Embers of Caerus

[Morreion]

Embers of Caerus official site

Embers of Caerus Kickstarter page

Be whatever you want to be in our massive medieval low-fantasy world. Putting the sand back into sandbox, and Massive back into MMORPG.

Stories (EoC)

Embers of Caerus partners with Havok Engine, seeks more sandbox supporters (Massively)

Forsaken is now seeking to galvanize additional sandbox fans, a demographic that creative director Rob Steele says is ready for EoC and games like it. "It just shows that the audience is out there, hungry for the kind of game that we're making -- one where the players take control of the world and make it their own," he says.

January Newsletter (Issue 2) (EoC)

Concept-wise, pretty much all the creature concept work for the prototype has been completed, and has moved into the modeling process. Work for the concept team now moves on to refining the architecture and layout of Thaal, making sure what is being created really represents what the writer (Rob) envisaged for the city. Somehow they are also finding time to work on some atmospheric pieces which we may, if you are lucky, release in the coming weeks

March Newsletter (EoC)

We already have what we call in-house our "Test Island". It's a small chunk of the world (the island off the west coast of Aaldnarech), which we use for testing and playing around in. This island will ultimately become the alpha-test island, then beta-test island as well. We figured we should give our world builders free-reign to go nuts and create something awesome. In the process, it will allow them to bring the Test Island to a state ready for you all to jump in and explore!

Designing Nupoanqa: Inspiration from the Spirits (EoC)

The third week of the Faction Wars takes us beneath the canopy of green and gold, to the swarming jungles of Nupoanqa. Here we find the forest-dwelling Onakawa, the sedentary Senoka, and the fierce Benghi. These three factions have much in common, each being native to one of Caerus’ most challenging continents. But the factions of Nupoanqa have much that sets them apart from each other as well. It’s not all blowguns and bamboo, after all. So where can the discerning gamer look for inspiration in playing a Nupoanqan?

Embers of Caerus team LFM (Massively)

If you've wanted to get in on developing a game, now could be your chance. In Embers of Caerus' April dev letter, technical director Dave Belcher invites folks interested in filling newly opened positions on the dev team, from programmers to animators to sound designers, to send in an email and apply. Positions are also available in community and PR roles.

'Embers Of Caerus' Is A Low-Fantasy Medieval MMO On Kickstarter (Forbes)

Is a sandbox MMORPG too ambitious a project for an all-volunteer studio working with a pretty meager crowd-funded budget to cover licensing fees and other costs? I hate to be a cynic, but as good as this game sounds, it almost sounds too good to be true. Or at least unrealistically ambitious. Maybe the promise and the lure of the MMO is leading small developers down a dark path. Single-player, and even co-op titles, are much cheaper to make and far less expensive to maintain once completed. The resources required to simply keep an MMORPG up and running after its completed are vast in and of themselves.

Still, I wish Forsaken Studios the best of luck. It’s a very neat idea, reminding me a little bit of Mount & Blade and a little bit of EVE. A game I’d certainly take for a spin if I ever get the chance.

[Regolyth]

I don't know about this game. It seems a little cheesy and large in scope. If it works out, I'll be one of the first to try it. But that's if it works. It seems cool enough. I'll follow it a bit. One thing that stuck out to me, that I don't like nor will it make it to the final version (or at least it shouldn't) is the permanent stat loss they were talking about for dying (or was it just permanent consequence?). I understand the need to make death mean something, but in a game where one dies fairly often, you can't have permanent repercussions on death.

Also, nice shout out to Conan: The Barbarian in that second video. LOL - Nerds

Master: "We won again! This is good, but what is best in life?"
Soldier: "The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair."
Master: "Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?"
Conan: "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women."

[Morreion]

Another indie sandbox has big problems- won't be that last, I'm sure.

Embers of Caerus making 'drastic changes' to its development (Massively)

Creative Director Rob Steele broke the news on the forums, where he admits that mistakes in developing a prototype for the game's systems cost the project financial and volunteer support. Without the funds, he admits that the team cannot make its previous goals of regular module updates and benchmarks.

"Instead of continuing down this path, attempting to play catch up, and risking missing more benchmarks that we have no assurances we can hit, Forsaken Studios is making a drastic change in its plans for Embers of Caerus," he wrote.

Steele went on to say that he has been in talks with other game studios to help with the future development of the game, all while upholding promises made to supporters and crowdfunding investors. He said that the project will be encountering "a great deal of changes" but should be more active if and when another studio signs on to help.

[Morreion]

Embers of Caerus website is nuked by its host (Massively)

The problems began back in early February, when the sandbox MMO's website went down. Regular posts on Facebook indicated that the site would come back, but that changed when the game's creator realized that agreements between the company and the website host lapsed. Subsequent renegotiations did not go well, and the site has remained offline.

"After lengthy discussions with the host, it seems they're absolutely unwilling to work with us," the team posted on Facebook today. "They're basically wanting a big chunk of change that Forsaken Studios can't afford. Unfortunately, because they shut everything down without us being aware that it was happening/impending, they also have a lot of data on their servers that we no longer have access to. Obviously, some of that which was hosted was the website and everything on it. I'm not certain where we're moving to from this point, but this monkey wrench definitely hurt."

Comment:

What is it with the indie sandbox genre? This is like watching a clown car catch fire.

Somebody make a sandbox, puhleeeeze.

Doh, that was me! lol

[Regolyth]

Okay, three things are off here. First, how does one put stuff on a server and not have backups somewhere? I mean, that's computing 101. You have to have these files locally somewhere, that's how you get the files to the server in the first place. Second, what kind of host won't work with someone; at least letting them get their files back? It seems to me that it's more of an issue with the company than the host. Third, who stops working just because your website went down? I know they're probably relying on the site for funding and whatnot, but still - go back to the first thing wrong and start somewhere else. These :-Speople are fishy.