View Full Version : Summary questions for Kirk/KK
--- Thread Updates ---
LOKI's thread: http://forum.neocron.com/showthread.php?p=2175601#post2175601
Post from Danae: http://forum.neocron.com/showpost.php?p=2175608&postcount=6
Kirk's 1st Post: http://forum.neocron.com/showpost.php?p=2175823&postcount=78
Kirk's 2nd Post: http://forum.neocron.com/showpost.php?p=2175886&postcount=106
L0KI's phone call with Kirk: http://forum.neocron.com/showpost.php?p=2175971&postcount=147
Kirk's 3rd Post: http://forum.neocron.com/showpost.php?p=2175985&postcount=153
Kirk's 4th Post: http://forum.neocron.com/showpost.php?p=2176126&postcount=187
Original Thread Summary by Biglines: http://forum.neocron.com/showpost.php?p=2176144&postcount=194
--- Thread Updates ---
Ok, it became very clear that the other thread(s) were turning into two different parts, one whining and flaming, the other the questions we wanted to ask. I was asked to make a new thread, I propose to keep the other thread open for our "opinions", and try and keep this thread purely in the form of questions (So no answers from the community, we don't know shit so let's keep it at that).
Note, this time I've yet again incorporated some more questions that in my original summary were listed at the bottom, hopefully this will make it yet easier to answer.
A: Anti-cheat patch
More than a year ago, chenoa said that the developers knew what went wrong with the patch, and how to fix it. There were a few posts explaining that you were actively working on it.
If the developers are working on it (even in their free time), why is it taking so long?
How far along are you, have you fixed the problems and are just waiting for a time to patch, or are you still stumped as to why the patch didn't work last time?
How many people are working on it in their free time?
Does KK lend all its developers to gamigo on a project basis, or does gamigo pay KK for work on BP. In the last case I just don't get why part of KK's capital isn't used to actually pay the developers to work on neocron. If gamigo wants KK only to work on BP, why not just buy the whole company?
Why can't these people be compensated in either overtime or subcontracting?
If these developers are really working on neocron, is there some way for us to donate to them personally or to buy them a beer?
(By CoreInsanity: ) What is your plan as far as cheaters go? Specifically:
Will the exploit specific bugs be fixed before taking any action?
Will the fact that the community is really small be taken into account?
Will there be a wipe to counter the fact that a lot of trading is restrictive due to how much cheating has gone on? (Biglines: Please don't :p)
B: Payment and accounts
About 3 years ago now, 10tacle went insolvent, causing paypal subscriptions to stop functioning, to which you said that payment would be reinstated very soon.
How is KK doing now financially? Are you stable?
Why can't there be another payment provider reinstated now that KK is no longer insolvent, so that click2pay isn't the only one still working?
Why can't you let paypal make accounts like click2pay can?
What do you plan on changing in neocron before the monthly fee will start again? (As obviously hardly anyone will pay for the game in it current state, both support and content wise)
C: Communication
Communication with the community at least in the last 5 years has been abysmal, almost no messages were written concerning what was happening, the moderators on the forum were either not informed or were not allowed to comment, and most of the messages that came were mostly filled with promises that were almost never kept, or were made by moderators/employees who had to spend their own time helping/informing us. Having no time is not really an excuse when it takes over a year to communicate. Not being able to write something for a week or two is possible due to some deadline looming, but during an entire year, it is impossible for there to have been no time for a message that in the worst case scenario takes an hour or two to research and write.
What are your plans on improving communication with the community?
Why do we only get answers after posting in the BP forums? Is it simply because you don't read this forum?
Can you in the future, when it appears you will not be able to keep the promises you made, at least let us know as soon as possible that you won't be able to make it?
(Brammers: ) What is Reakktor's view on the current state of communication to the community, and what plans do they have to change it? (If any).
(Brammers: ) What is Reakktor's view on the current state of in-game and out-of-game support, and what plans do they have to change it? (If any).
Is there an official community manager? if so, where is he/she and what is his/her job? Because we have not seen anything in the past year.
Why did you not tell us (or have someone else tell us) that you couldn't respond because you were on a business trip?
You don't even have to say why if that's something private to the company, but at least let us know that you won't be keeping your promises, instead of just waiting years and then doing something drastic. Three years ago you promised us an anti-cheat patch in 3 months, after a year of no communication, suddenly you patched the game without prior notice, and without much communication that patch was then rolled back because it simply didn't work.
We understand if you are having troubles financially that you can't keep your promises, but at least let us know immediately when you realize this will happen.
D: Development
Some community members expresses their wishes for neocron to be made open source, or to hire/include some community members as sources for development, content and artwork.
How many of the original neocron developers are still around?
What is the state of the code for neocron, can you give us a few details about how neocron is built up?
Can you tell us if it is at all possible for you to fix the huge amount of memory leaks and conflicts between the gfx engines?
Could you explain why the game won't be made open source?
Could you explain why you don't use the huge potential of some of the community members to work on neocron? We have some very talented developers here.
Is returning to the NC1 version of neocron an option? A lot of the community seems to think everything was better back then?
why is the interpolation, which worked in nc1 not working anymore since i think nc2.2, in nc1 the z coordinate was calculated correctly, but since nc 2.2 it isn't anymore
(CoreInsanity: ) Can you actually market the game good enough in it's current (Fixed) state to bring in enough people to make money off it?
(CoreInsanity: ) Can you fix the game enough to expand on it without breaking it?
(CoreInsanity: ) Can the game in it's current (Fixed) state even handle an increased number of players (hundreds)?
Do you have the staff resources to get and pay a good, experienced and committed team of 1 coder, 1 gfx man and 1 dev team organizer ?
Can you change your rules to allow voluntary devs getting documentations and coding game code ?
E: Future content
Are you planning any content patches for nc2?
When is the next Neocron 2 patch planned to be released?
You said you were working on nc3, but obviously since the developers work on nc2 in their free time, this simply wasn't true. Is there actual work being done on nc3, or was it only a deflection?
Can we get the nc1 player models back?
What are your plans for NC3, or NC2. What are we waiting on for development and what (if anything) are you actively doing development wise on NC2/3?
How much will it cost to fix NC compared to how much it will cost for them to make an NC3?
F: Alternative revenue models
What kind of revenue models are you considering? for example freemium, cash shop, monthly subscription, ad-based etc?
Will you make the game open source if you have no longer wish to run it yourself?
G: Black Prophecy
How is BP doing? Is it bringing in profit?
H: Game masters
What happened to our old game masters such as Nidhogg, Hoder and others?
Will we get game masters who know about cheats and high level pvp? (And for example research cheats by downloading and using them so they actually know)
Chenoa promised a big event for us over a year ago, will she ever do this?
And most urgent:
@ Kirk: As i can see you read through the thread. We had a little DB error on terra some months ago (click me (http://forum.neocron.com/showthread.php?t=144697)) which caused damage at some players appartments. Chenoa told us that you are on it and after 1 or 2 weeks like 2% of the missing furnitures came back. But thats all so far. Iam not the only one who has literally lost all his important stuff. I would be appreciate about an information about this issue.
And please, if any Kirk, any empoyee or moderator could answer some of these questions (with consultation of Kirk), please answer any questions that can already be answered. Of course we would like all the questions that relate to NC's future to be answered, but we understand that those things need time and money. But there are still a huge amount of questions that can be answered simply because they are about the past or the present.
And to the rest of the community, please keep this thread clean, no threatening, no whining, no trolling, no answers or opinions, if You have a question you want to add, list the header (A,B,C,D etc.) and the question you want added, hopefully a moderator can edit this opening post and add the questions so that Kirk only has to look at this list. All other comments should go in the other thread.
I didn't put only the questions I thought were usefull in there, I tried to put every single question that anyone has asked of KK in there. The point is, yes like Setlec most of us can pretend to answer most of these questions, but until Kirk/KK someone else actually answers them, there will always be people that have different opinions. As long as these aren't officially answered, people will keep flaming about them, if not at KK then at each other.
Like I said in the post, don't try to answer these questions in this thread, if KK can't answer them, they can let us know and we can pretend to know the answer, but please keep this thread only to ADDING questions, not voicing our own opinions on them, if you have to, add it to another thread, this thread is nothing but a summary of the usefull stuff in the old one.
I have a question to add:
B: Payment and accounts
- We read on the BP Forums, that Gamigo purchased the complete rights to Black Prophecy and 19.9% of Reakktor. Will Gamigo also get involved in Neocron in one or another way?
William Antrim
30-10-11, 15:59
My last post on this subject. Two points. One: is it possible to turn back on the payment system? It seems to me that cheaters are less inclined to cheat of they have to pay to do it.secondly is it possible to get a stickied thread made for posts such as this, suggestions. I know I am guilty of it but I am not sure how many others will honour biglines' request of not posting in this one.
All I'm wondering is when will Reakktor realize that Neocron is their best MMO project, and that if neocron was to be run correctly, marketing-wise, they would probably make good profits?
Switch the piteousness behavior towards Neocron. Get some perspectives. This is your key game.
I have one:
Do you (Reakktor) want any help from the community, in the art department?
- The separate gun models on players' backs are problematic as they get stuck on geometry when someone runs around a corner.
- The wigs/facial hair do the same thing, plus, they look funny rather than convincing. (Detracts from atmosphere instead of contributes.)
- I think many prefer the old models, not because of the LoD (yes, they were low-poly) but because of how well they match the setting, and style. (Ex: PE get shades, monks get coats.) Not kidding: I could make NC1-theme models with a not-ridiculously higher poly count, which are singular models again to avoid the clipping problems of the current models.
- Also, the animation times do not match the coded animation times. For example, when you reload a gun, the animation takes very, very long, but you actually are done reloading very very quickly. This is a miscommunication or lack of communication between the artists and developers..
- Many trees and plants are overly colorful or have too high luminosity (mainly the NC2 trees), which contrast with the dull desaturated environment around it.
I know fixing art probably isn't the main thing people want to see in a patch, but if you need help I could do so, and it would be -something-! Actually, I've seen a lot of art talent from the forums including OP.
just a reminder, please keep this thread for questions only. The optimist vs pessimist debate can be done in other threads.
Kirk Lenke
19-02-12, 01:49
Hi Everybody,
you all haven't been forgotten. And I have to excuse, even if you may don't believe me anymore.
The months since end of September have been partly hell on earth for the team.
And it all ended in declaring insolvency last Wednesday for Reakktor (again).
I wanted to inform you before (!) you hear/read it somewhere else.
Neocrons "future" is save so far as it exits in the current state. But there will be more news and I will get back to you as soon as we arranged important things.
I hope I can provide more infos already Monday/Tuesday.
If there are more questions I would be glad if they could be added above.
And yes, I am not happy but I am positive regarding the future.
Thanks for now
Kirk
Just a reminder. This thread is for QUESTIONS ONLY! Should you feel the need to start a new thread regarding recent developments, then do so. Keep it out of this thread.
Cheers,
Nae
Oh no! I am very sorry to read that line from Kirk.
Well, so I ask myself: Will there be a Neocron 3 at anytime? Can you say anything about plans on how Reakktor may survive and if so, will the NC3 development be part of the future of KK?
Kirk Lenke
21-02-12, 02:33
A: Anti-cheat patch
More than a year ago, chenoa said that the developers knew what went wrong with the patch, and how to fix it. There were a few posts explaining that you were actively working on it.
1. If the developers are working on it (even in their free time), why is it taking so long?
Fixing an MMO or better parts of it which consist of code produced by programmers who aren’t inhouse anymore is a huge task.
2. How far along are you, have you fixed the problems and are just waiting for a time to patch, or are you still stumped as to why the patch didn't work last time?
Yes stumped! We need to have more time for testing and finding a proper solution. Currently we are more or less paralyzed and do not see the problem. On our testing server all worked fine but as soon as we went live all went fubar!
3. How many people are working on it in their free time?
1. Does KK lend all its developers to gamigo on a project basis, or does gamigo pay KK for work on BP. In the last case I just don't get why part of KK's capital isn't used to actually pay the developers to work on neocron. If gamigo wants KK only to work on BP, why not just buy the whole company?
You have to take in regard what Reakktor has went through in the past years. There was 10tacle, then the insolvency, then we came out of it and went on producing only BP with the Fund behind us funding Black Prophecy. The Fund had no interest in funding Neocron at all. With the Black Prophecy deal signed we had to deliver on time and on budget, so no people could be assigned to Neocron as well. When BP went live we were either working on BP or on Black Prophecy Add Ons. We had no chance to put any developer on it. Which is a shame.
4. Why can't these people be compensated in either overtime or subcontracting?
1. If these developers are really working on neocron, is there some way for us to donate to them personally or to buy them a beer?
Currently we are evaluating options regarding donations. But they have to be official regarding tax law etc.
5. (By CoreInsanity: ) What is your plan as far as cheaters go? Specifically:
1. Will the exploit specific bugs be fixed before taking any action?
2. Will the fact that the community is really small be taken into account?
3. Will there be a wipe to counter the fact that a lot of trading is restrictive due to how much cheating has gone on? (Biglines: Please don't )
WE HAVE TO FIX IT!
B: Payment and accounts
About 3 years ago now, 10tacle went insolvent, causing paypal subscriptions to stop functioning, to which you said that payment would be reinstated very soon.
1. How is KK doing now financially? Are you stable?
As you can see now, we are far away from being stable. We have no debts regarding certain credits or bails. The only thing which brought us down is the salary which could not be paid.
For me reinstating a payment is only doable when the bugs are fixed or at least something has happened regarding the current situation of Neocron. Because I do not want to spoil a paying customer even if we may did in the past.
2. Why can't there be another payment provider reinstated now that KK is no longer insolvent, so that click2pay isn't the only one still working?
Same as above. Click2pay has been terminated as well.
3. Why can't you let paypal make accounts like click2pay can?
Paypal is a bank and within the last insolvency Paypal shut everything down within minutes. So we have to think about another option.
4. What do you plan on changing in neocron before the monthly fee will start again? (As obviously hardly anyone will pay for the game in it current state, both support and content wise)
Getting the patch working and maybe some other improvements as well. But without money it’s gonna be a huge task to be honest.
C: Communication
Communication with the community at least in the last 5 years has been abysmal, almost no messages were written concerning what was happening, the moderators on the forum were either not informed or were not allowed to comment, and most of the messages that came were mostly filled with promises that were almost never kept, or were made by moderators/employees who had to spend their own time helping/informing us. Having no time is not really an excuse when it takes over a year to communicate. Not being able to write something for a week or two is possible due to some deadline looming, but during an entire year, it is impossible for there to have been no time for a message that in the worst case scenario takes an hour or two to research and write.
Look, back in 2007 the struggle began inside Reakktor, Holger left the company in the mid of 2007 and I took the job at the end of 2007 officially in the meantime nobody at KK could do anything without the permission of 10tacle management. Due to the fact that BP was a funded project we had milestones to achieve and the fund also had bonders whom really had hands on the team. In 2008 10tacle went down and so did Reakktor.
The only action I could take was putting the payments off and keeping Neocron alive somehow without causing any costs for Reakktor, the fund or Gamigo. The servers in the past years have been paid by me and I mean by me.
I was never so involved in Neocron or better its community even though I was with Reakktor from 1999 on with a small break. But by the time I had the chance to take care of it properly there was either the option to shut it down or to keep it alive somehow. I chose the latest. Because I think Neocron is unique and it always will be, this is also the reason we have made the NC3 picture and started writing a unique story heading towards New Tokyo. With Neocron we did things many other developers copied (mainly without knowing that we have invented those things).
So Neocron became a heritage I am proud of. But every day has 24 hours and having a company, a family and kids… well I have tried my best so far.
1. What are your plans on improving communication with the community?
I would like to involve the community more in what is going on. Because we will need your support and you as a player to make neocron interesting to a potential partner/publisher regarding a Neocron3.
2. Why do we only get answers after posting in the BP forums? Is it simply because you don't read this forum?
Honestly, I am also not that present in the BP forum. I sometimes get the remark to take a look at some posts but as soon as I want to state something a flamewar is already up and running. So we made the decision with BP in the beginning that no devs should make any comments in the forum. This has also been the wrong approach from my point of view.
3. Can you in the future, when it appears you will not be able to keep the promises you made, at least let us know as soon as possible that you won't be able to make it?
Best would be not to make any promises to a community, no matter which community it is. Presenting facts is the way to go. That’s what I have learned so far.
4. (Brammers: ) What is Reakktor's view on the current state of communication to the community, and what plans do they have to change it? (If any).
Of course it is far away from being optimal, but the current state of the game is also frustrating the people who are still working on Neocron. So we have to take care of the game somehow, get some funding and then re-etablish a solid communication.
5. (Brammers: ) What is Reakktor's view on the current state of in-game and out-of-game support, and what plans do they have to change it? (If any).
Get funding, re-instate proper support. There cannot be a good or even moderate support without having any money available.
6. Is there an official community manager? if so, where is he/she and what is his/her job? Because we have not seen anything in the past year.
Working on it.
7. Why did you not tell us (or have someone else tell us) that you couldn't respond because you were on a business trip?
Because I do not lie and I will simply do not ask anybody to lie for me or do you mean when we went to the US last year when I have promised my answers? Well I simply forgot about it…. Sorry.
You don't even have to say why if that's something private to the company, but at least let us know that you won't be keeping your promises, instead of just waiting years and then doing something drastic. Three years ago you promised us an anti-cheat patch in 3 months, after a year of no communication, suddenly you patched the game without prior notice, and without much communication that patch was then rolled back because it simply didn't work.
Well to be honest I wanted to surprise you and come back with a BANG! I am sorry that the patch failed and so are the people who have invested lot of work into it.
We understand if you are having troubles financially that you can't keep your promises, but at least let us know immediately when you realize this will happen.
Understood.
D: Development
Some community members expresses their wishes for neocron to be made open source, or to hire/include some community members as sources for development, content and artwork.
1. How many of the original neocron developers are still around?
By counting now round about 10 who have been more or less involved from the beginning of Neocron. This is not to bad when you take into regard, that the Neocron team wasn’t that big at all.
2. What is the state of the code for neocron, can you give us a few details about how neocron is built up?
Nobody wants to know what the state of the code is, trust me…
1. Can you tell us if it is at all possible for you to fix the huge amount of memory leaks and conflicts between the gfx engines?
I will answer this later when I have the needed infos.
3. Could you explain why the game won't be made open source?
I have to think about this and evaluate it properly. Until now I simply haven’t had the time to do this. And beside this I still have plans with Neocron.
4. Could you explain why you don't use the huge potential of some of the community members to work on neocron? We have some very talented developers here.
I know that there are really good people around in the forums. I will setup an email address where they can apply to, but before we can hire them or even take them as volunteers we have to think it through legally and technically.
5. Is returning to the NC1 version of neocron an option? A lot of the community seems to think everything was better back then?
I my ideal world, I would like to take the good things from and NC1 and NC2 and setup a new version. We have evaluated this option as well and have presented it to potential partners.
For example we have made tests with Unity and Neocron assets. And it worked pretty well! But making a revamped version of Neocron is also a question of money.
Setting up this basic version would cost above one million and would take probably round about one year with the current team we have.
6. why is the interpolation, which worked in nc1 not working anymore since i think nc2.2, in nc1 the z coordinate was calculated correctly, but since nc 2.2 it isn't anymore
I will answer this later when I have the needed infos
7. (CoreInsanity: ) Can you actually market the game good enough in its current (Fixed) state to bring in enough people to make money off it?
As pointed out at 5. I only see the option to revamp Neocron. This could be done within one year and bring back life and fun to the game.
Within the last 2 years we have thought about taking Neocron to Kickstarter or better doing something equal in Germany. But due to taxes this isn’t that easy here.
Now that Double Fine made this on Kickstarter there are plans to do this as well again. But the questions is: Shall we go for a revamped version of the old Neocron or shall we try to fund Neocron 3 right away. I think there is only one shot I think tbh.
The “problem” with Neocron3 is that 1st Neocron is a niche product in the SciFi genre so it isn’t that attractive to a publisher as an elvish fantasy MMO. 2nd doing a Neocron3 nowadays means taking state of the art graphics today and delivering an AAA title in the meaning of quality etc. This brings up the million dollar question again. Who shall fund it!?
We believe in it and we know that there are people who would love and play this game. But asking in Germany for example for 10 Mio for an MMO of such quality is nearly impossible. Asking internationally is irritating as well because partners/publishers think that we cannot do it for this amount in comparison to other titles out there.
So funding is the real deal.
Currently I have the plan to set up a structure to make it possible to make donations to the NC dev team or the game in general to keep the servers and the forums alive. But this has to be legally and taxwise 100% solid.
Beside this I take into regard to try crowdfunding a new Neocron3 or a revamped version of the old one.
And by saying this we have to take into consideration how the business model shall work as well. I am still a huge fan of a subscription based model but more money is currently made in the free to play market which makes the latter also more attractive to publishers. I know that you guys do not like the free to play option! :p
8. (CoreInsanity: ) Can you fix the game enough to expand on it without breaking it?
I think we can only try fixing the current state. Making an AddOn is no option. But we still have plenty of assets which haven’t been implemented yet. It was also planned to release them with the patch…
9. (CoreInsanity: ) Can the game in it's current (Fixed) state even handle an increased number of players (hundreds)?
Yupp.
10. Do you have the staff resources to get and pay a good, experienced and committed team of 1 coder, 1 gfx man and 1 dev team organizer ?
Staff is not the problem at the moment. Payment is the key.
11. Can you change your rules to allow voluntary devs getting documentations and coding game code ?
Hmmm. Have to think about it.
Kirk Lenke
21-02-12, 02:33
E: Future content
1. Are you planning any content patches for nc2?
As said before we do have some content available it only needs to be patched into the game.
2. When is the next Neocron 2 patch planned to be released?
As soon as we have a funding for it we start working on it again.
3. You said you were working on nc3, but obviously since the developers work on nc2 in their free time, this simply wasn't true. Is there actual work being done on nc3, or was it only a deflection?
Nope, by the time I said this we were working on it and somehow we still are. But it’s not core development as you may imagine, its more or less putting together a pitch for a Neocron3 and working on the storyline.
4. Can we get the nc1 player models back?
I have to check this, but I think there was a reason why they aren’t available anymore.
5. What are your plans for NC3, or NC2. What are we waiting on for development and what (if anything) are you actively doing development wise on NC2/3?
Pls see above. If there are further things you would like to know let me know.
6. How much will it cost to fix NC compared to how much it will cost for them to make an NC3?
Did the above answer this?
F: Alternative revenue models
1. What kind of revenue models are you considering? for example freemium, cash shop, monthly subscription, ad-based etc?
Atm for the existing Neocron I only have the plan to go for a donation based model. Maybe when we get things so far patched we can go back to a sort of monthly fee or whatsoever.
2. Will you make the game open source if you have no longer wish to run it yourself?
Yupp. But there are still plans. ;)
G: Black Prophecy
1. How is BP doing? Is it bringing in profit?
It kept us alive until now. Now that we have separated from Gamigo last year. You have to address this to Gamigo. ;)
H: Game masters
1. What happened to our old game masters such as Nidhogg, Hoder and others?
Well some of them simply got disappointed by the way Neocron was treated by us and as a result they were treated by the community. It’s hard to take all the blame when you are a volunteer and the fault is with somebody else. I really like those folks and I have the deepest respect for what they have done for us. Some of them are still around reading the forums from time to time or doing some work on BP.
2. Will we get game masters who know about cheats and high level pvp? (And for example research cheats by downloading and using them so they actually know)
As soon as there is a perspective for sure.
3. Chenoa promised a big event for us over a year ago, will she ever do this?
I guess this is also my fault. I will try to get her interviewed on this.
I can continue, but now I have to call it a night...
Best
Kirk
Like you said, it's late, so I just set up a thread for the actual discussion that is surely to follow, to keep this thread as clean as possible:
http://forum.neocron.com/showthread.php?p=2179153
CoreInsanity
21-02-12, 03:03
Thanks for the great answers! Glad to hear that if you have no plans for NC you will open source it! Of course, a lot of stuff caught my attention, it was a good read.
But, I did have two follow up questions regarding first the open source; Does this include if the worst comes to pass and you all can't continue (With NC specifically or in the company in general?). Of course, I really hope you all get out of this and prosper :)
A: Anti-cheat patch
5. (By CoreInsanity: ) What is your plan as far as cheaters go? Specifically:
1. Will the exploit specific bugs be fixed before taking any action?
2. Will the fact that the community is really small be taken into account?
3. Will there be a wipe to counter the fact that a lot of trading is restrictive due to how much cheating has gone on? (Biglines: Please don't )
WE HAVE TO FIX IT!
While I understand they need to be fixed (lol), I was more wondering what your plans (if any) were to deal with the current economy and player base when they are fixed. How you will handle cheaters and the massive amount of problems that has come because of all of it. Edit: Also when you do make these plans, are you going to take into account the ratio of cheaters to non-cheaters, and the affects on the economy?
Thanks again for the answers!
Edit: Nvm, this is a question so I'll keep it here.
Drachenpaladin
21-02-12, 05:36
G: Black Prophecy
1. How is BP doing? Is it bringing in profit?
It kept us alive until now. Now that we have separated from Gamigo last year. You have to address this to Gamigo. ;)
Can you state what reason has led to this decision?
(Sorry for german, but my english declined since i left school and Kirk is german anyway)
-Funktionieren die "Stellschrauben", die mit 2.3 eingeführt wurden?
(Grund für die Nachfrage ist, dass im PvE vieles noch unbalanced ist und die Abschaffung des Schweren Einstiegs zusammen mit dem Fixen des Accountsystems es bestimmt einfacher machen würde neue Spieler zu finden)
-Wäre es möglich einen Story Wettbewerb zu starten um die recht Quest-arme NC Welt etwas zu füllen?
(Es sollte ja nich zu schwer sein die NPCs aufzustellen, wenn man den Text, die Position und die Missionsziele für sie schon hat (GMs?))
Quick translation for the rest of us because they are very good questions (my own words, if I misstranslated feel free to correct me)
(Sorry for german, but my english declined since i left school and Kirk is german anyway)
- Are the mechanics that were put in place to more easily balance neocron working?
(I'm asking because in pve most is still unbalanced and getting rid of the harsh learning curve and fixing the account system would make getting new players easier)
-Would it be possible to start a Story Competition to gain more quests in the currently quite empty NC world?
(It shouldn't be too difficult to put up the NPCs, when you already have the text, position and goals for the quests(GMs?))
Dribble Joy
21-02-12, 19:17
I know it's not a question, but in response to GF's second question there is the 'dynamic quest' system implemented in either 2.1 or 2.2, and we did have a quest writing competition. Alas the NPCs aren't around anymore.
William Antrim
21-02-12, 19:49
Serious question now.
Unpaid positions on staff or as part time helper? GM or some other capacity (ie community support or event running or story line development etc).
Where do you stand on this? As a company I mean.
I have a passion for Neocron and I believe that there is a position I could be of some benefit to KK in the future of NC. I am willing to submit a sample of work to let you see what I am capable of doing and I do not ask for any kind of reward for doing it (well maybe a babesuit in game but thats all I really want out of it ;) ).
I would like to know if my project when finished can be of some use to Reakktor. I do not want to say too much about it here on the forums because I need to finish and edit it first but I would like it to help you in some way. I will submit it when I return to England and it has been completed.
If this is something which can seriously help in some way I would like for that to happen.
1. What happened to our old game masters such as Nidhogg, Hoder and others?
Well some of them simply got disappointed by the way Neocron was treated by us and as a result they were treated by the community. It’s hard to take all the blame when you are a volunteer and the fault is with somebody else. I really like those folks and I have the deepest respect for what they have done for us. Some of them are still around reading the forums from time to time or doing some work on BP.
Hi all. :) I just wanted to clarify that the only reason I stepped back from my roles on either Neocron or Black Prophecy was because the duties and responsibilities of my "day job" exploded (after a pretty huge promotion, which was nice) so I simply no longer had the energy or time.
I've never had anything less than the utmost respect for everyone involved with either "producing" or "consuming" NC/BP and I wish everyone the best!
/edit - heh, it's good to see that old sig again. ;)
1. What happened to our old game masters such as Nidhogg, Hoder and others?
Well some of them simply got disappointed by the way Neocron was treated by us and as a result they were treated by the community. It’s hard to take all the blame when you are a volunteer and the fault is with somebody else. I really like those folks and I have the deepest respect for what they have done for us. Some of them are still around reading the forums from time to time or doing some work on BP.For what it's worth, I'm still around in spirit and still follow Neocron developments.
While Kirk's comments hold some weight in how I have felt about circumstances over the last couple of years, I kept the faith for as long as I possibly could until day job and personal responsibilities took hold in early 2011... in much the same way as Nidhogg. (Hi Nid, btw :) )
At that time, I was contractually obliged to supporting the then flourishing Black Prophecy, but my obligations were being frustrated by personal as well as technical hardware issues. My instructions at that time were to prioritise all my attention towards BP at the expense of Neocron support in the interest of saving the financial future of KK and Neocron. Once NC was left on the back burner, I had to take leave of absence from BP for personal and professional integrity reasons, and with that turn of events, my online support career was all but over.
I was saddened to read about the further insolvency of KK, but feel duty bound to assist with any "rescue package" in any way I can.
Kirk, Jord, or whoever is in charge now, feel free to PM me if you would like me to make a temporary return to Neocron to offer support, advice and coaching to any trainee GMs who are new to the process.
I have been dabbling on various incognito private characters in the meantime, and greatly admire the resilience of the community spirit and the resolve of those who have given a whole decade of their lives to make a great game even greater ;)
I'm gonna get teary eyed at the appearance of two ex-gaffers while also pointing out there's a proper discussion thread for this. Although I guess you're both providing further answers to the same question ;)
I'll let it fly, just this once...
I jest of course, as you'll both still kick my ass. :lol: Really good to see you both.
I'll let it fly, just this once...
Lol, I remember one of my first official actions as a newly minted copbot was to tell a certain Martin J. Schwiezer not to start a flame war so you're in good company. ;) (He didn't).
I love you bitches, with all that I am, but you're posting in the wrong damn thread :P
<3
This is a question ONLY thread only!!!!
PS HUGE FECKING HUGS TO MY BOYS NIDDY AND HODER
Ist ja alles schön und gut, dass nach Jahren dann mal ein Statement von Kirk kommt, aber Ihr seid eine deutsche Firma und Kirk ist wohl auch deutsch. Wieso erscheint das Statement dann hier nur auf englisch und nicht auf deutsch?
Das ist es, was ich an Reakktor nicht verstehe. Ach und ja, ich bin auch schon seit der Beta dabei, aber wer sind GM Danae und Trivaldi? Die Namen
hab ich noch nie gehört.
Mehr zum Thema dann hoffentlich im deutschen Forum.
William Antrim
23-02-12, 17:35
You dont have a thread like this on the german side?
Hi Duran,
At the moment we're aware of the differences between the English and German communities regarding communication. Skymir is the same level as myself in the German section of the forum and has created translated posts in the Announcements forum regarding recent developments. Additionally I believe he has stickied the relevant posts/threads created by the German community in response to this. The difference in structure there is down to the community (rather than official) created threads.
The initial questions thread was an English community driven initiative which I've supported through the moderation controls I have access to, which explains the presences of Kirk's responses here. Thankfully we have some generous players in the Germany community who have been able to provide translations of this new information - for which we're very grateful!
As we're under going a few changes behind the scenes, we hope to be able to once again provide the same level of support and communication to both sides of the forum, but as you're aware translations by players or officials can take a little time. A support structure has always been in existence for Neocron - even during very quiet periods - of which both myself and Danae belong to different areas of the English side of this structure. Along with the player base we have been a little dormant, something we intend to change. However, these things take a little time.
I hope this answers your question and addresses your concerns.
Triv
Omg turning into a mod thread! :) good to see you all around and touching base with the community :D ..... And not a hammer in sight Nid heh heh
Any ETA on when I can start giving KK my money?
As it has been said, there is a well translated thread in the german section. And if I may say so, the english community had been by far more constructive in cooperating together and communicating with Kirk then the german one.
William Antrim
24-02-12, 16:24
As it has been said, there is a well translated thread in the german section. And if I may say so, the english community had been by far more constructive in cooperating together and communicating with Kirk then the german one.
This is interesting to say the least. I am surprised at this. I thought they were more die hard than we were.
Anyway, any idea of an answer to my previous question?
Any ETA on when I can start giving KK my money?
^ This, preferrably via PayPal again (still got a dent in my ego from my struggle with click2pay :( ).
One more question: Was the cooperation with author Michael Marrak helpful for Black Prophecy / Black Prophecy's marketing, and if yes, is there any chance you could get him or another author to write NC novels perhaps?
William Antrim
24-02-12, 18:39
^ This, preferrably via PayPal again (still got a dent in my ego from my struggle with click2pay :( ).
One more question: Was the cooperation with author Michael Marrak helpful for Black Prophecy / Black Prophecy's marketing, and if yes, is there any chance you could get him or another author to write NC novels perhaps?
Ill do it!
This is interesting to say the least. I am surprised at this. I thought they were more die hard than we were.
Anyway, any idea of an answer to my previous question?
Hi William,
well, one need to differ also between fans and fanbois...
The happenings between Lokis posting and call with Kirk, the community questions and constructive critic about missing communication took place in the English forum.
There is a translated thread (http://forum.neocron.com/showthread.php?t=144944) in the German Forum. However if it were not to Loki/Biglines/CoreInsanity/Brammers and some few others, there wouldn't be any news or answers at all.
Dribble Joy
25-02-12, 02:00
Does KK have any usage rights over the engine used for BP?
If so, are they applicable to any future version of NC?
Awaiting IBAN/SWIFT codes transfers with bated breath.
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