Question: Why isn't Calypso being developed?

Thanks for this info, Hanne. Is it possible to get an update on the platform features that MindArk told you guys would be ready by end of 2010? That beaon I have in storage is growing some kind of fuzzy mold, which makes me very sad.




Lack of Calypso Storyline development:
We're adding quests in nearly every update we have, we have well over 100 quests right now that we have implemented since we released the first batch of missions in ...February? March? 2010. I believe about a third of these are storyline-driven.
We recently had the Harbinger event quite recently where we met Shelly Nakajima and dug up the Typhon. We are constantly developing the storyline, and will continue doing so.

Missing creatures (e.g. kerberos)
The Kerberos needs a redesign before we'll consider letting it back out. Right now its sharing its look with the Osseocculum, which is no good. The other missing mobs will also be reviewed and potentially re-implemented.

Special landscape features/areas e.g. Thorifoid temple
Fort Troy and the Cyclops, the Calypso Gateway, Port Atlantis and Swamp Camp remake, the Hadesheim Crater and Medusa's Head were all landscape features we've done last year. These are no small projects.
We're planning on remaking everything server by server but this takes time. We're not likely going to create a single landscape feature and just put it out in the world without any use, unless we are remaking the whole server or it is in addition for a quest. Im pretty sure the "- Non-development of towns/cities" suits under this answer as well unless you're looking to us releasing more apartments and player owned areas?
The simple answer is; we're working our way through it, but it takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is Calypso.

Bear in mind we're a 14 man team in total at FPC, and that number includes those of us who don't design either.
 
Lack of Calypso Storyline development:
We're adding quests in nearly every update we have, we have well over 100 quests right now that we have implemented since we released the first batch of missions in ...February? March? 2010. I believe about a third of these are storyline-driven.

There has been some good quests and good events but... Personally i don't consider kill 100, kill 500, kill 1000, kill 5000, kill 10000, next quest, kill 100, kill 500, kill 1000, kill 5000, kill 10000 oh and the new one kill 10000 over x maturity! anywhere near a good quest, there was some quests what we first seen when quests first started that were quests, not a mob counter and go kill seventeen thousand mobs of x thats just a little pathetic imo and not very well thought out.

yous could of at least added a bit more storyline in the quests in between the kill x amount

thats just my little rant over ;)
 
Maybe make the bat wings and angel wings allow gliding to safety or at least falling without fall damage?

Strap some Halloween bat wings or angel wings to your back and jump off a 20 story building while your friend records it. It wont hurt and you will even win a Darwin award for your outstanding services to the human gene pool :laugh:
 
Lack of Calypso Storyline development:
We're adding quests in nearly every update we have, we have well over 100 quests right now that we have implemented since we released the first batch of missions in ...February? March? 2010. I believe about a third of these are storyline-driven.
We recently had the Harbinger event quite recently where we met Shelly Nakajima and dug up the Typhon. We are constantly developing the storyline, and will continue doing so.

I knew you'd mention those. I was thinking more in terms of the big grand picture like attacking Akbal-Cimi :)

How about battling a communicable disease attack from ROCKtropia? :cool:




* * * Calypso News * * *


There have been recent reports of a rare and extremely dangerous form of contagious disease which is spreading across the Calypso landscape like wildfire. This malady is thought to have been transported here from the planet ROCKtropia on a variety of items, such as "nOoB cLuBs" and "IcE dAgGeRs". Calypsian Officials state that the Entropia Universe Monetary Authorities (MA) have pulled these items out of their ASS (Auction Shipping System) in order to prevent further spread of this horrendous illness.

However, too little too late are the actions of MA, as several Calypso residents have fallen ill to this "Calypsian Transient Disease", now known as simply CTD.

In order help find a cure for this, all individuals on Calypso are urged to hunt the Kerberos... scientists have determined that this rare beast may have special oils in a gland in its back which may be of use to combat CTD.

Prizes are being offered for every 1,000 of the beasts that are killed over the course of the next two weeks.






There ya go...
Storyline, event, AND beast re-introduction all in about an hour.


:woot:
 
Seems to me Calypso has taken a back seat again as the staff are busy developing upcoming planets for SEE e.g. planet michael.

Bear in mind we're a 14 man team in total at FPC, and that number includes those of us who don't design either.

i may have missed it, but seems this point relating to SEE has been neglected. of course Hanne cant answer directly, but it seems that SEE is taking over so whats going to happen to those 14 resources? will there be a recruitment drive, or will they be spread more thinly? the reported buyout of FPC by SEE should be of great concern to the existing player base. (and just when will the buyer be announced)
 
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I think we'd just like to see stuff finished. Like ahhh the Egg.... The Areana on the asteroid. No offense but the last event sucked storywise and could have been wayyy better. All it was, was a couple limited time mobs.

They're was so much going on with the intital story of what happened in the robot war. Like it's been 7 years and we still havn't figured out what exactly made the robots go nuts.

When i seen that harbinger i was like oh maybe they where some race of people that turned the robots agaist us or something cool like that and they would be an new enemy race.

I remember the days we used to raid the umbra camps and stuff like that, do they even exist anymore?
 
How about battling a communicable disease attack from ROCKtropia? :cool:




* * * Calypso News * * *


There have been recent reports of a rare and extremely dangerous form of contagious disease which is spreading across the Calypso landscape like wildfire. This malady is thought to have been transported here from the planet ROCKtropia on a variety of items, such as "nOoB cLuBs" and "IcE dAgGeRs". Calypsian Officials state that the Entropia Universe Monetary Authorities (MA) have pulled these items out of their ASS (Auction Shipping System) in order to prevent further spread of this horrendous illness.

However, too little too late are the actions of MA, as several Calypso residents have fallen ill to this "Calypsian Transient Disease", now known as simply CTD.

In order help find a cure for this, all individuals on Calypso are urged to hunt the Kerberos... scientists have determined that this rare beast may have special oils in a gland in its back which may be of use to combat CTD.

Prizes are being offered for every 1,000 of the beasts that are killed over the course of the next two weeks.






There ya go...
Storyline, event, AND beast re-introduction all in about an hour.


:woot:

Dear Chrome,
You are exhibiting thoughts that resemble inventiveness ....We feel it only right to warn you that this behavior will not be tolerated on planet Calypso!!
You know very well right that we deal in major events that end...or kinda end...kinda...well you know....
Otherwise you must kill 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000 of the mob....
Independent emergencies (or ideas) will not be tolerated on Planet Calypso. Independent thought or ideas that may lead to enjoyment by other participants in Entropia Universe surely lay outside of the EULA.... (if not give us 48 hours to rectify.....or maybe 96....we have people on vacation...we're sure you understand. :) )
If you continue to show this sort of independent thought outside of the "collective" we will see no other option than to lock your account. Please refrain from passing on viable ideas that may hold merit for the future survival of Planet Calypso....

Best Regards
Support.
 
Lack of Calypso Storyline development:
We're adding quests in nearly every update we have, we have well over 100 quests right now that we have implemented since we released the first batch of missions in ...February? March? 2010. I believe about a third of these are storyline-driven.
We recently had the Harbinger event quite recently where we met Shelly Nakajima and dug up the Typhon. We are constantly developing the storyline, and will continue doing so.

Missing creatures (e.g. kerberos)
The Kerberos needs a redesign before we'll consider letting it back out. Right now its sharing its look with the Osseocculum, which is no good. The other missing mobs will also be reviewed and potentially re-implemented.

Special landscape features/areas e.g. Thorifoid temple
Fort Troy and the Cyclops, the Calypso Gateway, Port Atlantis and Swamp Camp remake, the Hadesheim Crater and Medusa's Head were all landscape features we've done last year. These are no small projects.
We're planning on remaking everything server by server but this takes time. We're not likely going to create a single landscape feature and just put it out in the world without any use, unless we are remaking the whole server or it is in addition for a quest. Im pretty sure the "- Non-development of towns/cities" suits under this answer as well unless you're looking to us releasing more apartments and player owned areas?
The simple answer is; we're working our way through it, but it takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is Calypso.

Bear in mind we're a 14 man team in total at FPC, and that number includes those of us who don't design either.
I cant imagine how complex this work actually must be( i mean it Really) i have a planet partner app but i dont plan on using it because i just found out the partners cant play....( That Really Suxxx) I Design Video Games and Program Video Games so i believe hanne when she says this takes alot of work... Imagine playing a Game like Fallout Vegas but every person or npc is actually another player.. im starting to wonder if people that play EU understand the Complexity of an entire Virtual World...Yes i must say we could use some story or more missions But us as the Players here in EU can go to the SOC terminal and Make a Socitey.. why cant we have a person or a society that will build up a story line for poeple to play...Another wise Again... "Fallout Vegas" has mission people you talk to to get a quest. well.. how about some of us "REAL" people start making and giving Quest Out..Well My Computer is Broken but i will Have no Problem making up Quest for players while i wait on my parts i also have things to do with my soc but i plan on doing alot to help us as players have fun, and ofc im still learning alot about the game itself.. But i Myself think we should give FPC a Break and Appreciate the fact Hanne is even talkin to us. lol MA Dosnt Say Shit and it Irritates me but they sure were quick to send me my planet partner app when i wrote my long ass proposal lol
 
i Myself think we should give FPC a Break and Appreciate the fact Hanne is even talkin to us.

Appreciate???
Pffft, gimme a break...frankly Hanne is paid to talk to us....lol
Skam would always say what she thought, that's why she was so respected within the community....
Hanne says what she's paid to say.
I don't wish her job on anyone, she's in a shit spot........but she also chose it ;)

But pretty sure she knew what she was in for when she signed up....:laugh:
 
The planet that is going to "win" will be the planet that develops the infrastructure in preparation for the future.

This means designing cities WITH apartments/estates and other functional features that a city should have. This would include an auction house, the common terminals and storage unit, shops, an area well laid out for street trading, and a central teleporter.

These cities should be designed in such a way that maximizes efficiency for the player, and doesn't require too much foot travel to get to any one destination. It shouldn't be about beauty, but ease of access to the player. The best example I've seen on Calypso would be Omegaton West, but even that could use some work. It is a fairly empty city. There isn't much of a reason to be there unless you have an apartment or are going for the shops.

Compare this with the new Port Atlantis, which is a beautiful city, and has a lot of players there because of the arrival zone and nearby swamp camps, but is HIGHLY inefficient. Too much unnecessary running around, the teleporter is in a terrible position, tall buildings that serve little to no purpose (other than to commit suicide...), and I haven't been there recently, but it didn't appear there was a good place to set up to do much street trading.

The first planet partner that manages to design their cities around the player, by giving them the tools they need and access nearby to activities they want to do, and not what some 3d modeler thinks would look cool, will take the title as the dominant planet in the Entropia Universe.
 
Compare this with the new Port Atlantis, which is a beautiful city, and has a lot of players there because of the arrival zone and nearby swamp camps, but is HIGHLY inefficient. Too much unnecessary running around, the teleporter is in a terrible position, tall buildings that serve little to no purpose (other than to commit suicide...), and I haven't been there recently, but it didn't appear there was a good place to set up to do much street trading.

I like the new PA a lot. No matter how many times they redesign it, they can't make everyone happy.
 
Compare this with the new Port Atlantis, which is a beautiful city, and has a lot of players there because of the arrival zone and nearby swamp camps, but is HIGHLY inefficient. Too much unnecessary running around, the teleporter is in a terrible position, tall buildings that serve little to no purpose (other than to commit suicide...), and I haven't been there recently, but it didn't appear there was a good place to set up to do much street trading.

PA is in my opinion a big fail due to its setup being well realy crap yet I love the looks. Remember the press reliese they said something about PA becoming one of the trade hub cities well It hasnt come even close to pre VU10 even though there is an exilent trading spot most traders still use Twins. I cant understand why on calypso the main and first city of calypso isnt a main traiding hub. Currently newbs come into an almost abandoned game with just newbs around and a few older players giving basic advice while if the newbs want to sell something they have to work thier way to Twins or accept the auction fees so most just TT. Try running to twins without the help of armor or vehicles and you will see its damn near imposible for a newb to get there without help from the comunity. If I started to play the game now I would end up selling everything to the TT and probably quit within the first few days due to the game just feeling abandoned and void of any reachable traders. If PA becomes a central trading spot (and ffs not new arivals TP its far away from any terminals) more newbs will stay for longer due to better initial impressions of the comunity and economy of the game.
 
I have to agree with Karma. PA should be a trading hub. Problem is most buyers have settled into Twins. This is not a problem that can be fixed by FPC. PA should be a trading hub, so the traders have to go there. I would offer to help but I have found myself spending less and less time on Calypso. The best I can do to help is to say that when I do return to Calypso I will try to sell and buy anything I need in PA.
 
How about battling a communicable disease attack from ROCKtropia? :cool:




* * * Calypso News * * *


There have been recent reports of a rare and extremely dangerous form of contagious disease which is spreading across the Calypso landscape like wildfire. This malady is thought to have been transported here from the planet ROCKtropia on a variety of items, such as "nOoB cLuBs" and "IcE dAgGeRs". Calypsian Officials state that the Entropia Universe Monetary Authorities (MA) have pulled these items out of their ASS (Auction Shipping System) in order to prevent further spread of this horrendous illness.

However, too little too late are the actions of MA, as several Calypso residents have fallen ill to this "Calypsian Transient Disease", now known as simply CTD.

In order help find a cure for this, all individuals on Calypso are urged to hunt the Kerberos... scientists have determined that this rare beast may have special oils in a gland in its back which may be of use to combat CTD.

Prizes are being offered for every 1,000 of the beasts that are killed over the course of the next two weeks.






There ya go...
Storyline, event, AND beast re-introduction all in about an hour.


:woot:

thoes items are from ni not rt.
 
AH! The Egg ... oops wrong topic or is it ? :D
 
PA should be a trading hub. Problem is most buyers have settled into Twins. This is not a problem that can be fixed by FPC.

I disagree. I think PA could quite easily be a trading hub, and that FPC could do something about it, if they chose to make it a priority.

There were a number of reasons why PA was a great place for trading pre-VU10. The new arrivals zone was a big part of it, as there were always players coming in, and other players waiting to meet them to pick up a new disciple. Swamp camp was not far from PA, just a short 2 or 3 minute run. But since the swamp only had the most basic terminals (TT/Revive/Repair), it forced players to come back to PA to visit the storage or the auctioneer. The trading that was done there was centered around the teleport, so it was easy to arrive to town and quickly see what people were buying and selling. If you were running in from out of town, you couldn't really avoid running past the TP area where people were shouting. There were also some good landmarks (@Statue, @Boxes, @Benches, @W Wall) one could stand next to that allowed players to be found quickly.

What always made Twin viable is that there were a lot of players hunting Argos in the area that were coming and going, and then of course the ever popular PVP ring. Those things haven't really changed for Twin.

But PA got changed up a lot. Swamp was moved further away and got it's own full service center. This kept players at the swamp, and not coming back to town. It took awhile to get the new arrival zone going again, and was moved further from the TP. Not to mention the removal of the mentoring system, which eliminated the motivation for some to pick up disciples. The people that just genuinely wanted to help out and didn't care about the gift now have access to the gateway, so they don't even meet players at PA anymore. FPC also took away all of the good landmarks to stand at, so you couldn't easily distinguish yourself from everyone else that was shouting. People started out trading at PA when VU10 was first introduced, just because it was previously a popular spot, but slowly, everyone moved to Twin as it was just a busier place.

With the reinvention of PA, they got a few things right. Lots of missions centered around town keep players running in the area. Also the removal of the full service center in the swamp keeps players coming back in to visit the auctioneer (they can still access the storage out at the swamp, however). They also put a service center area that is RIGHT next to the TP, which I thought was a nice touch.

But where they failed was the general layout of the town. Too many stairs to run up and down for absolutely no reason other than aesthetics. I get annoyed running through the town because it takes too long to get anywhere. It was pretty at first, but now I've seen it, and I just want to get where I'm going. Then the main TP is up on a ledge that is difficult to access and is far away from traffic. And then in the area of the TP, there really isn't any landmarks to help distinguish players.

Given all that, it's easier for traders to just stick to Twin. But it's the design and placement of the town that determines where players go. If it's designed in such a way that funnels players where you want them to go, you could absolutely create a trading area. Traders go where their message will get heard by the most people. If you create it so that a lot of people will be running through, the traders will find their way there...
 
I think FPC should currently focus completely at redesigning PA into a truly new player and trader friendly town. Center everything (Mall, Bank, Terminals, Mission buildings [Not Newbie missions]) around a central TP with clear landmarks (like statues, benches, walls, radar,boxes ...) with the new arrivals and newbie missions just away from the TP. Redisigning PA to be a true trade hub will pay of in retention of new arrivals. If not then go ahead and intreduse more useless stuff make more unimportant land masses look better and lose some more of your old player base to other planets while not retaining most of the new players. Dont tell me that not one of the comunity managers that usualy chat to us in PA has nether realised that the town sucks bigtime and no traders use it.
 
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Imo TWin was also a better trading place pre VU10. Atleast i sold most of my stuff there instead of PA
 
thoes items are from ni not rt.

Thanks for the correction...

I wouldn't know, as I have yet to visit either place. :smoke:

(Story with correction would still work, though...)
 
she could be relocated to the mexican outsourcers any minute :D

feel free to fly me to mehico any time mate! hell ill even work a few hours a day if you get me there ;)
 
Frankly I don't think the statement "nothing happened/happens" in regard to Calypso's development is true; as Hanne pointed out, things do happen. The true issue as I see it is: a certain lack of communication.

I would personally like to see a well structured Thread with what's going on regarding different projects. Something along the lines:
PROJECT KERBEROS
  • Start date: March 01, 2010
  • End date: June 01, 2011
  • Priority: Medium
  • Milestones: Design, Animation, Balancing
  • Where we are: Design completed, working on phase 1 of the Animation. Target Date: Nov 01 2010.
  • Last Updated: Sep 15, 2010

To be clear, it would be overkill to do this for every little change but it will definitely be a good thing for larger projects. And when targets are not reached, some reasons will go a long way (i.e. bug xyz fixed; MM preparation etc.)
Hanne is doing a better job then what we used to have in the past, that's for sure. But it can be improved :D.

By doing something like this, a lot of problems will be solved, including but not limited to, when and why.

Also, as many other pointed out, I'd like to see more community involvement with a few things that we may be able to help: design, storyline, testing patches etc.

Cheers.
 
Smoerble: I think you are seriously underestimating the resources and time it takes to create content to a game.

I am not meaning to sound defensive on this, please don't perceive it as such as the reason I involve myself here is because its an interesting discussion; let me for a moment speak as a gamer with an opinion and not your Community Manager. :)

Having been an avid gamer myself for years, in many different MMO's included, I can mention very few games that actually have such an every-changing story that you describe where leaving for 1 month will have drastically changed the storyline, and that during your presence in the game you'll always feel like something about to happen.

Typically, the storyline-events in large MMO's are "seasonal events", and usually if you don't take part you don't notice any difference when you get back. Now, wait a year and its usually some change, or maybe you even have to wait 2-3 years. In the traditional MMO styles you'd have to wait for a full expansion to be released to see any storyline-development.

Of course the ever-changing feeling is the holy grail for MMO's, it is what we want! Both players and developers want this, it would be exciting to play and it would be exciting to develop! But its also very resource-demanding to create such content.

Remember how it felt to be on this side of the universe.

Entropia was Entropia because of the towns, the designs of the landscape, the love of detail. Its all gone and you write that Taming, Mentoring, real RPG Quests, the re-creation of all towns/servers, bringing back the original design and adding love of detail is like a "Mission Impossible" for the Team-17 ahem 14. As Einstein wrote, this way you will not finish the things mentioned above until CE7 is getting introduced.

The "new content every 4 weeks" already died long ago. No problem. :S

But its also about how new content gets introduced and old stuff getting removed.

-1st golden wedding ring ?

-Atrox Egg ?

-Gigantic Sports Stadium ?

-A golf course ? (that got removed)

-Vehicles from the 80s ?

-Medusas head ? :S

-The argonaut/umbranoid event was nothing else then todays quests or robot attacks. Go and kill as much as possible !

The last lovely introduced thing I remember was the Dr. Roman Ram Story or maybe Dr. Barton. I enjoyed those and even took part in it (because it was done right, even if it was "Go and kill Atrox"). :O


I know most was before your time at FPC, but Entropia is a history repeating. And I think you know that. =)
 
Oh and for the MJ Planet...

...now that FPC got bought/joined-ventured by SEE...priority hopefully wont be put on MJ...well, we will SEE...
 
(excuse me if it has already been posted, but I was too bored to really read the whole thread because I ready just the FPC answers before that)

Does anybody remember how the new mission system was advertised and how "powerful" and versatile it is ?
Ok the first storyline mission I thought, they are not yet that polished and will eveolve to better ones, but right now, I do not see any improvement.
The grind missions are a nice addition to the normal grind, but sadly right now I am really not in a grind mood and willing to spent ny money on something I can immerse myself in .
Ok, maybe I could go to another planet for that, but since there is no in the sci-fi genre, for me it means to look into other games, which again means even though I do not spend any money on them, I can't be arsed to log in EU.

Not really, that I do not want to, but I am out of the grinding routine and would appreciate a bit more value for my money and time.
And the storyline right now is absolutely non-existant, after over a year of mission system there could have been done a great deal and nothing happened.
 
From what Pioneer said about the mission system after MM it may not be as versatile as we were led to believe. They aparently need a vu to create new missions which seems a little strange :scratch2: surely it would be better to have a system where a PP could add missions without the need of MA or are these also held in our local cache?

When you compare it to FO3 or FONV the mission system is extremely basic, partly because there's no script engine for npc's, they can do speech responses and thats about it. Ultimately it's led to a dead end continue making new grind-a-thon missions or A to B style :(
 
Oh and for the MJ Planet...

...now that FPC got bought/joined-ventured by SEE...priority hopefully wont be put on MJ...well, we will SEE...

What planet you see when you go here? Hope this answers your questions. ;)
 
What planet you see when you go here? Hope this answers your questions. ;)

You know, I wondered that too :)

EDIT: By the way, how did that planet get past the whole "not promoting illegal activities" ideal? :)
 
Does anybody remember how the new mission system was advertised and how "powerful" and versatile it is ?

Its just the usual marketing BS.
The same way that half the new FPS titles have "highly advanced" AI and some new "revolutionary" mechanics.
 
So much silence also again from FPC's part ...
When Hanne started with the latest buzz posts on the gateway I thaught it was a really good idea to keep the community up to date ... unfortunately it didn't last.
Now we seem to be again in the ignore mode ...

Too sad :(
 
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