Days since

[jwestonmoss]

469 days since Unreal Engine 5 upgrade announcement,
368 days since last devblog post,
100 days since last fake generated UE5 entropia images

As far as real talk here, I will say that a lack of communication may be my #1 relationship-management gripe about MA.

It's hard to make long term plans on our side when we don't know what the long term plans are on their side. Instead what happens is a small number of insiders managed to glean information that is used to the advantage of a few, which breeds resentment.

Just keep us up to date, address our concerns and questions.

 

[Ivo Jahrumble]

True!

A team of 3 devs is currently able to basically murder all other FPS MMOs with a simplistic aproach that appeals to the masses intead of a niche. Makes millions in 3 to 5days.

They show passion and commitment to the project. Communicating every single day and keeping the playerbase up to date daily. Reacheable through many channels and answering questions.

Put it together with a product that is simple but fun and they were able to get a gazzilion people to just say "Take my 15$ bucks".

Is there a lesson to be learned there?

 

[jwestonmoss]

True!

A team of 3 devs is currently able to basically murder all other FPS MMOs with a simplistic aproach that appeals to the masses intead of a niche. Makes millions in 3 to 5days.

They show passion and commitment to the project. Communicating every single day and keeping the playerbase up to date daily. Reacheable through many channels and answering questions.

Put it together with a product that is simple but fun and they were able to get a gazzilion people to just say "Take my 15$ bucks".

Is there a lesson to be learned there?

I get that due to the unique business model of EU the addressible market may never be tens of millions of people

However, what they might be able to do, is excite some of the old players to come back, and make current players "stickier", if you can improve retention rates then things get better. Maybe someone should start addressing those kinds of questions.

And gaining the insight is the first step

 

[atomicstorm]

As far as real talk here, I will say that a lack of communication may be my #1 relationship-management gripe about MA.

It's hard to make long term plans on our side when we don't know what the long term plans are on their side. Instead what happens is a small number of insiders managed to glean information that is used to the advantage of a few, which breeds resentment.

Just keep us up to date, address our concerns and questions.

They simply don't care or don't think they need to care. Their actions for as long as the 10 years I have been here have proven it over and over again.

You realize it's pretty easy to communicate with the player base at a reasonable level and it doesn't even need to be a full time gig. But you DO need to spend more than 1 hour a month at it. AND... they do need an understanding of the game they are representing....

 

[ProActive Mango]

We all know why Mindark cant talk about it... its the fight club rule... rule nr 1.. you dont talk about the fight club, nr 2 you dont talk about it! nr3 dont talk about the fight club!!!

Mindark cant talk about future progress cuz that might lead to some people getting an advantage over others. This has always been the case and always will be. They cant talk about future stuff because of fairness.
Sorry to say it but thats why it is.

 

[Gopher]

We all know why Mindark cant talk about it... its the fight club rule... rule nr 1.. you dont talk about the fight club, nr 2 you dont talk about it! nr3 dont talk about the fight club!!!

Mindark cant talk about future progress cuz that might lead to some people getting an advantage over others. This has always been the case and always will be. They cant talk about future stuff because of fairness.
Sorry to say it but thats why it is.

but they have talked about future stuff(that they never announced to the public) at LAN parties, so thats literally the opposite of fairness

 

[Pi-]

.

 

[jwestonmoss]

We all know why Mindark cant talk about it... its the fight club rule... rule nr 1.. you dont talk about the fight club, nr 2 you dont talk about it! nr3 dont talk about the fight club!!!

Mindark cant talk about future progress cuz that might lead to some people getting an advantage over others. This has always been the case and always will be. They cant talk about future stuff because of fairness.
Sorry to say it but thats why it is.

Problem is that's the opposite of what happens

A handful of insiders usually get a leg up anyway through their connections

If anything this levels the playing field

 

[jwestonmoss]

They simply don't care or don't think they need to care. Their actions for as long as the 10 years I have been here have proven it over and over again.

You realize it's pretty easy to communicate with the player base at a reasonable level and it doesn't even need to be a full time gig. But you DO need to spend more than 1 hour a month at it. AND... they do need an understanding of the game they are representing....

That is one thing that does surprise me. How little time it would really take.

One thing I have learned in business is that often, what you say and how you say it has a huge impact. Yes, the client does expect you to deliver the goods. But managing the relationship and keeping them up to date goes a long way towards helping them remain confident in your ability to deliver and your commitment to them.

I can think of some reasons they might not be doing it.

They might be afraid of giving tentative dates or plans, and then being held to them in a way that makes them unable to shift priorities or plans without causing community backlash. That has happened to companies before. They just need to be absolutely clear at all times that these things are subject to change.

There might be tired of asking the same questions all the time, or having to answer the same non-answerable questions with "we cannot comment on X". I think this is solved by simply not responding to those discussions that are off limits.

Some companies don't like to telegraph their long term plans for competitive advantage reasons. I can't see this being meaningful for MA currently given their total domination of this niche market.

I think it's most likely that this is being done primarily because MA doesn't see the value in it. And all I'm saying is, there is absolutely value in it, far in excess of the cost, if managed well. Roadmaps generate excitement and hype. Hype generates interest. Interest retains or attracts players. Players drive revenue. All you need to do is make a high level plan you are comfortable with, lay it out in front of us, and keep us up to date on a weekly or monthly basis.

 

[San]

You realize it's pretty easy to communicate with the player base at a reasonable level and it doesn't even need to be a full time gig. But you DO need to spend more than 1 hour a month at it. ...

All the funnier since they do hire full-time "community managers" with great fanfare and then the behaviour of every new hire changes drastically into something so terse and withdrawn you think they must have been thoroughly traumatized after having been shown what's in the cellar. Okay the latest one is out there, everywhere but here. If this brings in new people via social media, great, but then that's marketing and not community stuff. Which is not bad, since complaining about lack of marketing is also a perennial. I don't know if there are stats about the outcome of these activities specifically but steady growth is shown in the financial reports.

So this is about the constant silting-up of every started communication line from development. I know how much developers hate being bothered with having to explain themselves... they are good at something else. But that's exactly what the community manager is for, to act as a bridge. There are brilliant examples elsewhere and it's puzzling why it never works here. Maybe it really isn't seen as needed, maybe it actually isn't? A small group of players often appears to act like being an "in-group" of some sort and likes to dismiss these discussions because they already know everything there is to know while everybody else doesn't. The main drive of this game seems to be the burning aspiration to become one of them. Why bother with the trenches if you have such a money magnet?

 

[Nate Burgess]

Other games do not have the cash withdraw option and therefore all depo's into the game can go to development and expenses; EU does not have that luxury. Does MA profit? I am sure they do but not all cash that goes into the game is sales, so they have to be careful how much they take on. We often talk about retaining player but when you look at the forums you see the player running off new players with their constant negativity; read back thru this post. Imagine a new player (say months old) reading this post, if they really considered what the majority here is saying they would be smart to pack up and quit.
My suggestion: Try keeping it positive inside the forums/game and maybe morale will increase and then lead to more and more players sticking around. If you are feeling as if you are losing money then try something new or take a break from your profession.

 

[Sulje]

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ENTROPIA UNIVERSE Q2 2023

The quarter as a whole has involved several upgrades to Entropia Universe, as well as a shifted focuswithin the development teams at MindArk. This is due to the reorganization that began during Q2 andwas communicated to the market on May 30, 2023. This means that the development teams prior to thereorganization continued on the communicated plan, with a focus on both graphics and world-building forthe development of Entropia Universe in Unreal Engine 5.During the second quarter, the pre-production of our Character Customization system, armors, weapons,and related objects was completed. These elements constitute the technical foundation for the upcomingproduction in Unreal Engine 5. To facilitate future production processes and the quantity of items needed,a modular weapon system has been created, which included a re-design of parameterization and itsproperties.

This work also lays the groundwork for a smoother production phase and more varied andinteresting items in the future. Our player systems Hunting, Mining, and Crafting have passed the Proofof Concept stage and are thus ready for implementation. At the same time, the work has continued toimprove creature character behaviors and worked on integrating them with other parts of the game.During Q2, a production environment was established and the teams commenced creating the gameworld. First, the landscape was developed and created a “Greybox” of a planet in Entropia Universe, thesouthern parts of planet Calypso’s Eudoria, to visualize how this beautiful area could look like in UnrealEngine 5.The celebration of our 20th anniversary with our TWEN event and its player rewards has continued.The teams have also organized the annual anticipated summer event “Eomon Migration,” which wassuccessfully activated on June 21.Throughout the entire second quarter, we have been working on upgrading Entropia Universe bothtechnically and visually. The goal is to complete and launch these improvements in the fall of 2023. Theseupgrades are intended to enhance the gaming experience and build up to our game engine migration.During this quarter, the teams have also started delving into artificial intelligence as a tool with theaim of accelerating our development of Entropia Universe. By integrating AI technology, we see great opportunities to further enhance our products and services in the future.

 

[SoberPhil]

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ENTROPIA UNIVERSE Q2 2023

The quarter as a whole has involved several upgrades to Entropia Universe, as well as a shifted focuswithin the development teams at MindArk. This is due to the reorganization that began during Q2 andwas communicated to the market on May 30, 2023. This means that the development teams prior to thereorganization continued on the communicated plan, with a focus on both graphics and world-building forthe development of Entropia Universe in Unreal Engine 5.During the second quarter, the pre-production of our Character Customization system, armors, weapons,and related objects was completed. These elements constitute the technical foundation for the upcomingproduction in Unreal Engine 5. To facilitate future production processes and the quantity of items needed,a modular weapon system has been created, which included a re-design of parameterization and itsproperties.

This work also lays the groundwork for a smoother production phase and more varied andinteresting items in the future. Our player systems Hunting, Mining, and Crafting have passed the Proofof Concept stage and are thus ready for implementation. At the same time, the work has continued toimprove creature character behaviors and worked on integrating them with other parts of the game.During Q2, a production environment was established and the teams commenced creating the gameworld. First, the landscape was developed and created a “Greybox” of a planet in Entropia Universe, thesouthern parts of planet Calypso’s Eudoria, to visualize how this beautiful area could look like in UnrealEngine 5.The celebration of our 20th anniversary with our TWEN event and its player rewards has continued.The teams have also organized the annual anticipated summer event “Eomon Migration,” which wassuccessfully activated on June 21.Throughout the entire second quarter, we have been working on upgrading Entropia Universe bothtechnically and visually. The goal is to complete and launch these improvements in the fall of 2023. Theseupgrades are intended to enhance the gaming experience and build up to our game engine migration.During this quarter, the teams have also started delving into artificial intelligence as a tool with theaim of accelerating our development of Entropia Universe. By integrating AI technology, we see great opportunities to further enhance our products and services in the future.

Interesting! So they are doing something and some important changes are supposedly coming this year.

 

[allarom]

To facilitate future production processes and the quantity of items needed,a modular weapon system has been created, which included a re-design of parameterization and its properties.

interesting

 

[Dibbler]

Other games do not have the cash withdraw option and therefore all depo's into the game can go to development and expenses; EU does not have that luxury. Does MA profit? I am sure they do but not all cash that goes into the game is sales, so they have to be careful how much they take on. We often talk about retaining player but when you look at the forums you see the player running off new players with their constant negativity; read back thru this post. Imagine a new player (say months old) reading this post, if they really considered what the majority here is saying they would be smart to pack up and quit.
My suggestion: Try keeping it positive inside the forums/game and maybe morale will increase and then lead to more and more players sticking around. If you are feeling as if you are losing money then try something new or take a break from your profession.

WIth all due respect I have seen little negative posting on the forum, and any that existed are quickly modded.
I do see some asking things such as about communication and general worries about the game, but forum activity is quite low compared to past. When you take out the Buying/Selling threads there is very little discourse here.

I brought in a guy from another game recently, he flew through descipleship in maybe 20 or so days. Over the last couple of weeks his interest declined and he started playing another game. His reasoning when i asked was that the new game is more fun, challenging, vast and sandbox style that he likes to play, along with being pay once and play as long as you wish. He knew he should hunt for mark up and pointed mobs and mining areas to do so, but basically said if thats all he can do after the cash he put in then he rather have fun in other games for less (although he has had fun times in EU and will play time to time).

As for the thread topic....

Communication has never been a strong point of Mindark, and you are correct in past they have communicated and been blasted on forum usually when there has been a big fanfare and small delivery. Sometimes justified criticism, other times not so much.

I guess that game development often has issues or is delayed as i have seen on other platforms from EU, and sometimes i feel MA rather go quiet than openly say have been issues in development or increased lead times that were maybe short. Which being a RCE, along with recently floating on spotlight exchange i can kind of understand that they keep releases as positive as possible.... thats business.

Things will come in time.

 

[jwestonmoss]

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ENTROPIA UNIVERSE Q2 2023

The quarter as a whole has involved several upgrades to Entropia Universe, as well as a shifted focuswithin the development teams at MindArk. This is due to the reorganization that began during Q2 andwas communicated to the market on May 30, 2023. This means that the development teams prior to thereorganization continued on the communicated plan, with a focus on both graphics and world-building forthe development of Entropia Universe in Unreal Engine 5.During the second quarter, the pre-production of our Character Customization system, armors, weapons,and related objects was completed. These elements constitute the technical foundation for the upcomingproduction in Unreal Engine 5. To facilitate future production processes and the quantity of items needed,a modular weapon system has been created, which included a re-design of parameterization and itsproperties.

This work also lays the groundwork for a smoother production phase and more varied andinteresting items in the future. Our player systems Hunting, Mining, and Crafting have passed the Proofof Concept stage and are thus ready for implementation. At the same time, the work has continued toimprove creature character behaviors and worked on integrating them with other parts of the game.During Q2, a production environment was established and the teams commenced creating the gameworld. First, the landscape was developed and created a “Greybox” of a planet in Entropia Universe, thesouthern parts of planet Calypso’s Eudoria, to visualize how this beautiful area could look like in UnrealEngine 5.The celebration of our 20th anniversary with our TWEN event and its player rewards has continued.The teams have also organized the annual anticipated summer event “Eomon Migration,” which wassuccessfully activated on June 21.Throughout the entire second quarter, we have been working on upgrading Entropia Universe bothtechnically and visually. The goal is to complete and launch these improvements in the fall of 2023. Theseupgrades are intended to enhance the gaming experience and build up to our game engine migration.During this quarter, the teams have also started delving into artificial intelligence as a tool with theaim of accelerating our development of Entropia Universe. By integrating AI technology, we see great opportunities to further enhance our products and services in the future.

this was yanked from their investor report i take it?

 

[GeorgeSkywalker]

this was yanked from their investor report i take it?

Have a look at the pdf document (page 7):
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forum/index.php?threads/mindark-interim-report-q2-2023.295924/

 

[Sulje]

Some just dumped this on discord - can not confirm or deny it's entropia at all or has anything to do with it or it's purpose.

 

[SoberPhil]

Some just dumped this on discord - can not confirm or deny it's entropia at all or has anything to do with it or it's purpose.

It's from last year.

 

[GeorgeSkywalker]

Thanks for sharing haven't seen that before

 

[Msturlese]

Some just dumped this on discord - can not confirm or deny it's entropia at all or has anything to do with it or it's purpose.

increase spawn density pls

 

[Tina Walther]

Some just dumped this on discord - can not confirm or deny it's entropia at all or has anything to do with it or it's purpose.

Its gonna take a while to drill all that Melchi at the landmark

 

[LuisArkadov]

...

In my opinion, Entropia has degraded to the point where there really isn't much to do for the 'I have some money and I'm here to have some fun' player any more. Your options are to auto-click F sweat, or auto-click F gamble. That's it.

...

That's basically it for me.

All eyes on returns in %. Hardly anyone discussing the metric h/$.

Playing time bought for hard cash has gradually decreased for me since 'loot 2.0'.

That's pretty much on like for like basis. Pretty much same gear as under 1.0, somewhat longer individual hunts on somewhat smaller mobs.

400 - 600 $ per months always got me a month of playing plus some small savings here n there. A deed here and new shiny toy there.

now it's 500-1000 $ a week or max 2 with very few highlights.

After 18 months of this i finally gave up. Not gonna spend a a 10k or 20k$ lump sum to go back to losing/spending money at the same pace as under 1.0