Jun 30, 2016

“The Z Axis” Podcast #9 – Midair First-Impressions with w1nters, Application-1, DavidBowie, and Qualm.  Our guests today talk about their first-impressions with Midair, along with other topics including Tribes: Ascend‘s final patch, the possible return of Legacy FPS, and more!  http://www.fps-z.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/TheZAxis-9.mp3 | Open Player in New...

May 12, 2016

vlcsnap-2016-05-12-03h09m12s578-min vlcsnap-2016-05-12-02h25m45s942-min vlcsnap-2016-05-12-02h23m02s164-min vlcsnap-2016-05-11-21h33m19s094-min vlcsnap-2016-05-11-21h30m52s385-min Midair is an upcoming free-to-play (F2P) first-person shooter being developed as a spiritual successor to the Tribes franchise by a company who have had Tribes in their blood since 1998.  The start of development on Midair is a bit hazy to pin-point since the project went through several concepts and engine ports, though a safe guesstimate would be sometime in 2013. The game has all the elements (well, most.  More on that later…) to make it a proper spiritual successor to Tribes: skiing, jetpacks, projectile-based weapons, and large open maps.  The company, Archetype Studios, launched the Kickstarter campaign on May 5th and have already succeeded in achieving 66% of their $100,000 goal. But there’s more to say about Midair than simply pointing out the glaringly obvious similarities to Tribes, providing a link to their Kickstarter, and wishing them luck.  Of the few websites talking about Midair so far, none of them have really dug into or addressed the questions that arise in the comments section.  Fortunately there are those out there who have been following the game’s progress since day one, and care enough to at least dispel some of the common complaints.   How are they not getting sued by Hi-Rez?     Simply put, you can’t trademark a game mechanic.  Just because you develop a game that features bunny hopping, doesn’t mean iD Software will be sending you a cease and desist letter.  If that were the case then the entire arena FPS scene would be in a lot of trouble right now.  The same goes for skiing, or whatever you want to call it.  Skiing as a mechanic started way back when Tribes first released in 1998 as an exploit, and later accepted as an official game feature in 2001’s Tribes 2 and future installments. In Midair the developers are referring to the concept of skiing as “gliding”.  Fallen Empire: Legions called it “skating.”  Call it whatever you want, but the community will always refer to it as skiing, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.  Renaming the mechanic is simply a way to differentiate yourself from others and play it safe; nothing more.  ...

May 8, 2016

“The Z Axis” Podcast #8 – Midair Q&A with w1nters, BugsPray, Mabel, StealthRG, Qualm and more.  http://www.fps-z.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/fpsz-8.mp3 | Open Player in New...

Jan 13, 2016

On our seventh podcast: FishStix, ArmedPenguin, Nordsmark, BugsPray, Mabel, and w1nters discuss the Tribes Ascend “Out of the Blue” update, Midair on Steam Greenlight, and upcoming games in the FPS+Z genre.  http://fps-z.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/thezaxis7.mp3 | Open Player in New Window 0:00 Introductions 4:13 – Tribes: Ascend 18:34 – Tribes: Ascend Draft Tournament 25:30 – Future Tribes: Ascend Patches 36:16 – Midair Greenlit 42:40 – What will make Midair unique? 45:50 – Community maps in Midair 52:53 – Netcode 55:15 – User-hosted servers 57:08 – Matchmaking 1:00:00 – Base vs LT 1:04:45 – Team sizes 1:07:50 – Official forums and weekly streams 1:19:35 – Arms of Telos 1:22:28 – Novakin 1:23:50 – TRON RUN/R 1:25:00 – INSIGHT 1:26:45 – Outro Tribes: Ascend http://www.tribesascend.com/ https://www.reddit.com/r/tribes Midair http://www.playmidair.com/ https://www.reddit.com/r/midair Arms of Telos Novakin TRON RUN/R...

Dec 5, 2015

Just a small post to tell you all about our Discord server.  What’s Discord?  Well, I’ll let their website explain it: All-in-one voice and text chat for gamers that’s free, secure, and works on both your desktop and phone. Stop paying for TeamSpeak servers and hassling with Skype. Simplify your life. You’ll never go back. You can either download the Discord client or simply access our server from your browser by going...

Sep 22, 2015

 http://www.fps-z.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/TheZAxis6.mp3 | Open Player in New Window Our sixth podcast features Proj, BugsPray, Mabel, Phr33ky, PROJ, StealthRG, Voidspawn, and w1nters discussing the return of T:A, the latest updates on Midair, and adjustable inheritance in Arms of Telos. http://www.fps-z.com http://www.playmidair.com http://www.tribesascend.com...

Apr 4, 2015

 http://www.fps-z.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/TheZAxis5.mp3 | Open Player in New Window The Z Axis Podcast #5! This time we’re joined by Thanks to BugsPray, w1nters, @Saccaed, Greth, and KingRynex. Discussion topics include spectating tools, Arena updates, Tribes: Ascend mourning, Project Z, Project Freefall and more. — Watch live at...

Feb 27, 2015

Time for yet another FPS-Z Roundup!  In this edition we’ll be bringing you up to speed on some of our old friends, while also mentioning a few newcomers you may not know about.   Project Z Project Z Environment Art 2 Project Z Sensor Concept Project Z Medium Male Concept Project Z Sensor Concept Proejct Z Generator Concept Project Z Inventory Station Concept Project Z Light Male Concept Project Z Female Concept Project Z Female Concept   Not only has Archetype Studios been releasing new concept art and blog posts on a regular basis since January, but during our last Z Axis Show project lead ‘BugsPray’ confirmed that Project Z will indeed be free-to-play(F2P), though stipulated that they may do some experimenting with the business model.  Expect a blog post from them within the next few weeks that will address the announcement in more detail.  Yesterday the studio announced that they’ll be applying for the Unreal Dev Grant, which ranges from $5,000 to $50,000.  They’ve also posted a blog regarding matchmaking and dedicated servers, which you can read more of here.   Project Freefall Project Freefall Server Browser Project Freefall Map 5 2015 Project Freefall Map 4 2015 Project Freefall Map 3 2015 Project Freefall Map 2 2015 Project Freefall Map 1 2015   Project Freefall developer ‘Saccead’ has slowly been making progress on the game and recently implemented a basic server browser, while ‘Greth’ has been fine tuning his map-making skills and importing them into Unreal Engine 4.  A new tech demo should be available sometime ‘soon’.   Arms of Telos Justin Pierce has been very busy working on Arms of Telos lately.  He has expanded private testing for the game, made weekly builds with changes based on player feedback, and has somehow found time to attend several gaming events.  He recently held a tournament at FADECON, which you can watch parts of here, and is also looking to attend future LANs to show off the game.  If you’re interested in testing Arms of Telos, joining the official forum is probably your best bet.  If you’re lucky you might just get picked.   Cloudbuilt Coilworks, the developers behind Cloudbuilt, recently released new a...