weird that they weren't able to do faction challenges like this when igp was publisher.
It's not that they couldn't necessarily, it's that that sort of PR-engagement is driven by.....PR people....at a publisher. I take it PGI saw the writing on the wall vis a vis IGP's lackluster ability to actually promote the game, and started down this road a while ago.
I really, truly believe only good things can come of this split.
I'll believe anything they say if they give us a couple super dense megalopolis maps that focus on jump jets and short range fighting over wide open long range combat.
Bonus points if they make an underground subway that only lights can fit in for scouting/flanking purposes.
I really don't understand the relationship between PGI and IGP. Is it just a coincidence that their nicknames are an anagram of each other? Its felt like they were nothing more than a convenient scapegoat during development. I'm really hoping this is a real change and not just the disposal of a criticism-heat-shield.
All these statements of how AUTE won't affect the pace of MWO development are pretty meaningless. MWO's pace has been GLACIAL. The netcode feels like its moving backwards right now. I'm waiting for development to speed up again so that we can reach a point where the game feels fundamentally more complete than it did 3 years ago. PGI has been moaning about how they don't have the money or resources to actually meet deadlines for 2 years and are going to take on a second game before their first is anywhere near complete?
When I bought the Pheonix package I didn't expect them to finish CW. I bought it because I was buying loyalty point bonuses, because I wanted to see them actually put Loyalty Points in the game. Literally the first new feature in a whole year, and they couldn't possibly not deliver on something people were paying for, right? Well, here we are almost a YEAR later. I've got loyalty bonuses on 4 mechs. Could someone from PGI tell me what my loyalty bonuses do? Where are the loyalty points?
How can they throw up text about how the Founder's program "proved that we can work directly with our backers to help build a game for the community" and not expect a backlash from the community who are unsatisfied with the state of the game? They haven't proved anything yet. There is no goodwill to cash in yet.
I will continue to toss money at them. Why? Because they make the only stompy robot game in town. And when push comes to shove, thats what i care about. I dont give a damn what may or may not come down the line. This game is the single most fun game ive played in ages. And not just because the game is good, it can be downright painful at times. Its because i hop on and play games with good bunch of people. Fellow Oosiks. People that also share a passion for big stompy mechs, talking about them and bullshitting about whatever in chat. That is what makes this game golden. You guys.
I will continue to toss money at them. Why? Because they make the only stompy robot game in town. And when push comes to shove, thats what i care about. I dont give a damn what may or may not come down the line. This game is the single most fun game ive played in ages. And not just because the game is good, it can be downright painful at times. Its because i hop on and play games with good bunch of people. Fellow Oosiks. People that also share a passion for big stompy mechs, talking about them and bullshitting about whatever in chat. That is what makes this game golden. You guys.
So is Hellblau our "official" blue color? I know we can use similar blues but wanted to check what most are using,
I use AJ Cyan, which is a little bit brighter and (imo) matches the washed out colors better
anyway, I have little reason to give PGI any more cash; I have a handful of MC left that I plan on using to snipe a couple more colors or maybe camo patterns as they go on sale, but I have all the paid-for mechs I'll want and they're giving away mech bays so quickly at this point that I won't have to buy any for a while at least. Hopefully the separation from IGP helps them somehow, but they have some serious problems to deal with.
anything interesting come out of russ' town hall thing, or has that not started yet?
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
This just in from the Stream regarding banked premium time. Coming soon (TM), you'll be able to activate premium in one month increments rather than all at once.
+4
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
This just in from the Stream regarding banked premium time. Coming soon (TM), you'll be able to activate premium in one month increments rather than all at once.
Holy shit, that even makes me happy. I've got a stack of premium time I can do nothing with, simply because I'd end up wasting something like half of it or more simply because of graduate work as the semester goes on.
A month at a time isn't the increment I would prefer (I'd rather something like a week at a time), but hell if that isn't a great idea regardless.
Ok, I think I'll come back to MWO with the banked premium time thing. I'm starting to believe they have lots of other people that never spent their premium time and don't want to spend it for the exact reason I have, which is that I come back to MWO every so often and I know that pressing a button and spending 6+ months of premium time for only two weeks every so often is not cost effective for me.
I'd rather it be in one week increments, but the fact that I don't have to worry about blowing my entire wad of premium time for a good couple of days/weeks of games, I think I'll take it.
This just in from the Stream regarding banked premium time. Coming soon (TM), you'll be able to activate premium in one month increments rather than all at once.
Should be at minimum, one week increments, but this is a good start.
im with you on that @heroth but at least I don't have to worry about blowing the entire thing now. between my founders, sabers, and whatever they just up and decided to throw at me, I have a ton of it, and I don't want to spend for the shear fact that I know my interest comes and goes.
Yea, thats a fantastic change. My schedule ebbs and flows from week to week, but on months i know ill have more free time, ill totally pop some time. Wish we could get single days though. Meh.
With regards to the premium time PGI want to strike a balance between forcing people to spend a certain amount of premium and making people want to spend it. For me, 1 month increments is not that balance.
I wonder if MWO and Star Citizen are going to move devs away from using CryEngine in the future. Both companies are at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to funding and staffing and neither can make a deadline if the life of their child depended on it.
Griffin Hero, Sparky
Weapon Modules: cool down 1-5
Options to turn off all, group and lance chat
AMS and ECM can be toggled on the weapons group interface
Weapon mods sorted into 4 categories
Raven visual customization upgrade
IS ERLL cooldown reduced to 1.25
Summoner for CBills, Puma for MC
Envious Ear Drum war horn for MC
I'm content to just wait for a forum post or something that has the highlights
Yeah, I'd love a transcript. I'm actually digging around to see if someone's posted it somewhere. Meanwhile, I'm standing here at work, listening while I'm 23% productive.
[Edit] Since I'm listening, I'll try to crib the high points and post them. Dropping my productivity to 9%!
Of these, the Fire Moth in tabletop is dependent on MASC that PGI has apparently never managed to implement (thus the disappearance of the Flea), although of course they could still put it in without... it would be faster than any other light stock even without it, and the Clans could use a light that's actually fast I guess.
They'll do one of the medium pair (Viper /Ice Ferret) to give the Clans a low-end medium.
The Vulture is pretty iconic from past MW games so I'd consider that almost a lock.
And then I could also conceivably see them doing a non-Omni Clan 'mech well-known from previous games like the Kodiak.
Wanted to give a big thanks to everyone over the weekend. Grouping up and getting the lance challenge complete was a lot of fun and I almost have all three Nova mechs elited. Then time to move up to the next clan mech for awhile. I'm (mostly) enjoying playing this way working my way from the lightest clan mech on up. We'll see how that goes when I get into the assault mechs though.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited September 2014
Okay, so my work productivity has been ZERO%. I am way too into transcribing this thing. THAT SAID, PART ONE IS DONE! Holy fuckballs is this thing long.
Please note, these notations were filtered through my own brain! I've tried to be as objective as possible in the transcription, but even so, there's some interpretation taken when cramming this down into a condensed form. Also, I'm doing this on the fly, so if there's typos, well, shit happens.
If you have ANY question about a wording, or the tone or intent behind a particular thing, PLEASE GO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST ITSELF. Russ (so far) has been amazingly frank about all the questions posed to him, and I don't want to get in the way of that with my transcription.
SPOILERS FOR 100 TONS OF TEXTWALL AHOY!! PART 1 INCOMING!!!
Russ Bullock, AMA/Town Halll, Part 1
"IGP/PGI separate companies? Bwuah? Confusion!"
-PGI and IGP have always been separate companies, no equity sharing/common board staffing
-IGP had publishing rights to MWO
-PGI had no relationship to IGP, other than the publishing rights
-(7:00) IGP also had an agreement to use the MW license from PGI, for use on MW Tactics
-PGI would have gotten royalties from MWT, some of which would go back to Microsoft for the MW license
-PGI was otherwise completely 'hands-off' from MWT. Had some approval rights, but never got to use them (since MWT tanked)
-IGP still has the MWT publishing rights, despite giving back the MWO rights
"Why would I want to crowd-fund the new game"
-Russ: The question is a little premature.
-Russ will be focused on MWO, Bryan will be focused on Project 2/AUTE
-No direct funding from MWO is going toward Project 2
-Started dev work in January
-Staffing growth over Q1/Q2 for AUTE, largely artists/creative types, some IT/backend/engineering (12-15 members)
-Separate dev team from MWO
-"Cooking slowly but efficiently"
-AUTE "exists on its own revenue"
-MWO and AUTE separately managed vis a vis funding, income, and growth
-"Mechwarrior money goes to Mechwarrior."
If you're self-publishing, are you planning to advertise your game, and how?
-There was a time when we pushed advert/marketing
-We've put that on hold, to get CW and the game in shape, then intend to push advert/marketing once ready
-MW is a very core {audience} game. Trying to develop, and need more, new player on-boarding.
-Can't argue with players that say development is slow. 2013 was especially bad for this.
-Compromises with IGP had to be made in terms of development timelines
-The Fall 2012 open beta launch should have been 6 months later
-2013 was spent catching up on the technical debt from this
-2013 did not have the forward progress PGI wanted
-2014 PGI dedicated itself to supporting and focusing on core MWO players, and set a new standard for MWO development
-{List of features released in 2014}
***---A FEW MONTHS OUT FROM PLANETARY WARFARE---***
-Again, need to finish off the CW aspects before relaunching advert/marketing push
-Once CW is in place, looking to reclaim lost players, then begin new player recruitment
Why wasn't all this explained months ago?
-Restrictions on what PGI could publicly talk about
-Russ wanted to do an AMA and town hall for a while, but IGP marketing dept. had to be worked with on this
-Unfortunate inefficiencies of the PGI/IGP partnership got in the way of better communications with the player base
-Didn't have the freedom to really have the public communications they would like.
-Having everything in-house now clears the way for more, better community communications
-Got clearance only today (Monday) to release the info about the IGP 'buyback'
-Legally 'hobbled' from saying anything until today (Monday)
Production/Lifespan of MWO: Since AUTE has its own dev team, how does Russ see MWO development moving forward?
-Cautious yes to faster development and deployment
-Points to the work done in 2014 for how future release pace may be, and the productivity level they can achieve
-Mid-30 person sized team working on MWO
-Thinks they can be a little better, a little more efficient, and little faster
-(30:35) Discussion on patch process and timeline: development/features, approval, release (dev > stable > stage > release)
-QA previously was handed by IGP, three hours away. Time difference caused problems with QA'ing patches, basically losing a full day in the QA cycle.
-QA now being handled in-house helps eliminate this.
-Marketing was also impacted by this time difference, making things difficult with the live operations of the company
-Some improvements on 2014 productivity: Because Russ is running all aspects of MWO directly, they can focus dev faster
-"Live or die by our own decisions"
-Listening to the community's concerns, and now able to push toward those concerns more readily
-The baseline for dev pace is 2014, and PGI is targeting to be better than this going forward.
-Don't expect 10x the pace of development; they don't have manpower for it
(35:45) Concern over announcing Project 2, don't even have CW done...when are the promised MWO features coming? Community expects this done before moving to a new project.
-There is nothing less efficient than a 1-game studio (excepting the massive exceptions like LoL, WoT, etc.)
-Overhead for one game (servers, offices, etc.) is a significant investment to only have a single product/project
-The MW fanbase is one of the most passionate in the world, but PGI and its community have to come to an understanding {on the state of the game}
-PGI recognizes that important pillars of the game (CW) have not been delivered as promised,
-but Russ notes you have to look at all four pillars of the original plan, when members of the community say "{PGI} hasn't delivered anything in two years"
-{List of features, minor and major, that have been added since beta/open beta/launch}
-Have to be honest, PGI knows their work will never be done
-Original pillars as pitched:
--Mech Combat (got it),
--Information Warfare (as pitched, delivered; better than older MW games. A lot further they can go, of course. Considered delivered.)
--Role Warfare (roles for lights, not just an arms race to Assaults; more they can do, indefinitely, yes, but otherwise considered delivered.)
--Community Warfare (Not done, this is a missing piece. A couple months out to Planetary Warfare)
-Can't work/reason with people/players that say "Nothing delivered in two years"
-Also, the four pillars are NOT finished, they will be improved indefinitely.
-MWO is a game of constant development
-Russ felt they'd have another project going at least a year earlier than this. They thought to delay Project 2 announcement by another quarter, but the timing wasn't right.
-Trying to determine what the 2015 MWO plan is, post full-blown CW.
(46:50) What is the content plan for the remaining six years of the MW license?
-There is not a content plan for the full six years.
-Concentrating everything on the full release of CW
-What is beyond CW? Need to take a real serious look at Single Player content, and what that means in relation to MWO.
-MWO will always be the multiplayer component of MW going into the foreseeable future
-Russ wants to start gathering feedback on what the playerbase wants. True single-player? PvE single/multiplayer? These are significant questions.
-If the playerbase says "spend six more months on the four pillars of MWO before diving into SP/PvE", that's what PGI will do.
-Opportunity for the playerbase to voice their opinions here!
(52:40) Will we see the development CW speed up, now that IGP is out of the picture? Project 2? Will there be expansion of the teams?
-The MWO team is what it is currently (status quo), and PGI is committed to keeping this team size going forward.
-The two projects won't feed off each other. The team sizes are directly related to the viability of the products.
-MWO team is right-sized for the game as-is.
-There might be room to grow with/after CW, depending on reception.
-PGI is NOT going into maintenance mode on MWO, committed to adding features throughout its lifespan.
(56:00) BIZ DEV! What about monthly subscriptions, instead of F2P? With control under PGI, will we see MWO on Steam?
-Doubt many people feel a monthly subscription would be worthwhile, in comparison to the current purchasing model (premium time, etc.)
-Russ feels the current premium-account model is pretty lenient in comparison to other games that use a premium-account model
-The traditional monthly-subscription models used on recent MMO's haven't fared well
-Going to consider Steam very seriously.
-Don't need Steam to capture the core audience (also don't want to give Steam a $ cut). But there is something to be said about capturing new players through Steam.
-Target the completion of CW and Planetary Warfare, then will ask themselves if a Steam launch would be best for the game.
-Want to retain, not just acquire, new players.
(59:00) Some players have lost faith in PGI, and moved on. How do you recapture these players?
-An extremely difficult question to answer, that comes up periodically.
-Russ understands how passionate players are about MW
-Russ feels like they're putting out content as fast as possible, and going to try to release faster.
-What decisions made you (player) leave the game or lose faith? Need specifics! Can't address it otherwise.
-Decisions have been made based on PGI felt what the majority of the player base desires, to the best of PGI's ability to design for it.
-E.g. Massed pinpoint PPC damage vs. Heat Scale. Knows that they have to try to strike a balance between what the tabletop game was, and what MWO is.
-Player: "What else can {PGI} do to lower pinpoint damage further?" vs. "MW4 multiplayer allowed us boating! We liked powerful alphas! Why not in MWO?"
-It's hard to strike the balance, but PGI is aiming as best they can for a middle ground.
-Not sure that this discussion point will ever be solved, since it's opposing opinions on what is considered Fun.
-Again, on recapturing those that lost faith, need more specific details to address is specifically.
(65:45) Map Production? Do maps still cost $250k to produce? Community developed maps?
-(A little more discussion about the last question on lost faith, missed deadlines, improving, and the immediate future)
-Maps! Don't cost anywhere near that much anymore. That number was a peak, extreme number, when every single asset on-map had to be created.
-There was a team of a half-dozen on maps at first, to get the map-making pipeline established. But that's now in-place.
-INDUSTRIAL CITY has very little in the way of brand-new assets, with a smattering of new objects. It's looking great.
-Russ understands that there's concerns over map production, PGI is just as frustrated at the slow pace
-IGP THROWN UNDER THE BUS: PGI WANTED TO MAKE MAPS, IGP SAID NO, HAD TO PUT RESOURCES ON CLAN MECHS INSTEAD
-Three guys/two guys working on maps full-time. Guessing it takes about $40k for a new map, using asset types they currently have.
-Utilizing the assets they have, maps can be done cheaper and quicker.
-Industrial City: About two months of work, all-in. September 23rd target release. Going into stable patch branch tomorrow (Tuesday)
-SWAMP: Already being worked on. Last of new asset set, already had a bunch of work done.
-Future maps, community created or PGI created, will be targeted to use the asset sets that will exist post-Swamp-release.
-Not feeling like they'll need significant new assets
-Bottom Line: Finish Industrial City, Finish Swamp, Finish next CW module *WHICH COMES WITH A NEW MAP AND MODE ITSELF*
-ATTACK/DEFEND game mode, with an additional map, and map work {on existing maps?}
-PGI is thinking about community map creation, but MWO is still a closed system, so they need to create a system or pipeline to manage this.
-The quality and style of community-made maps has to fit within what's in MWO currently.
-Russ knows there are talented guys out there in the community that can do this. PGI knows there's potential here.
(74:00) How much did IGP influence the push for the Clan mechs getting out, and did this impact CW?
-*BIG LONG SIGH*
-It did impact CW, but can't blame all of it on IGP. There was significant pressure to have CW be IS vs. Clans, so needed Clan mechs to accomplish this vision.
-The goal was to be the first game to truly simulate the Clan Invasion of lore. To truly solve the implementation problem of the Clans invading and the IS defending
-There might be different motivations for why the Clan release was pushed, but both sides felt the Clans were important to the overall CW plan
-Can't bring himself (Russ) to regret the Clan mech release. Really is proud about the effort that went into their release.
-A "ton of work" went into getting the Clan mechs in and supported, and more work is needed to tune their place in the game.
-Some unfortunate things in hindsight (2013), maybe could have shuffled around development of certain releases,
-Felt they should have started development on the tech behind Clan mech release sooner
(80:40) New Player Experience: What are the plans, considering the difficulty of a new player's experience, and what's the business plan regarding new players?
-PGI has had a design for FTUE for a while now.
-Some of the aspects are in place (the first tutorial, training grounds, Cadet bonuses tied into the Achievement system)
-It's tough, because it eats time and resources, taking away from focusing on the core playerbase.
-Just don't have time, right now, for FTUE, because the resources are on CW and Planetary combat (and all the stuff to support those things)
-If there's spare resources, it'll be focused on fixing little/medium sized things the community has problems with (UI usability)
-Focused on core customers through the end of the year (CW/PW/UI work)
-On pricing models: talking internally, gotten feedback on how expensive things are. Always getting compared to World of Tanks.
-WoT is obviously successful, if a little convoluted for FTUE.
-People that say "Look at WoT!", and PGI thinks that's fair to look toward.
-PGI took inspiration from their structure, but thinks the prices of some of WoT's purchasables are high (premium Tier 8 tank is $50 USD vs. MWO 100-ton Hero is $30 USD)
-Russ feels MWO is a bit more gracious about earnings than WoT, and don't require premium accounts for many options that are locked in WoT
-Feels MWO compares very well when looking at the whole industry
-Constant debate for a company/game the size of MWO
-Russ wants to lower the barrier to entry, but would like to see more examples to compare against in other games. Give feedback!
-Knows that money is a hard-earned, touchy subject, and appreciate the concern on the topic.
(89:15) Administrative stuff and a short break! ONTO PART 2!!!
If I can continue to dodge work, I'll start in on part 2 this afternoon.
Bloody good job Nips. I'm interested in this stuff, but no way I can sit through 3 hours of it!
All in all it feels a very candid and informative talk. My favourite bit "If the playerbase says "spend six more months on the four pillars of MWO before diving into SP/PvE", that's what PGI will do." I am all about role and information warfare getting some love. Lights and mediums need a long hard look at.
Posts
I'll believe anything they say if they give us a couple super dense megalopolis maps that focus on jump jets and short range fighting over wide open long range combat.
Bonus points if they make an underground subway that only lights can fit in for scouting/flanking purposes.
All these statements of how AUTE won't affect the pace of MWO development are pretty meaningless. MWO's pace has been GLACIAL. The netcode feels like its moving backwards right now. I'm waiting for development to speed up again so that we can reach a point where the game feels fundamentally more complete than it did 3 years ago. PGI has been moaning about how they don't have the money or resources to actually meet deadlines for 2 years and are going to take on a second game before their first is anywhere near complete?
When I bought the Pheonix package I didn't expect them to finish CW. I bought it because I was buying loyalty point bonuses, because I wanted to see them actually put Loyalty Points in the game. Literally the first new feature in a whole year, and they couldn't possibly not deliver on something people were paying for, right? Well, here we are almost a YEAR later. I've got loyalty bonuses on 4 mechs. Could someone from PGI tell me what my loyalty bonuses do? Where are the loyalty points?
How can they throw up text about how the Founder's program "proved that we can work directly with our backers to help build a game for the community" and not expect a backlash from the community who are unsatisfied with the state of the game? They haven't proved anything yet. There is no goodwill to cash in yet.
and buttcleft.
Thank god he doesnt have a mic
I use AJ Cyan, which is a little bit brighter and (imo) matches the washed out colors better
anyway, I have little reason to give PGI any more cash; I have a handful of MC left that I plan on using to snipe a couple more colors or maybe camo patterns as they go on sale, but I have all the paid-for mechs I'll want and they're giving away mech bays so quickly at this point that I won't have to buy any for a while at least. Hopefully the separation from IGP helps them somehow, but they have some serious problems to deal with.
anything interesting come out of russ' town hall thing, or has that not started yet?
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
What an insufferable piece of crap.
Also, nice proverb!
Also, also, 58 men/women/animals in unit! Woooo!
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
But at least I got to be in a sync-dropped pub-stomp with seven other Oosiks!
Good matches as always, guys!
Holy shit, that even makes me happy. I've got a stack of premium time I can do nothing with, simply because I'd end up wasting something like half of it or more simply because of graduate work as the semester goes on.
A month at a time isn't the increment I would prefer (I'd rather something like a week at a time), but hell if that isn't a great idea regardless.
I'd rather it be in one week increments, but the fact that I don't have to worry about blowing my entire wad of premium time for a good couple of days/weeks of games, I think I'll take it.
Now if they'd just fix the stupid UI...
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
yea????
Should be at minimum, one week increments, but this is a good start.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
Griffin Hero, Sparky
Weapon Modules: cool down 1-5
Options to turn off all, group and lance chat
AMS and ECM can be toggled on the weapons group interface
Weapon mods sorted into 4 categories
Raven visual customization upgrade
IS ERLL cooldown reduced to 1.25
Summoner for CBills, Puma for MC
Envious Ear Drum war horn for MC
Killfeed colorcoded for identification.
OOooohhh, purty! I now await a cynical "MWO is now 1998 FPS compliant!".
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
Oooh, I get a new mech for free.
Because I am crazy and like the summoner.
And get the single use Phranken for it because it's a badass paint scheme
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Yeah, I'd love a transcript. I'm actually digging around to see if someone's posted it somewhere. Meanwhile, I'm standing here at work, listening while I'm 23% productive.
[Edit] Since I'm listening, I'll try to crib the high points and post them. Dropping my productivity to 9%!
Fire Moth - 20t
Mist Lynx - 25t
Viper - 40t
Ice Ferret - 45t
Mad Dog (Vulture) - 60t
Hellbringer (Loki) - 65t
Cauldron-Born - 65t
Gargoyle - 80t
Executioner - 95t
Of these, the Fire Moth in tabletop is dependent on MASC that PGI has apparently never managed to implement (thus the disappearance of the Flea), although of course they could still put it in without... it would be faster than any other light stock even without it, and the Clans could use a light that's actually fast I guess.
They'll do one of the medium pair (Viper /Ice Ferret) to give the Clans a low-end medium.
The Vulture is pretty iconic from past MW games so I'd consider that almost a lock.
And then I could also conceivably see them doing a non-Omni Clan 'mech well-known from previous games like the Kodiak.
PSN : Bolthorn
Please note, these notations were filtered through my own brain! I've tried to be as objective as possible in the transcription, but even so, there's some interpretation taken when cramming this down into a condensed form. Also, I'm doing this on the fly, so if there's typos, well, shit happens.
If you have ANY question about a wording, or the tone or intent behind a particular thing, PLEASE GO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST ITSELF. Russ (so far) has been amazingly frank about all the questions posed to him, and I don't want to get in the way of that with my transcription.
The podcast version of the townhall (in three parts) is at: http://www.nogutsnogalaxy.net/podcasts.php
SPOILERS FOR 100 TONS OF TEXTWALL AHOY!! PART 1 INCOMING!!!
"IGP/PGI separate companies? Bwuah? Confusion!"
-PGI and IGP have always been separate companies, no equity sharing/common board staffing
-IGP had publishing rights to MWO
-PGI had no relationship to IGP, other than the publishing rights
-(7:00) IGP also had an agreement to use the MW license from PGI, for use on MW Tactics
-PGI would have gotten royalties from MWT, some of which would go back to Microsoft for the MW license
-PGI was otherwise completely 'hands-off' from MWT. Had some approval rights, but never got to use them (since MWT tanked)
-IGP still has the MWT publishing rights, despite giving back the MWO rights
"Why would I want to crowd-fund the new game"
-Russ: The question is a little premature.
-Russ will be focused on MWO, Bryan will be focused on Project 2/AUTE
-No direct funding from MWO is going toward Project 2
-Started dev work in January
-Staffing growth over Q1/Q2 for AUTE, largely artists/creative types, some IT/backend/engineering (12-15 members)
-Separate dev team from MWO
-"Cooking slowly but efficiently"
-AUTE "exists on its own revenue"
-MWO and AUTE separately managed vis a vis funding, income, and growth
-"Mechwarrior money goes to Mechwarrior."
If you're self-publishing, are you planning to advertise your game, and how?
-There was a time when we pushed advert/marketing
-We've put that on hold, to get CW and the game in shape, then intend to push advert/marketing once ready
-MW is a very core {audience} game. Trying to develop, and need more, new player on-boarding.
-Can't argue with players that say development is slow. 2013 was especially bad for this.
-Compromises with IGP had to be made in terms of development timelines
-The Fall 2012 open beta launch should have been 6 months later
-2013 was spent catching up on the technical debt from this
-2013 did not have the forward progress PGI wanted
-2014 PGI dedicated itself to supporting and focusing on core MWO players, and set a new standard for MWO development
-{List of features released in 2014}
***---A FEW MONTHS OUT FROM PLANETARY WARFARE---***
-Again, need to finish off the CW aspects before relaunching advert/marketing push
-Once CW is in place, looking to reclaim lost players, then begin new player recruitment
Why wasn't all this explained months ago?
-Restrictions on what PGI could publicly talk about
-Russ wanted to do an AMA and town hall for a while, but IGP marketing dept. had to be worked with on this
-Unfortunate inefficiencies of the PGI/IGP partnership got in the way of better communications with the player base
-Didn't have the freedom to really have the public communications they would like.
-Having everything in-house now clears the way for more, better community communications
-Got clearance only today (Monday) to release the info about the IGP 'buyback'
-Legally 'hobbled' from saying anything until today (Monday)
Production/Lifespan of MWO: Since AUTE has its own dev team, how does Russ see MWO development moving forward?
-Cautious yes to faster development and deployment
-Points to the work done in 2014 for how future release pace may be, and the productivity level they can achieve
-Mid-30 person sized team working on MWO
-Thinks they can be a little better, a little more efficient, and little faster
-(30:35) Discussion on patch process and timeline: development/features, approval, release (dev > stable > stage > release)
-QA previously was handed by IGP, three hours away. Time difference caused problems with QA'ing patches, basically losing a full day in the QA cycle.
-QA now being handled in-house helps eliminate this.
-Marketing was also impacted by this time difference, making things difficult with the live operations of the company
-Some improvements on 2014 productivity: Because Russ is running all aspects of MWO directly, they can focus dev faster
-"Live or die by our own decisions"
-Listening to the community's concerns, and now able to push toward those concerns more readily
-The baseline for dev pace is 2014, and PGI is targeting to be better than this going forward.
-Don't expect 10x the pace of development; they don't have manpower for it
(35:45) Concern over announcing Project 2, don't even have CW done...when are the promised MWO features coming? Community expects this done before moving to a new project.
-There is nothing less efficient than a 1-game studio (excepting the massive exceptions like LoL, WoT, etc.)
-Overhead for one game (servers, offices, etc.) is a significant investment to only have a single product/project
-The MW fanbase is one of the most passionate in the world, but PGI and its community have to come to an understanding {on the state of the game}
-PGI recognizes that important pillars of the game (CW) have not been delivered as promised,
-but Russ notes you have to look at all four pillars of the original plan, when members of the community say "{PGI} hasn't delivered anything in two years"
-{List of features, minor and major, that have been added since beta/open beta/launch}
-Have to be honest, PGI knows their work will never be done
-Original pillars as pitched:
--Mech Combat (got it),
--Information Warfare (as pitched, delivered; better than older MW games. A lot further they can go, of course. Considered delivered.)
--Role Warfare (roles for lights, not just an arms race to Assaults; more they can do, indefinitely, yes, but otherwise considered delivered.)
--Community Warfare (Not done, this is a missing piece. A couple months out to Planetary Warfare)
-Can't work/reason with people/players that say "Nothing delivered in two years"
-Also, the four pillars are NOT finished, they will be improved indefinitely.
-MWO is a game of constant development
-Russ felt they'd have another project going at least a year earlier than this. They thought to delay Project 2 announcement by another quarter, but the timing wasn't right.
-Trying to determine what the 2015 MWO plan is, post full-blown CW.
(46:50) What is the content plan for the remaining six years of the MW license?
-There is not a content plan for the full six years.
-Concentrating everything on the full release of CW
-What is beyond CW? Need to take a real serious look at Single Player content, and what that means in relation to MWO.
-MWO will always be the multiplayer component of MW going into the foreseeable future
-Russ wants to start gathering feedback on what the playerbase wants. True single-player? PvE single/multiplayer? These are significant questions.
-If the playerbase says "spend six more months on the four pillars of MWO before diving into SP/PvE", that's what PGI will do.
-Opportunity for the playerbase to voice their opinions here!
(52:40) Will we see the development CW speed up, now that IGP is out of the picture? Project 2? Will there be expansion of the teams?
-The MWO team is what it is currently (status quo), and PGI is committed to keeping this team size going forward.
-The two projects won't feed off each other. The team sizes are directly related to the viability of the products.
-MWO team is right-sized for the game as-is.
-There might be room to grow with/after CW, depending on reception.
-PGI is NOT going into maintenance mode on MWO, committed to adding features throughout its lifespan.
(56:00) BIZ DEV! What about monthly subscriptions, instead of F2P? With control under PGI, will we see MWO on Steam?
-Doubt many people feel a monthly subscription would be worthwhile, in comparison to the current purchasing model (premium time, etc.)
-Russ feels the current premium-account model is pretty lenient in comparison to other games that use a premium-account model
-The traditional monthly-subscription models used on recent MMO's haven't fared well
-Going to consider Steam very seriously.
-Don't need Steam to capture the core audience (also don't want to give Steam a $ cut). But there is something to be said about capturing new players through Steam.
-Target the completion of CW and Planetary Warfare, then will ask themselves if a Steam launch would be best for the game.
-Want to retain, not just acquire, new players.
(59:00) Some players have lost faith in PGI, and moved on. How do you recapture these players?
-An extremely difficult question to answer, that comes up periodically.
-Russ understands how passionate players are about MW
-Russ feels like they're putting out content as fast as possible, and going to try to release faster.
-What decisions made you (player) leave the game or lose faith? Need specifics! Can't address it otherwise.
-Decisions have been made based on PGI felt what the majority of the player base desires, to the best of PGI's ability to design for it.
-E.g. Massed pinpoint PPC damage vs. Heat Scale. Knows that they have to try to strike a balance between what the tabletop game was, and what MWO is.
-Player: "What else can {PGI} do to lower pinpoint damage further?" vs. "MW4 multiplayer allowed us boating! We liked powerful alphas! Why not in MWO?"
-It's hard to strike the balance, but PGI is aiming as best they can for a middle ground.
-Not sure that this discussion point will ever be solved, since it's opposing opinions on what is considered Fun.
-Again, on recapturing those that lost faith, need more specific details to address is specifically.
(65:45) Map Production? Do maps still cost $250k to produce? Community developed maps?
-(A little more discussion about the last question on lost faith, missed deadlines, improving, and the immediate future)
-Maps! Don't cost anywhere near that much anymore. That number was a peak, extreme number, when every single asset on-map had to be created.
-There was a team of a half-dozen on maps at first, to get the map-making pipeline established. But that's now in-place.
-INDUSTRIAL CITY has very little in the way of brand-new assets, with a smattering of new objects. It's looking great.
-Russ understands that there's concerns over map production, PGI is just as frustrated at the slow pace
-IGP THROWN UNDER THE BUS: PGI WANTED TO MAKE MAPS, IGP SAID NO, HAD TO PUT RESOURCES ON CLAN MECHS INSTEAD
-Three guys/two guys working on maps full-time. Guessing it takes about $40k for a new map, using asset types they currently have.
-Utilizing the assets they have, maps can be done cheaper and quicker.
-Industrial City: About two months of work, all-in. September 23rd target release. Going into stable patch branch tomorrow (Tuesday)
-SWAMP: Already being worked on. Last of new asset set, already had a bunch of work done.
-Future maps, community created or PGI created, will be targeted to use the asset sets that will exist post-Swamp-release.
-Not feeling like they'll need significant new assets
-Bottom Line: Finish Industrial City, Finish Swamp, Finish next CW module *WHICH COMES WITH A NEW MAP AND MODE ITSELF*
-ATTACK/DEFEND game mode, with an additional map, and map work {on existing maps?}
-PGI is thinking about community map creation, but MWO is still a closed system, so they need to create a system or pipeline to manage this.
-The quality and style of community-made maps has to fit within what's in MWO currently.
-Russ knows there are talented guys out there in the community that can do this. PGI knows there's potential here.
(74:00) How much did IGP influence the push for the Clan mechs getting out, and did this impact CW?
-*BIG LONG SIGH*
-It did impact CW, but can't blame all of it on IGP. There was significant pressure to have CW be IS vs. Clans, so needed Clan mechs to accomplish this vision.
-The goal was to be the first game to truly simulate the Clan Invasion of lore. To truly solve the implementation problem of the Clans invading and the IS defending
-There might be different motivations for why the Clan release was pushed, but both sides felt the Clans were important to the overall CW plan
-Can't bring himself (Russ) to regret the Clan mech release. Really is proud about the effort that went into their release.
-A "ton of work" went into getting the Clan mechs in and supported, and more work is needed to tune their place in the game.
-Some unfortunate things in hindsight (2013), maybe could have shuffled around development of certain releases,
-Felt they should have started development on the tech behind Clan mech release sooner
(80:40) New Player Experience: What are the plans, considering the difficulty of a new player's experience, and what's the business plan regarding new players?
-PGI has had a design for FTUE for a while now.
-Some of the aspects are in place (the first tutorial, training grounds, Cadet bonuses tied into the Achievement system)
-It's tough, because it eats time and resources, taking away from focusing on the core playerbase.
-Just don't have time, right now, for FTUE, because the resources are on CW and Planetary combat (and all the stuff to support those things)
-If there's spare resources, it'll be focused on fixing little/medium sized things the community has problems with (UI usability)
-Focused on core customers through the end of the year (CW/PW/UI work)
-On pricing models: talking internally, gotten feedback on how expensive things are. Always getting compared to World of Tanks.
-WoT is obviously successful, if a little convoluted for FTUE.
-People that say "Look at WoT!", and PGI thinks that's fair to look toward.
-PGI took inspiration from their structure, but thinks the prices of some of WoT's purchasables are high (premium Tier 8 tank is $50 USD vs. MWO 100-ton Hero is $30 USD)
-Russ feels MWO is a bit more gracious about earnings than WoT, and don't require premium accounts for many options that are locked in WoT
-Feels MWO compares very well when looking at the whole industry
-Constant debate for a company/game the size of MWO
-Russ wants to lower the barrier to entry, but would like to see more examples to compare against in other games. Give feedback!
-Knows that money is a hard-earned, touchy subject, and appreciate the concern on the topic.
(89:15) Administrative stuff and a short break! ONTO PART 2!!!
If I can continue to dodge work, I'll start in on part 2 this afternoon.
All in all it feels a very candid and informative talk. My favourite bit "If the playerbase says "spend six more months on the four pillars of MWO before diving into SP/PvE", that's what PGI will do." I am all about role and information warfare getting some love. Lights and mediums need a long hard look at.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy