Black Prophecy - (Reakktor Media) debut trailer

[Ghambit]

I'm curious, what is it do you think that publishers do?

They bear the financial risk in making a product available.  Plain and simple.  It's quite literally an investor that has a job to do.
Whereas the maker bears the risk in production.

Risk requires return, and hence creates a weaker bottom line (i.e. a more expensive product that probably wont be worth the money)... especially before a product even is proven.  It's not like the pubby can "read the book" or "listen to the demo" before the game is released.  So the risk the pub takes is much larger, and since they'll always position themselves in a place of profit it always works against the Maker and thenceforth the Public.

I aint sayin 3rd party publishing is bad, I just think there's a time and place for such a thing.  MMOs are inherently unproven products and most of these studios that make them are pretty small.  They shouldnt be engaging in these deals (negotiating from a point of weakness) that just inject another mouth to feed in something that's most likely gonna suck.  And in this day and age where self-publishing is so easy and cheap to do (or at least using products such as Steam), there's really no excuse to using an expensive 3rd party UNLESS you just want to make your balance sheet look prettier than it would've been otherwise.

[calapine]

Volle Kraft voraus - Full Steam Ahead

German Interview with Reakktor CEO

Own Translation:

• Reakktor forced into insolvency - reopened now with new Publisher
• Next step closed beta - no date set so far
• Payment possibly subscription or free-to-play + micropayments - publisher has final decision
• Compared to Jumpgate: Less 'simulation' more action, Wing Commander style.
• Self-description: Massive-multiplayer space shooter with RPG elements.
• PVP + Story focused PVE
• Guild space stations may or may not be attackable
• Resources are used for:
  1) Ship and Weapon Upgrades
  2) Faction warfare tax
  3) Clan warfare - more resources more respawns after death for own side.

[Ghambit]

This is a dead title unless they can at least get their beta together (and it's a good one) before JGE releases.

[calapine]

This is a dead title unless they can at least get their beta together (and it's a good one) before JGE releases.

It's not totally clear from the interview, but it seems Reakktor is still looking for a publisher. I don't expect this game to be out for another 6 months+.

[Draegan]

I have no idea how this game, compared to Jumpgate, is less simulation and more wing commander.  Jumpgate is full arcade pew pew.

[Lantyssa]

Maybe they said Jumpgate but were thinking Eve.

[Draegan]

I think they are beginning to feel out the community of their competition.

I eagerly await the return of my interview-via-email  .

[Mrbloodworth]

Black Prophecy goes free to play. (Meaning they found a publisher, guess who.)

[Draegan]

Hmmm.

[Lantyssa]

Good news.  I'm looking forward to being able to try it.

[Ghambit]

Dont forget to re-register for the beta, since it's now controlled by gamigo.  If you've got a gamigo acct. already you can simply add it.
I REALLY hope this game does well, even though I'm a bit pissed they went for an arcade style.  STO was a dud (as expected) so in reality there's nowhere to go but up for BP, especially since it's free.

I will say if they were going arcade-style I'd have picked the same stylization as they did.  Very Independence-Warrish... I like it.  But, obviously not as complex a game.  They've definitely dumbed-down the design as time went on.  F2P seems perfect.

Dug these up:  cockpit views
I like the Genide cockpit and cant wait to plug my TrackIR into this game.

Latest dev. Q&A:
http://www.massively.com/2010/02/01/massivelys-black-prophecy-qanda-mission-systems/

Seems like the missions will be heavily scripted of the dynamic flavor and along multiple arcs.  Seeing as how it's heavily instanced, this is a good thing.  Nothing worse than having heavy instancing and encountering nothing but cloned play (cough- STO - cough).

[raydeen]

Just watched a gameplay video on Youtube. I'm impressed.

[Stormwaltz]

Dug these up:  cockpit views
I like the Genide cockpit and cant wait to plug my TrackIR into this game.

I dislike cockpit views in flight sims. "We're going to replace 50% your viewing area with a UI! Oh wait, did I say UI? Almost none of that is functional UI. Most of its just a static bitmap we expect you to look at for the sake of 'immersion.'"

There's a reason real warplanes use HUDs.

[NiX]

Do you also complain about having to look around to find your mark?

[Kitsune]

I prefer the cockpit view as long as it's not all being taken up with bulkheads and struts and crap.  A couple of thin bars for the sake of immersion and functional HUD-ish stuff and I'm happy.

[Stormwaltz]

Do you also complain about having to look around to find your mark?

Do you understand the difference between what I said and what you said?

[Engels]

I agree with Stormwaltz. I play some crusty ole WW2 flight sims with no exterior views at all, and the cockpit of a BF109 is more economical than that horrid thing.

[Mrbloodworth]

Cockpit views are worthless, UNLESS they are functional (ala privateer and such), part of my love for that series was getting accustomed to the cockpits and what all the shiny things do.

[Ghambit]

Cockpit views are worthless, UNLESS they are functional (ala privateer and such), part of my love for that series was getting accustomed to the cockpits and what all the shiny things do.

This.
I've actually posted in Reakktor's feedback thread to these regards.  Told them to basically remove the option if they're gonna half-ass it.  Has to be functional and has to have freelook, plain and simple.

[Mrbloodworth]

New trailer.

The, what I can only assume, interior shots, intrigue me, however I have a feeling those are only eve like docks. You will of course want to hit the HD option.

[Ghambit]

New trailer.

The, what I can only assume, interior shots, intrigue me, however I have a feeling those are only eve like docks. You will of course want to hit the HD option.

 
Wow, just wow.  I dont even really care if the game is functional... I just wanna fly around in it.
I noticed they finally gave a peek of the interior combat areas (ala Descent).  Very very nice, especially inside that station.  (if you cant walk inside one, might as well be able to fly inside one)

[Cheddar]

One thing you have to give them - they can make a kick ass trailer.  Check out the Neocron ones.  Reaktor is good with innovation but lacks in execution.  Hopefully they got some decent management people to guide the ship this time!

[Venkman]

I haven't played space flight sims since, well, they were an actual genre But I did like the cockpit views in Freespace 2. Only the bottom part of it was functional iirc, so the rest did occlude my vision. It was annoying but also immersive because it was annoying. I had to change how I played on occasion because of it.

It's certainly easier without the cockpit view and a full hud. But then I'd be imagining I'm sitting in a full dome of transparent alluminum kinda exposed to the enemy

Trailer looks awesome. Like the last one. It's like they poached some CCP artists and told them to go crazy.

[tmp]

New trailer.

I'm such a slut for Ominous Latin Chanting and vertical spaceships. And it's free to play.

[Draegan]

I want to play nao.

[Ghambit]

Ummm FYI, they're using the same composers that did Battleforge for this game.  That's half the reason why the trailers kick so much ass.
You can sift through this podcast to get a music sampling (in German; sorry, kinda sparse):
http://www.nmz.de/taktlos/2009/134/podcast.xml

Here's the epic battle music from the trailer:
http://www.prophecy-network.com/downloads/doc_download/19-dynamedion-interview-exclusive-mp3-track

[waylander]

Dug these up:  cockpit views
I like the Genide cockpit and cant wait to plug my TrackIR into this game.

I dislike cockpit views in flight sims. "We're going to replace 50% your viewing area with a UI! Oh wait, did I say UI? Almost none of that is functional UI. Most of its just a static bitmap we expect you to look at for the sake of 'immersion.'"

There's a reason real warplanes use HUDs.

I know it is an old game, but I like the old Freespace 2 type view.  IMHO that game was, and still is, the best space sim out until someone else does it better.

[ajax34i]

The various movies clearly show that the devs prefer the third person view; cockpit footage is very sparse, and most of the combat footage is shown from outside the ship.

So, meh.

Yeah the Freespace full-screen HUD would be nice.

[Brennik]

Couple of videos from an interview done at some German game expo late March. You'll want to enable the English subtitles by clicking on the "change" widget on upper left. Lifted the links from this forum thread.

http://www.transyoutube.com/watch?v=q5TS7TJ6Xno
http://www.transyoutube.com/watch?v=eWYBDVsBris
http://www.transyoutube.com/watch?v=hQV9IhuhQNw

Those special pilot skills that let you execute combat maneuvers look interesting. Also, I think I like the idea that if I have to grind predefined missions that then all the randomized elements may actually keep it slightly interesting.

[Ghambit]

There are no English subtitles.
EDIT: found it, upper-right

[Ghambit]

That modular damage system is quite awesome.

[Mrbloodworth]

There are no English subtitles.
EDIT: found it, upper-right

Upper right if what? lol. I am not seeing it. 

[Lantyssa]

I didn't see it either.  He wasn't saying much of anything interesting though.

Blah blah "here's how you make a character; look at the sliders!" blah blah "you can buy shit for your ship" blah blah "these buttons are related to PvX activity" blah.  Maybe the other two were more interesting, but I couldn't be bothered after ten minutes of "here are the amazing things every other MMO in existance has!"

[patience]

If there are subtitles having my account use them by default doesn't show anything.

[Ghambit]

You have to use the link in a separate browser-window, not the embedded version from the forum.  Then, most likely in the upper-right or left you'll have another link or widget that says "change."