offset-engine posts

Last September at Penny Arcade Expo, developer Red 5 Studios finally revealed its years-in-the-making game Firefall. The upcoming free-to-play sci-fi shooter isn't due out until late 2011 but Red 5 Studios already released a long 10 + minute gameplay demo video at the time of the PAX announcement.

Today the developer released yet another Firefall trailer on YouTube in order to promote the game at a China-based game trade event. There's some footage on this trailer that hasn't been released before that show off lots of action and battles using a version of the Offset Engine. The game is currently taking sign-ups for the eventual beta test but at the moment there's no word on when the beta will begin.

You might expect a game development studio founded by former members of Blizzard's World of Warcraft development team to work on a fantasy themed MMO for its first project. However that is not the case for Red 5 Studios. Launched several years ago the developer finally revealed its plans for its first game, a free-to-play sci-fi first person shooter called Firefall.

The game is currently due to launch in the fall of 2011 but Big Download got Firefall's executive producer James Macauley to give us the heads-up on the game including what players can expect when they get their hands on the game.

We have been waiting for a long time for developer Red 5 Studios to reveal concrete details on its first game and it looks like that wait is finally over. We noticed that the company was an exhibitor at PAX Prime 2010 in Seattle in early September. Late on Thursday Big Download got confirmation from both Red 5 Studios and a PR firm that is representing them that the studio will indeed debut its first game at PAX. The PR rep specifically stated the game would be an "team-based action shooter" title.

Formed in 2005 by former members of Blizzard's World of Warcraft team Red 5 has managed to stay silent about their title although we do know it is using a modified version of the Offset Engine. The company ran into some financial issues in early 2010 that included some layoffs but Red 5 later got a majority of its holdings bought by China-based publisher The9 for $20 million.

Last week Big Download exclusively revealed that Intel had shut down development of the Offset Software project it had bought two years ago along with the Project Offset game. However the Offset Engine is still being used by a third party game developer, Red 5 Studios, for its long-in-development MMO game.

Red 5 Studios, formed in 2005, announced it had licensed the Offset Engine from Offset Software in 2006, two years before Offset Software was acquired by Intel. Gamasutra reports that a rep for Red 5 Studios confirmed today that it is still using a "highly-modified version of the Project Offset engine" for its unnamed game. The rep added, " . . . the closing of the Intel team does not impact our ability to complete our own project.." Red 5 Studios was at one point close to being shut down earlier this year before being acquired by China-based game publisher The9 for $20 million

As we reported last week the founders of Offset Software have regrouped following Intel's decision to shut down the project and have formed a new game development studio, Fractiv. The company has not yet commented on whether or not the team has the rights to the Offset Engine technology or the Project Offset game IP.

One day after rumors hit the interwebs about mass layoffs at Red 5 Studios, the MMO game developer has now issued an official press release confirming that the company has undergone a "restructuring". The press release states, " . . . some team members chose to part ways while others were let go" but specific numbers were not revealed in the press release.

Red 5 Studios, formed several years ago by former World of Warcraft team leaders from Blizzard, has been working in near secrecy on their debut MMO project. The company did license the Offset Engine from Offset Software several years ago (ironically Offset Software has also been working in near secrecy on their own game) but it's currently not known if the engine is still being used. Unconfirmed rumors on certain web sites said the developer's first project, a FPS MMO, is now on hold while the remaining team members are now working on a game for the Chinese market. However, Red 5's own press release today said the company " remains committed to releasing a AAA quality, online title targeted for a worldwide release."

Check out an update we received from the company's PR rep after the jump