Ten Ton Hamster

Panelists: Derek Liu, David Georgeson, Dave Thorpe, and DJ Helsing.

The staff at Ten Ton Hamster was able to attend the New York Comic Convention (NYCC) this year and had a front row seat at the Gaia Online panel! We wanted share as much information about the panel with you as we could, so we contacted the folks at Gaia Online and they were kind enough to share their power point presentation with us. Therefore, we are able to share with you all the great images of the concept art behind the new Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) that Gaia Online is launching later this year as well as some of the super fun secrets they revealed at the panel.

First, let me start by saying that you Gaia fans are AWESOME! I had such a great time watching you all jumping out of your seats and cheering for the panelists! I had no idea how passionate you were about this game and how much you really loved and cared about it! It made me want to rush home and join in on the fun (which is exactly what I did!).

The panel began with Monthly Collectibles (MC’s) and the incredible amount of energy that goes into making them. Gaia has a handful of artists that get together and vote on a theme. After that, each artist creates five to ten concept art items based upon that theme. Finally, they all get together and vote on their favorite. As you can imagine, that can be difficult sometimes with so many different opinions, everyone of course loving their own ideas! There are only two items, rarely three, in multiple poses that come out each month. That is a lot of ideas and options to only have two to choose from! Here are some images of the concept art that went into making the Samurai themed MC’s. The small red lines are vote lines from the artists. So you can see how things evolved and were voted to make a final result.






Here are some of the Concept art images of the Wonderland Collectibles:
















The next thing they talked about was the Gaia Arcade that is to come later this year. The arcade will have about twenty to thirty games. These games were all made by individual developers. One example of these new flash games is a game about electricity and how it works. The name has yet to be determined, but from what we understand you will be able to build a robot in this game!

Here are a few sneak peeks at this game:












Another topic of discussion was that the Mischief Makers Page is going to be having some really cool new additions! Players will be able to submit images and video of themselves (promoting Gaia mischief) in order to get old MC’s. There will be periodical contests with monthly winners. Each account will be able to enter one time.

***BIG SECRET REVEALED***
So, you all have been wondering where has Ian the storekeeper in Barton town been? Well, the Gaia panelists revealed that he has been playing pinball in his basement and has finally returned to take care of the shop!!!!!

End Part I of the Gaia Online panel review.

In Part II of our review of the Gaia Online panel, we will focus on the MMOG that Gaia is releasing later this year. Click here to continue to Part II