Rare should be taking notes for their next update. When I saw this in TGA I could not un-see a better version of SoT.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
ATLAS announced, a massively multiplayer first-and-third-person fantasy pirate adventure coming to Steam December 13th, XB1 in 2019
- Thread starter Real
- Start date
I disagree. Different isn't always better. For me the survival and RPG elements could be a downside very fast.
Meanwhile, SoT has improved this year. More content while (somewhat) keeping the original vision. Still having a blast.
It's actually a sister studio.
Blog
"Ahoy Survivors,
Jeremy and Jesse here! You might have noticed the announcement today of a new MMO game called ATLAS developed by a sister team of Studio Wildcard, named Grapeshot Games. Jesse and Jeremy together are now leading the development of ATLAS at Grapeshot, while continuing to creatively supervise the direction of ARK. Grapeshot itself is comprised of some original ARK team members as well as many new hires and operates as a separate dedicated dev team.
The Wildcard team meanwhile has grown developing ARK and Extinction over the past year, led by Lead Programmer Chris Willoughby and Senior Producer Colin Tennery, and have been doing an excellent job bringing fresh ideas and QoL improvements to the game. As we work together with Chris, Colin, and the rest of the team, Wildcard will continue to support and expand ARK over the years to come bringing new features, fixes, and expansions into the game. Grapeshot meanwhile will grow in a direction oriented towards the operation of the persistent MMO service that ATLAS is, while both games will share technology and infrastructure improvements to complement each other.
We'd like to thank everybody for their long-standing support, love of ARK, and enthusiasm for survival games, and we look forward to the adventures ahead!
Keep on surviving,
Jeremy and Jesse
Co-Creative Directors of ARK and Co-Founders of Studio Wildcard"
Ok looks promising! Sea of thieves with lots of rpg elements would be great. If this runs well and has a good amount of EA content I may check it out next year. I never buy EA games so that really says something for me, I guess.
Another article.
gamespot
"You play as a Pathfinder, a descendant of a magical realm that formerly existed in the world of Atlas.
"As a so-called Pathfinder, you are the heir to this legacy--it's actually a fantasy world," Stieglitz explained. "I would say it kind of takes a page from Game of Thrones, where it's like similar aesthetics to real history, but its own fantasy background and magic, and history of the world. And so essentially [the players] are all descendants of the guardians of this magic power from the old world, and that world actually existed in the sky hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
"And then a war happened, and all the continents that were floating the sky, powered by magic, essentially exploded, and created all these islands in the water world that existed below. And hundreds of years after that catastrophe, people are starting to branch out again and explore the reformed world on the water."
That magic power probably explains the Game Awards trailer, which showed a world not only filled with other people, but also fantasy creatures like dragons and krakens. There will be other animals you can find, tame, and breed around the world, too."
Not a bad premise.
"You can actually have AI crew [members] that you can command around your ship," Stieglitz explained. "One of the things we noticed in other games--well, other games being Sea of Thieves--is it wasn't really easy to play by yourself because you had to do every single thing on the ship yourself. And so that kind of limited the scope of the game for small groups of players or a single player. So we made it possible to recruit AI crew who you have to pay in gold and you have to feed, or they'll mutiny. They don't always do exactly what you tell them to do for now, but you can basically put them on your boat at various stations, whether its sails or cannons. And then if you get into the captain's wheel you can issue them orders or you can even like control them en masse."
As someone who played a ton of sea of thieves solo and just stopped one day because it felt too laborious this is interesting.
gamespot
"You play as a Pathfinder, a descendant of a magical realm that formerly existed in the world of Atlas.
"As a so-called Pathfinder, you are the heir to this legacy--it's actually a fantasy world," Stieglitz explained. "I would say it kind of takes a page from Game of Thrones, where it's like similar aesthetics to real history, but its own fantasy background and magic, and history of the world. And so essentially [the players] are all descendants of the guardians of this magic power from the old world, and that world actually existed in the sky hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
"And then a war happened, and all the continents that were floating the sky, powered by magic, essentially exploded, and created all these islands in the water world that existed below. And hundreds of years after that catastrophe, people are starting to branch out again and explore the reformed world on the water."
That magic power probably explains the Game Awards trailer, which showed a world not only filled with other people, but also fantasy creatures like dragons and krakens. There will be other animals you can find, tame, and breed around the world, too."
Not a bad premise.
"You can actually have AI crew [members] that you can command around your ship," Stieglitz explained. "One of the things we noticed in other games--well, other games being Sea of Thieves--is it wasn't really easy to play by yourself because you had to do every single thing on the ship yourself. And so that kind of limited the scope of the game for small groups of players or a single player. So we made it possible to recruit AI crew who you have to pay in gold and you have to feed, or they'll mutiny. They don't always do exactly what you tell them to do for now, but you can basically put them on your boat at various stations, whether its sails or cannons. And then if you get into the captain's wheel you can issue them orders or you can even like control them en masse."
As someone who played a ton of sea of thieves solo and just stopped one day because it felt too laborious this is interesting.
And...it's delayed.
Steam
"
Ahoy!
After thinking carefully over the past several days, we've decided to delay the ATLAS launch until December 19th to give the team more time to run through this massive game's extensive content.
It's a vast virtual world out there across the ATLAS, and the team's going to use that extra time to review every portion of it thoroughly. We're sorry about the delay, and we know how much everyone is looking forward to establishing their empires!
The team here at Grapeshot is so excited to bring this new world to life with you, and we know it's going to be an absolute blast. So please keep your powder dry a little bit longer, and at long last next Wednesday the 19th, we'll be joining you on the most excellent adventure of our lifetimes!
See you on the ATLAS soon Pathfinders,
Jat, Jeremy, and Jesse "
Yeah that's a rubbish explanation. This game is gonna be something...
From Reddit:
"By entire run through of content, we mean internal checks, just to make sure everything is sound for launch. As for details regarding the game, I'd recommend checking out the feature by PCGamer and GameSpot.
Additionally, we're going to be the featured/cover title for PCGamer's December edition which will cover a fair bit of info prior to the launch of the game.
And as for our own posts, we will be sharing more as we get towards launch and beyond, however it most likely will be in the form of media. Typically we prefer when players discover and play with the systems themselves, and we fully expect a lot of that to be revealed when the game launches and people are getting their feet wet.
We're a bit more quiet on social than we'd like at the moment, but that's because it's all hands on deck preparing for the launch, but once the game is out there, you'll find us much more engaging."
Steam
"
Ahoy!
After thinking carefully over the past several days, we've decided to delay the ATLAS launch until December 19th to give the team more time to run through this massive game's extensive content.
It's a vast virtual world out there across the ATLAS, and the team's going to use that extra time to review every portion of it thoroughly. We're sorry about the delay, and we know how much everyone is looking forward to establishing their empires!
The team here at Grapeshot is so excited to bring this new world to life with you, and we know it's going to be an absolute blast. So please keep your powder dry a little bit longer, and at long last next Wednesday the 19th, we'll be joining you on the most excellent adventure of our lifetimes!
See you on the ATLAS soon Pathfinders,
Jat, Jeremy, and Jesse "
Yeah that's a rubbish explanation. This game is gonna be something...
From Reddit:
"By entire run through of content, we mean internal checks, just to make sure everything is sound for launch. As for details regarding the game, I'd recommend checking out the feature by PCGamer and GameSpot.
Additionally, we're going to be the featured/cover title for PCGamer's December edition which will cover a fair bit of info prior to the launch of the game.
And as for our own posts, we will be sharing more as we get towards launch and beyond, however it most likely will be in the form of media. Typically we prefer when players discover and play with the systems themselves, and we fully expect a lot of that to be revealed when the game launches and people are getting their feet wet.
We're a bit more quiet on social than we'd like at the moment, but that's because it's all hands on deck preparing for the launch, but once the game is out there, you'll find us much more engaging."
Hey check the blog posts just above. Lots of consideration for solo players!
New trailer soon.
Some new info via reddit from a magazine article.
Key Notes:
+ Map will be expandable!! So new biomes, new bosses, running out of space.. instead of a new server or a new world, they'll expand instead. If you understand the technology is makes sense to why they can do this.
+ Accordions
+ Hydra will have heads regrow if you dont kill it fast enough
+ Companies are like Alliances, Taxes will start Day 1, the rest will be added later (I'm sure this will expand for years, literally)
+ Sword fighting prioritised in regard to effort spent on flow/design, etc
+ Galleons are VERY expensive like all the other ships, it'll take a great deal of work thus you might think twice before engaging in a battle (has me concerned over people who's games have frozen, I guess they're SoL?)
Firing Modes for Ships:
+ Wind mechanics ie you sail with the wind, you sail faster. You sail against the wind, you sail slower.
+ Grappling Hooks
+ Horse can jump from one ship to another!!!! :D :D (I was really hoping for this TBH)
+ Ship leveling mechanic? Not sure if they mean different types of ships or ships themselves can be leveled up.. either way you get an increase in bed count when you level up a ship.
+ Fast Travel like on Ark so if you have a bed across the map, you can get there.. just you cant bring your stuff with you (me thinks magic will be how we can bring everything with us in the future)
+ Fire Arrows
+ Repair system for ships with a minigame of sorts that lets you repair the hole faster
+ Treasure maps apparently obtained through bottles that was ashore
+ Ships take gradual damage everytime they're taken out to sea thus be sure to anchor when possible (this stops the decay process)
+ Ghost ships = NPC capture so if you successfully defeat a ghost ship, you can obtain a new NPC. You still have to pay them as they're freelancers or they will mutiny (not sure if they're 100% lost or they just stop working)
+ Treasure is evenly distributed to all nearby crew
+ Territory will have claims so you cant just plop pillars everywhere and bam it's yours. It has to be earned. Even in PVP if they kill all, destroy all.. they wont be able to claim all immediately
+ Dragons CAN be tamed for a limited amount of time
+ Magic will be a major part of the game as it develops
+ Submarines? It seems as if underwater structures will be a thing, I'm assuming they're going for the very first submarines that were extremely slow, very heavy, costly but effective and brilliant.
+ Bounty system will be in place so if you're leader of a large clan, people will want your head. They'll be able to hang you just like in the trailer
+ Aging system will be cosmetic at first but later they'll add buffs and debuffs that'll occur based on your age with a fountain of youth that'll scale back any premature deaths from getting too old. It should take 2-3 months before your character becomes very old
+ Human Baby system You will be able to have sexy time, make babies, and swap bodies with them once they reach 20 (I wonder if this means certain things will be permanent, otherwise it'd be pointless to swap bodes). Not sure this feature will be ready Day 1.
+ Cosmetic Microtransactions will likely come to the game within 6-12 months from now.
Some new info via reddit from a magazine article.
Key Notes:
+ Map will be expandable!! So new biomes, new bosses, running out of space.. instead of a new server or a new world, they'll expand instead. If you understand the technology is makes sense to why they can do this.
+ Accordions
+ Hydra will have heads regrow if you dont kill it fast enough
+ Companies are like Alliances, Taxes will start Day 1, the rest will be added later (I'm sure this will expand for years, literally)
+ Sword fighting prioritised in regard to effort spent on flow/design, etc
+ Galleons are VERY expensive like all the other ships, it'll take a great deal of work thus you might think twice before engaging in a battle (has me concerned over people who's games have frozen, I guess they're SoL?)
Firing Modes for Ships:
- Free Fire - Any NPC on Any cannon will shoot at any enemy target they spot
- Hold Fire - Pauses all fire from NPC's
- Red Alert - NPC's turn their attention to fight anyone that's boarded the ship instead of being on cannons
+ Wind mechanics ie you sail with the wind, you sail faster. You sail against the wind, you sail slower.
+ Grappling Hooks
+ Horse can jump from one ship to another!!!! :D :D (I was really hoping for this TBH)
+ Ship leveling mechanic? Not sure if they mean different types of ships or ships themselves can be leveled up.. either way you get an increase in bed count when you level up a ship.
+ Fast Travel like on Ark so if you have a bed across the map, you can get there.. just you cant bring your stuff with you (me thinks magic will be how we can bring everything with us in the future)
+ Fire Arrows
+ Repair system for ships with a minigame of sorts that lets you repair the hole faster
+ Treasure maps apparently obtained through bottles that was ashore
+ Ships take gradual damage everytime they're taken out to sea thus be sure to anchor when possible (this stops the decay process)
+ Ghost ships = NPC capture so if you successfully defeat a ghost ship, you can obtain a new NPC. You still have to pay them as they're freelancers or they will mutiny (not sure if they're 100% lost or they just stop working)
+ Treasure is evenly distributed to all nearby crew
+ Territory will have claims so you cant just plop pillars everywhere and bam it's yours. It has to be earned. Even in PVP if they kill all, destroy all.. they wont be able to claim all immediately
+ Dragons CAN be tamed for a limited amount of time
+ Magic will be a major part of the game as it develops
+ Submarines? It seems as if underwater structures will be a thing, I'm assuming they're going for the very first submarines that were extremely slow, very heavy, costly but effective and brilliant.
+ Bounty system will be in place so if you're leader of a large clan, people will want your head. They'll be able to hang you just like in the trailer
+ Aging system will be cosmetic at first but later they'll add buffs and debuffs that'll occur based on your age with a fountain of youth that'll scale back any premature deaths from getting too old. It should take 2-3 months before your character becomes very old
+ Human Baby system You will be able to have sexy time, make babies, and swap bodies with them once they reach 20 (I wonder if this means certain things will be permanent, otherwise it'd be pointless to swap bodes). Not sure this feature will be ready Day 1.
+ Cosmetic Microtransactions will likely come to the game within 6-12 months from now.
Haha yup exactly my thoughts.
Will wait for the Xbox version. Really wonder how the game will perform on consoles after Ark lol
Is everything persistent like it is in Ark? Because I am not sure that I can handle that stress again, even though the game looks super fun.
Exactly where I'm at too. Streamers and player word of mouth will sell me on it.
I'll definitely check out the streams this week. I'm trying to be optimistic since l love ambitious games but the fact the studios previous game was Ark is cratering my expectations.
Looks like someone claimed the OT hopefully we get it up today. We should get the three minute trailer sometime. New interview was posted with some good info. I'll post some choice quotes.
RPS
"Ultimately Atlas is this huge open world MMO game, while Sea of Thieves is more of an instanced, session-based action game. So with Atlas we really tried to take a global look at what the age of sail meant to humanity, not just 'hey, I got a pirate ship and there's cannons on it'. We tried to the best of our ability, even at early access day one, to represent every aspect of that era. In a fantasy setting, of course.
When I say every aspect I mean things like fort building, creature taming and transportation, exotic resource transportation, trade, merchant ships, trade routes, territory claiming, taxation, crew hiring, mutinies… and you know, the full gamut of fantasy crap too. Ghost ships and demons and stuff. Treasure maps. Spheres of influence, player vs player conflicts on a large scale."
"Atlas also has a very deep melee combat system. You can do things like execute parries and stunning attacks, do different strength attacks and dodges, and there's directional attacking and blocking. It's not Ark's melee combat system, that's for sure. "
Please get this right!
"We have, for example, the ability to trigger hurricanes.
They push players out of those regions – and that system was actually designed for when the areas become overcrowded, so if it starts to run poorly a hurricane is triggered that moves players to the side. That's how we can handle so many players – we thought 'what happens when all 40,000 players try to cram into one corner of the map, we've got to have something to deal with that'."
Interesting way of mitigating traffic.
" If you're sailing in a straight line without any stops or detours, it would take you about 30 hours to sail across the world map – and that's also if the wind was in your favour! "
You can have your AI crew do everything on a ship including steer. A ship take 6 people to manage properly but can be done with two who know what they are doing(I'm assuming with AI crew)
If you don't have the fund to pay your AI crew they will mutiny and attack you and non mutiny crew.
Aging is in at launch but only as a cosmetic thing. later aging has buffs and debuffs as well as death where you can pass on your lineage to a child or find the fountain of youth. It will take you three months to age from 20-100. You will age weather you log in and play or not.
RPS
"Ultimately Atlas is this huge open world MMO game, while Sea of Thieves is more of an instanced, session-based action game. So with Atlas we really tried to take a global look at what the age of sail meant to humanity, not just 'hey, I got a pirate ship and there's cannons on it'. We tried to the best of our ability, even at early access day one, to represent every aspect of that era. In a fantasy setting, of course.
When I say every aspect I mean things like fort building, creature taming and transportation, exotic resource transportation, trade, merchant ships, trade routes, territory claiming, taxation, crew hiring, mutinies… and you know, the full gamut of fantasy crap too. Ghost ships and demons and stuff. Treasure maps. Spheres of influence, player vs player conflicts on a large scale."
"Atlas also has a very deep melee combat system. You can do things like execute parries and stunning attacks, do different strength attacks and dodges, and there's directional attacking and blocking. It's not Ark's melee combat system, that's for sure. "
Please get this right!
"We have, for example, the ability to trigger hurricanes.
They push players out of those regions – and that system was actually designed for when the areas become overcrowded, so if it starts to run poorly a hurricane is triggered that moves players to the side. That's how we can handle so many players – we thought 'what happens when all 40,000 players try to cram into one corner of the map, we've got to have something to deal with that'."
Interesting way of mitigating traffic.
" If you're sailing in a straight line without any stops or detours, it would take you about 30 hours to sail across the world map – and that's also if the wind was in your favour! "
You can have your AI crew do everything on a ship including steer. A ship take 6 people to manage properly but can be done with two who know what they are doing(I'm assuming with AI crew)
If you don't have the fund to pay your AI crew they will mutiny and attack you and non mutiny crew.
Aging is in at launch but only as a cosmetic thing. later aging has buffs and debuffs as well as death where you can pass on your lineage to a child or find the fountain of youth. It will take you three months to age from 20-100. You will age weather you log in and play or not.
They delayed the release a week. Now it launches in 12 hours(hopefully).
The "disaster" is one of the most played games, even now. Despite the Ark's problems and road to launch, it is a great success both in revenue and gaming hours.
If Atlas can deliver a functioning product, they will easily surpass Ark in content and emergent gameplay possibilities.
The RPG elements are not my thing. But if they manage to polish this, they've got great potential in their hands.