Iridon Plans Online RPG

Along with several other developers backed by the European Commission, Iridon Interactive has announced a project to develop a complete range of game engine components specially intended for online role-playing games. The game engine will include a 3D graphics engine capable of high-resolution images, a module for networking and community management, and an easy-to-implement AI for NPCs. The first game to use this technology will be Iridon's own Virtual Renaissance Court, a re-creation of a historical Renaissance-era royal court.

David Fuschi, project manager at one of the contributing developers, Giunti Multimedia, said, "We felt that there was a strong demand for believable, fully immersive online historical re-creations. Games like VRC will not only provide endless hours of play, but also a chance for users to get a real sense of what actually being there was like. As such, it will provide an incredibly powerful educational tool."

The European Commision has contributed US$1.8 million in initial funding to the project. The technology components are expected to be made available to developers in early 2002. Virtual Renaissance Court is scheduled for release in the summer of 2001.