User Feedback Section & More Fan Art
March 9th, 2001 - posted by Scott

A new section has been added to MarathonRubicon.com, the user questions and feedback area. Be sure to swing by and leave a quick post with your thoughts or questions.

In other news, we have a new addition to the Fan Art area of the downloads section. Eric Draht submitted another desktop picture, this time with an entirely new and much harder edged feel. The desktop comes in 800 x 600 resolution, so be sure to check it out.


Fan Art and Aleph One Support
March 5th, 2001 - posted by Scott

The site received a decent sized update today, with some new and updated screenshots, as well as a revamped downloads section containing streaming versions of the teaser trailer. I've also added a Fan Art section to the downloads area, where you can currently see an alternate version of the teaser trailer with some very cool new music as well as download a desktop picture. Made something Rubicon-related? I think you'd better hand it over.

In other news, we've completed the light version of Rubicon AO (Aleph One) that will be released simultaneously with the Marathon Infinity version. It will not sport the animated textures or numerous other enhancements of the full Rubicon AO (to be released a few months after the initial game), but it will include OpenGL hardware acceleration as well as support for resolutions up to 1024 x 768. To find out about Aleph One's other features click here.


Rubicon Trailer Released!
March 4th, 2001 - posted by Scott

Mac Game Files has posted the newly released Rubicon teaser trailer for all to download and enjoy. Click here for a direct link to the MGF download page.

In other news, the screenshots section has been updated with a boat load of new in game shots, just to whet everyone's appetite a bit more. Rubicon so near to release that we can taste it... all that holds us back from putting it up for download are the final few bug squishing sessions. We want to make certain that there isn't a single sticky poly or monster bug in the bunch.


Seven Exclusive Rubicon Screenshots at MacGamer.com
February 21st, 2001 - posted by Scott

Today MacGamer.com has unveiled seven new screenshots of Marathon Rubicon in action. These screenshots show off many of the game's new locations and textures, as well as two new weapons: the updated Assault Rifle and the Dangi Maser.

Click here to read the article for yourself. The new screenshots are all the way down at the bottom of the page, and will be viewable here, at MarathonRubicon.com, on this Friday. Stay tuned! :)


Inside Mac Games Interviews Rubicon Team Members
February 13th, 2001 - posted by Scott

Inside Mac Games Magazine has posted a lengthy interview with Scott Brown and Chris Lund, the directors of the Rubicon project. The interview features a lot of good questions, and should provide some more insight into what exactly Marathon Rubicon will be all about. A snippet from the interview is below:

>IMG : How does Marathon : Rubicon handle your twisting non linear storyline?

>DSB :
There is a good amount of evidence that Bungie originally intended to make Marathon a nonlinear game. Most notably, a lot of under-the-hood infrastructure was built into the game engine that allows players to take different paths through the game. While Bungie never really utilized these features due to time constraints, the Rubicon team was able to work on our game for an essentially unlimited amount of time. To sum it up in a quick sentence, how a player chooses to interpret mission goals (and whether or not to strictly adhere to them) is what impacts how the game plays.
Click here to view the full interview at InsideMacGames.com.


Rubicon News Stories from Around the Web
February 7th, 2001 - posted by Scott (updated on the 8th, 9th, and 10th)

Numerous Mac publications around the web have posted news stories about this website and the announcement of Marathon Rubicon. For your convenience, I've compiled a list of the articles I was able to spot and pasted the links below:

Thanks to all of the sites who have gotten the word out about Rubicon. If you know of any Rubicon-related articles on the net that aren't above, be sure to email me.


Reactions and Aleph One support
February 7th, 2001 - posted by Scott

The public reaction to Rubicon has been overwhelming, and I sincerely thank all of you who have sent in warm praise and encouragement about Rubicon's development. It's always fantastic to hear from Marathon fans.

By far and away the number one question I keep hearing is "Will Rubicon support Aleph One?" The answer to this one is both yes and no. Let me explain- the initial release of Marathon Rubicon will be Marathon Infinity only, without any support for Aleph One. However, following shortly after the initial release of Rubicon, work will begin on making an enhanced version for Aleph One. This version of Rubicon will support higher resolution animated textures, larger more complicated visuals, and all sorts of other goodies. I hope that clears things up. As always, if you have more questions or just want to say hi, send in some email.

Addendum- for those of you who have been out of the Marathon loop for some time, "Aleph One" is the name of the Marathon open source project. Click here to visit a site that tracks Aleph One development.


MARATHONRUBICON.com Officially Goes Live!
February 6th, 2001 - posted by Scott

After four years of game development, nearly two thousand beta tester emails, and three months of website content development, Marathon Rubicon has been unveiled to the public. With the launch of the website comes the removal of 75% of the screenshots as well as the taking-down of the Rubicon Trailer. No sense in releasing all of the publicity material all at once, is there?

Of course not.

These screenshots and the movie will be released at regular intervals between now and when we upload the finished game. Expect something new each week, as well as regular news of how the tail end of beta testing is coming.

If you're a member of the press and did not get our press release, please email me for the login and password to the press section or a compressed archive of the press kit.



Nine new screenshots and streaming QT movies
January 25th, 2001 - posted by Scott

Lots of misc updates everywhere on the site, putting the final coats of polish on it to prepare for when we launch it. There are new texture shots up in the Downloads section, new monster sprites up in the About section, and the Rubicon Trailer now streams properly from the server (no more waiting for the whole bugger to download before it plays).

I almost forgot- nine new screenshots are up in the Screenshot Gallery, probably the last content update to that section before we release. Be sure to click the thumbnails and test the JS code to make sure it works properly... I haven't had any trouble with it, but I don't have any older browsers to test it on. As always, if you find problems send in some email.

Lastly, we have one final history text being written by the original developer of Chimera, Nick Nethery. It's one of the last things holding back the launch of the site, so I hope to have it soon. :)


Beta 3, Rubicon Trailer, Screenshot Gallery, and more...
January 20th, 2001 - posted by Scott

A whole lot has been happening in the world of Rubicon since my last update, so let me bring everyone up to speed (ironic, the site isn't even live right now, and the only people that will be reading this "bring you up to speed" message are people who already know Rubicon's status. :) Anyhow, since the previous post we've compiled Rubicon's Beta 3 which includes some bug fixes along with a thick coat of polish, a few new textures, terminals, and a pair of new levels to replace two old ones that didn't make the cut.

Aside from work on finishing up the final candidate of the game, the site has been updated to include some navigation fixes as well as two new sections- a Screenshot Gallery (with individual pages for each shot) as well as a section for the Rubicon cinematic trailer. Yes, it's finally done. Yes, it took longer than expected to get it to look the way we wanted. Kudos to Sean for a job well done. :)

Go check out the movie on the Downloads page or jump to the version you know you'd like to see: Small (3.4 megs), Medium (4.7 megs) or Large (8 megs) [links removed... movie will be reposted later on]. If you can afford the download time of the Large version, get it. Without a doubt, the extra few megs are well worth the wait.


Rubicon's History is now complete, and online
December 1st, 2000 - posted by Scott

Rubicon is the product of many different people's work over the past three and a half years (or even longer, depending on who on the team you ask and how good their memory is). Since the project's inception, a great deal has changed and evolved; in the end, it all makes for quite a story. Head on over to the history section of this website to get the full details about how a scenario named Chimera eventually consumed several other scenarios and became the beast now known as Rubicon.


Quotes from Testers - Initial Reactions to Rubicon
November 26th, 2000 - posted by Scott

Most of the testers have played through at least the first two levels of the scenario, and the reactions have been very positive. Below are some choice quotes:

  • "This scenario sure shows a LOT of work has gone into it. I am impressed overall."
  • "...this is quite spectacular. They are gonna give you a run for your money..."
  • "First impressions - this one's a winner. Fantastic artwork, both in terms of wall textures, and terminals. I like the weapons upgrades a lot... Level design is great."

More quotes as well as tester screenshots will be forthcoming in a few days. Keep your browser tuned to you-know-where.


Rubicon beta merge released, promo materials started
November 25th, 2000 - posted by Scott

After completing two internally tested beta revisions, Rubicon has finally been recompiled for the external beta test. For those of you who are interested in seeing the beta version of Rubicon - this is not a public beta. If you aren't currently involved with testing the game, you won't get to see it until the release version comes out. Sorry.

In other news, work has begun on some promotional materials for the game, namely desktop pictures and a *full length movie trailer.* I'll be handling the desktop design, and our resident film expert and hotline server bandwidth provider, Sean Wallitsch, will be taking care of the movie work. No promises on when all of this will be done, but I'm hoping we'll have some goodies for everyone to download before the end of this next week.
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