14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher Stardock announces that it has hired Adrian Luff, a former veteran of Blizzard who has worked on the development of Battle.net, in order to head its team that’s working on Project Tachyon, a new initiative for next-gen-focused connecting gaming that has not yet received too many details.
The developer is quoted as saying that “Stardock has a long legacy of innovating from the ground up and this is a fantastic opportunity to continue that tradition. Cloud-based computing lets us do things that used to only be possible for the biggest-budget games - now we don’t have to fly around the world and spend millions of dollars setting up hardware like I’ve done in the past.”
Adrian Luff has been the leader of the team at Blizzard that has grown the Battle.net service and has made it an easy way to access all titles created by the company and a robust infrastructure for multiplayer matches.
Project Tachyon is designed to use online infrastructure to provide the meta experience for future Stardock titles, and the idea is to create it entirely using cloud-based tech.
On the PC, the service will use the Steamworks suite of tools from Valve if possible.
Brad Wardell, the chief executive officer of Stardock, adds, “On each platform Tachyon resides on, it'll use that platform’s inherent features. For example, on the PC, that means Steamworks. Tachyon is about giving players new ways to enjoy Stardock games, such as integrated ladders, seamless matchmaking, or even data mining shared ship designs for game AI to make use of.”
At the moment, the big video game project that Stardock is working on is Galactic Civilizations III, a real time strategy title set in space which allows gamers to use classic 4X mechanics to create an empire that can stand against a variety of enemies.
Project Tachyon will deliver the multiplayer for the game, but also for the Offworld Trading Company title from Mohawk Games and for a new game developed by Oxide Games that will use the Nitrous Engine.
The first public test will be launched at some point in early 2015 and more details will be offered on the official site of the company.
Blizzard is also getting ready to deliver the Warlords of Draenor expansion for World of Warcraft, which will get an official launch date and intro video reveal on August 14.