Just a note about what's going on with AVWW.

[Misery]

I cant imagine just what in the world could need a revamp at this point.... or more specifically, what hasnt already HAD one.   The citybuilding being rather unfinished is the only thing I can really think of. 

One question though, I thought doing this sort of thing with this game wasnt really viable right now?   Like, in terms of cost and such, due to problematic sales and whatever the exact issues were.  Did something change, or.....?

[Mánagarmr]

Well...you see...when Chris gets an idea...

[tigersfan]

Well...you see...when Chris gets an idea...

Arcen staff get busy?

[x4000]

Yeah, pretty much.

In terms of the viability, I can say that nothing has changed about our situation. Continuing to just develop avww on he trajectory we had been would have been bad news. However, when the context doesn't suit you... sometimes you can change the context. What we're working on does strike us as highly viable, as well as something that can bring in new players without alienating existing ones at all.

Anywho... we have more work to do before we unveil it at all, but work is happening daily on this at this point.

[zebramatt]

I'm calling it right now:



console port



Yup, I went there.

[keith.lamothe]

I'm calling it right now:



console port



Yup, I went there.

And you would be wrong

[zebramatt]

Pfft, I know that. (We all know it's an iOS port.)

[Aklyon]

Pfft, I know that. (We all know it's an iOS port.)

Could be an android port instead.

[keith.lamothe]

It's not a port

[Panopticon]

It's weapons isn't it?

I can dream right?

[Teal_Blue]

I was playing the guessing game as well... but thought that if i said anything and was close to true, then that might be ruining it. So will keep my lips zipped. But am looking forward to the reveal and wish Arcen and the New AVWW much much success, (it seems like sometimes, maybe a lot of the time, that critics on the net have no clue how much effort and thought goes into just trying to get a game, any game up and running) in other words, spoiled critics.

Anyway, I have AVWW already and looking forward to the updates and plan on Shattered Haven as soon as Arcen says it is a go to buy. 

The game play from Eric's little demo looked very interesting and fun. 

-T


p.s.  just a thought, but if Arcen did some small, possibly even just cosmetic changes for colors, or styles for some of the games then maybe it could generate some revenue to offset low sales to a wider audience. Certainly the core players who support Arcen would be willing to support Arcen in this as well.  I know I would. 99 cents to add hats for my character, or 99 cents to add custom colors to sprites or settings or furniture ( I was thinking of making everything green, just for the fun of it)    Anyway, I probably sound silly and don't mean to, and Arcen will probably say no, but i just was thinking that there might be things Arcen could put out as add-ons that the core players would support Arcen with and that in turn could take some of the pressure off having to have an immediate hit, so that even moderate sales would be something that could keep everyone afloat. Just my two cents. Hope you all get something cool and great and the flak dies down.
-T

[mrhanman]

I predict a return to the top-down perspective!

[Teal_Blue]

  I would welcome that, but don't want to say too much in case we'd be ruining their thunder for a cool announcement.

[LaughingThesaurus]

Changing the perspective of the game entirely again might be a bit much of a beast to be tackling over this kind of time frame, though. I can also see that causing some issues in the community, to see the entire game function fundamentally differently... while it is NOT in alpha.
...and whoosh goes the comment over my head.

[x4000]

I can also see that causing some issues in the community, to see the entire game function fundamentally differently... while it is NOT in alpha.

While we are obviously not changing the perspective again, we are making some pretty huge changes.  The issue of community acceptance or rejection of the new stuff is something that we take seriously, though, so we're taking some measures to make sure that people don't lose the current way things work while we are also giving everyone access to the new way things will work.  Can't say more in detail about that yet, but for now I will misleadingly say that you can think of this as introducing two "modes" to the game.  One that is the present way things work, for those who want to continue to have that experience and even the current art, and then a new way that has the new art and improved functionality and which will be where 99% of future development efforts are put for the game.

We have a pretty cool game at the moment, and we don't think that embarking on a new way for the game to work should do away with the stuff you already like.  Now -- everything that I said above was true in the strictest sense of the word, but there were some definite half-truths there.  Just so nobody calls me on that when we reveal what we're actually doing.  We're trying to make sure that we can get a major press story out of this when we announce it, which seems likely -- but not if we blow the story here before that happens.

Plus all that stuff with tipping our hand too early in general, and then people jumping in with wrong assumptions, etc, etc.