The latest Alien Invasion transmission over at RPG Vault features some more information on the player made cities that are being brought in with the upcoming expansion:
Those of you who are familiar with Anarchy Online and Funcom know that we are not afraid to take risks, and implement in-game features that might seem "difficult" at the time they are conceived. While that might not be the case with the player-made cities (seeing that you also find similar features in competing MMO games), we have nevertheless tried to give the cities the best we've got. One of our goals with Anarchy Online is to make it the most customizable and player-driven game on the market. The epic looking player-made cities represent, in my opinion, a huge step in the right direction. The following key points say a bit more about what we are trying to achieve:
A PURPOSE Each and every player-made city in Anarchy Online will be built for a purpose, and they can only be made if you are committed to the task. You won't be able to simply spawn a city by pressing a button; you need to put some effort into it. What the players can rest assured of is that such efforts won't be in vain. The player-made cities will give you new powers, new social opportunities, a higher status and the ability to access the new guild-based gameplay on demand system.
You can find the whole transmission here for all the information and new screenshots if you can't wait till tomorrow!
Thomas 'Cz' Johnson, Funcom's community manager has made a final 'pre-Alien Invasion' update to the community section of the official site:
Final update before Alien Invasion
Tomorrow will be both the launch day of Alien Invasion and the start of a new month, so this is the final update on this page. Here's some information with regards to the launch.
Downtime The servers will be closed down for launch preparations at 8am / 8:00 GMT. The estimated downtime is 8 hours. Build notes with changes that affect all players - whether they have AI or not - will be posted on the live server page during the downtime.
Please keep an eye on the AO launcher messages for updates about the downtime.
City information There are player city areas in virtually every Rubi-Ka playfield, including two new playfields made exclusively for building player cities. In total there are hundreds of such city areas on each dimension, so while some good spots might be taken early there should be enough for everyone to have a choice of location. There will be no web based map like the Notum Wars maps showing city areas at this time, nor will the areas be identified in other ways outside the game.
We're working on a guide to building cities, and aim to have it up no later than tomorrow. We also expect player guides to be up rather quickly, and will add links to them on the bulletin board.
AI forum The AI launch forum will be opened on the AO bulletin board around 7am / 7:00 GMT tomorrow. If you have never visited the bulletin board before, now is a good time to drop by. Just log in with your AO username and password (the login is secure) and choose a forum alias to get access to making posts.
That's it for this month and the era of mankind being undisputed rulers of the AO universe. Time to see what tomorrow brings. We'll see you there. ;)
You can find the entire post here in the community section. Thanks as always to Cz for the updates...not long to wait now! We will of course try and keep you updated with all the patch day news at it happens tomorrow.
If you missed it yeterday the new Alien Invasion trailer ahs also been added to the Official Site today for download. If you haven't seen it yet make sure you check it out, it's well worth the download.
Two days to go and a great trailer video has been released today on Gamespot. It's free to stream and Gamespot members can download it. You have to watch this trailer...seriously...just go now and watch it! You may already be aware of everything that Alien Invasion is bringing but this one is definately worth watching!
Well it's almost upon us with just two days to go until the Alien Invasion expansion launches. Following up last weeks Community update Thomas 'Cz' Johnson, Funcom's community manager has made another lengthy post to the community section outlining what to expect:
Two more days
Now there's only two more days to wait for the launch of Alien Invasion. While we're continuing our preparations we'd like to know what you've done to prepare for the aliens' arrival. Jump over to GridStream Productions and check out their Alien Invasion contest.
Naturally we expect a lot of feedback and discussions in the period after launch, and would like to direct people to the proper channels.
Pre-order and delivery questions must be taken to the retailer with whom you placed your order. If you ordered from the Funcom Online Shop the address to use is [email protected]. Our customer service department can not assist you with pre-order questions.
If you need to get in touch with our customer service department, please use the contact support form. Please make sure to choose the correct category for your request. Note that the bug and exploit categories are one-way information to our Quality Assurance (QA) department and will not generate a response. We do not offer phone support.
Feedback to the Anarchy Online development team, e.g. about Alien Invasion, should be sent to [email protected]. In the first week or so after launch - and then for as long as we feel it's needed - the community team will collect these e-mails on a daily basis and discuss them with the developers.
E-mails sent to the wrong address will of course be forwarded to the correct people, but might cause some delay in getting a response or having the e-mail forwarded to the developers.
We will have a temporary Alien Invasion launch forum on the Anarchy Online bulletin board. The forum will stay open for as long as it's needed. This will be mostly for technical issues, e.g. problems with updating the client, and social chat during the downtime on launch day. Other discussions and player questions should be taken to the appropriate community forums.
In addition to our own bulletin board we will frequent the bulletin boards of our fan sites. These sites generally have very friendly and helpful communities, and their bulletin boards can be slightly calmer getaways for those who prefer a bit more laid-back environment than our bulletin board.
To chat live with other members of the Anarchy Online community, drop by the Funcom IRC server. You can find instructions on how to do so at our forums & chat page. Please note that most ops on our IRC server are volunteers, not Funcom employees, and you can't expect to get in touch with Funcom through IRC.
In addition to handling a lot of feedback we will of course focus on responding to the requests, concerns and other feedback that you bring us.
Important messages that players need to see will - if needed - be posted in the Anarchy Online launcher. Make sure to read all messages posted there before logging in. Also make sure to read the message of the day upon entering the game, and pay attention to broadcast messages from the GMs.
While it is generally impossible to answer every question we get and to give everybody a personal reply, we will respond to important feedback and concerns about Alien Invasion on the bulletin board and here on the community news page. You might want to keep an eye on the main news section too.
Questions and feedback about all of this or about anything related to the bulletin board or the IRC server can be sent to [email protected].
So there you have it, make sure that when the expansion does launch that your feedback goes through the correct channels. There are bound to be teething issues as there always is with expansion launches so a little patience goes a long way.
We have the latest installment of Chrono_WE's fiction serial 'Amalgamations' for you today. Today's part is called 'Crystalisation':
The interior of the building was dark, it seemed only about one third of the interior lights were activated. The building seemed to be nothing more than a far-reaching hallway with a singular door at it's end. The team's footsteps echoed off of the cold, riveted steel of the surrounding walls. A stale, almost electrostatic scent hung in the air.
"The air in here.." Aulial stated after a moment as they walked down the long, empty hallway, "is...different.."
"Ya," Naihanji replied, peering about, keeping a good watch on their surroundings, "it doesn't feel right, like...it's almost...thick."
"Right," Aulial's eyes intensified their blue hue a moment, "no doubt something to do with this program that's being developed.."
"Naturally.." Naihanji conceded with a silent nod.
After another moment of walking silently, Richard held his arm out to the side, in a motion to block to two women's paths, "Wait. Stop."
"What is it?" Aulial asked of him in a low tone, coming to a halt.
You can find the whole episode here and find out what happens. If you have missed the previous parts they can all be found here in our Fan Fiction section. Thanks to Chrono for the latest installment!
Community News Alien Invasion Competition at Gridstream
The good folks over at Gridstream have teamed up with Funcom to offer a special Alien Invasion Competition:
Prepare yourself! They are coming for us!
You read it right, as the Aliens are approaching Rubi-Ka we here at GridStream Productions give you all the chance to prepare yourself for the upcoming invasion. We want you to post the funniest picture of how YOU have prepared to face the invading aliens, who comes to take you all away and destroy your home!
What we want are pictures of how you have prepared, real life ones are encouraged, which may include for instance tin foil hats, bad ass weapons to blast them buggers away and other weird stuff! Don't let them get to you, the preparations lay in your hands!
You can find all the details here over at Gridstream, good luck to those that enter!
Roleplaying News Communications across Rubi-Ka Disrupted!
All grid channels of communication today have been disrupted. This mysterious event has made both of the larger factions point the blame at eachother.
Omni-Tek employess call it a clan terrorist sabotage of the planetwide communication system; while clanners state that the satellites orbiting the planet is the backbone of the communications across Rubi-Ka which is controlled by the ICC...and to which Omni-Tek technicians have access too...thus blaming the corporation and claiming that they want to confuse the clans and create a state of chaos in the northern territories.
There are a few who believe the source of the disruption is a sign of a possible invasion by another corporation or something else, but they are conspiracy theorists, without any proof or evidence of these claims.
I am sure our intrepid reporters will have more details soon, but it appears that Philip Ross, CEO of Omni Tek's interests on Rubi-Ka has been placed under some form of house arrest by the Unicorn Company and martial law declared in Omni-1. Details are still sketchy, but reports coming in suggest that two Unicorn company associated Bureaucrats with military back up 'escorted' Ross to Omni HQ in the last hour and Unicorn Company sentinels began to appear in the city itself.
The official site has a last minute reminder regarding the pre-order offers:
Important Alien Invasion pre-order information Funcom is soon launching Anarchy Online - Alien Invasion , the sci-fi MMORPG experience of the year. This means that the Phat L33t pre-order campaign is about to come to an end. Make sure you pre-order today to secure your Leet pets. You will regret it later if you don't!
For those of you who have already received your pre-ordered retail box, we would like to explicitly warn that you should NOT install the retail game client until the live servers are patched up. If you are an existing player and try to install the retail box on top of your current client, you will not be able to log into the game until we are launching Alien Invasion on the 1st of September.
So make sure you get that order in if you want to snare your pet leet!
Following up on Cz's community update yesterday the game launcher is currently displaying a reminder about recieving your copy of the expansion
ALIEN INVASION INSTALLATION If you have preordered the Alien Invasion expansion and receive your boxed copy early, it is important to remember that you should NOT install the game client until after the servers patch up on release day. If you install the client before that you will be unable to log into the game until the expansion goes live. Thanks
We will keep you updated on any further news as the expansion gets closer.
Jayde over at Anarchy Mainframe is celebrating two years of running his database site!
Anarchy Mainframe Turns 2! Howdy folks! Perhaps not a big deal to most, however I'm happy to note that today marks the 2nd birthday for Anarchy Mainframe--starting shortly after the 14.5 database first hit testlive in August of 2002. From its humble beginnings at the time, the site has grown from just a handful of daily visits to shouldering over 15,000 visits and 1 million hits per day--wasting around 45,000 man-hours per month. ;) It's been an interesting and enjoyable journey so far, and is shaping up to continue as such with an expansion pack just around the corner.
I'd just like to take a quick moment to thank all the people who have supported and contributed to the site in the past, and for the community of AO in general. Special thanks go out to Chronita, JB, Kaelien, Kuren, MORB, Nillan, SirAronar, Timber, Twicer, all of Shattered Dreams, and the many many more people (who I could take ages trying to list) who are so important to making the Anarchy Online community what it is today. Also, of course, thanks go out to the folks at Funcom for creating and maintaining the game that we are always trying to learn more about. =)
Hopefully both Anarchy Mainframe and Anarchy Online have a long life ahead of them, and I thank everyone for their continued support of the site!
Despite Jayde's modesty the anniversary hasn't gone unnoticed and the official site carried it's own congratulations for Jayde from Funcom today:
Funcom would like to congratulate Anarchy Mainframe on their second birthday. From its humble beginnings in August 2002, this great Anarchy Online fan-site has grown from just a handful of daily visits to shouldering over 15,000 visits and 1 million hits per day, counting in at around 45,000 man-hours per month. It's nothing short of impressive! You can read the anniversary post from Jayde at Mainframe , or take a look at our forums for more info.
Congratulations to Jayde, its very well deserved attention and I'm sure you'll all join us in thanking him for everything he has given to the Anarchy Online community.
Thomas 'Cz' Johnsen, Funcom's Community Manager is back from his holiday so there is a bumper community update for us today!
24th - Community team back in action Vacation is over, and it's time for some updates on what's happening and going to happen up to the Alien Invasion launch on September 1st.
Alien Invasion launch Yes, the launch date of Alien Invasion (AI) is September 1st, in case you had any doubts. Just one long week until you can build your own cities, set up your own shops, and say j00 pwn to the new leets. And of course, the alien forces make planetfall the same day. Make sure you and your organization are ready for it all.
In addition to a long week of waiting for the launch there will unfortunately be a long wait while updating the client software unless you have a broadband connection, especially if you're not installing from the AI CD first. The exact size of the download is not ready, but we're looking at more than 150MB for those who don't install from the CD. The reason for this is that the expansion brings a lot of visual content, and all those houses and modified playfields need to be updated before you can play. There's even a completely new playfield available to everybody.
We're sorry for the inconvenience this big download may cause, especially to the players who do not have access to a broadband connection. There was unfortunately no way around this.
We'll bring more information about the expansion, download size, etc later.
Pre-order boxes We know that some have already received their pre-order boxes of AI. Please note that the shipping date of the pre-order boxes will vary between the distributors, and any questions about the status of your pre-order must be taken to the distributor with whom you placed your order.
Also, please observe that you will not be able to log on to the Anarchy Online servers with AI installed until the 15.6.1 update has been published and you've updated your client with it. If you intend to play Anarchy Online prior to September 1st, do not install AI just yet.
Bulletin board update The Anarchy Online bulletin board software was updated last week, and we hope everybody is happy with the new options and look of the forums. We're still working on some administrative tweaks, and have encountered some issues with the searching options, but aim to have it working 100% before the AI launch.
We've received some suggestions about a separate AI forum. While we do not wish to separate the AI topics from the rest of the game topics in the long run, we will consider different solutions to accommodate for the expected flood of threads related to AI during the first weeks. We will post more about this later.
Anarchy Online on Linux Bounsar has made a very nice HowTo for running AO in Linux. For comments, tips and feedback please see the thread about the AO Linux HowTo on the Anarchy Online bulletin board.
Please note that we do not provide any technical support for running AO in Linux.
More updates coming That it for today, but we'll be back with more updates as soon as we have news for you. Remember to keep an eye on the main news section too, and check out the news archive for links to AI coverage on fan sites and other web sites.
You can find the community section of the official site here for all the details. Thanks as always to Cz for the updates.
A reminder today that Funcom will be joining in the fun at the upcoming Dragon*Con show:
We would like to remind all our players about our presence at Dragon*con 2004 in Atlanta, USA, from the 3rd until the 6th of September. Dragon*con is the world's biggest sci-fi\fantasy convention, and an experience not to be missed. Funcom will be in Booth 305-307, and we wish those of our playes who has a chance to drop by a warm welcome. Funcom has also decided to host a fan gathering on Saturday September the 4th. We look forward to meeting you there!
The fan gathering on Saturday September the 4th will take place from 10pm in the Piedmont Room of the Hyatt. There you will have the chance to mingle with Funcom representatives and ARK volunteers, and we will give away lots of cool prizes. Please do let us know if you'll be able to attend via RSVP at [email protected] . While reservations are not required for this event, it will help us in planning. We look forward to meeting you there! Note: those who come dressed as their favorite AO character can expect something special.
So if you are going to be attending DragonCon make sure you drop by and say hello to the guys and gals from Funcom!
