And the mask comes off.

[Alpha Series]

Thank you, Nate and the restoration team. Also, Thanks to Ironwolf. I 'm hoping for the best and wish all of us the best of luck! Here's to the best possible outcome!

[adarict]

Well, now you know who's the negotiating party.

That's true, though to be honest, I never really cared much who was negotiating. Based on how far it appeared to have gone, anyone negotiating at this point would have had the money and desire to be worthwhile, even it it wouldn't last long. Getting anything at this point would be better than nothing, so who was doing the buying was never a major concern to me.

[TinFoil]

I just want to say thank you. No matter what the outcome, it's wonderful to see a team with passion and worldly understanding trying to save an experience we all love so much.

[Ad_Astra]

OMG!

Next year in Paragon City?

(hoping it's a reasonable time line...)

[pmoyer]

Wow.

This is certainly unexpected news.  While the inability to bring across the user data for the characters due to license issues is somewhat unfortunate, I suppose that's one way to do a brute-force respec.  ;)  And for those of us who used Sentinel+ to store our characters before the end, that's a resource for us to recreate them.  (badge re-collection will be a pain, but hey...)

As long as whatever gets moved over (and later CoH 1.5/2/whatever) is able to be run on a Mac like the I23/I24.beta clients, I think I'll be happy.

Not that this will stop me from supporting CoT... the updates I've been reading have been definitely encouraging, especially the lore developments...

/torch

--- Philip

[HEATSTROKE]

 While I am still somewhat confused by reading the post.. I definitely an very thankful for all the time work and effort put in to get the community of City of Heroes their home back..

Man I was hoping for character data..

My biggest concern is the maintenance mode.. if everything goes through.. how long does that last.. I would hate to get back in.. remake stuff and then.. oh well sorry we dont want to run this anymore.. good bye..

[themamboman]

Rereading Nate's post gave me that impression too. I think the big thing is that CoH 1.5 devs will have the right to recreate the game that we love, but on a new engine. And that the other spiritual successors no longer have to be scared of getting the pants sued off of them for resembling CoX. And that the i23 game will live on, but for how long?

Apologies if this has been mentioned so far (still catching up on the thread):

If CoH1.5 is created on a new engine, to recreate the feel of the original game, and it is the content that is licensed, I wonder if they would make the engine open source?

[Surelle]

Right now it's pretty much just me working on it, and unfortunately I'm spending the next week packing and cleaning to move. (I should be packing right now, actually. Heh)
I don't have a time frame, I wish I did. It kind of depends on if it stays just me, or if...and how many...people join the project.
Really, I think that's going to depend on talks between myself and the licensing company that (hopefully) picks up the license.

*whispers to Irish Girl*  psssssst talk to SCoRE about teaming up....  (Wish I knew more about them!  Do they have code?  just a backup? How many of them are there?  Still hoping SCoRE doesn't give up at any rate!!)

*ducks*

[hejtmane]

While I am still somewhat confused by reading the post.. I definitely an very thankful for all the time work and effort put in to get the community of City of Heroes their home back..

Man I was hoping for character data..

I assumed they never get that unless NCsoft had went bankrupt and had to sell the assets; just never made sense for NCSoft to give it up for any reasons.

I just want NCSoft to say yes to the IP so I have someone to throw my money at to play COH.

[AlienOne]

Thank you so much for all your hard work (and for going about it the right way!)

Also, what you have done must have been pretty dang impressive, because it brought Turgenev out of hiding! WOW.

For starters, for those who don't know.... I run APR. Nate and I have been in talks for a little while now, and I've got a pretty good handle on what the plan is. I'll try and answer some people's questions as best I can, So poor Nate isn't having to do everything.

CoH Issue 23 is planned to make a return, yes. However, the team will not have the ability to make ANY updates to it. No new content, no new costume pieces, no patching out bugs.

On windows 9, I have no information. Most likely there will be compatability issues with running something as old as CoH. Also, see above...No new content.

I'm totally ok with this, but my question based on that is.... Does that mean when Win 9 is released, the maintenance mode CoH is effectively shut down? Or, does it mean that the maintenance mode will run in perpetuity and Win 9 users simply won't be able to play the game? (I say this because I don't plan on upgrading to Win 9....also, some of us play CoH on OS X)...

[Dr. Bad Guy]

My biggest concern is the maintenance mode.. if everything goes through.. how long does that last.. I would hate to get back in.. remake stuff and then.. oh well sorry we dont want to run this anymore.. good bye..

Windows 7 sunset is 1/14/2020. That will probably be the last stable Win os for City. I'm sure somebody will be able to cludge something together to run it on a Win 9 system. Me personally,  at that point I'm sure I'll be neck deep in VO and COT

[Dr. Bad Guy]

Could always build a Linux box.

[Winter Fable]

For people worrying about "how long can a CoH 1.0 implementation last".

As long as they can keep the servers stable, honestly, it's almost indefinitely.

There is, currently, NOTHING in the Win9 pipeline that looks to affect anything CoH could do AT ALL.

The biggest hurdle will be building a working game loader/patcher, as a certain amount of the game is primarily client-side stuff that CAN be accessed/worked with/fixed at will.  Just so long as the server and client agree on the acceptable version number.

Thank You Hyperstrike,that makes me fell better if that is the case.I understand most of you want a newer version of the game but I love it just the way it was.

[lapucelle]

A lot of your questions really depend on what happens next. We need to see if we can get CoH up and running. The old girl isn't in the best shape, we're going to need to build a new environment for her to live in. Auth, login, whole nine yards. We don't know about Windows 9 yet. We haven't seen it, and neither has anyone outside Microsoft, that I'm aware of.

This is just a _guess_, but I'm guessing that we'll get it running in limping mode, enough to check everything's there, show it off a little, and then we'll have to raise some money for servers to get her open. Again, this is just my best guess. CoT money is for CoT, we'd need new cash for this. Maybe a bank loan. Anyhow, once we get her up and limping, we'll be able to see what we need to do to get her running again. (I don't even know if we'll get the website and webstore.)

We're doing our best for you. We know what you want. We _are_ you.

And with your help, we're one step closer to Saving CoH.

- Warcabbit

[Sinistar]

Greetings,

The proposal as it stands right now (this is not a final form, just the current proposal on the table) is this:

The CoH IP would be spun to its own company, to handle licensing. This company would itself license the existing engine from NCSoft for the creation of a maintenance mode, using a binary copy of the i23 server.

The existing user database and characters are not part of this arrangement at this time, nor is the source code.

An arrangement is to be made to license the trademarks to the various Plan Z projects, CoT, Valiance and H&V, to create a family connection, and to allow each to drop the "Spiritual" portion of successor. This means they can make references to the original game if desired, and to enable the expansion of partnerships. This could be expanded for any of them, should the desire be there.

An arrangement is also to be made for the Atlas Park Revival project. As part of the informal agreement we have with them, they would be given an official stamp of approval, and the CoT game build would be licensed to them, to create a kind of "CoH 1.5" and migrate people off of the classic game engine before it finally becomes unsuitable (we expect this to happen around when Windows 9 is released, due to binary compatibility). This can be done because both APR and CoT run on Unreal Engine 4.


Ultimately, it is not the dozen folk here who have been in talks with are important here, but all of you. Those who said what you wanted, what you'd hoped for, who did not give up. We're still not there, may never make it there, but we are not even close to giving up. And whatever happens, we can do it together.

Thanks to all of you.

First off, my sincerest thanks for all the efforts that have been put in so far :)

As to the current proposal:

1. The maintenance mode is what I expected, I was hoping for ish 24,  but ish 23 or even ish 1 through 22 at this point would be fine as long as the game is back.

2. The account data and our characters not being in the proposal....well that was not unexpected and it would be a slight downer if the characters cannot be brought back.  Telling veteran gamers that their characters would be back, even if only slightly restored, would still bring smiles to the faces of many. However I would return to start anew as many would as well even if the characters cannot return.

All I'm saying is this: if you can get them: GREAT!  If not, and the game still returns without them: that's great too. (But please try to get them ;)  )

3. The licensing thing to the successors is also great, as they can continue to develop without threats of plagiarism and lawsuits for being "COH copycats" as it were.

4. Changing the game engine, yes the game is old we can't deny that.  However for those thinking that COH I23 would only be around for a short time before 1.5 and Windows 9 are ready likely shouldn't worry. It will take time to rebuild the game into the new engine and then debug it, so I foresee COH ISH 23 maintenance mode being around for some time.  As to the successors, we'll have to see what they offer before jumping to them and leaving COH.  even if the successors are good, I'd still like to have COH around.

Thank you all again!

[Black Gold]

So if NCSoft licenses out the IP to this third party company and the successor games utilize the IP does that mean NCSoft makes money on the game they essentially shut down when we pay fees related to the successor games we will play?

[ivanhedgehog]

A lot of your questions really depend on what happens next. We need to see if we can get CoH up and running. The old girl isn't in the best shape, we're going to need to build a new environment for her to live in. Auth, login, whole nine yards. We don't know about Windows 9 yet. We haven't seen it, and neither has anyone outside Microsoft, that I'm aware of.

This is just a _guess_, but I'm guessing that we'll get it running in limping mode, enough to check everything's there, show it off a little, and then we'll have to raise some money for servers to get her open. Again, this is just my best guess. CoT money is for CoT, we'd need new cash for this. Maybe a bank loan. Anyhow, once we get her up and limping, we'll be able to see what we need to do to get her running again. (I don't even know if we'll get the website and webstore.)

We're doing our best for you. We know what you want. We _are_ you.

And with your help, we're one step closer to Saving CoH.

- Warcabbit

remember, there are many of us that donated to kickstarter once, and will do it again.........dont be afraid to ask for help

[Cailyn Alaynn]

*whispers to Irish Girl*  psssssst talk to SCoRE about teaming up....  (Wish I knew more about them!  Do they have code?  just a backup? How many of them are there?  Still hoping SCoRE doesn't give up at any rate!!)

*ducks*

-Whispers back to Surelle- Pssssssst, IDK who works on SCoRE! and I think what SCoRE and I are doing are kinda on different paths. But, I don't think they should give up either! (If SCoRE does exist, and one of the people who may or may not be working on it feel like getting in touch with me...)

-ducks-

[bugzee]

As for i23 CoH staying live forever without any updates (if thats the case), I just wanted to point something out: I still play a multiplayer game called Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and it still has quite a following. That game came out 2002! I23 as it is, still has years left in it. And the truth is, if City of Heroes were to come back online, it would be played for many years to come, provided the servers don't get unplugged. As for Windows 9 being a problem, maybe... But I don't think its confirmed that the game wont work in Win9. And if it doesn't, I'm sure the community can come up with workarounds for that. I'm being cautiously optimistic here about the game's revival, as Nate pointed out, its not a done deal.

[HEATSTROKE]

Windows 7 sunset is 1/14/2020. That will probably be the last stable Win os for City. I'm sure somebody will be able to cludge something together to run it on a Win 9 system. Me personally,  at that point I'm sure I'll be neck deep in VO and COT

Im not concerned about how long Windows 7 will be around.. I am more concerned whether once again it will just END and we will all be in the lurch again..