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aliendial
I've never done this - but aren't there services/sites out there that can anonymize you - perhaps giving you an acceptable-looking proxy? I searched a little in the forums and found this one: http://www.kaxy.com/ You have to pay, though.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 11:10 am
Mima
If anyone is able to find a way in that doesn't involve GameTap I would absolutely love to hear about it. Myst was my beginning point for games on the computer. (Oooh that makes me feel old!).

PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:36 am
plugs
 
Really? I was just digging out my copy of Uru :/

PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:32 am
Mima
Sadly it seems that this is only for US and Canadian residents, I went to GameTap to find out more, only to get blocked (I think that it checked my IP). Have fun those of you who are able to get in.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:29 am
catherwood
Uru Live steps into open beta
Uru Live will be moving into the open beta phase on Gametap sometime on Wednesday, Nov.29th.

Another 3 page interview/article with Rand Miller was published this week. Here are a few excerpts from page 2
http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/747/747605p2.html

Quote:
...
The other challenge that we had is the aspect of storyline. The Myst series is a little different from other games. We take a story arc and write gameplay around that. Typically games take mechanics and attach story to the mechanics. We do things differently. We have story arcs that reach out for years from now. We've laid out grand story arcs and sub-story arcs that get down as small as a monthly start and finish. What we've also built into Uru is the ability for those things to change based on what individuals do and what groups do. They'll actually affect where the story goes and where it branches.
...
Your choices will control where our storyline goes.
...
The other part, storyline, has a lot to do with perceived control. There are two ways it works for us. Number one is just being smart designers. We do our job right and get the perception of a lot of paths of choice. The player thinks he could have done lots of things. In our mind, there are two and those two choices lead to one thing or the other in the future. We can collapse things from there. It's a little behind the curtain and I don't want to diminish the sense of control. I admit, some of it is smoke and mirrors. But then, a lot of it isn't.
...
As designers, we know that this agenda is going to be accomplished but we don't know who it is who's going to help him. The branches are very small from a design point of view but not from the players' point of view. They feel like they're the ones making this happen.
...
A bit of it is being smart on our part. That's not that hard. That's what game designers do all the time. You want people to feel that they have infinite options but in the end you have to collapse those to realistic options.
...
We can affect a lot of people by only affecting one or two. The levels of connection collapse very naturally by human nature. We use our storyline to touch as many people as we can but the players tell the story beyond that. Suddenly many people are affected with not a lot of effort on our part. Little events can affect a great number of people.
...

Some of that may be just a bit too meta to be fun for some of you, but I find it to be quite insightful. A great game can still be on rails, but that doesn't mean there is only one car or that there can't be multiple tracks.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:06 am
krystyn
Ah, thanks for clearing that up, cath! I wish I had been able to participate in the original, but did not have a machine at the time that could handle it.

PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:26 pm
catherwood
krystyn wrote:
I have a suspicion that the old CD may not work - that the physics engine has been completely redone for this version.

Again, let's be clear about two entirely different interfaces being discussed here.

"Until Uru" is a patch to the original game CD, which then lets you connect to an official free shard. For those of us who were lucky to have been part of the original beta test of the original Uru Live (now called Prologue), this is a chance to revisit the Cavern. For others, this is your chance to experience what it was like in those early days.

"Uru Live" is a new release of the game, being developed for Gametap, and which is currently in closed beta testing. The open beta phase should be starting shortly. I believe the software for this will be a download from Gametap (for which you will need a subscription to access), but I am not participating and do not have all of the facts.

Therefore, yes, your old CD will work for Until Uru. You will, however, need to download a software patch, and this will nullify any progress you may have made in the game's expansion packs. (Path of the Shell was *awesome* but not part of Until Uru.) The revamped physics engine will be part of Uru Live only.

PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:06 pm
krystyn
I have a suspicion that the old CD may not work - that the physics engine has been completely redone for this version.

PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 2:16 pm
bagsbee
Flaming Nutter

This looks awesome!!

/me scrambles to find his copy of Uru

PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:23 pm
catherwood
Jotacon wrote:
Keep rocking out like the D'ni, guys

I attended a "town hall" chat this weekend, with around 20 players, some from the old Prologue days. The interface has commands to make your avatar dance and jump, and at the end it felt like i was in the rave scene from the second Matrix movie (in a good way).

After SpaceBass pointed out how one player became part of the story, I went back and read more of the history from Prologue. There is a website where players from that time have been trying to recreate what it felt like to interact with in-game (they call it In-Cavern or IC versus OOC) characters. Their media page is where you can watch some reenactments, filmed inside the game world and taken directly from chat logs recorded at the time.

I'm replaying thru Uru now, and I came across a journal written by a character. (Journals are strewn throughout the game world -- it's a very rich backstory but requires a lot of reading.) The first time I played the game offline, I don't remember thinking much about the names and dates mentioned in the journal. Now I realize that the offline single-player game actually documents the names of players who were furthering the story during Beta, as the dates match.

I won't claim that every player will influence the story. It's probably a lot like ILoveBees, in that any player at the right place and time has the chance to have a conversation with an IG/IC character, but that the number of players who directly alter the course of events will be few. We can't all be a Weephun or a Tweek, or the story would be chaos.

PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:59 am
Jotacon
I'm in the closed Beta for it right now. It's pretty awesome, but I can't say any more. I'm under an NDA. Sad Keep rocking on Until Uru, and sign up for the Beta. There's also an open beta coming up, I think.

Keep rocking out like the D'ni, guys Smile

PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:19 am
gamersquest
Mmmm same here MountainGirl - sounds great Very Happy

PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:10 am
Mountain Girl
Oooh, oooh, oooh, I want an invitation.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:24 pm
SpaceBass
Just from reading your quote above, I was skeptical that the audience would have any influence on the story, which is one of my metrics for determining ARGishness. But after reading the rest of article and specifically the following quote, I would have to agree that, if this ability of players to influence the story and history holds true, URU Live ought to be considered an ARG.
Quote:
And this [player] got so involved in this that at this point, he has a permanent spot in the game. His name is Brian, and in one of the journals that the actors wrote, Brian's name is there as helping, as that part of the history that will live forever. So there's an ability to become part of the story and actually shape it.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 1:45 pm
catherwood
anticipation builds -- is Uru Live an ARG?
I know we debate the definition of "what is an ARG?" frequently, but read the following description and tell me how this is NOT an ARG:
Quote:
...a "new media" platform where the storyline starts to be something that's both soap-opera and a game...

...much of the story, a plotline that's being planned to last for years, will take place within the confines of the city. Some of the story hints and clues will be obvious to players but Cyan has hired players and actors to interact in the city and world as normal players while dropping story bombs on unsuspecting players. Part of the mystery of the world will be in the conversations with real people and how much to believe. These dribbles of story will touch a few players and spread virally for a while before the information is eventually released over broadcast to others that might have missed the content.

As players find more of the story, they'll be introduced to new linkbooks that lead to new worlds and puzzles.
(the full interview can be found here)

Does it matter that *some* of the content will be on an exclusive server, and accessible only by subscription? The characters and factions that form the backstory already have public websites; you can read the history now, and I imagine they will continue to be updated -- and freely accessible -- as the story progresses.

Is this ARG 2.0?

(I'm spending most of my weekend online in Until Uru -- the joys of finally having an upgraded computer! It is 3-year-old content that I've played thru several times before, but the experience is still a delight. The promise of continuing new content is a dream come true. I do believe I will be paying Gametap's subscription fee when Uru Live launches to the public.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 1:23 pm
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