Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

When Sigil put together its team to develop Vanguard for the PC it had a firm goal in mind: create the third-generation of massively multiplayer online role-playing games. 

But when you ask what that means, even Sigil’s Bill Fisher will state that he is not certain. So instead, the team used a heavily modified Unreal engine to create a game that pushes the threshold of what was standard in the industry to what it can become.  

Buildings that have sagged through the years, fully integrated water, air and earth effects, and an incredibly huge and seamless environment. It was stated that one continent alone would hold the entire world of any of the existing MMPs on the market. 

While this game was only announced short months ago, the reality is that Vanguard has been in production for 18 months. When will it be released? Hmm, the Sigil team that demonstrated the game at E3 in Los Angeles Friday will not say. The answer was supposed to be slightly cryptic. The game has been in development for 18 months, they stated, and most games are developed for three years before being released. Given that, Vanguard will likely be playable on the floor at the next E3 and ready to release in the months following the 2005 event. 

Because the game is far out, and because it is the third generation in videogames, not much was being stated as to the contents of the game. There will be at least six playable races, and the crafting experience will be rather robust. There will be two general types of players – the adventurers and the crafters. Crafters can eventually build houses, boats and wagons.  

The game itself has an array of mythological beasts in it, including drakes. Again, the developers were not willing to talk specifics, but players may be able to ride drakes in the retail release. 

The architecture of each area will be unique to that area – so much so that players will be able to identify where they are by the look of the area.  

In the starter town of the high elves there are several spires. An aerial view shows the sun, beginning to set in a warm rose glow behind one. Drakes are silhouetted against that sun, drifting almost lazily in the evening sunset. 

If there is anything that will have jaws dropping about Vanguard, it is the lush graphics that stretch as far as the eye can discern, and the texturing within all elements of the game. 

“The artists have paid massive amounts of attention to the details,” Fisher stated. 

The game was one of the buzz words for those interested in MMPs during E3 and with good reason. While it was mostly the graphics engine and environments that were shown during an all-to-brief demonstration, it looks like Vanguard may be on track to be the buzz of the next E3 and the many months between.

For All E3 2004 Previews