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Beta & Release
All that is known about beta and release can be found in the follow F.A.Q. entries:
FAQ Entries for Beta & Release
When will you start Beta Testing? * Beta Testing is incredibly important for massively multiplayer games -- there's simply so much content and gameplay to test that it can't be done in-house
That said, other than committing to the fact that we will indeed have one, and preferably a long one, it's far too early to announce dates.Source Link How will Beta Testing work? * Our preference would be to break it into phases and involve more and more people each phase. More on this later.Source Link How long will Beta Testing last? * Ideally, a beta test would last forever, but at the same time these are commercial endeavors. Looking at all of the MMOGs to-date, we think it's pretty clear that those with longer beta periods have clearly benefited. So while it's too early to commit to any sort of timeframe, sufficient time to test and balance before release is certainly very important to us.Source Link Will there be multiple phases (of beta)? * Yes.Source Link How will you choose beta testers? * We've not decided that yet in detail, and it will likely vary depending on which phase of beta the game is inSource Link Will there be an NDA? * Most likely, yes, at least during the initial phases.Source Link When will Vanguard: Saga of Heroes be released? * While we have internal target dates for all of our milestones, including launching the game, it's far too early to announce or publicly commit to a release date at this time.Source Link Where will it be released? * The game will be released internationally.Source Link What about the international (non-USA) release and related timing issues? * It is too early to speculate, and this will be more up to Microsoft and its distribution infrastructure than Sigil.Source Link How do you plan on dealing with Internationalization? * All we can really say at this point is that we plan to release Vanguard internationally -- it is not a US or North American only product. More on this later.Source Link How will you handle the various real world languages and language barriers? * The Vanguard client will employ Unicode and various alphabets and character sets.Source Link Will there be translation of in-game content? * It is too early to announce anything in this area.Source Link Will there real-time chat translation? * We are interested in exploring real-time translation, but it is too early to commit to how and when it might be implemented.Source Link Do you plan on having expansions? * Absolutely. One of the most powerful aspects of MMOGs is their ability to be both patched and expanded. In that sense, they are never truly 'done'... new content can always be added both to the existing world as well as to new areas, opening up all sorts of exotic and exciting places to explore.
Of note is that internally we are planning ahead for expansions and the “big picture”. We intend to address many of the negative expansion issues from the past by preparing now for making transitions to new content and dealing with level limits, item power and inflation.Source Link How often do you plan to release expansions? * We think that will become clearer during beta and as the massively multiplayer market matures. We are also interested in exploring monthly, episodic content, and would need to make sure this was coordinated with the expansions.
What's most important to us is that, whatever the frequency, expansions are not rushed and contain realistic goals in terms of content and features relative to that frequency.Source Link Would expansions be store-bought or episodic (patched), or both? * Hopefully both. More on this later.Source Link Will there be downloadable free content as well? * Yes, there will be a Vanguard Live Team in charge of refreshing and revamping existing areas.Source Link How long have you been working on Vanguard and how far along are you guys in development right now (March, 2004)? * Brad McQuaid and Jeff Butler formed Sigil in January 2002. The Vanguard deal was put together with Microsoft in April 2002 and we started hiring the team. By July/August 2002 or so we'd begun serious coding, although the design work began in earnest in April 2002. We're also on record publicly that it takes a solid 3+ years to build one of these games right.
We purposely started the team out small and built it only as needed. While we just recently surpassed 30 employees, most of this time we were in the 15-20 people range.
We're very proud of using this 'lean & mean' approach to leverage existing technology and build and enhance tools with our experienced MMOG team -- it worked with original EQ, it's working now, and it makes the most financial sense for both the developer and the publisher.
Along with a strong vision, the most important part of MMOG development is getting all departments working concurrently: art, design, and programming.
Programming is in full swing, and art has been in production mode for several months now. In terms of gameplay, design has now been underway for a couple of months with tomes of lore and design documents to back them up.
Where we're at and what we've accomplished thus far is unprecedented, especially when you look at other MMORPGs in production, given how long they've been in development and the amount of people being utilized.
That said, we'll continue grow (in fact, we're nearing a growth spurt now). It takes a lot of people to build these huge worlds, and Vanguard is a triple-A title. But we'll grow as needed, by continuing to hire the best and the brightest in the industry.
Right now the world of Vanguard is being built, pathed, and populated. Core features are present, the designers are putting content into the world, and the game is playable. What that does is gives us a LOT of time to build cool and innovative features on top of this foundation and to be prepared for a serious, involved beta test with both testing and balancing the game and all of its content a focus.
It also puts us in a position to 'throw people at the problem' in a constructive and deliberate way -- neither too early nor too late.Source Link |
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