Sunday, April 7, 2013

The Road to Crowd Funding

Needless to say I think we can all agree I'm a terrible blogger haha. It takes a lot of time to produce a quality blog article and I've been spending that time on coding instead of, well, blogging. That being said we've promised to become more active as we approach our crowd funding release date, which I confess we haven't announced yet, and to that end I would like to provide some information about what we're doing that's taking so long.

We've blogged a lot about our technology in the past. Things like HDR and atmospheric scattering and that's because our planetary tech is shiny and we <3 it and it's a big part of what makes us unique. It's the vehicle through which we will build the kind of games we want to build, bringing unique gameplay to you, the consumer. However there's something we really haven't talked about much yet that's just as important - our web/server/backend infrastructure.

The Vision

Believe it or not we are actually guided by a cohesive vision of the games we want to build, the type of company we want to create, and how we're going to interact with our consumers. A core pillar of this vision is a community first approach to everything we do. In the beginning this took the form of allowing the community to help build Infinity by contributing assets to the game. Unfortunately we realized some time later that there were two major problems with our contributions system. The first, and most important, is the complicated issue of intellectual property (IP) rights. We had no way of verifying who had made what and whether it was violating anyone's IP rights or anything like that. Everybody loses if we get sued into oblivion - except the lawyers of course. The second issue is that there really wasn't a good way for a contributor to submit their assets for a formal review for inclusion into the game. Later on in this article I'll address our solutions to these problems but first I want to talk about our plans for the cloud.

Joining the Cloud Kool Aid Party

If you look at what has made Apple so successful in consumer electronics it's the ability to create a seamless, easily accessible experience with their hardware and software. We would like to do that with our games by creating a cohesive, seamlessly integrated I-Novae ecosystem. Everyone who participates in this ecosystem will have an I-Novae ID that can be used across all I-Novae powered games and services. This is important in the near-term because we will need to keep track of everybody's donations during our crowd funding campaign so we can give them their awards upon successful completion of the campaign. We are considering making some of our reward tiers access to beta, alpha, and pre-alpha builds of the game. In order to properly support reward tiers like this we need to have the ability to provide/restrict access to builds of the game to the right people as well as collect their feedback, bug reports, etc. All of this will run through our I-Novae cloud platform and a users I-Novae ID.

Another benefit of the I-Novae ID will be our ability to provide a single sign-on experience. Many of you, if not most, are already using something like Google/GMail/g+, Twitter, Windows Live, or Facebook and instead of having to create yet-another-username/password you will be able to log into both our games and our services using credentials from one of those providers. Optionally you can still use a username/password if you prefer it.

In the long run we would like to support taking screen shots and video from directly within I-Novae Engine powered games and uploading them to your I-Novae profile in the cloud. We want to make it easy for you to share your favorite gaming moments with your friends through your preferred social media platforms. Lastly our I-Novae cloud will also support the usual cloud stuff like maintaining friends lists, digital distribution of I-Novae Engine powered games, and virtual market places.

Virtual Market, wait, WHAT!?

Infinity: Battlescape itself will not be released with assets from the community however, assuming we raise enough money (stretch goals!), the game will have a virtual marketplace where people can create and sell/share their own assets. These assets will be restricted to things that do not affect gameplay. For example you will not be able to create new weapons or ships but you will be able to create new skins - unless of course you create a mod. Mods will also be available through our virtual marketplace and will allow changing most of the game. Contributors will be able to submit their assets and mods to the marketplace for a nominal fee. This fee will serve two purposes. The first is to help cover our administrative overhead for verifying that the contribution does not violate anyone else's IP (solution to problem #1 above) and the second is to make sure the asset meets our minimum quality requirements and if they don't we will provide appropriate feedback (solution to problem #2 above). Lastly we don't want our virtual marketplace to fill up with tons of junk, a huge problem faced by all virtual marketplaces with a prime example being the Android app store, and having a nominal fee for submission is a huge step toward preventing that. Once a submission has been accepted the contributor will be able to set the price of the asset/mod themselves. Our community has a tremendous amount of energy and creativity, we have some really cool tech, and we would like to be able to harness that in a way that benefits everyone. We believe a virtual marketplace would go a long way toward achieving that goal.

In Closing

Laying the groundwork for this cloud infrastructure is also coinciding with rebuilding our website. Our current forums will likely be archived and replaced with a more modern solution that we can integrate with our I-Novae ID system. Since we don't really want to reinvent the wheel with forums software if anyone knows of something that's easy to integrate with a custom authentication/roles system, ideally built in ASP.NET, then please let us know. Redoing the website will be a lot of work but we believe it's necessary and in the long run it'll be worth it =).

57 comments:

  1. I don't think I am the only one who has a deep hatred of "the cloud". Shroud Of The Avatar's Kickstarter has shown, that people still value their single player, offline gaming. Independent of a server running somewhere; maybe accessible, maybe not.

    Of the lots of good interest you had garnered with the tech demo video from 2010, I think few people will remember the game nowadays. Could it be that with all the talk of "online" and "cloud", you don't understand that nowadays there needs to be communication for people to keep their interest?! When Overgrowth with their (weekly) update videos recently got called vaporware in a comment, how do you think the total blackout on Infinity will be seen?

    And now you present your plans, that may be called "ambitious" or "pie in the sky". Did you keep up with a game called Miner Wars?

    You seem to be following the mantra of traditional publishers that bigger is better. While indies have shown that you can grow a game or franchise while sustaining development. Think of Minecraft (continued addition to a product). Think of Trine (new game or addon every few months).
    Also think of all the MMOs that tried to be WOW from the start... and failed. Even with big bucks and license to print money (Star Wars: TOR). Do you think you can be the new EVE Online?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The cloud kool aid is kool aid for a reason, it has endless problems and will make your playerbase hate you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As long as being online is not a requirement (cf. DRM), this seems to go in well planned way. However, as Alien426 pointed out, I could only advise you to get an audience BEFORE the kickstarter. Release a video, just you flying in and out a planet, like the 2010 retrospective. Or something like that. Just give us something, or you'll do a big flop. Counting on getting hype during a kickstarter is playing on luck, and only companies who already have a consistant background (i.e. Uber Entertainment) could reach their goal without having pre-kickstarter followers.

    Being secretive has never been good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i really do feel the need to second this sentiment. I'm excited about what you're developing here and I have concerns about the success of your kickstarter. If you plan to Kickstart in November, then your window of interest begins about now.

      My suggestions:

      1. Get your forums (community) turned back on ASAP.
      2. Start releasing micro-content weekly as you build toward November. You don't need to release major items, just 'publish' something weekly. Anything interesting that the community can generate "buzz" on. The community is your "buzz" engine. Your success will live or die with them.
      3. OMG but quit getting distracted with "Virtual Marketplaces" and I-Novae ID's on the cloud! Focus guys! That stuff can be developed later. Focus on core development and Community/Marketing! Marketing! Marketing!
      4. Hire/Find a PR guy if you can't afford the time to do this yourselves.

      Delete
  4. Hey guys thanks for the comments I just wanted to clarify a few things that you pointed out. First of all Infinity: Battlescape will be a multiplayer only game however players will be able to host there own servers. There will not be any "always on" requirement or any type of DRM of any kind. Lastly we will be releasing a whole bunch of new content before the Kickstarter as well as an interactive tech demo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure, then why haven't you? It's October, and there is no tech demo or Kickstarter. Why?

      Delete
    2. Hi Alex the primary reason is that all of us except Flavien are working part-time alongside day jobs. The secondary reason is that for the amount of money we need to raise we need to have a pretty successful Kickstarter. Launching a Kickstarter isn't as simple as putting together a video or 2 and calling it a day. We need to have enough content to keep people interested for an entire month which includes multiple videos along with additional content. Lastly there are a couple of technical things we're trying to wrap up before we create said videos. More information is available on our forums: https://forums.inovaestudios.com/

      Delete
    3. I can only wish you the best. Just keep in mind that you must not let yourself discouraged by morons (not pointing anyone out), but in the same time listen to the critics. I just see great potential here and I really don't want this to fail. Also, really nice website, very clean, I like it.

      Delete
  5. hello i am an independent developer who has spent a few hundred thousand over the years working on his own game and was wondering if you would be open to allowing others to work on i-novae engine for a project and offerign you a percentage of profits if they do not have a huge buttload of money to pay up front. i would be contributing any additions back as needed. its a star trek type era sci fi game with traditional hi fantasy races and abilities.. i will take around 9 months to do a trailer if you were to say yes and because i have no outside investors, im nto greedy just dont ant to waste several more years and hundreds grand with no game..

    my alternative in unity engine with muchdifferent.com network and game db server

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Guy, write an e-mail next time. Replying to a post in such concern is not professional.

      Delete
    2. and Learn to Spell first, or at Least proof-read your prepositions, - you sound like some pre-school punk from a 3rd world country, doesn't matter whether you have any cash or not, what matters is whether you have enough imagination, creativity, practical gaming experience and professionalism

      Delete
  6. I recently needed to clear up a couple of things that you sharp out. As a matter of first importance Infinity: Battlescape can have there own servers. There won't be any "dependably on" prerequisite or any sort of Drm of any sort business funding australia .

    ReplyDelete
  7. Honestly, I have been waiting since high school for this game. I went through college waiting for this game. I am in my last year of University still waiting for this game. I understand that you guys are neither many nor rich but to come back after a few months to find your main site down, twitter links gone, deadlines (that you gave me on twitter) gone, and nothing on the web other than the moddb profile (Last official post dated 2010) with screenshots from 2010 and nothing to say for the last three years is worrying.

    Then you direct me to a one post blog that doesn't even have a simple skin and tell me you want to run a kickstarter fund to raise money to make this game... why SHOULDN'T alarm bells be ringing in my head? What the hell have you been doing for the last 5 years? Where's the engine been? Why has there been no tech demo since 2006? Where did you THINK you were going to get the money from originally (if you can't answer that I will not donate to your crowd fund anyway, I don't support terrible business decisions)? What do you need this crowdfund for? BE SPECIFIC.

    It's insulting when you wait 5 years for a game that should be basically finished by now and then the dev turns around, pulls his site and tried to tell you he needs $$$ to make a game he should have been making in the last 5 years. I get that building an engine is hard. Really hard. Especially one as impressive as yours, but please don't insult us by asking for money without even telling us why you need it, where you messed up, and what difference having that money would have. In specifics.

    Nevermind your store, finish the bloody quest for earth game first and release it as a v2. I don't want to have kids by the time this game comes out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, dude, what's with the hate? I-Novae doesn't owe you anything; they're just doing their best to bring a dream to life. You think they're happy that they don't have the money to get this thing made and released? You think you need to give them a kick up the arse? Stop "waiting" for Infinity and get on with your life, maybe you'll be happier for it.

      I'm working on a game right now, and apart from a few libraries it's costing me no actual money, I just have a family to feed and I need to work, so I can't work on it full time. That's life; that's reality. If you feel this entitled to a game that you haven't worked a day in your life for, I wonder what kind of shock you're in for when you leave University and have to make it in the big bad world?

      Keith, don't listen to judgemental crap like this, you're doing good work. It won't be a hard decision for me to put a couple hundred into the Kickstarter when it happens.

      Delete
    2. i agree with both of you, i think.

      i'm in the same boat as you, andrew. was waiting for it in high school and now it's all but cancelled.

      excrubulent, i think that while IA doesn't necessarily "owe" anyone anything, the fans of infinity deserve an apology for how this has all turned out. especially to the people who spent who knows how many hours creating the assets to include inside of infinity. it wasn't their fault the creator didn't think if it was the best choice to make.

      as others have said, i definitely think it's a mistake to create this multiplayer game for any reason other than a proof of concept. i can tell you right now, with games like star citizen coming out in a projected two years, the first module of which is out next week, i would think you're already falling behind the curve with just a multiplayer space shooter.

      i guess it's whether you see this as a stepping stone or not. i'm not excited for the project from what i can imagine. in my mind, there isn't anything that would give me enough excitement than what the original project was, with just as much(but likely more) promised features than the infinity: the quest for earth.

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. I have been waiting for a Game like This since i was BORN, and Clearly NOTHING Else out there does not even come close, because EVERY Single Lame 3D-Engine out there uses screwed up alien, Artificial Colors, Tones, and Lighting with totally screwed up Hues and Color, and Over-Sharp, Over-Contrast EVERYTHING, with Way too much Details and Object at insane Texture Resolutions which only give you incredible strain on the eyes and mind just looking at the screen, everything seems Gloomy and Monotonous, and your Subconcious is working in Over-Drive to filter-out all the junk on the screen so you can focus on the actual Gameplay, instead of relaxing and letting your imagination wonder to complete the whole picture,
      that's how you have real Fun in any game and these first step to a truly immersive Experience, that Every single newbie developer out there seems to miss, or they sell out and let some mindless monkey dictate them how to make a game right....

      Everything is Right about this 3D Engine right now, The scenery, Atmosphere, Terrain, Flora and Fauna actually look Realistic !!!

      This is the kind of EVOLUTIONARY Game/3D World that will be First in our Civilization, and i-Novae clearly needs ALL Our Support and Belief to make our Dreams come True

      I Agree that if you want to use a Cloud System, then Create Your Own, and stay FAR AWAY From Google/Facebook/Youtube corporations !!! Noone can stand having them share all your personal info with each other

      Be Independent, focus on the Actual 3D Engine and even more importantly - Immersion, Natural Ambient Music, and GAMEPLAY GAMEPLAY GAMEPLAY !

      This Game has Potential to be One of Our Greatest Creations on Earth,
      i-Novae needs to come-out and write more information about what is specifically happening right, What is exactly that is being worked on, What more is needed, when and How

      If you need More Support, More Help from knowledgeable and experience People, then please say so, we have a Very unique, small but clever community here so far of the people who understand what this is all about,
      Ask precisely, and you shall receive, if you don't know exactly what the next step should be, then we can also help you figure that out

      We need an ongoing community discussion in forums, that has a good protection from Spam, Trolls, and all other garbage that is floating on the internet

      Delete
    5. My only concern is that the existing community has been broken up and dispersed ever since the forums were shut down (yes, there was a good reason to close the old forums....but it's been awhile....kickstarters are tough to do without an enthusiastic community to spread the word and help advertise....not everyone visits kickstarter daily, or even monthly). If you look at similar space sim projects like Elite, Star Citizen, and even something as small as Limit Theory you'll see that a strong community is paramount for funding and momentum...I really think those tools need to be worked out ASAP as I'm even finding myself losing interest in Infinity...it doesn't have to be a perfectly executed game...it just needs the momentum of players helping make it a reality.

      At the end of the day, it's the devs property and they can do whatever they want with it. I'm not saying I expect it. I'm just concerned that they're missing out on the key elements that help with the success of crowdfunding.

      Delete
  8. Hey, i also was on university and studied planet rendering while a project.
    I got maya so if you need any help to get this done ill offer my free time in developing assets/code.

    just write me a line to get this finally done.

    strooka

    ReplyDelete
  9. Just give us tech demo as soon as possible, and everything will be fine.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh one more... sell your engine to guys from Kerbal Space Program :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, this could be dangerous ^^ .... and it leads me to a question: does the I-Novae-Engine has multicore-support?
      Because all the spacegames I love run on only one core ... and they don't run well. ^^
      (Yes I'm talking about you, KSP and X)

      Delete
    2. Actually, I was thinking the same thing, but more along the lines of releasing something similar to SpaceEngine without the gameplay. Of course the seed used would be entirely different than the actual game (so no chance of using the engine to get a head start on exploration).

      To me that's where the strength of the product is right now...the engine. Get that out the door in a demo fashion and you'll gain a lot of interest. You don't even need to do all of the coding yet for a "space combat sim"

      Delete
  11. Downgrading this to Battlescape = BIG mistake. I know you plan on having Infinity up and running at some point in the future, but that's just not good enough. You should have taken the leap to Kickstarter, with Infinity, and you'd have seen that you could have gotten millions of dollars. (Just look at RSIs' Star Citizen). Now, your game is going to drown in similar games -already on the market-. Infinity would have put something on the market that doesn't already exist, Battlescape will not. I've been looking forward to Infinity - Quest for Earth for -years-, dreaming every so often about next-to-unlimited space exploration. Of all the games I've been looking forward to, this was my biggest dream; all others pale in comparison. Now, I might as well go back to Freelancer, Descent Freespace or EVE. You've made me very sad with that decision.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have to completely agree. Battle space was a killer moment for this project. I have been checking in on Infinity for years now, always hopeful to see another tech demo or blog showing something really cool, even if they were extremely infrequent. But to hear that after all that time it has been chopped down to yet another space shooter is, frankly, sad. Just sad.

      If indie development has taught anything its those who dream that succeed. Those that try to copy the mass market fail, but those indies who explore the wacky, the impossible or the ideas that publishers would see as too risky can succeed to mind blowing degrees. This is what i had hoped for Infinity. An amazing and awesome dream that would be epic. Instead I have, well, lost interest. No longer a minority, Battlescape is among hundreds of others all the same and all far less hassle and games i can play now. Not Three or Four years from now.

      I can only hope that at some point you will begin to dream again. When you do, let us know. Until then.

      Delete
  12. Indeed, this is sad. I was in high school also when this started, and always knew it would take a long time. Honestly, I thought it got cancelled.
    There is too much secretism, too many unanswered questions for this to have a successful kickstarter. Also, you should look at what happened with Star Commander with his fanbase when they released the game as a cut-down version of their original concept (TL;DR version: fanbase == NaN).
    Want to kickstart this? Fine, follow this steps:
    1: go back to I:QfE and forget Battlescape
    2: dish out tons of videos every week/two weeks and a demo BEFORE the KS
    3: be ready to commit 24/7 to this and to hire people
    4: get a damn good graphic and web designer
    5: get a RP manager that knows what he/she is doing
    6: think of features no-one else is going to have on their space sims (Take a looka t X:R, Elite: Dangerous, Star Citizen, 10xC and many others that atre on the works/about to come out)
    7: APOLOGIZE TO YOUR FANBASE IN A FLAMBOYANT MANNER AND MAKE SURE THEY UNDERSTAND IT WILL TAKE TIME AND THAT THIS TIME ROUND YOU'LL KEEP THEM INFORMED... AND MEAN IT AND DO IT
    8: 3-6 months of Pay-Pal campaign and awareness raise
    9: Kickstarter, with a minimum of an update per week with actual content.
    10: Code and design along with your 10-15 employees for two years without messing up the budget (bigger/smaller studio == lower cost/output ratio)
    11: Release a stable true to the original I:QfE without monetizing shit in the middle.
    12: IF (IF) it sells, implement monetizing shit.
    12B: IF it does not, lick your wounds.

    Plenty of worthy people fail in KS, and with the low and relatively bad awareness and rep you have now, you are not going to get squat with so many space-sims coming up. Maybe two years ago...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You make valid points. Although I do not believe, that it will fail a Kickstarter run. The games that show true potential, usually meet their KS goal, and sometimes way more. In fact, there are completely ridiculous projects that reach their goals and more. Another thing: Why not do a Kickstarter? They aren't binding themselves to do anything. They're only promising that they'll do what they can to the best of their abilities. Also, you have to remember that KS is not a one-off shot; you can do multiple KS runs, if the first one fails. Second of all, if they did a KS run, with the original idea, I'd advertise the shit out of it! I'd almost go door to door, to advertise it. I do not think I'm the only one.

      Delete
    2. Well, not to mention Star Citizen is one of the most backed games by the community (over 15 million dollars by their kick starter).......not sure if it's because Infinity: Quest for Earth lost it's speed or what....I had originally thought maybe the people at Infinity went over to Star Citizen, since its kinda what they were doing, but that's not the case....Shame you two can't get together, I think it would be amazing...otherwise, Star Citizen will be your main competition.

      Delete
  13. I'm still a big supporter of I-Novae. I think the step back from Infinity the Quest for Earth isn't really that devestating.
    They have to start nearly from scratch community wise but I think that would have happened nevertheless.
    The point is ... just imagine the 2010 demo would be for Infinity: Battlescape ... It would change nothing in the content of the video. Just in the heads of the viewer. We'll still have inmpressive real scaled solar systems. Glamourous Planets and the famous seamless space-planet transition.
    A thing never done realtime in that detail before.

    So I-Novae team. Looking forward to the new forums, wegsite and the Kickstarter so I can finaly dump my 350$ on there ... please.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Before you guys grab your pitchforks and light your torches I think you should at least wait and see what we're trying to do with Battlescape. The simple truth is that Battlescape may be a game some of you don't want to play and that's fine, nobody is more frustrated than us that the MMO has temporarily been put on ice. I say temporarily because Battlescape is a stepping stone toward the full MMO which we most definitely still want to build. For those of you who are concerned about the work that the community has done on assets we can't use that's a big reason why modding will be a central focus of Battlescape. The whole purpose of the virtual marketplace is to allow those of you who are particularly industrious to create cool stuff for the game and be able to sell/distribute it to your fellow players. Many members of our community are very talented and have some very cool ideas and we'd like to enable and support them so they can share those ideas with the rest of you =).

    Thank you for all the feedback, we take it seriously!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thing is, Keith, I think you will be stranding on Battlescape. Dropping Battlescape in a pond, already full of equally good, or even better, fish, will make it hard, if not impossible, for it to survive.

      Of course I cannot foresee the future, but I doubt this move will give you funding for Infinity - Quest for Earth, and probably not even be able to carry the investment, you're planning to make, in Battlescape.

      Time will tell.

      A little off-topic:
      Is there anywhere where I can download the assets, already made, for the game? I remember downloading some music a couple of years ago, from your FTP, but a bad USB-stick of mine managed to break most of them...

      Delete
    2. Keith, Go BIG or Go HOME, Derailing all your attention to something drastically less Evolutionary and Important as Battlescape BS instead of the beautiful Dream of Quest for Earth will be definitely a big mistake and never-ending battle for you to KEEP-UP and Try to Upgrade and Fix Errors and Bugs in it,
      INSTEAD OF WORKING Full-On and Completely on Quest for Earth, and pouring your whole Heart and Soul into it like a true Artist !

      When you have a Dream as big as Quest for Earth and actually Actively working hard only at it, the most amazing Synchronicity will unfold for you, all the pieces of the puzzle will gradually fit together, and all the people in our unique community who are waiting and hoping, will SUPPORT YOU and and HELP YOU THROUGH the Whole Thing,
      which includes contributing with Ideas, next Steps, Programming, Funding, Whatever is Necessary !

      If you ever decide to begin working on crap like Battlescape or any other similar and Over-Done Game, then NOONE Will really CARE and you will be Ultimately left Alone in Despair with countless other Fail Projects which are already out there

      COME TO YOUR SENSES For Pete's Sake !

      You Need More Creative People on your personal Team, with Vast Imagination that is still working, and who have practical Experience with playing all kinds of PC Games since at least 1995 !

      Delete
  15. Just reading through here and I may have some suggestions that could help extinguish these doubts and complaints. First off you've done great work so far and even I still recommend to friends to check out your video.
    To help people understand your side of the project better maybe start up a video blog of sorts of what it is like building this project and what your working on, even include things like what is going on in you life that complicate your ability to focus on the project, if you wanted.
    When I backed Chris Roberts project for star citizen the video he had was of him and he explained what it costs to build a game and he explained where he wanted to go with "with the game/project" and only had a video of their X07 fighter (i think it was) pitching and rolling. The video only showed a small ship basically flying in space a little. At the time I had NO CLUE who Chris was or that he built games in the past. It will not take much to fund a project.
    Your previous videos and your remapping of the textures on the planets were great starts to get people interested and if you built a trailer and got crowd funding started you could quickly find yourself with all the funding and help you need to kick start this project.
    Information like what you wish to achieve through cloud servers and what not are not aspects of the game that will draw people into your project. All people want to see is what "the game" will be like, IE; MMO, sandbox, open, will it have single player, blah blah. How you achieve that and how you log in is just one small detail that before you know it doesn't cross peoples mind. I am not going to go to a friend and say hey man this game is cool my I-novae account is linked to google and I can log in easy and ill be able to upload videos and pictures to my account with out a 3rd party application. Oh btw it will have a open market as well so I can do X this and Y that. It's that video I showed my family and fiends.
    FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  17. good work ..looking forward to learn more from you..keep updating such information.

    ReplyDelete
  18. keep it going KN, theres certain words such as "cloud" that just make gamers see red sometimes. It all sounds good. I think this game will compliment the genre nicely. You'll have support, and you'll make a great game in order to make an even better game.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi, I love what you are doing and cannot wait for more progress! Reading your blogs gives me tonnes of new ideas for the little projects I create.

    I am just wondering when the MMO comes to its release date, are you planning to integrate and/or phase out Battlescape? Or will it always be a separate game? As it might be strange having the full MMO, including most/all of the gameplay from Battlescape as a small part of the game?

    Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Please, please bring the forums back. Never mind whether they're integrated with the I-Novae cloud, they're too important to wait for that. If you're shifting development to a cloud platform which is inherently community focussed then you need to get some input from that community before doing anything. If they're not in favour of it then I don't see how this could work out in the long run.

    It seems like a lot of people commenting here don't really know what Battlescape is or why you're making it. Can't really blame them though, since the main site and forums have been down for several months now. For the benefit of those people: Battlescape is a planned multiplayer only, competitive arena shooter (in space). It will take place all in one solar system, and will feature seamless planetary transitions and some kind of higher-level strategic element. Most of the features in Battlescape will be present in QFE also. In that sense, any work done on Battlescape is also work done on QFE.
    I-Novae believe Battlescape to be a necessary stepping stone on the way to making QFE. A QFE kickstarter has been on the cards for a long time now, but they think it unlikely that they could draw enough funds in, since most people apparently view them as a vaporware company (and QFE would require enormous funding, millions of dollars). For that reason they've decided to focus on a smaller project which they believe people are more likely to pledge for (since it's less ambitious) and which I-Novae are more capable of delivering before we all have children. Over the next few years they plan to improve their engine further, license it out to others, hire new staff (with Battlescape kickstarter money), get more money through Battlescape sales, and develop some credibility as a company that can actually deliver. Then they will be in a position to launch a successful QFE kickstarter.

    Personally, I have a few doubts. QFE is the most exciting space sim project I've ever heard of; currently there are no other games like it. The same cannot be said for Battlescape. The successful kickstarters are the ones that capture peoples' imaginations. Keith, you (or someone from I-Novae) said that people would be more willing to pledge to a kickstarter for a smaller, more feasible but less ambitious project. But I'm not the only one here who suspects the opposite may be true. Basically, I'd be more likely to pledge for QFE than I would Battlescape, and many others feel the same. If you're certain that a QFE kickstarter could not currently succeed, then maybe consider taking the Minecraft route. Minecraft is a huge game now, surely everything Notch ever hoped it would be, but he didn't have to first make a big company with lots of money and reputation.

    I understand your current direction, I simply wonder whether Battlescape is an interesting enough game to pull it off. If you believe you can make something really unique out of it, then it'll probably work. But only then.

    What really worries me is this sudden cloud gaming focus. For a company with many games I can see how this might pay off, but you currently have zero games. If you're that excited by cloud technology then why not just use Steamworks? Screenshot uploading, friends lists, digital distribution, virtual marketplace, mod integration - Steam already supports all of this. If you adopted Steamworks you'd get a mature and stable platform without having to spend months on it, then you can get back to making cool games. Which is what you want, right?
    I just don't see the demand for any of this. Nobody asked for it. I don't think the creativity and energy with which people have contributed to QFE would sustain a virtual marketplace. They're contributing to QFE because it's such a cool idea that they're willing to sacrifice their own time and effort to help make it happen. It makes them proud. Making custom skins and selling them through a virtual marketplace is not the same.

    ReplyDelete
  21. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I would love an online game that can be played offline as well. If Eve had created a single player game as well, I'd probably still be playing it. Much like the test server, it enables you to test out things you wouldn't dare to in a live game. Is that expensive ship worth it? How does it handle? Does it feel comfortable to use for your particular playstyle? Forking out billions for a piece of junk isn't exactly worthwhile and without some means of testing, some players won't consider it. Sadly, the test server in Eve was only available at certain times and with bugged up versions of the game specifically for bug fixing.

    An offline game would allow players to test out things, go into combat against NPC's undisturbed by other players and play with tanking and DPS to optimise their ships so they know how best to set them up. Being able to import their current online game position or create a market in a single player game that allowed them to buy absolutely anything for a few credits would allow them to perform all the tests they want. Preferably nothing done in the offline version can be exported to the online version though, people would use it to make billions offline with no risk at all.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hey guys check out Outerra engine. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  24. I have no reason to check on this game anymore, years ago I was checking this site almost daily for new information about one of the coolest looking games of all time, then the information started to dry up, then you guys made the ass backwards choice of trying to sell an engine before you'd made a game with it (seriously, would anybody give a crap about Source, or Unreal, etc if there were no games for it?), and now here I am again, being disappointed by Space Arena Shooter XXXVII. There's nothing special about this project anymore, so you say you've decided to develop an arena shooter while you work up to the amazing MMO we all dream of, how long is that going to take, another three, four, five years? Good luck to you, but I'm out, other games will be out by then and I'm sure that Infinity will have long since been discarded in the unfortunate internet wasteland of games that could have been, and to be totally honest, that makes me a little sad.

    ReplyDelete
  25. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  26. There is not enough news on the progress of this project... keep us updated !

    ReplyDelete
  27. I find your complete lack of updates disturbing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All of our updates have been on my twitter, https://twitter.com/inovae_keith, while I'm working on polishing up the website.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. Ah, i don't use twitter myself, so i usually ignore any reference to it. I might have to make an exception in this case ;)

      Delete
  28. When Frontier: Elite II first came out 1993 I remember thinking that this is the future of gaming. That games after this point will no longer be "levels" and instead evolve into true worlds where you can travel anywhere in a seamless way. Then Doom hit the scene and we all know what then happened. Don't get me wrong. Doom was great and I played it A LOT, but I have always wondered where we would be in gaming if developers had kept on researching/improving procedural generation at the same level as the type of games Doom later inspired.

    So when I then saw the tech demo in 2006 of QFE I got really excited that someone was finally doing what David Braben only "teased" us about whenever people asked him about a sequel to Elite. To bad this hasn't materialize, at least not yet. Now, I know you are saying that you'll soon be doing a Kickstarter, but by this point you must understand that most of us are somewhat skeptical about this whole thing. The boy who cried wolf and all... I will probably back you whatever happens just because I want to support this type of game development, but if you find it hard to produce one single blogpost then how are you going to be able to run a Kickstarter? People will be screaming for more information on a daily and probably even hourly basis!

    I wish you all the best, but thankfully my own itch has already been scratched by the fact that David Braben finally came around and Elite: Dangerous will be released in March 2014. What I'm really looking forward to though is their first expansion where seamless planetary landings will be brought into the game. Then I will finally be "home" again! :)

    Great for me, but maybe not so great for you since they will probably have this expansion released before you even get Battlescape out to the market. :( Who knows how far they have taken the game by the time you get QFE done?

    Anyway, good luck and hopefully you will be able to find ways to differentiate your game enough from the now suddenly "booming" competition! As a consumer it's great though! More space sims can never be a bad thing! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I totally agree! I've backed both Elite and StarCitizen just for the love of the genre, but that does come down to the fact that both post updates on a regular basis. Getting the crowd going, and more importantly, keeping them riled up, is probably the most important part in getting this to work, but I assume you are all aware of this.

      Learn from Chris Roberts approach. He isn't running the most successful crowdfunding campaign in history without a reason.

      Don't get me wrong, I'll most likely back Infinity as well, but the initial enthusiasm I experienced years back when i first got wind of Infinity has turned into skepticism over the years.

      Delete
  29. Yep, I am off to Star Citizen and X-Rebirth. Good Luck

    ReplyDelete
  30. I remember Flavien working on his engine circa 2004, It's hard to believe that nearly a decade has past, and there's still no game! Does it really take a decade just to build the engine alone?! Does this mean that we may have to wait another decade for the I:QFE game too?!

    As Eric said above, my itch will finally get scratched with the release of Elite: Dangerous. And once the first expansion arrives, with its seamless planetary landings, then I'll be in space heaven for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  31. hello? whats the latest news? seems like we hear very little once every 6 or 7 months and it looks so interesting

    ReplyDelete
  32. I was expecting to find something worth while in the ambitions of this game. All I can think of after reading many of the comments, is this thing reeks of Duke Nukem Forever.

    ReplyDelete
  33. YOU DO NOT TWITTER YOUR GAME UPDATES! YOU POST THEM ON YOUR SITE!!!
    WHAT ELSE IS IT THERE FOR??????
    SHOW SOME WITS FOR ONCE!

    ReplyDelete
  34. sad that here are so many cruel comments
    I think the only reason is that people are afraid not to get what they dreamed
    believe that they have been deceived or betrayed
    maybe just because of not understanding
    -
    By The Way you "I-Novae" guys Awesome
    I hope that you can find the right approach for projects on this incredible engine
    (also find "community manager" will be good too..)
    and i will support your projects - keep it up

    ReplyDelete