Asheron's Call Homepage

[Ibn]

Hi folks! It’s been a few weeks since our last update, and there’s a lot of exciting news that I want to tell you about.

First off, you’ll be seeing updates like this much more frequently. Once a week I’ll be posting a status update with news about where we are in the launch process as well as any other news, and possibly even some guest entries from other members of the team!

Speaking of the team, many of you have asked who is running Throne of Destiny development since Jessica Mulligan’s departure. Now is a good time to introduce (or re-introduce) the folks who are in charge.

When we needed someone to take point on Throne of Destiny development, someone with the experience to keep us on track and oversee things at the executive level, Chris Dyl, Turbine’s Chief Technology Officer, stepped up to the opportunity. Chris has been with Turbine for over ten years, was a lead developer on the original Asheron’s Call, and knows our technology as well as anyone on the planet, which means that he can look at our bug-fixing schedule and time estimates and make sure they’re realistic. He also can make sure that everything is humming along with regards to our publishing partners and our operations folk back east.

We also have two Producers on Throne of Destiny right now, each of whom play a slightly different role on the team. One is a name you’ll recognize: Srand. She is in charge of design decisions and the overall vision of the game. She’ll be continuing in this role on the Live Team after launch, and has already begun the scheduling and design process for the future. The other good news is that this means that I can hand my Acting Producer duties back over to her and spend more time on my primary role – communicating with you.

Our second Producer was brought on as the Santa Monica Quality Assurance Coordinator, and has done such a great job at keeping us in line that we’ve appointed him as Producer. His name is Darren Manes and he came to us from EA, where he worked on a number of MMOs such as Ultima Online and The Sims Online. Last month when we were looking at our schedule and all of the things we needed to get done before launch, Darren was the one who spoke up and made sure that we all understood that we had to choose between meeting our old date and shipping a quality product. We all bow before the power of his calendar.

So where are we on that calendar now? We’re right on track for our July 18 launch. On Friday we hit one of our internal deadlines, and we’re actually slightly ahead of schedule for the next one. (No, this doesn’t mean we might be able to launch early.)

With these three at the helm, we are in good hands and are on track. This brings us to the next step: Preview.

I’m sure you want to know exactly what you have to do in order to see the game before it ships. How exactly will we be determining who gets access to the Preview? I think we’ve found an excellent method to ensure fairness: Everyone has the opportunity to get in.

At the end of June we will be launching an Open Preview for Throne of Destiny. Everyone will be able to download the AC:TD client, and we’ll be releasing the Preview Keys in batches through FilePlanet, with no restrictions on who can get a Key. We’ll be copying all character data from one of the existing game worlds (we rolled a die and it looks like it’ll be Leafcull) so that many of you will have existing characters to use when trying out the new content and systems. For the rest of you, we’ve got a few ideas that we’re working on to help you check out what AC:TD has to offer for all of your characters.

Another topic that many folks in the community have been asking about (well “asking” is probably too weak a word here, but I’ll use it anyways) is Throne of Destiny distribution outside of the US and Europe.

Over the last two months, we’ve been working to close a deal with a distributor who would be able to market to folks in Australia, South America and elsewhere. While we were in the midst of these negotiations, we couldn’t talk about them – no, not even to say, “Yes, we’re working on it.”

Unfortunately we were not able to close a deal that was to the satisfaction of all parties, so I have to tell those of you outside the US and Europe that there will not be local distribution of AC:TD for your regions. Your best bet at buying AC:TD or the pre-order box is to buy from a US or European retail outlet that will ship the game to you.

We do plan on marketing AC:TD via digital distribution at a later date, once the traditional retailers have had 3-6 months or so to sell the game. The digital AC:TD package will not include the pre-order box bonus items, however.

I know this is disappointing news, particularly during the silence on this topic that was required during the negotiation phase. We wanted very much to provide retail distribution for these areas, but unfortunately we simply couldn’t make the numbers work.

As many of you know, this week is E3, the huge electronics entertainment industry convention in Los Angeles. Turbine will be there, and we’d love it if any of you who are at E3 wanted to swing by our booth and check out Dungeons & Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online. Our booth is right next to Sony and Nintendo in the West Hall, across from a concession stand. The booth number is 2666 – don’t ask who we had to talk to in order to get that location! In addition to the coverage of Turbine’s upcoming games, I have interviews scheduled with some of our Asheron’s Call fan sites, so look for those next weekend or early next week. Both Calandryll and I will be at E3 and would love to talk about Throne of Destiny if you can grab us. Turbine will also have a webcam in our booth, watch http://www.turbine.com/?page_id=84 to see the booth live on your desktop!

[Ibn]

Just as a heads-up, because of E3 I won't be able to reply to questions and comments in this thread for most of the day today, but I will be back this evening to respond.

[SCM]

In case you miss it on the other thread:

So what happened to the marketing deal turbine has/had with Sony?

Was this for North America only?

Sony do have a marketing & distribution set up in Australia & most other, if not all, countries in the world.

[Ibn]

The deal with Station Publishing is for North America only, and the deal with Codemasters is for Europe only.

[MaddyFF]

Thanks Ibn, a little information can go a long way in comforting people.

On the open preview, will this be all the content? Any concerns about the quests, especially if they revolve around the main story arc getting out too early?

[Hatecc]

Awesome for the update, but what about the list of the augmentation gems?

A list was supposed to be up several weeks ago.

I sure wish the devs would stop leading us on, and just post new information when you can.

Please stop stringing us along by posting "oh we should have info out on monday"

We get very exasperated when on monday that news isn't there, i'd rather not hear about it unless its 100%

[boneyard]

Originally Posted by Hatecc

We get very exasperated when on monday that news isn't there, i'd rather not hear about it unless its 100%

i think you meant to say i twice and not try to speak for the other people here.

[MaddyFF]

Originally Posted by Hatecc

We get very exasperated when on monday that news isn't there, i'd rather not hear about it unless its 100%

Do you rather not get any news until the product goes gold?

[boneyard]

Originally Posted by Yertle

no he was speaking for me too (even if he didn't know it), so "we" can be correct

we sounds like he is speaking for everyone, where im sure he hasn't asked everyone first, in my opinion it's better to just voice your opinion and not drag others into it. ill leave it at that, my point is clear i guess.

[Hatecc]

Originally Posted by MaddyFF

Do you rather not get any news until the product goes gold?

did i say that?

I said i didn't want to be teased. I just want the news when its ready, i don't want them to say they will do something if they aren't 100% sure.

And last i checked "we" didn't mean everyone.

Don't put words in my mouth.

[Dante_Montana]

Does the web cam work, It hasnt changed pics in awhile. Is it on a 15min timer? LOL oh oh oh whats on the Monitors?

[MaddyFF]

Originally Posted by Hatecc

did i say that?.

IMO, yes. If you want somethign to be 100% sure then wait for it to go gold. Even then it could change before we actually get a chance to play.

And last i checked "we" didn't mean everyone.

"We" means more then one person. Next time to eliminate confusion you should perhaps list the people in "we" that you are speaking for.

[JJC]

> Our second Producer was brought on as the Santa Monica Quality Assurance Coordinator, and has done such a great job at keeping us in line that we’ve appointed him as Producer.

How long was this guy at his job when he oversaw the events that lead to bugs and other game breaking issues and didn't catch them til a focus group was brought together and that lead to the latest delay?

JJC

[Vlad Morbius]

How long will the preview run for, and if i missed this, how will those of us who don't play Leafcull get around the areas that are high level?

[Kheras]

Ibn, will satallite owners ever be able to play without having to pay for a seperate dial-up access account?