Entropia News: MindArk introduces dramatically new avatar system

Discussion in 'Entropia Universe in the Press' started by NotAdmin, Jan 18, 2013.

  1. NotAdmin

    NotAdmin Administrator




    GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Jan. 18, 2013 — /PRNewswire/ -- /Entropia Universe/ – Entropia Universe AB, the largest Massively Multiplayer Online Real Cash Economy (or MMORCE) game, announced today that MindArk has released a brand new avatar system. This new system will bring Entropia Universe to the forefront of graphics technology in an MMO with highly detailed and fully customizable new avatars. The new avatars can be seen at www.tractionpr.com/EU.

    The new avatars are significantly enhanced with over twice as many polygons as their predecessors for surprising fidelity. All character textures have been heightened as well, with faces becoming four times more detailed. Bilateral asymmetry is now a key factor in making distinctive creations as tattoos, scars and makeup no longer need to be even on both sides; and even hair has been improved so that it now moves and bounces naturally. Additionally all avatar animations have seen improvements so they move more fluidly, with clothes and armor redone to better fit the new models. This all allows for a much richer user experience as players' in-game representations will now be much more engaging and realistic.

    To add to the gameplay the avatars not only look better, but they have been optimized for better performance on all machines as well. While overhauling the creation system to introduce the high-fidelity models the developers also took the time to work on the basic user interface. They made it far easier to customize a unique character so players can explore the world as anyone they wish. The new system also improves the handling of different races to better represent players and their backgrounds. The team also included pre-set appearances to allow for faster entry into the game if a player doesn't want to spend the time on their avatar. Upon release of the new avatar system all existing users will get a chance to re-customize their look for free.

    Entropia Universe is the largest Massively Multiplayer Online Real Cash Economy (MMORCE) game in the world. Players have no monthly costs, but deposit and withdraw real funds for their adventures on any planet in the Entropia Universe. For more information on Entropia Universe or to download the free game please visit www.entropiauniverse.com. To download the new app please visit the Google Play App store at https://play.google.com/store.

    About MindArk Based in Gothenburg Sweden, MindArk is one of the city's largest video game publishers contributing the to the thriving development community. As the publisher of Entropia Universe, a game space that encompasses multiple planet partners, each with their own unique setting and gameplay style, MindArk focuses on the development and maintenance of the platform. This allows other companies to create unique content for their planets in the game universe and provides an environment in which a real cash economy can flourish.
    For more information on MindArk please contact us at the email below or go to our website at http://www.mindark.com.

    About Entropia Universe AB Entropia Universe is the largest Real Cash Economy Massively Multiplayer Online Game in the world. Entropia Universe offers players the ability to participate in a unique virtual world where they have no monthly costs. Its innovative real money economy uses a virtual currency which has a fixed exchange rate with the US dollar. This allows players to deposit and withdraw real funds for their adventures on any virtual planet or in the real world. Entropia Universe uses a state of the art graphics engine to deliver the highest quality visuals in an MMO today.
    For more information on Entropia Universe please contact us at the email below or go to our website at http://www.entropiauniverse.com.

    Entropia Universe Media: David Tractenberg (310) 453-2050 x111 david@tractionpr.com
    SOURCE Entropia Universe

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    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 4, 2013
  2. Tass

    Tass Administrator

  3. OMG O.o

    can update now plz k thnks bai!
     
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  4. NotAdmin

    NotAdmin Administrator

    I also expected something more. I'm not very impressed with the example pictures, and they don't show any of the new possible tattoos etc.

    Maybe it's just bad screenshots they used?
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
  5. When I saw the picture what comes to my mind first is that's it? I hope we would get more than this on Tuesday.
    If the real avatar update just like this, I don't know why they want to spend big part of 2012 and development team doing this.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  6. The avatars looks great I think and they mention theres an interface update and ALL clothes and armours updated as well as movements and animations just seeing 4 screenies and saying "POOPOO its suck!" is exactly why I rarely bother with forums anymore
     
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  7. A small imporvement got to say looks better than the old ones.

    I did expect more than this tho, I set my hopes to high but at least now i can overcome it and enjoy the VU day.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  8. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Wisker Fish

    So no Direct X 10 then... I will wait to post my thoughts until the actual update happens to see if it will be better then the pics..
     
  9. Tass

    Tass Administrator

    avatar new old.png


    Of course there's improvement. As well as Virtual Tycoon is a nice to have for very active EU players with a Smartphone runnning Android. As well as the Emissary program is a kind of improvement. As well as constantly revamping areas introduced half-baked before instaed of doing them right from the beginning. The question is whether the level of improvement does justify the development resources (respectively our PEDs) spent on these or whether there could be other potential improvements with maybe a higher priority.

    Last years survey results:
    1. Poor loot returns: 85 %
    2. Low chance of looting powerful Unlimited items: 67 %
    3. Not enough opportunities for avatar progression: 42 %
    4. Lack of direction and purpose: 38 %
    5. Game missing important systems: 37 %
    6. No interesting content, story missions: 36 %
    7. Introduction of limited items: 30 %
    8. Inferior customer support: 16 %
    9. Not enough social interaction: 11 %
     
  10. I would like to know if we get new options such as blue skin.
     
  11. On the side by side, would be nice to know if that is a automatic avi update or was the newer avi re created.
     
  12. It's a bit like the new areas on calypso and the new moon on calypso they incresed the texture resolution and polygons.

    Nothing big and fancy i think it will come in stages with further development as time goes on.

    MA are on the right track.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  13. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Wisker Fish

    Yep there is an improvement, I just wish they would stop beating a dead dog and move onto better coding. :D
     
    • Agree Agree x 1

  14. Oh I want purple skin with blue hair
     
    • Like Like x 1
  15. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    Last edited: Jan 19, 2013
  16. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    Thats just it... I had to double-take to see it though which is not exactly great going...

    "This new system will bring Entropia Universe to the forefront of graphics technology in an MMO"

    I guess those final three words are the prudent point. The issue here is of course that everything has to scale. In MA's defence they run a very large world and it isn't sharded. When 100+ avatars show up in one location they need to make sure everyone's PC don't catch fire and that is over a wide range of hardware. (be interesting to know the stats on that actually).

    I guess a minor visual improvement mashed with major performance improvements and more character flexibility/animations is perhapse a bigger priority...

    maybe this time things will scale too.. ie the future may not bring avatar improvements simply MA toggling a detail control?

    Who's to know really... certainly not till we get a look at how much they've hashed everyth... sorry "improved" everything this time.

    I really hope they havn't "simplified" the ava creation tool any more... it was bad enough last time compared to the first system. You don't get truely unique avatars unless you give the users the freedom to create using a wide range of paramenters.

    Like everyone else though, I'm hoping the screen shots are just bad choices and that we will also see a return of things like facial expressions and the ability to sit down etc...

    Then again... I don't hope any more.... I just accept. ;)

    Wistrel
     
  17. Group means three or more, not two. They should have put more AV's together to show more variations - and the eyes too glassy. Just about OK for M but not too sure for F imho. But overall features apart from the eyes seem to be more natural looking than before and clothes/armour seem to fit more like RL clothes, not just a coloured skin added to AV skins... Only the actual update will tell us though how good the new AV system is or not...
     
    • Like Like x 1
  18. khaos

    khaos DnB'addict

    Since they claim to be at the very forefront of avatar graphics, I'm disappointed.
    If there's one game that's at the forefront (in MMO's), it's EVE:

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    But I have to admit that it's a significant improvement, and the avatars do look realistic.
     
  19. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    Well EVE and APB were what they should have been aiming at if they were to REALLY make a splash... eve can't really be counted as they have yet to really USE their avatars. (I don't count taking pics as using)

    However, although APB went under before they really lasted five minutes.... lets examine their avatars for a second. Lets consider how when you have several of them in one place there is a significant slow down, lets consider that they all look the same, lets consider that their clothes look unrealistic, lets consider the quality of animation is wooden and un-varied or that the avatar creation system appears limited or that the game is a couple of years old now...

    Also consider that I am lying about all of these things....





    man look at around the 2:40 mark on the 2nd one I really wish I'd had a chance to play APB before it went down :'(

    and

    While we are at is lets look at their use of physics and how vehicles can't interact with each other...



    and just some silly guys mucking around with bugs

     
  20. Its not a maxed CE2 improvement and there are more realistic avatars around for sure...but I guess MindArk`s designers (if any left) did what they could.(Ya, it doesnt look thaaaat bad.;p)

    And of course there was nothing mentioned about facial emotes beein re-introduced...boOooOoooOOOoooOoo !!!1

    I guess its going to be a loOOoooOOoong way.

    But hell, if the promised 400% performance boost arrives with this update and grass areas wont get below 30 fps on a GeForce 670 GT, Ill be happy enough.

    But to be honest, I expected a little more...something like...CryEngine 2

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    Just google and SEE how pretty Oblivion is/was in 2006 already...using GameBryo Havok and SpeedTree...
     
    • Like Like x 2
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