TR General News

We reported earlier today that we were seeing signs of some of the rumors that have been around the past day or two coming to fruition over at NCsoft.

I'm happy to report that it appears the "worst case" rumors were exactly that. NCsoft has layed off some developers (21 of them) who were working on undisclosed projects. But, it seems now that it should not affect the current games being supported by the NCsoft Austin Offices.

Our best wishes go out to those that did lose their jobs. But we are indeed relived to hear that it is not as bad as originally thought.

Yesterday rumors started flying around about the possible layoff of many of the Developers in NCsoft's Austin Studio.

NCsoft Austin, home to the Richard Garriott-lead title Tabula Rasa and the free-to-play romp Dungeon Runners, may be in a precarious position today.

The rumor posted at Massively and Joystick appeared to be just that until you examine news from the Korean Times from a few months ago.

The company's chief financial officer Lee Jae-ho said last week that it was inevitable to reduce staff levels at the Texas subsidiary as the "Tabula Rasa" game has proven to be a financial disaster. Lee, however, said the project's leaders will keep their positions.

Then this morning, a quick scouring of some sites leads us to our old friend and NCsoft Dev Scott "Lum" Jennings who posted this to his Twitter page:

is no longer at NCsoft.

While we don't actually have any details to share of an "official" nature at this time. It does appear that at least some of the rumors are true. If not highly coincidental.

Purchasing and playing NCSoft titles such as City of Heroes, Tabula Rasa, and Exteel just got easier. Teaming up with InComm, a technology firm that develops markets and distributes stored-value gift and prepaid products. Target, Best Buy and Rite-Aid will be the first stores to carry cards.

Purchasing a card doesn’t just give you game time either, but will give purchasers access to special in-game items!

From RGTR.com

Starr Long, the Producer of Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, updates us on the state of the game, as well as moving forward to the exciting things to come.

In the last few weeks there’s been talk about the future of Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, the financial impact of the game on NCsoft as a whole, and the state of our development team here in Austin. I think it’s important to clarify what is going on and what our players can look forward to in the near future, because there is a lot to look forward to.

Be sure to read the rest of Starr Long's Dev Diary at PlayNC.

TENTONHAMMER gets an exclusive look at the new changes to the AI of the enemy from the TR Dev Team. You can view the article and video here.

Over at RGTR.COM, they've made a few changes. First, they have moved the Tabula Rasa fiction to the Game Intel menu section. Second, they have added a new story titled "The Children of the A.F.S."

Recently NCRage had a chance to chat with Tabula Rasa Community Coodinator, Amy (Critters) about the role of the community program, and about some ideas that the Dev team is working on. We want to thank Amy for taking time out of her busy schedule to participate in this interview. Check out what she had to say...

Click here to view the entire interview

Click here to discuss the interview

Time for another quick, or not so quick update. Right now, the team is working hard getting the game ready for the next patch. I think balance has greatly improved, and a lot of the features that have been implemented are excellent additions to the game. You will see those on Tuesday and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

As we move closer to launch, some may think that now would be a good time to finally relax after months of crunch, but that’s not what making an MMO is about. So the question “what’s in store for the upper level player?” has come up, and I thought I would share a sneak peek of some of our plans. Some of these will come sooner rather than later and as with any development, nothing is set in stone and our plans could and will invariably change. Still, here are just a few of the features we are working on:

* Personal Armor Units (PAU’s): When players get to level 40, they won’t just get a pony! Promotion to Level 40 comes with the option to train for certification in the PAU. Each PAU will have bonuses such as movement, more firepower, and different abilities per type. Each type is unique to the military career the player has selected. When visualizing the PAU, visualize the AFS Mech, although each will be very different… and may not necessarily be a mech.

Sneak peek: PAU for the Grenadier: Grendel – The surprisingly nimble Grendel, has two machine gun turrets on each arm, providing a cone of doom a short distance in front of the Grendel. More impressive is the Hornet’s Nest capability of the Grendel, which when unleashed uses the remaining power of the user to determine the number of rockets unleashed on the opposing forces but does massive damage to surrounding units.

* Command Opportunity: When you climb the ranks to level 50, you need someone to order around. Command Opportunity is the privilege the AFS commander has to control their own subordinate squad of NPCs. Teach them, outfit them, and give them commands on the battlefield. The more successful you are with your squad, the bigger and better your squad will become, granting you Command Points.

* Flashpoints: The Neph generals aren’t happy with the setbacks in their bid to rid the universe of Eloh manipulation, therefore they have begun attacks on various worlds. Each Flashpoint will require multiple squads to solve. Certain objectives will need to be done simultaneously to fight back the Bane and each objective will require a dedicated squad that is at their best. Conquer flashpoints with squads formed of all players, or have a few players that have NPC squads at their command.

* Clan Warfare: Clans will gain their own abilities for their members over time, meaning the leader will be able to select a passive buff that all members of the clan will have. This buff will grow in strength the larger the clan. Clans who go to war can wager these buffs and loot in clan wars. Eventually, clans will be able to lay claim to Control Points fighting off rival clans, and earning bonuses while they control them. There will even be AFS sanctioned Rivalry Zones where players have strategic objectives to fight over such as Capture the Flag, and Hold the Location.

These are just a few of the things that the team will start working on after ship. (Which essentially means we are working on them now.) It is going to be an exciting next few months as we launch the game and watch how the game grows. As always your feedback is very welcome and encouraged via our feedback form.

Paul Sage
Lead Developer

Greetings all!

We are wanting screenshots that you think are awesome, cool, funny, outrageous, breathtaking, silly, crazy and a whole lot more. We have just started a Pic of the Week at Tabula Rasa Stratics. We want to show YOU off! So send in your pics and we'll sort through them and show the best one off. Submit all submissions to trnews@stratics.com