Tripwire’s devs talk about research at the shooting range
Guns are serious business, and few developers approach them as reverently and enthusiastically as Tripwire, the dev team behind Red Orchestra 2, The Ball, and Killing Floor. Which is why they shoot as many as they can at the shooting range before putting them into their game. We had a quick chat with them to talk about what firearms are the most fun to shoot, what an MP 40 sounds like, and who has the best aim in real life.
This interview originally ran in PCG US 217.
Bastion review
Bastion grabbed my heart exactly one minute and 30 seconds after it started, when I found the first weapon, a sledgehammer, and used it to kill a large, bloated Gasfella. Once he was down I went to work smashing every destructible object in the environment – as you typically do in an isometric action-RPG – until the game’s gravelly voiced narrator piped up. “The Kid just rages for a while,” he informed the world.
Voiceover might be an overplayed gimmick in the motion picture industry, but in a game, having an omniscient narrator describe what my character does is different… he’s actually talking about me.
SPAZ preview: fun in a vacuum
It took a few hours for Space Pirates and Zombies (SPAZ) to click with me, but I remember the exact moment it did—when I began work with it, instead of against it. I had run out of rez (the game’s currency) completely, and didn’t have enough to rebuild any of my ships. I was at a dead end, and I was tired of losing. I liked the game’s feel, the 2D graphics and the nerdy humor, but after a few hours of rummaging about, I couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong in this indie space opera.
Exclusive guide to Rift’s brand new raid: Waves of Madness’ Hammerknell
For the past few weeks, Rift players have been beating back the Waves of Madness with new daily quests, loot, and unique zone invasions. Now, as the event comes to a close, the doors of the ancient city of Hammerknell are opening, revealing the way to the most difficult raid instance yet. But with great responsibility, come great rewards. As huge fans of great rewards, we want to help you deck your character out in those new armor sets, so we put together this exclusive guide filled with info and strategies to help your give your group a heads-up on the bosses you’ll be encountering, and how you can take ‘em down with ease.
First look at the brand new armor sets for every class in Rift’s Hammerknell raid
Later this week, Rift’s Hammerknell raid will open, letting Telarians enter the game’s hardest instance yet. But what awaits adventurers willing to risk their lives for the good of their people? Shiny new epic armor sets, of course! We have exclusive glamour shots of all of the class sets, to help encourage you to plan your weekend of raiding accordingly. If you haven’t heard how armor sets will work in Rift, check out our full run-down and get excited.
Exclusive first look at Battlestar Galactica Online’s massive carrier-class ship coming this Fall
If you’re not already in the market for a slick new war machine to take down toasters or meatbags in Battlestar Galactica Online, this should help convince you that you should be. Today, the gods are on the side of those who say that the already-large ships of BSGO aren’t big enough. BigPoint’s upcoming addition, scheduled to release this fall, is an even-bigger hornet’s nest crawling with strike craft you can launch at your enemies. My life for the swarm!
The PCG guide: Get everything out of Rift’s 1.3 event while you can – Phase 2
Phase 2 of Rift’s 1.3 update has begun, and with it comes several new opportunities to take advantage of new content. Just as was the case in the first Phase, there are a few daily missions, an event, and a new quest that’s triggered by an item dropped by Water and Death Rifts. But the time you have to do them is limited, so you’d best read our guide and learn the ins and outs of the new features, so you don’t waste a single moment in Telara.
The PCG guide: Get everything out of Rift’s 1.3 event while you can – Phase 1
Rift’s recent 1.3 update started the Waves of Madness, a multi-phase live event that will conclude with the opening of the Hammerknell raid instance in a couple weeks. The patch brought new companion pets and Item Sets, among other cosmetic and balance changes. But before the doors to the forsaken dwarven city open up, there’s going to be several weeks of exclusive, limited-time content for you to play and earn unique rewards from. But once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. Luckily, we have you covered–we’re putting together guides over the next few weeks to help you get the most out of each Phase’s content while it’s hear for the conquering.
Exclusive look at Rift’s newest Companion Pets
Rift’s 1.3 update, the Waves of Madness, brings plenty of exciting additions to the world of Telara. Beyond the obviously awesome inclusion of new quests and Item Sets, there are also two new Companion Pets that can be earned. We have exclusive images of the delicious-looking critters below! Err, wait, we meant adorable. Yes, adorable. We don’t want to eat them at all.
Tomorrow’s Rift 1.3 patch will add Armor Sets to Telara [Updated]
The next big Rift content update, which hits servers tomorrow morning, will bring big changes to Telara, including the beginning stages of the Hammerknell opening event–a massive battle between the elemental planes of Death and Water. Several other highly anticipated features, such as Guild Banks and Character Transfers, will also be included. But there’s one thing no one knew was coming—until now. We have exclusive details on one of the most exciting additions in this patch: the first tier of class-specific Armor Sets.
The Force of TOR: MMO devs weigh in on what’s at stake with BioWare’s MMO
It’s an understatement to say that The Old Republic is exciting for Star Wars and MMO fans. BioWare’s team-up with LucasArts brings the developer back to the beloved Knights of the Old Republic universe, serving as a continuation of the highest-rated Star Wars series of all time. But for the people that make games, it’s about much more than excitement. TOR is likely the largest, most important MMO release since Blizzard’s World of Warcraft set the standard for the genre over six years ago.
Rift’s Scott Hartsman responds: how he plans to make live world events fun for everyone.
Rift’s first world event was a bust. It wasn’t what fans wanted or expected, and after talking to the game’s Executive Producer Scott Hartsman, one thing is incredibly clear: it’s not what Trion wanted or expected, either.
“It wasn’t particularly terribly fun,” Hartsman told me during an interview, referring to the final stages of the River of Souls event. “We knew very well that we could handle hundreds of people in a single zone doing a single event, because that happens in the game all the time. The ultra-scale issue happens when you end up with a thousand people standing in the same ten-foot square.”
For those who refrained from logging into the River of Souls event, the “ultra-scale issue” he’s speaking about was the servers exploding after a few thousand people all ran to the same spot on the map. It wasn’t pretty. We presented our grievances to Hartsman last week, to see what he’d have to say.
Editorial: What went wrong with Rift’s River of Souls event, and how to solve it
“Ambition is important,” said Rift’s Executive Producer, Scott Hartsman, in a post on the game’s forum after last week’s live event. “It’s what keeps us improving day to day, week to week, month to month. But, it’s equally important to know when you walked too close to the edge and got cut.”
That’s not what players hoped they would hear after the conclusion of River of Souls—Rift’s first live world event that took place over the past two weeks. What was promoted as a massive, epic war that would make the “vicious invasions you see every day look like a lazy Sunday in the park,” turned out to be something of a disaster that left the devs publicly apologizing and offering free rewards to anyone with an active account. So what went wrong?
Trion explains Rift’s first World Event in Patch 1.1
Residents of Telara might be used to regular invasions from the elemental planes, but even the most battle-hardened Telarans will be in for a surprise with this week’s 1.1 patch. Beyond 12 pages of changes, the update is set to add in the game’s first world event, in which the plane of death begins a global assault on Telara that looks to dwarf everything seen up to this point. But what the heck is a world event? Scott Hartsman, Chief Operating Officer of Trion Worlds, gave us the low-down.
Rift review
“Defend the Wardstones!” the warrior beside me bellowed, seconds before being overrun by Breathless Banshees. Undead hordes were invading Telara, spewing out of a dozen swirling, inter-dimensional rifts in the canyons of the Scarlet Gorge. The army of the Plane of Death—banshees, ghosts, ghouls, and drake—marched forth, cutting down any players, NPCs, and wildlife in its path. We, the ragtag group of players who happened to be there when the assault began, were all that stood in the way. From atop a tower in the last remaining city in Scarlet Gorge, I frantically fired off healing spells, but things weren’t looking good. If the Wardstone fell, the event would be lost, and the undead would occupy the land.
Just in time, an uneasy alliance of players from both the Defiants and the Guardians (Rift’s rival factions) finished sealing the last of the Death rifts. While they’d normally have slain each other on sight, they stood together against the common threat, and managed to turn the tide. This truce was short lived, however. Closing the final rift triggered a boss stage: a huge wave of zombies (which, like a group of crows, is known as a “murder”). Once the horde showed their decaying faces the factions once again crossed blades, each hoping to defeat the zombies and claim the best quest rewards for themselves. In the end my faction, the Defiants, emerged victorious, and all who contributed were rewarded with fabulous items.
These frequent, zone-wide events aren’t a distraction from Rift—they are Rift, and they’re some of the most epic, fantastic experiences available in MMOs today.
