|
''Planetarion'' (commonly referred to as PA) is a browser-based massively multiplayer online game. Created by '' Fifth Season AS'' in early 2000, then bought by Jolt in 2003, and then bought by Renegade Games in 2009, and currently owned by Jagex Games Studio, the game has placed players in control over a planet, with the ability to mine its asteroids for resources, and construct a fleet of spaceships to attack other player's planets. Although its popularity has declined with the emergence of other similar games and the introduction of a pay-to-play model, the game is currently still active. The objective of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponents, which can be achieved primarily by stealing their asteroids and destroying their fleets. The game offers a player the choice between five races, each with their own ships and advantages, allowing for a variety of strategies. Every few months, the game is reset, at which point winners are declared and a new round of play starts, commonly with a number of new features and updates to keep the gameplay balanced. The game updates once per hour, which is called a tick in-game. Every action within the game, from the construction of a factory to the attack of another planet, takes a set number of these ticks, which gives the game a unique mix between turn-based and real-time gameplay, as it allows players only a limited window of time to react to other player's actions. Because of this, cooperation and communication between planets is a necessity, which leads to a strong sense of community play as the players organise themselves into alliances. As such, ''Planetarion'' has an active presence on the NetGamers IRC network for direct communication between players. ==History== When the game was launched in 2000 it quickly achieved great popularity, receiving eleven Multiplayer Online Games Directory Game of the Month Awards. Whilst originally free, the crash of the dotcom bubble also meant a decline in advertising revenue for Fifth Season AS, the Norwegian company behind ''Planetarion''. As a result, the move was made to a pay-to-play model with the start of Round 5. This led to a sharp decline in the game's userbase. In 2003, Planetarion was sold by Fifth Season AS to the UK-based company SimTech Ltd., a daughter company of Jolt, who provide hosting for the game. In 2007, round 22 ("Shards of Infinity") once again was a free round. A notable feature is that inactive players will automatically be moved to an inactive part of the universe. On 16 January 2009, it was announced that OMAC, the company that bought Jolt, had decided to discontinue ''Planetarion'' after round 30. On 6 February 2009, Peter Zaborszky from Renegade Games Limited confirmed that they had purchased the rights to Planetarion and that they would continue to run the game. On 26 July 2010, it was confirmed that Jagex had purchased ''Planetarion''. In August 2013, Jagex allowed a newly formed company called Ranul Tech Ltd the licence to operate and manage the game, whilst still maintaining ownership. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Planetarion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|