Planetarion
| Planetarion | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Fifth Season A.S. |
| Publisher(s) | Jagex Games Studio |
| Platform(s) | Any Internet Browser |
| Release date(s) | Online 2000 |
| Genre(s) | MMOG, Tick-based game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Sound | None |
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 purchased by Renegade Games in 2009; it is now currently owned by Jagex Games Studio. The game places players in control of a planet, with the ability to mine its asteroids for resources, enabling them to 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, which has since been changed to a freemium format, the game is currently still active, and as such is one of the oldest running internet games of its genre.
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 types 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.
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.
...
Wikipedia