MORE on indefinite hold

[Paradox]

http://www.mystonline.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16384

Sorry for the long silence, things have been quickly shifting in these strange times.

Even though the development of MORE Urulive has been progressing (the new account system is nearly done!), I'm sorry to say that outside events have caused us to put this project on indefinite hold.

The MORE project was not funded directly but was riding on the coat tails of other projects. Unfortunately and very suddenly, a major revenue stream to Cyan was disrupted. The current Wall Street problems have had a significant, although indirect, effect.

We have no alternative than to put this project on hold. The ultimate future of MORE UruLive will be determined over the coming months. If or when moneys become available we will reassess the roadmap at that time.


Currently, Cyan is redirecting its priorities to focus only on fully funded projects. Of which, Myst for the iPhone/iPod Touch is one of and that project is progressing very well.

From all of us at Cyan, thank you for all your support.

I'm guessing that means no toolset in the near future

[GPNMilano]

Perhaps now would be a good time to ask Cyan for permission to start up some Shard's of our own. With all the advances in age creation, some of the minor bugs we could fix ourselves, and integration of new ages on our parts would be easy to do.

With the latest advancement in Drizzle, libPlasma and PyPRP it would also be possible to convert most, of the MOUL ages to work on the new shards, without using Cyan's authorization servers, hence their resources, to achieve this. It wouldn't be MORE of course, but it would provide us with an alternative till MORE is taken off hold, and launched. (If that ever happens.) I think however, that such a thing shouldn't be done en'mass without Cyan's approval. So maybe a letter should be drafted to Legal, and to those left at Cyan with the authority to pass such a proposal. The letter could dress our concern for them, and our desire to help in these trying times by launching a substitute for MORE, without putting strain on their financial resources. As long as its stated clearly that the servers would be taken down upon MORE's launch, and would only serve in the interm.

Just an idea of course.

[Tweek]

Perhaps now would be a good time to ask Cyan for permission to start up some Shard's of our own. With all the advances in age creation, some of the minor bugs we could fix ourselves, and integration of new ages on our parts would be easy to do.

With the latest advancement in Drizzle, libPlasma and PyPRP it would also be possible to convert most, of the MOUL ages to work on the new shards, without using Cyan's authorization servers, hence their resources, to achieve this. It wouldn't be MORE of course, but it would provide us with an alternative till MORE is taken off hold, and launched. (If that ever happens.) I think however, that such a thing shouldn't be done en'mass without Cyan's approval. So maybe a letter should be drafted to Legal, and to those left at Cyan with the authority to pass such a proposal. The letter could dress our concern for them, and our desire to help in these trying times by launching a substitute for MORE, without putting strain on their financial resources. As long as its stated clearly that the servers would be taken down upon MORE's launch, and would only serve in the interm.

Just an idea of course.

I'd rather not see Shards, I'd rather not see another UU and that is me putting it very simply and politely

As it stands they (Cyan) need to discuss it with Rand about what is going to happen, currently it is all up in the air.

[GPNMilano]

Tweek, The reason I suggested this is that it would allow for Cyan to continue, financially on their own, without the constant pressure of trying to get MORE up and running, but still allow for MORE to get up and running again when Cyan can do such a thing.

Plus, advancements in age creation tools can fix the bugs present in UU, allowing for a much less bug ridden game, plus help Cyan with ideas on how to get MORE, if it starts, working with fan created content.

For instance the Uru client can be made to download and updates ages on link-in. Ages can be added to the Nexus, and if someone chooses to visit such an age they would just link there. The Uru Client then automatically downloads the age from the server. ULM for an online experience, woudl not be necessary (it's Python scripts are still used though). And if the user isn't interested in such an age, it never gets downloaded, and takes no space on the users system.

With the shards, things like that (which is actually capable now), can be thoroughly tested and the information sent back to the MORE team, where a database of such information can be kept, and when MORE launches those things looked into as viable solutions to problems.

[Tweek]

The only way that that would be viable in my opinion, would be a single shard, perhaps GoW ran with heavy Cyan input (they dictate how things are run).

I'm afraid I am one of these unpopular people who believe UU did more harm than good to the community, thus in my mind another UU or fan run shards is an instant no.

[andylegate]

Not to play devils advocate as far as UU and shards go, but......

What do we do then if MORE stays on hold? Indefinately? Do we let it die? Do we let the thought of having something "online" die?

What if, and Chogon ain't joking about the markets right now, I'm sure most of us read or listen to the news, the markets pretty much keep MORE from being a reality?

Do we simply keep making Ages for those who are lucky enough to have copies of Uru:CC? Ages that they will never be able to share at the same time as others? Never again to have a "uru", never to socialize? Never to meet an have fun?

I agree we need to have patients, and try to have a positive outlook, and to remain hopeful.

But if MORE turns out to stay in limbo, or things continue to go badly to Cyan so that MORE is only, maybe, keep your fingers crossed, and pray a lot, will happen YEARS down the road?

Look how much of the community we lost with just MOUL shutting down. I hate to think of how many more we will be loosing with this simple announcement.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope that this is just a minor bump (so much for MORE being up and running by the end of the year however). But what if it's not? What if it does die before even getting started? Do we still say no to shards and UU then?

[Tweek]

The current economics are only a factor, not the factor. The factor is an overall lack of funds because Cyan has had troubles with Uru in the past, think of it as they are now back in the garage and they need to work on another Myst (metaphor) to get the cash pouring in to continue.

MO:RE might be gone for years, we don't know, Cyan doesn't know, they don't know what is going on with Uru stuffs it is something they need to discuss.

If no MO:RE for years means Cyan gets back on their feet then I'm fine with that, at this point I'd rather see one of 2 things

1. Cyan getting back on their feet and bringing something new to the table.
2. Cyan getting back on their feet and rebooting Uru from scratch.

Because Uru as it is, is pretty much a train wreck, it has lost to much of what made it such a fantastic concept in the first place.

As I mentioned above, I could tolerate having a single shard ran by the GoW with heavy input from Cyan. People could continue doing what they wanted to do. I just feel multiple shards is not the answer, and the impact that they had/could have on Uru greatly outweighs an positive aspect of being able to hook up with friends for a game of heek.

[andylegate]

I can understand your answer, and agree with you on a lot of it.

[Trylon]

I kinda agree with the single-server point mentioned above.
Note that I'd love to see such a server by the way

[GPNMilano]

A single server concept is ideal, in my mind as well. However the problem lies in the cost to the person who runs such a server (as we can't ask Cyan for help financially, i the state they are in). As well as how much load one such fan run server can take. I'm assuming (I never ran a Uru Server myself) that a server sufficient to hold the entire Uru Community would be expensive, and that the server would have to be top of the line to run efficiently for the community.