ArcheAge fansite

Even if it’s not officially announced yet, a Cry Engine 3 demonstration video showed few days ago at GDC 2011 included ArcheAge as one of the upcoming games using Cry Engine 3. Obviously I don’t think it’s an error from Crytek but it’s a sort of leak about the switch to Cry Engine 3 made by Xl Games for ArcheAge.

As the title says XL Games licensed Simplygon to introduce it in the workflow for ArcheAge development.
Simplygon is a toolkit designed for help developers to manage 3d polygons in a game, optimizing them with different professional tools. One of the most cool thing about Simplygon is the almost automated system which convert high poly models into low poly models, let devs avoiding manual rendering or remodeling.
This is a huge time saver, speaking in easy mode.
Also, using Cry Engine 2 in combo with Simplygon is a final move for having a very extreme good graphic game with the most low specs allowed.

Here’s the official press release:

Linkoping, Sweden – February XX, 2011 – Donya® Labs, the premium provider of automatic 3D-optimization solutions for the game industry, today announced a new licensing deal with Korean game developer XLGAMES.

The Korea-based game developer, founded by “Father of Lineage” Jake Song, recently licensed Simplygon for its CryEngine2-powered game, ArcheAge. XLGAMES will use Simplygon as part of the art pipeline in development of upcoming MMORPG title ArcheAge, set in a fantasy world where the Eastern and Western ancient myths make an exquisite harmony. ArcheAge has been in development from the second half of 2006, and is the next-generation blockbuster MMORPG currently in closed-beta phase.

“We are using Simplygon for our next-generation fantasy MMORPG, ArcheAge, currently in development, in order to enhance efficiency and effectiveness by decreasing manual rendering as well as optimization hours, and producing high quality LODs.” stated Yongki Yoon, Art Director of XLGAMES.

Simplygon, a 2010 Frontline Awards Finalist, is the only commercially available pipeline toolkit for automatically optimizing 3D content for Level of Detail, or LOD, and platform porting with the speed and quality required in professional game development. It is common knowledge that using LODs in a game will reduce the number of polygons that must be rendered in a scene thus increasing performance radically. More and more developers are realizing Simplygon’s potential to automatically create these models whilst keeping high visual quality and that implementing the software in a game pipeline reduces the resource needs of the production and allows for a more streamlined game that moves faster and looks better. In addition, Simplygon can even replace entire parts of a scene with a single mesh and texture to considerably improve performance in large open environments.

Simplygon will be showcased March 2nd- 4th in Booth #1843 at Game Developers Conference (GDC) in Moscone Center, San Francisco. For more information on Simplygon please go to www.simplygon.com.

About XLGAMES

XLGAMES Inc. was founded by CEO Jake Song in 2003, and since then has developed an online racing game called XL1 in 2005, and is currently developing the next-generation MMORPG, ArcheAge, from 2006. The company was certified as Innovative Business (INNO-BIZ) and registered as Venture Company in May 2007. In 2009, XLGAMES signed a publishing agreement with GameOn for the service of ArcheAge in Japan, and in 2010 with Tencent and GigaMedia for China and Taiwan respectively. In November 2010, ArcheAge was showcased at G-Star, the largest game exhibition in Seoul, Korea.

About Donya Labs

Headquartered in Sweden, Donya Labs was founded in 2006. Donya is dedicated to helping professional game developers streamline their 3D-content pipeline through its proprietary technology “Simplygon”. Simplygon automates optimization of 3D assets to shorten production time and reduce development cost, and has been licensed by leading game developers such as Nexon, NCsoft, BioWare and CCP Games as well as companies in other industries, such as Boeing Phantom Works.

For additional information about Donya Labs and Simplygon, visit www.simplygon.com

The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. The Company cautions readers of this press release that a number of important factors could cause Donya Lab’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. Donya Labs and Simplygon’s name and logo are registered trademarks of Donya Labs. All other company or government agency names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Copyright © 2011 Donya Labs. All Rights Reserved.

Min-Hee Jeon, a fantasy writer, just released 48 pages of lore written for ArcheAge.
The short story, called “The Snow Bird” is avaiable for free at: http://navercast.naver.com/contents.nhn?contents_id=4418&category_type=series