Hello Redspot players,
We've honestly been considering this for a good long while, looking at it from all angles to try and find a solution which would mutually suit both player and developer, each time coming up empty-handed. For the lazy who aren't interested in my ramblings...
TLDR: Due to a vast amount of issues, we've decided to discontinue the BGT version of redspot your all familiar with, hoping to eventually make a python version based heavily on the shortcomings in this one. Thanks for playing! The game is set to go down tomorrow (8-13) at exactly 12:00 A.M. CST
Ok, I suck at these. And now for those who actually care...
I'll spare the history lesson, assuming most here will be quite familiar with it. If not, you might have a look at the main RS topic, potentially interesting read for a rainy day.
After the release of killingground and arenas, some of us decided to take a well-needed break from playing the game. During this period you'd only see me on when dealing with matters concerning administration. Problem was, the team (myself included) had found other occupying interests.
Administrators got together a couple months back in discussion about how the game could be improved, mainly on a professional level and with regard to player relations. Thus, the skype account/email ([email protected]) was born. Myself and some others have been doing our best to keep up with requests and reports, yet it hasn't wavered much from cheater cheater cheater I want to be unbanned heeeeelp! Very very rarely have we gotten anything relating to gameplay and improvement. Shortly after our admin meeting, it became quite evident that overall focus toward RS was ebbing. The unspoken word was that we needed a sort of break. So inevitably, we went our separate ways so to speak. Of course playing RS on occasion, hanging on KG and arenas hear and their, making sure all on-game was well and good and players were as happy as you can be in such an environment.
But of course this attitude could only last so long. I had 2 admins I knew I could count on no matter what, the rest seemed to have totally disappeared into the void. It came to the point where nobody was having fun on the game any longer. Their was very, very little push for improvement. Every project needs a driving force, that voice which says I see a future here and this is how it'll look. That was totally lost. Even if I were to conjure up enough determination to do more than take small suggestions, many probably wouldn't even notice.
I guess 2 years of nearly constant administration on such a game has it's effects, not to mention the systems which would provide balance for the game required quite a bit of code. Myself nor Sam could really find it in us to work on RS as much as a high-volume game would demand, much less a complete overhaul in mechanics. The game was created to satisfy a circle of friends, thus many crucial elements of a successful project were overlooked, the most noteworthy being a lack of communication with our players and their suggestions. Most of the word we got came from beta members and those closely affiliated with the project. Updates usually came with a wealth of new features, but god offal documentation which made it quite difficult for newbies.
At the beginning of my time in the dev team we had all attempted to remedy this, but most of the ways were set in stone making it far more practical to start from scratch at some later point.
The BGT version of RS certainly had it's time though, I know myself and many others had quite a bit of fun playing what many would consider the best FPS of it's time. There's many aspects I know I'll miss, specifically arenas and KG.
So where does this leave us you might ask?
Although other projects seem far more appealing at the moment, we have plans to release a python version of RS at some point. This one'll be rewritten from scratch, hopefully learning from past mistakes and finally doing away with the lag and limited nature of BGT. So far, progress has been made in the way of a complete python game engine and template. My hope is that we'll be able to create another version of RS, paying heed to balance and most of the shortcomings of this version. Or at least one can hope, right?
So thank you guys for the good fights, suggestions, lack of boredom, understanding, and most of all hanging around. I hope to see you all on that new game in the distant future. Let's hope we can make it better and learn from our previous mistakes. So long, and thanks again.