Meanwhile, in the Halls of Titan...

I wonder how much of the game has to be transferred over in it's original form.

That is to say, what sorts of cost-cutting measures could be employed(in the event the idea is able to go through) to allow players the City of Heroes experience without having the full game transferred.

An idea I had was to turn it into a lobby-based or menu-based game with an optional Open world experience.

The idea would be that when you log in, You are treated to a Character select screen, Then a chat client and a mission select UI+ team invite UI, or a button that would take you into the open world environments. So the number of players existing on the open environments at any given time would be relatively low, but people could still team and experience missions together and even take on Zone events together. In addition, a single-player offline mode or direct player-to player link mode would probably reduce server load and costs a great deal.

Even getting the IP would be a start.

If anything, it might be 'better', in that we could make a CoH2. No old engine, no jenga-on-fire code. Build everything new and clean from the base up.

Having the current stuff would just allow that to happen quicker. I say that, but I'm just guessing. I'm no coder. I just draw and scribble writing stuff, heh.

But count me in. I don't want CoH to die...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Almost forgot. Work with the VirtueVerse crew on this.

I'll assist however I can. Not made of money any more than anyone else here, I imagine, but do have some financial resources that could be dedicated here. Time is actually a little more challenging at present, but it does look like I'll have some freeing up in the near future, as well...

-=-

Some random thoughts...

The existing staff would be the best judges of the existing system: what is worth saving, what would be best rebuilt, what the corporate suits might be willing to look at, licensing/royalties challenges, and so on. What parts of the IP can be kept, and what might need to be trashed due to royalties issues, etc?

All of them are no doubt under draconian-looking non-competes and NDAs, but buying one or two of them a drink in a quiet pub somewhere, in exchange for some friendly "reminiscing" might be informative.

And who can say what they might be looking at trying to do, behind the scenes? As invested as we are in this game, I suspect they are even more driven to find a way to keep things going. I didn't see a lot of evidence of malaise or boredom amongst Paragon Studios staff of late.

Working with them and supporting any effort they might be making should be considered and strongly pursued, if possible.

-=-

I do doubt NCSoft will be willing to part with anything. If Perfect World and/or Cryptic are still in the mix, that'll just make it that much harder to work a deal.

A question we'll all likely need to answer before the end: how much can change before it's not the game we want to support any more? If the flowing cape and flapping wings had to be dropped... is that a deal-breaker? Would it still be CoH without Hamidon, Rikti, Nemesis?

-=-

I'll be saving as much about my characters as I can, for nostalgia if nothing else, via Titan, Mids', etc. I might also propose that these would be a great way of transferring verified/verifiable data to a new replacement, if some sort of rework/rebuild were to be implemented instead of a wholesale rescue.

You have my support.

Tony,

I may not be able to provide a lot of time thanks to my job, but I can definitely toss Franklins your way as you need.

You're a good person, and whether or not this comes to fruition, know this: your efforts via the Titan Network and the maintenance of the Paragonwiki have been and continue to be awe inspiring. I cannot begin to thank you for the enormous effort you and many others have done to make your site the one-stop goto for info on this game. Your dedication to this game is unquestionable.

I'm not a praying man, but I went to church today. I prayed like I never have before. I'm also someone not prone to tears, and I've been teared up since I read the news of the sunsetting. If we can make ANY effort to save this game, then...

I'M IN.

I posted on your forums, if it keeps CoH alive, count me in.

I'd be glad to contribute if we get the chance to do this...

Currently I'm of the mind that the best way is to build a new one from the ground up, based of the current (maybe some past?) devs and the community.

Because it seems unlikely that NCsoft would sell the IP.

I'm disabled, and living on very finite funds, so financial contribution really isn't an option for me, but I'd like to at least voice my support for what you are trying to do.

I'm vaguely aware of the "Fat-Cat" mentality that "we" are all up against in trying to keep City alive.. but I wonder how possible it would be if you aren't successful in get the server/coding from NC, if you were to still take donations for the Kickstarter... How difficult would it be to use those funds to start development of a CoH2?

I know game development usually runs in the millions, and I doubt that even with the multiple posts here of pledging a couple of thousand dollars that we'd get anywhere close to that kind of money... But I guess I'm grasping at straws.

I have the 'lofty idea' that with the knowledge that Titan, and others, have been able to gather.. and the possibility of having developers that could do it... that maybe even if we can't save City of Heroes... that maybe there could be a CoH2.

Ugh

I just feel gutted over this...

I'll do whatever it takes to help this get back up and running. I'll gladly send you my cash when the time comes to buy it back.

I'll give what i can if you can keep CoX from dying.

Well Hell.. I just came across this from a friends Facebook page:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...biggest-holder

"Nexon Co. (3659), a Tokyo-based maker of online games, bought a 804.5 billion won ($685 million) stake in NCSoft Corp. (036570) to become the South Korean company’s biggest shareholder. Nexon purchased 3.2 million NCSoft shares, a 14.7 percent stake, from NCSoft Chairman Kim Taek-Jin for 250,000 won apiece, it said in a statement today. That’s 6.7 percent less than today’s closing price in Seoul for NCSoft, which offers online games including Lineage and Aion.
Nexon sees “a lot of opportunities” for acquisitions in Asia, North America, and Europe, Chief Financial Officer Owen Mahoney said last month. The Tokyo-based company is interested in investing in companies that develop games for Facebook Inc. and mobile-phone users, he said at the time.
NCSoft, based in Seoul, rose 0.4 percent to 268,000 won in trading on the city’s stock exchange today before the announcement. Nexon fell 0.2 percent to 1,319 yen on the Tokyo stock exchange today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net"


Guess that goes to answer some of the "why" ...

$685m? Is that a ballpark estimate of what they'd likely want for the IP??

Tony

I appreciate all that you are trying to do to keep this running. I cant contribute a ton financially at this time, but I would be willing to keep paying for 2 subscriptions if you can keep this running. My son and I started playing this game about 7 years ago. Neither one of us want to see it go by the wayside. Best of luck to you in trying to convince these guys to not let something this beautiful just turn into a memory.

Been paying for 5 accounts. Will continue if game is kept up.

Been playing with whole family for 6 1/2 yrs. Got 3 sons....they are very sad over this.

This is how corporations work. Look at the patent system, the entire hedgemony is built upon giving more power to rich corporations and fat old, dying men, and preventing others from using ideas. They would rather bury something to the ground rather than let any one else use it. Even when it comes to medicines.

wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation_(film)

politicalloudmouth.com/why-publicly-traded-corporations-behave-like-sociopaths

sociopathworld.com/2010/06/corporate-sociopath.html

The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis, The Tyee

Our common treasury in the last 30 years has been captured by industrial psychopaths. That's why we're nearly bankrupt, The Guardian

Capitalists and Other Psychopaths, The New York Times

If this works out, you'll have my support for as long as I can give it.