Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted

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Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted
(formerly Horizons: Empire of Istaria[1])

Developer(s) Virtrium LLC
Designer(s) Shawn Carnes, Paul Peterson, Chris Lynch
Engine Intrinsic Alchemy, Evolution Engine
Platform(s) PC
Release date December 9, 2003
Genre(s) MMORPG
Mode(s) Multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: T
Media CD (2)
System requirements see System Requirements
Input methods Keyboard, mouse

Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted (formerly Horizons: Empire of Istaria[1]) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Artifact Entertainment and released in Europe on December 5, 2003 and in North America on December 9, 2003. Tulga Games, LLC acquired the game and all related assets on January 25, 2005 and sold them to EI Interactive July 2006[2]. On July 18, 2007 the latest company to own Istaria, Virtrium LLC (Vi) acquired the rights to the game.[3][4]

Set in a fairly traditional sword and sorcery world, the game allows players to be adventurers, crafters, or both, and features a struggle between the "living races" (including the players), and "the Withered Aegis", an army of the undead seeking to destroy all life.

Contents

[edit] Overview

[edit] Setting

Istaria uses the race/class/level paradigm common to many role-playing games; the game also has various mechanics that are similar enough to those of other massively multiplayer online games that they won't be mentioned here. Playable races include Dragons (the only persistent world to feature playable dragons) in addition to the more traditional biped races of Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, and Half-giant. Other races are less familiar, but typical of fantasy games: Dryads (a fairy), Satyrs (satyr, from Greek mythology), Fiends (humanoid with blue skin, horns and tail), Saris (a cat-like anthropomorphic humanoid), and Sslik (an asexual non-anthropomorphic reptilian humanoid).

Some of the core concepts behind Istaria just prior to the release of the game were to create a zoneless[5], co-operative, changing environment in which players would strive to hold back a seemingly unstoppable enemy: the Withered Aegis.[6][7] This enemy would consist of a few individuals from the Living Races (races that the Players belong to) in an unholy alliance with groups of Devils and Demons from another existence called the Realm of Blight. The twisted Blighted magic would include necromancy, the ability to create zombies from corpses and even reanimate skeletal remains into fierce warriors. Due to the co-op nature of the game The Aegis would be entirely AI controlled.[8] According to David Bowman in 2002, "Horizons will not ship with player versus player conflict. Rather Artifact has chosen to put its full attention to making the player versus environment gameplay the best it can be."[9]

This enemy was originally supposed to be dynamic in nature[10], launching automatic attacks on player held positions and blighting (capturing) the ground with its evil magic. This proved to be difficult to implement properly in practice, and the battlefront was eventually scaled back into static regions of Player and Blight held areas. However, in the years after Istaria launched "World Events" would be held that would allow players to make a permanent mark on the Istaria world. While not as cost effective to maintain as an automated system, this allowed Artifact, Tulga, and Virtrium to keep their promise of a changing, interactive world.[11]

[edit] Player versus player combat

Istaria has no player versus player combat (PvP) to speak of.[9] There is a small arena on an otherwise abandoned island, but that was primarily added for balance testing purposes.[citation needed] Players are nonetheless permitted to partake of PvP in this area if they wish (for a fee of in-game coins), but there are absolutely no rewards, and standard death penalties will still apply.

[edit] Events and lore

When first launched the Istaria staff established an event-driven storyline. These events revealed the lore and history of Istaria and occasionally lead to the discovery of new, different events. Originally the game was slated to have weekly events, but since September 2004 they were drastically reduced in number due to staffing and financial issues at Artifact and, later, Tulga. Some of the events included digging tunnels and building bridges to access new areas, and the freeing of an entire race from magically maintained slavery to the Withered Aegis. Both the Satyr and Dryad races became player accessible through such large scale, server wide events.[11] Previous to the launch of Istaria and the problems that followed, these events and others like them were intended to be ongoing in a continuous fashion.

[edit] Criticism

Istaria has suffered several problems since its launch. Many of these are acknowledged by both the current and former management of the various companies that have owned Istaria. Rick Simmons, the owner of Istaria, has stated that his team is working to rectify these issues as quickly as possible.[12]

  • Lag: Istaria suffers from a number of performance issues affecting both the client and the servers. These performance problems are often, and sometimes incorrectly, categorized by players as "lag". According to David Bowman, former Creative Director of Artifact and President of Tulga Games, "The client combat systems were slow and jerky... while there were many reasons to like the game, most players couldn't get to them past these problems."[13]
  • Lack of viable, ownable land: After several years of stagnation, Istaria no longer has viable land available for new players to purchase.
  • Lack of content: Several games currently on the market have many times the number of quests to complete, monsters to fight, items to obtain, and areas to explore than what Istaria can offer. David Bowman: "There was not sufficient enjoyable content for the players, with some promised content systems not making it into the launch."[13]
  • Outdated look: Istaria is now several years old, and it no longer has cutting edge graphics.
  • Slow pace of development: Virtrium, the company that now owns Istaria, is a small development company staffed mostly by part time employees and volunteers. This leads to a slower pace of development than what gamers have come to expect from the market leaders. Rick Simmons: "We have a small team of people involved right now; it's not like we're a huge company, after all." "... even though we have a small team, we've been able to do a lot of things in a very short period of time."[12]

[edit] Timeline

Late 1999

Istaria was first conceived by David Allen. Artifact Entertainment, Inc was originally founded by David Allen, James Jones, Richard Jones, Doug Shuler, Jesper Myrfors, Rick Simmons, Eric Speier, and Larry Allen as evidenced by the initial founder shares issued to them.[citation needed] It was an ambitious project, with 14 player races, an enormous seamless game world, with features of several other MMORPGs all rolled into one. The development philosophy was very open, and took suggestions for features through a company-run messageboard. This continued for some time as employees were hired and production began, primarily in the form of concept art and further design brainstorming/revisions.
Meanwhile the staff were evaluating game engines to use for the title. Early screenshots were taken from prototypes built upon the Serious Sam engine, the Drakan engine, and others.

Early 2001

Hiring accelerated at this point. Scott Blinn, producer, had been told by Allen that the game needed to reach its beta stage by the end of the year, and a frantic search for talent ensued. As many as 20-30 employees were hired within a couple months. Still no decision had been made about the game's engine, though a server was in progress.

June 22, 2001

The game's direction was switched to using the Unreal engine, and discussion began about properly licensing it. Content development begins using that toolset.

July 20, 2001

David Allen was released as CEO by the Board of Directors.[citation needed] David Bowman and James Jones took over the project, and the game went into a development blackout for several months. Istaria began being dramatically redesigned to scale back its sheer scope in an attempt to make the project completable, and to appeal to the casual gamer. The casual gamer concept is one that heavily directed the game's development until release.

Eate August 2001

More game engines are evaluated, due to programmer worries about transitioning Unreal to a seamless game. Several other engines are reviewed -- Lithtech, NetImmerse, and others. Eventually the client team begins writing their own engine, using Intrinsic Alchemy as a base.

October 3, 2001

The first round of layoffs occurred, many of the game's production staff were let go, since the game was still in pre-production.

Early 2002

Significant progress had been made towards solidifying the game's technology. Early versions of combat worked, terrain was working and editable in-game, objects could be built and placed, and so on. The design continued to be reworked. Asset development at this point was primarily geared towards producing a small game area which could be used as a demo to distributors and venture capitalists.

May 22-25, 2002

Horizons was shown behind closed doors at E3 2002, to a generally positive response. Some previews appear on Gamespy, IGN, and other major sites. Screenshots are released for the first time since the "blackout" in July.

June 2002

The game "officially" began production. The redesign had been more or less solidified, though it continued to change, and asset production was now geared towards a final product rather than a demo.

January 2003

A deal is reached with Infogrames -- they will distribute the game in North America.

December 5, 2003

Horizons officially launched in Europe. American servers went live a few days later. It experienced many of the problems common with new MMORPGs. The game had some growing pains and was widely panned by fans and critics like[1]. Since its release the game has shown some improvements in performance. Though not completely eradicated, these issues have been alleviated gradually.

January 2004

Shortly after Horizons launch James Jones steps into a new role to attempt to secure a new project based on Horizons game engine known as the Evolution Engine. David Bowman becomes the sole project leader.

Early February 2004

Another round of layoffs. Once again a sizable percentage of staff is let go -- primarily artists, world developers, and customer service.

June 15, 2004

A third round of layoffs occurred.

July 2004

James Jones officially leaves Artifact Entertainment leaving only Rick Simmons as the only remaining founder still working on the project. Artifact Entertainment filed in the courts for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Project leader David Bowman expressed that this will not result in an interruption of service and the game will continue as planned.

September 2, 2004

A major server consolidation of the North American servers was completed. Eight shards were consolidated into two, one for normal play and one for role-playing, to cut down on hosting fees. This consolidation had an explanation in the game's lore. An overhaul to address issues of high-level content was performed simultaneously. (the RP shard was named Order and the non-RP shard was named Chaos).

September 24, 2004,

It was announced that (subject to court approval) the assets of Artifact Entertainment would be sold to Tulga Games, LLC, a new company managed by former AE Director of Business Development Chris Tulumello. It should be noted that while the press release from Artifact Entertainment states that Tulga Games is managed by Chris Tulumello, a search of the Arizona Corporation Commission website shows that David Bowman is both the new corporation's Statutory Agent and the sole manager (and Tulumello's name is never mentioned).

October 29, 2004

The 3 European shards were consolidated into one shard called Unity.

December 16, 2004

The Honorable Sarah Curley, Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Arizona the bid of Tulga Games LLC to purchase the assets of Artifact Entertainment Inc. on December 15, 2004

January 25, 2005

Tulga Games, LLC announced today that it has completed the purchase of the assets of Artifact Entertainment.
“We received approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in mid –December to move ahead with the purchase, then proceeded to formally close the purchase,” said Mr. Chris Tulumello, founding manager of Tulga Games. “I’ve been saying for months now that I’m both a fan of the game and a strong advocate of the underlying technology. This purchase dramatically increases the value of Tulga Games and send a message of stability and longevity to current and future Horizons customers,” continued Mr. Tulumello.
Members of Artifact Entertainment’s development, technology and creative teams have been asked to join the new Tulga Games team and “the response to these offers has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Mr. Tulumello.

April 19, 2005

First stage of the Ancient Rite of Passage is released to the live servers.

May 17, 2005

Skalkaar Island is released to the live servers. This new island is the new tutorial island for all Dragon characters.

June 14, 2005

An overhaul of the large island of Lesser Aradoth is released including numerous content additions and bug fixes.

September 27, 2005

The final chapter of the Ancient Rite of Passage is made available to the live servers. In addition, a facelift of the tutorial island of New Trismus is released.

November 11 2005

Peter S. Beagle, famed author of the classic fantasy novel "The Last Unicorn," has signed on to provide story support for the MMORPG - Horizons: Empire of Istaria.

November 17, 2005

The Lairshaper school is released to the live servers along with the ability to purchase and create your own lairs.

February 14, 2006

The new Spirit Isle is released to the live servers. It is the new tutorial island for all non-Dragon characters.

May 9 2006

An expansion for Horizons, known as Settlements, was announced. Few facts are available to date, but some that are known include new racial housing for the dwarf and dryad player races, and the introduction of harpies as a monster.

June 6, 2006

The first epic-sized quest from Peter S Beagle arrives on the live shards and is dubbed, "the Wedding Quest".

July 21 2006

EI Interactive buys Horizons from Tulga, EI promises to continue the game in its current form, but the exact consequences of this sale are unknown.

August 1 2006

EI Interactive changes the billing system of Horizons. The new system is set up through an insecure network and many subscribers complain of being billed twice or (In some situations) more.

August 5 2006

EI Interactive places strict moderation rules on the community forums. All posts and topics are to be read by a moderator before being approved for the forums. The move is rumored to be EI's response to the number of complaints on their billing system that were popping up in the forums.

October 2006

EI Interactive no longer allows member registration on the forums.

November 28 2006

Pixel Magic Corporation announces their acquisition of EI Interactive.

December 23 2006

Horizons announces that the Blight shard (a test server that dozens of players played on regularly) would be shut down December 27th.

August 2007

The Blight shard was restored, along with a new customer support site and the reopening of the community site to new member registration. An interview at GamersInfo.net has been conducted to reveal that Virtrium, LLC is the new owner of the game Horizons, purchasing all of the remaining assets from Tulga Games. The owner of Virtrium is former Tulga employee Rick Simmons and he is joined by other former employees as well.[4]

August 31 2007

A new, secure billing site was implemented by the new developers, Virtrium.

September 18 2007

The first patch to the game in over a year is applied to Blight, and after testing, to the Chaos and Order servers. This patch brought many bug fixes and long awaited changes to the game and was generally well received.

October 2007

Hammer's Rest, a new portion of the fall seasonal event, was opened to players as an add-on to the returning Fall Festival celebrations.

December 2007

Gnomekindle, a new winter seasonal event, was opened to players. Select parts of the Winter events from previous years also returned.

11 April 2008

Unity Transfer Program Launched[14]

14 April 2008

Horizons: Empire of Istaria renamed to Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c VIRTRIUM LLC (April 14, 2008). "VIRTRIUM LLC CHANGES NAME OF GAME PRODUCT HORIZONS TO ISTARIA: CHRONICLES OF THE GIFTED". Press release.
  2. ^ MMORPG.com - Horizons sold to Entertainment Interactive
  3. ^ Interview - Rick Simmons - MMORPG.com
  4. ^ a b Interview - Rick Simmons - Gamersinfo.net
  5. ^ – February 3, 2003 RPGVault Interview with David Bowman
  6. ^ – September 1, 2003 RPGVault Interview with David Bowman
  7. ^ – October 28, 2002 RPGVault Interview with David Bowman
  8. ^ – October 14, 2002 RPGVault Interview with David Bowman
  9. ^ a b – June 11, 2002 RPGVault Interview with David Bowman at E3 2002
  10. ^ – November 11, 2002 RPGVault Interview with David Bowman
  11. ^ a b - June 22, 2006 RPGnet Interview with David Bowman
  12. ^ a b – October 04, 2007 RPGVault Interview with Rick Simmons
  13. ^ a b – September 05, 2005 RPGVault Interview with David Bowman
  14. ^ VIRTRIUM LLC (April 11, 2008). "VIRTRIUM LLC ANNOUNCES UNITY TRANSFER PROGRAM". Press release.

[edit] External links

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