Inacio posted:

Source - GameSpot and IGN posted:

In the wake of the collapse of Digital Anvil, co-founder and soon-to-be-former CEO Chris Roberts has spoken about his decision to leave the company he founded just four years ago. As we suspected, the company's troubles were down to "wanting to develop not only hugely ambitious games, but too many hugely ambitious games", leaving the company's finances stretched after four years without a single game being released - the sole title to emerge with the Digital Anvil name on it was actually mostly developed by a small British company.

Having left the monolithic corporate world that is Electronic Arts almost five years ago to found Digital Anvil in the first place, it is somewhat ironic that his dream development studio is now being taken over by the monolithic corporate world that is Microsoft, and Roberts has confirmed that his decision to leave the company is simply because he has no desire to find himself in the same situation again.

We also have confirmation on the status of Digital Anvil's various games, with Chris Roberts apparently "spending a fair amount of time talking to other publishers" at the moment, trying to find a home for real-time strategy game "Conquest", which was dropped by Microsoft a few weeks ago, triggering the crisis that has lead to the company's demise. "Loose Cannon" will also be looking for a new publisher, with project lead Tony Zurovec leaving the company to complete the game elsewhere. Erin Roberts will be staying on at Digital Anvil though, continuing his work on an as-yet unannounced Xbox title.

But what next for Chris Roberts, the man who brought us the groundbreaking Wing Commander series? "I just want to see Freelancer out the door, and then I want to take some time to reassess everything. Taking three and a half to four years to build a massive title just seems like a huge amount of effort. There needs to be a better way to do it."

Rather worryingly though, according to GameSpot "he has expressed his interest to work in film and exploit broadband technology to us recently". Oh please god, no! Anybody who has had the misfortune to see the truly appalling Wing Commander movie will be praying that Chris has a sudden change of heart. Although he has produced some impressive games in his time, his debut movie was something of an unmitigated disaster, flopping at the box office and featuring some hilariously bad acting and dialogue which would be perfectly at home in a computer game cutscene, but just looks plain ridiculous on the big screen. We can but hope...

monkeytek posted:

WTF? You pay $30 for a $25 gift certificate? What sort of Visa Gift Card rip off is this?

colonelwest posted:

Man I’m so loving hyped for this new roadmap! The pace of development is sure to increase exponentially once it’s released. I can’t wait to track progress on “improved coffee steam effects v5” in near real time.

quote:

You're speaking as if they have no internal JIRA and that they're incapable of tracking their tasks. You're pretending as if 2016 was a deadline that publishers were enforcing. Welcome to the reason that Chris Roberts asked the crowd for pledges for.

What they're working on is a way to display their JIRA tasks to the public that minimizes the kind of spin trolls can put onto it. That's not just a push button task that you can tell photoshop to generate out a UI for and plug it into dreamweaver and hit publish. Tool development is much more involved than that and they're trying to create a public facing tool here.

Also at the same time there is still the whole game to make. It's easy to be an arm chair critic and call them incompetent when you have no idea of the work they're doing.

quote:

Their job is to create a persistent virtual universe. Part of that is developing a culture. Part of developing a culture means mitigating what trolls can and can't do. It's basic community building.

There is some extreme language here that is inaccurate. You suggest that they aren't informing backers what they are doing. This is incorrect. The goal of the new roadmap is to better inform people so that there is less confusion, as caused by trolls using inaccurate language. Currently, trolls are suggesting to people that the only things being developed are what's on the roadmap, despite RSI's repeated communications to the contrary.

quote:

It's only notorious because of trolls and hate click "journalists". I'd say it's managed very well. Considering the scope of the project and their no compromise attitude and the results they've shown thus far, 8 years has been very effectively used.

Keep in mind that the transparency feeds the trolls and hate click journalists. Microsoft has been working on the Halo Infinite engine since 2015. You probably haven't heard a thing about that thought since they're not transparent about their processes.

Subjective negative opinions about their project management are on weak standing since the project has already accomplished a lot. You can't get procedural tech like what's in SC from mismanaged projects.

If I were to give you the benefit of the doubt and believe your opinoin about "notoriously bad management" is genuine and not rooted in passive aggression, then I would consider that you probably think compromises and cutting corners are a good way to get a game onto store shelves. I would call that bad management that leads to unfinished games being released as complete versions. This is what happened with Freelancer after Microsoft bought Chris out. The game got rushed out and fans were notoriously disappointed.

monkeytek posted:

WTF? You pay $30 for a $25 gift certificate? What sort of Visa Gift Card rip off is this?

Mirificus posted:

they're trying to create a public facing tool here

Inacio posted:

Mirificus posted:

https://twitter.com/RobertsSpaceInd/status/1328430239706279936
https://twitter.com/RobertsSpaceInd/status/1328776271333978113
https://twitter.com/RobertsSpaceInd/status/1329129966152216576

The Rabbi T. White posted:

G'kar.

Blue On Blue posted:

I wonder how many people they've hired just to produce this stupid in-game event

Inacio posted:

Inacio posted:

Thoatse posted:

Admiral Tomalak

Bumble He posted:

ha this is my chance to show my writing skillz, so if i was in the ci lore team i would come up with something like this:

the newcomer might wonder why X is not present in the galactic empire.
and when asking about it, be met with a bewildered stare.
well of course, back in the days the cities were full of X.
in fact the galactic empire totally mastered the production of Xes.
but the horrible incident at wolf 359, which caused the death of 27.000.000.000.000 civilians left a whole galaxy in collective shock.
and resulted in a galactic-wide ban of X.
ever since then, citizens shudder at even the idea of discussing X in a conversation.
so it is best not mentionned.

X = every idea you can find in any other scifi book/film/game

voila!

Zazz Razzamatazz posted:

And here I was thinking that it was just because the Stimperor outlawed them...

NumptyScrub posted:

Ok so I thought this must be a joke so I went on the site

The price on the pledge page was showing $25 as expected, but then I clicked through to the item it jumped to $30, and is now showing $30 everywhere else

Store Citizer: $5 premium for viewing the item first

Blue On Blue posted:

I wonder how many people they've hired just to produce this stupid in-game event

Fargin Icehole posted:

I don't think anyone will bet against, the bugs and crashes are just so consistent

Whatever happened to Invictus or whatever? The gently caress was that all about?

Blue On Blue posted:

I wonder how many people they've hired just to produce this stupid in-game event

jarlywarly posted:

I clicked on your second link 1st it said 25 then I refreshed and now it is $30. F5 tax.

Taintrunner posted:

Is it even a battle if they’re not shooting back

What a disaster

5m into that video posted:

"You may have noticed a lot of footage of us actually attacking the Javelin as well. And initially we were gonna go for a world first on the Javelin and we would have gotten it as well, but unfortunately the drat thing only had limited hitboxes, and once we'd targeted those down we couldn't drop it any further than 71% HP. BUT it was still epic and uh, a really awesome experience to see the Javelin in game, and to be able to y'know, attack it... at a solid framerate as well."

Jack-Off Lantern posted:

Okay? What scam is this then? Is this local regional pricing despite showing dollars? VATS added in? If so, that needs to be declared or its highly illegal

A citizen explains posted:

You are trying to pay in dollars instead of your own region's currency. Tax cheaters used to do that by changing the region they were from on the store without even having an actual US address to avoid paying taxes.

The EU, AUS and other governments caught on to that bullshit and passed laws making companies charge you taxes up front, regardless of the currency you may try to pay with. CIG is complying with those laws.

They also geotag your browser IP so people can't cheat even if you put in a US address (real or fake).

Fargin Icehole posted:

I don't think anyone will bet against, the bugs and crashes are just so consistent

Whatever happened to Invictus or whatever? The gently caress was that all about?

quote:

"The Wreckless" A poem by former 999th Squadron pilot Lt. Ralph Kinoi

We push boundaries. To test the limits of what we can do. To say the impossible can not define us. To move us all beyond where we thought we could go. To be the first. The fastest. The best.

It is not easy. Luck is as important as skill. Failure as important as success. But we get better. And we learn. And we get back up and try again. And we carry on when others can't.

We carry on so others can.

Jack-Off Lantern posted:

Okay? What scam is this then? Is this local regional pricing despite showing dollars? VATS added in? If so, that needs to be declared or its highly illegal

monkeytek posted:

WTF? You pay $30 for a $25 gift certificate? What sort of Visa Gift Card rip off is this?

Jack-Off Lantern posted:

Okay? What scam is this then? Is this local regional pricing despite showing dollars? VATS added in? If so, that needs to be declared or its highly illegal

NumptyScrub posted:

Ok so I thought this must be a joke so I went on the site

The price on the pledge page was showing $25 as expected, but then I clicked through to the item it jumped to $30, and is now showing $30 everywhere else

Store Citizer: $5 premium for viewing the item first

trucutru posted:

"The Wreckless" A poem by former 999th Squadron pilot Lt. Ralph Kinoi

We push boundaries. To test the limits of what we can do. To say the impossible can not define us. To move us all beyond where we thought we could go. To be the first. The fastest. The best.

It is not easy. Luck is as important as skill. Failure as important as success. But we get better. And we learn. And we get back up and try again. And we carry on when others can't.

We carry on so others can.

Strangler 42 posted:

So does this confirm (yet again) that they are not donations, but actual purchases, which come with some guarantees of delivery?

quote:

The Second Human-Tevarin War was an interstellar conflict between the United Empire of Earth and remnants of the Tevarin Sovereignty that had been dissolved in the wake of the first conflict. The war commenced in 2603, 57 years after the conclusion of the First Human-Tevarin War. A new Tevarin Warlord, Corath'Thal, emerged from the corners of the cosmos with a rebuilt Tevarin battle-fleet, and launched his first attack against the UEE systems. The fleet's sole mission was to reclaim Elysium IV, their former homeworld of Kaleeth. While it was a sympathetic cause that some Humans could support, the Empire refused to cede back territory to the Tevarins and reform their state. The war lasted seven years, three more than the first, and touched almost every corner of the Empire.[1]

At the end of the First Human-Tevarin War, their state was dissolved and the territory annexed by the United Empire of Earth. Most Tevarins were assimilated into the UEE as a sign of tolerance from the human government. However, a Tevarin fleet managed to escape the dissolution of their nation and take shelter away from UEE systems.

More than half a century later, the fleet reemerged to reclaim their former homeworld and reestablish their state.

On June 24, 2610 SET, Corath'Thal suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of UEEN 42nd Squadron at the Battle of Centauri.[1]

With his fleet rapidly falling to either destruction or surrender, Corath'Thal mustered his remaining loyal pilots to make a desperate charge for Elysium IV. Though they suffered an additional 70% casualties, his fleet finally reached the atmosphere of their old homeworld. Corath'Thal and his pilots lowered their thermal shields and dove for the planet.

The Tevarin fleet burned up in the atmosphere as they hurtled toward the ground.

Aaron Fring, a field medic on Elysium IV at the time, painted this dramatic event in his famous piece Tears of Fire - which "stands as one of the most enduring images from the Second Tevarin War" according to the Bentley National Gallery.

With this second defeat, the spirit of the Tevarin race was irreparably broken. Imperator Messer II used the victory to cement his place as ruler of the newly christened United Empire of Earth.

The Second Human-Tevarin War was an attempt to reclaim the Tevarin's previous glory. When it failed miserably, the last believers of Rijora flung themselves toward Kaleeth, burning up in the atmosphere and crashing into the planet. The rest abandoned the beliefs for good. This climactic period was known among the Tevarin as the Purge, during which time most of the Tevarin destroyed their Codices (the holy writ of Rijora).

quote:

As with most art, I wasn’t trying to depict the moment exactly as it was. That’s what I’d always done in the past but this was something so much more than the visual. There was so much complexity caught up in that action, from the Tevarin, for what it meant for us as a species, and what it meant to me. I just wanted to try and capture the feeling of that fraction of time. So beautiful and so sad.

quote:

Aaron Fring was born on Ferron on 13 October 2578 to teacher Max Fring and pilot Mary Fring. He learned to draw and paint as a child, during a period in which he was bedridden with Kilos’ Malady. As an adult, his illness prevented him from following his mother into service with the UEE Navy, so he joined the UEE Expeditionary Force (UEEEF) as a Field Medic. The UEEEF eventually stationed him on Jalan. He fell in love with the landscape there and was inspired to resume painting. The night of Corath’Thal’s descent, Fring was taking an evening walk, having left all his communication devices at his home. As he approached the crest of a hill, he noticed strange lights in the sky, and saw the first of the Tevarin fleet push through the clouds. Fring watched until the last of the ships had either broken apart or crashed. He began work on Tears of Fire the next day.

The debut of Tears of Fire at the Gemma Gallery of Art launched Fring’s career as a full-time painter. He went on to produce more pieces centered around the Tevarin Wars, to continual acclaim. His portrait of Corath’Thal, referenced from holos and oral descriptions, is noted for its use of smoke and lighting. He died on 11 November 2631 from Kilos-related complications, aged 53 years. Tears of Fire was inducted into the UEE Historical Vault for Antiquity in 2633.

Fring cited human Romantic-era Earth (Sol III) art as one of his primary influences, particularly the use of light and color in Ivan Aivazovsky’s 1848 painting Battle of Chesma. A copy of the painting hung in Fring’s studio. Tears of Fire inspired a revival of Romantic-style art in the UEE, notably pieces with glowing, effusive sources of light.

Rabelais D posted:

Does somebody actually get paid to write that absolute drivel?

Rabelais D posted:

Does somebody actually get paid to write that absolute drivel?

trucutru posted:

e: "Tears of Fire" " "One of the most enduring images from the Second Tevarin War"

lobsterminator posted:

In Ultima Online the inventory was funny because it was physicalized the same way as that Ultima 7 screenshot, but because it was an MMO, when another player picked your pockets they saw the same inventory. So if you had some valuable stuff you could pile a ton of junk on it and the thief would need to move stuff around to get to it. And that gave you more time to notice someone going though your inventory.