Interview: RTS Guru

RTS Guru has taken an exclusive first look at our latest game update (coming this weekend) and has posted a 2-part series about the changes.

Part 1: Illyriad Will Change the Game – New “Organic” Animal System Will Give Players Greater Impact

Part 2: Illyriad Q&A on Going “Organic” & Making Big Changes to the Game

Thanks again to RTS Guru for taking a deeper look into the future of Illyriad.

 

Free for All: Comparing the payment models of Runescape and Illyriad

Illyriad was mentioned in Massively’s Free for All column this week in a discussion about different free-to-play payment models.

“So how does real money work in Illyriad? Simple. You spend cash to buy prestige and then spend that prestige on a few things. You can slightly buff your defenses and the output of your resources. You can even buff the combat effectiveness of some of your troops, but as James Niesewand told me in a live video interview this year, the amount is very small and is only one of many, many factors in combat. You can also spend prestige to speed up building times on buildings. Even with all that, a player cannot speed up skill learning. As in EVE Online, players nominate a skill that is learned in real time. One skill can take days to learn. These skills are often needed to build certain buildings or to perform certain tasks. As in other PvP games, items mean nothing without the skills to use them. Illyriad‘s payment system is easy to understand, it’s cheap, and it doesn’t significantly affect gameplay.”

Read the full article here.

 

 

 

MMObility: Ten terrific titles for this nifty new netbook

Illyriad was mentioned in Massively’s MMObility column:

“The HTML5-based MMORTS will truly work on any device, as long as it has a browser. I have played it on every phone, tablet, laptop, desktop and now netbook in my home. Once you meet the community and get started, you are likely to forget that the game is actually a free-for-all PvP sandbox. … It’s perfect for a netbook. Hell, it’s perfect for any device.”

You can read the full article here.

MMObility: Ten terrific titles for this nifty new netbook

Free for All: News roundup from some of my favorite free-to-plays

Illyriad was mentioned in Massively’s Free for All column:

“One of my favorite games, browser-based or not, has been maintaining a pretty cool new blog for a while now. It’s good to see Illyriad being treated as seriously as it is by the developer. The official blog Beneath the Misted Land lets players look behind the scenes into the nitty-gritty world of coding and development, something I would love to see more developers do.”

You can read the full article here.

MMObility: How to real-time-strategize your way into my heart

Illyriad was mentioned in Massively’s MMObility column:

“I love the look of Illyriad, one of my recent MMORTS obsessions. It has a nice, hand-drawn feel to it and appears warm, inviting, and epic. Scrolling across the map feels like scanning an actual cloth map, complete with hidden areas and scattered empires. The graphics of Illyriad also bring up the fact that an MMORTS can be more accessible than a client-based MMO, especially when you get into the HTML and Flash varieties.”

You can read the full article here.

Free for All: Gaming with Game of Thrones

Illyriad was mentioned in Massively’s Free for All column:

“… some of the most fun is had in imagining the alliance lines being drawn or the secret meetings that decide the fate of entire sections of the globe!

Illyriad achieves this feeling, not by brute force but by allowing you to get to know your neighbors — and your enemies. Travel and trade is realistic, as far as the time required to do both. … If you zoom out on the map, you will see just how large the world is and just how much time it might take to cross it. Search the map for alliances and you witness how many lines are indeed being drawn. Despite the very friendly community, I never once stop thinking about the battles and wars going on at that very moment.”

You can read the full article here.

 

MMObility: Survival on a desert island

Illyriad was mentioned in Massively’s MMObility column:

“Illyriad, the fantastic browser-based city-builder. Not only does the game run in any browser, mobile and otherwise, but it looks great. The developers were very smart and made the game playable without the need for plug-ins. This means that I can sign in with any device using my Facebook connect (if I want) and can get right to it without downloading a thing. Many browser games require external downloads or suffer from lag, but Illyriad is a delight to play.

The gameplay of Illyriad is perfect when I have only a few minutes at a time, but with the sheer amount of information, skills to learn, and wonderful community members, there is plenty to do. While on my island, I might scheme about how to take down my neighbor or which skills I will need to become a successful trader … Given Illyriad’s realistic trade, amazing community, and variable-speed gameplay, I would be insane to leave this one off the list.”

You can read the full article here.