http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/mmo-...nsion-for-jagex

Plus expansion into the Eastern-Europe and Asian markets. Good going, Jagex.

That six million subscriber quote is a lie, more like "six million active players", not subscribers.

Zomg this should be MechScape, if it isnt then, wth?

Woot!

Could be a small MMO under FunOrb's umbrella? That way they won't have registered a trademark like they did with the FunOrb name specifically.

It'll be MechScape, mosty likely. If it was a mini MMO on FunOrb then I'd hardly call it a "big investment" like Iddison described for their new project.

Thanks for posting this, Ross. The only other investment big enough to be trademarked besides RuneScape and FunOrb is MechScape, so I really hope it is that in early 2009. I've posted this to the news part of the website.

Don't consider this interview an official statement, since it's not a press release.

If it's out later than "early 2009" don't be surprised.

Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/mmo-...nsion-for-jagex


Considering both clan support and player owned houses were originally due to be released in 2001, even if it were an official announcement I wouldn't be surprised it if was a bit late.

This is good news. I think another 8 months then its out. If they are going to release a beta i think it will be in October-ish.

wow man!! thats gonna become awesome

Counting down the months now!

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/mmo-...s-geoff-iddison states it is expected (not promised) for Q1 2009.

Q1 = Jan,Feb,March
Q2 = April,May,June
Q3 = July,Aug,Sep
Q4 = Oct,Nov,Dec


Indeed: "RuneScape has grown to over 6 million active free players, whilst the members’ version has over 1 million paying subscribers" (source)

Why would they put that then? You think Jagex told them to or they did it by mistake.

Wouldn't be surprised if they were covering up a bit. I just woudln't believe they have much more than 1million members, since they lost 60k mems from update (another questionable number).

Ahh well, nothing else to do but take their word on it.

You never know, they tend to exaggerate. I do hope it is MechScape though.

A BETA in 2008 sounds awesome. I wonder if they will allow the BETA to RuneScape and FunOrb members? If not then what...

That would probably sound like the best thing for them to do, although that would mean I can't try it

I highly doubt they will allow people from RuneScape and Funorb to actually beta test their game. They would not get the feedback they require. They will probably go with internal testing and hiring pro testers to test their game (beta testing can be a job).

Jagex currently have around 20 quality assurance testers (FunOrb, RuneScape & MechScape combined).

Interesting...

The only problem I see with testing 20 people is how the servers can handle it. Or if, when something becomes more populated, unknown bugs are found. Their staff better be ready for hell on the day of release :)

I agree to that. If they only test with 20 people it wouldn't be like 1700 people playing at one time. They better stress test their servers really good or they will probably crash and burn.

Jagex employ hundreds of people. They could easily recruit some of them to help in more widescale testing.

They also have RuneScape serves to build on, even thought the game is going to be more graphical, it still wouldn't have as much things as RuneScape does atm.

Well, MechScape will most likely use pretty much the same core technology as RuneScape for the server, just with different RuneScript (assumably they still call it that even though it'd be MechScript). And they might even be using exactly the same login servers. Jagex didn't do a public beta for the Wilderness, they didn't do a public beta for FunOrb and they didn't do a public beta for Summoning.

But you must remember, Mechscape is a completely different thing. When RuneScape was first released, they did not have to be ready for a large intake of people, since only a few hundred people played (at the time). Now, since it was not a large scale success at release, this meant they could fix the bugs as the servers got more and more crowded. But now, since Mechscape will be flooded with people wanting to play the game, there will most likely be some HUGE bugs that are missed.

I would have to guess that they need a good several hundred testers, unless they want to release Mechscape unsure of how the servers will react.

The servers will probably be brand new so they will react just find.... it's the code that gets me worried. :P

The fact that the servers are new is the whole problem.... they will not know how they react to large crowds.

Servers are tested for large amounts of activity. Even if it isn't before they bought it, I'm sure they will stress test it. So it's not the server that fails but the code that the server runs.

Exactly...the way the game is coded leads to how the servers react when many people crowd them.

When it becomes overcrowded it can lead to bugs, crashes, etc.

Personally, I have no doubt that Jagex will release a MechScape beta. There is no way they can test an MMO as well as the players themselves. It could be fatal if thousands of players find some kind of uncontrollable exploit. It would make sense if they released it, then reset the database a while later once they feel it is bug free - which is what they did before "RuneScape 2" was launched. They would have to be crazy not to do that.

I'd say that sounds about right. They will most likely let current paying members of Runescape test out Mechscape for about a month or so, report errors and faults. Then reset and work on the server then release it when they are satisfied with what they have.

Either way I am hoping paying RS members will be able to test it out

I highly doubt they will only allow members to test it. Remember, they will be needing feedback, and just because someone pays does not make them more reliable to give information than players who do not play.

I am very interested to see how they handle this

I wouldn't surprised if they did a beta. I can see both the "members only" (as a lure) and "all players" arguments. Of course they could be even sneakier and make it initially only for people who are both RuneScape and FunOrb subscribers.

Yes, that would be sneaky. But I would make the guess that they are going to attempt to do a closed beta of 5000 to 10000 people, perhaps? These people would be spread out on different servers and report bugs.

I am just interested to see what kind of feedback these people would give....

Also, if it is to only FunOrb and RuneScape players...any idea how many people that would actually be? I would guess around 100k overall people are subbed to both?

Muhahaha :P

100k?!?! That is all you give em credit for? I say at least 400k, They have over 10k of funOrb members with no problem, and last RuneScape members recored was 1 mil, and I am pretty sure not 500k people quit... Sooo giving them a lot of people.... Like I was atleast 400k.

Please reread my statement. I said subbed to both FunOrb and RuneScape. As in have subscriptions to RuneScape AND FunOrb

Cool beans, I hope that's true and that it's coming out early 2009.

Oh I see you mean both lol my bad I thought you meant both members added together...

Upsetting most of the RuneScape members wouldn't be a good idea. I think they would do anyone that is a member on either FunOrb or RuneScape.... at least I hope so!

400k is way too high. I'd say 50k subscribed to both.

I said 100k, not 400k.

Oops i suppose i was meant to quote ed5* but oh well.
*Corrected.

:P, I already figured out what he meant, so I know its not 400k.
and Edd is the mod, I am Ed xD or Edwin, or Ed5, or simply 5, if you wanna call me 5 go ahead, I dont mind. lol

i know this is kinda off topic but if he gets to be 5 i want to be 007.and it would most likly be around 25k-30k people but im sure you could easily get another 10k people of the launch if they promote it properly and if the game is really good it could jump higher

Very cool

.....eeerrrrmmm....this may also be slightly off-topic but, if he's 5, and your 007, can i be 117?

(for anyone that doesn't know 117= spartan 117 from halo! lol)