Here you go Zarch
http://www.thgate.com/mimesis/news_a.php
Only thing I know about it is that it is made in Poland.
Here you go Zarch
http://www.thgate.com/mimesis/news_a.php
Only thing I know about it is that it is made in Poland.
Keep em coming
For people with day jobs that live in "unfortunate timezones", the movies are the closest thing we get to an actual official event.
Until we get enough ARKs all over the planet so all of us at least have a theoretical chance of participating in or experiencing a story event, the movies are very necessary to give us a "feel" for the much toted story arc. Articles alone won't cut it. Although I won't let you drop the articles, either
If at all possible: keep em coming!
True, but they still have to pay two groups of people, and given a choice, I'd rather see my $13 a month going to the people fixing bugs and adding new content than to the people making movies.Originally posted by Vrach
Um, they aren't going to move people from video rendering to programming... these are different divisions.
Don't get me wrong, I like the movies, and I think they're doing a good job, but if Funcom is hard up for money and they have to pick, I hope they pick the route that affects EVERYONE in the game (i.e., bug fixes and new content) and not the route that benefits a fair portion of people with high-bandwidth or lots of free time.
sigh...
everyone is assuming that this is due to money, lets not assume that. In the post it was just stated that they want to see if we like the episodes so far. So lets all stop assuming its about cash, I believe it could be, or it could be about if we all like them or not, or what we woudl rather have content story wise. Again all were doing by blaming it on finances is assuming. Let's let FC decide if it costs to much k thx.
As of right now this is all they have stated
"This episode will be the last in the current series. We will evaluate the impact the series has had on the game and on the players, and decide early next year whether or not to continue producing new episodes."
they want to see weather or not we want the episodes. Or what we want, of course we all want more bug fixes, but that is not what they're asking. It was an episode discusion not a bug-fix discussion. There are numerous bug fix discusions lol, keep those posts there please. Elaborate on your feelings abotut he episodes.
These days a new MMORPGs enters the market every half year and new ones in development are announced every month. As always with mature markets itis essential to differentiate from competitors.
Having just read the book and watching the animated episodes every two I got the opinion that Funcom was moving in the right direction. Putting talent like Ragnar Törnqvist in charge of producing small downloadable movies that enhance the story is nothing short of revolutionary.
I can imagine the cost that comes with producing them however. Personally I never thought that they would release one every two weeks. For me once a month would have been enough. two weeks seem like a short time to cram in a fully functional patch (they have succeeded this far though). Then again perhaps two week intervals are optimal to reflect the reactions we as players have inside the game.
Anyway Im starting to drift. My point is this:
Anarchy Online has a strong focus on story. To rise above the other games and attract new customers (because AO needs more customers) AO needs to have unique sellingpoints no other game can match. Personally I think Törnqvist is a treasure and they should give him the resources to tell the story in a fun and unique way (like he does now with the book, movies and ingame events). Let AO be known as the game with the great story the same way UO is known for its community features and shadowbane is known (hyped) as the pvpgame.
Salus, hobby marketing guru
Movies and Layoffs
Keep in mind people that the furloughs that occured were NOT in the AO division. Now the big question - were these videos outsourced to some other company OR did existing inhouse AO graphic arts staff do it. If the later and assuming they do other work on AO besides just the movies, then it's not going to cost Funcom much to do them. But if Funcom feels nobody likes them and nobody watches them, then it's a waste of time [and time is money] to keep doing them. But obviously sounds like a fair number of us do like the movies, so hopefully we will be heard over the usual din of negativety.
Keep in mind the Midguard people were shifted back to AO, so technically there ARE more people now there to pound on bugs. But throwing a few extra people at coding doesnt always speed up a project and in fact can make it worse sometimes!
As someone else said, if the episodes need to be spaced a bit further apart to help with time/money, I guess thats better than losing them all together!
Av.
avatarius i can answer that, the movies are done in-house
It all deppends on FC's desires. If you want to please your role-playing player base than please don't stop the movies and keep them going. Even better, make them more often. They are great! Not only do they look cool (and we all know how we like watching an intro before playing a new game cause it looks cool and this is like watching a new intro every week), but also because the provide extra depth to the game and the storyline. SO far I didn't find them any useful at all, so I have no idea what you meant about hidden hints as to the story-line in them, but at least it makes this MMORPG a bit RPG focused and that's the sole purpose why I play AO.
If, on the other hand, you wish to flatter your twinkers uber el33t FPSers, than go ahead and drop the movies, they don't watch them anyway.
Major Shadowolf Marone
Blade Corp
"Leading mercenery organization in the Galaxy!"
Position - CEO
Rank - Major
Personal quote:
"Your advertisement could be here"
I'm guessing that either the rendering division was laid off in the most recent cuts or that it was farmed out and they can no longer afford to do it. Either way I'm betting it came down to either cutting movies or programmers. No brainer.Originally posted by Vrach
Um, they aren't going to move people from video rendering to programming... these are different divisions. It is probably more a matter of renting the rendering farms.
Scorus
When Funcom started Midgard they promised us that no one working on AO was or would be shifted over. You don't think that was a lie, do you?Originally posted by Avatarius
Keep in mind the Midguard people were shifted back to AO, so technically there ARE more people now there to pound on bugs. But throwing a few extra people at coding doesnt always speed up a project and in fact can make it worse sometimes!
Scorus
Yes, Star Wars Galaxies has no movies associated with it, certainly. Nor books.Originally posted by Salus
Having just read the book and watching the animated episodes every two I got the opinion that Funcom was moving in the right direction. Putting talent like Ragnar Törnqvist in charge of producing small downloadable movies that enhance the story is nothing short of revolutionary.
Scorus
scorus, eh they don't. Please refer to me where you got this info, and how your allowed to break the nda in which it was disclosed to you.
I like the movies. Heck, the movies prompted me to finally DL a DIVX codec so that I could view them in better quality! The movies are a fun way to keep abreast of the story line from a high level.
Keep in mind that they said that they would reevaluate the movies at the beginning of the year. According to my calendar, that's less than 2 1/2 weeks away. I feel that this was a ploy to determine how the user base felt about the animated series. Heck, they should see if they can pitch the idea to one of the US networks, the BBC, or the TV networks in Norway. Heck put them up for syndication!
A couple of short words from a tired mind...
What is the one thing that makes me play AO?
Answer: The setting, and the possibility to roleplay
What gives the setting and background?
Answer: The world, the written storys and the movies...
What makes the world feel alive, and what brings the story forward?
Answer: The movies...
To stop making the movies would be to tear out the heart of AO...
I have a very hard time to see how FC would make people notice they are still around if they dont have the movies left...The movies is the one thing that makes it clear when things change in AO, and the fact that things change in AO is what makes AO stand out from other games.
Remove the movies, and you end up with another UO...a bunch of guilds fighting each other and nothing more...and quite frankly, we allready done that, and got tired of it.
IMHO FC will dig its own grave by ending the movies...
Father Chagidiel
High priest in The Church of OmniTek
It is sufficient
Without wanting to hurt the artists' feelings by saying this, but I feel that more movies, books and articles would be a waste of everyone's time and money. Everything in the web-based story is well-executed and appreciated... and quite sufficient.
I've been playing daily since the game came out, on two accounts. I have a number of characters in different professions. I remain in awe of the visual and sonic beauty of this game world. But... I have yet to see anything in the game that has anything to do with the story, except when the guards spam about amnesty.
So I am in agreement with Funcom's decision to pause the movies. I would really rather see them put more of the story in the game, not on the web.
-r
If it is NOT a financial decision, my vote is to keep the movies. Why? Because all in-game events to date have been failures. Those little 5-minute movies, even if it's just once a month, even if you have to 'shoot' them in Flash, are far more intreresting than the crashfests the GMs jokingly call events.
If it comes down to the occasional press release ("Ross sez 'Free gov't cheese for Clanners!'") followed by the occasional GM event ("Radiman will be handing out
If it IS a financial decision, then the choice is even simpler: stick with the coders, world-builders, and writers...AND give us better in-game events, NPC quests/static missions, exciting PvP, etc.
Former Omni Prime Minister, The Hand of Chronos- aohoc.tripod.com
just got home and dont ask me why but somehow i felt something like this would happen today....
RAGNAR KEEP EM COMIN EVERY TWO WEEKS IF POSSIBLE
MIDGARD CAN WAIT :P
Funcom promised us a story line for Anarchy Online. So far the movies have been the only story. I actually enjoyed chasing down Pumpkinheads on Halloween, because the movie gave them a context I wanted to be involved in.
I liked the idea of see the movie, then play the content related to the movie in the game. I have been quite disappointed that the last two movies didn't have matching game content (Hurray for the Pumpkinheads!).
I am also disappointed that I don't get to see how the chess game is going this week (that's it, we could be chasing animated chess pieces in the game, or maybe that is an EQ infringement).
If you can tie the in-game action with the movies, then keep the movies going. They obviously pull a different set of resources than the game developers. Maybe restrict access to players with active accounts.
Right now there is no story line without the movies. There are poorly timed and poorly announced in-game events that are pathetic, a poorly written book I wouldn't waste my time with, and disjointed articles on the AO website. The movies are the only thing that DO tell a story now.
The movies would have to be replaced with a REAL IN-GAME story, but there doesn't seem to be any move to this. Don't drop the movies unless you have something really special to replace them with.
It's on their website under downloads. They have announced that there will be a lot more of them.Originally posted by killahsin
scorus, eh they don't. Please refer to me where you got this info, and how your allowed to break the nda in which it was disclosed to you.
Scorus
im talking abotu in regards to you saying swg has no books or movies tied into it...
i'd liek to know if you were serious or joking, cause i took it as a joke
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