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MMORPG.COM News: Rapid Reality Tour
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
Recently, when in Atlanta, we had a chance to drop by the Rapid Reality studios and see how they could possibly bring their ambitious goal of three MMORPGs in one year, and another every six months on MMOCenter.com to life. Here is our report.
;) A few weeks ago, a small, unheard of company announced they planned to produce three MMORPGs by the end of the year and then an additional one every six months thereafter. This announcement from Rapid Reality and their new web portal MMOCenter.com met with skepticism. Their ideas, while exciting, seemed far-fetched and with that in mind, we traveled to Atlanta to tour their studios and see how they will make these huge promises a reality. I return today with total confidence that Rapid Reality is for real.
Rapid Reality employs the Kaneva engine to produce their titles in their new suburban Atlanta offices. Almost all twenty-five of their employees are artists, with four of the traditional variety. In perhaps the most shocking move, two recent hires came direct from San Diego and the EverQuest II team. Thanks to their engine choice, they only need one programmer and he currently serves as a scripter. Over the coming weeks and months, their Creative Director Adam Ghetti explained how they hope to reach forty full time employees, again mostly artists. |
You can read the full article here.
There are also twenty five images of the Chronicle available for you to enjoy here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
I for one can't wait to see what they have to offer in the coming months. It is an intriguing concept, hopefully it will provide us players with a better quality of game suited to what we really want to see in a game. With the relatively small cost of putting together a game once they are rolling along, they can make games that cater to a smaller group of people and still make a profit. It will be interesting to watch, indeed.
Absolutely agree.
The mmorpg industry needs its davids (as in goliaths!).
There seem to be a few small independent teams working on some interesting projects at the moment. And that is exactly the shot in the arm required.
I am pretty sure 1 of the 2 SoE ex-employee didnt respect a contract he sign...usually companies make sure every person working for them sign an agreement that they wont try to recruit anyone from their staff for a period after leaving, usually a year or 2...I assume a ''Lawfull evil'' employee could argue that this agreement didnt mean he was not allowed to recruit other staff wile he was working for SoE...and I am not sure the agreement would have covered the time while working at SoE, despite it been quite obvious it was the intent, it might or not have been written...
Ah...the non-solicitations and numerous NDA folks sign...and not always respect!
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Well actually i checked their website and checked their promo videos etc.. Imo its low quality gaming what they making. Evyone knows how long and how costy is to make a decent mmog. Cannt make a cake without eggs im afraid.
Good luck to them tho.
Hmmm...
I see people with desks almost as cluttered as mine.
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
First off, I am really pleased with mmorpg.com for keeping up with mmocenter.com, rapid reality, and the kaneva engine as there seems to be an overwhelming skepticism regarding the untested claims made.
Codemasters the would be makers of Dragon Empires being mentioned right next to this article about Rapid Reality got me thinking. Even if it is pure coincidence that the two articles came out at the same time reading both triggered in me a sense of bitter distrust. In no small way linked to the memory of the abrupt ending of DE.
mmocenter.com could be something or just disappear like DE did. Time will tell and times ticking awfully fast for rapid reality.
Building two mmorpgs by the end of the year that are comparable to thoose on the market now is tough but gaining the trust that you can do it may be near impossible. Thankfully some still try. Continue to fly in the face of all convention, and industry prudence, Rapid Reality, bring games that players want to play and in the end maybe everyone will be better off.
Hi there.
We would first like to thank everyone who wants to have more than just once choice of online games.
Second, We would like to make one other fact about our company known, that is, we do not have a publisher. We do not have any artificial dates to meet, nor do we have anyone who can just say "game over" to us and pull our plug. Everyone at MMOCenter.com and Rapid Reality is fully committed to our projects and our community. If you have any other specific questions please on over to http://www.MMOCenter.com/forum/ .
Thanks -
The MMOCenter.com Development Team.
i havent done any research as of late, but wasnt codemasters behind Dragon Empires or whatever it was called? it ended develpment last year, much much hype, but i think they saw wow and said, "fuck dude"
maybe codemasters was just publishing them..
Codemaster is both a publisher and developer of various games like the racing game indy car and pro race driver series. Dragon Empires would have been the first mmorpg for codemasters to both develop and publish.
It was not lack of effort or even financial resources that codemasters cited as being the death blow to DE. It was a techincal problem getting there network code to work on the massive scale required for a mmorpg.
It is the technical difficulty that seems so overwhelming for rapid reality. Building art assets is important but in the end all DE left behind was a surplus of artwork and ideas that failed to be useful in a game due to a technical flaw in there game engine.
I would so much like to see rapid reality actually bring a new approach to development that shortens production time without sacrificing quality. However, time and time again the technical problems have been the downfall of great ideas like Dragon Empires.
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"Far away across the field, the tolling of the iron bell, calls the faithful to their knees. To hear the softly spoken magic spell" Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon
Just ONE programmer? While I realise the engine is specifically built for rapid game development, it still seems unlikely that just one programmer would be enough... but we shall see.