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IMG recently had the chance to visit Wolfpack Studios, the creators of the upcoming multi-player Internet game, Shadowbane. Based in Austin, Texas, Wolfpack Studios began work on Shadowbane nearly two years ago and will soon be entering beta testing later this year.



During our visit we were given a first hand look at a recent build of Shadowbane. Although the game is still in late development stages, the game appeared rock solid, running on both Macs and PCs.



The first thing that impressed us is the massive scope of this game. When finished, tens of thousands will be able to play online in a persistant online world. Unlike other online games, player versus player combat is encouraged. To control the chaos, however, Shadowbane will have a guild system (you'll even be able to create your own guild crest). Here you'll be able to join a guild, build your own town or castle, go on raiding parties, take over towns, etc. But venture to far from your domain, and you might be in danger. Shadowbane will reward players who join forces and build their empire.



Another impressive feature is the detailed fractally generated terrain map. Unlike other tile-based games like Ultima Online, Shadowbane's terrain is generated on the fly, allowing the authors to create new worlds in a matter of minutes. Downloading new maps and new worlds will only take up a matter of bytes, making them painless to download.



Shadowbane's interface is highly customizable. In addition to being "skinnable", Shadowbane's windows can be open, closed, resized, moved, and even made transparent.



Overall Shadowbane looks to be a sure winner. As previously mentioned, Shadowbane will soon be entering beta testing with the hope of releasing the full game sometime next summer. Be sure to stay tuned to IMG, we've got a ton of Shadowbane stuff coming in the next few weeks!

Shadowbane

Wolfpack Studios

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