New details have emerged about the upcoming expansion to "FlyFF," the free-to-play MMORPG from gPotato. Entitled "New Shores," the expansion is said to include new titles, a place to explore called Coral Island and even a couples system. Seems a bit late, however, as the expansion is supposed to be released on May 26.
The fame titles are more or less a form of achievements in that each title is directly related to performing a certain task or quest, and other such things. Though the requirements are vague, some examples given have been Blade Hero and Psykeeper Master.
The couples system is a basic group system that seems to be between two players only. The more experience gained, however, allows the couples system to level up and provides skills or abilities that only couples can access together, providing a sort of doubles gameplay.
Coral Island, the biggest part of the expansion, is a new area designed for levels 43 to 69 and rewards 180% experience. The level suggestion is merely that; a suggestion. All monsters on the island are set to unaggressive mode, something Darwin would surely be puzzled by.

Posted by James Bishop
May 19th, 2009

Cyanide Studio and Focus Home Entertainment have recently released their free-to-play online dungeon crawling game, “Dungeon Party.” MMOHub’s Kyle Stallock had a chance to speak with several members of Cyanide’s team about the game (when he wasn’t busy drooling over its music). You can see what his questions—and their responses were—below. - Ed
Kyle Stallock, Writer, MMOHub: The music in “Dungeon Party” sounds like it was squeezed out of an almost empty bottle of gin shared by an underage Tom Waits and Danny Elfman in some shady dimly lit dive bar. Essentially it’s effin’ brilliant. I want the soundtrack, bad. Do you plan on releasing one?
Vincent Percevault, Sound Designer: Not for the moment, unfortunately …
At the time there’s only three classes. Do you plan on adding more?
Cyrille Legras, Project Leader: Three classes are almost finished. The design process for others is well advanced.
Why did you decide to inject so much humor into this game?
Cyrille Legras: We were fed up with all those serious heroic fantasy games. A game is supposed to entertain players, not to make them overwork their brains. Moreover, the game designer is a certified lunatic!
Do you think more online and MMO game developers/publishers need to lighten up?
Cyrille Legras: I’d say that everybody in gaming is there for the fun. However, you can’t escape the fact that gaming is a business which requires some serious investment. Perhaps, sometimes the serious side of things plays too heavily on development teams?
Why have you chosen to not implement a persistent leveling mechanic that exists outside of each individual battle/game?
Cyrille Legras: The thing is that we didn’t want to put some players at an advantage against newbies. A player who is skilled but doesn’t want to spend all his time on the game can take 5 minutes during lunch and compete with “no life” players.
How do you plan on monetizing the free-to-play title?
Cyrille Legras:Players can play for free if they want to. The economic system used by “Dungeon Party” is Item Selling.
You can buy clothes and objects to customize your characters. Theses items won’t increase your hero’s characteristics so as not to disadvantage players who don’t want to pay.
Moreover, you will need consumables such as elixirs, potions and traps. In their “classic” version they can be bought with the game’s MH money (not real currency).
With all the possible character builds available, are you encountering any balance issues?
Jérémie Monedero, Game Designer: Balancing is always a perilous exercise because there is so much interplay between parameters. In “Dungeon Party” we decided to concentrate on the actual interest of having a given skill rather than on the strength of that skill. Since it is impossible to combine all powers, balancing must allow different ways for a team to play rather than thinking about precise numeric values (for example, the thief must choose between slowing down and stealing from an opponent or inflicting damage). The player must decide on strengths and weaknesses and we must work things so that the accent is placed on the synergy between players in a team rather than anything else so that the choice influences the result of a game.
It is obviously difficult to reach a perfect balance, but in an online game it is constantly evolving.
How is the ranking system going to work? Are you going to have daily, monthly, weekly, or even yearly leaderboards?
Cyrille Legras: We are working on it and it’s a little bit like you said. Players will be able to see their periodic ranking.
There will be two kinds of ranking : Solo and Guild.
Is the free-to-play MMO market growing too fast? With each passing month is it becoming even more difficult for a developer to enter the space with their title?
Cyrille Legras: The F2P market is really special. You can’t follow the classical cycle of the games you sell in shops. The players don’t pay to play, just to have fun and if the game interests them. With the classical way, the customer buy your game for 50€ and that’s it. In the F2P, to make him pay, you have to make the game more accessible, more interesting. Yes … We can define this as a “MORE” game. If you don’t regularly add content after 2 months – your game is forgotten among all the titles.
Did any member of the dev team serve as “inspiration” for one or more of the three characters?
Cyrille Legras: Haha … the released ones are not really representing anybody, but more a mixture of some “traits” of various members of the team. But in the ones we are planning to release it may be more clear-cut.

Posted by Brendon Lindsey
May 19th, 2009

Web-based MMORPG “AdventureQuest Worlds” launched about six months ago, and has already reached six million registered players. “AdventureQuest Worlds” has given players real-time combat, wars, chat, live events and at least one new release a week since its launch. But personally, I’m curious—why has this game grown with such popularity in just six months? After all, to me nothing about it seems to really scream of individuality or being on the cutting-edge of the game industry. Regardless of my own thoughts, out of celebration Artix Entertainment, LLC, creator of “AdventureQuest Worlds,” is getting ready to release its first world boss. The Artix Entertainment team has also been invited to attend the Japanese and Anime convention, Jacon, in Florida. “AdventureQuest Worlds” will also discuss things relating to “DragonFable,” “AdventureQuest” and “MechQuest” on May 23. “AdventureQuest Worlds” is free-to-play with upgrade options available for a fee. With this fee, you can use unique items, enter exclusive member-only areas, increase weapon damage, equip pets, and more. Posted by Nikki Lee May 19th, 2009

Game publisher and developer Funcom released its official financial reports the other day, and, besides all the dreadfully boring number stuff, they detailed existing plans to enter the free-to-play market.
Gamasutra notes the company has a browser-based title in development as well another that’s java-based. No release date for either was given.
What the company is releasing isn’t as much of a cause for concern as why. In the same report, Funcom claims the key reason for entering the free-to-play space is “smaller budgets and faster development.” While I’m a strong supporter of developers seeking both in this industry, I’m a little hesitant to embrace the actual implementation, as a worst case scenario could leave innovation and creativity to the wayside. But I digress.
Funcom plans to make money from these free-to-play titles using a “combination of microtransactions, available subscriptions, and advertising revenue.” Basically it’s the same as most free-to-play titles.
So what do you think, educated readers? Are you interested in more MMOs coming from the company that brought you “Age of Conan” and “Anarchy Online?” Does the fact they’re going to be free-to-play affect that interest at all?

Posted by Kyle Stallock
May 19th, 2009

Starting May 17, the online game “The Warlords” will begin hosting regular PK Tournaments. Every Sunday and the first day of each month will have a tournament named, of course, “Weekly PK Tournament” and “Monthly PK Tournament.” As you can see, some real creativity went into that.
Tournaments will be divided into three groups: Civilian, Soldier and Veteran. Players can apply according to their level.
In these PK Tournaments, the last one standing wins and will receive rewards, honor and steeds only worthy of heroes and heroines.
For more details on the upcoming PK Tournaments, visit the official “The Warlords” tournament guide.

Posted by Nikki Lee
May 19th, 2009

“Free Realms,” the highly regarded free-to-play kid-friendly MMO from Sony Online Entertainment, was released on April 18 and now, 18 days after launch, it has already hit the much-coveted one million player mark. Sony announced not only that it reached the mark, but that they would reward each and every single one of the current players with a limited-edition in-game shirt and 200 Station Cash (the currency of the game). The one-millionth player in “Free Realms” really hit the jackpot, however, and will be given a unique in-game spacesuit, 10,000 Station Cash and a lifetime membership to the game itself.
John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, was quoted as saying that “[t]o achieve this milestone so rapidly speaks to the quality and the fun gameplay experience ‘Free Realms’ offers to players of all ages.”
Though “Free Realms’ is currently only for PC, there is supposed to be a PS3 release in the future, though the date has yet to be announced.

Posted by James Bishop
May 19th, 2009

The kid-friendly “Vector City Racers” entered open beta today, and instead of having me struggle and trip in many attempts to describe it, I’ll let Chris Bergstresser, CEO of developer Vector Entertainment, do the talking.
”’Vector City Racers’ empowers kids to create their own unique racer vehicles in a world that offers both social activities and achievement-based gaming. Boys crave competition, measurable achievements, kinetic gameplay and action. ‘Vector City Racers’ meets those demands and also offers instant access to an exciting 3D world right in their browser.”
So let’s see. It’s a racing MMO where players can design their own vehicles directly in the browser? Sounds like an opportunity for griefers to ruin the whole “creative” thing with an excessive number of rude and crude creations. But let’s hope that never happens.
Even if you don’t slip nicely into the 6-12 age demographic of the title, you still might want to give this DIY MMO racing game a try. The winner of Vector Entertainment’s “Fastest Road to Fun” contest receives tickets and roundtrip air travel to their choice of one of four national racing spectator events. Possibly even cooler, that person’s submitted vehicle will become one of the starting vehicles available to other players when the title officially launches.
I hope the winner gets to name the rig as well. That means if I win, “Kyle’s Really Rad Racing Rig” will see international attention. A man can dream, right?

Posted by Kyle Stallock
May 19th, 2009

In a recent press release from HanbitSoft, the MMO publishing company announced it will “accelerate overseas expansion with its new titles.” This means if there’s a game by this company you’re really interested in, but it’s only available in another country, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to play it very soon.
We saw a little hint of this new gameplan on May 5th, back when the company said they plan on bringing “Aika” to North America sometime in the (hopefully near) future. Additionally, on May 7th HanbitSoft said gamers in Indonesia will get to take part in “Audition2.”
Personally, I hope this new “overseas expansion” business plan includes the company bringing the ill-fated “Hellgate: London” to North America and Europe as a free-to-play online game, just as it is in Korea. Games don’t often get second chances for the public’s attention, but this could be “Hellgate’s” golden opportunity. If nothing happens soonish, then I fear the intellectual property will be dead for the foreseeable future.

Posted by Kyle Stallock
May 18th, 2009

If playing sets of virtual tennis against opponents halfway across the world, or further, is your sort of thing, then perhaps the online sports game "Fantasy Tennis Season 2" and its new beta of Club Match Mode will be right up your alley. Club Match Mode is essentially a tournament every Wednesday for nifty prizes, like rank and access to the Club House.The Club House access, which lasts for a week, is really the big prize and the best reason to try to win the tournament. The Club House has the best fruit and the biggest fish, so even if you were only looking to advance yourself further then its a bonus. If you happen to have friends who play, however, it becomes even paramount. The winner can determine who is allowed into the Club House, which means if you have a group of friends who are excellent at the game, then you’re almost a shoe-in to get in.You can sign up for an account to play "Fantasy Tennis" on our "Fantasy Tennis" page here on MMOHub.

Posted by James Bishop
May 18th, 2009

The free-to-play nautical MMO “Voyage Century” is holding its Duel King Event on May 23 and May 24. This PvP arena-based event is only available to those who are VIP players and those with VIP bound accounts. Sign-up runs from May 13th through May 21st. To sign-up, visit the official “Voyage Century” website.
Players will be divided into two teams: Team A and Team B. Each team must stand on their side of the arena. (Is this starting to sound a bit like dodgeball to anyone else?) Three Magic Lamp Giants will spawn on each side of the arena. To win, you must kill all of the players on the other team or slay the three Magic Lamp Giants that spawned on the other team’s side of the arena.
There are some rules:
1) The Magic Lamp Giants cannot be lured into the middle of the arena or another will spawn.
2) If you die, that is it. Game over.
3) Should either team be unable to claim a victory, the team with the most players left will win. If there are the same number of players on both teams, neither will win.
Sounds like my dodgeball skills of standing in the back until I’m the only one left might actually help in this version of the game. Those who hide end up prevailing.
The survivors of the winning team will get a lucky stone that is worth 500 Mall Points.
For more details, you can read the full announcement.

Posted by Nikki Lee
May 18th, 2009