Future of the Project

Hey guys,

So if you haven't seen my other post yet, or just checked for yourself, TRIBAL TROUBLE IS NOT DEAD. The server is just 'very unstable' and may shut down from time to time. Phhhhhew  

Anyway, this does not mean our work is over. The game will come to an end quite soon and we need to be ready for that. The false-death of the game generated a lot of discussion about possibly reviving it through a community-oriented project, and if we want to hold onto the game we love then we must keep seriously considering this stuff.

We can't view this as a reason to abandon the project, but rather a lucky coincidence. I'm going to go through the Oddlabs website and start caching everything I can so I can hold as much past content as possible when everything does go down for good. I'm also still discussing with Sune a possible open-source release of the game as well as anything that could be salvaged from it, and I think EAGLE is in correspondence with him over actually purchasing the rights to the game.

Again if any of you guys want to help out with the project please do so. Just post here if you have any experience with any of the following:

- coding (especially Java)
- art (including Photoshop, 3D rendering, Blender, etc)
- animation of any kind
- serving/hosting multiplayer games or websites
- a keenness to help out


Also thanks Glow for making this a subsection of the forum now, as I'd imagine this is going to become a pretty important component in the future of the game, so here will be a good place to post and discuss various ideas for the future of TT.

LONG LIVE TRIBAL TROUBLE!

I have a keenness to help out. I ahve a feeling that revamping the game won't reqwuire an entire new team of people to completely rewrite it. The game still works. it's the servers and such that are problematic.

I have a keenness to help out as well, i can offer help in most things blender related, i can look into Photoshop to see how that works and I'm currently learning java via code academy. Not to mention I think 3D rendering could be possible for me but I'll have to look more into that as well along with animating.

i will help were i can with drawings and i start to work with blender. I also can handle Photoshop and Illustrator and got some Ideas if we made a really new Tribal Trouble.

Dapianokid wrote:I have a keenness to help out. I ahve a feeling that revamping the game won't reqwuire an entire new team of people to completely rewrite it. The game still works. it's the servers and such that are problematic.

I actually love the game in its current form, and if I could have my way I wouldn't change a thing (well, that's a lie, there are some minor things I'd look to improve but that's for future discussion). However the way I see it, this game is going to go down one of four paths in the next 12 months:

1) EAGLE manages to purchase the rights to the game (I'm currently talking to him about contributing towards that), and he chooses to serve his own servers and hire a marketing team to attempt to revitalize the game on his own.

2) The rights are purchased and it released onto Steam.

3) The rights aren't purchased and Sune releases the code as an open-source program, and we resort to just setting up a small server for us vets to play on.

4) Sune decides to let TT die forever without releasing anything.

Each one of these paths is going to require different things from US, the Project team, and each come with their pros and cons. We really won't know which one is going to happen until EAGLE makes a final decision about all of this. He's really in the driver's seat here as he's the one with the money, and while I've been giving him my input about this via private messages, at the end of the day he's going to be 'in charge' of TT's future... IF he purchases the rights.

The first two paths are ideal for a large-scale future of Tribal Trouble. Personally I think a Steam release is the best way, as they already have a large market who are willing to try out new games and are actually quite enthusiastic about the indie game community. Advertising is all done internally, and through sales and community interest small games such as TT get 'second chances' all the time. Personally I think if EAGLE were to hire his own marketing team it would be much less cost-effective to try and release it as a completely third-party game, it would be at high risk of dying another unfortunate death once the funds run out if it hasn't gained enough momentum (see: TT2 and GameSamba). But again this is all up to EAGLE.

Though the first two are 'ideal', they will both require significant amounts of work to be done to the game. As I've said a few times before, Sune himself has told me that the game's code is woefully outdated by now, and would be borderline unusable by today's standards. If we (well, EAGLE) were to release it again to today's game market it would need to be UPDATABLE. We can't just shove it out there in its current form and hope it sticks. WE have grown up with this game and appreciate its beauty in its current form already, NEW PLAYERS are going to see it as a NEW game, and will lose interest if it remains stagnant in the same way TT2 did (and look what happened to that). Admittedly there wouldn't need to be much changed about it, but even just getting it to a stage where it will be compatible with today's coding protocols will most likely need a team of professionals at some point to work on it. Even though it's a romantic idea that we could all learn Java and do it ourselves, we have to remember that TT is a game made by 4 very talented university graduates who spent years making this their livelihood, so we're tackling no small task here... especially if we want to see immediate action (within the next year or so).

Now, the third path, while much less ideal, is in all probability the one it will go down. I really really really hope EAGLE can do all he says he is going to do, but it is going to be a huge investment on his part, so I honestly won't be surprised if it doesn't end up working out. Sune has expressed his willingness to maybe release the game's source files when he has time (and the server dies once and for all), so there still is hope for us being able to just play each other and give the game to friends if we set up our own server... but it won't be the grand ressurrection of TT that we're all hoping for. With this path though, we probably won't need much work to be done to the game because we're already pretty satisfied with it in its current form, so this path would essentially cost us nothing.

The last option would obviously be the saddest of all, and I'd rather not talk about it  

The last option is not an option. Impossible.
The 3rd is the most likely, the 2nd would be the most ideal, and the 1st is kinda romantic and unrealistic.
I highly doubt that any of us have the coding and project experience to revitalize the game in the technical aspect. None of us can do that.
The marketing side would be well handled by Steam, they have a keen interest in helping out with any old games.
The team of proffessionals idea is what I'm worried about. Who is that interested? They'd need munneyz.

Even though its unrealistic i'd love to try it out myself if need be even if it takes my entire lifetime

Id be happy to help as much as I can! Sorry I have not been here in a while(been busy with school etc) I just randomly decided to check in on you guys. I just finished reading all the topics and getting caught up on the situation.

I have basic programming skills in java(two years of computer science) but this is certainly a mountain of a project. The most ideal situation would be an open source of the game. That way we can just set up a server. Also this gives us the possibility to update the game. Even though its outdated it can still be simply modified to make it more fun, eg; WASD for moving the camera or something funny like different color vikings.(Both of those take very little programming experience.) The most important thing is we will still have the game and be able to play it.

If Eagle purchases it, this is also ideal. It doesn't have to be up to current standards of coding unless he wants it on steam or a big company to market it. In which case, like Fail said, he would need paid professionals because I imagine it would have to almost be rewritten. And that would take a LONG time. Otherwise he can just create a server and we can play like normal again.

I'm back for the mean time, I start school again next Thursday. I'll be out of town for the next few days so i'll be on my phone to get on the forums. I'll be happy to help any way I can!

I would be happy to help but have not had any experience in the key areas... The 2nd option sounds the best as most people these days use steam, it will help publicize TT as well as it having a 'Renaissance'. Option 1 is also good, option 3 isn't the best but it may have to do but it means no one new to come on... Don't even get e started on option 4...