• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Tribes Ascend to be playable at Quakecon 2011 (Update: show floor footage at post #3)

http://www.hirezstudios.com/hirezwp/?p=304

ATLANTA – July 13, 2011 — Today, Hi-Rez Studios announced that Tribes: Ascend will be featured at QuakeCon and playable by the public for the first time at the annual gaming convention.

Tribes is one of the most lauded brands in multiplayer gaming, with previous titles in the franchise being played by over one million people.

Tribes: Ascend is a new generation of the online multiplayer shooter, incorporating classic Tribes elements such as fast-paced, jetpack enabled combat, skiing, and vehicles, combined with teamwork and strategy. Tribes: Ascend is being designed by Hi-Rez Studios as a AAA free-to-play title.

Although the game is still in Closed Alpha, conference attendees will get the first public hands-on with Tribes: Ascend at Booth 333 of QuakeCon, held in Dallas, Texas from August 4th-7th 2011. Attendees can also register to win a limited number of keys to the Tribes: Ascend Closed Beta.

“QuakeCon has been called the Woodstock of gaming and we’ re thrilled to introduce Tribes: Ascend at this show”, says Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios COO. “QuakeCon has always delivered exceptional, competitive, multiplayer gaming… for free; and that’s our mission with Tribes: Ascend.”

About Hi-Rez Studios

Hi-Rez Studios, Inc, located just outside of Atlanta GA, was established in 2005 to create exceptional online interactive entertainment. In February 2010 the company released the squad-based Shooter-MMO Global Agenda. Hi-Rez is currently developing other competitive online games including Tribes: Ascend and SMITE. For more information, visit www.hirezstudios.com


---

I hope someone there will cap lots of footage. Or Hi-Rez should do the smart thing and hold a mini-tournament and stream it live.
 

Meeru

Banned
Just got back from Quakecon 2011, played for about 3 hours nonstop. The good ol' Tribes feel is definitely there, graphics are more similar to Tribes:Vengeance (all the guns have led displays on them indicating remaining ammo) but the skiing and movement is a bit slower, which kinda took me back to Tribes 2. (If you are light armor you do ski and move faster).

-There are two different spinfusors, a light, quicker reloading spinfusor, and the regular spinfusor we all know. The regular spinfusor takes much longer to reload per shot, you can really notice it as you want to left click on your enemy before he gets to fly again and you're watching the reloading animation.

-The voice command list from previous Tribes returns, including VGS for shazbot. Spamming woohoo and shazbot will be popular. Not sure if there are different voices, but I liked the one they had.

-You regenerate health after you do not get hit for a while, giving you a green glow. Carrying flag prevents health regeneration.

-Each class loadout have their own name and their set of weapons. Some new weapons I noticed was a 3 shot sticky grenade launcher that shoots in a straight line. It sticks to whatever it hits and hurts pretty hard when it explodes. I talked with staff and they said you can earn them through playing matches or paying for it, which will be around $4. There was also a pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle..there is the annoying chaingun, but only the heavy class can equip it. It's a really strong chaingun though. There are also the green mortars. You can also do a melee attack with a sword. Thankfully, when you attack near someone, you will not lock on a la Call of Duty. It's just a straightforward sword swipe. Took me maybe 3 or so swipes to kill a heavy.

-Whenever you do things that earn you credits (kills, scoring by bringing the enemy flag to your base, destroying generators), there's a little circle with an icon that shows up. I thought that was a nice touch. They had one for a lot of things, including first blood, killing spree, melee kills, roadkilling with vehicles, picking up enemy flag, destroying generators..Speaking of killing sprees, I got to 30 kills which gave me "You are on a Tribal Assault" or something, pretty cool. As of now, you can use those credits to get a gravcycle, strike, or a tank in the vehicle inventory.

-The microtransaction will apply to buying more loadouts and skins.

-People who attend will be given a chance to get into the closed beta. Only 5 keys will be given away. :\

-The sun looks really nice. So does the Shrike, I really love the way the engine moves when you use the thrusters

-The meters on the side are there to show you how fast you are skiing.

2011-08-04115346.jpg

2011-08-04115337.jpg

I was StealthCary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_K4CAMEdU
Oops it was recorded at 480p T_T I will go there again and record at 720p..I don't have 1080p :(
 
Goooood shit, Meeru. 480p is fine.


"-You regenerate health after you do not get hit for a while. Carrying flag prevents health regeneration."


screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Luckily, I already read about this on their forums, they're saying there's a server variable to disable health regen. I hope that sticks.
 

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
Oh man, that video has me drooling :)

Speed looks a bit faster than T2 to me, but it looks pretty faithful to T1 and T2 overall. (Vengeance just wasn't Tribes to me)

Now a few questions, if you can answer them :)

Mines, still in? (and do you throw them in front?, allowing for mine/disk combos)

What kind of range on the mortars? - can we still rain death from above from half a map away?

Stealth and Shocklances?

Laser Targetting / Targeting Beacons for Rockets/Mortars etc?

I can't wait for this, Vengeance wasn't for me, this looks like its going to be sooooo much more fun :D
 

Meeru

Banned
Mines, still in? (and do you throw them in front?, allowing for mine/disk combos)
I'm guessing you are saying grenades? Yes they have those, but you do an animation for throwing the grenade, which is not like T2. Doign the nade/disc combo may be a bit difficult but its possible. There's also c4 mines, deployable turrets..

What kind of range on the mortars? - can we still rain death from above from half a map away?
Range is huge, you can indeed shoot from base to base in one of the maps we played. That alone reminded me of T2 tbh lol.

Stealth and Shocklances?
There is a stealth pack, but there's also a sensor pack that detects stealth and also prevents nearby turrets from functioning. Shocklances replaced by this melee sword attack.

Laser Targetting for Rocket Launchers too?
Yes.
 

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
Thanks Meeru, hype factor increased :D

Although no, I really did mean Mines, not Grenades, a throwable Landmine that sat on the ground until an enemy (or teammate with friendly fire enabled) stood on them, I believe one of the first cheats/mods that became popular in Tribes 1 was a retexture pack to make the almost invisible mine bright red. In Tribes 1 the mine "armed" as soon as it was thrown to the ground, and it was thrown forward so a carefully timed throw and then shooting of it with a spinfusor disk could almost guarantee a 1-hit kill against a light (Mine damage was NUTS IIRC).

I can't fully remember, but I think Mine/Disk combo'ing was removed in Tribes 2 due to them making the Mine dropping below you to the ground, rather than in front of you, although I'm open to being corrected on that.

See this video @ 0:20 for the mine/disk combo pwnage :D
 

Meeru

Banned
Osiris said:
Thanks Meeru, hype factor increased :D

Although no, I really did mean Mines, not Grenades, a throwable Landmine that sat on the ground until an enemy (or teammate with friendly fire enabled) stood on them, I believe one of the first cheats/mods that became popular in Tribes 1 was a retexture pack to make the almost invisible mine bright red. In Tribes 1 the mine "armed" as soon as it was thrown to the ground, and it was thrown forward so a carefully timed throw and then shooting of it with a spinfusor disk could almost guarantee a 1-hit kill against a light (Mine damage was NUTS IIRC).

I can't fully remember, but I think Mine/Disk combo'ing was removed in Tribes 2 due to them making the Mine dropping below you to the ground, rather than in front of you, although I'm open to being corrected on that.

See this video @ 0:20 for the mine/disk combo pwnage :D
Yeah I dont think that combo will work, nade/disc will be your best bet
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
Meeru said:
-Whenever you do things that earn you credits (kills, scoring by bringing the enemy flag to your base, destroying generators), there's a little circle with an icon that shows up. I thought that was a nice touch. They had one for a lot of things, including first blood, killing spree, melee kills, roadkilling with vehicles, picking up enemy flag, destroying generators..Speaking of killing sprees, I got to 30 kills which gave me "You are on a Tribal Assault" or something, pretty cool. As of now, you can use those credits to get a gravcycle, strike, or a tank in the vehicle inventory.
I wish BF would do this. Vehicle spawn camping is so dumb.
 

ghst

thanks for the laugh
while the promise is certainly there, implementing regen health in a tribes games is an unfathomably boneheaded idea.

as much as it is to my distaste, regen health can kindasorta be rationalized in an ADD close quarters bulletgun brofest where death on sight is all but guaranteed anyway - but the whole rulebook changes with tribes.

each long distance engagement is a delicate dance of death, one which can last upwards of thirty seconds between good players. every glancing blow counts, every decimal health point counts. if i land a killer disc shot, i don't want to have to follow it up within the next five seconds before his magical regenerating fairy dust kicks in.

given hi-rez have been making all the right noises, it totally blows my mind that they haven't considered the consequences of a decision so dumbfoundingly awful. i can only hope that the tribes community hold as much ire for this decision as me, and can steer the liner from the iceberg before it's too late.
 
"given hi-rez have been making all the right noises, it totally blows my mind that they haven't considered the consequences of a decision so dumbfoundingly awful. i can only hope that the tribes community hold as much ire for this decision as me, and can steer the liner from the iceberg before it's too late."


If the tribes community can do anything, it can certainly rabble loudly at anything that is outside the classic Tribes design.
 

M.J. Doja

Banned
Yeah! This looks fun! Im not as purist as you folks but keeping it close to OG Tribes with things like non-regen health would be the best. Digging the movement, its refreshing.
 
Wow, this looks really good, and I'm usually not one for these types of games. I've never played a Tribes game before, but I've always heard legendary things about them. The footage almost made me feel a bit dizzy, though, because of how fast all the movement was.
 

taoofjord

Member
ghst said:
while the promise is certainly there, implementing regen health in a tribes games is an unfathomably boneheaded idea.

as much as it is to my distaste, regen health can kindasorta be rationalized in an ADD close quarters bulletgun brofest where death on sight is all but guaranteed anyway - but the whole rulebook changes with tribes.

each long distance engagement is a delicate dance of death, one which can last upwards of thirty seconds between good players. every glancing blow counts, every decimal health point counts. if i land a killer disc shot, i don't want to have to follow it up within the next five seconds before his magical regenerating fairy dust kicks in.

given hi-rez have been making all the right noises, it totally blows my mind that they haven't considered the consequences of a decision so dumbfoundingly awful. i can only hope that the tribes community hold as much ire for this decision as me, and can steer the liner from the iceberg before it's too late.

I totally agree.

Anyway, the footage looks great. It definitely looks faithful and the graphics and art direction are a lot nicer than I was expecting them to be (considering what Global Agenda looked like).

I will ask for nothing more from the gaming gods for the rest of my life if this game is at least close to as good as T1 or T2.
 

BrettWeir

Member
YES! That looks great! Thanks for sharing the pics/vid.

Seeing those generators in action (as simple as that may sound) made me giddy with nostalgia.

Questions:

As for vehicles, are the HAVOC Transport, Beowulf tank, MPB, and bomber in the game?

Looked as if there was splash damage from the spinfusor, but didn't notice a reactionary movement. Is disc jumping working?

Cant wait for this game to hit.

VCG!
 

Malfunky

Member
How does skiing work exactly? Do you hold space bar to automatically lock onto a surface as in Tribes Vengeance or is it more akin to Tribes 1 & 2 where you have more 'manual' control?
 

Meeru

Banned
I'll go there tomorrow again, this time gonna record at 720p. Game does look amazing.

Skiing works by holding down the ski button (space) while you go downhill
 

Darkkn

Member
Gameplay looks really tight on the video. Very excited! Pretty impressive visuals and sounds as well. Map doesn't look very big tho...
Didn't really have any faith on this when announced but looks like they are nailing it.
 

taoofjord

Member
Teknopathetic said:
"given hi-rez have been making all the right noises, it totally blows my mind that they haven't considered the consequences of a decision so dumbfoundingly awful. i can only hope that the tribes community hold as much ire for this decision as me, and can steer the liner from the iceberg before it's too late."


If the tribes community can do anything, it can certainly rabble loudly at anything that is outside the classic Tribes design.

Hmmm... I had forgotten how I had even heard of GAF until now. If I'm not mistaken, you were a member of the Tribalwar forum and had mentioned GAF to me on there at some point as a good forum to check out instead of using IGN. This was an extremely long time ago though, far before my registration date here as I didn't join right away.

Anyway, your'e spot on. No community is as vicious as the Tribes community. Not even Blizzard's community can compare to their pure jerkiness and cynicism. I remember fighting the "good" fight by defending Tribes: Vengeance (being such a huge fan of Looking Glass/Irrational/Ken Levine) and getting railed left and right. Haha.
 
I didn't watch the whole video, but skipping through it I can't tell if they fucked up the movement or not. I better be able to fly 2000 yards in one jump with enough skill. >:|
 

Meeru

Banned
Littlegator said:
I didn't watch the whole video, but skipping through it I can't tell if they fucked up the movement or not. I better be able to fly 2000 yards in one jump with enough skill. >:|
you can get lots of momentum by hitting urself with a spinfusor or the sticky grenade..then get ur life back by hiding for a few moments.
 

Woorloog

Banned
I want to play that.

As for people claiming it's like Halo: Only thing to me that looks like Halo is that it's colorful, not drab like so many shooters nowadays.
Well colorful like Halo 3 anyway, Reach has too muted colors...
 

Orayn

Member
This looks pretty good! I got my first hit of Tribes when I played near near-clone of it on Instant Action, so this looks right up my alley.
 

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
Wow. Looks great. Any word on how the F2P will work?

I'd really like games to take HoN's (ignoring the fact that it isn't available anymore) X$ gets you everything deal for those of us who dislike F2P and just want a complete experience.
 
Oh my, this looks fucking amazingggggggg. I haven't been able to replicate the awesome feeling of a tribes game since tribes 1. Please be good!
 

Borman

Member
Cant wait for this day. Still remember the day I bought a disk containing an incomplete copy of the Tribes 1 source code hah
 
"Hmmm... I had forgotten how I had even heard of GAF until now. If I'm not mistaken, you were a member of the Tribalwar forum and had mentioned GAF to me on there at some point as a good forum to check out instead of using IGN. This was an extremely long time ago though, far before my registration date here as I didn't join right away."


Wasn't me, sorry.


"Are they bringing the original maps back?"

They've only said that there's this reimagining of Broadside and a 1:1 port of Katabatic.

Edit: As far as classic maps goes.
 
Top Bottom