Status Update (January 1)

[MindBlender]

I thank you as well Tony.  I have been coming to the forums for over 2 years now (much more in the last 6 months of course) and these forums provide me with information I would spend hours trying to find on my own.

[nataliaofvirtues]

Thank you TonyV for keeping this forum alive. It has been a great source of information as well as keeping the feeling of hope for the return of City in some way to all of us that was made homeless with the closing of COH. I am able to stay somewhat connected by reading the forum and even commenting from time to time.
I look forward to the day that we are all able to walk down the streets of Atlas Park (if by some miracle we get her back) or Phoenix City or whatever the new home may call her main city. I know that because of this forum, we will all be able to reunite our community and protect our home as we have in the past. As stated so many times; WE ARE HEROES, THAT IS WHAT WE DO!

[Arctic Pulse]

Agreed nataliaofvirtues.

Look forward to a reunion

[DrakeGrimm]

Still here. Still fighting. For our City. For our home. For our people.

[johnrobey]

ncsoft should have appreaciated the PS since they were some awesome talented people.

I think NCSoft top brass demonstrated that they are a bunch of Pancake-Heads (Pancake in this case rhymes with the word "Fit"), who cared little to nothing and showed little to nothing of any sort of respect for the CoH community aka their customers, and I believe they treated former Paragon Studios exactly the same way.  Apologies to any NCSoft non-top tier exec who may read this; you guys and the rank-and-file rocked! But your numb-skull bosses don't!!!  I hope they are off enjoying their lives as "important" people 'cause near as I can tell, that is ALL they have going for them.  Pity.

[Osborn]

I think NCSoft top brass demonstrated that they are a bunch of Pancake-Heads (Pancake in this case rhymes with the word "Fit"), who cared little to nothing and showed little to nothing of any sort of respect for the CoH community aka their customers, and I believe they treated former Paragon Studios exactly the same way.  Apologies to any NCSoft non-top tier exec who may read this; you guys and the rank-and-file rocked! But your numb-skull bosses don't!!!  I hope they are off enjoying their lives as "important" people 'cause near as I can tell, that is ALL they have going for them.  Pity.

That's the general trend though, sadly, to treat your teams as disposable costs rather than valuable assets. I mean in general, but it's even worse in video game development.

The default schema for employment in that realm seems to be based on short term project farms that get sold off.

[johnrobey]

That's the general trend though, sadly, to treat your teams as disposable costs rather than valuable assets. I mean in general, but it's even worse in video game development.

The default schema for employment in that realm seems to be based on short term project farms that get sold off.

Hi Osborn! It's always a treat for me to see on Titan forums someone I actually gamed with in CoH.  Hope you and K. are doing well and thriving!   

The "trend" you note I have perceived in the U.S. since the early 1980's, when the film Wall Street told us "greed is good"  (Oh really??)  Prior to that U.S. industries and employees (at least in "white collar" work) practically had covenants of loyalty akin to feudalism, as contrasted to all the downsizing and re-orgs, contracting and out-sourcing - usually cost savings result by not providing medical insurance (e.g. our nation's for-profit prisons).  I saw that in public higher ed as janitors and custodians were replaced by contract labor (gee, how curious that such persons no longer suffer illness -  yes, i am being facetious.)  Anyhow, we're way off the OP topic.  Lovely to see you here on Titan Network forums:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T62FDHh56A  (Hope you like this music vid, Osborn)   

[MWRuger]

I'm NOT speaking for the The Phoenix Project but I am working on it.

What would I do if CoH came back?

Hold a huge party online, take off a week of vacation and play the hell out of it.

But I would keep working on TPP as well. There are some awesome things planned. I would love to spill the beans but I need to be alive to play when this thing goes live.

[johnrobey]

I'm NOT speaking for the The Phoenix Project but I am working on it.

What would I do if CoH came back?

Hold a huge party online, take off a week of vacation and play the hell out of it.

But I would keep working on TPP as well. There are some awesome things planned. I would love to spill the beans but I need to be alive to play when this thing goes live.

I can actually envision myself playing both or even all three should CoH return and both TPP and H&V take wing! 

[LT. Couper]

I can actually envision myself playing both or even all three should CoH return and both TPP and H&V take wing!

Same here. I can't imagine anything better; an MMO where the devs are really great people who care about the players, and two MMOs made by the players and care just as much! I eagerly await any and all of these options that let me fly again. 

[srmalloy]

Same here. I can't imagine anything better; an MMO where the devs are really great people who care about the players, and two MMOs made by the players and care just as much! I eagerly await any and all of these options that let me fly again. 

I've been able to watch that happening. Back in 1992, I started playing SVGA Air Warrior, an online WWII air-combat sim that was on GEnie. Eventually, it became accessible via the Internet, and later evolved from a DOS game to a Windows game.

Unsatisfied with the glacial pace of updates and fixes to the flight models, a group of the Air Warriors players went off and formed their own company to create a WWII air-combat sim that would have better graphics and aircraft modeling. After several iterations of "this isn't going where we want it; let's go off and make one that will do it right" that spun off "WWII Online", HiTech Creations released Aces High, which became Aces High II with an engine rework. One of the things that ensures that AHII will remain a viable multiplayer sim even if the AH servers shut down is that the game was deliberately designed to be flyable offline (useful for bombing and strafing practice) and to have a LAN mode, where you can link, IIRC, up to 32 computers together and play without having to have a server.

So I know that it's possible for a dedicated group of fans to go off and take the foundation of a game, rebuild it, and make it better.

[johnrobey]

I've been able to watch that happening. Back in 1992, I started playing SVGA Air Warrior, an online WWII air-combat sim that was on GEnie. Eventually, it became accessible via the Internet, and later evolved from a DOS game to a Windows game.

Unsatisfied with the glacial pace of updates and fixes to the flight models, a group of the Air Warriors players went off and formed their own company to create a WWII air-combat sim that would have better graphics and aircraft modeling. After several iterations of "this isn't going where we want it; let's go off and make one that will do it right" that spun off "WWII Online", HiTech Creations released Aces High, which became Aces High II with an engine rework. One of the things that ensures that AHII will remain a viable multiplayer sim even if the AH servers shut down is that the game was deliberately designed to be flyable offline (useful for bombing and strafing practice) and to have a LAN mode, where you can link, IIRC, up to 32 computers together and play without having to have a server.

So I know that it's possible for a dedicated group of fans to go off and take the foundation of a game, rebuild it, and make it better.

AWESOME!!!!!!!   

[Osborn]

I've been able to watch that happening. Back in 1992, I started playing SVGA Air Warrior, an online WWII air-combat sim that was on GEnie. Eventually, it became accessible via the Internet, and later evolved from a DOS game to a Windows game.

Unsatisfied with the glacial pace of updates and fixes to the flight models, a group of the Air Warriors players went off and formed their own company to create a WWII air-combat sim that would have better graphics and aircraft modeling. After several iterations of "this isn't going where we want it; let's go off and make one that will do it right" that spun off "WWII Online", HiTech Creations released Aces High, which became Aces High II with an engine rework. One of the things that ensures that AHII will remain a viable multiplayer sim even if the AH servers shut down is that the game was deliberately designed to be flyable offline (useful for bombing and strafing practice) and to have a LAN mode, where you can link, IIRC, up to 32 computers together and play without having to have a server.

So I know that it's possible for a dedicated group of fans to go off and take the foundation of a game, rebuild it, and make it better.

Considering that's almost exactly what a large chunk of indie games are made now, and how most all games were made back in the day, it's not impossible at all. The biggest hurdle in front of game developers making AAA titles isn't a lack of talent or ambition, it's a lack of funds. It's hard to develop full time to a AAA scope game when your kids are hungry and your rent's due, and that software and training doesn't come out of the sky.

But it wouldn't surprise me at all to hear there are a lot of very talented and dedicated people to be found who would want to contribute to something like this. So while the odds might be stacked against you, I'm confident that you guys can beat them. The internet has made game designers very lucky to be able to find such talented individuals in a way that was very difficult in the past.

If anything, publishers should embrace this very sort of thing more often.

[Riggs_Wild]

Keep up the good work. I have some 30 rl friends who are just waiting to jump back into the game.

[Victoria Victrix]

Rae, Quinch and Ammon are taking up the "reformat/rewrite pitch for Google" while I try and get my life back up to speed.

[johnrobey]

Rae, Quinch and Ammon are taking up the "reformat/rewrite pitch for Google" while I try and get my life back up to speed.

Please let me know if/when there is anything constructive i might contribute to these efforts.  Thanking Ammon, Quich, and Rae & everyone involved in this.
/em holdtorch

[healix]

*hoists torch next to JR*

[johnrobey]

*hoists torch next to JR*

    Thank you, Healix!  *virtual hugs from the faraway Land of 10,000 presently frozen Lakes of Minnesota, ja sure!*

One of these days i really should learn how to do the nifty graphics and animations you young geniuses do!

[Harpospoke]

Just went through some screenshots of a friend on FB and it sure hurts to see that awesome City and know I can't just log on to run around and be stupid.  (Unless I was on a team..then I was really smart!    )

Sigh....hope there is some good news at some point.

[healix]

    Thank you, Healix!  *virtual hugs from the faraway Land of 10,000 presently frozen Lakes of Minnesota, ja sure!*

One of these days i really should learn how to do the nifty graphics and animations you young geniuses do!

YOUNG? I probably have underwear older than you are......