new game, when?

[Prez]

When we will able to try the new game?
Fabio

[Intergalactic Mole]

I feel like the whole secret prototype idea kind of went down the tubes when they ditched the separate forum and didnt move all the posts over.  Truthfully Im not all that motivated to continue discussing it with the general public, since most people just keep bringing up the same ideas over and over, and most of them dont bother searching or reading the sticky posts.

[Prez]

MMmmm,
I think that each of us has made his own idea of how the game should be done, so programmers should at least say which way the testers should propose ideas, otherwise everyone will insist in his ideas, like turn-based game or in real time, 4 players or 8 players and so on. I was left confused by the shift of the forum because of my bad English,and now I cannot find the arguments put forward ideas for discussion.
Fabio

[data2008]

I feel like the whole secret prototype idea kind of went down the tubes when they ditched the separate forum and didnt move all the posts over.  Truthfully Im not all that motivated to continue discussing it with the general public, since most people just keep bringing up the same ideas over and over, and most of them dont bother searching or reading the sticky posts.

These boards are not public, you cant see them when you are not a prototype tester.
So the same group of people who had access to the seperate forum can see the [PROTECTED] boards now,
and only them.

So the prototype discussion is not public, its the same as the seperate baord, only that you can conviniently use the same login here and we dont have to maintain two seperate baords.

I am sorry for apparently not making it clear enough and hope its clearer now.

[Prez]

Something NOT clear  I think for my limited english.

These boards are not public, you cant see them when you are not a prototype tester.

So because I have the words "Prototype tester" under my nick?

Anyway, it is not a problem, I am happy  to play only  the game.

Fabio

[data2008]

Something NOT clear  I think for my limited english.

These boards are not public, you cant see them when you are not a prototype tester.

So because I have the words "Prototype tester" under my nick?

Yes. You could try login with another account, then you wouldn't even know the protected boards exist,
because they are invisible to "normal users" (=non-prototype-testers).

[Mega Byte]

Is there any ETA on when there will be some sort of prototype to have a bash at?
I kind of feel like Intergalactic Mole on this... we spent a lot of time offering idea, and discussing, but hasn't really gone anywhere.
-S

[data2008]

While there are many different and interesting ideas so far, the key is to relate them all together to a playable prototype. Most ideas would mix rather good or bad, but from the discussion here, it seems no one has put forward a sound complete overview how the game is gonna be played.

Adding species specialities, a fifth good or even going RTS are all fine, but have to make somehow sense to roll them into one piece.

We are thinking about two ways to try:
1.
Boardgame round-based style with adding fifth player+species specials+shortened game time(+eventual fifth good)

2.
RTS version with fixed 30 min gametime

Any ideas+thoughts related to these two routes is very much welcomed.

As a timeframe, we expect the game to be released this summer.
So testing would begin as soon as we have something playable, which isn't very far from now... 

[Intergalactic Mole]

Data I think what I was trying to say is that since you moved the prototype forums here without moving the original discussions, and then told us to post our ideas in the public forums, its been a little confusing and so things kind of slowed down in the prototype forums.  I dont bother with the public ideas forum because there is too much to weed through.

[data2008]

Yeah, that is probably true.
So I suggest to post and discuss ideas into the PROTECTED forums.

I guess you are right that this is the better option for most topics related to Mule 2010.

So I hope now the function of the public/protected boards is clear and discussion starts to get more active again.

I also think by the time we present a first rough proto this will surely be the date, were discussion starts to get pretty active again  

[Jaradakar]

While there are many different and interesting ideas so far, the key is to relate them all together to a playable prototype. Most ideas would mix rather good or bad, but from the discussion here, it seems no one has put forward a sound complete overview how the game is gonna be played.

Adding species specialities, a fifth good or even going RTS are all fine, but have to make somehow sense to roll them into one piece.

We are thinking about two ways to try:
1.
Boardgame round-based style with adding fifth player+species specials+shortened game time(+eventual fifth good)

2.
RTS version with fixed 30 min gametime

Any ideas+thoughts related to these two routes is very much welcomed.

As a timeframe, we expect the game to be released this summer.
So testing would begin as soon as we have something playable, which isn't very far from now... 

I know you want to speed the game up but I think going 30mins might be too fast.  You want to have the proper pacing -- I.E. an ebb and flow of settling gaining plots of land, to the advanced stage of owning most of the planet.  I'd personally suggest starting with 1 hour.  But I suppose this is an easy variable to tweak so not a huge issue.

[data2008]

Yeah, the timer will not hard to be adjustable.
I think 30 min. could rock, playing two-three games in the time of one classic.
Of course there will be plenty of time to test it all out.

[Jaradakar]

I feel like the whole secret prototype idea kind of went down the tubes when they ditched the separate forum and didnt move all the posts over.  Truthfully Im not all that motivated to continue discussing it with the general public, since most people just keep bringing up the same ideas over and over, and most of them dont bother searching or reading the sticky posts.

Seems like it would be redundant to move all forum posts over, as we still have access to those old posts.

While it would not be a bad idea to have a "recap" post that copy/pastes all the proposed ideas into one location.

Overall my take on the two forums.

1) Public is for the masses to talk about ideas.  We has proto testers should still go to these forums to look for good ideas (along with the developers).

2) Protected forum is to talk about more specific ideas that either the developers are wanting specific feedback on, or to further talk about our own ideas along with possible ideas from the Public.  

Overall there is really not that much difference except that here we have greater visibility (to the devs), and can talk about very specific ideas that the Devs want feedback on.  While the conversation can happen in the public forum, I think it has a greater chance of diverging course, or just getting bogged down by ideas that don't really relate to what the Dev's might be asking for.  

That said, a greater number of eyes and brains is not always bad but it can force you to have to weed through the bad to find the good.   I suspect these protected forums are designed to help with that and reduce the devs time spent reading forums.

-Jara

[Intergalactic Mole]

Well said, although I don't think everyone here has the links/passwords to the old posts.  I don't even have it anymore though I don't need because I'm familiar with the old topics.  But perhaps someone can post the info here so that the newcomers can go take a gander at our initial rants.