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Sure, but whose going to provide the server to accomodate that? You, or us?"
Acclaim will provide servers and bandwidth. Top Secret community will help with testing if desired.
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Then again that aspect seems to be up to you as the developer(s)
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You are pretty much right.
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IMO 12 month isn´t time enough to develop a complete MMORPG, the average time for a commercial MMORPG its 4 years..."
The requirements are for a beta version at first thewinning team would continue to work on the game. We are thinking on either move the date further or scale it down a bit, but please don't quote me on that one yet.
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As for the competition, I've spent some time reading over it all; checking out the concept artwork. I can see that it seems to have been put together by people with a somewhat limited understanding on how these things are done. Still I guess if this is some sort of community effort, sponsored by GameSpy's ModCenter it would make sense that it is only slightly influenced by professional factors. In-fact if I had to guess, I'd say those in-charge are ex(or current)-gameplay testers."
That's the whole idea behind it it isa community project we all are learning. I have no previous experience in game dev/design myself. I'm just REGULAR member of community (even though now member of Advisory Board). However we are closely being watched by David Perry (and I believe he knows what and how things have to be done) and his team and have regular teamspeak meeting with him. In case you don't know David Perry check him up on wiki or linkedin. He is creator of Earthworm Jim, MDK, Sacred, and few Matrix titles. Howard Marks (Acclaim CEO) is former CEO of Activision.
Quote: "Although if the old Acclaim CEO is involved in this, would hazard a guess this would probably be somewhere in the region of 15-20% returns. That said without knowing the projected returns from advertisement/in-game purchases, etc. it's difficult to say what you could expect. Could be anything from a few pence per click that GoogleAds offer, to a few thousand dollars per month from a McDonalds placement advert. "
This is brend new Acclaim. Howard Marks purchased just the Acclaim's name to form Acclaim Games in 2006.
Quote: "As for the competition itself, I have some confusion about what the actual wants conserning it are. Is it basically an open development process, as in a Community Project that those who shine the most are hand-picked to move on to the full 12month term development cycle? or is the development team the one that comes up with the most promising alpha/beta test application against all of the others?"
It might be little bit confusing I know. There were 3 contests at the same time (1 was closed last friday-it was with DAZ3D about some 3D models competition). The other 2 contests are:
1. Is the overall contest that runs throughout the whole peoject. And the person ho shines the most will win to become director of next game published by Acclaim with full dupportfrom Acclaim and David Perry.
2. Is this developer contest. That is tomake this game that is being designed by our community. Winning team will receive prizes I was talking about earlier and will get contracted by Acclaim tofinish and support the game. So in your words the best alpha/beta team gets to finish the game.
Quote: "Really this aspect is the real part of confusion for me, because some of the things that have been said would lead me to believe there is a full-time development team that controls what goes on and scenario 1 would be the case; but then other things particularly throughout the design document would suggest that you're looking to hire a development team."
There is no other dev team watching, this contest will reveal the dev team.
Quote: "I guess both scenarios could realistically be correct, and you're just looking to buff out you're development team with the most promising team from all the best participents. Although it would be quite difficult if everyone is global when it comes to the full development term without a set standard wage; rather than royalties post-release. (which means 12months without the potencial of being paid past the small sum that would end up shared amongst however many people won a placement). This aspect of the competition really needs to be far more clear, atleast as far as I'm conserned. Until then I firmly believe many of the more talented developers here will be fairly skeptical of the intentions."
From the rules:"The winning development team will also get industry standard royalties
+ cash advances from Acclaim based on all revenue sources for this title, for as long as they stay committed to supporting the game." ANd like you said I'm urging dp's team to clarify more things and as we speak they are working on adding FAQ to the rules. ANd I REALLY apreciate the feedback from all ofyou guys and when you check the FAQ most of these questions and concerns will be addressed there.
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well the returns don't really show it being financially viable enough for that. [/quote] If this could help a bit Acclaim released 4 free games so far with same revenue model. I believe the player base is somewhere around 3 mil players (might not be acurate) and growing.
In case there are some individuals interested and have no team. Don't let that stop you. One of my other things on my list is to be a match-maker and provide teams we already have with help if desired. Plus you ould really get support from community. Trust me If i say lots of them been asking inpatiently when they can start helping.
