PlaneShift (video game)

Last updated
PlaneShift
Developer(s) Atomic Blue (Volunteer Team)
Initial release2 May 2002;22 years ago (2002-05-02)
Preview release
v0.7.45 / 24 September 2024;2 months ago (2024-09-24)
Repository http://www.sf.net/projects/planeshift
Written inPlaneShift Engine, Crystal Space for 3D
Engine
  • Crystal Space
  • Unreal Engine 5
OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Platform Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux
Type Multiplayer Fantasy MMORPG
License GPLv2 (PSLegacy source code)
PCL (content) [1]
proprietary license (PlaneShift Unreal [2] )
Website http://www.planeshift.it

PlaneShift is a free to play, cross-platform 3D Online Multiplayer Role Playing Game in a fantasy setting. The game requires client software to be installed on the player's computer. The project is no-budget and produced by a group of developers guided by the Atomic Blue organization. [3] The development team comprises volunteers from mostly European countries and North America. [4]

Contents

Setting

PlaneShift takes place inside a colossal stalactite named Yliakum. [5] Players begin in the main city, Hydlaa, where they will start their journey. In most recent setting PlaneShift has 9 playable races, [6] after returning a playable status to Diaboli, making Kran race playable and removing playable status from Ynnwn. Each race has their own homelands and characteristics. The races feature standard fantasy types, like elves and dwarves, but also humanoids made of rock and winged amphibians. Though set underground, life is possible because a crystal named the Azure Sun draws light from the surface of the planet.

Gameplay

Screenshot showing Eagle Bronze Doors, an in-game area in PlaneShift Planeshift bd01.jpg
Screenshot showing Eagle Bronze Doors, an in-game area in PlaneShift

PlaneShift gameplay is based on classical Multiplayer Role Playing Game style, with exploration, magic, single player or team based combat and quests. A major goal of the game is to explore and learn. This can either be done by reading books or by learning about the world by speaking with the NPCs. The interaction with the NPCs is based on predefined answers the player can pick from a list, and also a freeform text entry, which uses natural language parsing to interpret the text. [7] Some of these NPC's provide quests and guidance on how to proceed to gain items and powers. The quests are sequenced to allow character progression in the different skills of the game. There are also events, hosted by Game Masters, that allow for unique quests, festivals and happenings. Players increase their character's skills by completing these quests in the game. The game has strong focus on Role-play (RP). IC (In-Character) behaviour and speech are promoted by the Game Master team.

Players trade using the currency Tria, a triangle-shaped coin. There are denominations for 10, 50 and 250 Tria, named Hexas, Octas and Circles. [5]

Character creation

The PlaneShift character creation tool features two options. The first option is to choose to make a "quick" character, in which a player chooses a "path" and the character's specific attributes are chosen based on the profession. A path reflects the career of the character in his youth, and has associated events which will set the starting skills and stats. The available paths are "Street Warrior", "Enchanter", "Fighting Monk", "Warlock", "Knight", "Rogue". The second option is to make a character with the "custom" method. This method allows the player to choose many additional aspects of the character by describing the story of their birth, parents, jobs, house, siblings, and the life events that happened up to his or her adulthood. The choices made affect the starting attributes and skills the character has. [7]

Combat

PlaneShift features both player versus environment and player versus player combat. The latter is implemented as the ability to engage in duels on a voluntary basis, which requires both parties to agree to the conditions of the duel. If two players' guilds are at war with each other, they do not need to agree to a duel in order to initiate combat with each other. Characters attain progression points (PP) when they successfully engage in combat and use certain abilities, which are used for training attributes. PlaneShift uses a skill based progression system, which allows the player to develop this character in any skills without the mandatory choice of a profession. [8]

Magic

PlaneShift magic comprises several distinct "Ways" (Schools): Crystal Way, Red Way, Brown Way, Azure Way, Blue Way, and Dark Way. Casting spells requires combinations of special magical items called glyphs. The spells are not known upfront, and have to be researched by combining glyphs in sequence. [5]

Development

The PlaneShift project is developed under guidance of Atomic Blue, a Texas-based non-profit organization. [9] The PlaneShift development team is organised in several departments with corresponding leaders. [10]

PlaneShift has been open to players for free since its first public release. The server side engine code and the client code is written from scratch by the PlaneShift team, [11] [12] [ third-party source needed ] while the 3D rendering features are based on the Crystal Space 3D engine. In 2018 support for the Crystal Space engine was discontinued, so the decision was taken to move the whole game content to Unreal Engine 4. [13]

On February 9, 2023, the migration was completed. [14] All player accounts were transferred. It is no longer possible to play the Crystal Space version (also called "PlaneShift Legacy"), and newly created characters start in the tutorial of the Unreal Version.

Throughout the migration process the main developer Luca Pancallo did live streams on YouTube [15] and Twitch. [16] The streams continue now that the migration is complete. There are more than 1,000 streams so far. "We still keep an open development concept, and most of our developments are done live on Twitch and Youtube." [2]

The servers and the internet connection for the game are donated by sponsors. [7]

Prior to the transition to Unreal Engine the game used two different licenses: the engine was released under the GNU General Public License v2, [17] [18] and the content was released under a proprietary license. [17] [19] The artwork, ruleset, dialog, and other non-engine content of PlaneShift are proprietary [20] and licensed under a custom license: the PlaneShift Content License [1] (PCL). The PCL prevents modifications, redistributions, and assigns the copyright of accepted contributions to Atomic Blue. This license also forbids using the content for profit or for unofficial hosting. [19]

After the transition there are two versions of PlaneShift: PlaneShift Legacy and PlaneShift Unreal. PlaneShift Unreal is the new and current version made with Unreal Engine 5. This version is currently not open source. [2]

The original game idea came from Luca Pancallo in 1994, who released a 2D version in 1996. The development of this game ended 1998 as no commercial support or publisher could be found. In 2000 the development was restarted aiming for a 3D version with an international team of developers. The first major version (0.1) released on May 2, 2002, was codenamed "Atomic Blue". [21] Four different public versions of the game have come out since then, with additional functionality. PlaneShift is currently in the alpha stage of development at version 0.7.45.

Reception

Metacritic lists the game with 56 points from one review from mmorpg.com. [22]

PlaneShift has been used in multiple studies regarding development of free software and video games. [23] [24] [25] PlaneShift has been also studied as a collaborative software engineering organizational model. [26] [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.

<i>Asherons Call</i> 1999 video game

Asheron's Call (AC) was a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows PCs, developed and published by Turbine Entertainment Software. Though it was developed by the Turbine team, it was published as a Microsoft title until 2004. The game was set on the island continent of Dereth and several surrounding smaller islands and archipelagos on the fictional planet of Auberean. The game was played in a large seamless 3D virtual world which could host thousands of players' characters at a time.

A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term "software engine" used more widely in the software industry.

<i>Asherons Call 2: Fallen Kings</i> 2002 video game

Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings was a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows which was released on November 22, 2002 and shut down on December 30, 2005 before it was relaunched as a beta for active Asheron's Call subscribers in 2012. It is a sequel to 1999's Asheron's Call, although content, graphics and gameplay dynamics differed greatly from its predecessor.

<i>Ryzom</i> 2004 video game

Ryzom, also known as The Saga of Ryzom, is a free and open source massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Nevrax for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux.

<i>Multi Theft Auto</i> Grand Theft Auto multiplayer modification

Multi Theft Auto (MTA) is a multiplayer modification for the Microsoft Windows version of Rockstar North games Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that adds online multiplayer functionality. For Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the mod also serves as a derivative engine to Rockstar's interpretation of RenderWare.

<i>Vanguard: Saga of Heroes</i> 2007 video game

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes was a high fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Sigil Games Online and published by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). The game was released on January 30, 2007 and initially sold around 242,000 copies, while the number of active subscriptions was estimated to be around 130,000, to drop in the next months to about 40,000. In May 2007, Sony Online Entertainment acquired key assets from Sigil Games Online, including all rights to Vanguard.

Gekkeiju Online was a 3D MMORPG developed by a Finnish indie software company, Coolhouse Productions in 2003. The game incorporated anime-style characters into a medieval fantasy world.

id Tech 4 Video game engine

id Tech 4, popularly known as the Doom 3 engine, is a game engine developed by id Software and first used in the video game Doom 3. The engine was designed by John Carmack, who also created previous game engines, such as those for Doom and Quake, which are widely recognized as significant advances in the field. This OpenGL-based game engine has also been used in Quake 4, Prey, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Wolfenstein, and Brink. id Tech 4 is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.

<i>Alien Arena</i> 2004 video game

Alien Arena is an open-source, stand-alone first-person shooter video game. Begun by COR Entertainment in 2004, the game combines a 1950s-era sci-fi atmosphere with gameplay similar to the Quake, Doom, and Unreal Tournament series. Alien Arena focuses mainly on online multiplayer action, although it does contain single-player matches against bots.

<i>StarQuest Online</i> 2007 video game

StarQuest Online was a massively multiplayer online role playing game taking place in a large universe. It was created by Castle Thorn Software. In 2009 NeXeon Technologies partnered with Castle Thorn to support development of the game, but in mid-2014 the game had been shut down. The game created a tight-knit gaming community of around 50 people aged between 12 and 60 which continues today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan C. Gordon</span> Computer programmer

Ryan C. Gordon is a computer programmer and former Loki Software employee responsible for icculus.org, which hosts many Loki Software projects as well as others. Gordon's site hosts projects with the code from such commercial games as Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Quake III Arena and other free and open source projects for multiple platforms.

<i>Yo Frankie!</i> 2008 open-source computer game

Yo Frankie! is an open source video game made by the Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation, released in November 2008. It is based on the universe and characters of the free film produced earlier in 2008 by the Blender Institute, Big Buck Bunny. Like the Blender Institute's previous open film projects, the game is made using free software. Yo Frankie! runs on any platform that runs Blender and Crystal Space, including Linux, macOS and Microsoft Windows.

<i>Blade & Soul</i> 2016 video game

Blade & Soul is a Wuxia-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Korean NCSoft. Blade & Soul was released in Western territories on January 19, 2016. A Japanese animated television adaptation aired in 2014 from April 3 to June 26 on TBS and other stations.

<i>Turf Battles</i> 2003 video game

Turf Battles, often referred to as TB, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). It is IMAZIC's first released game first introduced in 2002. Turf Battles takes place within the world of Fomalhaut, years after a major war. Originally published under HyperEngines LLC, the open beta was announced around September 2005. Due to many technical issues, the game ultimately failed, and Hyper Engines LLC closed its operations mid-2008, but due to popular player support, the title was picked up for the American audience by Aeria Games and Entertainment, who announced Turf Battles in December 2008. After three closed betas, Turf Battles has gone into a final Beta Stress Test, which moved into an open beta. Aeria Games closed down the Turf Battles servers in June 2010, citing several technical issues that continued during the development.

<i>Vindictus</i> 2010 video game

Vindictus is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) created by devCAT, an internal studio of Nexon. The story follows the player character joining a group of mercenaries and going on a series of missions to battle monsters. The gameplay has players exploring dungeons, fighting monsters, and upgrading their characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-player character</span> Game character not controlled by a player

A non-player character (NPC), also called a non-playable character, is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster or referee rather than by another player. In video games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer that has a predetermined set of behaviors that potentially will impact gameplay, but will not necessarily be the product of true artificial intelligence.

Pocket Legends is an iOS and Android mobile 3D MMO developed by Spacetime Studios. It has variously been described as the first cross-platform, mobile 3D MMO.

Bless Online was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Neowiz Games. The release date was May 28, 2018, for Founder's Pack purchasers and May 30 for Early Access on Steam. Bless Online uses a free-to-play business model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amazon Lumberyard</span> Cross-platform triple-A game engine

Amazon Lumberyard is a now-superseded freeware cross-platform game engine developed by Amazon and based on CryEngine, which was licensed from Crytek in 2015. In July 2021, Amazon and the Linux Foundation announced that parts of the engine would be used to create a new open source game engine called Open 3D Engine, which would replace it. A new Open 3D Foundation, run by the Linux Foundation, will manage the new engine, which will be licensed under the open source Apache 2.0 license. The new engine is reportedly partially based on Lumberyard but with many parts rewritten, and is considered a new engine.

References

  1. 1 2 PlaneShift Content License Archived 2007-09-14 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 3 "PlaneShift Source code".
  3. ↑ "PlaneShift. Download and information on Atomic Blue Corporation PlaneShift". planeshift.it. 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
  4. ↑ "PlaneShift World Map". Planeshift.it. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
  5. 1 2 3 TUX December 2006 Issue 20, Pg 60
  6. ↑ "PlaneShift Races". Planeshift.it. 2024-10-01. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  7. 1 2 3 planeshift Archived 2007-11-08 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish) on Linux Magazine
  8. ↑ "Jeuxlinux - Le site des jeux pour linux - Planeshift". Jeuxlinux.fr. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
  9. ↑ http://www.wysk.com/index/texas/austin/tdmwn7y/atomic-blue/profile
  10. ↑ http://www.planeshift.it/Join%20Us
  11. ↑ https://www.ohloh.net/p/planeshift
  12. ↑ "Planeshift: A 3D MMORPG". 21 October 2022.
  13. ↑ "Unreal Engine". 207.244.96.64. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  14. ↑ https://www.planeshift.it/article/2023/PlaneShift%20Unreal%20The%20Switch
  15. ↑ "PlaneShiftOfficial - YouTube". YouTube .
  16. ↑ "Twitch".
  17. 1 2 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2008-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. ↑ "Planeshift: a 3D MMORPG | Get Planeshift: a 3D MMORPG at". SourceForge.net. 2000-07-17. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
  19. 1 2 "PlaneShift License". Planeshift.it. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
  20. ↑ Linux Format March 2005 Issue 64, Pg 13
  21. ↑ Claudius posted on 28 Aug 2003 10:59 (2003-08-28). "WarCry Network : News : Feel free to play - Literally speaking". Warcry.com. Retrieved 2010-05-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ↑ planeshift on metacritic.com
  23. ↑ Free/Open Source Software Development: Recent Research Results and Methods - Advances in Computers, Volume 69, 2007, Pages 243-295 - Walt Scacchi
  24. ↑ Prototyping Game Design Workshop (Second Edition), 2008, Pages 175-212 - Tracy Fullerton, Christopher Swain
  25. ↑ "Using Virtual Reality to make cultural environments more accessible to people with physical disabilities". Re-Flex. 2005-06-22. Archived from the original on 2009-12-21. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
  26. ↑ Collaborative Software Engineering By Ivan Mistra-K, Page 317/318
  27. ↑ Software process modeling by Silvia T. Acuña, Natalia Juristo, Page 14
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.