Staff Questions

Summary:

This thread is born of playing games like BP and MK.

Staff Questions

Havoc 18 Sep 2007 15:59

After playing other great MMORTS games, I'm interested to know what your business plan/structure is like, so I know more of what to expect.
Is this a hobby project or a business? Should we definitely expect this game to come to fruition?
What is your plan about memberships? Are you planning on offering a free beta, free trial version, pay to upgrade to better units, totally pay to play?
You seem to have a nice staff already, are there plans to increase it if necessary, or are there possibilities of it dwindling?
What sort of hardware are you using, a server in someone's basement, multiple servers in key places all over the world, professionally maintained servers that emulate Blizzard's level?

I know these are fairly nosy questions, so you don't NEED to answer them publicly, but if you don't address them now, you could be in for a rough future, just ask Justin, once part of an awesome two man team, now lone developer of Boundless Planet…

Last edited on 18 Sep 2007 16:07 by Havoc Show more

Re: Staff Questions

Craig Macomber 18 Sep 2007 21:37

Fair and important questions, and I will try my best to answer them. Currently we really have no business plan, and no server. We will surely have a free testing period when we get to a point where it makes sense. If all goes well our server should function on Linux, Mac OS X, and windows so finding a compatible server should not be too hard. We may end up using a home run server, at this point I just don't know.

I would classify this project as a hobby, but a serious one. There is a possibly of it dwindling to some extent, but it seems quite likely to continue. though at a slow rate due to the hobby nature. Should the initial MMORTS plan fall through (or after it is done) something simpler like a 3rd/1st person swarm space shooter will likely be made out of the engine.

Re: Staff Questions

Havoc 18 Sep 2007 21:54

Thank you!
All good information.
I'll be keeping a close eye on this game! (In a good way of course :) )

Re: Staff Questions

Matt R 20 Sep 2007 01:52

Yeah, in terms of a business plan we have not put a whole good deal of thought into that yet, mostly because we've been designing our game, seeing if our ideas are feasible, and also finding dedicated developers who want this project completed. Its my opinion at least that those foundations must be made before talk of business is put into question – luckily for us, this foundation is pretty much set at this point!

I know for one that I am a dedicated developer to this project, though I also reiterate what Craig said which is that this is a hobby, not a job. That means, as Craig already pointed out, that this will be somewhat slower to blossom than some other games.

But just keep in mind that we have already put in months of thought and work into this, so its not like we're just playing at the idea of making this game. We want to have it happen, and thats why we're sticking around to see it through. I for one can't wait to actually play the thing =)

Recomendation to the Staff

Havoc 28 Sep 2007 14:58

Can I just recommend something? It's not that I'm worried or anything, it's just that I need to train you all on proper developer (dev) behavior! There are a few great games out there, but the teams behind them just have no idea what they're doing, and I don't want to see that happen to you. I hope that doesn't come across as arrogant or demanding, but I'm going to make my recomendation now so forget it if it did… :)
It's simply this, every week/every other week/every month (just something consistent), someone should post maybe five to ten lines on what's been going on with the game. Nothing big, just "this module got coded", "we added another weapon to the part pool", "work was done on the interface" or if nothing seriously happened then just say that, any post helps. I've got to tell you, there are a lot of games "in development" out there that haven't had a new post or dev update in months/years, so that means one of two things, either they are working hard but are loosing interest from the community, or the game is dead. If you maintain a steady stream of posts, you should gain a sizable fan base by the time you're ready to release, and any way you look at that, it's a good thing :)
If I'm telling you something you already know, then great, no time better than the present to start!

Re: Recomendation to the Staff

Matt R 28 Sep 2007 20:31

Your suggestion is dually noted.

We have not had much activity in the past week or so, which has caused the lack of updates. The combination of this being an especially slow time in our design phase (we're currently trying to transition to our development phase, but have run into some minor delays), as well as the fact that this site is new and most of our devs have not really gotten used to it yet, has been the reason for your concern.

But thanks for the reminder! We will certainly try to renew our focus on the site, and you can expect to hear from us again.

Re: Recomendation to the Staff

Craig Macomber 29 Sep 2007 05:37

Thanks for the suggestion. I would post updates now but, nothing has changes in the last week, mainly because we are busy with other things. I have very little time for the project at the moment; expect progress resuming in a week or so when I (and hopefully the other developers) have more time. If you ever feel the fourm is getting too idle just post something and RSS will remind me.

Re: Recomendation to the Staff

tbg10101 30 Sep 2007 18:56

I'll make an "Updates" thread here on the forums (in the "Other" section).

Re: Recomendation to the Staff

Havoc 03 Oct 2007 16:59

Excellent, that section is just what is needed to get you nice community support!
One thing though, I don't know how you want to play this, but if it was me, I'd limit non dev posts on that page. Maybe you have already, I didn't try, but it may become crowded quickly if everyone is allowed to post all over it and then the point becomes mute.
In any case, this just keeps getting better! :)

Re: Recomendation to the Staff

Craig Macomber 03 Oct 2007 22:33

As you may have noticed it is all set up with the topics feeding into the main pages news section with an RSS feed avalible. I limited the starting of topics (which is what shows up on the main page) to the devs, be any one can post comments on them. I think it will work well. Thanks for the recommendation.

Re: Staff Questions

Phenoca 15 Nov 2007 23:16

Havoc: "It's simply this, every week/every other week/every month (just something consistent), someone should post maybe five to ten lines on what's been going on with the game."

YES, essential.
I think you are making steady progress on FG, and believe you will create a remarkable end-product.