vSide released !
by Orion Elenzil · 08/13/2007 (11:19 pm) · 6 comments
We've been working hard at Doppelganger for the last few months on our biggest release ever,
and it's finally live today! Hopefully there'll be a dev-snapshot soon.
there's some words on wired about it,
and here's some from a dev-snapshot i submitted.
The Music Lounge has been rebranded, reworked, revamped, resized, and rereleased as "vSide".
Highlights:
* tripled the size of the environment by adding two entire new cities.
* rudimentary private apartments
* tons of new clothing items
* social gameplay ("respekt")
* other gameplay
* secrets!
* more clothing and entertainment brands
* new friendship model
* revamped look and feel
* redone website
* vastly improved load-times
* little myspace-embeddable badges for your avatars
* more music streams (18 different channels)
we've been working hard on this release for several months, and even tho we had to postpone many of the features we wanted to include, we're pretty stoked on the results.
some technical deetz:
The game-engine portion of vSide is a fairly heavily-modified TGE 1.3.5 codebase,
we host about three hundred players per server, and currently run about seven servers.
The backend is written in Java with a Hibernate connection to mySql.
also, Doppelganger is hiring a senior-level game engine programmer and other positions.
we're located in San Francisco, so if you know good people in the Bay area looking to get in on a hot startup, send them our way or check out the jobs section of our corporate site.
and it's finally live today! Hopefully there'll be a dev-snapshot soon.
there's some words on wired about it,
and here's some from a dev-snapshot i submitted.
The Music Lounge has been rebranded, reworked, revamped, resized, and rereleased as "vSide".
Highlights:
* tripled the size of the environment by adding two entire new cities.
* rudimentary private apartments
* tons of new clothing items
* social gameplay ("respekt")
* other gameplay
* secrets!
* more clothing and entertainment brands
* new friendship model
* revamped look and feel
* redone website
* vastly improved load-times
* little myspace-embeddable badges for your avatars
* more music streams (18 different channels)
we've been working hard on this release for several months, and even tho we had to postpone many of the features we wanted to include, we're pretty stoked on the results.
some technical deetz:
The game-engine portion of vSide is a fairly heavily-modified TGE 1.3.5 codebase,
we host about three hundred players per server, and currently run about seven servers.
The backend is written in Java with a Hibernate connection to mySql.
also, Doppelganger is hiring a senior-level game engine programmer and other positions.
we're located in San Francisco, so if you know good people in the Bay area looking to get in on a hot startup, send them our way or check out the jobs section of our corporate site.
About the author
#2
Orion--personal kudos for taking a game engine and being a direct participant involved with making a genre defining multi-media...experience is all I can come up with!
You as a developer, and Doppleganger as a commercial studio started with an interesting idea, and all the risks that entailed, but culminated in a mass-media success that should be an shining example of success in the industry.
I personally cannot come up with any parallels to your success within the multi-media synergy of game development and mass market appeal, and your personal and professional dedication should serve as icons in the indie market--aspiring developers of all perspectives, pay close attention to not only where these guys have been, but what they've done to get where they are today!
As corny as it sounds, nothing made me smile more (well, ok, so NASA using Torque may be an exception!) than to hear that a Torque driven project was on set at a "Pussy Cat Dolls" music video production, not to mention an interactive demonstration on a nationally syndicated talk show hosted by Tyra Banks.
For those new to the Torque scene--keep on learning, because the sky's the limit!
08/14/2007 (1:49 am)
Such a short synopsis for one of the most successful commercial ventures using Torque on the planet!Orion--personal kudos for taking a game engine and being a direct participant involved with making a genre defining multi-media...experience is all I can come up with!
You as a developer, and Doppleganger as a commercial studio started with an interesting idea, and all the risks that entailed, but culminated in a mass-media success that should be an shining example of success in the industry.
I personally cannot come up with any parallels to your success within the multi-media synergy of game development and mass market appeal, and your personal and professional dedication should serve as icons in the indie market--aspiring developers of all perspectives, pay close attention to not only where these guys have been, but what they've done to get where they are today!
As corny as it sounds, nothing made me smile more (well, ok, so NASA using Torque may be an exception!) than to hear that a Torque driven project was on set at a "Pussy Cat Dolls" music video production, not to mention an interactive demonstration on a nationally syndicated talk show hosted by Tyra Banks.
For those new to the Torque scene--keep on learning, because the sky's the limit!
#3
08/14/2007 (1:57 am)
Wow, nice work! 
#4
08/14/2007 (9:26 am)
Great work as always Orion, I agree, it is a short synopsis for such a success story... 
#5
08/14/2007 (10:59 am)
Congrats, You guys rock! Yeah, you show what "Torque-power" is.
#6
which is that we're a pretty largish shop - at least forty people i think,
and there's no way this stuff could be done without the business guys raising funding and working partnership deals.
that said, thanks for the compliments guys !
it's a blast working on this stuff.
08/14/2007 (3:27 pm)
i always feel like tacking on a small note to the Doppelganger releases,which is that we're a pretty largish shop - at least forty people i think,
and there's no way this stuff could be done without the business guys raising funding and working partnership deals.
that said, thanks for the compliments guys !
it's a blast working on this stuff.
Employee Matthew Langley