Funcom have stated that they’re working on a casual MMO with release sometime in 2009, using Java technology. Ok, so Age of Conan isn’t harvesting alot of praise these days, but I still consider them a pretty significant game studio, so I’m looking forward to see what they do with Java.
Have a link?
Any idea if it’s client technology or server technology? Sniffs of DarkStar?
Kev
Sorry, there are no details provided.
It was just mentioned as a “one-liner” in an article in a norwegian newspaper. The article was labeled “Funcom after Conan” and focused on 2 aspects: Their next big MMORPG “The Secret World”, and their new investment into the “Casual MMO” marked. There it was said that their first Casual MMO was already under development, that it would be java-based, and that it would hit the marked sometime in 2009. It appeared from the article (and several other articles) that Funcom will be focusing more on the Casual MMO market in the future.
A link to the original norwegian article. (I guess some online service can translate it). http://www.dagensit.no/trender/article1466642.ece
I thought Funcom was using unity for one of their casual MMOs:
In the norwegian article it says the game will be java based. For all we know it may mean they will use javascript in Unity.
Page 12 of this Funcom corporate presentation says a Java based MMO is indeed in development:
It appears to be from last month,
Kev
id love to c some commercial quality java games. that would enhance my confidence in my own project. hah ;D
Casual Java MMO?
Puzzle Pirates?
I don’t quite follow the meaning of the phrase ‘casual MMO’…
So it’s just a 3D version of IRC? (Just for chit-chat?)
I’d call something like DungeonRunners a casual MMO. Nothing overly complicated and just playing for 1/2 hour is not a problem.
WOW/Warhammer/LotR/GW are just more involved (time wise) MMOs.
An MMORPG (and there are terribly few) is something I would call the most involved (time and effort wise) MMOs.
Excellent news! Java rocks!!!