Status Report - Cyan development. August 20, 2008

Chogon · **Joined:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 7:13 pm **Posts:** 1059

Sorry for not starting this earlier, I know that a lot of you are waiting for news... any news of what is going on at Cyan. I hope to do more status reports in the future.

MORE - UruLive:
The current focus is to get the servers back online and subscribers back in the game (in other words, launched!) before the end of the year. As things get done, we will have a more accurate date. Right now it is a very small development team that is working on MORE. There are two of us ( Randy (not Rand) and myself) and a handful of other people lending a hand when they can.
* A number of things are done, such as getting the build and internal testing machine running again, upgrading Oracle to 11g and a whole bunch a little details like removing the GameTap logo movie.
* Creating the account system including the web interface is in process. This will allow users to create and access their MORE accounts. And the MORE server is being modified to do its user authentication against this new billing system. A way to do subscription gifting is also being implemented.
* Payments. As part of the account billing system we have to interface to some online payment system. It is looking like the Paypal "Buy now" button is the most likely candidate. The "Buy now" button allows you to either pay with a paypal account or a credit card (no paypal account needed).
* ResEngs. The ResEngs are an important part of the online experience and they performed a lot of different duties. Since ResEngs will be limited (in number) some of those duties may need to be spread out. A complete solution has not been determined yet but will obviously have to be before launch.
* Also, along the same lines, we need to find a better way for people to report bugs and for others to be able to view and search them. This way solutions can be shared and hopefully, cut down on duplicates reported. The previous ticketing system was a good one way system (to get problems reported) but not good for public displaying. And having a bug database online seems a little too geeky for the general public.

iMyst:
This is a small project that probably a very few of you know about. We are porting Myst to the iPhone. Ok, before some of you start groaning, this is an outside funded project that is keeping a few developers employed... but it is really more than that. It is an interesting and fun project. This is also a very small team with three of us (which includes Derek, Rand (not Randy) and myself).

Other projects:
We do have a number of other projects that are suspended waiting for publisher approval or other outside funding. These range from a large epic multi-console game to smaller single console games with a number inbetween. All of the games are unique, artistic and have different aspects of exploration... and I can't tell you anything about them until they become active.

--Chogon

Jamey · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:04 pm

Thanks a million for the update Chogon!

Ancient Player · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:09 pm

Thanks for the update. Hopefully this will help ease the nail bitting.

dtierce · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:14 pm

Its always great to hear facts from the source!
Speculation seems to always turn dark after a while if left unchecked.

Thanks for keeping us on track!

David Tierce

SeanMc74 · **Joined:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:37 pm **Posts:** 26

Thanks for the update Chogon. Looking forward to trying out iMyst.

EthanEver · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:18 pm

Thanks for the news Chogon!! Very encouraging.

CrisGer · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:22 pm

/me cheers

ThedStranger · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:23 pm

Thank you for the update! I hope you can keep up like that (or even better).Keep us updated! :wink:

More importantly: thank you for saying MORE-uru live.I don't remember the last time a cyan worlds employee said the game's full name

.

Again,thank you.

Junee · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:31 pm

I think you should come up with a nickname for Randy. Less precious work time stolen from clarifying which Rand(y) you talk about.

Chipmunk..? Chippy the Chipmunk? OMG yes! Chogon and Chippy, that's like the most perfect team evah! :mrgreen:

*hopes Randy isn't lurking*

Shorahmin · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:32 pm

Ancient Player wrote:

Thanks for the update. Hopefully this will help ease the nail bitting.

Thanks to all. BTW, I was way past finger nails. I find that knuckles are best with wasabi sauce.

Big_John · **Joined:** Fri Dec 22, 2006 6:38 am **Posts:** 37

Simply Wonderful! I am truly looking forward to getting back into the cavern!

JWPlatt · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:38 pm

Told ya'll so!

http://www.mystonline.com/forums/viewto ... 552#268552

Thanks, Chogon.

P.S. Good to see you're still in the game business.

P.P.S.

Chogon wrote:

And having a bug database online seems a little too geeky for the general public.

Hey! This is the Uru community you're talking to, remember? Yes, definitely not the general public. Bugzilla?

An online bug database really seems recommendable considering the concentration of talent which will be here with UCC. Transition to something less geeky when you start getting the big subscription numbers for it. For now, considering the 'E' in MORE, we can be a fairly comprehensive and expert beta for you.

matthornb · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:47 pm

Awesome Chogon! Great to hear from you!

Glad to know that MO:RE is moving along, we know that your staff is very slim right now so we'll be patient. If we held on through 2 years of Until Uru we can certainly wait for a few more weeks/months!

I'm glad you're getting some funding from doing iMyst, but I really hope that one of your big console game ideas gets picked up.

It'd be great if you were able to bring back your staff members who are currently on unpaid leave.

Quote:

All of the games are unique, artistic and have different aspects of exploration

Well, great, that's exactly what everyone wants to see. I hope their uniqueness makes them hits in the way that the original Myst was in 1993.

TomahnaGuy · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:05 pm

Wonderful to hear from you again Chogon. This really is fantastic news once more. Everything seems rejuvinated. *goes back to anticipation nail biting*

I now have reason to but an iPhone for the sole purpose of playing iMyst - no groaning here.

If you're looking for a good bug tracking system I reccomend Mantis. It's a useful and (relatively) simple bug tracker written in PHP I think. Never set it up, just used it and found it useful!

Look forwards to MORE (and) projects in the future.

TG

JWPlatt · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:15 pm

P.P.P.S. If you intend to make news and status more regular, you might consider a "Development News" section for the forum to which you and anyone may post in response. I assume that's why you put your post here in "General Discussion" rather than the "Announcements & News" section. Development communications will be a fairly major part of MORE, so a public section for it makes some sense.

Status Report - Cyan development. August 20, 2008

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