So last weekend I was at the Penny Arcade Expo. It's an annual trip for me, and while I don't get quite as much out of every exhibitor there as some people do I always manage to find something I really, really like every year. Last year it was a few pieces of random swag from several booths, including a small stuffed plushie "Salabounder" from some random online game. This year, however, it was hands down the booth that GarageGames had up. For those of you who don't recognize the name, GarageGames is a company made up of several old Dynamix employees, mostly ones who worked on Tribes and Tribes 2. In fact, after Sierra liquidated Dynamix, causing GarageGames to be formed, they had to hire the company to fix some bugs in Tribes 2. After that fun bit of poetic justice GarageGames came out with InstantAction, which features full 3d games, including FPSes, in your web browser, including a game called Legions which plays suspiciously like Tribes.
Yes, a lot of history hear. Bear with me here, I'm getting to the point.
GarageGames's booth featured a few things about their upcoming version of the Torque engine, a few other games, and of course InstantAction... and the new game they're going to add to it soon.
Tribes
MOTHERF%$#ING TRIBES!!! YAAAAAYYYY!!!
I would have been just plain happy with normal, as-it-was-10-years-ago Tribes, but apparently one of the devs decided to update it and add some bugfixes and new features. Among other things, the game has a built-in HUD that tracks team flags (much like the third-party version I use normally), automatic skiing (you just hold spacebar down now, rather than having to hammer it or use scripts), and a neat little grid effect that shows you where the mission borders are. That's just what I noticed casually; I'm sure there's a lot more. Oh yes, the version I played was apparently version 1.40; just a random tidbit of info you might like to know.
I'm a Shifter player (the one that inspired the name for my own Deus Ex mod), which among other things features more weapons, more armors, and the ability to spawn in a favorite loadout. Basic, unmodified Tribes is tame by comparison, but damned if I didn't play it for probably close to 5 hours at that booth. (No I wasn't hogging it, there just wasn't really a line)
Of course, while I was there I learned a number of other interesting things, some of which I apparently could have already known:
- GarageGames has purchased the rights to the Starsiege universe, including the Tribes games, notably Tribes and Tribes 2. (The gentleman I talked to indicated that the company was considering merging their existing Legions game with the Starsiege universe.)
- GarageGames owns the domains for the original Tribes Master Servers, and has the full software for the Master Servers for both Tribes and Tribes 2. In fact, they were operating a PAX-specific Master Server for the event. Apparently the legitimate master servers should be back up soon, if they aren't already.
- The company is debating doing something with Tribes 2, but since the sudden re-awakening of Tribes 1 is apparently due to one of their devs (Justin?) waking up one morning and deciding "hey, I miss Tribes", there's no guarantee that Tribes 2 in InstantAction will go anywhere. I did ask about Tribes: Vengeance; the response I got involved the phrase "better use of our time". Can't say I disagree.
- A separate, updated client will be available for Tribes when they launch it on the website, the reasoning being that since the game is damn near 12 years old it's not like it'll deeply impact their sales or anything.
- Because the original Tribes was Windows only, the updated version, even the web version, will also be Windows only. Apparently porting the game to something an Intel-based Mac can run would be too time consuming. Again, can't say I disagree.
- Fallen Empires: Legions isn't currently moddable, and there are no plans to make it moddable, but the gentleman I talked to said something along the lines of, "we have a new version of our engine coming out which we intend to be highly moddable, and it would make sense for us to port our flagship title (Legions) to that engine." I can hardly wait.
There are other tidbits of information I'm sure I'm missing, but the bottom line is that TRIBES IS BACK. Soon, anyway. The various bits of swag they gave out (including a drawstring backpack and some sweet team-branded shirts) point you to the site playtribes.com, which at the moment still has links up for you to "Play at PAX". Eventually though this will change, so maybe you should bookmark that and keep an eye on it. In the meantime I'm going to dust off my Shifter_v1Y mod and get it ready for the coming Tribes Renaissance.
