Cheyenne Mountain Death Watch

[Jerrith]

Hummers are small.  Think bigger...



CME isn't in good shape, but for what it's worth, I have been paid for all but my last partial week there.  I wish all my former co-workers the best, and hope the game makes it out.  It won't be easy, but it can still happen.

[Falwell]

Oh for fucks sake I didn't realize it was Greyhound bad.

It's like being on the Madden cover. Advertise on anything with wheels and it's time to eat shit.

[schild]

To be fair, you could probably buy 3-4 of those Jeeps for the price of one tricked out hummer.

Living in Arizona, I can't think of a stupider place to own a Hummer. Maybe they should've done the Stargate worlds Geo Metro or Pinto and bought another artist or two FOR A FULL YEAR.

Edit: Honestly, I knew something was up about 3 years ago when I saw local AZ businesses investing in CME. I just didn't know what.

[HAMMER FRENZY]

I was talking to one of my buddies who lives with a cat who works there. It is a freaking ghost town. maybe 3 or 4 people in there a day at best, and they can't get more funding because it doen'st look like the place has any workers.

http://www.days-since-cheyenne-mountain-employees-have-been-paid.com/

That still makes me sad... 

[chargerrich]

I was talking to one of my buddies who lives with a cat who works there. It is a freaking ghost town. maybe 3 or 4 people in there a day at best, and they can't get more funding because it doen'st look like the place has any workers.

http://www.days-since-cheyenne-mountain-employees-have-been-paid.com/

That still makes me sad... 

Holy shit they have a cat that can program? 

Either this will be the greatest game ever or we know why it will suck. Cats are cheaper to hire than people right?

[Signe]

I was talking to one of my buddies who lives with a cat who works there. It is a freaking ghost town. maybe 3 or 4 people in there a day at best, and they can't get more funding because it doen'st look like the place has any workers.

http://www.days-since-cheyenne-mountain-employees-have-been-paid.com/

That still makes me sad... 

Holy shit they have a cat that can program? 

Either this will be the greatest game ever or we know why it will suck. Cats are cheaper to hire than people right?

Dude.  Are you drunk?

[Triforcer]

I had the first same thought as chargerrich.  Technically, that is what the sentence implies 

[Xuri]

Clearly drunk. Cats are awesome programmers.

[tazelbain]

Doesn't mean the cat is a programmer.  Human Resources seems popular with cats.

[fuser]

[sidereal]

Clearly drunk. Cats are awesome programmers.

[raydeen]

Clearly drunk. Cats are awesome programmers.

Code:

BTW lolcode Hello World

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE "HAI WORLD!"
KTHXBYE

Code:

BTW lolcode IF/THEN/ELSE

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
I HAS A VAR
GIMMEH VAR
IZ VAR BIGGER THAN 10?
	YARLY
		BTW this is true
		VISIBLE "BIG NUMBER!"
	NOWAI
		BTW this is false
		VISIBLE "LITTLE NUMBER!"
	KTHX
KTHXBYE

Edit for source: http://lolcode.com/home

[FatuousTwat]

Always looking for an excuse to whip this out.

[Jerrith]

To be fair, you could probably buy 3-4 of those Jeeps for the price of one tricked out hummer.

Living in Arizona, I can't think of a stupider place to own a Hummer. Maybe they should've done the Stargate worlds Geo Metro or Pinto and bought another artist or two FOR A FULL YEAR.

None of the SGW ones were actually bought, of course.  The bus was advertising at ComicCon in San Diego, and the Hummer (complete with big plasma screens in back so people could watch the game) were at Leipzig.  I don't know the details, but I believe much of the advertising for those two events was covered by MGM, not CME.

As I had two paychecks waiting for me when I arrived here in MD, I suspect they have managed to acquire funding to finish the game.  While important people have been lost, for the right person, it could be a good opportunity to jump into the industry and quickly get a shipped title on their resume.  I think it's unlikely to be a highly successful AAA title, but it won't be the worst thing out there either.  If it gets out, I'll have quite a bit of respect for those who accomplished it.

lolcode

We actually joked about rewriting the UI scripting language (Lua) as LOLLua at one point. :)  I wrote up a toggle inventory window function in LOLLua as a sample for everyone. :)

[Zhiroc]

What's odd is that someone paid for this. CME claims they didn't, but named sponsorships don't come cheap.

By the way, we're just about at the 4-month mark of beta suspension, but it still seems to be hanging on somehow.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the MLM marketing scheme that CME's main investor is starting that SGW will be a part of, called MMOGULS.

[schild]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the MLM marketing scheme that CME's main investor is starting that SGW will be a part of, called MMOGULS.

That's because we have an entire thread on it. Do try to keep up.

[Jerrith]

www.teamstargateworlds.com

Amusing.  Never heard of it while I was at CME, though I did hear about them visiting the studio once.

it still seems to be hanging on somehow.

I've been fully paid for my work there now.  Work is still being done, I IM'ed with an engineer that's still there yesterday about a detail of a system I'd worked on.

MMOGULS.

One of the reasons I left. :)  In reality though, can you honestly imagine anyone signing up?  $250 up front, and then $50 a month, and you don't get to play the games until some large number (200,000 was it?) have done the same.

[UnSub]

MMOGULS.

One of the reasons I left. :)  In reality though, can you honestly imagine anyone signing up?  $250 up front, and then $50 a month, and you don't get to play the games until some large number (200,000 was it?) have done the same.

But you could win a car a month! A MONTH! Just for playing games! It's a fantastic offer! 

The second I read about Social Networks At Play (SNAPs, one of FireSky's launch buzzterms) it raised a flag about exactly what that was going to be. It turned into iSNAPs (Incentivised SNAPS). That would have been a fun day at the office, learning about that one. "Hai guyz, you've heard about pay-to-beta? We've found a new way, a better way!"

I keep waiting for CME / FireSky to go bust. They went too big too fast and without even getting one game done to bring in some revenue. Build a city before you build your empire, pleesekthanx.

[Zhiroc]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the MLM marketing scheme that CME's main investor is starting that SGW will be a part of, called MMOGULS.

That's because we have an entire thread on it. Do try to keep up.

I missed that one. I only looked at the first page. But still, it seems more oriented at debunking the TTH story on it, when to my mind, since Gary Whiting is the Chairman of the Board of MMOGULS, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, Cheyenne Mountain Games, Cheyenne Mountain Productions, and Cheyenne Mountain Marketing, and since the MMOGULS contact office in AZ is one floor down from CME, the link is pretty solid. Maybe no contractual obligations at the time, but well, if you control everyone, you don't need to write a contract with yourself...

If you look at the online pitch for MMOGULS at mymmoguls.com, it's pretty careful to not mention CME or SGW.

But if you look at some of their affiliates, like this one, it makes some pretty outlandish predictions like:

• 150-200 mil MMOGULS subscribers
• If SGW "bombs" and "only" gets a million subscribers...
• Saying that Age of Conan got 1.5 mil subscribers in a month

They must have gotten this from somewhere at MMOGULS

[Jerrith]

But you could win a car a month! A MONTH! Just for playing games! It's a fantastic offer! 

Oh, yes, the "win the car you race with" deal... :)  How long until there's some "feature" like...  For each item on your car that is broken, everything that isn't broken gets a boost.  All in the interest of "balance" of course, but still leading to $100 junkyard wrecks winning the races. :)

[Sky]

Hm. I just notice there's a part of my brain that reads SGW as SWG.

[UnSub]

But you could win a car a month! A MONTH! Just for playing games! It's a fantastic offer! 

Oh, yes, the "win the car you race with" deal... :)  How long until there's some "feature" like...  For each item on your car that is broken, everything that isn't broken gets a boost.  All in the interest of "balance" of course, but still leading to $100 junkyard wrecks winning the races. :)

Well, breaking things to "boost" other things is a standard operating procedure in the MMO industry. So why not make a game about it?

But yeah, it was a dumb idea, written by someone who hadn't thought about the implications.

[Hoth]

An executive producer of the Stargate TV series has cast serious doubt on the future of the licensed Stargate Worlds MMO.


 

[Shatter]

Look at whats happening.  They didnt pay designers for months.  They are being sued by one of the companies they work with for unpaid bills.  One of their ex-designers on the FOH forums has been posting about how few people work there now.  This TV producer who must have some insight is calling out the bad.  Their webpage hasnt offered hardly any info for months other then the occasional screenshot.  All of this = not good news but people on their forums want to sugar coat it all.  I expect this game to fall short of launch, or if it does launch they will do it as a very incomplete game to start pulling in cash which as we all know works wonders for the long term! :P

[Sky]

I wish I was smart enough to legally steal that kind of money.

[Hawkbit]

Wanna start a game?  I've got a couple lore ideas bouncing around, princes and princesses and all that shit.  I'm sure we could sell it to someone.  Hell, even the kid that is going to beat WoW got $50,000 or something. 

[Sky]

Were fetuspults ever trademarked? Also, zombie predator pirates vs vampire alien ninjas.

[UnSub]

Were fetuspults ever trademarked? Also, zombie predator pirates vs vampire alien ninjas.

Werewolf terminator vikings can be in the expansion.

I demand the title of Chief Lead Designer, but won't ever show up at the office. My edicts will be delivered via email written in haiku.

[Hawkbit]

No McQuaids allowed! 

Game must have ridable unicorns.

[UnSub]

No McQuaids allowed! 

Game must have ridable unicorns.

It's hardcore title, so you can ride those unicorns, but you won't be in the saddle while doing so. The horn needs to be used for something, after all.

[Hawkbit]

Wait, was this about the unicorn or the McQuaid?

[Shatter]

Official response

"Our official response is that the lights here are still on and the development team is working hard every day to get this game built.

I’ve been asked from many corners lately to provide an official response to a story circulated by Gateworld.net. I spoke with Darren Sumner, the author of the story, soon after it was posted and gave him a detailed response to the article which he decided not to publish.

Our official response is that the lights here are still on and the development team is working hard every day to get this game built. Team members are in the office seven days a week to deliver Stargate Worlds. Brad Wright is the Stargate expert and a creative consultant on Stargate Worlds who advises us on the story; unfortunately we had not recently updated him on our progress or the impact from the current global economic crisis, and he was not fully aware of the continuing progress on our game.

It’s true that the production of Stargate Worlds has been significantly impacted by the greatest worldwide economic downturn in decades, but we are still raising enough money from angel investors to keep the dev team working.

We are currently negotiating several deals that will cover our financial responsibilities and fund the remainder of development. When we sign those deals, you’ll hear about it. Until then, we’ll keep building Stargate Worlds, because right now, that’s the only thing that matters to us. "

I guess there is a new article up on Gateworld as well.  They are still struggling though to find investors so this certainly doesnt lock the game down.  I want to see this game go live and hopefully they get the funds they need.  We need another Sci-Fi MMO, had enough of orcs and sorcs. 

[DraconianOne]

"Our official response is that the lights here are still on and the development team is working hard every day to get this game built."

"Our unofficial response is that we've got no money, we're way behind schedule, the developers are leaving as soon as they can find another job and the game is fucked."

[HaemishM]

"Team members are in the office seven days a week to deliver Stargate Worlds."

Epic fail.

[Simond]

Wait, was this about the unicorn or the McQuaid?

McQuaid's more into dragons, and the chasing thereof.