Monday, May 20, 2013

2,000 friends! Developer questions, part 2

1. Question. I'm sure I'm not the only one who really appreciates all the efforts the team are making to get this project to go live albeit on a voluntary basis. Has anyone at MWM done a cost study of how much would be needed to employ (full time) the people needed not only to get the project live, but also to maintain and increase the content on a regular basis, to maintain the servers, and to rent a "home" for all the assets, and how much are we talking about in real terms to make this a going concern? 


This is pretty much what the Skype backscroll looks like, most days.

Cameron 'Segev' Johnson, studio director Missing Worlds Media:

"We have. The number came in at the high six figures, and we were told by outside experts that we had overestimated it.

"This number drops a bit if and when we have an active revenue stream; this number reflects a static pool of money needed to pay salaries to keep people alive if they shifted to doing this full time before we had money coming in. We are continuing to look into these sorts of things.

"After the Kickstarter, there will be more potential to get some interested money looking at it, as it will demonstrate that we have a fervent and willing-to-support-us audience. Eventually, we WILL be having full-time staff supported by the revenues of this (and possibly others to develop down the road) game, because that's what will be needed to sustain it.






2. When TPP goes live will you have a marketing campaign to promote this outside the community? What promotional ideas have you tossed around. That time will be here before you know it! You all are working so hard *shakes her Pom-poms*

Cameron 'Segev' Johnson, studio director Missing Worlds Media: 

"We absolutely will. We're even exploring - though sadly, with our budget, it's not likely at this time - options to advertise the Kickstarter itself outside our normal community venues.

"If any of you have connections that could help us find ways to spread the word when the Kickstarter goes up, we would GREATLY appreciate it. Getting even a little bit of attention outside the "shell" of gamer news and community will help a lot, especially if we can tap into the popularity of superhero movies coming out this summer. Marketing is going to be a big part of this game's success!"

 3. Will there be badges like in CoH? 






Cameron 'Segev' Johnson, studio director Missing Worlds Media:

"While we're not sure what we'll call them yet, a very familiar system of recognitions and achievements will be in the Phoenix Project."

4. I know this is way ahead of us, but have you thought of offering a lifetime subscription rate during the beta phase? It would give you some extra cash up front. Or maybe some sort of tier level in-game bonuses for donations of varying amounts?

Nate 'Doctor Tyche' Downes:


"We are not to hit the beta stage for awhile. We've discussed several options for subscriptions, but it is too early to decide that."




 5. Will there eventually be a Halloween event?

Jessica 'Nytrinhia/Yoko' Weaver, art director, Missing Worlds Media:

"There will, quite hopefully be all sorts of holiday related events including Halloween. Will there be one this year? Well that's iffy, but we do plan on having them in-game."

4 comments:

  1. Will the game mechanics be identical to CoH/V or will there be some improvements, for example, the ability to wall-crawl, rope-swing, or have an interactive enviorment (throw cars, rip up lamp post and such)?

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    1. John Parker:

      Every effort is being made by Missing Worlds Media to give The Phoenix Project a comfortable, familiar feel to those of us who have played CoX. That being said, while I do not have direct contact with the folks in the programming department, I can safely state that there will be an assortment of changes and improvements made to this spiritual successor, ranging from graphical improvements to character/costume design to combat flow, and many, many more. I do not possess any specifics on what exactly will be different, the same, or similar in regards to its spiritual predecessor, and even if I did possess this information, I would not be at liberty to divulge such information to the public AT THIS TIME.

      It is safe for the public to assume, however, that as MWM does not own the rights to CoX or its associated IP's, the experiences (game mechanics, etc) cannot be "identical". But rest assured that every effort is being made to give the community an experience that is as enjoyable and as reasonably familiar as possible.

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  2. btw, may God bless you all for doing this for us fans!

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