Can anyone confirm or deny? by SchoolboysWink

FIREFLY UNIVERSE

Can anyone confirm or deny?

POSTED BY: SCHOOLBOYSWINK
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 21:50
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Tuesday, September 18, 2007 4:44 PM

According to the Firefly article in Wikipedia (somewhat dubious source of info, I know), a company called Multiverse Network, Inc. has purchased the rights to create an MMORPG based in the 'Verse. This game is supposed to be coming out in 2008. I linked over to Multiverse's website, and nothing Firefly-related was listed in its upcoming games, though a few developers had "untitled" or "to be announced" type entries. Considering the freakishly small guild I founded in D&D Online is called "Shadow's Browncoats," I would naturally be interested in a Firefly MMORPG (though I am still primarily a hard-core pen and paper gamer). In particular, I'd love to get in on it right at the start, before all the cool names and ideas are taken. Does anybody have any other info on this? Can anyone confirm or deny the truth of this as-yet unsubstantiated report? I didn't dig through all the forums to see if this was already addressed, so if this is old news, I apologize.

Thanks, Browncoats!

"When you can't do somethin' smart, do somethin' right!" -Jayne Cobb quotes Shepherd Book

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007 5:50 PM

DAVESHAYNE

It's true. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/12/72263

David

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007 6:29 PM

FREDGIBLET

It's true but it will probably be years before it's ready to go.

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007 6:38 PM

CALIFORNIAKAYLEE

Wow, this is like the third post in 10 days asking this question (here: http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=30611 and here: http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=30481 ). Freaky. Nothing wrong with that, just everyone getting worried at the same time I guess.

DaveShayne is right about one thing: at one point in time, we did have confirmation that a company who is making MMORPG technology optioned the rights from Fox to make a Firefly MMORPG.

But that announcement was in December 2006, and there hasn't been anything substantial since then. Multiverse has done several interviews since then, but for the last few months they've just been saying "We can't say anything." Take a look at the email in my first link above, and in this recent interview with one of the Multiverse founders: http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/11833

So here's where we stand: We got an announcement over 9 months ago that a company with unfinished technology was going to hire professional game developers to make a Firefly MMORPG. Since then, there's been no announcement that they've hired game developers to make the game -- or that they've met with Joss and brought him on board.

It seems unlikely to me that they've started work on the game at all. Originally they said the MMORPG would be playable "by 2008". In this most recently interview they said that they can't even say when it'll be ready. Their explanation? "Hollywood's weird." Yeah. I bet.

I'm a huge MMORPG fan, and I've been following this since day 1, but at this point, I've given up and written it off. Could I be wrong? Sure. And if I am I'll be happy to have been wrong -- once I'm playing the beta. But after 9 months, you would think that they would have had something more to say. Lead designer hired. Joss gives the thumbs up. Concept art. A "coming soon!" webpage. A blog about it on their webpage. Any gorramn thing to let the fans know that it's still on.

Unless or until they make one of the above announcements, I'm done with them. I'm not going to pin my hopes for our miracle on Multiverse.

I think we've been screwed by yet another Fox partner.

~CK

You can't take the sky from me...

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007 7:09 PM

FOLLOWMAL

Quote:
Originally posted by SchoolboysWink:
Considering the freakishly small guild I founded in D&D Online is called "Shadow's Browncoats," I would naturally be interested in a Firefly MMORPG (though I am still primarily a hard-core pen and paper gamer).

First off, good to see you SBW. Hope all is well with you and yours.

As one of the people standing in the room at B3 when the production of a MMORPG of FF/S was announced, I'm so sorry to hear it's delayed and I hope all that's holding it up gets straightened away. My daughter is waiting to beta this!

You do know, don't you that there is a RPG version of a FF/S game right? ( In fact, they've announced another 3 books in the series coming out! )

http://www.serenitystuff.com/page/4/

Ok, you probably already knew that.

http://www.kidsneedtoread.org

http://www.completehero.com

http://amazon.com/Serenity-Collectors-Nathan-Fillion/dp/B000Q9IZ5C

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007 8:35 PM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Quote:
Originally posted by CaliforniaKaylee:

So here's where we stand: We got an announcement over 9 months ago that a company with unfinished technology was going to hire professional game developers to make a Firefly MMORPG. Since then, there's been no announcement that they've hired game developers to make the game -- or that they've met with Joss and brought him on board.

It seems unlikely to me that they've started work on the game at all.

A long time ago, in a Universe nearby, there was a software company gimmick called vaporware: A company would announce a product in development, which was totally ficticious. Nothing going on, no development, nada. If they gt a lot of response, they would start working on it. If a competitor brought out something similar, they'd sue, claiming that their stuff had been stolen . Sad to see that the same stuff is,maybe, still going on.

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007 9:03 PM

CALIFORNIAKAYLEE

Quote:
Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
A long time ago, in a Universe nearby, there was a software company gimmick called vaporware

Yup, vaporware is a special flavor of ickiness, one that I'm unfortunately familiar with. What I particularly object to in this case of vaporware is that the hoax is being perpetrated by self-proclaimed Browncoats, who stood in a room full of (real) Browncoats at B3 and promised them new Firefly content. Vaporware is one thing. Stringing faithful fans along just to get your company some press is another thing altogether.

~CK

You can't take the sky from me...

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007 10:48 PM

MRBEN

Quote:
Originally posted by CaliforniaKaylee:
Quote:
Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
A long time ago, in a Universe nearby, there was a software company gimmick called vaporware
Yup, vaporware is a special flavor of ickiness, one that I'm unfortunately familiar with. What I particularly object to in this case of vaporware is that the hoax is being perpetrated by self-proclaimed Browncoats, who stood in a room full of (real) Browncoats at B3 and promised them new Firefly content. Vaporware is one thing. Stringing faithful fans along just to get your company some press is another thing altogether.

~CK

You can't take the sky from me...

Aren't we jumping a little too quickly to conclusions here? The original press release said that it wouldn't be available until 2008 anyway, and it's only the end of 3Q 2007 and we're already assuming it's never going to happen?

mrben

"Carpe Aptenodytes"
http://www.jedimoose.org

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007 6:30 AM

CALIFORNIAKAYLEE

Quote:
Aren't we jumping a little too quickly to conclusions here?

I don't think so, but YMMV. I've been following this since day 1, and I've followed other MMORPG development announcements in the past. This one doesn't read anything like the others. Go to someplace like MMORPG.com and take a look at all the in-development games. Every single one has a webpage. They all have some form of communication from the development team. Even Bioware, with its super-secret, "we're making a MMORPG but we're not going to tell you what it's about" project has 1) hired developers to make the gorramn thing, and 2) has repeatedly told the community that all is well, they're working away.

Now contrast that with Multiverse. They haven't announced that they've hired anyone for the project. They haven't announced that they've met with Joss or anyone from the original production team. They don't even mention Firefly on their webpage, outside of the forums! Does that sound to you like a company who is working hard on our beloved franchise? Does that sound to you like a company that values Firefly in the slightest? Or does it sound like a company who used the devotion of the Browncoats to get their name in Wired?

Quote:
The original press release said that it wouldn't be available until 2008 anyway

Their whole shtick is that they make technology that allows faster MMORPG development, so of course they said it would be ready within two years. It's PR hype -- not uncommon with vaporware.

Nine months after the announcement, if they were saying, "All's well, we're working on it, nothing much to see yet, these things take time," I would be fine with it. In fact, that's what they said for the first half of 2007. But all they say these days is "we can't talk about it." Not "we're working on it" or "we're assembling the best team possible to make this a truly great game". Just "we can't say anything." In that TenTonHammer interview I linked, they can't even say anymore that it'll be out by 2008. Doesn't that seem odd to you?

I dunno, maybe I am jumping to conclusions. But I look at all the other franchise MMORPGs in development (Age of Conan, Stargate Worlds, Star Trek Online, etc etc), and I look at how 1) there hasn't been any new information from Multiverse since the original announcement, and 2) even their interviews have dried up over the past few months, and I get worried. Then I get cynical. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of being

by Fox, so maybe I'm just a little gun-shy.

And I don't think I'm the only one. 3 threads asking the same question in 10 days, on this one board alone, and we're only at the 9 month mark. More people will start asking the same questions as we approach the 1 year mark. What exactly will Multiverse's response be?

~CK

You can't take the sky from me...

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007 7:25 AM

SCHOOLBOYSWINK

I don't know... As you'll probably figure from the tentative nature of my original question, I am not getting my hopes up. Still, part of me wants to give Multiverse the benefit of the doubt. I think of games like Warcraft III. Fans were waiting for it for something like, what, 7 years? And during that timeframe it was alternately reported that it was going to be an RPG, adventure game, fantasy-style FPS, traditional RTS, etc... Obviously they couldn't have actually developed all those concepts, so most of that was just making stuff up for a press release to keep fans interested. In the final estimation, I'd rather hear nothing than get shoveled B.S.

But, again... I'm not getting my hopes up. Given the overall quality of the Multiverse website and "coming releases" section, if it took another couple years of waiting for a better company to buy the rights, I wouldn't be heartbroken, either.

"When you can't do somethin' smart, do somethin' right!" -Jayne Cobb quotes Shepherd Book

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007 7:44 AM

SCHOOLBOYSWINK

Quote:
Originally posted by FollowMal:
You do know, don't you that there is a RPG version of a FF/S game right? ( In fact, they've announced another 3 books in the series coming out! )

Hey, FollowMal. Good to hear from you.

Yeah, I have the tabletop RPG. In fact, I saw it at a local HobbyTown when I hadn't even seen the BDM (or FF) yet. I looked at my wife, and said "I know Joss's work, and I know a little about what this world is like. Even if the movie is bad, this would still be an AWESOME backdrop for gaming." Bought it right there. Fortunately, the show blew my mind, so it turned out to be a great purchase.

I have only run the game three times, and my player characters are reasonably-transparent rippoffs of FF/BDM characters, but they are character types the players wanted to explore, so I think everybody is having fun. In particular, my wife is challenging her gaming limits with her "Leaky brainpan" River-esque character, and though I don't have my players swearing in Chinese yet, everybody tries hard to get into the spirit of things.

(I even toyed with the idea of trying to reserve the chat room here on FFF for a regular time-slot and run a game here in chat, in case there were Browncoats that would be interested but didn't have gamer friends in their areas. I was worried that even if it hadn't already been done, though, there very likely wouldn't be enough interest, though, and that if there was there would probably be way too much, so I canned the notion.)

What IS news to me, though, is that there are supplements coming out for the game. To that let me just say: SHINY!

"When you can't do somethin' smart, do somethin' right!" -Jayne Cobb quotes Shepherd Book

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007 9:50 PM

MRBEN

Just a couple more points here from my POV:

1. The Multiverse thing isn't like a normal game development - they're not going to make the game themselves, but rather subcontract it to another company to make it using their engine.

2. Surely it would be a phenomenal waste of time/money to procure the rights and then not use them? I can't imagine Fox gives them away for free....?

I'm not saying you're wrong - it may still be vaporware - I'm just not sure they've done enough (or not done enough) to warrant the accusation just yet.

Someone asked a similar question at DragonCon to the crew of The Signal - hopefully they'll be able to get a follow-up interview.

mrben

"Carpe Aptenodytes"
http://www.jedimoose.org

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