Sunday: May 18th

Current News

We had a busy week! From updates, to new community managers, to having our first iteration of the Code of Conduct on our forums - it's been a lively week!

We had an update from our Art Department on the Kickstarter wallpapers, which also included a sneak peek video. Check out the update here: http://cityoftitans.com/forum/kickstarter-desktop-background-news

This week we welcomed two new Community Managers - Shadow Elusive and HiroA. You can read their greetings to the City of Titans community here: http://cityoftitans.com/forum/meet-our-new-community-managers

Egads! Our Report Post button has apparently done gone ran away with the last forum software update, so in the interim you can private message to Shadow Elusive, HiroA, Minotaur, or myself (VDG) if you feel a post needs to be reported for violating any of the forum rules. Read that post here: http://cityoftitans.com/forum/reporting-posts

Speaking of forum rules, please read our Code of Conduct guidelines here: http://cityoftitans.com/forum/code-conduct

Forum Topics

http://cityoftitans.com/forum/collab-central
Have I not shared this before? What's wrong with me? Check out ChristopherRobin's collaborative art thread - some truly awesome work in there.

http://cityoftitans.com/forum/meet-your-heroes-day
A fun role-playing thread by Xselcier

http://cityoftitans.com/forum/power-origins-meaning
Thread by Robertt Steel about a possibility advantage/disadvantage system tied to origins

Ask-A-Dev

Did I tell you we love questions? We love questions. Ask one here: http://tinyurl.com/askadev

From: Radiac
For: Business & Marketing
When should I expect the receive the T-shirt I bought with my Kickstarter money? Also, will the non-physical stuff (e.g. Iconic, Mogul, etc) be dealt with before the game is released or after? Thanks.

Terwyn, Marketing Manager: Given the sheer size of donations we received during the Kickstarter, it should be no surprise that it has taken us a long time to track down our benefactors to confirm specific details. Since some people have surprisingly contributed well over a thousand dollars, and haven't read their e-mails instructing them where to sign up for their goodies, we've had to extend the deadline and reach out to these individuals personally. So, eventually, we started collating the results, and found that some people had left shipping addresses in Titan City. A nice thought, but unfortunately unhelpful for items existing outside of the game world. As well, more than one person had left the default size of t-shirt in the system, and we're quite sure that half of our base do not wear a women's Extra Small. Needless to say, that started off an entirely new sequence of back and forth communications, forcing us to have to collate the list again.

Good news, however, despite all of that, the orders are going out more or less as we speak, and they'll start shipping as soon as they can. Everyone should be getting the shirts more or less at once, presuming that local postal systems are equally efficient. As for the digital goods, they will be plotted out and dealt with accordingly well before the final build of Titan City.

I hope this answers your question adequately.

From Around the Web

Sunday: May 11th

Current News

This week our update was from Terwyn and it was all about business and marketing.

Check out the original announcement here:  http://cityoftitans.com/forum/once-upon-time-business
Join the discussion here: http://cityoftitans.com/forum/disscus-once-upon-time-business

Forum Posts
http://cityoftitans.com/forum/putting-your-kids-through-college-cot
Thread by Radiac, about hardcore gaming, gear, and selling loot for cold hard cash.

http://cityoftitans.com/forum/comic-recommndation-thread
Always worth re-recommending, the comic recommendation thread, by Skaargoroth

http://cityoftitans.com/forum/goats-color-book
Awesome art and coloring by Lord Goat

Ask-A-Dev
Got a question? Ask it here: http://tinyurl.com/askadev

From: Darth Fez
For: Composition / Lore
How does Titan City manages to (presumably) remain largely peaceful despite so many heroes and villains, and those who fall between those extremes, pursuing their goals? Will be a question of suspension of disbelief?

Robin, Composition Lead: This depends a lot on your definition of 'peaceful'. In part, people have learned to work around the super-battles. The heroes do a good job of handling the villains, and the TCPD and the TCFD are both excellent at keeping civilians out of harm's way."

It's also worth noting that super-criminals -- at least, those who aren't out to deliberately kill as many people as possible -- tend to try and avoid getting people killed because if they're to the point where they'e fighting a super, they know they might be caught, and if they might be caught, they don't want to make their sentence worse."

Another thing is that citizens of Titan City understand this to be a part of life. They don't mind putting up with it in exchange for living in what they consider the greatest city in the world. The can-do attitude common among the locals means that instead of worrying about it, they come up with solutions, and honestly the supers help; heroes will often do their own cleanup, and there's a number of city workers with their own powers."

Supervillains often end up helping as well. Not voluntarily, of course, unless they're seeking good PR. But for convicted criminals with suitable abilities, cleaning up superbattle sites is often part of their sentence as hard labor, and it is also accepted as community service.

From Around the Web

*Shakes head* I never thought it was this possible to fail that hard.

Thank You! (#3)

Steve "Minotaur" Dannell, forum mod and prospective QA person

I'm just amazed at the amount of money that has come in and the speed it arrived. Seeing a load of people I played CoH with, some of the old Paragon people and some people who I know never played the game among the list of donors is wonderful. Hoping for a long trip up the stretch goal mountain too as there are lots of exciting things to be found there.

Now the real work starts, we will have the tools we need and need to create a world that will excite and make sure people feel their money has been well spent. If we can create a framework for a wonderful community as CoH did, only then will I truly feel we have accomplished our goal.

Thank you so much for your support

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Jack "Olantern" Snyder, Staff Writer

I'm ... awed? Overjoyed? Astonished? Delighted? Well, I'm definitely at a loss for words!

Thank you, from the uttermost depths of my heart. Your outpouring of support over the past week has humbled me, inspired me, and thrilled me. I arrived home less than a week ago Tuesday night, exhausted from a disappointing week of work on my day job, to discover the Kickstarter alive and numbers rapidly climbing. It was like a breath of oxygen on a high mountaintop. With my fellow Staff writers, I watched the first several hours obsessively, like an excited family huddled around a tiny TV screen watching a premiere in the old days.

Exciting as that was, it was nowhere near as thrilling as seeing us reach our goal today. Much as writing for the project is a labor of love to me, it's wonderful to see someone else have faith in it, too. A prominent literary agent once said that within every writer is an artist, who writes for the pure joy of creation, and an entertainer, who writes to feel the adulation of being read and appreciated. It's a profoundly warming feeling to have my inner entertainer validated a little!

But reaching this milestone isn't really about me. It's about you, the City of Titans community. Your enthusiasm, loyalty, and faith made this moment possible. We will do everything we can in the coming weeks, months, and years to fulfill the trust you've placed in us.

Excelsior!

-Olantern

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Ryan 'KelpPlankton' Gioia, 3D Artist and Animator.

This is really crazy how fast everyone's come together to support us. I'd particularly like to extend a thanks to the former City of Heroes developers who've not only supported us via the Kickstarter, but also helped get the word out about City of Titans. A game like this is something I've always wanted to see get made, and the opportunity to be part of helping it come together is something I'd never pass up, so it's nice to see so many other people feel the same way! I'm just as excited to play the game as anyone else.

Now I just need to figure out how to blackmail the team into having water powers ready by launch...

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Christopher "Roadkill" Denny - Foley Artist/Audio Engineer

Wow! Wow wow wow wow wow WOW!!!! What's that again? 5...6 days and we reached our goal?!

What a community!!!

Hang on a second

*Wipes one manly tear from face*

You guys are the absolute best!!! You guys also deserve the very best, and that's what I aim to provide for you guys! At the beginning of the kickstarter I was scared "what if we don't reach our goal?" Well, ladies and gentlemen, you've done it! Now I know the next part isn't so fun for you guys - Waiting - Waiting for the game to arrive, waiting for your financial efforts to pay off, but it will SO be worth it! Thank you all, from the very bottom of my heart for everything!!!

It wasn't that long ago I was reading up on gaming news and came across an article describing the goals of the Phoenix Project and made the decision to join the team, now here we are - I'm rambling...Seriously, all, I'm in awe here, I can not thank you enough!

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!

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Michele "Quantumhero" Alexander-Sichelle - Marketing Researcher

THANK YOU.

This project is a labor of love, blood, sweat, and tears for all of us. We vowed to create a new home for a very special community and welcome all new members with open arms.

It will take time and a lot more effort to do this right...but thanks to you we can fulfill the parting words of Paragon studios and "fly free".

Welcome home.