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Micro Forte on Catalyst

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Submitted by souri on

So what did you think? I thought it was very interesting!.. Citizen Zero looks very good. There was one shot in the game with a crowd of people walking on a track - if every one of those is a player, then I'm mighty impressed. :).. some very cool facial animations in there too.

Submitted by Pantmonger on Fri, 23/05/03 - 6:39 AM Permalink

I loved the bit with the guy walking through the air, and the bit with the guy on the phone saying, it's still raining indoors, lol.

Was cool though, liked the look of it, If I was a fan of MMORPG I might look into it.

All in all good. (You're breathing when your dead!)

Pantmonger

Submitted by rezn0r on Fri, 23/05/03 - 7:12 AM Permalink

Breathe when they're dead? The demo that Ethan and I worked on had characters that shot into the air while lying on their backs if they saw you. Thats what you get when you throw it all together the night before. [:)]

The bigworld technology looks exciting. Korea should have given Microforte MMOG money instead of Auran if you ask me.

Scott.

Submitted by Kris on Fri, 23/05/03 - 8:50 AM Permalink

Citizen Zero looked interesting, will be good to see how it developes, or how it has developed from the 6 months ago it was filmed. My first look at Micro Forte residents as well.

The whole CS part didn't interest me all that much.

Submitted by souri on Fri, 23/05/03 - 9:09 AM Permalink

How big is the Micro Forte team? It looks like there were only ten people in that studio [:)].. Who were the four publishers (that have a hold of the industry) that John De Margheriti spoke of? Seems like the Micro Forte team were under quite a bit of pressure - I'm sure having the feeling of your publisher dropping your game at any time must be pretty stressful.
SO that Catalyst special was filmed 6 months ago? Citizen Zero was about to have a world wide media press release whatever nearly half a year ago?? I wonder what's been happening since then!
2 million Koreans play Lineage?? HOLY CRAP that's a lot of subscribers. Maybe Micro Forte were too busy concentrating on what they're doing at the moment to be starting another MMOG for that Korean publisher ;) I wonder what's happened to that Excalibur title that Auran were working on. Haven't heard anything about it for over a year and a half now.
And yeh, I agree, the Counterstrike 'clan' segments of the program weren't interesting. When those guys were explaining how they got their CS nicks, I wanted to change the channel. :)

Submitted by redwyre on Fri, 23/05/03 - 11:25 AM Permalink

Did someone record it? :/

Submitted by Pantmonger on Fri, 23/05/03 - 6:45 PM Permalink

[code]The whole CS part didn't interest me all that much.[/code]

Yeah same here. When it was on I was doing my shark concept and every time the counterstrike thing came up I was back drawing. I yo yo'ed the entire show.

Pantmonger

Submitted by Kris on Fri, 23/05/03 - 7:16 PM Permalink

quote:How big is the Micro Forte team? It looks like there were only ten people in that studio .. Who were the four publishers (that have a hold of the industry) that John De Margheriti spoke of?

I think they mentioned around 40 people worked at Micro Forte... or was it 14? :)

IMO I think the four biggest publishers would be EA, Microsoft, Sony and... hmm, last one is a tough call - thoughts?

Submitted by Jacana on Fri, 23/05/03 - 8:05 PM Permalink

I would go with Infogrames or is it Atari now :)

Submitted by Shplorb on Sat, 24/05/03 - 2:04 AM Permalink

I thought it was a pretty poor production, but it's good to see them and the industry getting some recognition.

Can someone explain to me the attraction of that Counter Strike game?

Submitted by tachyon on Sat, 24/05/03 - 3:26 AM Permalink

redwyre, i recorded it. if u r in melbourne i suppose i could pass it to you

Submitted by lava monkey on Sun, 25/05/03 - 5:58 AM Permalink

i recorded some of it, but i missed out on some of the beginning.

Submitted by Maitrek on Tue, 27/05/03 - 10:47 AM Permalink

I finally got to watch the tape of it today. Overall it (Citizen Zero)looked good, but I imagine that microforte are probably better off not rushing (either for a press release or the final product), they looked like they wanted to have alot of features in the game, and it's extremely difficult to design all the pieces so they fit together and it takes time to do those kinds of things.

The CS parts weren't that crap, but I don't see the pertinence to the MicroForte project. MicroForte are trying to captivate a general casual gamer audience, and fundamentally hardcore gamers are a totally different breed of gamer. There will always be hardcore gamers - they aren't the future of gaming - the people that don't usually play games are the real future of gaming (as strange as that sounds).

Submitted by LostSanitY on Fri, 30/05/03 - 1:39 AM Permalink

I enjoyed that show quite a bit, very glad to see CZ isnt dead (hadnt actually seen any hard evidence).

Submitted by CombatWombat on Sat, 31/05/03 - 10:42 PM Permalink

I've yet to see the tape of the show (of all people, it was my
parents who rang me to say they'd taped it... Perhaps they're
chilling out in their old age :-)

Aaannyways, for those who didn't get to see it there's at
least a full transcript of the show at the ABC's website:

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s861568.htm

Cheers,

CombatWombat (spot the sumea newbie :-)

Posted by souri on

So what did you think? I thought it was very interesting!.. Citizen Zero looks very good. There was one shot in the game with a crowd of people walking on a track - if every one of those is a player, then I'm mighty impressed. :).. some very cool facial animations in there too.


Submitted by Pantmonger on Fri, 23/05/03 - 6:39 AM Permalink

I loved the bit with the guy walking through the air, and the bit with the guy on the phone saying, it's still raining indoors, lol.

Was cool though, liked the look of it, If I was a fan of MMORPG I might look into it.

All in all good. (You're breathing when your dead!)

Pantmonger

Submitted by rezn0r on Fri, 23/05/03 - 7:12 AM Permalink

Breathe when they're dead? The demo that Ethan and I worked on had characters that shot into the air while lying on their backs if they saw you. Thats what you get when you throw it all together the night before. [:)]

The bigworld technology looks exciting. Korea should have given Microforte MMOG money instead of Auran if you ask me.

Scott.

Submitted by Kris on Fri, 23/05/03 - 8:50 AM Permalink

Citizen Zero looked interesting, will be good to see how it developes, or how it has developed from the 6 months ago it was filmed. My first look at Micro Forte residents as well.

The whole CS part didn't interest me all that much.

Submitted by souri on Fri, 23/05/03 - 9:09 AM Permalink

How big is the Micro Forte team? It looks like there were only ten people in that studio [:)].. Who were the four publishers (that have a hold of the industry) that John De Margheriti spoke of? Seems like the Micro Forte team were under quite a bit of pressure - I'm sure having the feeling of your publisher dropping your game at any time must be pretty stressful.
SO that Catalyst special was filmed 6 months ago? Citizen Zero was about to have a world wide media press release whatever nearly half a year ago?? I wonder what's been happening since then!
2 million Koreans play Lineage?? HOLY CRAP that's a lot of subscribers. Maybe Micro Forte were too busy concentrating on what they're doing at the moment to be starting another MMOG for that Korean publisher ;) I wonder what's happened to that Excalibur title that Auran were working on. Haven't heard anything about it for over a year and a half now.
And yeh, I agree, the Counterstrike 'clan' segments of the program weren't interesting. When those guys were explaining how they got their CS nicks, I wanted to change the channel. :)

Submitted by redwyre on Fri, 23/05/03 - 11:25 AM Permalink

Did someone record it? :/

Submitted by Pantmonger on Fri, 23/05/03 - 6:45 PM Permalink

[code]The whole CS part didn't interest me all that much.[/code]

Yeah same here. When it was on I was doing my shark concept and every time the counterstrike thing came up I was back drawing. I yo yo'ed the entire show.

Pantmonger

Submitted by Kris on Fri, 23/05/03 - 7:16 PM Permalink

quote:How big is the Micro Forte team? It looks like there were only ten people in that studio .. Who were the four publishers (that have a hold of the industry) that John De Margheriti spoke of?

I think they mentioned around 40 people worked at Micro Forte... or was it 14? :)

IMO I think the four biggest publishers would be EA, Microsoft, Sony and... hmm, last one is a tough call - thoughts?

Submitted by Jacana on Fri, 23/05/03 - 8:05 PM Permalink

I would go with Infogrames or is it Atari now :)

Submitted by Shplorb on Sat, 24/05/03 - 2:04 AM Permalink

I thought it was a pretty poor production, but it's good to see them and the industry getting some recognition.

Can someone explain to me the attraction of that Counter Strike game?

Submitted by tachyon on Sat, 24/05/03 - 3:26 AM Permalink

redwyre, i recorded it. if u r in melbourne i suppose i could pass it to you

Submitted by lava monkey on Sun, 25/05/03 - 5:58 AM Permalink

i recorded some of it, but i missed out on some of the beginning.

Submitted by Maitrek on Tue, 27/05/03 - 10:47 AM Permalink

I finally got to watch the tape of it today. Overall it (Citizen Zero)looked good, but I imagine that microforte are probably better off not rushing (either for a press release or the final product), they looked like they wanted to have alot of features in the game, and it's extremely difficult to design all the pieces so they fit together and it takes time to do those kinds of things.

The CS parts weren't that crap, but I don't see the pertinence to the MicroForte project. MicroForte are trying to captivate a general casual gamer audience, and fundamentally hardcore gamers are a totally different breed of gamer. There will always be hardcore gamers - they aren't the future of gaming - the people that don't usually play games are the real future of gaming (as strange as that sounds).

Submitted by LostSanitY on Fri, 30/05/03 - 1:39 AM Permalink

I enjoyed that show quite a bit, very glad to see CZ isnt dead (hadnt actually seen any hard evidence).

Submitted by CombatWombat on Sat, 31/05/03 - 10:42 PM Permalink

I've yet to see the tape of the show (of all people, it was my
parents who rang me to say they'd taped it... Perhaps they're
chilling out in their old age :-)

Aaannyways, for those who didn't get to see it there's at
least a full transcript of the show at the ABC's website:

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s861568.htm

Cheers,

CombatWombat (spot the sumea newbie :-)