Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
So is the new engine coming... in the next 6 months?
BlackWizards
Member Posts: 173
I've heard about this engine for ever, in both forms, and I am wondering when it launches. Is there any info on that yet? I've found it rather confusing to figure out. What's the deal?
Comments
It's getting closer, but no release date has been announced. 6 months is reasonable.
Playing - EVE, Wurm
Retired - Final Fantasy XI, Anarchy Online, Mabinogi
Waiting - ArcheAge, Salem
I stopped believing it will ever release. They started talking about that engine when i was still playing back in 2005. I think they starts working on it around 2006, so it has been in developpement for almsot 5 years, that's half the life of this game. I tried to get back to the game a few times already but it is not the same anymore. Population is very very very low, all the places were peoples used to gather are empty. Quiet frankcly i dont understand why they bother with this update, it's not bringing any new players in (staying players). And another thing, if you ever wants to start new good luck, most of the peoples online are old vets with max character, no one re-roll anymore and if they do they are twinks who can solo everything. I miss that game though when it release, back in 2002-2003 that game was full of peoples and a blast to play, right now it's just dying, a very slow death....
That game never had a fair chance at success, marketing was done very poorly, add to that a catastrophic launch, game never reached it's full potential. I wish Funcom would do an AO 2 instead of upgrading a 10 years old engine, with proper marketing and good launch AO 2 could find it's way to the top of the MMO market, we need a good Sci-Fi MMO, AO was awesome.
They announced work starting on the engine in mid 2007
In mid 2009 they switched from Ogre to using their own Dreamworld engine
The engine itself is done now for some months. They are working on heads/bodies/textures and re-vegetating Rubi-Ka and getting some content in place to go with it, most notably a New User Experience.
I think it is far closer than 6 months away.
~\_/~\_O
I thought last year they dropped a mention of a possible summer time release. But engines certainly don’t give their idea of expected release time which they hold quite secret even from the developers heh
NGE... err NUE? Ugh to that.
M59, UO, EQ1, WWIIOL, PS, EnB, SL, SWG. MoM, EQ2, AO, SB, CoH, LOTRO, WoW, DDO+ f2p's, Demos & indie alpha's.
Hate to break it to you, but the new graphics engine has been talked about by Funcom since 2005. They were even giving timelines and giving impressions that it was no more than 12 months away. There were even screenshots.
5 years later, it's the same story. Although I think a new engine is actually on its way and it would not surprise me if it was out in 6 months. Too bad it is years overdue and the game may need another new engine shortly after.
Playing: EvE, Warhammer free unlimited trial, Allods Online
Played: Anarchy Online, WoW, Warhammer, AoC, Ryzom. Aion
Strongly Recommend: Ryzom, EvE, Allods Online
No?
Right, because it didn't happen. Definitely not way back when AI was still considered shiny and relatively new.
As of December 2005, some players, But Silirrion clearly said a new engine was not in the works for LE, which itself wasn't released until December 2006.
Sure, there were a few tweaks to the old engine in that timeframe, but no promises of a new engine until June of 2007 when we were told
It's worth noticing also that he didn't say we should expect the engine in 2008, but that they would start testing a new engine in 2008. Big difference.
It was 5 years ago so no, I cannot find any documentation. I was playing the game, came back to it from WoW and the engine was being talked about by the players and the developers. Timelines were suggested but apprently it was all twisted into a new expansion with minor graphics tweaks.
The bottom line is that the upgraded graphics engine story is years upon years old. There is a reason why those of us who actually have experience with Funcom & AO, simply fail to believe what the developers have to say about the new & improved engine.
Playing: EvE, Warhammer free unlimited trial, Allods Online
Played: Anarchy Online, WoW, Warhammer, AoC, Ryzom. Aion
Strongly Recommend: Ryzom, EvE, Allods Online
There have been recent updates on the process of adapting the old AO content for the new engine, they comment on it every couple of month mentioning the stage the process is in.
Given the fact that that the models, textures and shaders were developed for an engine nearly a decade old, and with the tools and by the standards of that time, I am not suprised that the migration turned into a long winded struggle.
Also I would expect the manpower that currently is asigned to AO to be extremely understrength for a project of such complexity. So I find it hard to blame them for the speed, and actually recommdend them for even trying
While I am biased towards AO, since it was my first MMO love, my opinion is of course anything but objective.
Its highly amusing though, if people say AO is a failure despite the fact that it is among the oldest surving MMO of its generation.
To say that AO was a failure is a low blow, it was never by any means a failure although Funcom imo killed the game with SL. SL was a failure but overall the game was prospering for a long time.
Of interest, Funcom is now hiring AO-specific CS postions in Durham. Ever since AoC was released they have always posted those positions with a requirement of some knowledge of AoC/AO. Now they are ramping up CS with people who won't be trained on AoC directly, just AO, which strongly suggest the approach of the engine and the expected inrush of ppl checking it out. I do CS work in the IT sector at present, and this sort of ramping up typically happens 1-2 months before some new contract is brought on board.
Ad here:
http://funcom.easycruit.com/intranet/durham/vacancy/194931/27106?iso=gb
~\_/~\_O