Source-Powered Twilight War MMO Receives New Funding

Smiling Gator Productions, the developer of MMORPG Twilight War: After the Fall, has announced that it has now found a way to continue development on its title, which had previously been canceled back in December 2005, due to initial funding for the game running out. The company making the MMO was originally founded in late 2003 by former executives and staff from AOL/Time Warner and Link Simulation and Training. The company's MMO/FPS hybrid title gained some notoriety in late 2004 when it was announced as one of the first public licensors of Valve Software's Source Engine. At that time, Gabe Newell, Valve's CEO, commented of the announcement: "We are eager to see the Source engine used for an MMRPG by Smiling Gator Productions. The ability to render realistic environments and create compelling characters with true-to-life emotional expressions will be a great innovation for one of the industry's most promising genres." The title is still the only MMO-based Source Engine licensee. The new development on Twilight War: After the Fall is being provided by General Computers, an IT vendor expanding into game development. The company has offices in New York and Beijing, where the MMORPG market is rapidly expanding; backing Smiling Gator may be a way for it to gain a stake in an MMORPG for release in the Chinese market. As previously mentioned, the game runs on Valve's Source engine, but there are as yet no announced plans to distribute the game on Valve's Steam digital distribution system, or via a specific brick-and-mortar publisher. The team will continue to update the game's official site, though in order to focus on development, the official site forums have been closed for the moment. [UPDATE: 02/20/06, 9.06am PST - clarified Smiling Gator and General Computers' relationship.]