Hero Engine Volume 1

[That Jay]

http://vault.ign.com/fullstory.php?id=51140

Simutronics announced the release of HeroEngine 2009 Volume 1, the only realtime collaborative development platform for massively multiplayer online (MMO) games and virtual worlds.

As the premiere integrated platform for full life-cycle development, deployment, and maintenance of MMO games and virtual worlds, HeroEngine provides creative teams with the tools and technology they require in order to fulfill their exacting vision while reducing time to market and lowering costs.

"Creative visionaries are no longer bound by arbitrary limits on the size of their virtual worlds or how areas in those worlds can connect together”, said Simutronics CEO and HeroEngine Architect David Whatley. “And, they can choose to run their virtual worlds on Windows or Linux, or any combination, in order to meet their cost and performance goals.”

Now HeroEngine supports more than 100,000 concurrent players in a single shard. Utilizing HeroEngine’s new Seamless World technology, developers can create virtual areas that transparently connect together to build single seamless worlds as large as they require in order to achieve their vision. There is no limit on how large a single seamless world can be, and seamless worlds themselves can even be instanced as needed to meet specific gameplay or product requirements. The maximum capacity per shard will grow even larger as the HeroEngine team continues development of inter-world scalability.

With new Linux server support, HeroEngine extends its backend server capabilities to a whole new class of server hardware. The choice of Microsoft Windows Server or Linux allows development teams to choose the operating system and hardware combination that meets their needs. And, both Windows and Linux servers are fully interoperable in the same environment. Other additions include: support for Autodesk Maya 2009 and named content packages for atomic publishing via LivePush that will allow you to deploy new content without booting your players offline.

Available immediately, HeroEngine continues to lead the way in providing creative teams with the best in class collaborative tools, technology, and platform they require in order to execute their vision.

[That Jay]

Other additions include: support for Autodesk Maya 2009 and named content packages for atomic publishing via LivePush that will allow you to deploy new content without booting your players offline.

If only we had that for Gemstone.

[Trouble]

Lol they use the word seamless way too much. And WTF is a shard?

[Tolwynn]

A shard is a separate instance of a game world.

[Anne Boleyn]

Unfortunately, for Simu, I don't think believe this engine to be as revolutionary and visionary to hold up to the 5th gen MMOs that will be arriving within a couple of years. Companies like Bethesda, Microsoft Gaming Studios, and NCsoft all have super secret MMO projects under works with production values far and above what Simu can dish out.

It's too bad though. I was really hoping that Simutronics could sell enough to give a big boost to their text based gaming division.

[Deathravin]

Simu is just far too small and doesn't have the required manpower or resources to keep HeroEngine ahead of the big dogs. Their development schedule just isn't aggressive enough to keep pace with a Microsoft or Bethesda.

HeroEngine WAS revolutionary, 5 years ago when they started development. But just like HJ, it's all pretty standard stuff these days. They fell victim to their own marketing again. If they had developed the engine and the game in complete secrecy, they might have been able to slip under the radar and released a visionary MMO Engine and Game.

[Guarrin]

Simu is just far too small and doesn't have the required manpower or resources to keep HeroEngine ahead of the big dogs. Their development schedule just isn't aggressive enough to keep pace with a Microsoft or Bethesda.

HeroEngine WAS revolutionary, 5 years ago when they started development. But just like HJ, it's all pretty standard stuff these days. They fell victim to their own marketing again. If they had developed the engine and the game in complete secrecy, they might have been able to slip under the radar and released a visionary MMO Engine and Game.

I disagree, last year HeroEngine was a finalist for a Front Line award. These are voted on by potential users/professionals in the industry. The cooperative real-time development is an amazing improvement to the common place existing workflow.

Now, supporting 100k on a shard? Also impressive, wow usually maxes at what, 10 -25k?

Whether or not they can sell it, or, if anyone can buy it is an entirely different story.

[Jayvn]

Just think...when they do sell it... that poor guy answering phones will be pulling 24/7 shifts.... I meant that as singular..the one guy who answers phones at simu.

[Anne Boleyn]

I just don't understand if this engine is that revolutionary Simu should be doing super. Is it because of the extremely bad economy? I don't believe so because they were selling the engine for a few years now. Back in 2005 when the engine was REALLY something. If they can't sell it during all this time then something is up or the MMO industry just prefers to build everything in house?

[Guarrin]

I just don't understand if this engine is that revolutionary Simu should be doing super. Is it because of the extremely bad economy? I don't believe so because they were selling the engine for a few years now. Back in 2005 when the engine was REALLY something. If they can't sell it during all this time then something is up or the MMO industry just prefers to build everything in house?

Yes. The majority of MMO companies are already well established and are not startups and have the resources to make their own engine (which is typically cheaper for that type of company).

Also, smaller companies are less likely to invest in an expensive engine, and, are less likely to be in the MMO business anyway. I mean, really, unless your market is a casual pay-for-item MMO (maplestory) or you are going for a niche audience (WAR), it seems like a poor market to get into and compare with blizzard and the other existing IP's.

It seems to me that there is just a very limited customer base to begin with, and, now you have a crap economy ontop of it. Game companies are seriously scared (job cuts left and right) and are less likely to get into one of the longest and costly dev cycles.

[Guarrin]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22883


"Creative visionaries are no longer bound by arbitrary limits on the size of their virtual worlds or how areas in those worlds can connect together”, said Simutronics CEO and HeroEngine Architect David Whatley. "And, they can choose to run their virtual worlds on Windows or Linux, or any combination, in order to meet their cost and performance goals."

Some more info from Gamasutra today. And, at the bottom you have some companies that have licensed it aside from Bioware..HCS and Zenimax.

[Anne Boleyn]

A sec ! Zenimax if I remember correctly did Morrowind. Dear lord, does that mean Elder Scrolls Online will be done up by Hero Engine.

If this is true, it's very impressive!

[Anne Boleyn]

Oh dear, this is insanity!

The MMO world was knocked on its butt last week, when rumors began percolating through media outlets that Zenimax Online, a new MMO studio created to be the online cousin of the renowned Bethesda Softworks, was working on an MMORPG based in the Elder Scrolls universe. Evidence seeming to support these claims followed not far behind. Zenimax Studios, the parent company of which both Bethesda and Zenimax Online are a part, received seed funding from Providence Equity Partners in mid-October to, "fund future growth, ramp up publishing and development, facilitate acquisitions, and finance MMOGs." And, as if the writing on the wall wasn't quite clear enough, sharp-eyed domain watchers spotted the acquisition of the URL elderscrollsonline.com, registered by Zenimax Studios on August 15. At this point it seems all but certain.

Until Zenimax decides the time is right to let the cat out of the bag, all we're left to do is sit back, palm our copies of Oblivion and Morrowind, and play armchair quarterback. And probably the biggest question on our minds is whether it is in fact the right move for Bethesda to bring their beloved RPG franchise into the rough and tumble world of the massively multiplayer. Is it the right fit for the IP or is it a big mistake? There are strong arguments in either direction, and they're all worth exploring

[Methais]

If only we had that for Gemstone.

New content has to actually be released first.

[Danical]

New content has to actually be released first.

winar!

[The Ponzzz]

I don't think most of you understand what the HE actually is. It isn't an engine such as what you see for games with base movement, graphics, etc. This engine works with other engines so a game can stream updates into the game-world as a constant feed, instead of via patch. This will also allow for GS-esque updates like alterations, invasions, areas to change depending on possible interactions. Everything is instantly updated.

It is fairly new to the graphic world and MMOs entirely. Simu can most likely stay ahead for quite awhile with the engine.

[Anne Boleyn]

I don't think most of you understand what the HE actually is. It isn't an engine such as what you see for games with base movement, graphics, etc. This engine works with other engines so a game can stream updates into the game-world as a constant feed, instead of via patch. This will also allow for GS-esque updates like alterations, invasions, areas to change depending on possible interactions. Everything is instantly updated.

It is fairly new to the graphic world and MMOs entirely. Simu can most likely stay ahead for quite awhile with the engine.

But then, why did they cancel Hero's Journey?...

It doesn't matter once the 600 lb Gorilla Bethesda Softworks unleashes Elder Scrolls Online, it'll be the death knell for most MMOs short of maybe WoW.

[The Ponzzz]

And most people thought Age of Conan was going to be the "death kneel" of all other MMOs and look at the piece of work.

I don't know Simu's agenda on HJ, all I know is the HE is something new, fresh and unseen before in the graphically MMORPG world. They surely made something cutting edge.

[Makkah]

For clarification, they didn't "cancel" HJ. The game is still being worked on by off-site GMs. It may be on the road to cancellation, but it's not cancelled, regardless of recent on-site downsizes.

[Anne Boleyn]

And most people thought Age of Conan was going to be the "death kneel" of all other MMOs and look at the piece of work.

I don't know Simu's agenda on HJ, all I know is the HE is something new, fresh and unseen before in the graphically MMORPG world. They surely made something cutting edge.

Comparing Funcom to Bethesda is like comparing a vacuum tube computer to a cutting edge IBM server. You just can't do it.

Funcom already had a histroy of screwing up launches for their MMO and conan was their very first fantasy MMO.

Bethesda's Elder Scrolls is a massive franchise that dates back as far as Warcraft and probably has a greater following, seeing how they span across platforms into Xbox and other console games. And further, I have NEVER seen Bethesda come out with a bad game. Fall out was just incredible. I really think Elder Scrolls will give WoW a real challenge, and finally break it's hold over the MMO world. It'll set the standard for 5th gen MMOs as WoW did for 3rd gen MMOs and until now even against the 4th gen ones including warhammer and AoC.

[The Ponzzz]

Hehe. You should go read Bethseda's forums to see how people feel about their game. They are more vicious than these forums when bashing the company.

I never compared Bethseda to Funcom though, I simply repeated what people were saying about it. I think Oblivion was a gorgeous game.

[Guarrin]

Hehe. You should go read Bethseda's forums to see how people feel about their game. They are more vicious than these forums when bashing the company.

I never compared Bethseda to Funcom though, I simply repeated what people were saying about it. I think Oblivion was a gorgeous game.

Eh, thats any game's forums though. It's where fans go to bash the product they love.

Oblivion was great, not my type of game, but it did look great.

[Deathravin]

For clarification, they didn't "cancel" HJ. The game is still being worked on by off-site GMs. It may be on the road to cancellation, but it's not cancelled, regardless of recent on-site downsizes.

Not even really on the road to cancellation... As a complete guess, but more as a visual... Lets say Hero's Journey is a 100 mile railroad Simu had to build. They were doing 1 mile per week and were at 70 miles before the layoffs and re-focus of Simutronics. Now they're doing 1 mile per month.

They weren't close enough to finishing to keep the employees and just knock it out. And they weren't far enough away to just scrap it. Also they have a good amount of slave labor at their disposal to creep along for free. So why not?

[Anne Boleyn]

Not even really on the road to cancellation... As a complete guess, but more as a visual... Lets say Hero's Journey is a 100 mile railroad Simu had to build. They were doing 1 mile per week and were at 70 miles before the layoffs and re-focus of Simutronics. Now they're doing 1 mile per month.

They weren't close enough to finishing to keep the employees and just knock it out. And they weren't far enough away to just scrap it. Also they have a good amount of slave labor at their disposal to creep along for free. So why not?

If HJ is not cancelled, then they should really clear up the air officially. Seeing how most people in the Simu community believes it's completely dead or at -9 hit points.

[Makkah]

Semi-relevant:

http://www.massively.com/2009/03/29/gdc09-best-of-show-to-me/


See: Biggest surprise.

[Jayvn]

heh.... this was at the bottom of the link

Built by Simutronics, the most experienced online game developer in the world, HeroEngine gives your team the best tools to build the best games faster.

[phantasm]

http://www.hsclabs.com/?view=career_coder

To succeed at this job you will need to be able to learn a customized scripting language called "HeroScript". This is a fully functional scripting system that can access and do anything the upper level language(c++) can with an easier interface and live editing and updating in the game world. No need to recompile shut client/server down for any reason streamlines the development process. Since this is a custom system the ideal candidate should be able to learn an entirely new language and have a broad understanding of how many other languages work.


So if I'm a developer interested in adding HeroScript to my resume, how do I learn about it?




Also, if your a developer that wants to get some hands on time with HE and get a foot in the industry, I found this......

http://www.gobignetwork.com/profiles/Leon-Harris.aspx

-Providing an internship program. This is a perk to help those wanting to go into the interactive entertainment industry to get some hands on experience as well as help us develop some work that can help both Zaloli develop and the Intern build necessary skills for the real world.

[Rolton-Sammich]

So if I'm a developer interested in adding HeroScript to my resume, how do I learn about it?


To succeed at this job you will need to be able to learn a customized scripting language called "HeroScript". This is a fully functional scripting system that can access and do anything the upper level language(c++) can with an easier interface and live editing and updating in the game world. No need to recompile shut client/server down for any reason streamlines the development process. Since this is a custom system the ideal candidate should be able to learn an entirely new language and have a broad understanding of how many other languages work.

Get the job, that's how.

[Guarrin]

Become familiar with the Never winter nights 2 engine, Unreal, etc.

Both come with their respective games.

[phantasm]

I can't put into words how utterly shocked I am.

10 years ago Simutronics started solving a problem that the rest of the game industry is just now experiencing.

I've spent the last 10 years thinking Simutronics was left in the past but really they were just struggling with a really difficult problem that other companies are only now discovering and trying to solve.

If Simutronics had made better decisions 10 years ago and threw more money and power at HJ to get it rolling quicker, holy fuck.

How common is this in the software industry, can you think of any other examples of companies running into a unique difficulty and then later realizing it was so difficult and unique because they were already working so far ahead of everyone else.