By John Walker on February 15th, 2012 at 5:40 pm.
Apparently all gaming news must now be released at 5.03pm, when I’m trying to make my tea. One of 900 emails that just arrived in the same minute includes news of ShootMania Storm, the new game from Nadeo, they of TrackMania fame. As the title somewhat suggests, it’s an FPS, and as it doesn’t, it’s an online multiplayer that will apparently be made with the same ethos as their arcade racers. And it seems it’s one of two new games from the team, the other being Questmania, their approach to an RPG. Blimey.
Absolutely nothing more seems to be known at this point, beyond that they intend to have editable maps, as part of the ManiaPlanet thingie that came with TrackMania 2. There’s an open beta “scheduled for the coming months”, and then the appeal that for more information we visit this site. Which contains absolutely no more information.
As it happens, the games have been known about by those who frequent the Nadeo forums, since 2010. But with scant details. Presumably we’ll start seeing more now it’s a bit more official.
So what do you expect from a shooter or an RPG by the TrackMania team? Certainly no wait to respawn, that’s for sure as I’m hungry.
15/02/2012 at 17:44 ZIGS says:
More Trackmania is always good. Shootmania better not turn out to be just a barebones online FPS with the “make your own levels” gimmick
15/02/2012 at 19:19 Joshua says:
I think the “barebones shooter with custom maps” setup worked really well with Counter Strike and Unreal Tournament.
15/02/2012 at 20:06 ZIGS says:
Exactly, they’ll be facing some heavy competitors (CS:S/CS:GO) if they go down that route. I believe some sort of gameplay innovation is in order here
15/02/2012 at 22:19 TidiusFF says:
Gameplay vids shows that Shootmania’s gameplay is fast like Quake Live, with map editor and good graphic engine
16/02/2012 at 02:41 lasfdasfg says:
If the tools to build the quests are as ridiculously easy to use as they are in TrackMania and/or if one player can be in the role of DM, creating and modifying content one step ahead of the players, it would definitely be rather attractive. http://cutt.us/Vuw2
15/02/2012 at 17:45 Sp4rkR4t says:
I do hope we start seeing more info soon, but I hope even more fervently that we get new environments for trackmania 2 first.
15/02/2012 at 17:46 Vexing Vision says:
I am very much looking forward to the level editors for Shoot Mania and Quest Mania.
Especially for Quest Mania.
I am thoroughly hoping that ManiaPlanet will allow racecars racing overhead while I jetpack around trying to shoot down my enemies, while in the tunnels under my feet a band of heroes battles orcs.
All in a map I designed.
DO IT NADEO.
15/02/2012 at 20:30 Post-Internet Syndrome says:
Yes.
15/02/2012 at 17:48 salgado18 says:
FPSMania could be good, if Trackmania is a measure. Instant respawn should be fun, too. But the custom map thing, if done like Track’s, could mean a lot of garbage maps, unbalanced and unfun. Well, waiting for more new.
15/02/2012 at 17:49 Chelladox says:
Ubisoft seems to have a thing with the word “Mania”.
I don’t.
15/02/2012 at 17:50 Hoaxfish says:
So, when is maniamania coming, where all their games run at exactly the same time…fighting an fps while dodging the traffic from trackmania
15/02/2012 at 18:10 Raiyan 1.0 says:
Except for it’ll have no impact, since all the cars will be ghost cars.
15/02/2012 at 17:54 rocketman71 says:
The world reminds Ubi that until they drop their shitty DRM, most of us won’t buy their games. Not even those from Nadeo.
15/02/2012 at 18:17 Gnoupi says:
The world reminds you that Nadeo’s games are not shipped with UbiDRM: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/12/trackmania-2-will-not-contain-ubidrm/
15/02/2012 at 21:16 Prime says:
The world reminds all that DRM is only one of the reasons for boycotting Ubisoft. We’d rather like them to stop lying to us about things like release dates and pay some attention when porting games across from consoles. They need to demonstrate a basic level of respect for their customers, not just remove the DRM.
15/02/2012 at 18:03 SirKicksalot says:
A presentation of the game and editor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifqVu8SHRoc&feature=related
15/02/2012 at 18:06 Stevostin says:
French press (Canard PC) has seen it at lenght. Good feedback. Nofrag, french FPS website (and not an easy audience) says today “if you’re into fast FPS, it’s really good”.
Read here (google english) :
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nofrag.com%2F2012%2Ffev%2F15%2F39714%2F
15/02/2012 at 18:14 Gnoupi says:
To add to this, the comment on their site: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.canardpc.com%2Fnews-52734-canard_pc_249__shootmania__shootmania__shootmania__on_veut_rejouer_a_shootmania_.html&act=url
“The gameplay, design, weapons, maps, editor: you will know everything there is to know about ShootMania, which is on track to be one of the best FPS multi recent years. Yes ma’am, no less.”
I haven’t received the actual magazine yet, so that’s all I know, but it seems quite positive. (CanardPC tends to be quite harsh on games, so seeing such positivity is a good sign. Well, it could be patriotism, too. But let’s say that not)
15/02/2012 at 18:42 TsunamiWombat says:
It could be dry Canadian wit/sarcasm at work. Canadians have that don’t they? I know their beer is dry.
15/02/2012 at 22:47 MD says:
“You make cuddling, no longer separated and when you do something, we all do together.”
But yeah, I am cautiously excited about this. The fast deathmatch FPS genre desperately needs some reinvigorating. If they come up with some sort of interesting movement system, this could be really great. And since they’re also doing Questmania, hopefully that will get any tendency toward bullshit ‘RPG elements’ out of their system, and they can focus on making Shootmania as enjoyable to play as possible, rather than addictive due to a meaningless sense of ‘progression’.
16/02/2012 at 03:39 FriendlyFire says:
@TsunamiWombat: Except both CanardPC and NoFrag are French (as in France) publications…
15/02/2012 at 18:17 Jac says:
If they can get the weapon balance and movement right this should be awesome. Basically I want them to rip off q3 and stick a decent editor with it.
16/02/2012 at 10:26 The First Door says:
That would be pretty brilliant. A pretty Q3 with quick level editing!
15/02/2012 at 18:29 Lobotomist says:
Nadeo are good. Looking forward to this
15/02/2012 at 18:30 LMN8R says:
Here’s hoping that ShootMania impresses where Trackmania 2 failed to do so.
As a long-time fan of previous Trackmania games, Trackmania 2 was a tremendous disappointment. Yet it wasn’t the game itself that was disappointing, it’s how they sold it. Insisting they go through their own shoddy store (which even had problems selling the game at first), they only ended up selling 60-70,000 copies according to the leaderboards. They should have found a way to put it on Steam at least, if not other sites too. Their reasons for not going on Steam were stupid and superficial at best.
The whole idea of “ManiaPlanet” is faulty at best. Right now it’s just a glorified game launcher, it’s not some grand social network like their ambitions and PR claimed it was. Yet at the same time, it was their reason for not putting the game on Steam, which is just plain stupid for them.
Why do sales matter so much to my experience with the game? If no one buys it and plays it, then no one wants to spend time creating amazing tracks for it, which for a game like Trackmania, instantly spells death.
It also hurt the game badly that they didn’t include the other amazing game modes like Stunt and Platform. And the interface is crap too.
15/02/2012 at 18:48 ZIGS says:
I love Trackmania 2 but yes, you’re basically right
16/02/2012 at 10:31 The First Door says:
Is it any easier to upload tracks yet? I tried making one a few months ago, but the supporting website for hosting the tracks seemed a bit broken.
15/02/2012 at 18:41 TsunamiWombat says:
Image reminds me of some sort of old tymey ninties Laser Tag advert.
Hint: The product never looked like the image back then either.
15/02/2012 at 18:53 MegaAndy says:
If this games editor is as good or better than Timesplitters’ then i will be happy.
15/02/2012 at 19:01 Blackcompany says:
Questmania. Is that the game where we wield Swords and Hammers and Shields and Rudimentary magical spells like Fireballs and raid dungeons looking for magical macguffins to bring back?
.
Cause…I don’t think anyone’s ever done that before. At least, not online. With multiple players at once.
.
Or…I could be wrong.
16/02/2012 at 00:01 jamesgecko says:
If the tools to build the quests are as ridiculously easy to use as they are in TrackMania and/or if one player can be in the role of DM, creating and modifying content one step ahead of the players, it would definitely be rather attractive.
15/02/2012 at 19:19 mbr says:
I’m getting strong Quake and UT vibes of that picture. Here’s to hoping!
15/02/2012 at 22:32 Daniel Klein says:
Maniamania: a game where you design your own design your own game.
16/02/2012 at 00:59 Bfox says:
mmmm …. SexMania …
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16/02/2012 at 01:54 dfhfdh says:
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16/02/2012 at 07:09 MultiVaC says:
I hope they eventually have a “Mania” game for every video game genre, even the most esoteric ones.
Coming soon: MelancholyIntrospectionMania – Design your own desolate landscape with emotionally moving soundtrack and remorseful narrator!
16/02/2012 at 17:52 Cugel says:
Is it just me who thinks the title “ShootMania: Storm” is hilarious? It sounds like a made up Bargain Bucket title.
16/02/2012 at 23:24 Baines says:
To be fair, Trackmania sounds like a made up bargain bucket title.