Stellarvox Community Bulletin - Issue #5

[Snowcrash]

Welcome to the fifth issue of the Stellarvox Community Bulletin.

The Stellarvox Cam Balls have been seriously busy collecting the latest information from the Black Prophecy community over the past few weeks. Although we’re experiencing a rather calm phase within the community and with the coverage of the game, the efforts to progress Black Prophecy are going on without a break.

The hottest discussion topic both within and outside the community is probably the question of when and to what extent the Black Prophecy beta will start. In previous interviews we stated that we, the developer, are ready to go and that the beta could theoretically start any day. However, this statement was always made with the reservation that we will not start the beta without the support of a publisher. This information has been misinterpreted in a variety of ways by our fans and the press and has in some cases led to irritation.

In addition to this, the beta test application process was initiated last year which in hindsight has shown to be premature. Our plans for the beta phases and the release of Black Prophecy had to be suspended several times due to various operational circumstances.

It was never our goal to mislead our community with false information and we apologise emphatically if this was the case for you.

The anticipation of the team is as at least as high as it is for you and they can’t wait to start the beta to finally show you the game, but unfortunately we are still not able to make a clear statement about the estimated beta start. It may be the case that we sign a deal with a publisher in the next few days and start right away but it may also happen that we all have to wait a little longer.

After the release of the last community Q&A we received critiques that this issue did not contain any questions from the community and that its name was not justified.

The primary goal of the Q&A is to show you the people behind Black Prophecy, to tell you more about them and their work, and ideally to try to include questions you have posed in the forums. It’s in the nature of things that it is not always possible to cover all aspects completely; in some instances you can say more about the game than in others. Nonetheless, every employee is an indispensable part of the orchestra and has earned the appropriate courtesy.

The selection of questions is based on your feedback in the forums. These may be direct questions that we can answer directly but they may also be questions about things we think might be of interest to you.

News summary

Interview with VE3D and new screenshots
Simon faced questions from Sheila “Jube” Lewis and talked with her about the character creation, PvP and resource stations. In addition we provided VE3D with three exclusive screenshots.

Black Prophecy at ZAM
The team from ZAM had their first look at Black Prophecy and highlighted several interesting aspects.

Black Prophecy at Examiner.com
In an article about MMOs in space, Black Prophecy received quite positive feedback in comparison with our competitors.

Black Prophecy: Behind the Scenes - Issue #2
In the second issue, Lead Programmer Marco Nowara and QA Manager Stephan Bast talked about their daily development routine and their responsibilities in the development of Black Prophecy

Community Spotlight

Pilot “Thrymr” wants to know where your nicknames comes from and what their meanings are.

Pilot “Lomsor” is wondering if console games are going to kill PC games in the near future. What do you think?

The “Introduce yourself” thread is now officially our longest thread! Have you introduced yourself to the community yet?

Have you found something funny on the World Wide Web and want to share it with other community members? Post it on the fun collection thread!

Pilot “spifomie” has created a long and interesting sci-fi story in the Archive of the Preservers. Actually it has nothing to do with Black Prophecy but is still a good read! Maybe you can motivate him to write an exclusive Black Prophecy story?

Pilot “Wannie” has created the first Black Prophecy comics and asks you to participate. Grab your pen and show us your creativity!

Into the future
In the coming weeks we will provide you with several interesting pieces of information from Black Prophecy’s background story. Our author, Michael Marrak, spared no effort and collected a ship load of things to know about the prehistory of Black Prophecy. I don’t want spoil too much but we will prepare a small website on which Stellarvox Veritas will present this information in regular intervals.

In the next look behind the scenes we will learn more about Black Prophecy’s game design and graphics style from Creative Director Timo Krahl and Art Director Nick Ebenhoch.

The previously announced dev diaries are still on our schedule. The inaugural issue will be presented by Technical Director Cyrus Preuss, who will tell you more about Black Prophecy’s game physics. More info will follow in the coming weeks.

That’s all for now. Keep your cockpit clean and stay tuned for the next issue of the Stellarvox Community Bulletin!

[CMaster]

A Stellarvox Veritas website?
Good idea, I always thought that the Neocronicle site was a good if underused idea. (btw, I best the Restorers waste at least one inhabited planet. I still have a feeling that it might be Sabidador).

Also looking foward to the Dev Diaries.

[LasseBlutströmen]

Originally Posted by Snowcrash

In addition to this, the beta test application process was initiated last year which in hindsight has shown to be premature. Our plans for the beta phases and the release of Black Prophecy had to be suspended several times due to various operational circumstances.

It was never our goal to mislead our community with false information and we apologise emphatically if this was the case for you.

The anticipation of the team is as at least as high as it is for you and they can’t wait to start the beta to finally show you the game, but unfortunately we are still not able to make a clear statement about the estimated beta start. It may be the case that we sign a deal with a publisher in the next few days and start right away but it may also happen that we all have to wait a little longer.

Don't you worry about that. JGE beta application is available for 2 years now from what I've gathered, and look where they are now. On the other hand: the "want publisher first" part from Reakktor reads just like "soon" from Netdevil. However, I'd like to know how many folks have applied to beta test BP. If it's anywhere close to what JGE claims to have?

[Parallax]

I like the Behind the Scenes series quite a lot so looking forward to the Dev Diaries even more.

Why not slap in some of us Golden Oldies to the Friends and Family Beta, slap an NDA on us, and get some early testing done. Even just the TPN boys, they do so much work anyway, they deserve a spot. You could call it Beta 1.5 (or 2.5 depending on what state F&F Beta is counted as)

[warstory]

we seem to be in it for the long haul, any chance station walking can make it into launch?

[Machine Child]

*sets up a tent*

I'm waiting right here.

[ffmaniac]

With most if not all mmo's out there boring me to death, i really wanted something fresh and unique to play. When i first saw pictures of BP i sure was inpressed with the level of detail put into the game, but as much as i love visuals, if the gameplay sucks then i sure wont spend much of my free time playing it. To my surprize i was enthralled that i could finnaly control my ship with my own reflexes. None of this point and click combat crap that plagues every mmo i've played. The interface IMO is very well designed. I even heard that they might support controllers(if not already), which would be a big plus.

With more reading i fould myself becoming even more interested with the game and looked through all the screenshots that were avalible. (lol even dled quite a few of them and now have a BP slide show on my desktop) I think the bigest thing that completely drew me in was watching the gameplay video....OMG <BIG ASS SMILE STRETCHING ACROST MY FACE> Finnaly! A sci-fi mmo done right! lol watched this over many times!

I just hope when Closed Beta finnaly starts that im fortunate enough to be included. I've been looking for a sci-fi game with this much love put into it for many years. If Reakktor keeps going in its current direction, i'll be buying this the first day its avalible. I foresee myself playing this for a countless number of hours. Keep up the great job!

[wannie]

Originally Posted by Snowcrash

It was never our goal to mislead our community with false information and we apologise emphatically if this was the case for you.

Dear Reakktor devs:
Don't apologise for something when nothing has been done wrong. No deadline has ever been set to the community, it's as simple as 1,2,3! Without a publisher there is no closed/open beta.

Off topic: start making funny comics people!!

[Siigari]

Reakktor, it's a beta. It's alright that you haven't come out with it yet. But, let it be known to all that someone who says "beta available!" and then 2 weeks later publishes it has me wondering if early adopters will feel ripped off due to an incomplete or lacking beta production.

As long as you get it (mostly) right the first time, we will be pleased And even if you don't get it perfect the first time that's alright. Something I will say is I relish and desire small community interactions, and I think that's the best time to improve upon a game. So disenchanted are major game makers with their community that what the community says only turns into a dull roar to the developers, rather than being something that is desired and even sought out.

I'll be waiting for the beta, but I don't rush to my mailbox every day hoping for it to be there. Why? Because I know that when it's ready to come out, it will be a fair surprise to everyone involved

[Gibbon]

Couldn't agree more with the above sentiments. I'll wait and see and hopefully be there for beta, if not then i'll just wait until the release. Something this good looking simply has to be tried. In the meantime, i'll go back to coding my own space 3D epic...