Jack Emmert to head Dimensional Ink Sudio, DC Universe Online

[gameboy1234]

I found this on Polygon:  https://www.polygon.com/2020/1/21/21069503/daybreak-games-everquest-planetside-dc-universe-online-h1z1-new-studios

 

Quote

The company behind EverQuest, PlanetSide, DC Universe Online, and H1Z1, Daybreak Games, is making a big change. Rather than a single overarching studio, Daybreak will reorganize into three studios: Dimensional Ink Games, Darkpaw Games, and Rogue Planet Games. Daybreak will transition to a publisher.

 

The changes will push three different “franchise studios” to the fore. These studios’ efforts will focus on DC Universe Online and legacy franchises EverQuest and Planetside. Absent from those plans is the studio’s youngest franchise, H1Z1.

 

Newly-minted Dimensional Ink Games will be headed by chief executive officer Jack Emmert and based in Austin, Texas. The studio will focus on DC Universe Online and an unannounced new MMO project.

 

And there's more, but that was the interesting bit for CoXers.

 

Dunno what to make of this.  I was surprised to see Jack Emmert still working in the MMO industry, I thought he had retired or went off to try different things.  Didn't know he was with Daybreak/EQ, for some reason that had dropped completely off my radar.

 

[Call Me Awesome]

I'm not sure if he's a plus or minus for an MMO.  From the opinions and attitudes he posted on the old forums I think COH was successful in spite of him, not because of him.

[ShardWarrior]

24 minutes ago, Call Me Awesome said:

From the opinions and attitudes he posted on the old forums I think COH was successful in spite of him, not because of him.

I think that sums it up rather well. And DCUO is still around?  I had thought that game died like 5 years ago.

[Call Me Awesome]

13 minutes ago, ShardWarrior said:

I think that sums it up rather well. And DCUO is still around?  I had thought that game died like 5 years ago.

It was still running about a year or so, I rolled up a trial character to see what it was like now.  It seemed it was fairly similar to what it was when it launched and I quit after a week.

[NNDeepdish]

Did anyone ever play Planetside 1? So ahead of it's time IMO. 

 

Planetside 2 just was.... different... i don't know what was missing.

[Oubliette_Red]

With regards to Jack Emmert...

 

[VileTerror]

I know it would incredibly spiteful and bad form, and I am -not -advocating anyone does it . . . 

buuuuut . . .

 

I think it would amusing if people made a campaign to constantly post about the City of Heroes revivals in forums dedicated to Jack's comic book MMO projects.
Like "Hey!  Ever heard of this great thing called Homecoming?  Yeah.  Just thought I'd let you all know."

 

 

 . . . seriously, though.  Don't do that.  No matter what certain feelings of pettiness that much salt and wounds might grant catharsis for.

[MunkiLord]

I love these threads. All the bitterness amuses me, thanks for the laugh. 

[Haijinx]

DCUO was a nice, short, free single player game. 

 

I never found a team.  Reached max level.  And then uninstalled it since I was out of content.

 

Not sure there's anything anyone could do to fix it or wreck it at this point.

 

[Redlynne]

I still think it was pretty spiteful of Dr. Aeon (the Dev at Paragon Studios) to kill THREE of Jack Emmert's characters in the Who Will Die signature story arc, with the first death being a rather blatant Women In Refrigerators gratuity of (bad) writing.  Dr. Aeon even got CALLED OUT for doing it at a Player Summit ... and it didn't change anything.  I honestly found that more disrespectful (of Jack, of all people) than was either necessary or even called for.

 

Since then I've never really felt any need to "pile on" Jack Emmert.  His own former colleagues did worse to him (and his creations) than I ever could, by writing his contributions out of the game he made(!) and which we're all still enjoying (despite him).  That's enough "revenge" for me.  More is not needed.

 

NC$oft will NEVER be forgiven though ... 🔥

Edited January 22, 2020 by Redlynne

[Haijinx]

Oh wow I never knew all three of those were his characters.

 

Damn.  Yeah that's rough. 

[VileTerror]

Ah, I've always wondered about that, Redlynne.  Thanks for the additional context.

[That Ninja]

In a weird turn of events, Daybreak, the current owners of what used to be SOE and their games, have divvied up their studios into their own companies under them, so now the EQ, DCUO, H1Z1, and Planetside developers are their own companies. During this announcement, the new company that composes the DCUO devs, called Dimensional Ink Games, released a statement about where they are headed, penned by none other than Jack Emmert, who is now the lead developer at the company and had some interesting things to say, most of all this.

 

What about our new game? Well, I can’t say much right now, other than it’s a next gen MMORPG. It’s an action MMORPG, so no old fashioned click “A” and pray. And we’re hiring like crazy! We totally need YOU to make this game! Check out our openings and apply now!

https://www.dcuniverseonline.com/news/dimensional-ink-letter-january-2020

 

and the new company website really lays on their comic roots too https://www.dimensionalink.com/about

 

and with the rumors that this studio were working on a Marvel MMO that got shuttered, there might be tech already for a new Superhero MMO. I have no love for Daybreak as a company, but the fact that a non-crowdfunded superhero mmo might be in the cards might make enough waves to get general interest back into the genre and if by a longshot the game itself is good that would be cool too.

[VileTerror]

um, aheh, er . . . 

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/14412-jack-emmert-to-head-dimensional-ink-sudio-dc-universe-online/

 

EDIT:  In the past, the above post was a separate thread in a different Board.  A forum mod has merged these two posts in to this thread, and moved this thread to the Games board for focused organization.

Edited January 22, 2020 by VileTerror
See "EDIT" text.

[Redlynne]

2 hours ago, Haijinx said:

Oh wow I never knew all three of those were his characters.

Damn.  Yeah that's rough. 

 

2 hours ago, VileTerror said:

Ah, I've always wondered about that, Redlynne.  Thanks for the additional context.

 

Yeah, it was kind of "too cute by half" that the ONLY characters that died in that arc were Jack's.  Felt like a giant middle finger slapping you in the face from Dr. Aeon.

 

 

 

I remember back in the day when the episodes for the Who Will Die? arc were coming out and we got to episode 6 ... and people (myself included) just went NUTS over how STUPID the plot armor was on what happened.  I mean ... seriously ... (bat)Manticore starring as THE MAN WITHOUT A PLAN ... who MURDERS his WIFE(!!!) because he ran out of Trick Arrows that can detoggle control powers?  I mean ... come ON ... how narrow gauge is this railroad??

 

I just looked at the whole situation and setup and simply COULD NOT BELIEVE that Manticore was literally THAT DUMB to do what he both DIDN'T and DID do in that episode.

 

You've got explosive arrows, moron.  Why didn't you rig some of them around the altar to CRACK IT demolition charges style in case the thing went haywire?

Oh ... right ... you're THE MAN WITHOUT A PLAN ... I forgot.

 

Why didn't you use a Poison Gas Arrow on your WIFE(!!!) to put her to SLEEP instead of KILLING HER?  Controllers have lousy mez protection you know.

Oh ... right ... you're THE MAN WITHOUT A PLAN ... I forgot.

 

Why didn't you use one of your Ice Arrows on your WIFE(!!!) to HOLD her instead of KILLING HER?  Controllers have lousy mez protection you know.

Oh ... right ... you're THE MAN WITHOUT A PLAN ... I forgot.

 

Why didn't you use a Stunning Shot on your WIFE(!!!) that uses a BLUNT TIP to STUN HER rather than a POINTY ONE that would KILL HER?  Controllers have lousy mez protection you know.

Oh ... right ... you're THE MAN WITHOUT A PLAN ... I forgot.

 

 

 

I could go on, but hopefully I've made my point.  The writing was SO BAD that I literally lost all respect for Dr. Aeon as either the writer or as the creative force behind that entire arc of stories, thanks to Episode 6.  I mean, basically the only way that Episode 6 has any excuse for being as awful as it is can be summed up in the old saying ... "Evil will always triumph, because Good is DUMB!!!!" ... and boy did Dr. Aeon go out of his way to cram that down everyone's throats with the literally unbelievable plan that killed off 3 major lore characters, with each death becoming more egregiously awful/bad/stupid than the last.

 

Seriously ... Manticore ... all you had to do was MEZ your wife to detoggle her ... you didn't need to KILL her ...  👎

 

I blame the writer (Dr. Aeon) ... who apparently had an "agenda" ... common sense (and two brain cells being rubbed together) be damned.

 

Yeah ... NOT a fan of the Signature Story Arcs.  👎

[Haijinx]

Well I mean I like beating up Manticore because he annoys me.  But yeah.  That seems pretty contrived.

 

Maybe he WAS trying to clear the way to get with Swan after all.

 

I mean, have you seen the way she dresses?  

 

 

[Fortuneteller]

Best of luck to Jack. I'm doubtful that anything that he'll do will save that game from micro-transaction hell though.

[That Ninja]

11 hours ago, Fortuneteller said:

Best of luck to Jack. I'm doubtful that anything that he'll do will save that game from micro-transaction hell though.

It's less him saving DCUO and more hope for whatever new game they make. I always liked Jack's ideas of where CoH should be heading in the early days, but tech and time never really aligned with it, so hopefully now there's a chance something might come from it. Champions also the the potential of being good and things like the nemesis system was a great idea executed poorly, but trying to develop a game while your publisher is imploding and being passed around doesn't make the most productive work environment.

 

If they are working on a new superhero mmo, and are able to take the lessons other games tried (either succeeded or failed), and are hopefully given the proper time and resources by Daybreak, I would be really excited for the future of the superhero game genre.

[Kyksie]

18 hours ago, Redlynne said:

I still think it was pretty spiteful of Dr. Aeon (the Dev at Paragon Studios) to kill THREE of Jack Emmert's characters in the Who Will Die signature story arc,

I dunno. In one of the AMAs I asked Matt Miller if killing Stateman was a way of extending the middle finger to Emmert, and he said "no, not at all".

[Haijinx]

44 minutes ago, Kyksie said:

I dunno. In one of the AMAs I asked Matt Miller if killing Stateman was a way of extending the middle finger to Emmert, and he said "no, not at all".

Lol.

 

 

[Noyjitat]

On 1/21/2020 at 3:35 PM, NNDeepdish said:

Did anyone ever play Planetside 1? So ahead of it's time IMO. 

 

Planetside 2 just was.... different... i don't know what was missing.

ps2 sucks... and planetside 1 emulator is nearly finished and is playable though most are waiting on key features to be finished we have scheduled battles from time to time.  psforever discord server: https://discordapp.com/invite/0nRe5TNbTYoUruA4

[Noyjitat]

18 hours ago, Redlynne said:

 

 

Seriously ... Manticore ... all you had to do was MEZ your wife to detoggle her ... you didn't need to KILL her ...  👎

 

I blame the writer (Dr. Aeon) ... who apparently had an "agenda" ... common sense (and two brain cells being rubbed together) be damned.

 

Yeah ... NOT a fan of the Signature Story Arcs.  👎

Not a fan of killing off characters just to kill them off or in this case because they were jacks characters. Also the most powerful mentalist in paragon city (penelope yin) should have easily been able to stop sister psyche without killer her. Literally childs play I mean come on! And Darin Wade was a loser nobody from sharkhead isle if anyone should have killed states it should have been the villain player or recluse himself. The only 2 surviving marcus coles in our time line are bad/corrupt men and I doubt we'll be seeing emperor coles redemption occur.

[Lazarillo]

When I go back and look at the part of the game Jack was involved in, that being the content in the first 6-7 Issues or so, IIRC, I honestly gotta say, I see some great world-building, some great story elements, just overall a great setting, replete with fascinating ideas and plot threads.

...stuffed into some really, really tedious mission design and leaning to, though not entirely all-in for, sort of that dreaded assumption that players who take a casual approach towards online interaction aren't welcome in an MMO.

 

And the thing is, being as he lead the whole ship, I don't know precisely which parts of what he was most directly involved in.  So honestly, while I'll snark a little about the guy when doing some of those old i0/i1 Task Forces, I honestly generally appreciate him, and hope he does well.  I don't think CoH could've become what it did without him (even if, admittedly, I find it dubious that it could've become what it did with him, either).

 

As for Doc Aeon as a writer, he was kind of hit and miss for me.  Dean MacArthur was great, Praetoria was great, the Signature Story arcs...well, I still haven't tried Pandora's Box since HC come out, but Who Will Die was pretty awful.  Heck, it was a big part of what started pushing me away from the game and over to SWTOR even before CoH's original cancellation (ironically, SWTOR starting to flounder in its storytelling in many of the same ways late-CoH did eventually pushed me away from that game, too).  I think, possibly true to his namesake, he had a better gear for villainous stuff, perhaps.  But while he did have some cool ideas, it definitely didn't feel like he always had a lot of respect for the setting, or the "continuity" that is the story progressing as one levels up.

Edited January 24, 2020 by Lazarillo

[That Ninja]

57 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

When I go back and look at the part of the game Jack was involved in, that being the content in the first 6-7 Issues or so, IIRC, I honestly gotta say, I see some great world-building, some great story elements, just overall a great setting, replete with fascinating ideas and plot threads.

...stuffed into some really, really tedious mission design and leaning to, though not entirely all-in for, sort of that dreaded assumption that players who take a casual approach towards online interaction aren't welcome in an MMO.

 

And the thing is, being as he lead the whole ship, I don't know precisely which parts of what he was most directly involved in.  So honestly, while I'll snark a little about the guy when doing some of those old i0/i1 Task Forces, I honestly generally appreciate him, and hope he does well.  I don't think CoH could've become what it did without him (even if, admittedly, I find it dubious that it could've become what it did with him, either).

 

 

To be fair, in the original development of City of Heroes pre-release, the game development was lead by both Jack and Rick Dakan, the other co-foudner of Cryptic (he later founded Blue King and published the original comic series). I don't really know what from the base game was Jack Emmert or what was Rick Dakan, but before the beta there was much grander plans for launch than what we got, so it's hard to say if things like tedious mission design was a conscious choice or limitations of really bad engine.

[Kyksie]

15 hours ago, Lazarillo said:

When I go back and look at the part of the game Jack was involved in, that being the content in the first 6-7 Issues or so, IIRC, I honestly gotta say, I see some great world-building, some great story elements, just overall a great setting, replete with fascinating ideas and plot threads.

 

 

As for Doc Aeon as a writer, he was kind of hit and miss for me.  Dean MacArthur was great, Praetoria was great, the Signature Story arcs...well, I still haven't tried Pandora's Box since HC come out, but Who Will Die was pretty awful.  H

 

Emmert had some great ideas, but he also had a very poor grasp of what players want. I mean, at launch. Adrenaline Boost stunned the user for 20 seconds? And Elude left you unable to attack for two minutes? Who would possible enjoy that?

 

And yeah... Dean McArthur was awesome (especially how he hits on female chars) but Who Will Die sucked a big one. It should have been a player villain who killed Statesman, not a two-bit nobody.

Edited January 24, 2020 by Kyksie