By Jonathan Klotz
| Revealed 32 seconds in the past
Stargate has all the time been a distant third behind Star Wars and Star Trek. What the franchise lacks in mainstream identify recognition it makes up for with a devoted ride-or-die fanbase going robust right now over a decade after the cancelation of Stargate Universe.
Stargate Worlds, an bold massively multiplayer on-line RPG (MMORPG), was the franchise’s finest alternative to transcend the exhibits and seize a brand new viewers. Sizzling on the heels of World of Warcraft, the sport was introduced in 2006, and left for useless in 2010, leaving long-suffering followers to surprise how cool it may have been to discover the galaxy as a member of SG-1.
A World Put Collectively With Stargate Followers In Thoughts
Nobody may have imagined that the 1994 sci-fi motion movie Stargate would find yourself launching a franchise that has lasted for almost 30 years. Stargate SG-1 introduced the movie to tv with sensible recasting (Col. O’Neil performed by Richard Dean Anderson as an alternative of Kurt Russell and Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson as an alternative of James Spader), multi-faceted characters, and world-building that created a complete universe of aliens, mysteries, and intergalactic politics. It’s the proper sequence to base a long-running MMORPG on, and it’s clear that the online game was being put along with followers in thoughts.
As an alternative of the same old fantasy lessons, Stargate Worlds had archetypes primarily based on the key characters: Archaeologist (Jackson), Scientist (Sam Carter), Soldier (O’Neil), Commando (Stargate Atlantis staff chief, Sheppard), and even the opportunity of enjoying as an Asgardian, Goa’uld, or Jaffa (Teal’c). That sounds superb, and the essential gameplay loop of going by means of a Stargate to a unique world, finishing missions, and battling towards the Goa’uld would give loads of alternative to develop the world of the present in new instructions. All that and for a late 2000s laptop sport, it didn’t look half unhealthy both.
Giving Followers What They Need
Stargate Worlds was being developed by Cheyenne Mountain Leisure, a brand new studio that had by no means launched a sport earlier than, however to followers, the studio was saying and doing all the correct issues, together with making the Asgard expertise make the most of drones and clones, whereas the Goa’uld would have Jaffa minions underneath their management. A Mates and Household closed beta went reside, and the sport was getting excessive reward from testers, notably citing the texture of the fight, one thing the sequence has all the time performed surprisingly effectively, given its perennially low budgets.
Confronted with mounting growth prices, Cheyenne Mountain Leisure put collectively a unique sport utilizing the belongings of Stargate Worlds: Stargate Resistance, a team-based aggressive shooter pitting Stargate Command towards the Gao’uld System Lords. Behind the scenes, it was a last-ditch try to herald cash to maintain the lights on on the studio till the MMORPG was completed. Launched in 2009, Stargate Resistance was shut down in 2010, and with it, Cheyenne Mountain Leisure filed for chapter. Stargate Worlds would by no means go on to see the sunshine of day.
Stargate Worlds Discovered Its Method Into Official Canon
Although followers by no means received an opportunity to play it, Stargate Worlds grew to become an official a part of the franchise due to the pilot episode of Stargate Universe. Genius Eli Wallace is an avid online game participant who solves an actual Stargate puzzle hidden inside considered one of his video games by Stargate Command. That sport within the universe is Prometheus, however in actuality, it was footage of Stargate Worlds.
The franchise did produce other online game tie-ins, from the SNES film tie-in to extra just lately, the real-time ways sport Stargate: Timekeepers accessible on Steam. None of them caught on with both avid gamers or followers of the exhibits, and that’s the place Stargate Worlds would have helped act as a gateway to herald new followers who had by no means given the sequence an opportunity.
Stargate Worlds will stay one of many franchise’s greatest “What if” alternatives, proper up there with Stargate Universe Season 3. Stargate is a dormant franchise right now, which is disappointing for followers, however then once more, they will have a look at the present state of each Star Trek and Star Wars and surprise if possibly it’s higher to carry on to the nice recollections of three exhibits and a film. Then once more, Battlestar Galactica got here again after over 20 years, so possibly, simply possibly, by 2032, we’ll get that new sequence.
