engine has been in development for longer than most players have been able to keep interest in it.
They seem to be making some progression with the Engine, albeit very slow. I hope the AoC team intended to work on the engine helps speeds things along.
Yeah really wanna know what's going on with the Engine!
And at this point I do not understand Funcom at all - because this is the only thing which keeps People not coming back. I read it everywhere (youtube, here, even in their forum): We need the Engine in order to re-sub this Game.
I was really believing that there's an engine in work. Months ago. I was defending FC with all my efforts. Now we are into Q2. No sign of any engine; everything is "same old same old".
I don't wanna waste more energy upon visiting their sites nor the forum here. I do wish AO and FC all the best, even though I feel this is a mockery towards the fans and FC's customers.
BTW; who the **** cares about any "engine" upgrade in Age of Conan?? Jeez, like that game needs a GFX overhaul...
Heh- the tech team is now working on the engine update for AO- just read it on the AO twitter. I think they will have a good 10 months worth of work to do.
edited: just my guess- the AoC update pretty much went smooth.
Comments
The Engine:
I am sorry if there was any confusion with the information I gave out before concerning delays. When I mentioned that this move would result in significant delays I should have specifically mentioned that this of course would also affect the engine work. We are not going to be able to release the engine in Q1 but we are still hoping for an "Early Beta" in Q1 or early Q2...but at this point it is still dependent on the release of the new version of the engine in Conan as to how much resource we will get in getting it set up and running. There are a few visual glitches (shadows, water and grass) I absolutely want repaired before we open it up...but we need external assistance in resolving those before we continue. I have to admit to being a bit critical of what I will allow outside the building with our expectations being so high. On a positive note the more time the artists get before we open it up the better the first versions will look. Work is getting close to complete on new bodies and heads and a great deal of the "high impact + most used" resources (trees rocks etc) are being upgraded at a good pace while we wait for the tech to come together.
http://forums.anarchyonline.com/showthread.php?t=587798
This engine upgrade is Funcom running joke, the Funcom Duke Nukem Forever. It's been in the work for at least 5 years, i first heard of it in 2006 when i was playing and it was supposed to be up and running the year later. I dont believe them anymore.
If they upgrade the graphics of this game, I will play it in a heartbeat!
I don't believe them either. Its just been too long and every time they say anything about it they always have an excuse. Not only will Duke Nukem come out before their upgrade, but world peace will break out sooner.
I'm guessing that FC will end up pulling the plug before the new engine ever sees the light of day.
If it happens, i hope they open a fresh server without transfers.
So they all have two personalities and 3 of them have 3? ;D
13 is official number. Still, I hope FC would have thrown some more man power in...
Ok so it reads like age of conan gets their engine upgrade first which I know is a few weeks away since I play that game as well and test on the test server. It also reads like the longer we wait the more they accomplished art work that needs to be redone. At this point AO II could have been made. I say throw it on a test server and let the chips fall where they may.
Montreal: Means, Kintaii, Genele, Parsed, Macrosun
Europe: Metaing and Lindelu
7 Devs
Artists and some other support roles dedicated to AO are still in Oslo
13 people total spread over the globe.
Much of the AO engine work is being done by the AoC graphics coders, as the AO rendition is just a (large) subset of the AoC Dreamworld Engine.
That AoC engie went Live on Tuesday, looks like they'll need 1 or 2 rounds of patching to smooth it over(looks outstanding in nVidia graphics, low-end ATi solutions need major polishing), then those coders go full bore to finish off the AO engine. As Means stated the other week, they are jsut waiting for those coders to clean up some sky and water issues in the AO engine, then they can move into Beta.
~\_/~\_O
Will they improve the character models?
I'll be honest is in that I'm ok with the buildings and the environment etc, even the mobs are passable its just actually characters that are so dated for me which puts me off.
They have been posting a few of the new character heads as their Bejing office produces them. Expecting a big layotu of all 300+ heads soon. Bodies are also getting a rework, but it will all be surface changes. The avatar animations will be unchanged from their creation some 10 years ago.
~\_/~\_O
way WAY too late... done, done and done.
AO 2!!!!
update!! they decided to work on a race track instead of the new engine. rip AO
I stopped looking forward to this years ago. It was the only thing that kept AO installed on my computer and why I kept my free account. I would have loved to sign back but saw no real reason until they updated the engine like they said they were going to. Saw that they weren't really serious about it when Age of Conan was announced and then released. Then Secret World, etc.
I hate to say it but I believe that player numbers- on RK2 anyway-- have finally fallen below critical mass. I think it's pretty much game over at this point.
http://forums.anarchyonline.com/showthread.php?t=588403
Some assets in new engine... So atleast they are on to something, or this hoax is getting out of hand...
Nice to see some new eye candy, it sure has been a while since last time. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the new engine work has dragged out so long over time that the engine itself isn't enough to solve the decreasing population issue. The rebalancing must also be done, as must the old content overhaul (newbie experience, quests like Sheol and Ado etcetera) and the addition of new content for title levels 4-7. So in other words, FC has a lot of work to do and I hope it's not too late. I would love to reactivate my accounts at some point.
Meh, Funcom has never really been a large company, and with the Dev team for AO being so small, I can understand why the engine has been in development for longer than most players have been able to keep interest in it.
They seem to be making some progression with the Engine, albeit very slow. I hope the AoC team intended to work on the engine helps speeds things along.
Groovy.
Yeah really wanna know what's going on with the Engine!
And at this point I do not understand Funcom at all - because this is the only thing which keeps People not coming back. I read it everywhere (youtube, here, even in their forum): We need the Engine in order to re-sub this Game.
Can't imagine what takes so long...
I was really believing that there's an engine in work. Months ago. I was defending FC with all my efforts. Now we are into Q2. No sign of any engine; everything is "same old same old".
I don't wanna waste more energy upon visiting their sites nor the forum here. I do wish AO and FC all the best, even though I feel this is a mockery towards the fans and FC's customers.
BTW; who the **** cares about any "engine" upgrade in Age of Conan?? Jeez, like that game needs a GFX overhaul...
Make us care MORE about our faction & world pvp!
Heh- the tech team is now working on the engine update for AO- just read it on the AO twitter. I think they will have a good 10 months worth of work to do.
edited: just my guess- the AoC update pretty much went smooth.
Almost all the engine work is done - they just needed the coders to help polish off some water and sky issues, according to Means some time back.
~\_/~\_O
I hope so - I can't wait! Thanks B!
Will there EVER be an engine upgrade? I have lost all hope (almost) for this ever happening.