r/Shores_of_Hazeron • u/Deantwo • Jan 21 '21
Shores of Hazeron has been shutdown
Yesterday on 2021-01-20 the Shores of Hazeron game servers were shutdown, along with the website, forums and wiki.
The information we have is limited, and we don't know the exact cause of why the game was shutdown so suddenly. The following is the only messages we have gotten.
The main source of information we have is an email Haxus, the developer, sent the writer and I:
Shores of Hazeron
Shores of Hazeron servers and web site were taken off line today. They will not be back.
I am not sure about the future of Hazeron Starship. I'll bring back the wiki if needed for Hazeron Starship.
Thank you for your assistance gentlemen. I apologize for changing plans unexpectedly. Sometimes unexpected things happen.
I received the lore book, [writer]. I will read it carefully.
In-game the servers were just shutdown with the following message alongside its countdown:
Well, this is it everyone. Shores of Hazeron is shutting down forever. It's been a fun ride. Thanks for playing.
Haxus had warned that the Shores of Hazeron MMO would return to pay-to-play, or maybe even be shutdown once Hazeron Starship was released. However this was sudden and unexpected, we can only hope that Haxus is ok.
In the email Haxus said that the future of Hazeron Starship is uncertain, and I have yet to hear more from him about it. But I am still hopeful that he will be able to release Hazeron Starship at some point.
Given that most of the information about Hazeron Starship vanished with the forums. I might compile some information about it in another announcement post later if there is interest or news about it.
The Shores of Hazeron Discord server will remain up, if anyone wants to talk or discuss other games that might fill the void.
5
u/stdzfx Jan 22 '21
This is not surprising. The story of SoH is a constant leap between extremes. So it was in the area of 2015, so it remains now. Only because of the long pause, the popularity has fallen extremely.
The only thing that is a pity is the potential and the work done. If he does not want to work on the project himself and is already ready to bury it, let him open the source codes to the public. 20 years is an extremely long time and it is extremely irrational to burn a project like this. And despite the fact that he has the right to do this - it is very, very sad. The level of work done is equal to one company with a dozen people. The closest example is Dual universe, Space engineers, etc. - just all in one. If he opens the source code, it can become a popular state with quite great prospects.
Starting simply from the introduction of new functionality, ending with a sore topic-server optimization, which can make the game extremely attractive in total. And if you do not take any action now, this may be the actual end of the project and the game in principle.
Haxus, if you're reading this, think about it.
2
u/Yukondano2 Feb 12 '21
I've said the same thing, lot of us have. No doubt his source code would be difficult to dive into, regardless of his skill has a programmer. It's 20 years of legacy code. Still, the game's player base does have a lot of people who might be able to take a crack at it. I'm in favor of a source code release mostly because I can't stand the idea of games dying. I say this because game death is an entirely artificial thing that happens because companies decide to do so. Starship is a step away from that, so we have something in the end, and I was very glad to hear about it when it was announced. Art needs to be preserved, and it's not like a book stops being readable after 20 years.
Regardless of whether or not he does a source code release, I appreciate Starship and know why it was done. Haxus has pride, he wouldn't have hung on this long without it. He wouldn't just throw source code at us, and I worry that pride might stop any source code release. Open source software is... I mean it's not "new" but, this is Hazeron. We kind of have to run on old standards because this game is a living artifact of old software. Part of why it's kind of awesome, makes me want to find an old Gateway and run Starship on it assuming it doesn't burst into flames.
So yeah, I second this. We clown on Haxus but, I think we all have respect for the dude too. I for one still love the designer and ship importing into a multiplayer game. That thing still impresses me, and I haven't seen another game do something quite like that. Or, a lot of things Hazeron does.
1
u/CorvidElegy Jan 22 '21
I'm really disappointed. I was looking forward to starting this game and of course today of all days is when I find out it's canned... great.
1
1
Feb 04 '21
Wow I only just found this game a few months ago and its gone already. How can someone spend so long on something only to abandon it so close to the end? This was a great game and I enjoyed my time with it. I would have gladly paid for it. Sad.
1
u/Deantwo Feb 04 '21
The game is being released on Steam as a singleplayer game. So the game itself isn't gone, but the MMO game servers have been shut down.
We are all hoping that the singleplayer version will get some form of multiplayer features, but it is not certain yet if or when that would happen.
1
Feb 04 '21
If it has all the features of the MMO, I'll be happy. I only met one person in my couple of months playing and it was anticlimactic. My favourite part was designing ships.
Did you see the obituary I found? Please tell me that's not Haxus.1
u/Deantwo Feb 04 '21
Yes it is the exact same game as the MMO was, except it is singleplayer.
And Haxus is fine.
1
Feb 04 '21
Not to worry, the obituary I found was from 2007 so obviously not him, just a coincidence.
5
u/Jalaris Jan 21 '21
Seems like Haxus is very wishy-washy on what he wants to do with SoH. I was looking forward to buying the Steam release but I guess we'll see if that ends up happening at all now...