Meteor Games' Donna Williams talks to Twin Skies Navigator

from the Music to our Ears dept.

Donna Williams stepped down from her sky throne to talk with Twin Skies Navigator yesterday about the Meteor Games 'in development' BigWorld powered title.

Donna Williams : "The original plan changed quite dramatically from our rather humble initial ideas. We always wanted to make an MMO crossed with a community, but we didn’t think we could pull off 3D. Originally we were aiming to make something in flash, like Dofus, but after looking around at the other free to play and subscription games out there it became pretty apparent that flash just wasn’t going to cut it. We were so impressed with the BigWorld engine, it really opened up so many new opportunities for us and the guys are great to work with. When we started we didn’t think we would be growing so fast, we now have 49 staff and are still hiring. That’s pretty insane for a company that has been around for less than a year! It’s a bit nerve wracking, but so much fun to see everything really come together."

Donna Williams and Adam Powell were the seed talents behind Neopets which remains today one of the largest population-driven web titles ever developed. Head on over to Twin Skies Navigator to check out the full article.

Exclusive screenshot for upcoming Meteor Games MMO

From the If you Write it They will Come dept.

Donna Williams and Adam Powell were kind enough to shunt across the image seen here for their upcoming MMO. The image depicts their Priest class for their upcoming BigWorld-based title being built at their hip studios in West Hollywood, California. Details on the game are thin at the moment - even the title of the game is a closely guarded secret.

What can we infer from this image? From the likely feature set of this class?

1. If the image is life-sized, Priests are likely be very, very small indeed. They could be up to a maximum of only an inch or three tall (or so - estimates vary). This could be a problem in raids - with the primary healers being crushed underfoot in the chaos of battle by their own comrades. Clearly, Meteor Games have yet to think this through and I can already hear the outcry from the as yet un-massed tribes of players demanding balance and redress from this short-sighted feature.
2. Again, from this image, we can infer that priests live in hilly, mountainous areas as shown by the constant cascades of rocks tumbling over their heads. Of course, if the previous assessment of their tiny scale is correct, these 'rocks' could also be grains of sand. Or dust motes.
3. Priests don't appear to have any legs, which means they probably float or levitate in their surroundings. Or if tiny in size as the image indicates, perhaps they are simply blown about by ground effect eddies from the movement of other players. Although there are no posts from early adopters of the class about control issues, we can readily see this becoming an irksome piloting class, akin to a helming a massive re-fuelling tanker aircraft as it lumbers through the night skies - in this case though, one tiny in size, more agile and set in a Fantasy World in a dress.
   
4. Priests have three horns on their head, presumably to offset their lack of legs. Again, details on these are sketchy at best, but a likely feature if they are - as we suspect - miniature healers that fly around the map in tiny gnat-like swarms - is the ability to latch onto other characters like a thorn or barb, fixing securely to them with their heads. Healing can then be applied to the target character without fear of drifting away or being flattened as unsuspecting characters sit down to polish their armour.

Check out http://www.meteorgames.com/ for more coverage on this intriguing title from the team that brought you Neopets.

Meteor strike hits

from the What's that in the sky? dept.

Meteor Games of Los Angeles today announced that they are building their upcoming MMO on BigWorld Technology. The title is in development in their stylish West Hollywood studio in California. Donna Williams and Adam Powell of Meteor Games are also the visionaries behind the Neopets franchise which sold for like, a squillion dollars a few years ago to MTV Networks/Viacom.

"BigWorld's technology provides us with an extremely powerful and highly flexible game engine, which can be tailored to the specific needs of our upcoming MMO," said Adam Powell, CEO and creative director, Meteor Games. "More importantly, BigWorld's game engine allows us to focus on game design, gameplay innovation and overall creativity rather than core technology development, thus ensuring our new MMO delivers an experience unlike any other."

The title of the game is under wraps right now - check back soon