They are only intending it to work on Android devices with keyboards, for now.

i guess its a smarter move than spliffing up the graphics on the doze/nix/mac versions.

i guess its a smarter move than spliffing up the graphics on the doze/nix/mac versions.

Or, ya know, content

Wow, this is awesome :/ Talk about a setup for failure. A tiny screen and substandard control on a touch screen or miniscule keyboard won't stand a chance against even the worst computer equipped pilot (on the upside, growler will finally get some kills). At least the limitations of running a semi-complex game on a tiny device will mean it will take android users longer to realize VO, despite years of promises, still has virtually no content.

Yes, it's a smarter move than content. This could position Guild to develop all areas of VO much faster. Less snark would be appropriate, as obviously they have been busy making things happen in the background.

"We are targeting forthcoming tablet, smartbook and netbook style devices with displays of 1024x600 or better." That's not so tiny.

I would say the forum needs the ability to rate down miserable posts but the miserable people are the only ones that ever bloody post so they would just end up rating down all the positive and helpful comments :P

Less snark would be appropriate

I'm funding this project. I am entitled to comment on the direction (or lack thereof) its developers are choosing to take it.

1) This opportunity came up as a result of a potential bundling deal with an OEM, I didn't make the choice to port until after that started to look really interesting. If I can get VO to ship included with a few hundred thousand snazzy new machines of some sort, sold deeply discounted through a Really Big Telecom, I sure as hell am going to try to make that happen.

2) In case you haven't noticed, we don't get much attention in the gaming world, and we cannot afford big-time marketing. The only thing a company our size can do, is go out on a limb and do some wild stuff that the bigger companies are unwilling or unable to do. Adding "content" does not gain us exposure, as the noise level in the MMO world is too high. We have to do something to competitively differentiate ourselves from the other MMOs that are being released practically every week.

3) If I were sitting on a big pile of money, or even a relatively small pile of money, I would work on content and not care about any of this other stuff. I vastly prefer to be a game designer than a CEO. But as it is, I have to prioritize based on "keeping the company in business so we can add the content". So, while I am sorry for delaying content again, I don't apologize for the decision that caused that to happen. Ultimately, this is all about "content", like having the money to add more of it.

I'm always trying to walk a line between balancing influx of new users (needed to keep us alive) with fixing/improving/expanding content for existing users (needed to keep us alive). It is what it is.

Aye. I'd rather have the game as it is now for years to come than have an improved version that will only be around for a few months. I'd rather the game exist, even if that means updates will be less substantial, rather than have it not exist at all, given those 2 choices.

I'll always have your back boss

Those of us that were here in 2002/2004 feel your pain Inc, we remember that you were trying to sell an engine, not a game. We are still impressed that instead of throwing in the towel, you decided to try make a game with it instead. It may not be the best Windows game available, but it sure draws us Linux/Mac guys in, cos we don't have much else, apart from 3 million FPS ports.

Fuck the nay sayers, go for it.

I was always trying to make a game, but like a lot of games, no one gave me any money to finish it, and we had to release something that was.. far from what I wanted to accomplish.

Completing and delivering on my original intentions for the game is a big part of why I'm still here, six+ years later. I still want to make that game (that I envisioned in 96-98), and I'm still trying to, and funding it is still difficult, heh.

Anyway, I'm glad some people are excited for the Android thing, I'm sure it'll be interesting, but I do think being on the forefront of the mobile-MMO world could be a pretty fascinating place in the near future.

Out of curiosity, would a "relatively small pile of money" be high five figures, mid six figures, or low seven figures?

Any of those would be great, frankly. We've been hand-to-mouth (income to outflow) for years. This leaves very little breathing room for having a bad month, or having me work on the game instead of marketing. It also gives me a rather exciting continuous stress level.

Anyway, that's why I'm working so hard on Making Stuff Happen; which includes press exposure, increased company income, and also gameplay and content changes.

Great idea Inc! I hope to see lots of new android users.

"Fuck the nay sayers, go for it."

Yoda got it right Inc, hope things work out for the best.

This is a brilliant move for guildsoft *tips hat*

This is a very slight concern but its been echoing in the back of my head so i might as well ask; If the port thing goes over great and the PC platforms stay as they are and to be honest its been relatively stagnant from my point of view is it a possibility that support for these platforms would go *p00f*.

I feel bad for asking this, how dare I question Guilds dedication to its community. i must be more whacked than I had originally though.

spidey: Eh? Umm, no, we are not planning to replace the PC versions with tablet-gaming. That would be an extremely bad idea.

The PC platforms have not been particularly "stagnant" either, I just did a fairly big redux of texture resolution and compression last year. From the client side, a hell of a lot has changed, improvements to threading scalability and all that, although that's true across all platforms (including Android).

If anything, the Android version is causing more low-end improvements to be back-propagated to the PC. We're doing a "fast fog" for Android that will be an option on the PC as well, etc.

We are still planning on doing some high-end improvements on the desktop side too, like DX11 support, improved 3D stereo monitor support, six-monitor support using ATI's latest and greatest 6-DisplayPort card, etc.

Very nice move,
and a smart one i should say.

android is the fastest upcoming mobile platform.
if you can make it happen to release it end this year, i guess VO will revive to a whole new stage.

you got my support, resubbing right now. (was planning this for a time though) :)

I think you should redo the generic energy weapon sound. >.>

/completelyofftopic