We knew there were payroll issues for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment the developers of Stargate Worlds and that a substantial part of the staff already left, but now it appears to be serious enough for studio head & executive producer Dan Elggrento to leave as well and find another job, just a few months before the game is alledgely released. This family blog post gives more information:

The last 8-9 months have been really rough at Dan's work and we've been trying so hard to make it work. Over 100 employees have left since October, so Dan felt he was as loyal as he possibly could be considering that he was basically volunteering for work and not getting paid! It's such a shame, because the game he's been working on for over 3 years was within several months of being ready to ship! I've admired how hard Dan has fought for his coworkers and for this game. He had been interviewing all over the country when he found this job with Gazillion in Louisville, Colorado. A few of his former coworkers are there now, so that's been a fun connection. We decided that he'd take the job just over a week ago and he begins work there June 1st.

Gamespot reports that Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment haven't made payroll.

The official story: A representative for Cheyenne provided GameSpot with the following comment: "At Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, we have always been upfront with the media and our fans that we are a start up. Like many start ups, we face the same cash-flow issues that all pre-revenue companies face. We have maintained a core of dedicated investors, but the new economic realities are forcing us to seek out additional sources of funding and that's what we're doing.

"We continue to move forward on the Stargate Worlds project. We recently completed a successful phase of closed beta testing and we will start a second phase early in 2009. We invite all of your readers to come to our site, check out our fantastic community and sign up for our beta."

Bogus or not bogus?: Unfortunately for both Cheyenne and its employees, this one is not bogus.

Kotaku reports beta sign ups open for SGW.

In less than two weeks the Stargate will open, allowing the first group of closed beta testers into the world of the hit Sci-Fi Channel television program. The Stargate Worlds closed beta kicks off on October 15th, and the developers are confident that the game is entering the home stretch.

“From now until launch, everything we do is about polish and fun,” said Stargate Worlds Studio Head Dan Elggren. “We’ve laid a great foundation for the beta testers and their feedback is a vital part of the game development process.”

They'll be adding more testers as time goes on, so don't be shy about signing up for the beta over at register.stargateworlds.com/Registration/. In case you don't get in, these new screens should give you a taste of what you're missing.

GameSpot has interviewed Chris Klug, creative director for Stargate Worlds, providing "new details on combat, weapons and massively multiplayer minigames".  Here's a grab:

GameSpot: The last time we had an update on the game, you had entered full production mode with the help of the Unreal 3 engine. Where are you at in development at this point?

Chris Klug: Just about to enter Closed Beta. We're almost finished with Friends and Family. Open Beta after the 1st of the year.

GS: It sounds like there are some ambitious plans for free expansion content after you launch Stargate Worlds. Is that still in the works, and what are some ideas from the television series that you envision would make great additional content?

CK: The first episode will involve the new world Meridian, where the player has to rescue an important person and battle the big bad's new allies. It is a world where many secrets about both the game and the show will be revealed. As for things from the TV series, much of what we're planning in that sphere is related to their new series, Universe. I can't really talk about that now.

Six hopefully new screens from Stargate Worlds are up at Worthplaying.

Gamespy preview of SGW.

Stargate Worlds is being developed using Epic's Unreal Engine 3.0, and the artists at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment have made an effort to create a variety of unique and highly detailed environments that showcase the varied landscapes that players can explore. We were able to check out icy prison planets, arid desert wastelands and lush jungle terrain. We also had the chance to see unique sci-fi architecture that seemed almost organic in nature.

As you'd expect, the Unreal Engine is a natural fit for shooters, and Stargate Worlds presents a rich cover system to provide depth to its ranged-based combat. At the bottom of the screen there's a color-coded radar indicator that the player should always keep an eye on. Enemies within range will appear on the radar indicator as blips. If you move behind cover, like a barrier or anything that can block line of sight, the indicator will create a pie-slice cross-section that's color coded according to how much cover you have to that particular firing arc. You can, for instance, stand with your back to a solid barricade, and have a smaller piece of cover on your flank, with the indicator on bottom relaying that you have two different levels of cover protecting you from different angles.

Chat for beta with some SGW devs.

Join SGWirc in #Stargate-Worlds this Friday, July 18th at 11:00AM Pacific, or 2:00PM Eastern for a Stargate Worlds developer chat with Lead Artist Austin Germer and Lead Animator Carl Coss! This session will be based around animation and art in the game. In addition, some users during the chat will gain access to the Stargate Worlds Closed beta.

 Cheyenne are having a poll after showing the first example of Gameplay from SGW.

Take our new poll and let us know what you think of the G4's XPlay footage of Stargate Worlds! If you missed the coverage, you can see it here at their website.

 Massively have a three page write up of a personal preview of SGW.

We saw gameplay in two contexts. First, we saw canned footage of a firefight on the planet Lucia. Second, we visited the Quality Assurance department and watched testers play the game. The scenario they were playing appeared to be a prison break. From this we acquired a relatively good understanding of the basics of Stargate Worlds' combat. We didn't see any of the other modes of gameplay, but we talked about them a bit in our interview with the directors.

The non-combat gameplay is comprised of various mini-games, each representing a different kind of action such as hacking or conversation. The Archeologist and Scientist archetypes are especially adept at these games. Anyone can do them from anywhere. Let's say you're a soldier who likes shooting everything in sight, and you don't like to do puzzles. If you come across a locked door, you don't have to do the minigame yourself; you can pass it on to a Scientist or Archeologist friend who will solve the puzzle for you -- that friend should be glad to do it, because he or she will gain XP.

The combat is a marriage of traditional MMO gameplay to squad-and-cover-based ranged encounters that you might normally see in something like Gears of War. We were about to mention Tabula Rasa when Balentine -- who was no doubt used to the comparison -- beat us to the punch. He assured us that Stargate Worlds' cover system is a more pivotal part of gameplay. Judging from what we saw, he wasn't pulling our leg. When our QA friend ran out of cover in the midst of a firefight, he promptly dropped dead. Cover isn't just an extra edge; it's necessary.

The developer Q&A podcasts have reached #8 on the official website:

The eighth episode in Developer Q&A has finally arrived! In this latest podcast, ten fans ask their questions to developers of Stargate Worlds, covering topics from instances and target locking to Goa'uld minions and Stargate travel!

IGN's Stargate Worlds site starts with an exclusive Q&A with Dan Elggren, here's a clip about missions:

The mission (questing) system being designed for the game has been described as more storyline and character-driven than in other MMOs - a claim many developers have made - how does SGW deliver on that promise?

Well, for one thing, our content is episodic. That means that like a television series, we’ll have series arcs and an overall story arc. From the time characters enter the game through level cap and beyond, they are part of a galaxy-spanning story that features mystery, action and adventure. In addition to what we refer to as the A-story, there also are B-story lines, archetype and profession stories and multiple side quests. What sets our usage of the term “story” apart from everyone else is that everyone within each faction is working together to accomplish the big goal.

Most games present the story through text, and we’re avoiding that as much as possible. The quests drive the characters through the game without the need to read a lot of boring exposition. The point is to hook the players with a quick hit, like “Teal’c has been ambushed and needs back up!” The story is revealed through the character’s actions; the detailed mission descriptions are available, but they aren’t necessary unless the player wants more background information.

New screenshots of Stargate Worlds are up at the official website.

Gamasutra has an interview with Firesky's Joseph Ybarra, where he talks about the production model used by Stargate Worlds and the similarities between the production of a film and a game and the similarities between a post-release MMO and a TV series:

"Movies are much like video games," began Ybarra. "[Execs] spend a lot of money to make one experience, put it out there and if it goes great, they make another one. if it doesn't, they move on to something else."

By comparison, in television, "There are shorter production cycles, much lower budgets and much more content than movies -- 20 hours versus 2 hours. With Stargate, in over ten years they made more than 200 shows, and they were never sure they would get another year on this show. This can be kind of unnerving."

Ybarra highlighted more detail on how the Stargate TV series was produced: "They would begin shooting in February and wrap in December. Each episode is about 40 minutes and only costs about $2 million to produce. Shoots last from three days to a week or two, and they'd front-load the time with the things they could count on like standing sets and established actors, so the vast majority of the time was spent in post production. To get this all done in one year they'd shoot episodes in parallel, too."

He continued: "Since they'd been doing this for ten years, they had this production organized down to a science -- they could just repeat the process over and over again."

After this, Ybarra showed a trailer for Stargate Worlds, and explained that while the "movie model" applies to the development phase of a game, the "television model" applies to the live phase of an MMO.

The official website of Stargate Worlds Online announces that in half a month 100.000 have registered for the closed beta:

"This is a huge milestone for our game," said Community Manager David Read, "but as a big Stargate fan myself this comes as no surprise. In the words of Executive Producer Brad Wright, this franchise has 'got legs,' no matter what medium it reaches. Stargate Worlds is sure to excel."

Q&A round-table with some of the makers of Stargate Worlds.

GameSpot UK chatted to three people involved in the MMOG in a roundtable discussion: Stargate Worlds studio head Dan Elggren, FireSky senior vice president of strategic operations Joe Ybarra, and FireSky's senior vice president of product development Rod Nakamoto.

Ybarra is a veteran of the games world, who started in the industry more than 20 years ago as a producer for Electronic Arts. He has worked on titles including M.U.L.E., The Bard's Tale, The Seven Cities of Gold, and The Matrix Online.

Nakamoto is also an industry old timer, having started out developing one of the first sound cards for the Apple II computer, and has worked for (among others) Electronic Arts, Activision, and Sega. Games with his name on include Wing Commander: Prophecy, Eternal Champions, and NASCAR Thunder 2003.

Elggren describes himself as a "Stargate enthusiast," and got his break in the industry working as a QA tester. He formerly worked for Electronic Arts as development director, and developed games including three Medal of Honor titles, and Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour.

The official Stargate Worlds website has opened for beta application.

New screenshots have been released at the official website.

Cheyenne Mountain is going to be self-publishing Stargate Worlds by creation of a new publishing company called FireSky:

"We don’t intend to be another garden-variety games publisher,” said FireSky CEO Tim Jenson.

"We are focused on publishing high quality social gaming experiences online. As the industry moves online, more and more people will be turning to games as a way to spend time with friends. With a few notable exceptions, game developers and publishers haven’t done a great job of marrying quality games with social experiences. Project: Ascension and SNAP games will change that dynamic forever."

New screenshots have been released on the official website.

Some new screenshots for Stargate Worlds have been released.

Veteran interview at Gamasutra - heres the intro:

With years of industry experience stretching back to the earliest days of Electronic Arts, and other pioneering studios - he's produced games including The Bard’s Tale, M.U.L.E., Starflight and Wasteland, Joe Ybarra has seen a lot of trends come and go.

Ybarra also has produced MMOs including Shadowbane and The Matrix Online, and has been working with Arizona-headquartered developer Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment as its SVP of strategic operations. There, he's tackling turning the Stargate license into a successful MMO as Stargate Worlds, as well as working with multiple other divisions of the developer, including Handcranked Games and Superstition Studios.

In this in-depth Gamasutra interview, Ybarra, talks the challenges that this presents, and the state of the MMO business, including details on the company's second, as yet unannounced title.

With the recent information that EA Mythic has decided not to have official forums, the question is asked by Cheyenne Mountain at the official forums of Stargate Worlds whether or not it is the right decision to have official forums for a MMORPG:

Mark Jacobs of EA recently expressed his opinion that official forums were not necessary and therefore won't be created for Warhammer Online *.

Here at Stargate Worlds we feel Official Forums for the game are an important part of the developer-player relationship, not only during development but through beta, launch and far beyond.

What do you think? Are Official Forums necessary? Do they attract the worst kind of trolls and ultimately scare off the serious posters and would-be community builders? Or are serious fans able to weed through the chaff and find what they need to sustain a healthy relationship with the dev team?

Let me know what you think!

Three new screenshots and one piece of concept art have been released at the official site of Stargate Worlds.

Game Informer's new issue has a Q&A with creative director Chris Klung and studio head Dan Elggren from Cheyenne Mountain. The issue also features three exclusive images one of which shows off combat for the first time. 
You either need to be a Game Informer subscriber or buy the print magazine in order to read the article and see the images. Though the images will be released on Stargate Worlds' official site in the near future.

New images have been uploaded onto the official website.

Some info on combat and AI in Stargate at CVG. 

"It's a traditional MMO system that will be very familiar to gamers, but with more depth and tactical options. We are not a twitch-based game or any type
of hybrid MMOFPS," explains Elggren. So there won't be a re-imagining of the genre to get our heads around. But while it tries to trade in on the familiarity of WOW and provide a well-defined and popular sci-fi universe to play in, Stargate Worlds will try to distinguish itself using its brains.

A preview by Garrett Fuller from (once again) the GDC. 

 The biggest thing that the Stargate team faces is building out these huge worlds for players to explore. While the worlds are important the team hopes to have plenty of options for players to customize their characters and make them really feel like part of the Stargate Universe. The game also plans to go with a Teen rating to bring in a strong audience of all ages. The last item we spoke about was weaponry. The team was quick to say that there will be loads of weapon options for players in Stargate Worlds. The P90s and staff weapons were mentioned specifically; however I expect we’ll see more from the team soon.

Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment want your views on what is to be in the CE of SGW. Head over to their forums if you're interested.

A press release over at the Stargate Worlds community site states that forum members will get early beta consideration, so make sure to register on their forums for a chance to get into Stargate Worlds beta! 

Stargate Worlds Forum members have the first chance to become a candidate for beta consideration!

Senior Community Manager Katie Postma made the exciting announcement in the forum ...

Until there is a beta capture process ready and up on our official website, we ask that anyone wishing to be considered for Early Beta Testing register on these forums. It's as simple as that! We'll be sending out invitations using the emails stored in our forum database as soon as closed beta testing begins over the upcoming months.

We can't wait to see you in the game!

A new developer diary from the Stargate Worlds team has surfaced at RPG Vault.

Last installment, I summarized a mission from Earth & Beyond, where you, as a member of the Jenquai race, were sent to destroy a shipment of Progen weapons. Those "weapons" turned out to be genetically altered children. To deconstruct it, we must first understand what emotion the writer wanted for his audience. This first step is crucial, because this kind of decision goes to the heart of entertainment: a creator manipulating the audience to feel something. In this case, the audience can certainly feel exhilaration at the success of the mission, or frustration at failing it.

Sean Dugan, the Lead Content Designer for Stargate Worlds, talks about the period setting for Cheyenne Mountain's upcoming MMO.

When I say "Stargate," what do you think of?

Probably one of the first images you'll conjure up is some olive drab military types facing some bad guys who look like they raided the wardrobe department from Ben Hur.

But this military man you're picturing - does he have more of a Kurt Russell or Richard Dean Anderson look about him? Is he toting around an MP5 or a P90? Is this RDA with a buzz cut or longer hair? How much salt and pepper do you see? Or are you picturing somebody else altogether - maybe Ben Browder?

IGN catches up with Dan Elggren, Chris Klug, and Howard Lyon from Cheyenne Mountain to discuss Stargate Worlds.

IGN: The concept of a Stargate MMO seems to be pretty good since you can basically use the Stargate to gate out to wherever. How is that being incorporated into the game?

Chris Klug:: Because we want to try to craft the player's experience, initially you'll get gate addresses you can use and over time you'll accumulate a bunch of gate addresses. Once you do that obviously you can travel to whatever world you have the gate address for but we're using them sort of as carrots to entice the player to move forward and get gate addresses to worlds they want to go to.

Chris Klug, the Creative Director for Stargate Worlds, has dropped by the game's official forums to talk about the recently released trailer.

But today I wanted to talk about one concern that many of you have expressed, especially in the wake of your recent debates. That concern has to do with whether the content we create now for the game should be considered ‘canon,’ or, to put it another way, your worry that we are sometimes playing ‘fast and loose’ with the IP that we all know and love. I don’t usually post on the forums but today I am moved to do so, to ensure that you all understand our perspective. I’m going to do this by telling you a little story, the story of our relationship with Brad Wright, Robert Cooper, and their staff. Sit back, get yourself a sparkling beverage, and enjoy.

GameSpot has six new pieces of Stargate Worlds concept art available for viewing. 

GameSpot chats to Rod Nakamoto, studio head of Cheyenne Mountain, about Stargate Worlds. Also available is the official trailer.

GS: Give us an update on how the game will play out. What sorts of characters and character classes will you be able to play? Will you only be able to play as members of the Stargate team, or can you play as members of other factions? How have things changed, if at all, from the original vision?

RN: Our vision of Stargate Worlds is simple. We want the players to be the stars of their own show. This means we can't keep retelling the story of SG-1. We're going to let players choose from seven archetypes--Jaffa, Goa'uld, Asgard, and human soldier, scientist, archeologist, and commando--when they create a character. Players will be able to specialize their characters using a skill tree, allowing them to further refine their role.

There will be two factions in the game at launch. One side will feature the Asgard, Free Jaffa, and humans; the other side has the Goa'uld, Loyal Jaffa, and humans. This matches up very well with our original vision, which was to bring the Stargate universe to life in a way that just can't be done with the budgets and locations of a television series.

Thanks to Sammy T Tiger who wrote in with this.

The Stargate Worlds dev team is seeking questions from the community for the 6th developer Q&A.

Questions are now being taken for the next podcast in our ongoing Q&A with the Stargate Worlds dev team. Will your voice be heard? Episode VI is in full-swing in the Stargate Worlds forums! Already questions have been asked concerning models and textures, character animations, and queries regarding whether or not we'll see races such as Kull warriors.

Ask anything to any developer pertaining to any aspect of Stargate Worlds. You have to be a member of Stargate Worlds Forums to submit your question, so if you haven't registered already then please do so here. It's free!

We look forward to answering your questions!!

Sound Designer Nick LaMartina talks with DigitalContentProducer.com about workflow on Stargate Worlds.

“With movies, you have a locked picture and a linear experience — the viewer experiences that world in exactly the way the director intended it to be viewed,” says Nick LaMartina, sound designer at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment in Mesa, Ariz. “In games, I compare it to preparing to do a massive live show, and you have to write instructions for an intern about how to react to every possible thing that could happen under any possible circumstance, then flipping a switch and hoping it all goes OK. Game audio has to be ready to deal with any number of possibilities in even the simplest games. That's why a good, logical workflow is important in creating the sound for the game.”

Cheyenne Mountain has updated the official Stargate Worlds gallery with images featuring "Jaffa settlements, cover nodes, and a concept image of an interior of the Castle". 

Chris Bernet, the Lead Systems Designer on Stargate Worlds, chats to mmolecule about Cheyenne Mountain's upcoming MMO.

There have been a lot of rumors and speculation about what happens when you die. Can you elaborate on this process?
Well, there is a great white light and you then begin to see many loved ones around you as you begin to float upwards and… Oh, you mean within the game.

All kidding aside, no one truly ‘dies’ in Stargate Worlds. They are just defeated. When a player is defeated they have three options; one is to revive in the nearest hospital. Two is to get revived by another player or three which is to revive where they were defeated. The penalties associated with these three choices are not finalized at this time but needless to say we want to make sure we find the balance between making defeat meaningful verses making it annoying.

A new Stargate Worlds developer diary is now available at RPG Vault. This installment continues the in depth look at storytelling.

We left off talking about the juxtaposition of the 'beats' in evoking emotion in the player. A beat can be a mission, a series of them, a task in one, or any combination thereof. This work starts on the micro level, when each act in the game is broken down into missions, or 'broken,' as we call it. It starts with various questions... What is the point of this part of story? Are we trying to set the player up for a surprise? What side is the character playing on? How would a Goa'uld look at this issue? What methods would a Goa'uld use to get this job done? An Asgard? A Jaffa? How do we use this part of the story to build tension in the act, to lead to a climactic instance battle or a plot reversal that puts the player in the situation where they must make some kind of choice that matters.

Chris Klug, Creative Director for Stargate Worlds, discusses dramatic structure in a new developer diary at RPG Vault.

Any discussion about dramatic structure must begin with the old chestnut from Aristotle about three Acts - every dramatic story has a Beginning, a Middle and an End. "Well, that's pretty obvious," you say. "Big deal." Well, yes, it sorta is a big deal because the majority of the artfulness of writing drama comes through the juxtaposition, ordering and choosing of smaller elements within those three acts.

WarCry presents a new Stargate Worlds developer journal in the form of a dicussion about cover in combat.

Jaffa Interrogator: What acts as cover?

Josh Kurtz: Anything that looks like it should be cover should act as cover, that's what we are operating under at this point. If you see a stump and it looks like it's the right size to provide you cover, then it will. If you see a wall or a fallen log or a series of rocks that should provide cover, then indeed jumping behind them will help to save your hide.

Eleven new images have been added to the gallery at the official Stargate Worlds site.

view original : close

The new images include an in-game screenshot of the Ancient planet, recently revealed as "Agnos." Other images include a Goa'uld/Jaffa tent on a desert world, various Goa'uld and human buildings, and a first look at concept art for a Goa'uld character!

Stratics talks to Kevin Balentine, the Senior Marketing Manager for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, about Stargate Worlds.

Stratics Central: In an interview from earlier this year with Warcry, it was stated that the screenshots released then weren't actual ingame screenshots but rather "visual targets". Could you elaborate on that, please? And is the case the same with the more recent released media?

Kevin Balentine: Simply put, a visual target is a prototype. It’s an early stage of visualizing and imaging where the team is starting to develop their look. A visual target gives the artists a starting point, not an end point. The look and style of a game evolves over time, and that’s what you’re seeing in our new screenshots. These are in-game environments, not visual targets, and while there will be some evolution as we polish and iterate, what you’re seeing now is a glimpse at how the game will look. 

On Thursday MMORPG.com played host to a chat session with the Stargate Worlds development team.  In addition to the transcript, Jon Wood has gone through the chat log and picked out the juciest details.

It seems as though the story, or as one dev described it the "unfolding fiction", is going to play a large role in Stargate Worlds. Throughout the chat, story was referred to a number of times in response to a number of different kinds of questions.

"We are really focusing on creating an immersive experience," Garvin told us, "from the way we have developed the story, to the types of choices we're making regarding the way we deliver quests/lore/information."

Cheyenne Mountain's Chris Klug discusses storytelling in MMOs in a new developer diary at RPG Vault.

Storytelling in MMOs is entirely about establishing the structure of the player's game experience, and it is this structure delivers the emotional experience to the player.

"That's a pretty bold statement there, Chris. We thought this article was going to tell us about storytelling in MMOs, not this thing you call 'structure.'"

Ah, I see then. Well, I'd like to start our discussion by asking you the following question: What do you consider to be a story?

Mondes Persistants talks to Josh Kurtz, the Lead World Builder for Stargate Worlds. The interview is available in French and English.

SGW-MP : Your team realizes the "world," but can you tell how big you're planning on making it? How many kilometers?

Josh Kurtz : Our size will be determined by the needs of our content team and how much space we feel we need to get the players from min to max level while at the same time giving them space to explore and adventure in non combat pursuits. That being said I would say that it’s safe to say that we will be in the triple to quadruple digits in square kilometers. I don’t want to get too detailed because we may decide to make changes based on the needs of our players.

MMORPG.com talks to Kevin Ballentine, PR Manager for Cheyenne Mountain, about the portrayal of the Goa'uld in Stargate Worlds.

In light of the failings of the Goa’uld during this era, the Goa’uld of Stargate Worlds have decided to take a different approach. To start with, like several of the Goa’uld that were still alive late in the series, they’ve decided to drop the whole god act. After so many of their kind were killed by a small band of lowly Tau’ri (Ancient for Earthlings), it’s hard to keep up the charade. Kevin described this new breed of Goa’uld as having learned from the mistakes of their predecessors. Instead of sitting on their thrones issuing orders and bragging about their awesome might while sending minions out to do their dirty work, they’re more willing to go out and do the dirty work themselves. In fact, Kevin revealed that Goa’uld behaving in this manner are the ones that create the circumstances that put the main story of Stargate Worlds into motion, although he couldn’t be more specific about what they are actually up to.

Kevin Balentine, Senior Marketing Manager at Cheyenne Mountain, talks to Ten Ton Hammer about work on Stargate Worlds.

Pleased to know that the Stargate Worlds team wasn’t taking the MMOG market shake-up to seriously, we turned our questions more towards the game and the future of that world. While it’s been stated in previous interviews that there could be some tie-ins between the game and whatever Stargate TV series is running, we wanted to run the question by Balentine again to see what the current situation was concerning TV/Game tie-ins.

“As a matter of fact, this is one of the things that’s really going to propel us into the future,” Balentine stated. “In the terms of licensed Hollywood intellectual property, your blockbuster film is good for your single player video game. Your television series is the equivalent of an MMOG. That’s the dynamic that we see. There’s a great degree of incentive and a great degree of work for us in having a tie-in with this television series on a regular basis. We want to push people towards the series and have the series push people towards the game.”

A profile of Matthew Henry, one of the content designers working on Stargate Worlds, has been added to the official site.

As a content designer, I get to write missions, place NPCs, code encounters, design mobs, and get my fingers into every aspect of game production. Even better, I get to work with some of the best designers in the industry.

Ten Ton Hammer appears to have scooped the Stargate Worlds release date in a recent conversation with Cheyenne Mountain's senior marketing manager.

There's no need to adjust your computer monitor, you've read the headline correctly. Stargate Worlds, the upcoming sci-fi MMORPG being developed by Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment and based off of the long-running television series Stargate SG-1, will be hitting your computers in the fourth quarter of 2008. The news was slipped to us by Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment's senior marketing manager, Kevin Balentine, as he discussed how the development of the game was progressing.

Cheyenne Mountain has updated the official Stargate Worlds site with news of the arrival of some new members of the development team.

StargateWorlds.com welcomes senior engineer Joshua Rowan, world builder Brandi Alotto, receptionist Carrera Livingston and world builder Michael Bermann to the Cheyenne Mountain team!

Ten new images have been posted to the gallery at the official Stargate Worlds site.

Derek Sunshine reveals a bit about his history and work on Stargate Worlds in a new developer profile at the official site. 

I now have been working on Stargate Worlds for almost a year. I'm working with some of the most talented people I have ever met with a collective experience that is unimaginable. I am a part of one of the greatest world building teams the industry could possibly offer. I feel honored to be here and well after Stargate Worlds goes gold and is on the shelves, I can't wait to see you all in-game!

MMOGInfo.com talks with Kevin Balantine, Senior Marketing Manager at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, about Stargate Worlds.

2. One of the main things talking about MMORPGs is the character progression for players. Talking about that we can see 2 different models, the Ultima Online one focused in skills and the EverQuest one focused in levels. To which one will appeal more Stargate Worlds? Can you explain a little how it will work?

Stargate Worlds will have a level-based progression for characters, but there will be a variety of skill trees for each character archetype to allow customization. The system is both accessible to players new to MMORPGs and familiar to longtime players.

GateWorld has scooped a new piece of Stargate Worlds concept art featuring an ancient planet.

"One of the great things about working on Stargate Worlds is that there is so much rich material to draw up creatively," Art Director Howard Lyon tells GateWorld. "This painting was a great example of that. We were able to build upon the strong foundation of the Ancient architecture to add a great amount of depth to a location unique to Stargate Worlds."

Multiplayer Online Games Directory talks to Dan Elggren, Studio Head at Cheyenne Mountain, about the company's upcoming MMO, Stargate Worlds.

MPOGD: We know that Stargate Worlds wants to be more story driven, but is that in regards to the experience of the characters, or will they feel a part of some grand over-arcing story? Is there a major story that players will be following, and if so can you give us an inkling of what that might consist of?

When we talk about Stargate Worlds being story driven, we mean that we want the players to feel like their characters have stepped into the series and that their actions are meaningful in more ways than just gaining XP and cool stuff. There will be an overarching storyline for each faction and each archetype has a major role in. We believe these stories are so compelling that players will want to play through the game multiple times to get the whole picture.

I would love to give some details about the story, but if I did that I wouldn't have anything to tell you later.

Ten Ton Hammer has posted a series of exclusive Stargate Worlds screenshots and concept art images. 

Stratics has posted seven new Stargate Worlds images, comprised of a mixture of screenshots and concept art. 

GateWorld chats with Carl Coss, the head of the animation department at Cheyenne Mountain, about his work on Stargate Worlds.  The interview is available as a video, or you can read the transcript.

GW: What are you working on today, by chance?

CC: Today I'm working on the Jaffa female walk.

GW: Ah! How long does something like that take?

CC: The initial animation will take a couple days depending on what it is. Some of the smaller loops could take less than a day. But a movement cycle, you want it to be really nice and smooth and look good because that's what you see all the time when you're moving.

The folk from Cheyenne Mountain answer a few questions about their upcoming title, Stargate Worlds.

What kind of mix of familiar and new worlds can players expect to see?

One of the great things about making a video game is the freedom to create things that have never been seen before. The producers of the Stargate television series do a great job of convincing us that the SG teams are visiting distant worlds, but they are limited in the environments they can show by their budget. We don't have those kinds of limitation. Players who are fans of the series are going to see some familiar places but they're also going to experience a variety of new worlds that have only been hinted at on television.

We're still building worlds, so we're not going to commit to a ratio at this time, but we're going to do what makes sense, what is fun and what tells a good story. 

GateWorld talks to Lead World Builder Josh Kurtz about his role in the development of Stargate Worlds.

GW: Overall, what does your job involve?

JK: I'm the Lead World Builder for the Stargate Worlds project. Basically it encompasses a number of things. At the very highest level what it covers is managing the tasks on the world-building team and managing the people on the world-building team. Making sure everyone has their tasks and what they're doing; has everything they need, all the tools and all the things they need, and making sure all the different tasks get done, all the different jobs, all the worlds get built. We get the designs done for them. I take ownership of a lot of those high-end world decisions.

Senior World Builder Matthew Doyle is profiled at the official Stargate Worlds site.

I’ve been in the industry now for about six years. I am an artist, writer and designer, and I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil. I have been playing and running many pen & paper RPGs since the early 80s, including Cyberpunk 2020, Shadowrun, Rifts, Torg, Star Frontiers, AD&D and many more.

Part two of Ten Ton Hammer's Stargate Worlds interview is online.

“One of the atmospheres that we’re trying to give to the player is the concept of always needing more gate addresses,” Joe said. “Because until they get a new address, they really don’t know where to go next. When those new coordinates fall into their hands, they’re like, ‘Oh wow! I have a new place to go!’ They jump through the gate and they’re in an entirely new world.”

Ten Ton Hammer chats to Joe Ybarra of Cheyenne Mountain about puzzles in Stargate Worlds.

When asked about the puzzles in SGW, Joe was eager to explain why they were a fundamental part of the gameplay experience that had been considered from the very beginning of SGW’s development. “When we were first coming up with features to implement into the game, we wanted a non-combat gameplay mechanism to really reinforce some of the things in the show that were non-combat related,” he said. “If you actually watch the series, combat is a fairly small motif when compared to the rest of the actions the characters in the series partake in.”

GamersInfo takes a thoughtful stance on the development of Stargate Worlds.

The current plans with Stargate Worlds are for players to reach level cap in 200 hours. For the hardcore player this will be two weeks; the casual player will reach it in 2-3 months. It’s hard to make a case for attachment in this period of time.

But, there’s another problem here – the system is designed using archetypes with alignment. So, to use an example, you have the Jaffa. You can be a good Jaffa fighting the Goa’uld or a bad Jaffa in service to the Goa’uld. Based upon which you choose, you’ll follow the class and skill structure accordingly. Ok, all is good there.

But you’ll also only see the content available for that archetype and alignment.

A new developer biography featuring graphic designer Alana Sabin is online at the official Stargate Worlds site.

So what kind of work do I do here? Pretty much anything two-dimensional, but my primary work is on the User Interface. So if you have strong opinions on what makes a good one, visit the forums and make those opinions known (you're welcome, David). I've also done print work, t-shirts, and banners for our Marketing Department, and executed some "morale" projects for general office enjoyment. I work on different projects every week, which makes it exciting to come to work. In fact, I'm having so much fun at my job, I'd almost be willing to do it for free.

VirginWorlds talks to Cheyenne Mountain about the company's current project, Stargate Worlds. 

WarCry previews Cheyenne Mountain's Stargate Worlds as seen at this year's GDC.

By the end of March, Cheyenne Mountain hopes to have their first playable version of Stargate Worlds. Powered by the Unreal 3 graphics engine and BigWorld on the backend, the company has spent more than a year finding their way. There are over 100 employees now at Cheyenne Mountain, with 60 of them on Stargate. These numbers are even more impressive when the company's belief in outsourcing is taken into account.

GameSpot talks Stargate Worlds with Cheyenne Mountain's Joe Ybarra.

The game itself will feature what Ybarra hopes will be a huge world that will have "all the planets, as many as we have time to build," though the game will apparently be structured to drive players to both explore and to discover the locations of new stargates--the portals that lead to the next unknown destination. In fact, the designer suggested the game will focus on three key points--exploration through stargates; tactical battles using the game's squad-based combat system that will involve both conventional weapons as well as more esoteric weapons such as orbital bombardment; and "replayability."

RPG Vault takes a sneak peek at Cheyenne Mountain's upcoming Stargate Worlds.

Stargate Worlds is a next-generation MMORPG that will bring the world of the popular science fiction series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis to the PC. Players will explore ancient ruins, encounter enigmatic cultures, solve intricate puzzles and fight ancient, implacable foes.

Stargate Worlds will allow players to take part in their favorite MMO activities while capturing the iconic moments that have made Stargate the longest-running science fiction series in history.

The Escapist has an excerpt of a larger interview with Joe Ybarra from Cheyenne Entertainment, publishing this piece as the first part of a standalone interview on Stargate Worlds:

The Escapist: I assume you guys are still working on Stargate Worlds?

Joe Ybarra: That's correct ... we're actually in printable production right now in many components of the project. Probably the only place where we're not in printable production is on the content side, the storytelling side and the quest side and the only reason why they're not in full production is because we're finalizing the storyline. Because we get all the scripts for the show, we found out a few things that are going to happen later on in the season, that we went, "Oh, wow, if they do that then we need to change our storyline." So we've adjusted our storyline and we've reacted to that and so the result of that is that puts that behind the rest of the team is, but the rest of the team is cranking away.

We have six worlds in production right now. We're looking at expanding the number of folks working on worlds here to include some outsourcing partners to help us out with that aspect of our work. On the art pipeline side, besides producing all the assets of the worlds we're building, we're also finalizing all the treatments for our character archetypes and getting everything staged up for animation and what have you.

One of the big events that took place since the last time we chatted was that we completed what we called the Visual Target, the V-targ so we've actually propped up some images on the website of images from the V-targ. So we pretty much nailed the look and feel of the game, as a whole, and have really worked hard making sure that the pipelines for all of that are under control, and everybody is willing to understand how to use them. So that's going pretty well, our big push right now is First Playable, we're shooting for in the next couple of months here or so. So there's a lot of high energy going on with the project.

Stargate Worlds has a new Community Manager in the form of David Read, co-editor of the GateWorld.net website.

Read takes over management of the Stargate Worlds forum where he will act as a community advocate and the main point of contact between the fans and the developers. The Stargate Worlds has an active community site with members from around the world.

“Joining the team at Stargate Worlds is a real honor for me,” said Read. “This is one of the few places where you can work with so many talented people who are just as focused on Stargate as we are at GateWorld.”

Ten Ton Hammer takes a closer look at archetypes in Cheyenne Mountain's forthcoming Stargate Worlds.

Balancing Archetypes

The ranged-weapon, modern combat paradigm of the Stargate universe led the designers to reevaluate the MMO tradition of the Warrior-Mage-Healer triumvirate.  A set of combined arms tactics that reward battlefield innovation and tightly coordinated teamwork was put in its place. In Stargate Worlds, groups are much more flexible in their makeup, as individual archetypes can often fulfill more than one role. 

The Archetypes are still a work in progress and some changes may be necessary down the road, but this is a good look at the path we are on right now.

Kevin Balentine, the PR Manager for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, talks to Ten Ton Hammer about Stargate Worlds.

Ten Ton Hammer: Do you think that the chances of success just got larger due to the fact that Stargate Worlds is the only way people are going to get more of the SG-1 scenario?

Kevin: MGM recently announced two movies that will continue the Stargate SG-1 story and a second spin off series set in the Stargate universe. I think the expansion of the IP is good news for Stargate Worlds. Anything that builds excitement about the Stargate universe helps raise our profile and reach a wider audience.

MMORPG.com talks with Dan Elggren, the Senior Producer for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment's Stargate Worlds.

MMORPG.com: Tell us about what it is like working with the Stargate IP. How has it been in adapting the material to a video game setting?

Dan Elggren: The Stargate IP is really a dream setting for an MMORPG. The Stargate enables near instantaneous travel between disparate worlds, allowing developers and artists to work with a widely varied palette. The game play aspects we are bringing together – modern combat, sci-fi weapons and the exploration of new worlds – are challenging to assemble, but we have a world-class development team here that is up to the task.

A new developer bio is up at the official Stargate Worlds site.

My name is Jacob Johnson and I’m an Artist at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment; my life has been very interesting. I grew up all over the US…moving back and forth from state to state due to my mother’s job. I usually say that I am from the San Francisco Bay Area, because I was born in Hayward CA. I call Castro Valley CA home because it’s where we always seemed to end up.

WarCry has an interview with Dan Elggen, Senior Producer for Stargate Worlds:

MMOSite talks with Josh Kurtz of Cheyenne Mountain about his work as Lead World Builder on Stargate Worlds.

MMOsite.com: Stargate Worlds has attracted a lot players' attention since CME announced the project. Can you give us a brief introduction about the game?

Josh Kurtz: Stargate Worlds is an MMO that takes place in the universe of the Stargate SG-1 Television Series. We have taken that universe and using environments both recognizable and never before seen we are creating the backdrop for players to explore, adventure, research, and fight their way through the conflicts and hurdles to become heroes.

A new developer bio featuring Jimbo Youkin, World Builder, is online at the official Stargate Worlds site.

Hi. I’m Jimbo Younkin. I am a world builder here at CME.

My formal education is in art and design. I’ve worked at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment for a bit over a year. I am lucky to have such talented people to work with. I continue to be amazed at the caliber of talent we are able to attract to our company and our project.

MMORPG.com has five new Stargate Worlds screenshots available for viewing. 

Five new screenshots have been added to the gallery at the official Stargate Worlds site. 

Nick LaMartina, Sound Designer for Cheyenne Mountain, is profiled at the official Stargate Worlds site.

My love of games started at the early age of 2, when my dad took my brother and me into his work to play a game called “Lunar Lander”. It was my first exposure to gaming, and not long after, our dad gave us a Commodore 64 to share when we were 3. Our earliest experiences were filled with the likes of Ducks Ahoy, Congo Bongo, JumpMan, Pole Position, and Parallax. It was at that point that we both also found a love of video game music from the masters like Chris Huelsbeck, Martin Galway, and Rob Hubbard.

More... 

Cheyenne Mountain has released a new Stargate Worlds concept art image.  Head on over to the gallery section of a official site for a glimpse of a temple interior. 

GamersInfo.net previews Cheyenne Mountain's upcoming MMORPG, Stargate Worlds.

For most of ten years I and many others have made the pilgrimage to the Sci-Fi channel (after Showtime) to watch what is arguably this decade’s most popular “science-fiction” television show. Even though its roots are grounded in squad-based military action and deeply developed character relationships, Stargate SG-1 and its spin-off, Stargate Atlantis have become part of the public consciousness. Few people may realize that it was Teal’c who started “indeed” that has now permeated our language so easily more than a decade ago. The announcement of the MMO, Stargate Worlds, has left both players and fans alike on the edge of their seats with anticipation. What could fit the genre better than stepping through a portal into a new world? At this year’s Austin Games Conference, Fafnir and I had the opportunity to speak with Dave “Zeb” Cook the Lead Systems Designer on Stargate Worlds; while earlier in the year I had the chance to speak to Joe Ybarra, Vice President of Development.

More... 

So, is there life after SG-1?

"The rights that we have are for both Atlantis and for SG-1, and Atlantis is going to go forward. So with that being said, our intimacy with the TV series is for both shows. When we started this project last July, it wasn't clear that season 10 was even going to happen. So we had to from the very beginning design the product so that it could carry on regardless of what happened to the TV series. With that said, it really hasn't impacted what we're doing with the game at all. To further that, the people that are creating SG-1 have been alluding that there is going to be more "stuff".

"What we had originally designed in our product is that we had solid representation of Atlantis in the game, realizing that it wasn't until we would implement the expansion pack that you would get the whole 9 yards. We really wanted to focus around SG-1 and the storylines that we build are spanning the entire 10 seasons of the show. So there is just this huge amount of material there that we can work with. As well there are some things that we are doing to extend the saga."

FiringSquad: First, Stargate Worlds recently announced that it would use Epic's Unreal Engine 3 as the graphical basis for the game. Why was this decision made and how will the Unreal Engine be altered for use in the game?

Chris Bernert: The Unreal Engine provides proven engine technology combined with excellent scalability. We needed a client that would provide for not only great visuals but lots of players within the game space and the Unreal Engine was up to task on both fronts. Another big plus for the Unreal Engine is its comprehensive toolset which allows us to hit the ground running.

Once upon a time there was a young man; tall and lean with the hair of a 14th century painting. He was unique in all the world, for although nature has a sense of humor, it seldom repeats a joke. This man was a llama tamer and hedgehog philosopher, the sort of man that made his imaginary friends worry about his mental state and occasionally have interventions with him. He liked wild things, like thunderstorms and birdsongs and he knew many of the clouds by their nicknames.

Jonric: To what extent will the setting include characters and locations et al from the Stargate movie and TV series? And how important will the backstory and story elements be?

Chris Klug: There are many, many worlds and environments, too many to describe here. We will use locations from the show in situations that call for them. The negotiations with the actors are not final, and so we have no updates on that issue.

The backstory isn't really important to gameplay, because the show and the online world share the same one. The elements of the in-game story are still being worked on because there is such a tight relationship between game system design and game story, and the systems are coming on line. The game is extremely story-driven.

"My name is Kevin Duc and I am one of the Concept Artists at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment. My life has taken quit a turn in the last few months. I graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in August of 2005 and moved back to Texas to spend time with my girlfriend. After a nice stint of post-graduation unemployment, I found myself face to face with my future Art Director, Stu Rose, in Austin. The pieces just fell into place. He needed a concept artist, dug my style, and offered me a job.

"Two words: freakin' awesome! The team that has been brought together for this project is amazing. I've met the talent behind some of my absolute favorite games and am always humbled by their incredible industry presence. These guys know what they're doing. I can only strive to bring my art up to their respective level of expertise. Truly an inspirational bunch.

SWB: Hi Dan thanks for your time !

DAN: Pleasure.

SWB: Do you know at this time when the publication date is?

DAN: We are still in the pre-production phase of the project so it is too soon at this point to narrow down a specific publication date.

SWB: Will the character use a DHD (Dial home Device)?

DAN: Of course, yet how that is interfaced with the player is still going through iteration.