Utopia Classic Developers’ Update 13th May
Brian and Sean are answering questions posed in the threads about previous blogs this week. Please use this thread to add comments:
Hi All,
OK, so the last couple of blog posts have been short on information. We want to be able to tell you about exciting developments every week, but sometimes programming isn’t as glamourous as it’s cracked up to be. Rest assured though, when we’re quiet we’re working hardest. We still blog every week though, just in case the more paranoid among you (you know who you are) fear that we’ve run off to Bermuda with your account sitting money.
We’ve answered your questions below. We may not be able to answer every question every week, but we’ll do our best.
DHaran: Will you be as terrible as Roisin with a flood of insanely ridiculous changes all in one round? Will you actually put a bit of thought into the impact of changes before throwing them in for kicks?
We intend to use Genesis as a testing ground for future changes to WoL. Changes that do not work on Genesis are unlikely to make it onto WoL. This should mean less “insanely ridiculous changes”. We’ll put lots of thought into the changes, yes.
DHaran: Will you actually acknowledge the presence of bugs when reported and let us know they are being worked on, instead of ignoring us for several days like the current system? I really don’t want to have to PM Lydias for every stupid bug.
All bug reports will be first triaged through community support. Once confirmed, each bug will be handled by us directly and we will update the submitter with the bug status.
DHaran: Will you listen to the MANY people pointing out flaws in the trading system and actually try to improve it? For example, my activation email still has the username of the previous player’s account that I traded into 2 ages ago. So using that email, nubs will try logging in with wrong info.
The whole trading system has been redesigned and is being rewritten and the above scenario is no longer possible.
DHaran: Will you make an attempt to not suck as much as the rest of OMAC at running this game? If UC is going to be your baby, then don’t be crackhead parents who try selling the baby for dope. A little nourishment and attention would be lovely.
We know what you really want is a stable, exciting and vibrant utopia managed by a team that cares. We’re doing our best to create that and deliver it to you as soon as possible. Over the last few months we’ve blogged every week, we’ve done an extensive interview with uTimes.org and we’re answering your questions right now. We can’t release the game yet, code takes time, but hopefully you see some evidence that we’re working on it and we do care.
Catwalk: Are there any long-term plans for the game?
In our first blog post we said that we want to attract new players and bring back old players. This still stands. We want to grow the player base. The question is how do we go about doing that and of course there are many answers (e.g. advertising, kill bugs, introduce new features, add graphics, remove graphics, game variations, stop cheaters, create mobile versions, create facebook version etc. etc…). In each case we’d all be better served with a game written using modern techniques which can deliver a game that looks good, remains stable and provides a solid foundation for future features. This is why the focus is on the immediate plan of rewriting the game. Details of the next set of plans will be decided upon and revealed to you all after this release.
Catwalk: When did you (Brian & Sean) get involved with this game, and are you playing it?
February 09. Yes, we both play the game.
Catwalk: Now that it is obvious that UK (Utopia Kingdoms, aka Fake Utopia) bears no resemblance to Utopia other than the name, will you reconsider changing Utopia’s name to Utopia Classic?
No final decision has been made. It’s been referred to (by us) as Utopia Classic, but when released it may have a different name. Feel free to make suggestions.
Catwalk: Will the guide be improved or left as is?
The guide will not be changed in time for the release of the rewrite. Longer term, we do intend to improve it, yes.
Catwalk: (re. NOT putting pay-to-win features into Utopia Classic) We were told something similar about Fake Utopia. It’s been a month since that interview, anything you’d care to share?
It’s going to stay the same as it is currently. We’re going to put in new premium features down the line, but there won’t be any “pay-to-win” nonsense. That was our reply in the Utimes.org interview and it remains valid today.
Catwalk: Will you be answering questions we ask here, or is the comments section just for entertainment?
We may not be able to answer every question every week, but we’ll do our best.
tzar: Have they decided who’s doing the alpha/beta testing yet?
No, we’ll announce to everyone when this has been done. Thanks to everyone who has volunteered.
There were also some general comments about our involvement with the community. We do understand the desire for us to communicate with you more, that is what this blog is all about. We hope that answering your questions today is a step in the right direction. Obviously we know IRC is popular among some of you, but we don’t feel that our time is best served split between programming, blogging and chatting on IRC. For the moment we’re providing the one place where everyone/anyone can read our posts and comment if they so wish.
Brian and Sean