History repeating itself

QrazyKermi

3DO 2.0

Well, not exactly. But you can see the parallels.

Radi

Unless NC Soft totaly ditches AA, ND is not in danger. Besides, I do remember that ND may focus on a single-player games also.

Sucks to be NC Soft employee atm.

ELPIRATA

reading on the members comments noticed taht somebody said that AA had 10,000... I guess subscribers....... what do u make of it?

ELP

Ambrosius

Wow. Sux for Scorch.

Evolution

haha.. oops.

Wild_Bill

Okay, I'm an idiot. What is the arrangement/connection between NCSoft and NetDevil? I've never played AA or WOW or Guild Wars or any of the other games mentioned in that artical. Sucks to be out of a job no matter what it is or where you work. Did anyone catch onto the comments about selling the game to advertsisers instead of charging players? Or the idea of buying hours instead of months?

Just think of docking at Quant Core, to see a banner on the side of the station "Eat more Chicken" or "Pepsi", etc. Don't really think money is the direct problem in Jumpgate. The game apparently appeals to a very small segment of the MMO players.

I was also caught by the lack of mention of Jumpgate at all in the artical. Not sure if that's good or not. And the comments about "10,000" and "ghost town".. wonder what they'd say about Jumpgate in off-prime time hours?

All in all, a disturbing article.

QrazyKermi

NetDevil was hired by NCSoft to develop AA. NCSoft does all the advertising, and provides all the GM's for the game.

The reason I mentioning it was that the original article posted on GameSpot said that posts on a developer's forum said that up to 90-percent of NCSoft's GM staff had been let go. That seemed like impending doom for all things NCSoft, which in turn would be bad for ND. However, it appears that the mass GM-cutting was just a rumor: GameSpot edited the original article with a more complete (and accurate) story on the situation.

Ambrosius

I'm not sure NCSoft "hired" NetDevil -- I thought NetDevil conceived of the game, and pitched NCSoft to provide financing and publish (market & distribute).

NCSoft has NOTHING to do with Jumpgate. The issue is how NetDevil survives past another bad publisher (3DO, the Jumpgate publisher, went bankrupt).

Jump

Memory Lane Productions brings you, well, a trip down memory lane.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Original News Release

NCsoft Announces Publishing Deal with NetDevil

Colorado-Based Game Development Studio to Create Car Combat Online Game under NCsoft Label

AUSTIN, Texas, September 26, 2002-NCsoft(tm) Corporation, the world's largest online game company, announced plans today to publish an upcoming massively-multiplayer (MMP) game currently under development by NetDevil® studios. Wreckage (working title) will introduce an entirely new style of play for the MMP genre-post apocalyptic car combat in a future-Earth setting. Players will have the ability to arm and upgrade their own vehicles, group with friends and take on other players in a full-fledged auto war. Wreckage is scheduled for a 2004-2005 launch date.

The publishing deal is the latest in a series of announcements made this year by NCsoft and continues to establish the company as the worldwide publishing leader of online-only computer games. Previously announced were deals to publish City of Heroes(tm) from Cryptic Studios(tm) and Trade Wars(tm) (working title) from Realm Interactive(tm). Last month NCsoft launched service in Korea for Sony Online Entertainment's highly successful EverQuest®. "Our company's goal is not only to launch quality products worldwide but to leverage our position to bridge cultural barriers and bring gamers together in a global community," said Taek Jin Kim, president and CEO of NCsoft Corp. "NetDevil's new game will bring a new level of excitement, action and community that we've not seen before in this space."

"We're extremely pleased to be partnering with NCsoft to publish our next online game," said Scott Brown, president of NetDevil. "There were several companies for us to choose from, but NCsoft clearly offered the best combination of experience and publishing to a worldwide market." "The NetDevil team is developing a unique concept for MMP games," said Robert Garriott, CEO of NCsoft's North American subsidiary located in Austin, Texas. "An auto combat-styled game opens up an entirely new setting and style of play for online gamers. We're pleased to add it to our growing MMP game lineup."

Algore

NCSoft Hired ND, who then hired Algore.
I coded 55% of the game, and someone else employed someone else who coded the supplementary 45% of bugs and random screwups.
Since then I have been working constantly to make the game what it is today under the psuedo name of GMIstvan, while occasionally banning myself under the psuedo name of GMKhronos.
I am currently awaiting impending investment(read lottery win) so that I can achieve my vision of World Domination, and offer incentives to my many guises to fulfill my goal.
I hope this makes things more clear.

Regards
Me/Him

Wild_Bill

Al, you are just too cute! You make me want to reach out and pinch your chubbly little cheeks. (preferrably with red-hot visegrips, but that's another story). HA!

Thanks to QK, Ambro and Jump for the info regarding relationship btwn NC & ND. What about the in-game advertisements? Is that done alot in other games? Do you think it would work in Jumpgate?

GrimGriz

I don't think anyone would pay to advertise to this small of a playerbase.

Ambrosius

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrimGriz

I don't think anyone would pay to advertise to this small of a playerbase.

Nailed it. Advertising rates are generally in direct correlation to "circulation" in magazine terms -- "hits" or "unique visitors" in website terms. With about 40 people on average during a peak fly-time, there would be little value in advertising. The most creative approach may be to "swap ads" with a secon-tier gaming site -- that might fly (i.e. offer 1 month of in-game ad for website in exchange for 1-month banner ad).

I think it's an excellent idea. Don't tell the people over at Eve!

TRI Pilots On Duty
On Duty:	23
In Flight:	10
Solrain:	6
Octavius:	7
Quantar:	10
TRI:	0

Category	Pilot	Score
Kills	Algore	2,827
Kill Ratio*	_KROM_	470.000 %
Bounty Collected	Killntime	407,838,097
Munitions Accuracy*	Psycho	85.893 %
Projectile Accuracy*	_Zora_	98.148 %
Total Conflux Kills	vorlon31	149,553
Experience	-JPR-	1,002,662,560
Mission Success Ratio*	Arkady	100 %
Insurance Rating*	Farve	10 %
Net Worth	McPlowed	c21,994,151,286
Duty Hours	RedDwarf	18,655.0
*minimum requirements to qualify


	QrazyKermi Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: CT Posts: 579 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	History repeating itself 3DO 2.0 Well, not exactly. But you can see the parallels.


	Radi Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 638 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Unless NC Soft totaly ditches AA, ND is not in danger. Besides, I do remember that ND may focus on a single-player games also. Sucks to be NC Soft employee atm.


	ELPIRATA Moderator Pilot Name: ELPIRATA Faction: non-aligned Joystick: Saitek X45 Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Carolina, PR Posts: 1,498 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	reading on the members comments noticed taht somebody said that AA had 10,000... I guess subscribers....... what do u make of it? ELP


	Ambrosius Member Pilot Name: Ambrosius Faction: Quantar Joystick: MS FF2 Join Date: May 2004 Location: The Stone Temple Posts: 1,860 Nominated 4 Times in 3 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 3	Wow. Sux for Scorch.


	Evolution Member Faction: Octavius Joystick: Cyborg evo Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Chicagoland Posts: 190 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	haha.. oops.
		__________________ WWMD?


	Wild_Bill Member Pilot Name: Wild_Bill Faction: Octavius Joystick: MS Sidewinder Precision Plus Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Abilene Texas Posts: 800 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Okay, I'm an idiot. What is the arrangement/connection between NCSoft and NetDevil? I've never played AA or WOW or Guild Wars or any of the other games mentioned in that artical. Sucks to be out of a job no matter what it is or where you work. Did anyone catch onto the comments about selling the game to advertsisers instead of charging players? Or the idea of buying hours instead of months? Just think of docking at Quant Core, to see a banner on the side of the station "Eat more Chicken" or "Pepsi", etc. Don't really think money is the direct problem in Jumpgate. The game apparently appeals to a very small segment of the MMO players. I was also caught by the lack of mention of Jumpgate at all in the artical. Not sure if that's good or not. And the comments about "10,000" and "ghost town".. wonder what they'd say about Jumpgate in off-prime time hours? All in all, a disturbing article.


	Algore Member Pilot Name: Algore Joystick: MS Force Feedback 2 Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Belfast. Northern Ireland Posts: 578 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	NCSoft Hired ND, who then hired Algore. I coded 55% of the game, and someone else employed someone else who coded the supplementary 45% of bugs and random screwups. Since then I have been working constantly to make the game what it is today under the psuedo name of GMIstvan, while occasionally banning myself under the psuedo name of GMKhronos. I am currently awaiting impending investment(read lottery win) so that I can achieve my vision of World Domination, and offer incentives to my many guises to fulfill my goal. I hope this makes things more clear. Regards Me/Him


	GrimGriz Highest Order Hypocrite Faction: non-aligned Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Portland Posts: 2,708 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	I don't think anyone would pay to advertise to this small of a playerbase.