New efforts!

Benchpresser · July 10, 2014, 03:46:04 PM

Thanks again IW! Yes.. this is lightspeed fast...

Now I'm curious which Dev...... :o

Von Krieger · July 10, 2014, 03:50:34 PM

So on the topic of bovine-related supers and bovine related supering accessories, I ended up making a character for an all Plant Dominator supergroup back in the day, so I named her after a flower, the humble poo=growing Cowslip. She was my only level 50 that lacked a defensive set, everybody else was tankers scrappers, brutes, and a Soldier. And thus as one of said 50's she got all her costumes saved so as to preserve her post shutdown. And thus I can fire up Icon and show you to her.

Images

Spoiler for Hidden:

AlienOne · July 10, 2014, 03:50:46 PM

Quote from: Ironwolf on July 10, 2014, 03:32:21 PM
Well you can look at it slightly differently - it isn't a yes or no that we are looking for right now, we are already given a tentitive yes, or the talks would be over. What is happening is the yes, but we want to see this.........on both sides. If you think about it - if NCSoft was not interested in selling it - then the talks would not have gone through to conditions of sale. It would not be sitting in the hands of the last guy working out the final conditions. Personally I am extremely impressed that this has been moving forward this quickly.

The bold comments are direct communications from the team. I have edited them slightly to remove names and such.

Timeline:
March 6 - I get the information and start working on a way to possibly open source CoH.
March 12 - got letter back from Chris Chung - it showed that is WAS possible to buy the game.
March 13 - the team makes its first contact with me and says this: You are an evil, evil man. I'd given up hope after learning of the tax issue. Now here I am now grinning from ear to ear. Likely going to lead to heartbreak, but damned the torpedos. Full speed ahead.
March 21 - Honestly, we had given up hope. Now, you've given us hope, so we're discussing it.
March 28 - We have been reaching out and putting the proposal together. The concern has been the "Golden Handcuffs" option, being shackled to NCSoft again and having the sword of damocles once again hanging over our heads but this time knowing it is there.
April 5 - Made some headway. Now we know who we need to talk to, and a general idea of price. It is very doable.
April 16 - At the end we'll announce it one way or the other. For now it is just this silly business dance in order to reach [Redacted contact] :)
April 18 - Second studio expresses interest in the game
April 21 - investor expresses interest and is passed to the team
May 1 - third studio expresses interest in the game.
May 21 - I ask how the talks are going and if they are making the team jump through hoops: Stupid. Stupid amounts of hoops, as far as I know. I swear, I have no idea how these guys order milk in the morning.
June 19 - Slow but not dead. Oh god no they are not approachable.
Not a big deal, we were focusing on August anyhow.
June 24 - former paragon Dev contacts me and is forwarded to the team
July 3 - Yesterday, we were directed to the man whose signature is needed.
July 3 - after MY reading WAAAY too much into the first message - Er... we're not days away from anything. We're just now in direct contact, which means we're past another hurdle. We still have at least two months of negotiations left ahead of us, at best. This is where the monsters truly do lie.
July 7 - another investor/studio contacts me and is forwarded to the team

That is the basic timeline. I have had people asking for jobs - a contact from a game site and other questions and such but this is the nuts and bolts of what has happened. I have also been able to read into the situation more because of comments on the board (not just in this thread) from members of the team, even before the purchase effort - what they would like to see from the game. This makes it pretty easy for me to see what kind of people they were and what they want. I don't have a further update but this might help tie you over for a while as to what is happening and to understand in business circles - this is incredibly fast.

This was actually incredibly helpful to see a timeline an wrap my head around it... Thanks!

So, it looks like it could be Aug/Sept. before we even see another update or a "final report" of any kind... Even with that info, it's looking REALLY positive at this point!

Ironwolf · July 10, 2014, 04:00:07 PM

Yes, 4 months.

It feels so much longer! I may write up all the other stuff at some point and hand it over to the MMO site that contacted me to post as an article on how other gamers could work to restore their games. I thought building the timeline might help you all and also posting some direct contact messages/emails so you could see what was being done. There is more but I edited them out for now for brevities sake.

You can see why I am very confident that it will happen either now or at least very soon (TM).

zlane · July 10, 2014, 04:06:55 PM

Long time lurker, first time poster. I started CoV in I7 I think was instantly hooked. I can't wait to play this game again. Some of you may have teamed with me. My most famous toon was super hot moma a ss/fire brute. I looked forward to teaming with you all soon.

Peacemaker · July 10, 2014, 04:08:00 PM

Extremely helpful timeline. I am now extremely optimistic that his will happen. Looking forward to more information in August or September. Thank you Ironwolf!

Taliseian · July 10, 2014, 04:09:27 PM

Ironwolf,

Curious if the Team - once the sale is final - has considered a Kickstarter to help fund startup costs in order to get the revenue stream going.

It could also be used as a way to pump the hype machine and gauge interest in either working/creating any needed dev tools for CoX and possibly interest level in CoH2.

Just thinking, and hoping...

T

Acanous · July 10, 2014, 04:10:26 PM

salivating at the thought of a trial marathon. Waiting 2 months, I'll be bouncing off the walls. 4 and I don't know how crazy things will get up here.
Nice cowgirl, VK

Blue Cloak · July 10, 2014, 04:13:13 PM

Quote from: Taliseian on July 10, 2014, 04:09:27 PM
Ironwolf,

Curious if the Team - once the sale is final - has considered a Kickstarter to help fund startup costs in order to get the revenue stream going.

It could also be used as a way to pump the hype machine and gauge interest in either working/creating any needed dev tools for CoX and possibly interest level in CoH2.

Just thinking, and hoping...

T

By the looks of it it seems they will have the money they need already. if i'm reading the timeline right they are a game dev already and they possibly have investors helping them out as well.

Ironwolf · July 10, 2014, 04:13:21 PM

Quote from: Taliseian on July 10, 2014, 04:09:27 PM
Ironwolf,

Curious if the Team - once the sale is final - has considered a Kickstarter to help fund startup costs in order to get the revenue stream going.

It could also be used as a way to pump the hype machine and gauge interest in either working/creating any needed dev tools for CoX and possibly interest level in CoH2.

Just thinking, and hoping...

T

I think they have investors now - and likely if the purchase is completed they will have more. I leave that up to them :)

HEATSTROKE · July 10, 2014, 04:15:27 PM

Quote from: Taliseian on July 10, 2014, 04:09:27 PM
Ironwolf,

Curious if the Team - once the sale is final - has considered a Kickstarter to help fund startup costs in order to get the revenue stream going.

It could also be used as a way to pump the hype machine and gauge interest in either working/creating any needed dev tools for CoX and possibly interest level in CoH2.

Just thinking, and hoping...

T

I dont think you can use Kickstarter for a project that already exists..

chuckv3 · July 10, 2014, 04:16:52 PM

I would be more than willing to invest if they are publicly-traded.

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=procrasti-nation.eu%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FShut-up-and-take-my-money.jpg

Fleur_uk · July 10, 2014, 04:21:30 PM

Exciting news Ironwolf :) Liked the timeline, can't wait till at the bottom it says "CoH Aquired"!!! Eeeek can't wait :D :D

Fridgy Daiere · July 10, 2014, 04:23:01 PM

Quote from: Ironwolf on July 10, 2014, 03:32:21 PM
Well you can look at it slightly differently - it isn't a yes or no that we are looking for right now, we are already given a tentitive yes, or the talks would be over. What is happening is the yes, but we want to see this.........on both sides. If you think about it - if NCSoft was not interested in selling it - then the talks would not have gone through to conditions of sale. It would not be sitting in the hands of the last guy working out the final conditions. Personally I am extremely impressed that this has been moving forward this quickly.

The bold comments are direct communications from the team. I have edited them slightly to remove names and such.

Timeline:
March 6 - I get the information and start working on a way to possibly open source CoH.
March 12 - got letter back from Chris Chung - it showed that is WAS possible to buy the game.
March 13 - the team makes its first contact with me and says this: You are an evil, evil man. I'd given up hope after learning of the tax issue. Now here I am now grinning from ear to ear. Likely going to lead to heartbreak, but damned the torpedos. Full speed ahead.
March 21 - Honestly, we had given up hope. Now, you've given us hope, so we're discussing it.
March 28 - We have been reaching out and putting the proposal together. The concern has been the "Golden Handcuffs" option, being shackled to NCSoft again and having the sword of damocles once again hanging over our heads but this time knowing it is there.
April 5 - Made some headway. Now we know who we need to talk to, and a general idea of price. It is very doable.
April 16 - At the end we'll announce it one way or the other. For now it is just this silly business dance in order to reach [Redacted contact] :)
April 18 - Second studio expresses interest in the game
April 21 - investor expresses interest and is passed to the team
May 1 - third studio expresses interest in the game.
May 21 - I ask how the talks are going and if they are making the team jump through hoops: Stupid. Stupid amounts of hoops, as far as I know. I swear, I have no idea how these guys order milk in the morning.
June 19 - Slow but not dead. Oh god no they are not approachable.
Not a big deal, we were focusing on August anyhow.
June 24 - former paragon Dev contacts me and is forwarded to the team
July 3 - Yesterday, we were directed to the man whose signature is needed.
July 3 - after MY reading WAAAY too much into the first message - Er... we're not days away from anything. We're just now in direct contact, which means we're past another hurdle. We still have at least two months of negotiations left ahead of us, at best. This is where the monsters truly do lie.
July 7 - another investor/studio contacts me and is forwarded to the team

That is the basic timeline. I have had people asking for jobs - a contact from a game site and other questions and such but this is the nuts and bolts of what has happened. I have also been able to read into the situation more because of comments on the board (not just in this thread) from members of the team, even before the purchase effort - what they would like to see from the game. This makes it pretty easy for me to see what kind of people they were and what they want. I don't have a further update but this might help tie you over for a while as to what is happening and to understand in business circles - this is incredibly fast.

LOL, best post yet! And the milk comment is priceless...welcome to Big Business!

Deathmint · July 10, 2014, 04:26:21 PM

Wow. Ironwolf. You, sir, are a boss. I know this was and is a huge group effort, but I read some on this thread and basically, if you hadn't picked up where others left off this wouldn't have made the headway that it did. We needed a point man and you have done admirably.

Thank you, also, for that easy to read timeline.

CrimsonCapacitor · July 10, 2014, 04:27:03 PM

I just have to say... the "hurry up and wait," while needed, noted, and appreciated in this case is REALLY REALLY DIFFICULT FOR A SPEEDSTER.

Ahem.

Fridgy Daiere · July 10, 2014, 04:36:37 PM

Quote from: CrimsonCapacitor on July 10, 2014, 04:27:03 PM
- snip -

You have given me an idea for a new alt, CC...a stalker named Blown Capacitor. She will be the bane of geeks everywhere, be super-slim (no bulging sides or bottoms here, thank you!), super-sneaky, and will hide out in motherboards and LCD monitors.

Edited to add: Her arch-nemesis will be the Multimeter.

Serpine · July 10, 2014, 04:42:15 PM

Quote from: Thirty-Seven on July 10, 2014, 01:57:30 PMIt would be a giant pain in the ass to set up two different PvP systems in the game.

Also it would just be weird to have multiple PVP rulesets (its annoying enough splitting the PVP and PVE rulesets as it is). Since the I13 revisions apparently failed to bring more non-PVPers in, and seems almost universally reviled by the PVP community that was there, personally I'd say pushing for them to be reversed in general would be the wisest approach.

Fleur_uk · July 10, 2014, 04:49:42 PM

Quote from: Fridgy Daiere on July 10, 2014, 04:36:37 PM
You have given me an idea for a new alt, CC...a stalker named Blown Capacitor. She will be the bane of geeks everywhere, be super-slim (no bulging sides or bottoms here, thank you!), super-sneaky, and will hide out in motherboards and LCD monitors.

Edited to add: Her arch-nemesis will be the Multimeter.

bwahahaha :) so cute

Serpine · July 10, 2014, 04:51:05 PM

Quote from: Hellkat on July 10, 2014, 03:50:34 PMSo on the topic of bovine-related supers and bovine related supering accessories,

Right near the end I was experimenting with a character resulting from spamming the random button: It seemed every 5th click one evening for some reason was producing something with a cow head and that one energy tail (phoenix or something) in a sickly color. Thus "Flatulent Cow" was born...

Quote from: HEATSTROKE on July 10, 2014, 04:15:27 PMI dont think you can use Kickstarter for a project that already exists..

Its a weird area and probably more about presentation. I've seen apparently valid kickstarters for what amounts to added content to an in-development game, finishing one in development hell, and expanding to another platform. So you can't apparently raise money to buy it (and the buyout investors already appear to have that covered), but you could probably raise money that way to "finish" it and prep it for relaunch. So for instance it might be possible to have a kickstarter to partially cover:
* Infrastructure (servers, machines / software for development).
* Development / revisions of account system and storefront (the latter needed some serious revision, and if I recall correctly was at least partially out of house).
* Recreation of missing tools for editing the existing environment / codebase.
* Revisions to existing environment / codebase to complete I24 for release.
* Practically anything involving creation / migration to a CoH2. :)