Firefall Already "Launched," Public Beta Rolling Out This Month

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wwm0nkey

Member
From The Escapist:

Mark Kern has been around successful MMOs for years. His time with Blizzard on producing Diablo and World of Warcraft has certainly informed every decision he makes at the studio he helped found in 2005. When Firefall was first unveiled at PAX Prime last year, he mentioned that the game would be ready by the end of 2011. That's why Kern was surprised when the media grew interested in comments he made in China that Firefall was still set to release in December. Perhaps his confusion is derived from the fact that Kern already considers his free to play shooter MMO already launched. Firefall is in Friends & Family beta right now, meaning that a small select group of people are already playing it - with a strict NDA, I'd imagine.

"We already consider ourselves 'launched.' We will not have a traditional beta, open beta, launch process," Kern told The Escapist Magazine. "We no longer feel this [cycle] makes sense in a modern, online, service-oriented business, especially a free to play game. Instead, we have modeled our launch after Gmail's invite system."

If you remember from way back in 2004, Google's mail service was rolled out very slowly with members only allowed a small number of invites that refreshed over time and Red 5 will emulate that concept with the Firefall beta.

"The way this works is that we bring testers and content up in layers," Kern said. "As each layer proves itself out, we give our testers invite slots, which they are free to send to their fellow gamers. We use different criteria to decide when and to whom we release more invite slots."

Invites will continue to be released slowly this way until the game is officially open to anyone who wants to download it come December 2011. "This process never stops, as it didn't stop for Gmail for a very long time. It's a great way to grow the game through people's social networks, which is what we want for our team and clan-oriented game."

This kind of system works because the content for the game is already in various stages of completion. Mark's comments about precentages was taken out of context and he's confident that there's more than enough available for the testers and for the launch final release in December.

"Game development has many parallel tracks, and some are harder than others. Our custom 3D engine and server engine, for example, is 90% complete. Our terrain and art and towns for December are also at 80% as is the art for NPCs, monsters, mobs, etc," he said. "We are a free to play game and we have a different go-to-market strategy than retail games. Just like League of Legends, we start with a great gameplay experience, get that right, and then the content will flow."

If you're interested in signing up for the beta, head over to the Firefall website and sign up for it. Kern says that they will be choosing more people to enter the beta later this month after PAX Prime.
Click to expand...

So yeah pretty much Google+ system.
 
Uh... so if anyone can send an invite my way, I'd appreciate one :D (when the public starts getting them of course).

Been interested in this game.
 
Artadius said:
Uh... so if anyone can send an invite my way, I'd appreciate one :D (when the public starts getting them of course).

Been interested in this game.
Click to expand...

Ditto.
 
These devs have been in a suing match with their (ex?) publisher for a while now. I wonder if it has had an effect on the game. Wouldn't be surprised if it was rushed out as a result.
 
I don't think this means anyone here already has invites, does it? I remember signing up for the BETA when it was first announced and I have never received a mail from them, not even PR.
 
I remember watching video from this game and being quite surprised at how good it seemed to be. Good thing it's still coming out. The team behind it sure as some pedigree.
 
They said they will start rolling out the beta when they got back from PAX and they got back today so we should start seeing invites this week.
 
This game was easily one of the best games I played at PAX. It's ridiculous how much promotion it had going on - ads on every banner, in every bathroom, on every piece of material, the single-largest booth for any single game at the entire show by around double, and more - and it deserves it.

I played two PvP sessions and one PvE, and simply can't wait to play more.


Also, every single developer of the game was on-hand at PAX. It was really a cool sight to see. They were hanging around, so friendly to talk to everyone, loving the feedback they were getting, and video recording a ton of fans (with consent!) to ask for impressions, feedback, etc. to bring back and watch later. It's a good thing they hadn't launched the beta yet, otherwise there would be no one around to fix stuff :-)

Hopefully those invites start going out tomorrow!
 
hmm...well i'll make a list and edit it onto this post.

1. Artadius
2. Tomat
3. Koojay
4. vitaminwateryum
5. ShdwDrake
6. inky
7. TheNamelessOne
8. jhawk6
9. wwm0nkey
10. KYGB
11. dLMN8R
12. b.mak

edit: first time doing this so if you didn't explicitly say you want an invite, I either interpreted it myself.
 
What's Firefall? I haven't seen any advertising for it at all.

Those who were at PAX should know that I'm being sarcastic.
 
b.mak said:
hmm...well i'll make a list and edit it onto this post.

1. Artadius
2. Tomat
3. Koojay
4. vitaminwateryum
5. ShdwDrake
6. inky
7. TheNamelessOne
8. jhawk6
9. wwm0nkey
10. KYGB
11. dLMN8R
12. b.mak

edit: first time doing this so if you didn't explicitly say you want an invite, I either interpreted it myself.
Click to expand...

ADD ME

I want in.
 
b.mak said:
hmm...well i'll make a list and edit it onto this post.

1. Artadius
2. Tomat
3. Koojay
4. vitaminwateryum
5. ShdwDrake
6. inky
7. TheNamelessOne
8. jhawk6
9. wwm0nkey
10. KYGB
11. dLMN8R
12. b.mak

edit: first time doing this so if you didn't explicitly say you want an invite, I either interpreted it myself.
Click to expand...
ehh why not if your willing to add me, go for it.
 
b.mak said:
hmm...well i'll make a list and edit it onto this post.

1. Artadius
2. Tomat
3. Koojay
4. vitaminwateryum
5. ShdwDrake
6. inky
7. TheNamelessOne
8. jhawk6
9. wwm0nkey
10. KYGB
11. dLMN8R
12. b.mak

edit: first time doing this so if you didn't explicitly say you want an invite, I either interpreted it myself.
Click to expand...
Throw some Orayn on that list. I need all the chances I can get to play this game.
 
Signed.

Shouldn't the latest gaffer just add themselves to the list? Its going to be very difficult for just you to edit the names.
 
I would like to be on the list. This game looks like it could be something really special! I didn't realize they were pushing to release so soon.
 
If we can invite someone else after receiving an invite (another Gaffer), I'd like one as well. Otherwise, I don't wanna take anyone's spot who might play a lot.
 
Oh man, I would love to get in on this. Add me please!
I wasn't completely sold on the game until the TB vids from Gamescom. Looks really fun.
 
b.mak said:
hmm...well i'll make a list and edit it onto this post.

1. Artadius
2. Tomat
3. Koojay
4. vitaminwateryum
5. ShdwDrake
6. inky
7. TheNamelessOne
8. jhawk6
9. wwm0nkey
10. KYGB
11. dLMN8R
12. b.mak
13. markot
14. Sarcasm
15. Rygar 8 bit
16. The M.O.B.
17. Xabora
18. Orayn
19. Meeru
20. Celebi23
21. Exuro
22. Slayer-33
23. Jo-el
24. DurielBlack
25. Lesiroth
26. Ozzykamikaze
27. Moaradin
28. Gassey
29. Andiie
30. Proven
31. bounchfx
32. NinjaTehFish
33. HarryDemeanor
34. Zeal

edit: first time doing this so if you didn't explicitly say you want an invite, I either interpreted it myself.
Click to expand...

Here we go, can add on after so the list starter isn't bogged down.

Next poster can pick it up from here.
 
1. Artadius
2. Tomat
3. Koojay
4. vitaminwateryum
5. ShdwDrake
6. inky
7. TheNamelessOne
8. jhawk6
9. wwm0nkey
10. KYGB
11. dLMN8R
12. b.mak
13. markot
14. Sarcasm
15. Rygar 8 bit
16. The M.O.B.
17. Xabora
18. Orayn
19. Meeru
20. Celebi23
21. Exuro
22. Slayer-33
23. Jo-el
24. DurielBlack
25. Lesiroth
26. Ozzykamikaze
27. Moaradin
28. Gassey
29. Andiie
30. Proven
31. bounchfx
32. NinjaTehFish
33. HarryDemeanor
34. Zeal
35. Sarcasm
36. Randomizer
37. thy_
 
1. Artadius
2. Tomat
3. Koojay
4. vitaminwateryum
5. ShdwDrake
6. inky
7. TheNamelessOne
8. jhawk6
9. wwm0nkey
10. KYGB
11. dLMN8R
12. b.mak
13. markot
14. Sarcasm
15. Rygar 8 bit
16. The M.O.B.
17. Xabora
18. Orayn
19. Meeru
20. Celebi23
21. Exuro
22. Slayer-33
23. Jo-el
24. DurielBlack
25. Lesiroth
26. Ozzykamikaze
27. Moaradin
28. Gassey
29. Andiie
30. Proven
31. bounchfx
32. NinjaTehFish
33. HarryDemeanor
34. Zeal
35. Sarcasm
36. Randomizer
37. thy_
38. Lo_Fi
 
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