Infantry computer game
Infantry Online is a pay-to-play, two-dimensional, top-down, multiplayer, combat, computer game utilizing complex soldier, ground vehicle and space-ship models on typically complex terrains. Players may choose from a list of game zones to enter, each zone having a unique style of gameplay.
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History
Sometime in the late 1990's, now-defunct Virgin Interactive Entertainment (VIE) began to develop a game called Sniper. The project went to the wayside and the developers created Subspace instead, which evolved into today's Continuum. Subspace caused VIE to go bankrupt. Some of the developers of Subspace bonded together to form the Harmless Games company so that the Sniper game could be developed further. The project was renamed Infantry. The game was developed and gained relative popularity. GameFan (the parent company of Brainscan Development) went bankrupt and hadn't paid its employees in months. The lead designer of Infantry, Rod (Rodvik) Humble, was offered a job with Sony Online Entertainment (http://www.station.sony.com/en/) (SOE) and left Harmless Games a few months into these tough times. Larry J. Cordner (LJC) also found another job, however, stayed with the development team until shortly after Harmless Games was bought by another company. Harmless Games, and its sole game Infantry, was bought by Sony Online Entertainment (http://www.station.sony.com/en/) (SOE) from Brainscan Entertainment for an undisclosed sum. Two of Infantry's developers, Jeff Petersen (programmer) and Jerimy Weeks (Artist and Zone designer) were hired by SOE to continue development of the game. Some time later, SOE had them develop Cosmic Rift (http://cosmicrift.com/) (CR), an offshoot of Infantry meant to rival Continuum. CR was a relative failure, compared to Infantry and Continuum. In October 2001, Petersen was transferred to EverQuest development and Weeks was laid off. Game development stagnated. In May 2002, SOE rehired Weeks and introduced a monthly $6.95 pay-to-play plan for SOE's three small action games: Infantry, CR and Tanarus (http://tanarus.station.sony.com/main.jsp).
Game setting
The time is set several centuries ahead of the present. There is a war between the Earth government (Collective) and the various rebelling moon colonies of the outer solar system.
Game zones
- Capture the Flag - Fast-paced basing action. The most popular zone.
- RPG - Role-playing. Player vs. Player action.
- Fleet - Real time strategy action. Massive spaceship battles in asteroid fields.
- Bug Hunt - Marine vs. alien arachnid fighting. Marines are slow-moving and have long-range weapons, bugs are just the opposite.
- Skirmish - Massive team vs. team fighting. Several variants exist. Some include tanks and other vehicles. Most employ static flags for territory holding.
- Gravball - Sport zone. Players play on a large map with various obstacles.
- Boom Ball X - Sport zone. Players play on a small, hockey-like arena and are restricted to either to aft, mid or fore sections of the field.
- Ambush - Fast-paced action. Players use jetpacks or hoverboards to fly around collecting flags and blowing up other players.
- Team Deathmatch - Fast-paced action. Players use multitudes of weapons against eachother in tight corridors.
- TankODrome - Arcade-style play. Players drive tanks, launch projectiles at other players and computer turrets to collect tokens. Tokens are used to buy vehicle upgrades.
External links
- Infantry (http://infantry.station.sony.com/en/main.jsp), official site.
- Infantry-Sector (http://infantry-sector.com/), leading fansite.
- NMEBase (http://www.nmebase.net/), another popular fan site.
- Infantryzone.net (http://infantryzone.net/), eccentric community spawned from now-defunct official forums.
- Fleet Command (http://www.fleetcommand.net/), fan site for the zone Fleet!
- CTF Players League (http://ctfpl.infantry-sector.com/), a league based on the Capture the Flag zone.
- Skirmish League (http://www.skirmishleague.com/), a league based on the Skirmish zones.
- Infantry GravBall League (http://www.radiationconsulting.com/IGBL/), a league based on the GravBall zone.
- Unified Skirmish League (http://www.infantry-sector.com/usl/), a league based on the Skirmish zones.
- Boom Ball X League (http://www.forsakenguild.net/bbxl/), a league based on the Boom Ball X zone.
Development Credits
- Lead Programmer
- Formerly Jeff Petersen (aka. Bagman)
- Scott (last name and alias unknown)
- Lead Designer
- Formerly Rod Humble (aka. Rodvik)
- Lead Artist
- Formerly Juan Sanchez (aka. Tswift)
- Tools Programmer
- Larry J. Cordner (aka. ljc)
- Lead Designer/Artist
- Jerimy Weeks (aka. Yankee/Azathoth)
- Brainscan Producer
- Nick Fisher (aka. Trixter)
- SOE Producer
- Formerly Rob Hill (aka. Qombat)
- Dallas Dickinson (aka. IronEagle)
- SOE Station Pass CSR
- Formerly Paul Williams (aka. soePWilliams/Soepy)
- Joe Nelson (aka. no~0ne/SoeJoe)
- Map Designers
- Black Magic
- Mar
- Unit92
- Weltch
Categories: Massively multiplayer online games