Entropia News: MindArk Test Workshop

EP-Newsbot · Sep 6, 2018

MindArk Test Workshop

Would you like to visit the MindArk offices and help test a new camera system for the Entropia Universe client?

MindArk is hosting a special testing workshop at its offices in Gothenburg, Sweden on October 12, 2018. The purpose of the test is to gain valuable feedback from both new and veteran Entropians to put the final touches on the new camera system.

The workshop will include a tour of the MindArk offices and a complimentary lunch with several MindArk staff. Selected participants will also be reimbursed for one night hotel accommodation in Gothenburg (up to 1500 SEK).

Interested parties should complete the following application before September 16th, 2018. Up to eight participants will be selected from the pool of applicants to offer a range of opinions from a cross-section of the Entropia Universe community. Selected applicants will be contacted via email around September 21, 2018 to confirm their participation in the workshop.

Source

Wistrel · Sep 6, 2018

Send McCormick! :D

But also... "camera system"? Really? Was that really above "Fix space" or "Space courier missions" on the wishlist?

I'm surprised...

(incidentally... the questions on the form are quite interesting - at least in terms of working out what they mean by camera system).

Now I read those. I'm guessing by camera system, they mean "how you view your avatar in 3rd person".

I wonder if I should apply. I'm probably the perfect candidate for input on the camera system. I'm a bit obsessed with it...

VeloThruxMaster · Sep 6, 2018

“I wonder if I should apply. I'm probably the perfect candidate for input on the camera system. I'm a bit obsessed with it...”

Wistrel I reckon that would be the perfect thing to say in a job interview so yes, go for it!

Then dish the dirt in here after your mission.

VeloThruxMaster · Sep 6, 2018

Oh, is it a virtual reality camera system?

Has to be.

narfi · Sep 6, 2018

VeloThruxMaster said: ↑

Oh, is it a virtual reality camera system?

Has to be.
Click to expand...

that was my assumption reading it as well....

Wistrel · Sep 8, 2018

I thought something like a real camera initially but then read the application form. It feels more about the 3rd person camera most likely

McCormick · Sep 8, 2018

VeloThruxMaster · Sep 9, 2018

LOL :)

*buying camera deeds*

McCormick · Oct 4, 2018

Only 1 guy stepped forward, claiming he was one of the choosen ones...he posted last on 28th of september...we got the usual silence since then...

Fan_boy99 · Oct 4, 2018

McCormick said: ↑

Only 1 guy stepped forward, claiming he was one of the choosen ones...he posted last on 28th of september...we got the usual silence since then...

View attachment 20778
Click to expand...

wrong. the ma employee darkoni mod admitted hes going wink. pretty sure some1 on this forum is going also but they are keeping very quiet about it (wink)

NotAdmin · Oct 15, 2018

Found some of the posts from peeps that visited.

TheRock said:

I must admit and say that MA's new CEO is a great person with a lot of passion for the game. He seems to be decent guy with a vision towards making a change to the game. We all know change takes time. Despite his young age and his position, he is seemed interested and listens to the players closely (at least thats my impression on him).

There will be AMA so will be glad to ask him other things. There were no hidden info given sadly . It was simply nice to meet and talk face to face.
Click to expand...

slupor said:

Day was split in two parts : camera testing and feedback & ideas.

As for the camera, it's way more intuitive and streamlined. The current myriad of views and controls we all know and lived to work with over the years will be reworked intensely and yes, it is gonna take a serious bit of getting used to. MA is aware of this and is going to very thoroughly test and review. Yesterday was just one step into the process. We managed to find a few quirks and did things that the architect and programmer definitely not expected so that was useful. The new camera will allow MA to create new content easier so that might not be visible for players right away but in time the expectation is it will.

Of course someone could not resist the opportunity (Can we spawn any mob on this test server? Really?) to spawn a Hussk. Killing it solo with Marco's gun was not possible but fortunately there was an even more awesome weapon - not disclosed yet - that was able to do the job, even though it took a fair amount of time. So yes, you can solo kill a Hussk and loot a Wormslayer harness F UL on top. Did i say it was a test server?

Feedback and ideas was attended by MA senior staff all day. They really took the time to hear all of us out, and genuinely tried to understand and address the concerns and topics raised. Some of the points were raised by players in pretty straight up style but the Swedes (and the odd Britton in the room, you-know-who) took it well. As for me, it showed the passion for the game displayed by a few oldskool players including yours truly and that was recognized and appreciated. It was clear that most things brought up were (intensely) discussed internally already so that in a way is a good thing; at least no ignorance is involved. Some things might take a while to sink in and whether or not the player's input will have effect, time will tell. I did manage to get the MA crew seriously off balance by Beave's burning question which was extremely funny to watch.

We were hosted very hospitably, well catered and left with a nice bag of goodies. They even arranged sunny and warm weather in Gothenburg so all in all it was for me a positive experience, and I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the game that has been such a big part of my life for the past 13 years (give or take 2 weeks). After all the bitching it was time to put my money where my mouth is and fly out to Sweden
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Darkaruki said:

Hey guys, just to corroborate with what slupor talked about (it was great to meet you, even though we were in different test groups ) they are actually working on a new camera system, and although we signed an NDA so we can't talk crazy specific or show like pictures or something they did say we were completely free to talk about the overall experience and how we felt about it.

First of all, they set aside quite a lot of time throughout the time we were there to basically just listen to us talk about anything we wanted to talk about and answer honestly how they felt even when the questions were difficult for them, they took in a lot of feedback and wrote down quite a lot of notes while we were talking and the environment there felt very open and constructive, huge props to the new CEO who was an extremely friendly and passionate guy and seemed genuinely excited to talk with us about pretty much anything Entropia.

We also spent some time testing out the camera systems in our own ways (although we didn't have ALL kinds of players we did have a decent amount of variety in playstyle within our groups) and honestly I think all of us were skeptical about them spending all of that development time working on a camera system, but pretty much all of us actually really liked it and were able to see the merit they saw in it once we started playing with it on their test realm. As for when we can expect the new stuff to make its' way to the game they weren't certain yet but the impression I got was most likely in a few months, potentially between halloween mayhem and christmas mayhem but potentially after christmas mayhem, though that's mostly a guess.

As mentioned earlier, we had plenty of time with them to discuss all sorts of other ideas for potential new content and based on some of their replies I can guarantee they are working on several other upcoming content releases some of which were very exciting to me. Although, of course, apart from a sneak peek at the new camera systems we didn't really get any sensitive insider info or anything crazy like that, at most maybe just some opinions that are completely reasonable but that they wouldn't like to talk about publicly as much.

Overall, I have nothing but positive things to say about the experience, the trip was quite an expensive and time consuming one for me coming from Canada but in the end I was super happy to have taken it, like slupor mentioned, we were treated very well and given some awesome goodies as well at the end of our visit. I also took a few extra days and I've been having lots of fun exploring Gothenburg. (my first time in Europe)
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Saphira Lucky said:

Why MA want/need to do this are because of a lot of reasons.
1. Smoother game play
2. Less scripts interfering
3. Lowering the pressure on the servers
4. Modernizing the camera system/ interact system to attract new players.
5. I'm guessing on this one, but making it harder to bot.

MA - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here

When you've seen what we've seen you'll understand why it's necessary. It will be an improvement, people just need to have an open mind when it gets implemented and also give it a chance. Some might experience it being more of a difference than others and might also find it hard to adjust in the beginning. Just give it time. It took us about 30 min - 1h to adjust somewhat during the test.
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NotAdmin · Oct 15, 2018

The most interesting one to me is the post by slupor, primarily because apparently the architect and programmer were brought in. I was expecting it to be far more of a PR stunt than anything else, and am happy to see that the whole thing is taken at least somewhat serious. It also sounds as if the company is actually far more interested in the users' experience than I assumed until now (though this could easily have been a few hours where they play pretend, only to go back to stuffing their fingers in their ears as soon as the players left the premises).

Time will tell whether or not their concerns were actually heard, or whether it was all just a big show. But from here, a thumbs up for at least being able to give them the impression they were heard, and that things were taken seriously.

As for the need for a new camera system, the explanations of reducing the number of scripts necessary sounds logical.

McCormick · Oct 15, 2018

*yawn* oh, sorry...I mean, everything sounds so nice and so positive (and so fake), MA even invited a rich bot user...and we get a new "view", that cannot be described, because it is too awesome...what could possibly go wrong ? ;p

NotAdmin · Oct 15, 2018

What rich bot user?

McCormick · Oct 15, 2018

http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/f...eating-again&p=3631562&viewfull=1#post3631562

>

Same guy lent gazzillion PEDs to super-scammer "Kunrad Solo Reez" and is still waiting for payments...since years.

http://www.entropiaplanets.com/thre...-salute-kunrad-solo-reez-d.21790/#post-132781

Fan_boy99 · Oct 15, 2018

NotAdmin said: ↑

The most interesting one to me is the post by slupor, primarily because apparently the architect and programmer were brought in. I was expecting it to be far more of a PR stunt than anything else, and am happy to see that the whole thing is taken at least somewhat serious. It also sounds as if the company is actually far more interested in the users' experience than I assumed until now (though this could easily have been a few hours where they play pretend, only to go back to stuffing their fingers in their ears as soon as the players left the premises).

Time will tell whether or not their concerns were actually heard, or whether it was all just a big show. But from here, a thumbs up for at least being able to give them the impression they were heard, and that things were taken seriously.

As for the need for a new camera system, the explanations of reducing the number of scripts necessary sounds logical.
Click to expand...

You are joking admin/notadmin?. You realise 1 of the people (at least 1) are official MA staff? lol?. SO erm MA do a workshop for their own staff and family? come on....

edited do to so. spelling. 1 100% Mas own paid staff 'went' IMHO 2 paid MA staff went. all signed a NDA so whats point chatting about the new Camera deeds anyway? just wait they will be on sale soon. Get them bought up sheep

Jamira · Oct 16, 2018

Soooo boring to read this with all this fanboys ...
Entropia is and will be for ever a simple bad hosted exploitation. Bad graphic, stupid game play. Whatever they'll do ... ehrm wait ... announce will never happen. The staff is listening to customers? Hahaha! Good luck fanboys!

GeorgeSkywalker · Oct 16, 2018

Jak put up a detailed account:

jak;3669379 said:

Hi!

First, I want to thank MA for giving me the opportunity to attend the test workshop.

Second, it was great to meat in person all the other players there! Saphira, slupor, Rocky & Darkaruki posts above have said loads already, and I agree with each of them, MA were very welcoming and understanding and listening. As each of them has said, we all got the feelings MA care and our game is moving in a good direction! Wish I could have taken each and everyone of you through the entire day with me, you would feel the warm and good feelings we all got while we were there!

Enough, here is my story of the events:

I started this game in June 2003 and I've loved the game ever since. So when I seen MA inviting players to this thing I sent my application in instantly, think I might have been the first applicant! So I was very happy when I got that confirmation email.

Things started at 10am, I met up with "Saphira Amethyst Star", "David Westmoreland", and Darkaruki little before going into MA's headquarters, we had coffee and talked. Great people!

We went up to a conference room MindArk had set up for us where "William Will Last" was an early bird and already sitting down waiting for the meeting to begin. We were joined by slupor shortly after making 6 of us players in attendance.

(I didn't see them but I was told there were dials on the walls in the conference room for adjusting the loot.)

We all were very well greeted by MindArk-Kaj (CRM Manager) MindArk-Dennis (Grphic Engineer?) first, Dennis was conducting the test workshop and was the one with each group of us when we were doing the actual testing of the new system.

I was jet-lagged so not sure when but somewhere in time we all got a fast tour of the MA offices, spending the most part of the tour on the roof seeing the awesome view of Sweden!

MindArk-Henrik (CEO) was with us from the start and with us through the entire day! He showed he really cared about us and the game and went above and beyond to show anything we cared to mentioned was noted down for consideration later! I honestly couldn't feel more secure with him at the helm of our Entropia Universe! As a person he is seriously likable and his questioning and listening ability to what really maters is awesome! after-hours I was able to play a few games with him, and I'll only say he almost broke the punching/kicking game! his scores were insane! I'll not get into a fight with him, even if he doesn't look very intimidating! :D

So, the better part of the morning three of us (David, slupor & myself) were sitting in-front of MindArk-Henrik, MindArk-David, MindArk-Magnus, MindArk-Justin, MindArk-Kaj spilling our guts and anything and everything we had to say about the game. I'll admit I did a lot of talking since I had a lot on my mind. but we all contributed something in our opinions of how the game was and ideas, etc. The MindArk staff listened and asked us lots of questions about things we brought up. Most of the things we brought up the MindArk staff knew about and I could feel there own broken desires to change the very things we mentioned. Due to the NDA I can't bring up every little thing we spoke about but I can say we didn't get any secrets about the loot system nor did any of us ask for any. It was mainly about little things that erked even the MA staff and they wanted to do something to fix but the system and priorities hindered them. Time and again the new camera system, or better described as the "changes and simplified version of the camera and targeting system" was mentioned as a fix needed to fix most of the things we brought up. From my understanding there is so much complexity in the ways of using the camera and targeting systems that any time MindArk tries to fix something they get too many problems and bugs. This new system is aimed to help fix that and make it easier for MindArk to fix bugs and issues with the game.

Okay, During the morning Darkaruki, Saphira & Will were off with MindArk-Dennis on test computers playing around with the new system.

Then it was lunch time, we all went out for a great lunch at a local steak house. The food in Sweden is almost a good enough reason to move to Sweden!!! And as slupor said MA were following the FEN thread through lunch. As we left the MindArk staff huddled up and were talking about something, I can only imagine it was about FEN, they do care about the game and it was very obvious!

When we got back from lunch our teams changed places. myself, David & slupor were on the test servers with MindArk-Dennis testing the new system! The others were in the conference room doing what I imagine we were doing when we were there.

So now I'm on the test servers as a guinea pig, as I love PVP I wanted to test the system with PVP, but could not as the test server didn't have any pvp zones. So I ended up testing other things I wanted to test.

First, let me say the new "system" is NOT much different than what we all use now. The camera still does everything we were able to do in the old system. You can still zoom in and out, still do a form of OTS. (though not for left handed in beta). To me the camera system was not changed in any major way! It was more the targeting and method of aiming and targeting and such that is changing. And by changing I mean it is made more simple!

With this new system you use less button pressing to do the same things. However with the new system you will have to move your mouse more. No more one button hunting. Even looting is made more simple, you press the same key you use to do everything, F key was the key that would find a target (in front of you), start action on that target, stop when mob is dead, and loot. This simplified the entire hunting experience. Oh and part of this new system is fancy visuals on the targets, enemy is outlined in red and a mark over it when you are aiming in it's direction or next to select it.

All in all I enjoyed the new system, I hate change but the changes were not that big even if they must feel big on the programming side.

After we were done we all went down for happy hour. This is were we first met up with Shiva and then Rocky. And where MindArk-Henrik and MindArk-Magnus and few others spent most of the evening with all of us talking and having fun.

We all had a great time and MindArk definitely rolled out the red carpet for us. I'm sure some of our visit was of good value to MindArk in making Entropia Universe better for all of us.

p.s. I didn't get any secrets and doubt anyone did. But the CEO jokingly said he turned all of our loots to full blast! :D And based on 5k hunt yesterday he was definitely joking!
Click to expand...

VeloThruxMaster · Oct 16, 2018

Honestly baffles me how any experienced EU and especially ex PE player can still generate such fawning and gushing tributes to such an appallingly run company.

McCormick · Oct 16, 2018

VeloThruxMaster said: ↑

Honestly baffles me how any experienced EU and especially ex PE player can still generate such fawning and gushing tributes to such an appallingly run company.
Click to expand...

Exactly, but we call it pr-gags here.

Also keep in mind, MA has not released real content for years now and the communication has died.
So how cool is it to have family members at their headquarter and let them spread the love ? :'D
Except for jak, he ruined everything by beeing honest. :'(

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