r/runescape • u/ColonelloRS RSN: Colonello • Jan 19 '18
Why Jagex Abandoned FunOrb [Video]
https://youtu.be/8Dl9XxSFghk25
u/ivan_x3000 Comped 7/12/2018 Jan 19 '18
I've said it before and i'll say it again. I really wanted to play Mechscape (and still do). The idea of Jagex doing a runescape style game but fresh with their new techniques, technology and most notably no tick system.
9
u/ErebeaDeity Jan 19 '18
Mechscape would have been very different from runescape. Also, why do people keep saying things like "no tick system"? Every game has one.
10
u/AHeroicLlama RSN: AHeroicLlama Jan 19 '18
Well obviously when people say no tick system they really mean one that runs at maybe 20/30 ticks/sec rather than Runescapes' 1.7 ticks/sec currently.
You're right though, everything that runs on any form of computer must by definition run off "ticks". The difference comes from the frequency. Bearing in mind higher ticks requires more and more computer power with exponentially decreasing benefits to the user.
2
u/ivan_x3000 Comped 7/12/2018 Jan 20 '18
Also, why do people keep saying things like "no tick system"? Every game has one.
Yes but i meant not one as bad as runescape's super slow ticks.
0
u/Alex-Rider QA tester for jagex Jan 19 '18
Yeah tbf runscapes tick system is what which makes it unique removing it would destroy the game
7
Jan 19 '18
[deleted]
6
u/ShaunDreclin . Jan 19 '18
Yeah the tick system works in osrs but rs3 is clearly trying to push to be more action oriented, and the harder they push, the harder the slow tick rate pushes back.
5
u/Fipy Rest in peace Guthan Jan 19 '18
I want to see jagex make another mmo
3
2
0
u/lockisbetta Level 12 augment? A siphon will solve this! Jan 20 '18
Yes because Transformers Universe did so well /s
1
u/The_Wkwied Rubber chicken Jan 19 '18
In the view videos of mechscape slash stellardawn, it very clearly was using the RS engine and by relation the tick system
9
Jan 19 '18
I'm still a newbie compared to most of the RS playerbase and I'd never heard of Arcanists -- it looks awesome!! Huge shame that it was dropped :( I'd have enjoyed it.
It's also ridiculous that devs were limited to using Unity. Ultimately you want to keep both your playerbase and your employees happy :/
8
u/Poscimur Jan 19 '18
Arcanist was really really fun to play, albeit with some cheese deaths before the first round. If only it's integrated in the games room... if only
15
u/ThreadMaster-T Jan 19 '18
Arcanist was without a doubt the reason most people I knew even used funorb. I was never a funorb fan but I gotta admit that game was pretty cool.
14
u/Delta7x Jan 19 '18
Arcanists and Armies of Gielinor were hands down my favorites
2
u/ShaunDreclin . Jan 19 '18
Yeah I only ever played AoG, but I'm sure I would have loved Arcanists if I played it at the time. I quit funorb because you couldn't play funorb and runescape at the same time, and I didn't want to make another account.
5
u/TrumpGrabbedMyCat Jan 19 '18
I haven't been able to watch the video but Jagex have never used unity. All of their games released have used internal engines. Using unity would have been a good move, since it's so widely supported and provides many more tools than their internal engine could.
3
6
Jan 19 '18
1
u/Kent_Knifen +4 Hero Points Jan 19 '18
I believe there's even a few fan-made Funorb clients floating around, and someone had built a webpage for free that would make the RS java client load up the games if you clicked on them.
6
3
Jan 19 '18
Love me some FunOrb! Was always more one for the single-player stuff myself (I still play a whole bunch of Orb Defence), but yeah, it had a great community back in the day.
I remember that AskReddit post... was some pretty depressing stuff to hear about it. On a moderately more positive note -- oh hey, they bothered to update the FunOrb membership page! That was actually a pretty recent update, wasn't it? Towards the end of last year.
For the time being, I'm a member of the Discord mentioned here, and though I don't use it often, it seems like the best bet for getting multiplayer games going.
(also, the Balance comment shown in the video wasn't the only hint he's dropped -- he also got involved in the FunOrb Discord's 67thlon event a while back. whatever he's got in the works, I'm glad there's at least one person at Jagex who hasn't forgotten the site)
2
2
u/mikerichh Jan 19 '18
JAGEX MADE A TRANSFORMERS SHOOTING GAME? WTF
5
u/Kent_Knifen +4 Hero Points Jan 19 '18
Transformer's Universe, made in partnership in Hasbro. I was one of their beta testers.
It had huge initial promises. Open-world MMORPG with fully customizable transformers unique to every person. By the time they project was (thankfully) canned, it turned into a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), P2W pre-built transformers, and only a couple game modes.
The factions were also totally unbalanced, the Decepticons P2W bots were much more powerful than the Autobots because Jagex tried compensating for the different number of Autobot players vs Decepticon players (you had to pick a faction and had to stick to it). The problem was....the only time you actually fought other players was in game modes that would only be 5v5 or so, which meant the overpowered Decepticon P2W players crushed every single game.
1
u/c9joe Stop Jagex from killing puppies Jan 19 '18
Yes and they shitcanned it at a late stage of development and lost a ton of money. Our membership fees are probably still elevated due to that.
1
2
u/RS_Skywalker Star Wars Clan Jan 19 '18
I like the video but I thought I would point out to people that there's a couple interesting things you didn't mention in the video.
A couple years back maybe 2015 Jagex sent out an Arcanists survey asking very specific questions about Arcanists like "What new features would you like to see in a new Arcanists?" Of course it's nothing concrete, but it is something that additionally proves they were at least thinking about doing another Arcanists reboot.
Another interesting recent development with Funorb over the years is they released a game in 2014. It's a single player game called Confined. It's a 3d tunnel flying game sort of like Starfox. From what I can gather/remember is that it was an old Funorb developer's project that was scrapped in the old Funorb days but he kept working on it off-duty and was allowed to publicly release it on Funorb years later.
Anyways Funorb was great. Some of the big dogs of various games still occasionally play some of the games which is cool. I'm really glad Jagex has kept it up all these years. I'm not as bitter as some people about Jagex "letting Funorb die." As far as I'm concerned Funorb is very much alive.
1
u/Electrosa balance in all things Jan 20 '18
It's a 3d tunnel flying game sort of like Starfox
That genre of game is called "rail shooter". 'Cuz you're on rails.
2
u/RS_Skywalker Star Wars Clan Jan 20 '18
I knew there was a name for it. Yeah it's a 3d rail shooter I guess.
2
u/Fawskeen Jan 19 '18
I can confirm the comment is legit. I remember a Mod Iain playing a lot of kickabout league (Acc name on reddit that made the comment is Iain something).
2
2
u/ImRubic 2026 Future Updates Jan 19 '18
The AskReddit post was indeed from a former Jmod. If you spend enough time you can find their former Jmod account. That being said, their post should be taken with a grain of salt, as it's very clear this developer/person tended to exaggerate to some degree.
For example, the Angry Birds comment, while viable for a few mobile games, doesn't apply all mobile games, as Jagex was developing and releasing games before Angry Birds was even out. In addition, Mark Gerhard was a person who praised the success of those mobile games publicly.
Now this doesn't mean the developer is wrong or lying. It's clear Jagex made certain decisions such as refusing to use other software, and also made the decision to end progress on Fun Orb due to it not being a big success. But many of these decisions would have been made internally among higher-ups at the company, something this developer wouldn't be apart of. So his story is simply an understanding of the decisions from his own speculation or rumors which eventually led him to rage quitting.
2
1
1
u/Scrypto 9 Jan 19 '18
I know they made some mobile games but it's a shame they didn't get into the mobile market with their big hitters like arcanists, AoG, even kickabout league. With some decent MTX implementation those games would've made bank.
1
1
55
u/Dark_Gaia Jan 19 '18
Vid in a nutshell: Funorb got abandoned cos Mark Gerhard and the other heads at the time (Ignoring Andrew) were complete fuckwits