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Counts, traffic, testers, and expectations
Aurelius
I know that some of you have a great amount of experience managing websites for other games. I also know that there is a certain buzz-kill when you see a few posters on the forums. I know that on some sites, they post at the bottom the number of registered users, etc.
Let me start by saying that from all those who sign up to be testers, we will only choose 400.
With that being said, our projections for testers is currently on pace to easily beat that amount.
Now, also, for those who don't consider it, not everyone wants to be a tester. In fact, we HAVE TONS of people signed up to the site so they can get the email news about the game. Not all testers have much to say, therefore they will not post until they do.
Our counts are good, but understand, we are going after the markets currently controlled by the major development houses and believe me, they are watching. If we alert them to our stats, we will lose one competitive advantage. We started letting the world know we were here on October 31st, 2007. This game has been under design and development since 1991. Name one big time game house that would have let their people work on their concepts for 16 years. Give us some time, and we will certainly convey the realities.
This experiment is to find out: Can an independent house truly make the big time? Our investors think we can do it. Our staff thinks we can do it. Our goals are lofty and our plan is very aggressive. We want to do to the RTS world what Westwood did with it in Dune II. For those who know their history, they were the first published work generally available, but further, they defined the genre— we want to evolve it. We just hope we have a complete picture of this renaissance and if not, the paintbrushes are still out and the canvas is still wet and the kings are still watching in anticipation. We want to evolve the way Doom did. Remember, that was a couple of guys working in a garage. We are not in a garage, and the internet has certainly changed things since Dune II.
Big dreams? I hope you think that is the case. Consider your best ideas for an RTS, and after that, consider, are they really fun?..are they just cool?..will you play it once or play it forever? If your idea is one that allows every player the opportunity to achieve greatness, even around those who are already great, then we hope that those ideas of yours are shared on the forum.
Aurelius
Executive Producer, Beyond Protocol
Dark Sky Entertainment