Monday, April 1, 2013

The Phoenix Project Update: Monday, April 1, 2013

The Phoenix Project Update: Monday, April 1, 2013
By Lauren 'Rae' O'Neill

While Cameron, Nate and Andy are recovering from the chaos of Norwescon, I've bravely stepped in to take over the update for the week.

Obviously, the biggest event for us was our first ever panel which took place on Friday at the Seattle-based convention. We're grateful to everyone who came along to spend some time with us and to find out more about what we're trying to do.

The guys gave a presentation, which we're hoping to get up on to YouTube at some point for those who didn't make it to the panel, and people were really positive. But perhaps more importantly it was a good chance for the team to meet each other face to face for the first time, and some of the people who we hope will one day be playing the game.

So the 'any questions' bit turned into more of a brainstorming session, with you guys telling us some of the things you'd like to see incorporated in the game. Perhaps the most common thing was the possibility of having either mounts or vehicles as a travel power. We've taken this on board and Nate has been dispatched to see if this is something we can include.

Amongst the information in the presentation we showed was a quick overview of how The Phoenix Project came to be, a potted history of Titan City and the universe the game will be set in, and some information about a few of the organisations - both heroic and villainous - that will play parts on the adventures you're going to have. Our art team provided us with some beautiful screenshots and concept art, we talked about the various powers and concepts you'll be able to play with, and our business team put together a brief overview on how we're hoping to fund the creation of the game, and the business and subscription models we're looking to run to ensure that everyone who wants to play, can.

It was a successful panel, with some feedback that we'd never have gotten otherwise, and we have already started looking at a few other conventions that we hope to get to - time and money permitting, of course. We're painfully aware that spending money and time talking about what we're doing to do takes away money and time we could be spending on ACTUALLY doing it, so we're trying to strike a careful balance. That said, of course, if there's a convention near you that you'd like us to think about coming to, let us know and we will see if we can make it.

While Nate, Andy and Cameron were shmoozing with you guys, those of us who weren't in Seattle were working our collective backsides off in our various roles. April is already looking to be a very exciting month, and we've got a couple of interviews and podcasts being lined up and some really exciting things going on behind the scenes. By now you've all seen the screenshots we posted up a few weeks ago, and with all the work that is going on as our world gets bigger, more assets are imported into the engine, our World in Progress is looking more beautiful by the day.

On a sadder note, those of you who frequent the Titan forums may have seen that Mercedes Lackey lost her mother recently. Mercedes was a huge part of #SaveCOH. There was barely a waking moment where she wasn't battling to keep City of Heroes/Villains from closing down. It was heart-breaking to hear of her loss, and we are all keeping her in our thoughts. If you get the chance to head over to the Hail Mary sub-forum at the Titan Network boards, people have been leaving messages of condolences there and I know those words mean everything to Mercedes at what is undoubtedly a very painful time for her.

In conclusion, and because I don't have any screenshots to share with you, I've added a picture that you might be interested in. We might not be as big as other gaming companies, but we do have more people talking about us, and that's really freaking cool.



Stay gold, everyone.

Lauren

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