I really like how this effort sounds! I'd certainly like to help in some way. I'll send you a message, for I want to join the Internal Test Team. I know it may be too early to say, but I imagine testing would consist only of maps created by the product team? It'd be most efficient that way, but I imagine tons of people playing will want to try out there own maps as well. Maybe a late queue at the end of necessary Map and Gametype Tests dependent on the QA manager?
Internal Testers will ideally host lobbies of only Internal Testers so Alphas and Prototypes are kept under wraps. However there is no restriction to what maps can be tested, just that Alphas and Prototypes are not tested with non Internal Testers. So yeah Internal Testers can test what they want, but if they plan on testing Alphas and Prototypes they need to attempt to restrict the lobby to Internal Testers. Leaks will happen, I'm not too concerned. They key to Internal Testing is that testers are aware of what a prototype and alpha is, that designs evolve and critiques are pointed at the core of the design, rather than the details (like I can break out of the map here). Players don't spend time exploiting technical details, they spend time exploiting the design. They know that Alphas and Prototypes don't look good. They are typically block outs of maps. So we want to keep the feedback to feedback from people who are willing to understand the design process. Also Internal Testers eventually become a source of "Veteran Testing", in which the map is tested against long time players to see the effects of learning maps deeper than just a couple games. Thanks for the interest guys, I'll be getting back to you soon. Work has me going through a hack-a-thon (lots of fun) so I've been training for that these past few days. We've been working on a few designs behind the scenes and have some great brainstorming going. I'm also working on a tool for all forgers that will be used by the crew in house first and then released to the public later on once we work out the kinks. My focus has been on that tool this week and going forward so we can get a solid tool to push the community forward in quality of designs. We plan on giving back to everyone and some of those ways involve making tools, providing design resources, providing testing resources, and of course quick, quality content that will never be done and will constantly be updated and taken care of. For me the team is less about individuals being recognized and more about growing various characteristics of the Forging community so we can shine as a legitimate level design community next to more mature FPS level design groups like CS:GO, Quake, Unreal, etc. I'm not saying we aren't already, I'm just saying that there is a lot of room for this community to grow and organize. Hopefully soon I'll introduce you guys to C.A.P.I. (pronounced `cap-ee`, I know that isn't proper notation lol...) That special tool that I'm working on for the Forging community.
That's okay. Whatever you may need me to do, I am okay with it. If it's any constellation, I am a CS major, just recently completed my AS. So if there is anything programming wise, that you may need in assistance, I wouldn't mind learning.
Nitro get a message out to me man and I can get you setup with the next wave of “hires”. Here’s the current state. We have potentially a new developer, maybe another one I can pitch to. Our QA Manager, Crypto is finishing up finals soon so he’ll be a lot more active in getting things prepared for launch, and I have two guys looking to be Community Managers which will be perfect for organizing the huge networking effort going forward. If you have sent me messages, I’m reading, don’t you worry. I tackle this kind of stuff in chunks. Tonight looks like the night to tackle everything. We will be reaching out to make contacts this weekend as well getting in bed with the big social media faces in the community. This next week my goal is also to get a quick overview of the early stuff we’ve been doing and our goals going forward. We have a slowly growing team and a LOT of talent in multiple fields. Also Internal Testers we will probably be activating you soon as there are some proof of concepts for game mechanics that will need to be tested to allow designers to get prepped for the upcoming release of forge. The sooner we get some early proof of concepts for how certain game mechanics work the sooner we can have prototypes ready for that first weekend of awesome.
This whole idea seems kind of foreign to me, but i'm willing to move out of my comfort zone and give it a try, I think I would be best utilized as a developer/internal tester, just let me know what I can do to help.
The only issue I see with this at the moment is everybody and their mother want to be developers, which could very well lead to a "too many chiefs, not enough indians" or "too many cooks in the kitchen" issues. There's no shame in wanting to specialize in architecture or aesthetics guys.
@GodlyPerfection good luck with running and organizing all of this. I'd better be able to play H5 Conquest within a week of Forge being out.
Hey! I doubt any of you guys remember me much but it's great to see you are all still forging! Thinking big as usual
Thanks @wi1lywonka ! And I do remember you. Hahaha... great to see you again and you guys know me and big ideas. And I lol'd @DEB037 ... Strongholds is kind of ripe for the picking. The shift in only scoring points for majority ownership can make Conquest much more intense, as that was something that H4/Reach lacked since it was score points over time and Conquest lost that intense feel of even the last second counts. Even then H3 lost some because the earlier game doesn't mean as much when only who controls it at the end is what matters. Stronghold's scoring finds a good balance between the two and I'm excited to see how it all plays out. My focus is DEFINITELY on Game Design over Level Design this time around as a Designer. I've got about 10-15 gametypes in the works. And that is without knowing the extent of the scripting system. Scripting mixed with Gametype Settings opens up a whole realm of possibilities. So because Gametypes can more easily be created with simpler maps to show off mechanics, I should have quite a few offerings for the first weekend alone. @SecretSchnitzel Yeah that could definitely become a problem. Good news is that we have @darkprince909 and @Randy 355 joining us awesome developers, and we have several other people filling in as Community Managers and QA Managers. I think we have a great list going so far and when I get everyone situated this weekend, I'll be touching base with the community again to announce the team. Gotz emails to send out now. There are enough specialists out there that we can grab the specialists and do just fine. I also may have a Screenshot guy available. And maybe one day we'll snag a video editor.
I'm jumping on as a developer/tester to start and working on my design chops on my own. Once I get up to where I feel I could actually be useful to the team as a designer, I'll try to pull a little double duty. But honestly, looking back at most of my original maps, none of them were really all that good, except for Ambrosia. And that one was only because I had so much feedback on it in lobbies. The first few drafts were really bad.
I want in, I thought about doing this too, but not with this much thought, I'd rather be on a Team where we all succeed, rather then fail apart. I hope some of you other experienced forgers follow suit and create teams as well. A finely structured group of individuals can accomplish more in shorter times, and the content can only be that much better than any sole individual. Great read GP, and solid planning, can't wait to see what the community does! I'm confident you'll have the right idea where I should lend my help, wherever ya need me fits best.
@darkprince909 I never actually got the time to reply to that. I'm really excited to have you on as a Developer bro. The good thing about this is that everyone gets a chance to through in their designs and can pass their ideas off to the Design team to get things fleshed out and you can work double duty as a Designer early on to get some experience and help you grow more confident in your skills. I'd love to actually get a chance to play Ambrosia in H5. Perhaps we can put it on the brainstorming Revisited Content RTB. @AgentPaperCraft you know you've always got a spot man. Toss me a message here on Forgehub, let me know what you would be interested in focusing on (I already have a position planned for you as well). Include your email and I'll get you setup with the third wave of recruits. We are at 10 and growing strong. For everyone that has messages in my inbox, my apologies for how busy these last couple weeks have been. @Skisma @N1TRO @Captain Punch @SmartAlec13 and a few others. I appreciate all the support and I'll get back to you guys quickly. We've been busy behind the scenes solidifying our name, getting our content workflow process figured out, getting community outlets setup, etc. Tons of work to do always. I'll be officially announcing the team on December 1st. For those that don't know December 1st is the 8 year anniversary for the first thread ever created on Forgehub... Vertigo by TrueDarkFusion. Forge and Forgehub changed my life, I'm looking forward to seeing how far we can really push Forge as a community. I joined this site right before we publicly released it (Nov 30th '07) as a part of the original guilders team. Here is actually my old account: AZN FTW. Member #7 apparently. lol... I'm excited for the future. BRING IT ON!
Hmm, you know, that map would probably work alright in H5's sandbox. If it were to be revisited, though, I'd like to keep the central structure and the speed boost and overshield areas as close to same as the sandbox will allow, but I've never been happy with the bases, so I'd be fine if those were to be redesigned. So yeah, we can go ahead and add that to the roster.[/user]
I /do/ work as an event photographer you know. I've also been working on getting my rig set up to record from my box so I can do video tutorials rather than just the blog posts I used to do. Suffice to say, you can consider yourself as at least having one person willing and able to do these things already. EDIT: I seem to have lost my patience and drafted a map in Illustrator. They need to get this thing released.