Phoenix Project update 283. Really?

[Snarky]

Even as a member of the centuries old undead community I have to say this timeline seems a tad bit drawn out.

[Greycat]

Still going faster than Duke Nukem Forever.

[PeregrineFalcon]

1 hour ago, Greycat said:

Still going faster than Duke Nukem Forever.

Duke Nukem Forever was eventually released though. Soooo... it at least has that over Phoenix Project.

[High_Beam]

What does this even mean?  Seriously My search fu reveals nothing that would seem to match this thread of conversation.

[lemming]

On a tangent, I had forgotten that Project Phoenix from Chimara and Phoenix Program during vietnam existed.

[Scarlet Shocker]

I gave up on the Phoenix project years ago, despite supporting it initially.

 

[Skyhawke]

City of Titans, right?

[Snarky]

1 hour ago, High_Beam said:

What does this even mean?  Seriously My search fu reveals nothing that would seem to match this thread of conversation.

Back when CoH folded a CoH community solicited donations (I think they got 75.00 from me) and raked in a ton.  Ever since they send a sporadic “update” to my email.  I think (according to them) you can now wander about a zone and use fireball, punch, or kick on any enemy you find.  Though they admit the enemies are very very few.  In 283 emails that is all I have read.  
 

When they send the 1,000th email I plan to unleash a horde of zombies on whatever hole they call HQ.   It has to be done

[Techwright]

13 minutes ago, Snarky said:

When they send the 1,000th email I plan to unleash a horde of zombies on whatever hole they call HQ.   It has to be done

 

So it's a tower defense game? 😉

[Snarky]

2 minutes ago, Techwright said:

 

So it's a tower defense game? 😉

No…it is supposed to be the new CoH lol.  But on e I unleash the zeds? Sure, tower defense 

[OldManMercy]

It's like the Star Citizen of the hero game genre.

[High_Beam]

Oh City of Titans

 

[Without_Pause]

I already posted my thoughts in the Video Games section of the forum. Note, I had forgotten I was subscribed to their email newsletter. That's how long there has been in terms of an email update. The email incredibly implied the game was done even though it is not. I'm still baffled by the fact they don't have genuine detailed monthly updates. I have backed a number of crowd funding items and monthly updates are the norm. I'm a software developer. I have to give updates at least once a week on any project I am on. I've done daily updates.

 

Fun fact. You could have backed CoT at $50 a decade ago. You can now get BG3 for $59.99.

 

 

[Snarky]

56 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

I already posted my thoughts in the Video Games section of the forum. Note, I had forgotten I was subscribed to their email newsletter. That's how long there has been in terms of an email update. The email incredibly implied the game was done even though it is not. I'm still baffled by the fact they don't have genuine detailed monthly updates. I have backed a number of crowd funding items and monthly updates are the norm. I'm a software developer. I have to give updates at least once a week on any project I am on. I've done daily updates.

 

Fun fact. You could have backed CoT at $50 a decade ago. You can now get BG3 for $59.99.

 

 

What is great is that they are now asking for more money.  These people have to be headquartered in Port Oakes.  Marconeville I am thinking 

[Greycat]

1 minute ago, Snarky said:

What is great is that they are now asking for more money.  These people have to be headquartered in Port Oakes.  Marconeville I am thinking 

 

Development's not cheap. *shrug* And I don't think any of them *really* knew what they were getting into. (Didn't they pretty much have to start over from scratch some years into it?)

 

Yeah, I threw money at them back when they started, too, and expected it to be later than *they* thought it would be (like "I'll be playing this or beta-ing it in 5 years") but... *shrug*

 

And ... no, this far in I don't expect monthly updates. I'd expect those closer to release. Quarterly, maybe.

[Snarky]

8 minutes ago, Greycat said:

 

Development's not cheap. *shrug* And I don't think any of them *really* knew what they were getting into. (Didn't they pretty much have to start over from scratch some years into it?)

 

Yeah, I threw money at them back when they started, too, and expected it to be later than *they* thought it would be (like "I'll be playing this or beta-ing it in 5 years") but... *shrug*

 

And ... no, this far in I don't expect monthly updates. I'd expect those closer to release. Quarterly, maybe.

I think these folks are giving it to the donors annually….

[Without_Pause]

6 hours ago, Greycat said:

Development's not cheap.

I think they used the graphic engine they did due to its low cost. They are still asking for $50 to access the game. At normal pricing, you can get the base game of GW2 and two expansions for that. Lets set aside the state of the game currently after all this time. Based on current trends, they would need to see a significant influx of talent to keep players around by adding content at a reasonable fashion, and they still have to pay the current talent as a reward for even getting it too being at a Live state. And again, this is all just to create the world. They haven't even hit the difficult part in terms of powers, animations, balancing, and bugs.

[PeregrineFalcon]

Hey, whatever happened to the other Plan Z game that Golden Girl was trying to build? Is that still being worked on?

[JasperStone]

6 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Hey, whatever happened to the other Plan Z game that Golden Girl was trying to build? Is that still being worked on?

Ship of Heroes?

Think in Beta or whatnot.

Playable and on Steam, but not officially released.

I think

[Without_Pause]

2 hours ago, JasperStone said:

Ship of Heroes?

Think in Beta or whatnot.

Playable and on Steam, but not officially released.

I think

Nope. I think GG's game died in a whimper. I would look at the message boards of the spin-offs and GG's had the lowest amount of postings on there. Oddly enough years after CoH died I saw a user named Golden Girl on a different gaming platform's forum, and I still think it's her. 

[Black Talon]

While, like many others here, I was doing the finger-crossing bit and hoping hoping HOPING that at least one of the post-Shutdown projects would come to fruition, I never had enough faith in any of them to commit funds.  The primary reason being, as I've brought up before, the companies were crewed entirely by volunteers, and rare is the instance in which any such venture results in a completed work, especially when it stretches over a multi-year gestation span.  People get tired, get bored, get irritated with one another...and sooner or later they zip out, leaving a hole in the production chain that logjams the work until somebody is found who can fill the gap, at least halfway competently.  And then someone else bugs out and the entire cascade failure starts again.

 

My approach to those various experiments has been, and remains, one of admiration and sympathy for those who initiated the projects...and condolence and pity for those who committed themselves to supporting their development.  Pretty much all of these will become, "Whatever happened to...?" five-paragraph news articles in online gaming publications, congratulating the original teams and giving the slow, sad shake of the head for how things turned out in the end.  Let's all just thank those who managed to resurrect CoX, and gave us a reason to be able to look at those other works with genuine sadness and compassion while we work our guys and girls toward 50, rather than uttering the slow sigh and looking off into the distance, whispering, "If only..."

[Yoru-hime]

I supported CoT knowing it was a long-shot but willing to take a risk and wanting to show support for the idea of superhero games as a whole. My expectations were low not because I felt it was somehow shady or the people involved wouldn't do the best job they reasonably could but because a piece of software like this is just such a vast undertaking. Developing an MMO is a major challenge even for an established, well-funded game studio, but for a dispersed group of moonlighters and volunteers, many of whom had never worked on a project anywhere near this scale? I'm impressed that they're still functioning and have gotten as far as they have. I'm still skeptical they'll reach a full release, of course, much less the sort of sustained post-release development that an MMO audience expects, but I wish them the best in their efforts.

 

IIRC, I think Golden Girl's project was called Heroes & Villains. If there's any evidence of it left online, I can't find it.

[Greycat]

On 11/23/2023 at 8:41 AM, Without_Pause said:

Nope. I think GG's game died in a whimper. I would look at the message boards of the spin-offs and GG's had the lowest amount of postings on there. Oddly enough years after CoH died I saw a user named Golden Girl on a different gaming platform's forum, and I still think it's her. 

 

GG's ... thing.... was Heroes and Villains, which I'm pretty sure imploded fast. Ship of heroes is something else.

[Scarlet Shocker]

I think GG's Heroes and Villains kind of faded away a couple of years after sunset.

 

Ship of Heroes had a live demo on Steam very recently. It looks mostly ok, but I felt the play was clunky - and the base idea did very little for me. Apparently the environment is a giant space ship and you're a hero on it fighting various aliens. Kinda like an Avengers/Babylon 5 crossover. I think they were a team of modders who enjoyed CoH on live and decided to have a crack themselves.

 

There was another successor the name of which escapes me - they had to also radically alter their game but I don't think they got far after that. Valiant or something? I may be doing them a disservice but I haven't heard from them for an age either.

[Snokle]

2 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

There was another successor the name of which escapes me - they had to also radically alter their game but I don't think they got far after that. Valiant or something? I may be doing them a disservice but I haven't heard from them for an age either.

 

Valiance Online is the third /fourth game that was spun out of CoX. I think it has gone the furthest out of the major three spin-offs, and seems to have the most focus. I can be wrong about this, as I only really look into them once every 3-6 months if I remember them.