Hello, i was a huge advocate for Tremulous originally, and have played since Gloom. I love this game with all my heart and I've done extensive research on Tremulous 2. I think you guys are putting serious effort in and i applaud that, but there is so much that the developers have in the open and missing.

1. Original Direction.
I'm so glad that you are staying true to tremulous, but will the game have the same pace as the original? are there any gameplay tests? we've seen models but i have yet to see one SECOND of game play. which makes me worry, since that was the most important (And most difficult to create, especially with UDK's system) component of the game. Before i'd personally donate a cent, and most other sensible people would as well, i'd like to see the mechanics and gameplay so i know what game i'm buying, instead of expecting you to make it what i want. Your current and only backers see the name "Tremulous" and expect it to be the same game by the same people. These are the kind of people (No Offense...) that lack the amount of knowledge about advertising and understanding how so far this looks like a Vaporware gimmick. First rule of Crowdfunding a video game, YOU NEVER donate to a company that doesn't release gameplay footage or examples to prove what you are about to back. I want to make sure my money is respected. Honestly, without this You're going to be missing out on the largest donations (personally if this was in the right hands, i'd quickly give away $100+, along with many of my other friends that spent years playing Tremulous.). Without these larger donations from backers looking to fund part of your game, as opposed to just reserving a copy of what they want for some party favors, you're going to fall extremely short of your ridiculous $50,000 goal. These are the type of people that also stand behind the game tall and spread the word to their connections, because they respect the work ethic and diligence(which i don't see present currently).

2.What are these "In-Game" credits?
If this is a Micro-Transaction system, you just committed indie game suicide. Mostly ever pay-for game that has had a micro-transaction within it has failed. Why make people pay MORE money within the game after they've already payed? at that point it makes the buyer feel out of touch, or in a way hustled, by the Developers. You have to remember you're not a big time publisher coming out with mass content, and if you do plan to update the game consistently with new content, even a Subscription system would seem better, or F2P system with Micro-Transactions. This is just another reason i really don't want to suggest anyone support this project, nor will i myself. On top of my first point, this just makes everything seem worse.

3.Your relationship with the Tremulous developers.
I've talked to Timbo, and many other Tremulous developers from Dark Legion and Mercenaries Guild. Both have the same issues I have with this. They also have, multiple emails from this Development team that are embarrassing, and if you ever get a hold of more mainstream publicity, these things are out in the open and easily found on the web. You may not be doing anything "Illegal" per say, but you are going to get extreme ridicule for your lack of professionalism and the idiotic things that you've said to not only tremulous developers who created the game you "love" (it seems more like you're milking a dollar out of a die hard fan base more like it).



You've really done a lot of things to set you back despite your hard work on this project, which is highly disappointing. I'd love to contribute any development or money or publicity to a project that perpetuates the values of the game i worked on and loved for so many years, But that's the issue i see with this. This project doesn't resemble Tremulous to me at all.

I honestly hope you don't delete this and rather have a honest conversation about it with me, because i'd love to see this game clean up its act.

Also, if you want to talk to me personally about anything, you can email me @ nomnomdev@gmail.com

I agree, you should have done more work and start a kickstarter project later... in its current state, it's not going to get funded.

I hate to be a pessimist, but the numbers are mighty red, so something just isn't right.  We're at 1% funding, $9365.00 behind where we need to be right now.

I'm afraid it might not be funded... not $50,000 anyways.  $10k, or $20k maybe... but $50,000 is a tall order for a tiny group of people on the internet to try to fund without any real form of gameplay footage or advertizement.

Though I don't agree with all of tam's post, he does make a good argument with his first point.


I can understand $10,000 for UE3 development seats, and $10,000 for resources (textures, sounds, etc.), but $50,000 was something that kind of shocked me when I first saw the kickstarter page.  I have no doubt a goal like that could be met with a very large audience and 10 minutes of gameplay preview, but it comes down to one of the issues I've been pointing at for a long time: Tremulous has a very small audience - almost nobody knows or cares about it, except for the 100~1000 people that really enjoyed it in it's glory days. 

We need some sort of serious publicity to pull this off:

Linearly,
 - 5000 supporters are needed if all contribute $10
 - 2500 supporters are needed if all contribute $20
 - 1000 supporters are needed if all contribute $50
 - 500 supporters are needed if all contribute $100

Based on the current kickstarter;

Code: [Select]

635/22 = $28 Avg. contribution
50,000/28 = 1785 average supporters needed to succeed


50,000/30*D = the current funding we should be at today, according to a linear function
100/30*D = the current percent funding we should be at today, according to a linear function

50,000/30*6 = $10,000
100/30*6 = 20%


y=105.33x = the current funding rate
y=1666.66x = the funding rate needed to succeed

Where C = the current funding rate, and S = the successful funding rate;

S/C = the magnitude we need to increase current funding by to succeed

1666.66/105.33 = 15.82






Simply put, the two points that need to be immediately addressed with the current kickstarter project:

 - Lack of convincing content for the average person on the street.
 - Lack of publicity


I understand that the game can't really be developed without UE3 dev seats, but at the same time... it's hard to get funding for $50,000 of dev seats, resources, and licensing without convincing advertizing to start with. 

This project may well still be saved, but people -and by people, I mean a lot of people- are going to have to know about it, AND be convinced to support it very quickly.


Some sort of game-content based advertizement within the next 8 days or so would be immensely helpful, if it's not too late.

Tamaru:
Thank you for your opinion. I am not sure if you really want any reply from me, because it only looks that you want to show how bad and wrong this is.

1) gameplay video - we do not have any gameplay done yet. If we will release gameplay, it will be already commercial usage, that means 25 % royalties for engine usage.

2) identical gameplay - you have to trust to us, or wait. I don't know why you think we doing this game, but we doing it because we want to play Tremulous 1.1 in a new engine with new features.

3) "ridiculous $50,000" - try to cut 10 % from it (Kickstarter + amazon), then another x % (not working pledges), then x % for rewards, then cut all equipment price and that rest divide betveen team members for 2 years. Yes, it is ridiculous low.

4) in-game shop - I think that is already explained enough. Subscription system is bad, you have to pay even when you not playing, that cannot work with this game. With our system, you have to pay only when you want. And why? Because we do not want to close game after few years, because of no money for maintaining servers and so on.

5) "multiple emails from this Development team" I smell something strange. There is only one email from me. If it is embarrassing I cannot say, but it released on Tremulous forum.

6) "it seems more like you're milking a dollar out of a die hard fan base more like it" - If it is true, would not be easier to make for example HD textures for Tremulous 1 and sell it with sources without any additional work? Instead of making whole new game with everything and trying Kickstarter without sure goal?

Personally I think, that there is few players, that thinks money are evil. I don't think so. Money can make good games and can discourage griefers. But I have one good message for you. If you think that this project is bad, support Unvanquished instead (they surely have some donation section there). They will deserve it and I wish them success, because I know how hard is to really do something.

I agree, you should have done more work and start a kickstarter project later... in its current state, it's not going to get funded.

Can you imagine how much work this took? Estabilish everything - it is nothing like "hey, I have idea, we will come to Kickstarter next week".

But we can always run Kickstarter later again. Just with higher goal and I am not sure if we will want still to mess with so good rewards (making and sending them will take very much time and work).

Machine Medic:
Wow charts.

"Tremulous has a very small audience" sure, but we just offering a new game. We do not think that old community will fund this project - it was free game, many players do not want to pay for anything, others have Linux and someone care if we are allowed to use green color for Granger istead of gameplay.

No! i'm glad you've responded to me with your opinions. that's highly respectable and i'm not trying to dog down this project, i'm trying to portray what i see so that you can improve. I recognize your hard work put into this and i'm extremely impressed by that. by there are other things i don't think you realize that can still come back and bite you in the butt.

I feel like this may be a more personal subject? what email can i reach you by Rota?

Also why not build with UDK? do you need UE3 seats specifically? i'm almost sure you could begin gameplay design with UDK scripts.

As far as I know, they can use UDK up to an extent, but eventually they will need to modify the source code to achieve the 1.1 physics, etc.

I agree, you should have done more work and start a kickstarter project later... in its current state, it's not going to get funded.

+1, but I think this was a test to check out how much of the "old" community is interested.

these things are out in the open and easily found on the web

Provide a link.

Tamaru: you can reach me on email aaagames@aaagames.cz UDK = unreal engine 3. Licensing engine with source access is impossible (price).

I agree, you should have done more work and start a kickstarter project later... in its current state, it's not going to get funded.

+1, but I think this was a test to check out how much of the "old" community is interested.

Is is a test to check out how Kickstarter and game sites work and if it is possible for projects from new teams - that mean "if you will fund this project it will be realized, if no - it will be discarded.".

As far as I know, they can use UDK up to an extent, but eventually they will need to modify the source code to achieve the 1.1 physics, etc.

yeah, apart from me not being able to buy the game aside, this is one of my concerns.
I've noticed that a unity3D game called "Uberstrike" is able to mimic q3 physics (to some extent, such as strafe jumping and weapon switching) so I do see a possibility in this now. If I find a decent fps game on UE3 that is free and can run on my computer, I'll give it a shot and have a look at the physics to see how close it is.

@Tamaru: I agree to all your initial points, although I never really cared about point 2. because it isn't really related to me.
I think rather, it looks too attractive. I'm surprised that the funding has reached that far by now honestly.

Also now that I think about it, 25 days for another few ten grand will be a struggle.

What happens when the goal is not completed by the time frame?