In this week's Outside the Box, News Editor Garrett Fuller takes a look at a small MMORPG in development called Atriarch.

Atriarch is an MMO being designed by a smaller independent studio known as World Fusion. You may not have heard much about it, well that is because these guys are a smaller shop working to get this game out there and on the map. Things had been quiet at World Fusion for a few months and then a press release came out on New Years talking about game and world upgrades. Fans of Atriarch were happy to hear that plans were still in the works for the game's eventual release.

One of the things here at Outside the Box that is so important is bringing you news on MMOs that you might not normally read. Atriarch is an MMO that may not be up there sharing headlines with WoW or Age of Conan, but what these guys are doing is cool, plain and simple. Many people (myself included) are tired of your typical MMO races that all fantasy games feel they should have. Elf, Dwarf, Human, Orc, and maybe a risky race like Undead or Trolls populate most fantasy worlds. Why is it that we have become so stuck on these races for game play? Dan Fortier and I had a debate about it a few months back and it really opened my eyes to a lot of what was going on in the world of game races. So that is why I want to bring Atriarch to your attention.

Read the whole column here.

I've been to their website and I can say in all honesty that their idea(s) for this game is truly admirable.

One of the reasons I loved Asheron's Call was that it really broke the mold on the fantasy genre for me. It had strange and alien races I'd never seen before. It made exploring the world so much more interesting because I never knew what I'd run into next.

Now actually getting to play a completely alien race will be the true test. Many people like to role play as an alternate version of them selves in a universe different from our own. The question is: Will people be comfortable playing the role of an alien with different sensibilities and traits then that of humans?

For me, unique character races is not enough to intreague me in a game.  Sure, new races is a step in the right direction to break the fantay mmo mold we have these days.  But,  if we have new names and new artwork for the same old mechanisms then these changes are superficial.  I hate how games these days label something different and expect the player to like the new name to the old idea.  Some games change game terminology for groups to "fellowships", "formations", "bands", or "teams".  These are unnecessary changes in a game.  You don't need to change somethings name or artwork unless you really make it different. 

I am more interested in unique new gameplay, detailed end game content that is not just a time sink, competative gameplay that is more about skill/strategy as opposed to how the character is built, and a polished pre-release game.  I would rather game companies spend less time on backstories and artwork and more time on making bold gameplay decisions.  How about a game with no level or skill caps?  How about a classless game? How about a groupless game where the entire playerbase is your group?  How about a player driven economy truely based on supply and demand that has no npc or vendor buy/sell prices?  How about a game where players could skin the textures on player models?  How about a well designed open pvp game that encourages players to work together instead of fighting. 

All in all, I like that games are trying some new things.  However, don't recreate the wheel and call it a tyre. 

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Originally posted by Lunar_Knight
I've been to their website and I can say in all honesty that their idea(s) for this game is truly admirable. (...)

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Are these interviews the reasons for Atriarch to stay on gamelist?
Checking the 3d-renderings they seem to get posted once or twice PER year, discussions are nice but as Horizon/D&L/Thrones of Chaos all have proved it takes more than ideas & potential to make a game.

Originally posted by JelloB2000

 

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Originally posted by Lunar_Knight
I've been to their website and I can say in all honesty that their idea(s) for this game is truly admirable. (...)

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That website has been up for 7-8 years & NOTHING is happening. I submitted my beta-application 6-7 years ago & there is just much info on the website then as now.

 

Are these interviews the reasons for Atriarch to stay on gamelist?
Checking the 3d-renderings they seem to get posted once or twice PER year, discussions are nice but as Horizon/D&L/Thrones of Chaos all have proved it takes more than ideas & potential to make a game.

Longest running vaporware ever!

Originally posted by Mesopolies 
What I think would be really  cool is if they turned it into an open source type project. Let the comunty code for it and then have the staff review the code and add it in. I know alot of new developers out thier would love the opertunity to say I particpated in this and here is what I coded.

That was the appeal of the old text based worlds that I used to go to before there was an internet. Yes I am old.  You would dial into a BBS with your modem connected to a phone line.  Some of these were multi-user.  MOO, Mud, there are many descendent of these old text based worlds/games.

The coolest feature, is that you could contribute to the world/game.  If you have programming rights you could create and add to this virtual text based world.

The one of the ultimate goals of online computer gaming these days would be an system that allowed players with the right skills to add to the content of the world/game.  I would love a situation like that.