Rak'kar Posted July 3, 2007 Report Posted July 3, 2007 Hi guys, Hopefully this isn't seen as a conflict of interest. If so, I apologize and please just remove the post. 9 months ago I quit my 100K a year job as a game programmer to start my own company. My goal was to give a facelift to my favorite game of all time, that caused me to almost fail college several times I'm calling it Galactic Melee and from the screenshot you should immediately know which game that is. Galactic Melee is starting closed Alpha today. I need about 500 testers, at which point signups will end and closed alpha testing will go on until all the bugs are fixed. Then we'll start open beta. You can signup for the Alpha atGalactic Melee Pre-alpha screenshothttp://www.galacticmelee.com/images/screenshots/ss_prealpha_05_thumb.jpg Thanks! Rak'kar(Game programmer + Old-time Vet) P.S. Sorry for the lack of content on the webpage so far. It's being worked on.
rootbear75 Posted July 4, 2007 Report Posted July 4, 2007 (edited) can you give us a brief summary of the game? EDIT: i signed up anyways, but I dont like that bug report thing.i have used bugzilla and it seems to work well. (http://www.bugzilla.org/) try it out in the sandbox of the site: https://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-3.0-branch/ Edited July 4, 2007 by rootbear75
Rak'kar Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Posted July 4, 2007 can you give us a brief summary of the game? EDIT: i signed up anyways, but I dont like that bug report thing.i have used bugzilla and it seems to work well. (http://www.bugzilla.org/) try it out in the sandbox of the site: https://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-3.0-branch/ Top down physics based shooter, on a 2D plane, but with 3D graphics. Over 10 weapons, items, 30 levels, 5 game modes. You can see this all from the webpage by the way. But I know it will appeal to most of the people here.
Synook Posted July 5, 2007 Report Posted July 5, 2007 (edited) Err... like Continuum? lol Edited July 5, 2007 by Synook
Cancer+ Posted July 16, 2007 Report Posted July 16, 2007 I still can't "sign up". The page never loads.
»1587200 Posted July 16, 2007 Report Posted July 16, 2007 Yeah, the website isn't working. Way to quit your 100K/yr job for a broken website. GG...
Falcoknight Posted July 19, 2007 Report Posted July 19, 2007 Biggest flaw in your entire game.. Cost Free to play for as long as you want. Free accounts are fully compe!@#$%^&*ive, with access to one of the ships and several items of equpment and weapons, and the Armada game mode. When you decide to upgrade, you can use the same characters, with your current score, stats, and level, in four other game modes as well as have access to all 30 character levels. No upfront fees. Traditional massively multiplayer online games charge $50-$60 for the first "free" month, then $15 a month thereafter. Galactic Melee is between $6 to $8 a month depending on how many months you purchase at a time. If you really like the game, we are currently offering lifetime subscriptions for $50, with no monthly fees*. * Expansion packs purchased separately (Not included with lifetime subscription). From looking at the screen shot, it looks like practically a carbon copy of SubSpace.So tell me, why would someone play a slightly revamped version of SubSpace, and pay for it, when they can get something already developed, with an already established, granted small, community, for free?
Incomplete Posted July 20, 2007 Report Posted July 20, 2007 I would go back to the 100k job if I were you.
»doc flabby Posted July 21, 2007 Report Posted July 21, 2007 looks interesting, but you do well to remember the original company that sold subspace went bust... I have no doubt the game when finished will be good, but will it make you rich? probably not. Please prove me wrong
Falcoknight Posted July 21, 2007 Report Posted July 21, 2007 All this is going to do is take more population from SubSpace until it goes belly up...
AhmedF Posted July 21, 2007 Report Posted July 21, 2007 looks interesting, but you do well to remember the original company that sold subspace went bust... I have no doubt the game when finished will be good, but will it make you rich? probably not. Please prove me wrong Both correct and incorrect. The company that owned SubSpace also happened to own C&C. So EA bought them off, and killed off the rest (including SubSpace). At the same time, SubSpace was likely headed towards disaster anyway. Its marketing was extremely poor, as was its overall financial plan. There are many niche independent games surviving (and thriving) because they hit all the right notes.
Hakaku Posted July 21, 2007 Report Posted July 21, 2007 Yep, and it so happens that not only did pay-to-play help kill SubSpace, but did the same for the games that were spawned from it. The minute Cosmic Rift and Infantry went pay-to-play, their pops died off. So in the end, I don't see what makes Galactic Melee so different that it'll be able to avoid the same fate.
rootbear75 Posted July 21, 2007 Report Posted July 21, 2007 The company that owned SubSpace also happened to own C&C. So EA bought them off, and killed off the rest (including SubSpace).wtf?VIE is the same company as Westwood?
AhmedF Posted July 21, 2007 Report Posted July 21, 2007 Hakaku - evidently you have a problem reading. Like I said, it requires the proper amount of marketing. There are quite a few paid games that are surviving and thriving - you just need to play the game right. But the reality is - SubSpace wasn't promoted. At all. As for Cosmic Rift - niche games are happy to make $100,000 a month. For someone like Sony, that isn't worth the problem nor time. I have no desire to give you the history behind VIE and SS
Hakaku Posted July 21, 2007 Report Posted July 21, 2007 (edited) The company that owned SubSpace also happened to own C&C. So EA bought them off, and killed off the rest (including SubSpace).wtf?VIE is the same company as Westwood?Yeah, it was originally Westwood !@#$%^&*ociates, but then in 1992 it was sold off to Virgin Interactive and renamed Westwood Studios. But now it belongs to EA (since 2003*), like Ahmed said. In the end, most of VIE's games failed, but SubSpace just got the worst of it. Hakaku - evidently you have a problem reading. Like I said, it requires the proper amount of marketing. There are quite a few paid games that are surviving and thriving - you just need to play the game right. But the reality is - SubSpace wasn't promoted. At all. As for Cosmic Rift - niche games are happy to make $100,000 a month. For someone like Sony, that isn't worth the problem nor time.Evidently I don't. Marketing is one thing, but the package is another. Sure there's a few pay-to-play games that do work out, but I'm just saying most games spawned from or inspired by SubSpace end up not meeting to their initial expectations. Cosmic Rift fails because it sucks both ways, Infantry is a good game, but failed when you had to pay for it. I'm just saying that I don't see what's going to make Galactic Melee so much different from the rest, with or without marketing. Edited July 21, 2007 by Hakaku
»doc flabby Posted July 21, 2007 Report Posted July 21, 2007 The company that owned SubSpace also happened to own C&C. So EA bought them off, and killed off the rest (including SubSpace).You dont kill off a sucess, they killed off the money losers. As for Cosmic Rift - niche games are happy to make $100,000 a month.Based on what i've seen of the population in cosmic rift, when i gave it a try i'd be surprised after server and bandwidth costs if they were even breaking even before they went free. I can't see a P2P business model that works for a subspace type game. Maybe advertising in game could cover server costs, but trying to make people pay to play doesn't work. A far more sensible model is to sell the client in shops/online shops for say $40 and then unlimited free online play. use some advertising in game to cover costs of the official server. Create some decent server software and level creators to go with the game. Charge Server operators a subscription based on a max online player scale. eg. 10 players is cheaper than 100, or rent out server slots to connect to the main billing network. Individual server operators can then choose to charge people to play there zone if they wish. The reason why Sony HAD to make Cosmic rift and Infantry free, is because they were losing so much of there population to free infantry. The problem is that lack of development by sony caused the people paying to think, wtf am i paying for and setup there own servers. Galactic Melee seems somewhat uninspired imo, i can't see how its advancing the genre, there ARE some revolutionary things that could be done, but quite frankly from what i can tell so far is it looks like another subspace clone with a few more weapons and stuff. But i am willing to be proved wrong. These games are simple enough to clone without massive technical difficulty. What makes the game is the user created content.
AhmedF Posted July 22, 2007 Report Posted July 22, 2007 I have to be clear. I have no vested interest in this game - if it fails, I dont lose anything other than playing time spent inside the game. Just want to be clear about that EA's stock depends on massive profits. It isn't *just* about making money - it is about making more and more money. Was SS going to make them a few million a year? Perhaps. Was it going to make tens of millions a year? Doubtful. Don't forget, EA is the same company that cancelled UO2 AND UXO. Can p2p games work? Yes. Before I used to run a !@#$%^&* popular MMO directory. Web-based games that were nothing more than text have survived and excelled in p2p. They are far less compelling than even SubSpace. They make a lot of money. Now - Rak'kar's game - is it going to work? I dont know - I havent played the game with a lot of players. The physics engine can be maddening. But at the same time, it is alpha. It is taking a different approach - CR was more like SS 2.0. This game is more like Guild Wars in space - in Guild Wars you chose a character, and then you chose six skills. So while you may destroy one config of ship, you would be destroyed by another. Same thing here - you mix and match to find the optimal situation. Real example: When attacking I use missiles as my medium weapon, and when I'm defending, I use mines. While only the beginning, that is depth neither SS nor CR could claim. Look at SVS SS - the league is 99% warbirds. I've suggested the idea of renting out zones - give the purchaser the server settings config, let them go hogwild, and charge accordingly. I've mentioned the idea of striking deal with internet-cafes etc (millions and millions made in countries like Philippines this way). You can even have payments for extra little things - banner? $1 a month. Score reset (between normal resets)? $1. There is a myriad of ways to potentially make money - all my !@#$%^&* friends on Facebook have at least one re!@#$%^&*ed virtual gift - a bloody *image* that cost $1 to purchase. Anyway - getting to become a long post. Sony in itself deserves its own long post - I've dealt with them a lot (I still have my freebie EQ2 plat edition + unlimited subscription somewhere around) and they are the kings of mis-management (I was given EQ2 a year after I quit that niche and had asked multiple times to be taken off their press list). The game is *alpha*. Do you remember SS 9 months into its development? I doubt it was half as impressive as it eventually became.
Slicer Posted July 22, 2007 Report Posted July 22, 2007 (edited) Bah I was wrong, Still not happy about the feel that this game steals stuff. Edited July 22, 2007 by Slicer
Gravitron Posted July 23, 2007 Report Posted July 23, 2007 Like Ahmed said, you're wrong on so many levels, but I'm not about to lecture yet another history lesson for the 1000th time.
Smong Posted July 24, 2007 Report Posted July 24, 2007 Just an update, the game is open beta now I think.
rootbear75 Posted July 25, 2007 Report Posted July 25, 2007 (edited) really.... yup:July 24, 2007 - Open Beta StartedDownload now dunno why i signed up for alpha... havent even played it lol Edited July 25, 2007 by rootbear75
Hakaku Posted July 26, 2007 Report Posted July 26, 2007 (edited) On a related note, I decided to play the beta. I gotta say, it's a lot like SubSpace, just better in some aspects (but not all) The one thing that pisses me off though, is that the ships have friction... c'mon, it's space! where's the friction coming from? It's a total drag anyways.Graphics are nice, a little bit of jittering when others lag, but it's ok otherwise. Oh, and I didn't upgrade anything, and with the basics, I totally pwnd players who were... maybe defaults are too strong, and upgrades overrated Edited July 26, 2007 by Hakaku
»doc flabby Posted July 26, 2007 Report Posted July 26, 2007 I've given it a try, was playing in the "destroy reactor" zone, found the ships frustrating in there lack of responsiveness and the way they bounced off walls, still managed to rack up some kills which isn't bad for a TW player used to 1 shot kills. The heavy weapon bouces like 4 times and then bursts, the burst is so tiny it can kill you and you die without realizing why, i found the prox kinda weird on it too. Interesting game, but the ships are frustrating to control especially with no after-burners (unless i just can't find the key), i dislike the SVS settings however, so maybe thats why I don't like it.
Synook Posted July 26, 2007 Report Posted July 26, 2007 The one thing that pisses me off though, is that the ships have friction... c'mon, it's space! where's the friction coming from? It's a total drag anyways.Lol there is very slight friction is SubSpace too at least in SVS - try it, fire your boosters, let go and wait... eventually you will slow down.
Hakaku Posted July 26, 2007 Report Posted July 26, 2007 The one thing that pisses me off though, is that the ships have friction... c'mon, it's space! where's the friction coming from? It's a total drag anyways.Lol there is very slight friction is SubSpace too at least in SVS - try it, fire your boosters, let go and wait... eventually you will slow down.yeah, but it still takes forever for you to slow down. Comparatively, in GM, it takes 1 second to go back into idle mode. Anyhow, what I thought was funny was that I entered as a noobie, didn't upgrade at all, played & easily owned ppl who played before, and cuz of my leet subspace skills I get accused of hacking
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