http://www.develop-online.net/digital-edition (Page 6 & 7)

Jagex Ready to Conquer Consoles by Will Freeman
As the release of its next MMO draws near, the UK’s biggest studio says it is going to broaden horizons away from browser-based technology - and onto TVs


UK independent Jagex has confirmed to Develop that it is looking towards releasing its first console game. In an exclusive interview with Develop, senior staff at the studio – one of the largest in Europe – said that it will start work on the project after work is complete on its next MMO, currently codenamed Mechscape.

“The earliest thing I did as Chief Technical Officer is make sure we became quite program-agnostic,” revealed Jagex’s Mark Gerhard, who was appointed as CEO earlier this year. “That’s not just down to the client that we run, or even down to the platform of our targets. It’s down to the languages. We’re in a good shape now to be able to go to console, and not run on Java Virtual Machine right now.” He also revealed: “I suspect that the next project to come out of the studio will be a console game, which will be based on a proven IP.”

Despite still carrying a working title, the arrival of Mechscape is imminent, and while Jagex head of games development Henrique Olifiers has refused to be drawn on a release date, he did offer some perspective on why the game has been underway since 2006. “We are getting there,” promised Olifiers. “We are polishing the game now. Most of the job is done, but we don’t want to compromise with the date. We perform play tests all the time, and we want to have the freedom to change as much as we want. We want to release the product when we say ‘this is finished and this is brilliant’, and not be pressured by any commitment that we could have made to the community.

“Ultimately we’re only going to launch it when we’re happy with it,” added Gerhard. “Call it internal quality control if you will. That’s why we haven’t committed to a date. “It’s not about the right time to launch, a PR opportunity or a commercial opportunity. It’s really just about ‘when is this game ready to go out so it will be fun?’ That approach is really us going back to our roots, if you will. It was always in the company’s DNA. “I think we dabbled for a year or so with the ‘hack, ship, hack, ship, hack, ship,’ model; being more corporate or commercial or what ever the right term is. That just wasn’t us. “So our return to roots is frustrating to some in terms of ‘when is it going to come out?’ But the game? I can say its looking good. The guys are doing a fantastic job and I’d say we have one last big push. It’s so close it hurts.”

A sci-fi MMO, Mechscape is designed for a more mature player than those typical of Runescape’s user base; a demographic the team at Jagex is confident it can court without alienating newcomers, says Olifier. In the interview with Develop, which is available to read in full at on our website, the company CEO also elaborated on the studio’s relationship with Java, and its influence over the creation of Mechscape.

“I guess we started off again being Java guys, and the fact is that really Java couldn’t do everything we needed it to do,” explained Gerhard. “So Jagex built a ‘Java Audio Graphics Extension’. We had to write our own library for audio and for graphics. It’s come a long way, but our entire framework is its own proprietary systems from endto- end, from web servers through to file systems – everything is by Jagex. “We used the Java syntax, but everything else is built in house. That technology allowed us to do incredible things that you’ll be able to see with Mechscape. The experience is a real evolution, and it’s surprising because it’s running in a browser. And I don’t think you’d be able to do that with traditional Java, if you will, but that’s nine years of development in the making. We sometimes surprise ourselves. ”

Very very nice, "It's so close it hurts"... So what they are saying is, it's around a month away, last time MMG said this is when PvP Update was coming and he said those words and it came out in a week!

Omg!

Interesting read.



Can't wait.

Holy awsome balls, I'm so excited! erm....woops...I'm a little too excited because I just pee'd.

Cool but more of it was about Mechscape than consoles. :O

Nice stuff.

More console news, nice. “I suspect that the next project to come out of the studio will be a console game, which will be based on a proven IP", RuneScape anyone?

I don't really see Runescape being played on a console. It would be quite hard to get everything working right, since the mouse plays a big part in Runescape. Unless of course they were to redo the WHOLE game, which again highly doubtful.

Edit: plus if they were to redo the whole game, it wouldn't be Runescape it would just be another game.

They could be releasing a game based on "Betrayal at Falador" or they could release a series of games.(e.g. Mahjarrat series, gnome series etc.)

Getting close to release! Can't wait.

"So close it hurts"

That's awesome!

Omg, I can feel the pain alrady

You are correct, it was roughly a week between him saying this and the release of the PvP update. I think with a project like this you are looking at around 1-2 months more, closer to the 1 I would hope.

I am so stoked for this game. May I just say that this information has offered a variety of new facts which is defiently sign of progress. I mean for Jagex to be talking so openly about the project after MechScape signifies a close release.

THANK YOU MSW! ILY!

~Brad

EDIT: In response to the platform game. There are three options.

1) The Console supports Jagex's specific Java Coding.
2) The games they have currently are ported.
3) A whole new game.

Interesting read, it's unlikely we'll get any information on the console game for at least two years.

MechScape for 360? Would be awesome for me, since it might not work on my macbook.

Mod MMG said the same about the name-changing thing for RuneScape in his Q&A session, is it linked?

Well the waiting certainly hurts lol

When Mod MMG says "It's awesome" MechScape will be out that day/next day.

Oooh! This is promising.

*gasp* My waiting has ended... This s a great way 2 bring up hype!!

Well they've said soon for ages. I'm not hyped, quite the opposite.

Yes I know you all love me now for ruining all your excitement ;)

Interesting read. Not much new information, but still an interesting read.

Well I'm thinking the name-change system will be released a bit before MechScape so new people checking it out have more name choices.

Hm I wonder what Jagex's game will be like compared to Bioshocks or EA games..As long as it's released on the 360 I'll definetly buy it.

I am pretty damn sure I've seen that quote in a different interview...

Everyone is talking about 1 big platform game....what if it's not? It could be something like FunOrb, lots of little games on one disc.

The CasualGaming interview is based on the Develop interview, but the full MechScape one hasn't been released on Develop yet it seems.

(Will Freeman)

Anyone here subscribe to Develop magazine?

So close it hurts gets me excited for sureeeeee.

Birth related anyone? :P

---

This was a very interesting read - thanks Ren. :)

-Felix

Indeed, nice read, but I've herd a lot of it before, just with added detail now.

I can't wait!!! Hopefully it will come out at the same time as Halo 3: ODST so that I can go play video games for a week and forget about school!

With the new icons that Jagex released, I want to think they will be releasing it this week or next week.

This is the best interview i think that they've ever conducted with the "So close it hurts" comment

I agree, they've been saying "its being polished" or "its coming soon" forever, i dont understand why everyone is getting so excited over this. I bet it wont be out for another month or two at best. Although he said they are play testing it right now so why not release a beta and let 10 million ppl play test it?

i think the beta will be out before the 27th atleast, otherwise for the question/answer thing all they will get is when is it out, or whats it like, etc.

I think it will be out after 27th because there will be plenty of information about it on Mechscape's site when it's released so the q/a wouldn't be necessary.

Of course it still would be nice if it is released before it.

The mechscape Q&A will most definantly come before the beta, if not then why would they need a Q&A? + the Q&A is a good way to get some soft hype up.

Same old, same old I suppose. I guess going into console gaming is a step in the right direction for Jagex, but it would be even more cool to see their current games like RuneScape be compatible with the current video game consoles out right now.

Cool read nonetheless. :)

why do they do a question+answer for runescape then..

umm... because people have questions about upcoming content.

This is getting me excited.
*joins the other Msw members partying*

I always love it when they describe that it won't be like anything ever made before :D

nice read but most of it is old news, seen it all before in older interviews, with the exception of 'So close it hurts', which I've seen a number of times talking about other jagex updates which..... werent all that satisfactory to say the least. but the bit about console games was a great read.

I can see it now...

Nice fake?

The sword looks like its coming out of his head :D

He's a unicorn!

I want to think if they did a RuneScape game it wouldn't connect to the existing MMO, but rather be a stand-alone game. RuneScape's storyline is pretty developed, but yet a standard video game following the story of a character through a story could flesh out something more. Who knows, though...

Grand Theft Auto: Falador?

Didn't anyone here read Mod MMG's Q&A? He confirmed that RuneScape would be ported to consoles, but they're still working with the console-makers, and he said they (the console-makers) are a little uncomfortable with allowing it to be free.



This isn't the first time Jagex has confirmed that RuneScape would be ported to consoles, either. I believe Mod MMG also talked about it in the last Q&A (or possibly on the forums right after it), and other Jagex Mods have posted about it on the forums as well. They said the reason they may only stick with one console is because they would have to release the updates for each console, and each one would be a separate task, but they all need to be updated at the same exact time. If you read Mod Nexus's recent blog, you know how much work it is getting the update out for PCs alone - now imagine adding two or three consoles to that!

So, anyway, we already know that RuneScape will definitely be ported to consoles.


MechScape will almost definitely be released in September, at the earliest. They wouldn't have us ask questions before its release, then give us the answers after, because then we'd already have figured out the answers by the time they're posted. Plus, the Q&A is only two weeks away, and Mod MMG said they still have a bit of work to do (as we all just read), so there's almost no chance of it coming out before the Q&A.

I'm guessing a late September release.

A console game eh? Well I must say i'm excited to see how Jagex plan to revoltionise console gaming as well. :D

I agree, MC, that they need to add more meat onto the game before it is released onto a console. Especially if they were only offering the free to play quests with the free game, and after that all you were doing was skilling would get very boring indeed. They would need to add more quests to make it more exciting so more people take it off the shelves.

Grand Theft Auto: Falador would rock!!!

I would prefer them to make a standalone game. Runescape on console would suck... Not only would it be super pixelated on your tv, but typing would be a pain in the backside. Who would play a grinding console game?