Perpetual Entertainment has updated the official Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising with information pertaining to per-orders of their now cancelled game.

RPG Vault bids farewell to Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising with what might be the last screenshots we see of Perpetual Entertainment's 'on hold' MMO. 

Perpetual Entertainment has confirmed recent rumours of trouble in the Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising camp with an announcement that the game has been placed on indefinite hold.  The official site has the full details. 

RPG Vault has posted another exclusive screenshot from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

Perpetual Entertainment has announced a closed beta key giveaway for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.  As with all news that sounds too good to be true, there is a catch (albeit a small one).

Part 3 of MMORPG.com's profile of the city of Rome from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising is now online.  Make sure to also catch the new preview video here.

The Forum Romanum, the civic center of Roma, also features some famous buildings, including the Tabularium, the Senate, the Basilica Amelia, the Curia Hostilia, and the Rostra. All of the architecture in the Forum Romanum is extraordinary: There is a monumental arch, some truly beautiful and awe-inspiring temples, a line of ornate columns running up the forum’s eastern side, and the impressive Sybylline Vaults, to name just a few of the marvelous structures to be found there.

MMORPG.com has added 12 new images to its Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot gallery. 

A new and exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot has been posted at RPG Vault.

MMORPG.com has added 12 new images to its Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot gallery. 

Part two of MMORPG.com's profile of the city of Rome from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising is now online. A new video interview with Art Director Mike Hines about the city is also available.

Each Hero class in G&H can choose from two gods with whom to align themselves, thus each class quarter in Roma is the site of two Olympian Temples, one for each of that class’s gods. The Olympian Temples are awe-inspiring structures with soaring marble columns and a finely sculpted statue of the god to whom the structure is dedicated. The Flamen of each temple can be found in a subterranean chapel directly beneath the temple; these are the holiest personages in all of the city, and should be regularly consulted by any true Hero eager to serve the Olympians and heap ever-more glory on Roma and her gods.

RPG Vault hosts an exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot. 

Ten Ton Hammer interviews Travis George, the Lead System Designer for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Minions each have quite a detailed backstory, and it's been said that the color text when you talk to your minions may change depending on which minions you have in your group (lending the game a sort of party-based RPG feel). Does that effect extend to morale of the group members, too? Will they fight better if they like their minion groupmates?

We actually had a concept for morale a little while ago; we took it out. It's something that we may revisit in the future, but to get these minions, you've already completed quests – some of which are really, really long – you've killed the Cyclops to get these minions. We pretty much think that minions are loyal to you, right? We took that out as another potential liability. Especially because it's a new system and sometimes when people get in front of it, they send their minions to die a couple times. If that minion turns on you, you kind of feel like the game has set you up for failure.

WarCry brings word that Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising has been delayed and that Perpetual Entertainment has laid off several staff.

Perpetual Entertainment has laid off between 30-40 people and reassigned several more, as they restructure the development team in advance of their new early 2008 target release date.

"We've never set an official launch date for Gods and Heroes," Co-Founder Chris McKibbin told us. "Driving to the fall, that's been our goal."

MMORPG.com has posted a city profile and video of Rome, the city at the centre of the world of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Roma is the center of the civilized world, the greatest metropolis known to mankind, the seat of the eminent Republic that is spreading law and order throughout the land. Its teeming streets, diverse multitudes, inspiring architecture, and stunning public artworks make it not only the Republic’s capital but also quite possibly its most impressive achievement.

RPG Vault has posted an exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot. 

RPG Vault has posted a second exclusive screenshot from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

Ten Ton Hammer finds out more about Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck, in a new Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising preview

Fortuna is the roman goddess of luck, known as Tyche or Tykhe by greek mythology.  She is the personification of not only luck, but also fate.  She appears as holding a horn of plenty, and sometimes as holding a rudder (of a ship) in the other.  She may be described as having wings.  Sometimes she is depicted holding a small wheel, the “Rota Fortuna” implying control of the ups and downs of fortun.  Often her face was stamped upon coins.  Additionally, she can be shown (in her Greek aspect as Tykhe) holding the infant Plutus.

IGN takes a closer look at one of the late game instances from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Today we're going to give you an in-depth look at Horror Insulares, home of Chalcon, the Telchine goddess of nightmares. Chalcon is the second Telchine that players will encounter, but her home is the first of the "Elder Game" instances that will be key to getting epic gear and the sure-to-be-coveted mythical minions.

Week 9 of the Developer Forum is available at the official Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising site.

In this weekly video series the community submits a list of hot topic questions, votes on the top 5 and submits those questions to be answered by different members of the Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising development team. The Developer Forum video is then posted each week for you to view, enjow and comment on in the forums.

Yet another exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot makes its way to RPG Vault. 

RPG Vault profiles three gladiator minions from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Name: Arcellus Commendius
Type: Combatant
Arcellus was born to a wealthy patrician family and benefited from all of the advantages that a privileged upbringing entails. Educated in rhetoric, the arts and combat, it was expected that he would one day earn glory for himself in the military and eventually become a senator. 

Uberguilds Radio speaks with Chris Launius, the Community Manager for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising about the game's minion system and setting.

Week eight of the developer forum has been posted to the official forums at the Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising site.

In this weekly video series the community submits a list of hot topic questions, votes on the top 5 and submits those questions to be answered by different members of the Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising development team. The Developer Forum video is then posted each week for you to view, enjow and comment on in the forums.

MMORPG.com has posted an exclusive screenshot from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

Stieg Hedlund reveals a few details about the Mystic class from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Scions of Bacchus or Trevia, Mystics have mastered the arcane arts of elemental sorcery and necromancy, enabling them to cast such spells as Numinous Flame, which launches a destructive fire bolt, and Miasma, which infects the target with a deadly plague.

RPG Vault has posted another exclusive image from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

Mike Hines, the Art Director for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, talks to Curse Gaming about his role at Perpetual Entertainment.

We have recently had a chance to sit down with Mike Hines, the Art Director for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising over at Perpetual and talk a bit with him about his experiences in creating the mythological world that many of you will come to love. What we find particularly interesting with Gods and Heroes, unlike many other MMOs, is that artwork and architecture is being pulled from history and real world as much as possible.

WarCry is carrying a story regarding the change in publishing arrangements for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Perpetual Entertainment has replaced SOE's Platform Publishing as the official publisher of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. Previously, the two companies had been in a co-publishing agreement. SOE Senior Brand Manager Debysue Wolfcale characterized the move as clarification of the actual roles each company play in the development of the game. SOE continues to handle marketing and retail distribution for the title, the same roles they held before this move.

MMORPG.com has added seven new Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising images to its screenshot gallery. 

WarCry has posted an exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot. 

A new Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot has been posted at RPG Vault. 

WarCry has posted another exclusive video developer diary from Stieg Hedlund, Design Director for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

This week's video development diary asks Design Director Stieg Hedlund his favorite experience during the development of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. Every Friday we have a new video from Stieg on a specific aspect of the game.

MMORPG.com plays host to three new Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising videos.  On offer are previews of the Scout, Gladiator and Soldier classes. 

Ten Ton Hammer catches up with Senior Brand Manager Debysue Wolfcale at the SOE Fan Faire to discuss Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

A question on a lot of players minds is beta. How is it going and when are people going to get in? Many people attending Fan Faire will be given the opportunity to get in beta and mixed with the invites Perpetual has been doing this should provide them a fairly nice set of testers. Debysue explained "What we want to do is increase the load of simultaneous players so we can get a better feel for how the game operates" and with the potential of thousands of people testing at once it appears they may get their chance. I had tougher questions and showing no fear, it was time to move past the fluffy stuff.

Head on over to MMORPG.com for another exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot. 

MMORPG.com plays host to a second Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising city profile.

Legend has it that Praeneste was founded by the hero Ulysses, but historians claim it was the Etruscans that established this walled city nestled amongst the hills of eastern Armentalius. Whatever the truth of its origins, it is certain that Etruscans had in fact settled in Praeneste several hundred years before the city was conquered by Rome.

RPG Vault has posted yet another exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot. 

A new core beta tester journal is available at the official Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising site.

With over 130 minions to collect, and the minion Dev informing us that he’s made a few new ones, it will be challenging to figure out which minions you need for which job. However changing minions out is easy. Each zone has a set of statues, one will allow you to change up your squad, allowing you to add or drop minions from your camp on the fly. The other removes the death affect for a small fee, while the other will allow you to bind yourself to the area as well as visit your player camp.

RPG Vault serves up a video preview of the Gladiator class from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

The fifth in an ongoing serioes of exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshots has been posted at MMORPG.com.

RPG Vault has secured yet another exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot. 

A transcript of the first House of Commons session with the developers of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising is now available at Stratics.

<Sprite> <cnumartyr> I was wondering about the feats that involve the squad. Noticing on the released feat trees it seems there are certian feats that apply to a certain type of minion (Infantry, Skirmishers, etc). Does this mean encouraging class X to use more of Minion Type Y?
<Volibar> Yeah some of the Squad Feats encourage you to use particular minions of your base type.  Think of it as you being their teacher in the ways of combat.  There is no penalty for using other types though, so it's not something where we're forcing you into it - but for you hardcore Min/Maxers it'll probably be appealing and beneficial.

WarCry has an exclusive video developer diary in which Stieg Hedlund explains the role of the gods in Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

Perpetual Entertainment favours RPG Vault with a preview of the soldier class from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Scions of Mars or Minerva, Soldiers are efficiant and deadly warriors who can perform such attack moves as Triarius Strike, a vicious maneuver that deals massive damage and Gut, which disembowels their opponent and causes them to bleed for a long period of time.

MMORPG.com has posted an exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot. 

MMORPG.com plays host to six new screenshots and three new videos showcasing Perpetual Entertainment's Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

Jakes Forbes, a Quest Writer for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, has updated the game's developer blog at 1Up.

For inspiration, we looked to the ancient myths. Jason, one of the most famous heroes in mythology, surrounded himself not with "cronies," but with heroes with resumes as fantastic as his own -- Orpheus the musician, Atalanta the huntress, the twins Castor and Pollux, and even Hercules joined in the quest for the Golden Fleece. Their motivation for joining Jason wasn't a chance for a quick buck, but glory for themselves and the Olympians. Now we're getting somewhere! As G&H takes place in a semi-historical Rome, there is also a strong sense of civic duty that drives our heroes. We realized that minions should be heroes in their own right -- all they need is the right Roman to lead them.

Three exclusive screenshots and a preview of scout minions are just the start of RPG Vault's fourth peek at Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Scouts are archers who primarily deal damage from range. Among the more than 130 minions that can be recruited into the players' squads, many can complement your character if you choose this class, including these three possibilities.

Ten Ton Hammer chats to Chris McKibbin about Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

"So, you can micro-manage the minions as much as you want," Ten Ton Hammer's Phil Comeau commented.

"You can kind of micro-manager as much as you want, but we didn't want to make it a micro-managing game," said McKibbin. "One of the things that Stieg [Hedlund, design director for Gods and Heroes] is really focused on is that he doesn't want the addition of minions to create a single-class game." Perpetual has taken a proactive approach to prevent every player from specing a build that would become the game's ultimate class at the expense of all the other classes the design team has worked so hard to create and balance.

RPG Vault has an exclusive video profile of the Scout class from Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Scions of Apollo or Diana, Scouts are lethally accurate archers who wield an impressive arsenal of shots, including Draining Telum, an instant shot that continues to do damage long after the missile meets its mark, and Rapid Fire, which allows than to launch their deadly bolts much more quickly.

MMORPG.com has a double helping of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising for us today.  First up, an exclusive screenshot.  Next, the first in a new series of city profilies.

Ostia is a bustling port city situated on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea at the mouth of the Tiber River. Originally established to prevent hostile hordes from using the Tiber to invade Roma, Ostia has become a valuable commercial harbor and thus one of the largest and most important cities in the Republic. Goods from all over the many territories under Roman rule must pass through Ostia Harbor on their way to the markets of Rome, including such vital imports as the grain that feeds the populace and the many goods that fuel the economy. Thus it is most alarming that Ostia Harbor has been all but taken over by the Caedes Gang, a brutal street gang that is brazenly operating right under the local authorities' noses.

GameSpy is next with some hands-on impressions of Gods & Heroes:

The character I was playing with had one minion: an ordinary healer who followed me around like a puppy. As I ran around the area gathering quests, I was struck by how different the setting was from what I was used to. First, the graphics themselves are beautiful. While Gods & Heroes takes place in a fantasy world, it's a fantasy realm with strong roots in a specific time and place in the real one. This is the fantasy landscape of the Roman mind, which means the armor, weapons, architecture and clothing are based on real Roman culture (as well as Roman contemporaries like the Greeks, Macedonians, and Carthaginians). Anyone who's ever seen a gladiator movie knows the Roman style is unmistakable. The artists have done a marvelous job recreating not historically accurate representations, but rather the historically idealized version of Rome that the Empire perhaps dreamt of itself in its heyday.

Curse Gaming has a video interview with Seth Olshfski, the Development Director for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

What kinds of game play changes do they make in this early stage of beta? Seth gave us some examples; revamping the starting island was one of the things they've done two times now. He then went on to talk about how they've iterated the graphics of the water and lightning; it makes for a great environmental appearance where reflections of buildings, trees, and even player and NPC models show up in the water.

He talked about one of the goals during these iterative reviews; going back through zones to shallow out some of the watery areas - allowing players to fight sea creatures and see reflections of the battle taking place in the water; something sure to enhance the game play experience, and one of the many things that shows Perpetual has a keen eye for detail.

MMORPG.com spends some hands-on time with Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

One of the game play features that makes Gods and Heroes stand out from the crowd of MMOs set to hit the market around the same time is the minion system. First off, the minions in Gods and Heroes are far more than mere pets. The minions are almost as varied in abilities, temperament, and purpose as the player characters. Although a player of high enough level can have a maximum of only four minions active in their squad at one time, there are roughly 130 different minions that players can acquire in the game. A common question among those who have been following this game is: why only 4 minions? The answer is simple: four is all you need, any more and high level play would be unmanageable. This became apparent to me during the high level play session of the evening. We were put in teams of five players with 40th level characters and four minions each. With the minions, a small group of 5 becomes a raid group of 25 which can be chaotic, but also opens the world of raiding to players who can't commit the amount of time and organization to get a large raid group together.

Ten Ton Hammer has posted a video preview of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising which offers a glimpse of recent improvements to the game.

These user interface improvements, plus a quick look at the beauty of character creation in Gods & Heroes, are the warm-ups for the focal point of the "Hero Camp" event - a first look at an "elder game" level cap (level 40) 5-man instance- Horror Terrestris- with Stieg Hedlund! We ran a portion of the instance afterward, and I fell in combat next to my groupmates battling Chalchon, Telchine goddess of nightmares. Yes indeed, Chalchon took me away!

RPG Vault visits Perpetual Entertainment and reports back with some inside details on gameplay in Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

The other notable element shown was an elder game instance. To provide a bit of context, the most dangerous foes in Gods & Heroes are not the ones listed above. The most powerful enemies are the predecessors to Jupiter and the other Olympian gods who supplanted and banished them. Known as Telchines, they have returned to the world to seek their revenge. Tackling such a creature in its lair isn't even remotely feasible for a single character, not even with a full complement of minions, so Perpetual set up groups of five players, all having level 40 characters, to go after one named Chalcon. This was no easy dungeon romp despite being transported into position, which avoided a considerable amount of preliminary fighting. When a single blow takes away three-quarters or more of your health, the difference between life and death is one heal coming a split-second too late. Still, it seemed everyone enjoyed the fight, although I didn't see anyone succeed.

WarCry gets some hands on time with Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising and goes raiding with the Perpetual Entertainment team.

"The majority of people who play MMOs have never raided," Perpetual President and Co-Founder Chris McKibbin explained. The sometimes absurd time commitment of raids is why. In World of Warcraft, players need to spend hours organizing dozens of real people. For anyone outside the hardcore, that means high-end raids are a wealth of content that they simply cannot hope to experience. Gods and Heroes turns that dynamic on its ear with its minion system, where a single player can represent five characters on the screen. The result is that a simple five man group can experience raid content in Gods and Heroes, a development that severely cuts into the organizational time required for that kind of epic content.

Perpetual Entertainment has been kind enough to provide MMORPG.com with a series of cultural descriptions of the player races to be featured in Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

The Romans, or Latin tribes, are obviously one of the most clearly defined groups in history. Their most prominent characteristics were incredibly organized military might, exceptional engineering skill, adoption of many aspects of classical Greek architectural style but with the addition of realism and flourish, and their use of ceremonial regalia. The Romans are epic and heroic in appearance, using classic design with flourishes, rich bold colors, well engineered and epic structures and militaristic pageantry. Their structures and clothing use the repetition of perfect circles, even proportioned rectangles or squares and flourishes to accent those.

GamersInfo.net spends some more hands on time with Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Gameplay from level one through level forty is primarily quest driven (you can just go out and hack and slash if you want to but you will be missing a key element in the end - minions). When you choose your class at creation - scout, priest, nomad, mystic, soldier or gladiator - you must also choose to align with one of two gods with that class. Twelve unique gods for six unique classes. What does this mean? Unique spells, unique attacks, unique armor, unique quests, and unique minions.

How does one quickly explain minions? They're not pets. I mean, who has over 100 pets? Who dresses their pets? A pet is usually a tool, like a spell or a weapon. Minions are grouped in various formations of four for maximum efficiency dependent upon the situation. Minions level as you use them, with their own feats and skills. They complement your own skills, or supplement them - it all depends upon who you bring to the party. And you can trade them! Minion-loot is cool.

RPG Vault offers up two more exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshots. 

Level Designer Allen Vandegrift has posted the first in a promised series of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising developer blogs at 1UP.

The real heart of the job is to make the level fun. Right now you may be pondering the eternal question, "What is the fun?" That's the tricky part, because fun can't be defined. We've all played levels that sucked and, on the other hand, we can all probably think of some levels that kept us awake all night playing instead of studying for that final exam we had in the morning. It's a fine line between the two, and the essence of my job is to create areas so addictively awesome you refuse to move out of your mom's basement.

The Vault Network has posted part one of a four part video interview with Stieg Hedlund, Design Director for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

Games Radar kicks off five days of coverage of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising with a look at the game's beginning.

There's so much that a new MMORPG has to prove in the game's starting area. Besides establishing the plot, setting, and introducing your role in its massively multiplayer world, the starting zone is your first impression of the game, and sets a strong precedent for everything that will follow.

That being said, there were no idyllic fields of level one butterflies to kill for butterfly wings - of which you need ten - so the buttercup fairy can make you a butterfly potion that gives you plus five to your health in Gods and Heroes' starting zone for the Nomad and Scout.

MMORPG.com begins a new series of screenshots with an exclusive image from Perpetual Entertainment's upcoming MMO, Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Perpetual Entertainment has posted several screenshots and a movie showcasing the skybox and shadow animations to be featured in Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

MMORPG.com is hosting two Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising movies: an interview with Stieg Hedlund and a short piece showcasing combat animations.

Ten Ton Hammer has posted a second exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshot. 

Ten Ton Hammer chats to Stieg Hedlund about his work on Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

MMORPG.com has a new Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising developer journal in which Mike Hines, the Art Director at Perpetual Entertainment discusses the game's environmental art style.

Rome is a word that encompasses an unending sea of images, ideas and feelings. It has been an active part of most cultures in the world since it rose to prominence. American culture, in particular, has placed Rome and Roman ideals at the center of many aspects of our education, government, entertainment and art. We see the Romans as one of the first cultures to develop city-life that parallels our own, and as the originators of many of the things we experience on a daily basis.

Multiplayer Online Games Directory kicks off a series of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshots with an exclusive image. 

A new newsletter featuring character modeling, terrain development, minions and more is available at the official Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising site. 

Perpetual Entertainment is now taking applications for the Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising closed beta.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 31, 2007 - Perpetual Entertainment announced today that aspiring heroes can now sign up for an exclusive opportunity - the chance to enter the closed beta playtest of the upcoming Roman mythology-based online game, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising. With co-publishing partner, Platform Publishing, the San Francisco-based game developer recently launched a signup page where visitors can register for the chance to get access, play and provide feedback on the game during its final testing phase.

"By identifying what works and what does not, our closed beta testers will help shape the final version of the game," said Chris McKibbin, Co-Chairman and President of Perpetual Entertainment. "It's an exclusive opportunity to help us polish the final version of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, thus making it a truly legendary experience."

Those eager to test their might against the forces of Roman mythology can sign up at: http://community.godsandheroes.com/betasignup

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, the upcoming massively multiplayer online game from Perpetual Entertainment, lets you take on the role of a son or daughter of an Olympian god. Featuring an innovative squad combat system and attack animations that give you control of every move, Gods & Heroes challenges players to overcome and conquer the enemies of Rome. Along the way, players will battle iconic enemies including the Gauls, Greeks, and Samnites, as well as the Cyclops, Minotaur, Hydra, Medusa, and other creatures from Roman mythology. Each player will command the powers of the gods and their own custom squad as they fight to save Rome.

For more information, visit www.godsandheroes.com

WarCry bolsters its interview with Stieg Hedlund, Design Director for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, with a selection of exclusive screenshots .

WarCry: You have said there will be some instancing, like in Archimedes Island, where large groups of players will have to work together to fight an overwhelming force. Will there be instances like that for all player levels, or only once you reach the higher levels?

Stieg Hedlund: At the higher levels there will be instances where you will need to group and form a small army of players and minions in order to handle everything that will be thrown at you. But we're making the grouping experience enjoyable and rewarding at every level, if not strictly necessary. Most of levels 1 through 15 or 20 will be solo-able, though, again, grouping will still have its advantages.

Part two of GamersInfo.net's interview with Chris McKibbin is online.

I hear so much about "paired animations". So let's start there. Paired animations from the top.

Chris McKibbin: Paired animations came out of the desire to create a combat experience that delivers both high entertainment and a high payoff while being more fun than traditional combat seen to date in MMOs. When designing Gods & Heroes, one of the things that we felt was lacking in traditional MMOs today, is high action combat that gives you a feeling of accomplishment or defeat. We were inspired by games like Soul Caliber and Virtua Fighter where the combat in and of itself is the reason that you play. Out of that desire for exciting combat grew paired animations.

WarCry spoke to Chris McKibbin, President of Perpetual Entertainment, at the recent SOE Gamer Day and quizzed him about Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

"Far more people know the fiction of mythology than any license," McKibbin pointed out during our demo. It's something most people don't think of when they see a game like Gods and Heroes, but it's a valid point.

At a basic level, anyone with a high school history education likely knows enough about Rome to get by. That familiarity makes the more obscure points easier to grasp. The core of the game's overarching story pits an ancient race of gods called the Telchine in a war against the Olympians for control of the heavens. The players, as the half-children of deities, adventure on Earth on behalf of their parents (the Olympians) to thwart the Telchine schemes. The average player likely has no earthly clue what a Telchine is, but most everyone has a vague idea that Jupiter is more than just the name of a really big planet. This familiarity breeds curiosity, and is more likely to capture the average person than Elves and Dwarves.

GameShark previews Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising opens on the island of Telchinos, home to sympathizers of the Titans -- you know, the Titans -- lead by Cronus, the leader and father of Zeus who swallowed each of his children immediately after they were born because he feared being overthrown by any possible usurpers. Those Titans. Having been banished for supporting the Titans in the war against the Gods of Olympus, these Telchinists have reappeared without explanation and as a young hero, it's your role to fight back the uprising using your natural strength and the powers of the Gods.

Ten Ton Hammer has posted a video interview with Chris McKibben, Executive Producer of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. 

A new beta journal is online at the official Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising site.

One of the things we are testing this week is obtaining our second minion at level eleven instead of ten. Some were disappointed at this move, while some felt it was good for the dungeons—making them even more challenging. Now, having only one minion at your command when you enter a level 10 dungeon, you’ll have to think tactically more than before in order to determine which minion will benefit you the most. I hear the dungeon, which was beautiful before, has had many new changes made to it. Hopefully I will be able to report more on that as soon as I get a group together to tackle it.

GameAlmighty considers Perpetual Entertainment's Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Gods & Heroes looks ready to capitalize on the current craze for ancient environments sparked by games like the God of War series, and cinema pieces like 300 and HBO’s Rome. Granted some of those titles deal more with ancient Greece and Sparta, I doubt the average gamer will be a stickler over historical facts that would inhibit gameplay and Perpetual seems to agree. By melding cultural, historical, and mythological attributes from ancient Greece and Rome, Gods & Heroes looks ready to create a world that is both instantly familiar and amazingly new.

Ten Ton Hammer spends some time with Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising and shares a few impressions .

But, polish being what it is, there wasn't much in the way of earth-shattering announcements on Gods & Heroes at Gamer Day. We were able to see instancing for the very first time in the Volcanic Vents, a level ~15 area, with no hiccups to report. In fact, the ability to consult with your groupmates about not only your class abilities, but the right mix of minion abilities to get the job done, looked very interesting. We also saw the Numidian Delta, a level 20-25 swampy area that put Gods & Heroes already impressive graphics engine to work, complete with some entirely epic-sized mobs.

GamersInfo previews Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising and also talks with Stieg Hedlund, the game's Design Director.

So, what about those minions? What's it going to take to outfit your own personal army? And will my minion X look different from your minion X?

"Minions will have equipment you can buy from the Custos Armorum (minion outfitter). Otherwise, we'll end up with the exact problem we're trying to avoid - people hoarding loot and not passing it off to other players directly, through trade, auctions or in shops. There would be no motivation if you needed to keep it all for your minions.

When we say that minions have a "Pokémon" effect, it's really what we mean. I have a Pikachu and so do you. We just have Pikachu at different levels of development."

GamersInfo speaks with Chris Launius, the Community Manager for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Most of us who've spent time in the service industry either run screaming after a few years or find that it's part of your soul. Most run screaming. Chris "Binky" Launius has been in community relations in one form of another since the advent of online communities: he began his tenure at Origin with Ultima Online.

MMOG Nation talks to the Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising team.

MMOG Nation: Do you foresee difficulties with players identifying with their characters, given the squad-based nature of the game? How whimsical do you plan to allow the game to get? Holiday-seasoned minions, perhaps?

Travis George: I feel like the minions will actually enhance the player’s attachment to their characters. Each character not only has its own customization options, but then you get the chance to assemble your squad from one of over 100 unique minions. And when they all fall into your camp and take on the colors you’ve selected, you really feel like your character is the leader of a heroic group—you forge this real identity with your squad mates. It’s also really cool that you can enhance your own abilities through them, and that they can supplement your character’s efforts in areas that your character doesn’t specialize in adds even more to the camaraderie. As far as holiday minions—well we’re always looking for ways to have fun, so you’ll just have to check back and see. J

MMO Lifestyle talks to Chris 'Binky' Launius, the Community Relations Manager for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

MMOL: What one question (aside from beta requests) keeps coming up about G&H that you wish you could answer but have not been able to do so?

Binky: There are a couple. Obviously “When’s Open Beta?” is a huge question we get a lot. Another is when people want to see the full feat trees for each class along with some of the other details about the game. I wish I could tell everyone everything right now, but the fact of the matter is that there has to be some strategy involved when you release information. You don’t want to release information on a system too early or else it can change and that information will become irrelevant, which has happened to us with the feat trees and a few other things. The other thing you have to be aware of is keeping the information flowing. You need to be able to release information all the way up through launch, releasing it all now loses that element of suspense. I know a lot of the more dedicated community members don’t like that (and in some respects I am right there with you), but that is how it has to be. You need to be able to keep attracting people with new tidbits.

A new core beta journal is online at the official Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising site.  Snip:

The Nomad seems to be one of the classes everyone will want along in a group or would be perfect to duo with. They seem to be a well-rounded class with very interesting abilities like regeneration buffs (again, if you go down the healing side of the tree). There is another Feat where the Nomad can command his spell-caster minions to channel energy to him and heal the entire party. The other side of the tree is your aggression spells. One of those is everyone’s favorite, which is a haste buff that affects not only Gladiators, but ranged and spells casters as well. He has many buffs on both sides of the tree that will interest people. And there is also a teleportation spell to return his party to Rome.

GameSpot has a new Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising movie that features the game's action combat system. 

Hooked Gamers has kicked up a preview of Gods & Heroes:

 Typical as this may sound, Gods & Heroes seems to reserve its most interesting feature for where the action is: combat. Thankfully, none of the staple modes have been heavily tampered with. The player can opt to adventure solo, encountering a vast array of interesting opponents, from barbarian tribes to Cyclops, colossi, phoenixes and hydras. If you feel brave enough you can even take on fellow players in the coliseum. Those seeking something a bit more social can team up and explore the world together, making the most of your abilities as a unit. This is all pretty typical, but what Perpetual Entertainment have done, is combine something we'd expect of a normal RPG and transferred it as a working element into Gods & Heroes. Basically, when your character has gained a certain amount of renown, they are able to command a 'squad'- be that henchman, mercenaries or anything else of the sort. They come in three types, melee fighters, ranged fighters and healers. When teamed up with other players and their squads, players are able to travel around with what have been described as 'small armies' at their disposal.

Travis George, a System Designer on Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, previews the Nomad class from Perpetual Entertainment's upcoming MMORPG.

I confess – I love hybrids and the versatility that they bring to a group!  Supplementing DPS (damage-per-second) one minute in melee, casting spells from a distance – or stepping in to be a backup – or even a primary healer all at a moment’s notice, is a style of gameplay that is defined by its versatility.  Since we already had a primary healer in the Priest, and other classes that represent the classic archetypes, the door was open for us to create something unique in our game – a true hybrid.  The Nomad of course has the ability to heal, one of its primary reasons for coming to be, but we had to make healing with a Nomad feel different than healing with a Priest – which I think we did quite well. 

WarCry has posted some impressions of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising as seen at the GDC.

God Powers are like fire and brimstone type events that can be used on your enemies. Part of what makes them so cool is that every character gets to use them. In a majority of games, melee types got hosed on being able to make huge flashes and crashes because casters got all the love. Perpetual wants to help alleviate some of that "particle effect envy," as Perpetual Co-Founder Chris McKibbin called it. These are basically calling upon your parent to help you out, so don't expect to be using them every fight. My dad usually got irritated when I bugged him, I'd expect Jupiter to be no different.

A new beta journal is online at the official Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising site.

I am late getting this to Binky because I really wasn’t sure what to write about this week. Someone wanted to know about God Powers. I for one use God Powers sparingly. In order to use God Powers (in the current build) you need to be in good standing with your god and also be in favor with him/her. Favor and standing can be gained from doing Deity Quests. Complete the quests and your god is happy with you; he or she will either bestow a new God Power upon you, raise the one you have up another rank, or fill your favor and standing (the quickening effect) back up to full. You can also gain temporary favor by making donations to one of the priests or priestesses, and that seems to work like a buff.

GamersInfo.net previews Perpetual Entertainment's Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Character creation is much as it is today in massively multiplayer games - options galore for a truly unique looking character and the impossible task of ever creating the same character twice. But, there's a twist. You've got to choose an alignment with a Roman god. And this isn't a minor choice. You've six schools of combat from which to choose; then you must choose one of twelve deities with which to align yourself. Still, it's not quite as simple as saying "I like Mars over Minerva because I'm a guy". The deity you choose will determine your skills, your quests and the minions you may keep. And gods have been known to be jealous from time to time…

Gameplay Monthly has a fine selection of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshots on offer. 

Part two of The Brasse.com's Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising report is online.  You can find part one here .

Yesterday, I wrote about Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, or at least a brief overview of the graphics, gods and gameplay. Just enough to establish that this is indeed a contender in the competitive MMO market.

Yet what really makes the game, more than the laudable attention to historical and mythological detail, is the Minion system. There have been comparisons drawn with the City of Heroes/Villians mastermind class, where you command one or more thugs, ninjas etc., and that was an archetype that I really enjoyed playing.

A new beta journal is available at the official site of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.  Here's a snippet:

I wasn’t exactly sure where to start my journal this week, so I decided to make a comment about system specs. A friend of mine on CT1 wanted me to point out that his prior system was an AMD 2.8 processor, one gig of ram and an Nvidia 5900 Ultra. He was able to run the game in high detail, with world shadows (flora, trees etc) off but character shadows on, and AA off. The game ran smoothly for him. Hope that helps a bit.

The Brasse.com previews Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising as seen at this year's GDC.

One should expect a solid product from Perpetual of course. The combined experience of the team working there is impressive. Drawing skills and talent from big name companies such as EA, Blizzard North, and Lucas Arts, the staff has a lot of experience bringing a great many top tier titles to production. Chris McKibbin, the co-founder of Perpetual, was responsible for games such as Need for Speed and The Sims Online, while Stieg Hedlund, Design Director for Gods and Heroes, was heavily involved in the Diablo franchise. Richard Zinzer, the Vice president of Online Services, has history working in the same role for the venerable Ultima Online title, among others.

Also spending hands on time with Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising is MMORPG.com's Jon Wood.

Looks aside, it seems as though Perpetual is set upon the idea of giving players something new. This isn't your typical fantasy MMORPG. The typical fantasy MMO is set in a fantastical world. Gods and Heroes is set on Earth. The typical fantasy MMO includes many different playable races, while everyone in Gods and Heroes is Human. Typical fantasy MMOs rely on the idea of a player having control of only one character. Thanks to this game's minion system, Gods and Heroes allows you to control both your character and a number of minions. Obviously, this isn't your typical fantasy MMO.

MOGD goes hands on with Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising at the GDC.

The future for this franchise is as far reaching and mysterious as the lands surrounding the Rome of antiquity, with the promise of expansions that explore the mythos of surrounding civilizations. While many are rich with promise, my personal hope is for Egypt, a darkly mystical realm of great magic and power; that discussion is best left for the future though. I could fill another three articles with talk of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, without pausing for breath.

New hands-on GDC previews of Gods & Heroes a-plenty so let's just use a list:

• 1Up
• GameSpy
• GameZone

Here's an excerpt from GameSpy's piece:

The first couple of quests are pretty straightforward, involving things like fighting cultists in a temple or slaying impish creatures in order to get a key to exit the area. It's inside the temple, though, that Gods & Heroes starts to shape its own identity. After finishing a quest that involved desecrating some telchine idols, I experienced a vision with Jupiter himself, which is the aforementioned moment where it's revealed that you have some divinity in your genealogy. Voila, I was granted my first god power (an expected lightning attack). God powers add an extra layer of character development on top of the traditional skills and feats found in other games; as expected, they tend be your panic button for those "oh snap, these mobs are owning me" moments. After receiving my first god power, I worked my way through the newbie area and quickly run into another part of Gods & Heroes' feature set: minions.

Two new previews follow IGN's earlier one, with Games Radar and Kotaku jumping into the fray.  Games Radar details how the game follows many genre staples but looks to improve combat and grouping:

But it’s the way that Gods & Heroes’ squad-based combat offers to dispose of over-sized dungeon raids that caught our attention. “My big problem with raids is everyone’s just standing there staring at their [User Interface]… the challenge is to create a combat system where you can manage your squads realistically” says Chris McKibbin, President of developer, Perpetual Entertainment. From what we’ve seen, it seems like Gods & Heroes has met this challenge. Although you’ll issue orders to your minions as you would with controllable NPCs found in other games, you can also configure formations for various plans of attack and customize their equipment. With a small battalion of personalized warriors at each player’s command, Gods & Heroes promises large-scale battles without having to group with 20 or 40 other people. We got our first look at one such area, the Isle of Archimedes.

...and here's a bit from Kotaku:

Chris McKibbin, Perpetual's Co-Chairman & President, said the game is set to hit by the end of this summer and went to great pains to explain how it would be more of an action adventure game than your typical massively multiplayer online game. Some of the other things he highlighted, which he believes sets his game apart from the rash of other MMOs, were the game's classic, mythologicially-influenced theme, a strategic squad-based combat system and collectible minions that level up with you. Think of them as a sorta Pokemon, it sounds like you will be spending a lot of time in the game running around trying to find and collect these guys and then trading them with other real-world players.

IGN has some hands-on impressions of Perpetual's Gods & Heroes:

Gods & Heroes is a quest driven action adventure MMO. While they're trying to distance the game from the typical RPG tag you see on many of these titles, there's still a very strong character building mechanic that includes leveling up and gaining both strength and ability. To begin the game players choose a gender and class. Classes include Gladiator (damage melee), Mystic (damage caster), Priest (healer caster), Rogue (sneaky bastard), Scout (ranged damage and damage prevention), and Soldier (tank melee).

What sets the classes apart is the next step in the character creation process: choosing a patron god. For instance, Scouts can choose between Diana and Apollo while Soldiers can choose between Mars and Minerva. Perpetual chose the gods present both for how well their known and how appropriate they were to be patron gods for each class. Putting Mars with the Priests wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.

Chris McKibbin and Stieg Hedlund from Perpetual have been quizzed about Gods & Heroes at WarCry.  Here's the first question:

WarCry: The setting is the biggest difference between Gods and Heroes and the other major MMOs coming out. Can you talk a bit about what Rome will mean to the game from both the perspective of the history buff and the casually interested?

McKibbin & Hedlund: Gods and Heroes is set in a mythical version of ancient Rome. We take actual historical places, cultures, enemies, technologies, architecture, politics, etc. and set all of that in a world in which the gods, creatures, and monsters from mythology actually exist. Rome the city-state is the center of the world – then and now - and it is pretty accurately portrayed in-game. It is pretty amazing to be able to actually walk around Rome, through the Forum, then go luxuriate in the bathhouse, and explore the massive sewer system below. However, we are more interested in creating an entertaining world than a world that is slavishly accurate to history, so our Rome also includes the Flavian Amphitheater (better known as the Coliseum) which was actually built about 200 years after our time-frame. The history buff will find a lot to be interested in (and chat / argue about) while the casually interested will find a very cool and different world to explore than what he or she might find in another MMO.

Ten Ton Hammer has tossed up seven new screens for Perpetual's Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising.

GamesDynamite.de previews Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising (in German) and the official site kindly provides an English translation.

However, as the name Gods and Heroes already indicates, they choose not only a hero, but, in addition, still a protective divinity in whose service they position themselves. Every character class may choose between two gods. While soldiers decide between Minerva, the goddess of the wisdom and the war, and Mars, to the impetuous god of war, gladiators reach alternatively to Fortuna, the goddess of the destiny and the victory, or to Jupiter, the uppermost God of the Romans. For the other classes there are Diana, goddess of the hunt, Bacchus, God of the passion and the wine, or Juno, goddess of the marriage and morality (no miracle with this husband ...) for the choice.

Carolyn Koh discusses squadrons in Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising with  Richard Zinser, the VP of Game Services at Perpetual Entertianment.

“The focus currently is on play testing our squads,” said Richard Zinser, VP of Game Services of Perpetual Entertainment as he showed off the squad combat system at CES2007. With a game currently in a closed Beta phase, their mythical creatures already in game and a planned launch in Summer 2007, Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising is currently in a state of tuning, balancing and refining.

Perpetual's Gods & Heroes has been previewed from CES at IGN:

Combat is still primarily a point and click affair, much like other MMOs. However, the addition of minions adds a new bit of gameplay that can make the combat feel fresh. Each minion can be individually controlled or commands can be sent to the entire squad which turns the player into a general of sorts. You can even quickly edit and create formations to keep your stronger soldier minions in the front lines to defend the skirmishers and spellcasters behind them. Higher level characters will have access to more powerful minions, though the weaker ones won't be utterly useless. That's because the minions will level up and gain feats as you do making it so you can go out and grind you squad of helpers up to a super group.

RPG Vault has updated its impressions of God and Heroes: Rome Rising following a second viewing.

The combination of the historical setting and legendary elements is instantly familiar without seeming to present just another interpretation of high fantasy. The primary focus appears to be providing an action RPG-like experience, which suggests the learning curve will be accessible for a wide range of gamers, both hardcore and occasional, who also rate to appreciate the strong emphasis on missions. Combat promises to be different. In particular, the squad-based aspect that includes recruiting, training and customizing followers looks potentially innovative. The god system in which each class can choose one or two to worship, thereby gaining special abilities and powers, is also of interest. The visuals are quite attractive.

GameSpot shares some impressions of Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising as seen at CES.

LAS VEGAS--If you've ever wanted to do as the Romans did, then you might want to look into Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, the upcoming massively multiplayer role-playing game that will let you explore an ancient Rome full of mythological creatures. The game, which is being developed by Perpetual Entertainment, features some of the most believable combat yet seen in a massively multiplayer role-playing game. Not only that, but you'll be able to lead your own squads into battle, something that Perpetual gave us a glimpse of at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Some new screenshots and a fly through video showcasing the Cliffs of Anxur region are available at the official Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising site.

Gamasutra is reporting that Perpetual Entertainment has laid off 35 employees as it juggles a delay to Gods & Heroes:

San Francisco-based Perpetual Entertainment has allegedly laid off thirty-five of its employees, citing budget issues related to a delay of its MMORPG Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, according to an anonymous former employee.

The delay of Gods and Heroes' release was believed to be an estimated six-to-ten months, and the layoffs are purported to be a cost-saving measure to accomodate this increase in development time. The thirty-five terminations also include several members of Perpetual's other upcoming game, Star Trek Online.

Perpetual's Stieg Hedlund has spoken to GamersInfo about Gods & Heroes.  Here's an excerpt:

Ten Ton Hammer has some new and exclusive Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising screenshots.

A new Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising gameplay movie is available at MMORPG.com. 

 The Game Musketeers chat with Stieg Hedlund, the Design Director on Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, about the upcoming MMORPG.

You have a chosen a very unique time frame for your game setting. Why did you chose the mythology of Rome in shaping this game?

We knew we wanted to use an ancient world setting with an identifiable mythos. That led us to the choices of Greece and Rome, and the military elements of the game (i.e. squad combat) made us favor Rome. Once that had been settled, we wanted to deal with Rome before it became an empire-building juggernaut, when Rome itself was being invaded by her enemies and struggling to survive. That put us in the days of the Republic, right in the middle of wars against the Samnites, Gauls, Etruscans, Greeks and Carthaginians. You could still very clearly see a sophisticated society with a democratic representational government, culture, industry and all the stuff that we like about Rome because we can relate to it.

More... 

Perpetual Entertainment has revealed tentative details of the feat tree available to the Soldier class in its upcoming MMORPG, Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Soldiers embody the very spirit of Rome and are the Republic's most steadfast protectors. Renowned for their courage and prowess in battle as well as their mastery of a variety of deadly weaponry, Soldiers are the most formidable warriors Rome has at her service. Their role in the world of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising is much more strategic and tactical than the typical warrior class character, however. Their rigorous discipline makes them capable of holding their ground against massive assaults by the barbarian hordes looking to overrun Rome's borders, meaning they are as skilled at defense as they are at offense. Additionally, their bravery and loyalty in defending Rome runs so deep that it is often inspiring to other Romans who are taking up arms against the enemies of the Republic.

More...

Yet another Q&A/update on God's & Heroes has been posted on GameSpot. This update discusses high level content and the quest system, among other aspects of the upcoming game.

GameSpot: There are about 1,000 skills, as well as about 1,000 god powers in the game. Are you afraid of overwhelming the player with so many options? How do you present this to the player so it seems very logical?

Stieg Hedlund: Well, if you logged in and were immediately confronted with a thousand skills and powers to sort through, then yes, we'd be concerned about overwhelming the player. As it stands, the large number of skills and god powers are spread out over six classes, and in addition, they're not just dumped in the player's lap without just cause. Presentation is actually our ally in this case thanks to the fact that the player is a scion of a particular god; thus, a player will find that his god is the guiding light over time, helping with the discovery of his newfound powers.

The Armchair Empire previews Perpetual Entertainment's upcoming MMORPG, Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

When not seeing the sites throughout the Empire, players will have plenty of time for combat.  This will take place in a more action-oriented fashion on par with what one could expect to find in the Diablo series, and considering that the mastermind behind  Rome Rising is Stieg Hedlund, who was also head honcho on Diablo II, this probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.  The process, however, is meant to be a lot more strategic with players having to aim and time their attacks while fighting, and not simply flailing away. 

This won’t be some sort of button masher.  Not only will players be able to whack away at enemies (or other players), but there’ll be some fancy schmancy finishing moves to help zazz things up a bit.  Also, players will be able to earn NPCs to help bash bad guys, which may come in handy for those who prefer soloing their online games.

More... 

Stieg Hedlund has been interviewed at Killer Betties about Gods & Heroes.  Here's a snip:

1. Unlike many MMORPGs that are set in a Tolkien-esque fantasy world, Gods and Heroes bucks that trend and goes for the more original Greco-Roman mythology setting? Why was this setting chosen and what do you think it allows for that other fantasy worlds can't?

I have to say, I find it a bit ironic that myth is thought of as being the “more original” setting—all that other stuff derives directly from myth, you see all the players—giants, dragons, the living dead, uprooted from their original context, so the mythic setting is original in the sense of being the origin…

Rome, its culture, military, technology and of course its myth, has continuously fascinated people around the world, practically since it came into existence. We chose it because of the ways it worked with the gameplay we wanted to create, which it does a terrific job of complementing and deepening. As far as story, and background, working with myth and history is tremendous—there’s so much material, and it all has a sense of being grounded instead of forced and artificial. People find familiarity in it and are drawn in and then we start to introduce some of the stranger and less familiar elements that I think people will find rather interesting.

They also have some new screens.

Ten Ton Hammer catches up with Chris 'Binky' Launius, the Community Manager for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

Ten Ton Hammer: Beta testing has become more high profile in recent years. Has the increase in beta testers lessened the quality of testing?

Chris "Binky" Launius: I don't think that it has lessened the quality of beta testers as much as it has given us a much wider variety of play styles to get feedback from. Sure there are some people who just want to play the game and have no intention of ever giving you feedback. Those players can also be very helpful. The more people you can get into a pre-launch product, the more accurately the other beta testers who are hardcore and focused on finding bugs and balance issues can test the game and give valuable and relevant feedback.

More...

Ten Ton Hammer has posted an interview with Chris "Binky" Launius regarding Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising.

Ten Ton Hammer: There are beta players, and beta testers. What would you say is the difference between them? Do they both have a role to play?

Chris "Binky" Launius: A beta tester is a person who is going to play the game and try every single thing there is to do in the game. They will play classes they normally wouldn't play, and they will typically spend a lot of time trying to intentionally break the game. These are the people who will submit bug reports and feedback to the development team and become very active in communicating with the development team.

A beta player is a person who just wants to play a pre-release game, either because they are bored with their current game(s), don't like paying a monthly fee but want to play the game anyways, or "collect" beta tester badges as a status symbol. These players will most likely never submit a bug or feedback report and will often only communicate with the dev team or support staff when they have an issue with their character such as a lost item or whatnot.

A fresh take on a genre can be all a game needs to be lifted above most others, shine in the light and be very successful. Thus, escaping from the quickly-becoming-bland fantasy setting of MMORPGs looks like a very smart marketing move. The makers of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising realized this, but they also knew that others had, too. Most of the other dissenters were going towards the future, going as far away from medieval history as possible by making everything about lasers and robots. Perpetual Entertainment decided that was good, but not where they wanted to go. Instead, they'll be taking us to ancient Rome, and through its rise to power.

But not to leave us with only the millions of enemies Rome has and its rise to power to fight, they're also throwing in the Gods and their many creations and enemies on the planet, mythological creatures. So you've got medusas, hydras, lions, barbarians, and warriors from pretty much everywhere neighboring the lands of early Rome. To help you and your chosen allies (if you choose to take any, which would be a very smart idea), you each choose a god to swear allegiance to. This opens up a whole other can of worms, offering side quests, new abilities, and more foes, since each of the gods is an enemy of another god or even a group of them.

GameSpot: Tell us about character creation in Gods & Heroes. What choices will you have when creating a character? What sort of customization options are there to make sure your character looks unique in an online world populated by thousands of characters?

Stieg Hedlund: There has been a lot of work done on our character creation system lately, and there's a focus on giving the player as few or as many options as they want. When you start the game, you can click through some basic choices and start playing or you can dig down into the advanced options and play with the various sliders to alter everything from height and weight to minute facial features. We'll also be allowing players to pick colors that will appear on tunics and armor. These colors will also affect your minions, appearing on their equipment, as well. So you'll be running around and see someone run by with their squad, and you'll be able to recognize them based on their color schemes.

MMORPG.com: Games that take place during real world historical time periods face a unique challenge: How do you keep true to history while giving players the fantastic people, places, and things that they expect from a video game?

Stieg Hedlund: So the whole point of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising is to put players in to a compelling and rich world. We have an advantage that most games don't have and that is the reality and the mythology of a time long past that still permeates almost every living culture to this very day. We've always said that we want to reproduce the Roman republic as accurately as possible, however when it came down to choosing fun or accuracy we were always going to choose fun over historical and/or technical accuracy.

The perfect example of this is the Coliseum. Our game is set in 300 BC and as many know the Coliseum wasn't built until around 80 AD. The problem we ran into was that the Coliseum was such an incredibly powerful iconic image of what Rome represented and to not have it in a game like Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising was tantamount to sacrilege!

So by building this game in this manner we are able to take this rich history and culture and expand and build upon it in ways that makes it the player's world, and not living through someone else's experiences--although there is a bit of that in here as well!

MMORPG.com: Games that take place during real world historical time periods face a unique challenge: How do you keep true to history while giving players the fantastic people, places, and things that they expect from a video game?

Stieg Hedlund: So the whole point of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising is to put players in to a compelling and rich world. We have an advantage that most games don't have and that is the reality and the mythology of a time long past that still permeates almost every living culture to this very day. We've always said that we want to reproduce the Roman republic as accurately as possible, however when it came down to choosing fun or accuracy we were always going to choose fun over historical and/or technical accuracy.

The perfect example of this is the Coliseum. Our game is set in 300 BC and as many know the Coliseum wasn't built until around 80 AD. The problem we ran into was that the Coliseum was such an incredibly powerful iconic image of what Rome represented and to not have it in a game like Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising was tantamount to sacrilege!

So by building this game in this manner we are able to take this rich history and culture and expand and build upon it in ways that makes it the player's world, and not living through someone else's experiences--although there is a bit of that in here as well!

*Jumps with joy*, *Raises hands to the sky*, *Does the Robot*

Those are just a few of the possibilities for the Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising Design an Emote Animation contest! Is there am emote animation that you wish your favorite online game featured? Well now is your chance to get your desired emote in Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising!

All you have to do is submit your desired emote and a description of the animation in order to be considered entered. The Gods & Heroes team will narrow it down to the top 25 entries and you and your peers will vote on the final 10 emotes. These 10 emotes will be animated and added to Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising.

The 10 winning emote animations will be added to the game and posted on the official website with the winners name. Winners will also receive Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising t-shirts as well as access to the Public Play Test.

So don't be *shy*, submit your entry today by posting it HERE!

MMORPG.com: Gods & Heroes uses a unique squad-based system; players have command of many minions. Please explain how this will maintain a "squad leader" feel while not forcing players to constantly manage and direct individual troops.

Stieg Hedlund: The minion system is one of our most crucial systems in the game and implementing it correctly is paramount to the experience we want to create. A significant portion of the development of the minion system was focused on the user experience and how we could adapt this system to the widest spectrum of players possible. The solution was to give the players as much, or as little, control as they wanted.

GameSpot: We've seen that Gods & Heroes will have elaborate combat animations that will let players leap onto their enemies and choke them to death. How will you execute these attacks in the game? Will they automatically happen if you attack someone, or do you have to perform a specific action to trigger them?

Stieg Hedlund: We specifically set out to create combat that was as immersive as it was exciting. Just creating animations and letting them play out on their own would make combat lose both its immersion and the excitement after the first few fights, so we built the system so players will be able execute various attacks that not only have high-payoff animations, but also all have different game effects that go along with them and have different strategic uses. Non-player characters (NPCs) will become aggressive against player characters, naturally, and in turn use their various attacks when their artificial intelligence thinks it's appropriate or when they have the energy to do so.

MMOsite.com: Currently, we can only experience battle through some screenshots and videos released. Regarding combat system, can you convey an overall concept for us?

Stieg Hedlund: GnH has a highly interactive, action-oriented combat experience. The characters involved in melee combat genuinely interact; strikes make contact, when there is a parry, blades meet, and then there are moves like the GladiatorA!'s Lucator Throw where he can pick up and move his opponent. This system has a visceral payoff that is far beyond what other MMOs present, and is much more akin to console-based fighting games (think Soul Caliber).

Ranged combat and spell casting have equally fantastic animations and special effects that make each of those systems equally rewarding experiences. All of them are very involving you have to pay attention to what's going on and be ready with appropriate attacks and counters.

Welcome to the first Gods & Heroes podcast interview here on Stratics. Lead Game Designer, Stieg Hedlund, was kind enough to take some time and answer questions from the community in an exclusive interview, so sit back and enjoy!

Direct link to GnH StraticsCast

This is a first in a continuing series of Podcasts we'll be doing with the Gods & Heroes staff. Since this was the first, there are some volume issues, and umm.. pauses, hehe. The quality will get better in the future! The cast is approimately 15MB, so please give it time to load. Enjoy!

As Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising is poised to begin the first stages of beta testing, people are anxiously awaiting any tidbit of information regarding the various classes in the game--especially anything that concerns the as-of-yet announced feat tree system. In hopes of generating even more interest about the various classes and their abilities, we have decided to unveil a small portion of the Rogue's feat tree and talk a little about the various paths a player can take.

Developed by San Francisco-based developer Perpetual Entertainment, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising puts players in a fantasy world inspired in part by the Ancient Roman mythology. If you are confusing it with the Ancient Greek mythology (and the subtitle isn't enough of a clue), fear not, as the Roman mythology itself was mostly copying what the Greeks came up with before them. In gaming terms, however, what this title gives the player is a chance to wield the power of the gods as their champion in your battle against enemies of the Roman Republic and mythical monsters. The way that magic is integrated into this game is through 'divine intervention' if you will. In the same way it worked in the Roman Mythology.

Is it possible to get real Rome soldier equipment, for example to do roleplay as legionnaire?

By the time Gods & Heroes launches we will have an abundance of traditional Roman armor and clothing to help you set the mood and really get into the role of a 300BC Roman citizen. One (and probably more) of those sets will absolutely allow you to look the part of Roman military folk of various types.

Get Registered for Beta! - June 05, 2006

We are getting closer and closer to kicking-off the official Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising beta program, so now is a good time to sign-up for your chance to get in! How do you sign-up for your chance to get in? Well, the best (and right now the only) way to get signed up is by creating a personalized Perpetual Entertainment Platform Account HERE. This will also get you registered for the message boards, so if you already have a message board account, you are already signed-up for your chance at getting into beta.

As we get started with our beta program there will be numerous opportunities for you to become involved with Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising. Throughout the many stages of open and closed beta, we will have a limited number of slots available to bring people into the game, and several stages will be filled with randomly selected PEP account holders?

As the beta progresses, there will be other opportunities to get in on the fun though special promotions we will be holding with our partner sites and various fansites. Be sure to keep an eye out for those exciting moments, but most of all, be sure not to miss the first few chances to get into the Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising Beta, create your PEP account today!