Massively Defiant
The world's first massively multiplayer 3D strategy game takes to the skies
Cambridge-based Nicely Crafted Entertainment have formally announced their first project, Time Of Defiance. The game marks something of a departure for the company's co-founders Tony and Ben Simpson, who made their name working on the painfully cute Creatures artificial life games. By contrast, Time Of Defiance is a massively multiplayer real-time strategy game which looks like a mixture of Project Nomads and Homeworld, with up to a thousand players on each server squabbling over the shattered remnants of a planet. "We've come up with a game so flexible in structure and tactics that there is an almost limitless strategy for victory", Toby boasted. "To date, we've run a dozen full games with a fairly small number of players with every player emerging with a different strategy. The winners of each game will be those that demonstrate the most skill, cunning, treachery and bravado. It is a strategy game unlike any other." NiCE also claim that the game's efficient networking system means that you can play the game from a laptop using a mobile phone, if you're a glutton for punishment, while a lowly 56k modem should be more than adequate. Obviously you can't be online all the time though, so automated defences will hold the fort for you while you're away from the game, and optional e-mail and SMS alerts can let you know if you're attacked. There's also the promise of over 14 million square kilometres of territory to control, with "lavish 3D visuals" throughout. Revolution in online strategy gaming or meaningless hype? Judge for yourselves - a 400 player demo version of the game is already available to download for free from NiCE's website, with a low monthly fee of just £5. The full thousand player version of the game will launch some time in August. Related Feature - Time Of Defiance screenshots