Rising from the Ashes: The SimCast Gaming System
by Alphaville Herald on 05/02/05 at 3:06 pm
by Matthias Zander
Many remember the splitting of ways that the SimCast development team suffered in November of last year, and the call for an open-source gaming system that followed. This was all caused by the departure of the project’s head programmer, Azelda Garcia. Like the mythical phoenix, however, the project has risen from the ashes of the old one and is seeming to be better than ever in the opinions of many.
Under the direction of Prong Thetan, the programming skills of Grim Hathor and Mystic Templar, the weapon and armor creation skills of Gurgon Grumby and Evad Yaffle, the animating of Ferran Brodsky, the designing of Osprey Therian, the building of YadNi Monde, the communication abilities of Simone Templar, the sound manipulations of Claire Engel, the enforcing muscle of Mystique Suavage, and the backing of the Herald’s own Urizenus Sklar, the project has been reborn and is back with a vengence. This crack team of 12 people continues to work to improve the systems of combat, grouping, and typical game play. Beta testing is expected to begin on Saturday with an event at approximately 7 p.m. SL time, with a full release expected on or around March 1st.
From left to right: YadNi Monde, Gurgon Grumby, Evad Yaffle, Simone Templar, Claire Engel (in the fire), Prong Thetan
Not pictured: Grim Hathor, Mystic Templar, Ferran Brodsky, Osprey Therian, Mystique Suavage, Urizenus Sklar
I recently spoke with Mystique Suavage, the SimCast player who has gained the most levels during the alpha testing phase and was recently promoted to the role of enforcer. She estimates that she’s spent between 80 and 100 hours actually levelling in the game over the past two weeks. Out of the current level cap of 160 (20 in each of the 8 classes), she has gained all 160 as of the early morning hours of Friday, February 4.
SimCast from afar
I also spoke with Grim Hathor, the man who took over the role of lead programmer after Azelda Garcia was fired last year. Since her code was available only to her, he had to start over to the very beginning. He said that he “recreated the basics of a gametag and combat in a few days,” but has easily spent over 200 hours programming the new tags. Also according to Grim, beta will be a time of general balancing, but that it will last “for months to come.” Only time will tell.
Bedford City
Another large thing that some speculate has helped with the rebirth of SimCast is the arrival of the group known as the Kao’an Exiles. Their leader, Sorshia Wishbringer, was kind enough to sit down with me to talk about their origins. Their group originated in the ActiveWorlds chat universe and includes both people who moved to SecondLife from ActiveWorlds and friends they have gained since moving here. The Kao’ans, since moving here, have been actively involved in DarkLife and now in the alpha testing of SimCast, which has generated traffic from many of their 34 members.
Sorshia Wishbringer in front of the SimCast Castle
The SimCast project consists of three sims (SimCast, Midgard, and Bedford), strung together and using the same mainframe to create a unique, immersive gaming environment. Improvements to the system are being made daily as new visitors arrive with their ideas and suggestions. The world is ever-evolving.
Bedford’s floating castle
Even while in the alpha testing stage, SimCast got enough traffic to be awarded a “Dwelloper Award” for the month of January. Catherine Omega called it “A reason to quit emailing Philip to tell him how much SL sucks” during a visit on the night of Tuesday, February 1st. Philip Linden, along with many other Lindens, has visited the game. If the current traffic is any indication, the phoenix is rising and flying up, preparing to soar. Keep watching the Herald for more details on the situations developing in SimCast and information as it progresses through beta and into full release.
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