Stargate Worlds

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Stargate Worlds
Stargateworlds logo.jpg
Developer(s) Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment
Publisher(s) FireSky
Engine Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
ReleaseCancelled
Genre(s) MMORPG
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Stargate Worlds (abbreviated as SGW) [1] was to be a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) video game, but it was put on hold and never released. It was developed by Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment (CME) in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and would have been published by FireSky for Microsoft Windows. The game's setting was based on the military science fiction series Stargate SG-1 . The game was to focus on a premise set around an ancient device called the "Stargate".

Contents

In 2006, both CME and MGM announced the release of a video game set in the Stargate Universe. In 2008, FireSky announced its participation in the process of releasing Stargate Worlds. [2] On March 25, 2010, FireSky announced on their website that CME/CMG had entered receivership. As a result, production on the game ceased. [3] The estimated release date was never revealed before cancellation. [4] The license agreement between CME and MGM expired on November 16, 2010, and the Stargate: Resistance servers shut down on January 15, 2011. In 2012 it was reported that development was cancelled with at least two investor lawsuits filed against the former chairman and CEO of CME, Gary Whiting, and other former executives. [5]

Development

CME and MGM announced in February 2006 that work had begun on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). [6] CME released several concept art images from Stargate Worlds in late 2006 along with announcing the use of Unreal Engine 3.0. This was also the first public release on the Stargate Worlds computer-generated art. [7] In November, 2006 CME announced that Stargate Worlds had moved from pre-production to enter the production phase of the game's development. To celebrate this, they released new images for the game. [8] The showrunners of Stargate SG-1 have been closely connected with the Stargate Worlds project including co-creator Brad Wright serving as a games creative consultant. [9] Developer Chris Klug in an interview said that creating a game out of the Stargate Universe was easy because of the "breadth of content." [10] Development progress for the game was reported to have slowed down drastically because of the Great Recession of 2007. [9] FireSky had struck a deal with Convergys Corporation (CVG), which is a corporation leading in global relationship management. The company would provide the state-of-the-art customer support services for Stargate Worlds, to give the gamers their "best" gaming experience "ever". [11]

In 2009, in an interview with GateWorld , Wright said he had doubts if the game would be released at all. Marketing manager from FireSky announced that the game was still in development, even if people said otherwise. He further stated that they were arranging deals to cover their financial responsibilities and fund the remainder of development of the video game. [12]

Registrations were accepted for a closed beta version, with participants to be drawn randomly from the pool of registrants. Registration was limited to those aged 18 and over. [13]

On February 12, 2010, CME filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with development on hold. [14] The Stargate Worlds project was cancelled.

Setting

Stargate Worlds was based on the popular science fiction show Stargate SG-1 . The game was to take place in the earlier seasons of the show, before the Atlantis expedition and before the Ori story arc. [15] The game would have explored the Furling, a race mentioned but not depicted in the show. The game's senior content designer Steve Garvin explained: "We had this whole idea for the Furling being a single entity that stretches across time, able to see the past and the future." [16]

At release, the game would have revolved around the Milky Way Galaxy during the storyline of the ongoing conflict between the Tau'ri and the Goa'uld. Playable races were shown to include Tau'ri, Goa'uld, Jaffa, and the Asgard. The combat was designed to incorporate some elements that are familiar to players of first-person shooters, with players using an array of ranged weaponry of both earth and alien origin. Combat would have emphasized tactics to defeat opponents both AI and human controlled. The AI was being designed to provide players with a significant challenge, to the praise of many critics. [17]

Archetypes

The archetypes in the game were designed to fit with the modern ranged-weapon combat system of the game. According to the developers there would be no specific healer class in the game, and all archetypes would have the ability to be a medic, although some archetypes would be better than others at healing and reviving. [18] Specialization within the different archetypes would lead to more flexibility within a group. [19] A robust tech tree would make each archetype that much more customizable and replayable. [20]

The archetypes of Stargate Worlds, would according to the developers be "flexible" in their abilities and usage. Each archetype would have three specialization trees which would define a particular play style over time, although players would be able to mix and match skills from these. [21] No end game instance would need a particular class to be successful. [22]

With the game unreleased, major development was still being worked on with different archetypes that would be a subject to change. [19] Both the scientist and the archaeologist would have specialized in non-combat gameplay with various types of puzzles to solve and gain access to new advances. [23] In addition, there were likely to be quests specifically for those and other archetypes. [24] Each archetype would have its own starting area. In addition to learning how to play the archetype, this starting zone would also give the player a backstory that comes from the first six seasons of Stargate SG-1 . [25]

Appearances in other media

Footage from the game was used in the opening sequence of the 2008 film WarGames: The Dead Code . Game footage is shown in the pilot episode of Stargate Universe when Eli enters the Ancient code in the online game Prometheus.

Related Research Articles

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Stargate Atlantis is an adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself based on the feature film Stargate (1994). All five seasons of Stargate Atlantis were broadcast by the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States and The Movie Network in Canada. The show premiered on July 16, 2004; its final episode aired on January 9, 2009. The series was filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prometheus (Stargate)</span>

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<i>Stargate SG-1: The Alliance</i> Cancelled video game

Stargate SG-1: The Alliance is a cancelled first and third person shooter video game based around the television series Stargate SG-1. The game had been intended for release on Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Windows. Set during the eighth season of Stargate SG-1, players would have taken control of the four original characters from the television series; General Jack O'Neill, Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c.

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<i>Stargate SG-1</i> (season 1) Season of television series

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Stargate: Resistance was an online third-person shooter owned and operated by the American studio Dark Comet Games, powered by the Unreal 3 engine, and based on the television series Stargate SG-1. It was originally released in 2010 by Firesky and Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, however Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment went into receivership in March 2010 and Firesky entered into an agreement with Dark Comet Games for the maintenance, operation and development of Stargate Resistance. The game used a "buy to play" business model, with a one-off purchase fee and no monthly subscription fee. The game servers were shut down on January 15, 2011. A fan powered central server solution has been put in place, making the game once again playable.

References

  1. ↑ "Check out the SGW page at Gamespot". Stargate Worlds. September 9, 2008. Archived from the original on July 19, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  2. ↑ "New Interactive Publishing House, FireSky, Building a Distinct Breed of Online Games". Business Wire. April 17, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
  3. ↑ "Press Release 25-March-2010". Stargate Worlds. March 25, 2010. Archived from the original on March 29, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  4. ↑ "Closed Beta Sneak Peek". Stargate Worlds. October 20, 2008. Archived from the original on April 26, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  5. ↑ J. Craig Anderson (May 12, 2012). "Wait for Stargate Worlds video game ends in court". azcentral.com. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  6. ↑ Sumner, Darren (February 1, 2006). "MGM announces Stargate MMORPG". GateWorld . Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  7. ↑ Sumner, Darren (September 13, 2006). "First look at Stargate Worlds in-game art". GateWorld . Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  8. ↑ "Stargate Worlds enters production phase". GateWorld. November 11, 2006. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  9. 1 2 Read, David (April 7, 2009). "Stargate Worlds Development Continues". Stargate Worlds. Archived from the original on June 11, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  10. ↑ Dolgin, Livi (July 5, 2006). "Stargate Worlds MMORPG wins award at E3". GateWorld . Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  11. ↑ "FireSky Chooses Convergys to Drive Relationship Management and Improve Gaming Experience". Business Wire. November 6, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
  12. ↑ Onyett, Charles (April 9, 2009). "Stargate Worlds Still in Development". IGN. Archived from the original on April 12, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  13. ↑ Read, David (April 30, 2008). "Stargate Worlds commences closed beta". GateWorld . Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  14. ↑ "Stargate Worlds Development Information". stargateworlds forum. Archived from the original on 2010-08-22. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
  15. ↑ Balentine, Kevin (October 30, 2007). "Balentine: 'Worlds is pre-Ori'". Stargate Worlds. Archived from the original on July 20, 2009. Retrieved 2010-10-05.
  16. ↑ "Stargate | Furlings and Financial Crisis – The Untold Story of Stargate Worlds". The Companion. 2021-07-25. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  17. ↑ Staff (January 4, 2008). "Stargate Worlds Q&A - First Look Behind the Stargate". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  18. 1 2 3 4 "VirginWorlds Podcast #60 - GDC Day Five (Part 2)". Virgin Worlds. March 22, 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ethec (January 31, 2007). "The Archetype System in Stargate Worlds". Ten Ton Hammer. Archived from the original on February 27, 2012. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  20. ↑ Miller, Jay "AiuaX" (May 22, 2006). "Stargate Worlds Questions & Answers #1". War Cry. Archived from the original on 2015-11-06. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  21. ↑ Marce, Xaviar (October 2, 2007). "Stargate Worlds Questions & Answers #1". MMOG Info. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
  22. ↑ "Developer Q&A Podcast - Episode 2". Stargate Worlds. August 22, 2007. Archived from the original on July 20, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
  23. ↑ Ophelea (October 18, 2006). "Interview – Preview - Stargate Worlds". Gamers Info. Archived from the original on April 21, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
  24. 1 2 Jeff "Ethec" (April 29, 2006). "A Stargate Worlds Interview with Joe Ybarra". Ten Ton Hammer. Archived from the original on February 27, 2012. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
  25. ↑ Genender, Laura (November 9, 2007). "Stargate Worlds - Dev Chat Log". MMORPG. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
  26. ↑ Balentine, Kevin (February 15, 2006). "Press Conference Call". Stargate-Game. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  27. ↑ An Audio Podcast: Developer Q&A Part 1 Archived 2007-12-16 at the Wayback Machine – June 29, 2007
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