Ashes of Creation Articles
During a live stream event yesterday, Intrepid Studios wowed viewers with the news that "Alpha One, Phase One" is being renamed as Ashes of Creation: Apocalypse, a stand-alone F2P portion of the game that will launch for everyone to try out in December. The castle siege, horde and battle royale modes will be moving off to become separate from Ashes of Creation the MMO. Current backers are enjoying a month's head start on Apocalypse, but everyone can expect a chance to try it soon.
The Ashes of Creation team was on hand on September 27th for a live stream event and community Q&A. During the event, it was revealed that the stress test is ongoing through October 5th when the NDA will lift. In addition, devs spoke about the battle royale mode and how it is "loosely built into the lore of Ashes of Creation".
On the Saturday of PAX shortly after lunch I had what is probably one of the coolest experiences yet since I started writing for MMORPG.com - I got a chance to sit down CEO / Creative Director Steven Sharif and Lead Game Designer Jeffrey Bard to talk about Ashes of Creation, an ambitious upcoming MMORPG that has a good portion of the community waiting on bated breath in anticipation.
Intrepid Studios has just wrapped up a PAX West presentation and enabled the replay on the Ashes of Creation YouTube channel. It's another fantastic opportunity to check out the gameplay that Alpha One players will be seeing when the first testing opportunity comes up later this month.
My.com's Volker Boenigk has returned to the Ashes of Creation Discord with a strikingly honest and frank discussion of a number of issues raised by European fans of the game. Boenigk tackles issues including pay-to-win and My.com's role in the creative process for the game. As a reminder, Ashes of Creation will be published in Europe by My.com as announced last week. Other regional publishers have not yet been announced.
At Gamescom 2018, we interviewed creative director Steven Sharif on why he’s comfortable with criticism, and how the Alpha is helping them respond.
My.com's Voker Boenigk visited the Ashes of Creation Discord channel to reassure concerned fans that the company is in full support of Intrepid's creative control over the game. In a lengthy statement, Boenigk said, "My.com has primarily published traditional Free-to-Play titles from predominantly eastern developers, and we are looking forward to this partnership with Intrepid exactly because they have a vision that is different from the titles we already have in our portfolio".
After last night's announcement that My.com would be handling publishing duties for Intrepid Studios' Ashes of Creation, many fans expressed concern over the direction of the game. In a new post on the Ashes of Creation Discord, Steven Sharif responded to those concerns.
Intrepid Studios has announced that My.com will be handling Ashes of Creation publishing duties throughout the European Union and that Mail.ru will take on the game's publication throughout the CIS region. Intrepid Studios' Steven Sharif wrote, "These titan publishers are firm believers in the creative vision we have for the world of Ashes and will help us make the greatest MMORPG possible." My.com will be available during this week's Gamescom to host press meetings & appointments.
During last night's Ashes of Creation Twitch stream, the team showed off some new combat footage showing the growth of development. The minute-long snip was posted on YouTube by Hand of Unity and it comes with the usual caveat that "the animations are not representative of the final product" and so forth. However, they are a far pace from earlier combat videos and doubtless representative of the forthcoming alpha.
The latest Ashes of Creation newsletter is hot off the presses with the exciting news that "Phase One of Alpha One" will be kicking off in September. Devs have over 8,500 Alpha One testers available who will get to try out a number of features including action combat, open world battlegrounds, castle sieges and city defense "horde mode". The goal is to test the mechanics for each, including the adaptive AI mechanics included in horde mode.
The Ashes of Creation team has posted a nifty new video to show off some of the environments that will be featured in Alpha One. Over the coming weeks, Intrepid plans to show off even more of the game, including the combat that has been a key focus of development over the last several months.
Intrepid Studios now has more than 100 developers working on Ashes of Creation, including more than a few former Daybreak Game Company devs. Seven new team members were added and a new round to bring another 21 developers into the studio is already underway. Creative Director and Founder, Steven Sharif. "It's pretty exciting to watch your dreams become a reality, and at the end of the day, creating an MMORPG that players can be proud of."
Ashes of Creation developer Intrepid Studios is growing on all fronts. The team has been expanded by seven, though we have yet to learn who these folks are. In addition, the tester pool has grown to over 2,000 and the game is progressing towards Alpha 1. Lastly, there are a bunch of new cosmetic items that can already be preordered from the Store.
It's hard to believe, but it has been a full year since the Ashes of Creation KickStarter campaign, and what a year it's been. In a new letter sent out to the Ashes community, the team celebrates growth and reports that the project is proceeding on schedule and "making remarkable progress".
