Runescape May Be Coming to iPad

[IanDavis]

Runescape May Be Coming to iPad

By moving the popular MMO from Java to HTML5, Jagex opens the game up to better tech and new platforms.

Earlier this summer, the browser-based game Runescape <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118608-RuneScape-Boasts-Most-Players-of-Any-MMO>boasted about having the largest registered player base of any MMO. Yet for developer Jagex, it seems the browser is not enough. CEO Mark Gerhard announced that his company is working to convert the game into HTML5, allowing it to be played on other platforms, such as phones and tablets.

While the Java codebase allowed Runescape to run in browsers and gain a foothold when it launched a decade ago, time has marched on. Today's world of smart phones and tablets don't run Java well, if they run it at all. This has been a recent hindrance for the game, which initially made its trade off its accessibly compared to other games which required large downloads or a boxed copy.

A dedicated squad is in charge not just the transition, but looking ahead as well. The "Future Tech" team is looking at new platforms to insure that the MMO doesn't get stuck in a shallow pond again. Gerhard mentions that they are specifically looking at "your favourite tablets, platforms and even smart TVs in due course."

HTLM5 would allow Runescape to receive a badly needed face-lift by improving draw distance and general graphical fidelity. Although the update is still a ways off, Jagex has released a screenshot of some of the updates the new tech could bring.

Source: <a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-30-mmo-runescape-being-developed-for-tablets-smart-tvs-and-other-platforms>Eurogamer

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[Brainst0rm]

The lack of comments amuses me to no end. Jagex needs to work on making a game worth playing before they give us more devices to play it on.

Addendum: They've made some strides lately, and the forthcoming "Evolution of Combat" looks like exactly what the game needs. But the fact remains that huge swathes of this game are ugly, awkward, and somewhat broken.

 

[Jake Lee]

The lack of comments amuses me to no end. Jagex needs to work on making a game worth playing before they give us more devices to play it on.

A game that still uses Java, has a grid based movement system, and literally relies on repeating the exact same actions tens of thousands of times?

I'd say it's beyond repair, it should have been keeping abreast of developments in gaming.

 

[Darren716]

Wait Runescape is still online? I though that game had been abandoned five years ago.

 

[Zahri]

I feel the bashing here is somewhat unjustified.

The graphics, while aged, have become more iconic to the game, and it seems as though Jagex has done their best to refine them over the course of its life. While it's certainly not pretty when compared to what we have today, it's certainly not something that'll make one vomit, and is even endearing to what it is. I'd go as far as to say that its graphics at this point should fall under the timeless category, much like with cell shaded games~

Given how long its been since its release, I feel it should be more praiseworthy than anything that it's still being attended to with such care on Jagex's part.

I will concede however that the amount of grind is painful, even moreso than most MMO's to date.

 

[Yoshisummons]

I can't imagine how they're going to have this new typical mmo style of combat(evolution) on a iPad.

 

[piclemaniscool]

It'd probably work better than a computer. I used to love the game around 2004-2005 but my account got hacked so I quit for a while. Tried to play it again after they released that new trailer and, well, it felt something along the lines of trying to drive a car with an NES controller.

 

[gigastar]

I will concede however that the amount of grind is painful, even moreso than most MMO's to date.

Thats turned into a case of Never Live it Down [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NeverLiveItDown] for the game. Many people, though they may not admit it openly, have played Runescape at some point in thier gaming lives and the main reason for thier leaving is always how grindy the game is.

Now im just going to leave it there before i go into more detail than i really should.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Don't see how that could transition well...

Wait Runescape is still online? I though that game had been abandoned five years ago.

In a way it has been abandoned. Almost all of the original developers have left, including the founders, and I think it's circling the drain because of the new management.