PVP:Yes | Distribution: | Retail Price:n/a | Pay Type:Subscription
Desktop Client | System Req:
Earthrise Dev Journals: The Boneyard
In this week's dev journal, the Earthrise developers lay out a zone known as "The Boneyard," complete with desert-style screenshots.
By Guest Writer on August 14, 2009
The Third World War obliterated humankind from the face of the Earth. The creations of human civilization were devoured one by one by the terrible weapons used in the hellish outbreak of uncontrolled strategical strikes. Cities and major industrial areas were wiped out one after the other by nanoswarm weapons, molten in nuclear wrath or pulverized under the hammering forces of the seismic warheads. The surviving population of the planet was scourged by plagues that were spawned by nanomachine clouds acting like nightmarish factories for all kinds of biological horrors. In all respects, the face of the planet was truly cleansed of all things human.
Yet all this destruction would have had little impact on the planet's the ecosystem if it weren't for the A.S.H.E.S. Virus. Made as a last resort weapon, A.S.H.E.S. was a scientific failure of no real practical use to its creators, but it was released at the end of the war and subsequently changed all life on Earth forever. As a result, new species and never before seen beasts and plants began to spread all over the world. Although the new mutated lifeforms were able to adapt to the harsh environment and found ways to thrive, they too fell into nature's life-death cycle and upheld the roles of predator and prey.
)
While most other mutants adapted and integrated into the Earth's ecosystem, a single lifeform was evolving into a new kind of ecosystem on the ocean floor. Mastering the depths of the ocean floor, it still had the undying urge to grow and made arrangements to explore the world on the surface. Its scout swarm landed on the western shores of Enterra and found an ecosystem that the Earth had not seen since millions of years prior. With the destructive factor of human activity left in the past, the new species had used the immense adaptability of the A.S.H.E.S. virus to forge a sustainable life and even managed to evolve. The eastern coasts of Enterra were very much the same and jungles, rich of life, hosted strange beasts that lived in perfect balance. In many respects, the island had become a refuge of organic life after the scourging aftermath of the wars.
The swarm that emerged from the depths didn't hesitate to infiltrate life on Enterra. At first it infested the weakest, most primitive forms of local life by crawling its way deep into the heart of the ecosystem. Tiny parasitic spores began traveling through the jungle's veins of life: water, wind and soil. The slow penetration of the swarm didn't trigger the usual swift response from the A.S.H.E.S.; instead the biology of the swarm was evolved in such a manner that it used the adaptability of the other lifeforms imbued with the nanoculture to its own ends. In less than a few years, the parasite devoured all life and recreated the mutated flora and fauna to its own liking. Due to its limited lifespan and contentment with its progress, the vanguard began the long voyage back to the mother swarm which caused the Hatchery colony to die out and left a barren deserted beach in its wake. Despite the adaptability gained since the A.S.H.E.S. fusion, no form of life would able to inhabit these sun scorched shores.
)
Now after many years, the desert stands still, and strangely enough, a small patch of what seems like normal mutated flora exists in its middle. In the sands surrounding it lie the bleached bones of long dead beasts, and when the humans discovered the area they named it The Boneyard.
The Boneyard is situated too far off to be of any interest to anyone, save for a small group of scientists. They are considered to be a part of Noir, though they are so independent from the directives of command that their position is questionable. The primary occupation of this group is investigating and examining the oasis, where parts of the swarm were rumored to have remained alive despite their programming. Now that another Hatchery has emerged in the south, the scientists feel more burdened with worries about the future of humankind. They don't take interest in the political intrigues and the civil war, as they now see the threat of the new Hatchery as the most ominous problem on the horizon. The scientists seek to uncover the mysteries of the previous Hatchery infestation, believing the genetic history of the swarm is the key to its destruction.
)
I have to confess that the more I read about Earthrise, the more intriguing this game world becomes.
Another good read about a feature of Earthrise
The coolest area by now, i really like the atmosphere. Keep the good work up guys, Masthead FTW ;D
This game looks fantastic! Every time I see a new screenshot I am impressed. I hope the game play is just as good or better.
Heh... these particular screenshots remind me of what the SWG Krayt Dragon Graveyard would look like if someone made SWG2 :) Can you SWG vets imagine what the game would be like with this engine and graphics quality??
Very interesting looking world. I look forward to explore it.
After having beta'ed Fallen Earth, I will say this is now my only hope for a good post-apoc genre MMO for the foreseeable future. I won't be holding my breath though, too many MMO disappointments in the last few years.
This game continues to peak my interest. I love the screenshots.
Looks really nice, a game to follow for sure I think. I also agree that Fallen Earth was a huge let down, this game looks much better from screenshots so far and the story and details are much better done. I hope this one does well.
Same here, altho any Sci-Fi sandbox would do it for me ( doesn't have to be post apoc ) :p
And yah, not holding my breath, just relaxing, playing EVE Online or Ryzom while I wait :p
Btw, you should try Ryzom while you wait for Earthrise, they can use the support and it is a nice sandbox game with timeless graphics and an awesome community.
I like science fiction. But it has to mantain some roots with realism. Too much "amazing things" and we enter again High Fantasy, and we have more than enough of that.
So please, make a credible world, one that make sense. Maybe opt for Hard Sci-Fi to explain things. Stuff like nanobots are good, but overusing these may make it just strange and not make sense.
Wow I am impressed with this. They have been keeping up with releasing new information about new zones for a while now. Kudos Masthead Studios.
Me too. Just on the graphics, which aren't FE's only problem, people excuse them because it's post-apocalypse. But just look at the detail in the rock in this ER imasge and compare it to the crappy, dull FE texturing. It doesn't matter what the subject matter is, it doesn't excuse bad texturing and art style.
Looks incredibly good.
Now who do I have to bribe for a beta invite?
aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh i've been killing for this game for years
when will it come out already!
These zone screenshots are nice but I am anxious to have them release a new combat video. The last one wasn’t too well-received and they commented repeatedly that they were listening and making significant improvements to their combat system. It doesn’t have to be perfect but I really want to see how it’s coming along.
The last vid was misunderstood in every way possible, as it wasn't a combat-video. It was a targeting-video to show the soft-lock-mechanics. It was even named "targeting-video".
Masthead learned from this incident very well, and they won't release any videos until they get a broad feedback from the beta--tests first.
(@above poster The word is "pique" my interest, not peak.)
I like the graphics, hopefully dx11, we seriously need to move pc games out of the dx9 doldrums they have been in.
Yours in DX11 Plasma,
Star*Dagger
Graphics are DX9-compatible.
Minimum Requirements: 2 GHz CPU, 1024 MB RAM and 256 MB VRAM video card supporting shader model v3.0
DX9 is the much smarter option. Making a game easy to access is one of the key factors in drawing people in. Think of Wow's huge success and its graphics that can run on old graphing calculator.
I generally dislike it when games try to be too 'innovative' with the flora and fauna in the gameworld.
I've seen a lot of games come out whose idea of a genetic-mutant-creature-thing just looks ludicrous. I often think designers go with the whole 'lets make a gameworld from scratch' approach so they don't have to try and animated real creatures and risk failing badly. If you conjure-up some crazy new animal and it walks like a retard, you can say "well, its meant to walk like that".
A bit of a turn-off for me tbh, especially having seen the crocodile-thing.
I'm not saying anything for or against this game because I haven't tried it or read too much about the details on how the game is played.
But a boneyard is a fairly cliche area in a sci fi or post apocalyptic story, I just wish all the games out there wouldn't be so cliche. All of the fantasy games have the same classes many of the same races and the same style sword of ultimate doom type of weapons. Would be a shame to see sci-fi and post-apocalyptic games fall into their own repeating cliches.
Good thing this isn't a fantasy game, and there are no classes and there is only 1 playable race - Human.
Yes a "boneyard" type of environment is typical to post-apocalyptic. The world typically gets devestated and weathers over time after an apocalypse which is why you say that type of environment usually. However, Earthrise is a little different.
This games setting is post-post-apocalytpic, when people are trying to rebuild. The fact that there are so many different and varying environments and lore to go with them is neat. Parts of the world in Earthrise are "cliche" to the post-apocalytpic setting - destroyed hollowed towns in ruins, wasteland area, etc... But many of them are unique and intriguing and vastly different from what you would expect in this setting. Since it is set several hundred years after the apocalypse, when the world and mankind is trying to rebuild itself you will see a lot more in Earthrise than wastelands.
Click on features and you will see that the last 4 Dev journals are all on very different and interesting (to me) types of environments and this is only a portion of what's in game based on other screenshots or previous mentions.
My favorite zone to date. The screens look amazing...I really want to explore this area!
love the story. hopefully better graphics than fallen earth