Is Empires dead, dying, or just on hold...

I don't really think that maps are the issue here. As long as the devs keep chucking a couple extra features in every release: People will see there's an interest. Frankly, I like the smaller player base. More quality and less quantity (except for mittoes).

 

Krenzo and Megel we don't want you to go over an above anything you've already done, what needs to happen is that the process should be opened up to the community more. If someone wants to model a new gun be open to that, or if someone makes a really steller map put it in the official package. If dizzy/beerdude/falcon change the scripts around release a small patch to let that happen. Maybe you can put someone in charge of updating the modDB and the main page, while also organizing community events.

I understand that you don't want random nub suggestions and additions, but you hold the reins so tightly on control, then you throw up your hands when everyone comes to you begging for changes. What happened to that guy who remixed the Empires songs? Maybe you didn't think they were any good, that's fair, but it seems as if you left him out in the cold. How hard would it have been to tell him you didn't have a ton of time, but he sounded on the right track and to make a few more songs before you'd look into implementing them. Maybe you should get someone else to coordinate submissions such as this, because you're throwing away free help.

What you've done with the materials you've been given is tremendous. You have a small team, and you're doing really great things with the source engine and you've certainly gone through points where it would have been easy to give up. There's not much more than you need to do other than pug away at the code at your own pace. Empires is already in a highly playable and very enjoyable state, 2.2 and 3.0 will only increase those and they're not super-necessary, just plug away and get them done when they're done. All I would ask more of you is to manage the community better. It doesn't really even take much work. All you have to do is approve any worthwhile changes that come up and release new installers. There are a lot of people here who would love to help out, and have already put in effort to do so, just capitalize on it.

 

We could revitalize Empires with a massive advertising campaign. I don't mean TV ads or things like that, just go tell your friends, or post on different forums, or tell your in-game buddies to try out Empires. Post a YouTube video, it doesn't have to be a full-blown trailer, for example, I'm just posting random gameplay videos hoping that one will be seen alot. Anything to get more people playing Empires would be better.

 

Youd be better off with finding a few tallented mappers modelers and texture artists...

 

Mebbe Krenzo could appoint someone in charge of community contributions - someone who sifts through the forums and communicates the stuff like remixed songs or improved GUI's directly back to the devs without them having to have to go through it all. It could work where you just have one guy contacting Krenzo or Megel every week to give them a look at the prototype and have them just say "yes", "no" or "needs work".

 

I nominate KnightTemplar for this position

 

Seconded, if he wants it

 

KnightTemplar better take the position.
KnightTemplar is cool enough to take the position.

 

What might happen if the community takes over; Krenzo and the original developers might take a back seat; and/or internal conflicts form, and the team shatters; I have seen this way too many times before... Empires is Krenzo's baby; so it will be painfull to see if something along the lines of what I have described happens, not only will Krenzo's work be sent down the toilet; but many community members have been with us for 2 years...

 

Thats why the devs choose who gets such roles. They would only choose people they could trust stay true to their purpose.

 

It's not that they don't stay true to their position; but conflicting views and the direction the mod should take. That's the problem...

 

Well not like we have have any power over Krenzo.
We do need a better PR system to get more people.

 

For the community events, yes. For the rest, I don't know.

I'll let developers say the final word.

 

I Agree PR for the win!

 

Well for starters we need to HAVE a PR system not just a temporary one like 2.0

how about we switch the about page to the PR page that was made for 2.0 Then when 2.2 goes public we release Sandbag's trailer to the public on moddb or somthing

Krenzo can start posting some things in the front page to make sure that the average joe doesnt think the mod is dead or somthing: Could be a random post about how we're moving to the OB engine and maybe make a post for a PUG or so we could possibly get more people to show up (and then be all like "the pug was fun heres some cool screenshots" or maybe post some cool custom maps on the front page or somthing, give the site more of a comunity feel, it doesnt have to allways be about development.

We could have people who make custom content for empires also post their work elsewhere like on FPSBanana or HIT forums or anywhere else that people post custom content

and maybe have a little blurb about empires in your sig on other forums (that's literally the least you can do)

these are things I just thought up off the top of my head that we can do to help the mod of course there's the obvious word of mouth method but im sure you guys allready thought of that.

 

Dude, it IS dead. Posting another 100 posts on forums won't change it.

 

Why do we keep you mootant?
Your Adopted!
Your dog got hit by a car!
You have Cancer!!!!!!

 

lol.... isn't the mod having problems pulling new players when its completely free to play?

 

I think (and many will agree with me), that the thing We want is:

When You will be leaving, do not let the project die. Ensure that development will be passed to others.

To do that, We need several roles covered. As far as I understand, to cover for Krenzo himself, we need:

• A team of coders (they just code what the Product Owner tells them to)
• PR team
• Release Manager (coordinates releases, adds/cuts features in a given release)
• Quality Assurance department ("that's not ready yet", "this is bugged")
• Product Owner (decides what's the development course, "next do this", "do that so it looks like this")

This is hard to admit, but We have to face it (now): Krenzo has less time than before and he is not able to resonably do all above jobs. That means he has to let someone help him or the mod will die. I am sure Krenzo has feelings about the project and is not willing to kill it... It's just that he would like to still have controll of it so it won't be broken by some morons that take over. On the other hand, he would like project to evolve into better greatness, but he has no time to make it by himself...

The solution I have in mind is to let Krenzo move away from coding, managing releases, quality assurance (and maby PR).
Krenzo (as the product owner) would be responsible for telling developers what to do. Devs can't do anything that Krenzo will not accept (f.e. wall gates), so they can't break anything. We will use SVN repository for maintaining the code, so features that break something will be reversible and easily detected by every coder when he updates his sources from trunk. This is possible to do. In my opinion it's the only way to keep the project alive (given that Krenzo is not willing to spend on it as much time as he did before - and that is the case). The bad things are:

• Krenzo has to finish the 2.2 and then (after release) he can stop coding.
• Krenzo has to spend some time explaining new coders how to do some stuff (but it's far less time-consuming than coding, and when the new coders are trained, their potential is large).
• We need to trust some coders and give them access to the source code so they can actually work on it.

It would be good to write on the main page that we seek coders, modelers, mappers etc. We do need them, why don't we write this on the site?

I can code. I gave up my job and I will be probably unemployed for few months until I find some other job, so I can do something. There are some people that will to help Krenzo, he just need to let them do that.

 

the guys got a point, I think if empires stops here, it will be the end of the mod (or the start of a bad mod). This is incrediably sad.