40 replies to this topic

[Defekt]

I suspect that Cat is having a bad day and just took a few Gauss rounds from one of it's rival K2 brethren.

[iceangel]

That atlas likes to be popular, keeps popping out when I click on the cat

[Aaren Kai]

It's the new light mech! ***** eighteen wheeler backed with explosives. That Cat is toast!

[Slowzo]

InnerSphereNews, on 23 October 2011 - 07:32 PM, said:

Welcome to Dev Blog 0!

Why is it called Dev Blog 0? Well, a lot has happened in the two years since we first announced MechWarrior back in 2009, and we felt a quick recap would help bring everyone up to speed on the events of the last 2 years. In order to make this blog a little more personal, we have referred to many people by first name.
The usage of we generally refers to:

• Jordan Weisman founded FASA and co-created BattleTech. Jordan has also been responsible for numerous other ventures including WizKids, and Smith & Tinker.
  
• Russ Bullock, Owner/President of Piranha Games Inc.
  
• Bryan Ekman, Owner/Creative Director of Piranha Games Inc.
  
• And sometimes the entire team at PGI, some 50+ awesome developers!

So let’s go back to the beginning before the 2009 announcement, when Piranha Games first began working with the MechWarrior license.
Rebooting Piranha Games

Three years ago, during the summer 2008, we put in motion a new strategy for Piranha, one that would focus our efforts on building killer original action games. With this ultimate goal in mind, we focused on three key areas.

• Only take on action based work-for-hire games, such as Transformers 2 and Duke Nukem Forever.
  
• Build an experienced development team, capable of creating fun and engaging products.
  
• Develop a game by acquiring or licensing an existing intellectual property (IP).

With these goals in mind, we began identifying properties that fit the bill. In October 2008, while looking into the MechWarrior rights, Russ, learned that Jordan was working on a new venture at Smith & Tinker. Jordan, through S&T had licensed some of the digital FASA rights back from Microsoft. Not long after the initial call, we began working with Jordan on a new concept, a major update to the MechWarrior franchise.
Rebooting MechWarrior

The initial ideas revolved around revitalizing or rebooting the series by focusing on two areas:

• Increasing the overall graphical fidelity of the entire game, especially the BattlMechs.
  
• Solve some of the long standing gameplay issues from previous MechWarrior games.

From these two key areas, early design pillars emerged in the form of:

• Urban Combat to address circle strafing and long range sniping.
  
• Dynamic Battlefield further expanded on the concepts of Urban Combat and mechs having roles.
  
• Dynamic pacing, introduced an early version of one of the final pillars, Information Warfare.

It would be designed for the Xbox 360 and PC. The game would take place on the planet Deshler, in the year 3015. Single player would revolve around Adrian Kohl and his exploits during an invasion by Kuritan forces. A gritty series of missions, designed to draw people deep into the rich vibrant and treacherous world of BattleTech. Multiplayer was a blend of features from previous MechWarrior games and modern FPS experiences. The package as a whole was the first step in making MechWarior cool again.
We continued to iterate on the design for several weeks, then started developing a plan of action.
Early on we decided to produce a marketing video that would demonstrate many of the core features and rebooted art style. We had three goals:

• Announce the project and generate a major buzz within the gaming community.
  
• Generate publisher interest.
  
• Increase Piranha’s profile as a quality developer with publishers and the community.

The marketing campaign contained 3 teaser videos , the final full length trailer, and a feature interview on IGN. We rolled out the plan during the second week of July, 2009.
The reaction was overwhelming. We anticipated the announcement would generate a lot of buzz, however the end result outperformed even our highest expectations.
Oh Yeah, Harmony Gold

Contrary to all the press and speculation that Harmony Gold was getting in the way of a deal or development, this had no impact whatsoever on development or signing a deal for MechWarrior.
Closing a Deal

The hard work began in earnest after the video release. We had an aggressive schedule to visit publishers and gauge interest. In the month of August we met with all of the major publishers, pitched the MechWarrior game to a captive audience and waited. The answers rolled in slowly, starting with the smaller publishers. Then word showed up from the big five. The answer was no.
We knew going in, there were two major risks. No PS3 version due to a Microsoft restriction, and the epic market collapse and major recession. In the end, it was mostly the lack of a PS3 option that did us in. The scope and budget required to develop a console reboot needed the support of a PS3 SKU and we just couldn’t convince publishers to take a risk. By late fall 2009, our dreams of making a MechWarrior game, began slowly drifting away.
Through the end of 2009 and into 2010 we rallied numerous times, reducing scope and budget, re-pitching the concept as a LIVE only title, etc. etc. In the end, nothing stuck.
To be honest, 2008/09 were some of the hardest times this company has ever seen. We spent a lot of time, resources, money and energy on MechWarrior, and it wasn’t looking good.
Then, in the spring of 2010, we secured the Duke Nukem Forever contract. This was a huge achievement and a cornerstone in our development history. MechWarrior played a large role in helping us secure the deal. A few key hires filled out our incredibly talented multiplayer AAA team.
MechWarrior took a back seat, as we focused on a very challenging and time compressed project.
2010 ended, and we rolled into 2011 without much fanfare as Duke Nukem Forever entered the final phases of development.
The Birth of MechWarrior Online

In the winter months of 2011 we assessed the state of MechWarrior. We came to the realization that any further work on MechWarrior would come at great risk to PGI. If we planned to take on significant risk, we needed to control the IP. After several sessions of deliberation, we decided to plunge in head first. Russ approached Smith & Tinker with regards to licensing the MechWarrior rights and within a few weeks, we signed a deal.
Not long after signing, we quickly realized licensing the rights was one of the most important and future sighted decisions made by us in the last 12 years. Offers were coming in from all over the planet, especially to make or license a free-to-play MechWarrior game.
Because of the overwhelming interest, we decided to spend some time researching what a free-to-play (F2P) MechWarrior game would look like. We spent some design cycles adapting our previous concepts and quickly realized a synergy between F2P and the BattleTech universe. We worked hard through spring, negotiating, designing, and rejecting a few potential partners. As it turns out, we didn’t have to look very far.
During much of the past 12 months there was a local group that also had a large amount of interest in developing and publishing a MechWarrior title. Once Piranha had become the license holder they came over immediately and met with us. From this point onward we decided to combine our efforts with Piranha as the rights holder and with them as the Publisher. After about 6 months of hard work together, funding had been secured, Infinity Game Publishing was born and development could begin.
The most positive thing that can be said about the relationship between Piranha and IGP is that both companies wanted to make the same game and Piranha was free to execute upon our vision.
The road to this Blog was an adventure filled with many hurtles and momentous occasions. We are excited and proud of the direction MechWarrior is taking as a PC F2P game. It offers us the ability to make a successor worthy of the MechWarrior name, and one that fans will enjoy for years to come!
Welcome to MechWarrior Online.

[garx8]

judging by what im seeing its precombat cat taking cover behind bridge pillar and in smoke to step out let off some lrms and step back to avoid incoming fire or lrm locks on him

[DivineEvil]

Of course she's hiding from the thermal vision in the smoke, loading her LRM for some bombardment.

[Redstone]

HEY!!!! That's what my Cat always looks like! Burning, always burning. *sigh*

[ArabianArab]

i think they turned off the blur in the .ini files

[Hidran]

I would think so. because they have said, "now this time we have turned off the hud"

[Alex Wolfe]

Observe a wild Catapult in its natural habitat.

The specimen, unaware of the onlookers, squats down over a freshly destroyed truck, marking it as its territory and releasing a cloud of dark fumes in the process.

[Smooth]

It's a toll road and he forgot his wallet........

[MarshmallowRampage]

I think the Cat is about to unleash a hail of missiles into the city, then be cut down due to it being in an exposed spot.

The Atlas is guarding.

[CeeKay Boques]

I think the Catapult had an accident with two trucks and cars and is stuck. Trucks nad cars? Are these in game right now??

[Drtyk]

I agree with the Catapult being in trouble...but I think more like big trouble! Where's there is smoke there is fire, where there is fire there is heat...and in this case, I think "shut down" heat for one Cat with no more lives!

[KalebFenoir]

*sound of an ornithopter*

"And this is Craig Hegglestein of Channel 92.2 News! There is a crash on the Westphalen bridge, covering both lanes, so authorities have cordoned off the bridge and are assessing the damage. I can see from here that it appears that.... yes, a semi-trailer has collided with a.... yes, it definitely is a Catapult Battlemech! "

*pause as someone speaks to Craig in his headset*

"Alright we have some more info; authorities have confirmed that a semi-trailer belonging to the McDoogals restaurant franchise was turning onto the bridge when a nearby Catapult on patrol stepped backward, tripped on the ramp of the bridge, and came down on the trailer section of the truck. Neither pilot nor driver are injured, though the trailer is demolished and burger patties are spread all across the bridgeway. The Catapult suffered negligible damage to its lower legs and knees, but will be transported into repair shortly, in case something in its weapons suite was dislodged or otherwise armed."

That's Craig Hegglestein, Channel 92.2 News, your Eye in the Sky!"

[EvangelionUnit]

the hunchback on the left side of the bridge happend...

[Excalibaard]

I'm looking for some screenshots/wallpapers to make my desktop prettier, but I can't find the earlier wallpapers than issue 10, nor can I find other weekly screenshots than 15 and 18. Have they been purposefully removed to avoid leaks? and if it's not intentional can there be a nice list somewhere? I just spent quite some time looking through the ISN.

[Banekane]

it is a cat and his Swayback partner getting ready to unleash doom on a unsuspecting mech that is in its way

im guessing that that cat is paking more than just LRM but ER Large lasers for good measure and will strike down anything in its path on the way to victory

[ORIGINAL SteelWolf]

Its a "Troll Bridge". And Paul is driving!

[KalebFenoir]

You know, I didn't even notice that hunchie, all hidden behind the smoke.