New efforts!

[Fanta]

It does make sense though. You'd need a studio for NCSoft to seriously consider selling to you.

What I'd be concerned about as someone investing in said studio would be if they were securing the rights to COH 2 and would be able to leverage any of the COH Tech for other games or if Cryptic has the keys to that.

I'd be curious as to if we have a former dev involved. It's been pointed out how complicated(cobbled)the coding is. No one is going to put money into something blindly. No doubt if someone is willing to invest in this they know what they're getting into. My guess is someone that was in the know, is in the know.

[Ohioknight]

It does make sense though. You'd need a studio for NCSoft to seriously consider selling to you.

What I'd be concerned about as someone investing in said studio would be if they were securing the rights to COH 2 and would be able to leverage any of the COH Tech for other games or if Cryptic has the keys to that.

I gather the answer on the COH tech is "no" because no sane person would attempt to use that for any other application -- the original engine was apparently modified to the point it could never be used outside COH -- but the Cryptic sale apparently included full rights for what its worth. 

I would assume that if they purchase the IP rights, they would have full rights to do a COH2 or whatever else they wanted with further IP development. 

(suing bootleg tshirt manufacturers who pirated their Archtype logos, no doubt -- getting all those sweet millions back, oh yeah  ;D)

[Ohioknight]

I'd be curious as to if we have a former dev involved. It's been pointed out how complicated(cobbled)the coding is. No one is going to put money into something blindly. No doubt if someone is willing to invest in this they know what they're getting into. My guess is someone that was in the know, is in the know.

I'm very intrigued by Ironwolf's "the people involved ... have members who worked on the game in the past"

[Aggelakis]

So negotiations have been going on for a year or so now? And google is still the main candidate?

No and no. Read the first post.

[kiario]

Ok thanks. I.ll read up as you say.
By the way happy midsummer to you all :) even if you dont celebrate that festival

[Hyperstrike]

IIRC, NC's license for the Cryptic Engine is for CE 1.0 (not 2.0+, which is Champions Online, Star Trek and Neverwinter).

And, even if a clean, un-CoH'ed version of the engine WAS available, it'd take a metric butt ton of work to massage it into a modern title, if it is even possible.

Honestly, CoT's avenue, grabbing Unreal 4 and start hacking away, is a more viable option.  You have the guts of a modern/next-gen game already done for you.  Wrangling it into a finished game would probably be several orders of magnitude easier than hacking on Cryptic's old, nasty spaghetti code.

[MWRuger]

IIRC, NC's license for the Cryptic Engine is for CE 1.0 (not 2.0+, which is Champions Online, Star Trek and Neverwinter).

And, even if a clean, un-CoH'ed version of the engine WAS available, it'd take a metric butt ton of work to massage it into a modern title, if it is even possible.

Honestly, CoT's avenue, grabbing Unreal 4 and start hacking away, is a more viable option.  You have the guts of a modern/next-gen game already done for you.  Wrangling it into a finished game would probably be several orders of magnitude easier than hacking on Cryptic's old, nasty spaghetti code.

We don't know but we think the plan is to restore CoH as it was (possibly with I24) and then work on CoH2. Current speculation is that the old code would be messed with minimally, only as need for bug monsters. This offers a chance to rebuild your core audience for the new game which would be built on an entire new engine avoiding the spaghetti code.

In the meantime we get to play CoH which is what we want to do.

[BadWolf]

Nemesis. It's always a Nemesis plot.

"In this, the relaunched and revamped 'City of Heroes', players take on the worst scum of Paragon City--its so-called 'heroes'. Defeat Manticore, wipe out Positron, and conquer the city of heroes to help pave the way for its glorious new steampunk future! (TPS reports not inclu-clu-clu-HUMOROUS DIALOGUE NOT FOUND.)"

[Fanta]

We don't know but we think the plan is to restore CoH as it was (possibly with I24) and then work on CoH2. Current speculation is that the old code would be messed with minimally, only as need for bug monsters. This offers a chance to rebuild your core audience for the new game which would be built on an entire new engine avoiding the spaghetti code.

In the meantime we get to play CoH which is what we want to do.

Sounds good to me. I24 would be nice. I know after not having the game this long I'd no doubt be able to play it twice that without getting bored :) They can take their time on CoH2.

[LaughingAlex]

Sounds good to me. I24 would be nice. I know after not having the game this long I'd no doubt be able to play it twice that without getting bored :) They can take their time on CoH2.

I think Iron Wolf also speculated that as well, that they wish to work on CoH 2 while also working on CoH 1.  He even speculated something about Unreal Engine 4 if I recall correctly, especially since there are people remaking CoH 1 maps in UE4.

[pogoman]

*patiently waits for an update besides the June 12th one. But, no news is good news, for now.*

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

*patiently waits for an update besides the June 12th one. But, no news is good news, for now.*

Indeed. Agreed.

[HEATSTROKE]

 We need a synopsis post as the original post by Ironwolf is buried very far back..

[AlienOne]

We need a synopsis post as the original post by Ironwolf is buried very far back..

My synopsis on the entirety of this thread (having read every single post) is "official word is: 'wait and see'."

All we know is that there was a group of people interested in the original City of Heroes game (and the brand "City of Heroes"--possibly for creating a successor), who formed a studio with the intent to acquire the game. They then approached NCSoft, who seemed receptive to the idea of selling the game, providing all requirements were met.

A meeting was scheduled, and we haven't heard anything since.

Ironwolf has repeated several times that "either way (good or bad), an announcement will be made when all is said and done" so we can know the entire story.

Until then, we just "wait and see."

[Remaugen]

It's been a while. . .


Are we there yet?  ;D

[JKPhage]

I think Iron Wolf also speculated that as well, that they wish to work on CoH 2 while also working on CoH 1.  He even speculated something about Unreal Engine 4 if I recall correctly, especially since there are people remaking CoH 1 maps in UE4.

Yeah, the Ouro map in Unreal 4 looked GORGEOUS and would probably run a lot smoother than vanilla COH if the gameplay mechanics could be properly replicated within it, but that's more of a fan project to just go "Look how pretty!" than anything.

I recall Ironwolf speculating, while also pointing out that he has NO insider info to point to anything of the sort, that the team may want to obtain the whole package, continue developing and support for COH, and while that is going on, working on a COH2. Essentially, a side-by-side project. I'd be perfectly fine with it taking a few years to get a COH2 if it's in the hands of someone who is passionate about the original game and wants to make it in the spirit of the original and ensure that it's the best it can possibly be, and if they are working on original COH right alongside it to keep us happy and supplied with fresh content and fun stuff while developing it then even better! Simply having I24 finished up and published would be wondrous, but it would also leave us at quite a cliffhanger point in the storyline and a long time to wait for a full sequel game to continue. Personally I'd like to see original COH carried through to at least the confrontation with Battalion and then let COH2 continue the story further, OR carry it through to the conclusion laid out in the lore AMA documents and have COH2 set in one of the myriad alternate Earths of the universe that's extremely similar to Primal Earth, but just different enough that they could throw monkey wrenches into our expectations and have the story play out VERY differently while still keeping the same feel and basic lore. I'd love to see the game set in a world where the Rikti never attacked so there are many more heroes still around, no war walls, and because the heroes didn't need to converge on Paragon, maybe we could have multiple locations around the world to visit and defend! The possiblities are endless.

My greatest hope, though, is that these benefactors of ours decide to utilize the wonderfully talented fanbase that we have and allow for user-submitted content. It would have to be subject to intense scrutiny and probably put to a community vote to decide what makes it in and what doesn't, but if they're plugging away at a huge content update and trying to keep the game in working order, we could have talented number crunchers, animators, graphic designers and programmers working away in their free time and putting together new power sets to include in the game, or new costume pieces to play with. If they want to continue to make officially developed powersets then wonderful! Make the most popular ones so we know they'll get in, like Savage Melee and Radiation Armor, but maybe there's a large bit of the fanbase that would love to have Insect Control (could be taken as either a control set or a mastermind set, maybe both!), but because it's such a specific and unusual request it gets passed over in favor of Wind Control. Fanbase to the rescue! Models, animations, Textures, power balancing and everything could be done by a few talented community members with input from other fans, and they could submit it for potential use, have it put on a trial server of some kind so people can futz around with it, see what might need improving, etc. etc., and then it can be put to a vote of whether it's deemed high quality enough to be included on the live servers. If people genuinely think the animations are bad, or the textures look terrible, or that it's just not a good set, then it can be voted out until it can be improved. The potential to keep expanding and improving our game is endless!

[Aggelakis]

We need a synopsis post as the original post by Ironwolf is buried very far back..

The synopsis is in the first post.

[HEATSTROKE]

The first post doesnt seem to indicate that an actual studio was formed. It doesnt indicate that a price was given ( which was in a later post ). It doesnt seem to indicate that there are people who worked on the game as part of this studio. That could be my poor reading..

[Ironwolf]

Update: I will put the word update at the start in the future to seperate these posts from speculation or just discussion.

I spoke to the lead yesterday and he said that everything is going forward though slowly. Everything is still positive but like pulling teeth to get information from NCSoft.

He said they are shooting for August as the time for closing the deal.

Obviously this is not set in stone - but it is good news however you look at it. Once they come forward - you will understand more on why they were working on this quietly.

The goal is to release the old game - I am not sure of plans for further development and will leave that up to them to discuss. Right now - close on the game and restore it. I know they would like to either port to UnReal 4 either the existing game or develop CoH2.

They would not hold the current game up to develop or port it. Obviously the original game could start making money immediately and businesses need funds to develop future products and to pay the bills.

Edit: If I don't update stuff often - it is a good thing at this point. It means things are slowly being worked out. NCSoft is still talking and willing to sell. I really am sorry I can't say more - I am just like you folks and not anyone special. I just want to login and hear the musin in Atlas once more.  I know many will be crying once they do and I will likely be right there with you.

I hope you understand until we get the game back - the folks doing the heavy lifting on this would be buried alive with emails, twitter, snail mail and interviews from MMO and gaming sites that really would not help at this point. I honestly believe the quiet manner of this purchase is a big benefit to the effort. I have no doubt NCSoft will have a release as well once the transaction is complete. Right now there is no pressure on NCSoft and they can proceed without also having to answer questions.

You can imagine what kind of whirlwind this will turn into once it gets out.

[Little David]

Wait, so this means if they get CoH back from NCSoft, they won't re-launch the game as it was? They're going to port it to UE4 instead, or develop a sequel with the IP?