Skyrates
Encyclopedia
Skyrates is a browser based massively multiplayer online game
with a focus on sporadic play in a persistent world
. It is currently in open beta. The development team was initially composed of students from the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University
. The game allows players choose an anthropomorphic character and purchase a variety of aircraft to fly to different areas called Skylands, taking part in combat and trading as they do so. There are currently over 16,000 registered characters as of February 2009, and there are generally between 30 and 200 people online at any one time.
Players in Skyrates progress through the game mostly through purchase of planes, upgrades and guns for their planes. Players may compare their progress via leaderboards, or a system to search players based on their various stats. As it is in development Skyrates often resets all player's progress with a new version whenever the game has changed substantially. Skyrates is currently version 2.5, the last version update having occurred September 2009.
Inspired in part by TaleSpin
, a 1990s-era Disney cartoon series, Skyrates is set in a world recovering from an apocalyptic war which reduced the remaining viable landmass to a collection of scattered islands. Ripped from the ground and cast adrift in the sky through the use of 'unobtainium
', these Skylands carried with them the last remnants of civilization. Now split into several color-coded factions, the descendants of these survivors travel and trade between the Skylands and are preyed upon en route by air pirates operating from smaller, unmapped 'skylets'.
, Skyrates was named "First Runner-up" in the Gleemax
Awards sponsored by Wizards of the Coast
. The award included a cash prize of $3000.
Also in 2008 it was awarded "Best of 2008" in the Simulation category by Jay Is Games
.
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
with a focus on sporadic play in a persistent world
Persistent world
A persistent world is a virtual world that continues to exist even after a user exits the world and that user-made changes to its state are, to some extent, permanent...
. It is currently in open beta. The development team was initially composed of students from the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
. The game allows players choose an anthropomorphic character and purchase a variety of aircraft to fly to different areas called Skylands, taking part in combat and trading as they do so. There are currently over 16,000 registered characters as of February 2009, and there are generally between 30 and 200 people online at any one time.
Players in Skyrates progress through the game mostly through purchase of planes, upgrades and guns for their planes. Players may compare their progress via leaderboards, or a system to search players based on their various stats. As it is in development Skyrates often resets all player's progress with a new version whenever the game has changed substantially. Skyrates is currently version 2.5, the last version update having occurred September 2009.
Inspired in part by TaleSpin
TaleSpin
TaleSpin is a half-hour American animated television series based in the fictional city of Cape Suzette, that first aired in 1990 as part of The Disney Afternoon, with characters adapted from Disney's 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book. The name of the show is a play on "tailspin", the rapid,...
, a 1990s-era Disney cartoon series, Skyrates is set in a world recovering from an apocalyptic war which reduced the remaining viable landmass to a collection of scattered islands. Ripped from the ground and cast adrift in the sky through the use of 'unobtainium
Unobtainium
In engineering, fiction, and thought experiments, unobtainium is any extremely rare, costly, or impossible material, or device needed to fulfill a given design for a given application. The properties of any particular unobtainium depend on the intended use...
', these Skylands carried with them the last remnants of civilization. Now split into several color-coded factions, the descendants of these survivors travel and trade between the Skylands and are preyed upon en route by air pirates operating from smaller, unmapped 'skylets'.
Awards
On 20 February 2008, during the 2008 Independent Games FestivalIndependent Games Festival
The Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...
, Skyrates was named "First Runner-up" in the Gleemax
Gleemax
Gleemax was a website whose alpha phase was released by Wizards of the Coast on October 10th 2007. Functionality was limited to basic blogging features and personal profiles. Wizards had plans to make it "the home for gamers" at some point in the future, with major functionality to be revealed...
Awards sponsored by Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
. The award included a cash prize of $3000.
Also in 2008 it was awarded "Best of 2008" in the Simulation category by Jay Is Games
Jay Is Games
Jay Is Games is a game review website that features daily updates and links to casual games, browser games and flash games of wide interest to casual gamers...
.
External links
- Skyrates.net – The official Skyrates website
- Skybrary – The Skyrates Wikia
- Game development post-mortem at Game Career Guide
- Review at Today's Free Game