derek-smart posts

The latest game from the mind of Derek Smart and his 3000 AD development team has just been announced. It's called Line of Defense and like a previous 3000 AD game All Aspect Warfare it's a sci-fi action MMO game set in the far future that combines planetary conflict with space battles in orbit above planets.

The game is being described as a pure Player Vs Player game (no single player quests here) as players fight on one of two factions. Each faction is trying to take control of territories on various planets. Players will gain experiencen and access to weapons as well as land and air vehicles. While 3000 AD is developing the game, Quest Online is handling things like the game's billing, server database and other support features (Quest Online is the developer of the fantasy MMO Alganon which had its development taken over by Smart in 2010). Line of Defense is currently scheduled for release by the end of 2011.

The lawsuit battle centering the fantasy MMO Alganon is reportedly over. Derek Smart, the current president of the game's developer and owner Quest Online, has announced on his personal web site that the company has settled the lawsuit brought against it by its former head man David Allen "with the purchase of Allen's equity" in the company. Specific financial details were not revealed but Smart writes that a formal press release will be out later this week.

Allen and Quest Online launched Alganon in December 2009 but the game suffered from a number of technical issues. In March it was announced that Smart, the head of 3000AD and best known as the creator of space sims like the Battlecruiser series, was taking over the game's development. Allen was removed from Quest Online and later sued the company, stating that Smart had engaged in a " smear campaign" against him. More recently, Allen wrote an extensive post on his own blog site attacking Smart which was later pulled. Smart posted up his own version of the whole Alganon saga just a few days ago.

The Alganon saga has reached a new chapter this week as the fantasy MMO game's developer Quest Online has announced that it has filed a lawsuit against its former head man David Allen. Allen was fired from Quest Online earlier this year after Alganon suffered through a rocky launch last December. Derek Smart of 3000AD took over as head of Quest Online, turned Alganon into a free-to-play MMO and the game was relaunched late in April. Allen then filed a lawsuit against Quest Online and Smart, stating that Smart "began a smear campaign attacking my credibility, first privately among the investors, and then publicly."

In their own lawsuit Quest Online claims Alganon was released "in an incomplete and exceptionally faulty state in December 2009 under Allen's leadership. That action resulted in the game and company generating a lot of bad press for the company as well as the game." Smart also comments on Allen's alleged actions in a lengthy blog post, stating, "It has been my opinion all along that David was up to no good."

[Via Blue's News]

The PR rep who wrote a press release for the fantasy MMO Alganon has admitted to committing "a terrible blunder" when that press note greatly resembled one that was sent out in 2008 to officially reveal Star Wars: The Old Republic. In a statement posted on the game's official message boards, Marti of PR Sirens stated, "While drafting the quote, I looked for inspiration from other press releases, about MMOs." However Marti also says, "I made a mistake of sending Derek an earlier draft of the press release where I added temporary a quote that best resonated the thoughts I wanted to express. And I fracked up in the process. it was never my intention to use the quote I did find." The statement end with Marti saying, "I'm probably going to get fired for this blunder. And if that's the course of action Derek takes, I'm ok with that. I stand up for my mistakes. And this one is mine."

Derek Smart, the head of Alganon developer Quest Online, also posted a statement on the message boards, pointing out that the disputed quote in the Old Republic press release was very similar to an earlier quote made by John Smedley, head of Sony Online, "in his New Orleans Fan Fair 2004 keynote." He adds, "This was clearly an unintentional oversight and shouldn't even be news; but here we are. Just another glorious day in the gaming industry. It's all about hits and giggles."

We all know that a public relations gig can get tedious at times; hey, any job can have its down days. But it seems that whomever developer Quest Online hired to handle the PR for their recently relaunched MMO Alganon decided to take it easy on the day they sent out a press release touting the game's reboot.

As pointed out by Kill Ten Rats, the press release sent out last April seems to be a near-copy of the first official press release for BioWare's upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic which was released back in October 2008. Derek Smart, the head of Quest Online, posted a message in the story's comments that states, "While I'm certain that there is a reasonable explanation for the similarities in the releases, I simply do not want to speculate but only to say that we are going to investigate this tomorrow." Smart says he will issue an official statement sometime next week "once I have all the facts."

[Via Massively]

For the past couple of months the news stories behind the fantasy MMO Alganon were not about the game itself but on the war of words between the game's current and former development heads. Now it's time for the game to speak for itself. As promised a couple of weeks ago, Alganon has relaunched with not just new and updated content but its new business plan of selling the basic game via digital download for $19.95 but with no monthly fees (a la Guild Wars).

If you have been keeping up with this game you know that its developer Quest Online first launched the game in December 2009. However the title had a less-than- successful launch due to bugs and other issues. In March it was revealed that Quest Online president David Allen had been fired and that Derek Smart of 3000AD had taken over both the developer and Alganon's development with the intention to relaunch the game. Since then Smart and Allen have participated in a war of words over the circumstances surrounding Allen's departure and Smart coming on board.

[Via Blue's News]

In the dictionary, the definition of the word "drama" could easily be replaced now by "See Alganon". The fantasy MMO from developer Quest Online launched last December but bugs and gameplay issues plagued the title. Then last March it was revealed that 3000AD head Derek Smart had taken over the development of the game. The December launch was also retconned; it is now termed as a "soft launch."

Today we received word via email that Alganon will get its official launch on April 28. Really. No kidding. And while all that is going on David Allen, the former head of Quest Online, has filed a civil complaint against Derek Smart (Thanks Massively) . While Allen says Smart was hired by Quest Online to be a consultant for the game last December he states that Smart's statements to the press about how he was eventually brought in to run the entire game were "false." Allen states, "Mr. Smart began a smear campaign attacking my credibility, first privately among the investors, and then publicly." You can bet this virtual word war between Allen and Smart is not close to being over.

Earlier this month, 3000AD head Derek Smart surprised most people by announcing he was taking over as President of the game developer Quest Online and would revamp the previously launched fantasy MMO Alganon. Now our sister site Massively has posted up a chat with the ever loquacious Smart about how he came on board the game and his plans for Alganon.

Smart reveals that his involvement with the game and Quest Online actually started in late 2009 and that it was his decision to make the game a free-to-play title after Alganon launched as a subscription based game on December 1. Smart says that they are still planning to relaunch the game on April 8 although he adds, " . . . if something comes up, I will delay it." The interview is full of info and humor and is a must read if you are at all interested in this game.

One of the more controversial folks in PC game development is Derek Smart. Founder of the development studio 3000AD he's best known for the space-based games like Battlecruiser, Universal Combat and others. He's also known for his rather frank and open opinions about the PC game industry and other subjects. More recently he has turned to making smaller downloadable sci-fi action games like All Aspect Warfare and Angle of Attack, both of which were released in 2009.

Now Smart has a new gig to flex his muscles. This week, in a bit of a surprise, Smart has been brought to be the new President of Quest Online, an Arizona-based game developer that has been trying for the past few years to launch a fantasy MMO called Alganon. In fact, as our sister site Massively reported, the game actually launched last December. However issues with the game itself and its switching over from a subscription-based model to a free-to-play model have cause the game's dev team to retroactively change their launch date to early April 2010 (December was just a "soft launch). It will be interesting to see if Smart's extensive experience in making games will turn this MMO around. According to Quest Online's web site he will still be president of 3000AD where his current project is a space-based MMO called Galactic Command Online.

Indie game developer 3000AD recently released two downloable sci-fi action games, All Aspect Warfare and Angle of Attack. Now comes word that the developer has set up a pretty bare bones teaser site for their next project, Galactic Command. Apparently more info is coming on October 15 and the teaser site states that "The MMO Competition will have a lot to worry about. We return to our playground."

3000AD and its founder Derek Smart are perhaps best known for their Battlecruiser space simulation series that later evolved into the Universal Combat series. Presumably Galactic Command is some kind of space-based MMO, at least based on the teaser message.

[Via Blue's News]