Hmm Actually if the amount was small enough (say 5 dollars a month) I personally wouldn't object to paying during the test phase.. (assuming those of us who pay/play during the test phase got some kind of cool perk, maybe our names printed in the final manual under "thank you", or access to some cool ship type in the final game that regular players wouldn't have?) I know $5 a month isn't much.. but it would help some.. maybe. And if you let new players have a free month, you could get them hooked.. then charge them :)

Not sure how you would handle people signing up several times to take advantage of the free month tho.

Done. Aw hell. I'm gonna donate another 20 now. Dance Dance Space Bass Fishing 2004!

Idea! make it an opptional 10 for those of us who don't want to click the magical white button, i'd gladly cancel my lineage account fort his game, yuck i don't like lineage.

I say all beta testers should receive little pointless doohickys that look cool, like say the glow your ship has when you have the flag, but see through and you can pick a color, and definately acces to a test sector.

Basically the test sector will be a sector that you can go in and your invinicble and you can test new weapons and new ships.

OOh OOH for ship skins, make each ship have an option for the beta testers marked "Fish tank mode", with that your ship outside will be see through but it will be filled with water and fish and little pebbles and see grass and and and...

...and 2004 dance-dancing space bass.

And a cow skin! :P /me begs the devs to take lots of pics for us at E3... :P

IDEA!!! Shoot everyone at E3 and make a completely real interactive 3d version of e3 in a sector! you shoot a button, that button does whatever it did at E3!! Please!!!!!!! With sugar on top!

/me donated $30 from his eBay sales so far.
Don't worry...the selling isn't over yet....it's just beginning.

[paranoid worst-case planning hat on]
However, if the absolute worst does happen, will you at least GPL your source so Vendetta can live on beyond Guild Software? I think you would be making a first...the first GPLed persistent-state multiplayer game.
[/paranoid worst-case planning hat on]

Wait a sec, SL, if you shoot everyone at E3, how is Guild supposed to find a publisher?

We'll pool together and use all our CD-burners and magic markers. That way, we can make CD's and give them out in the mail in little tin cases. We can even stamp 1025 hours free on the front!

GPL it? Eeee... Think of the exploits and hacking... *curls up into a fetal position and whimpers*

> GPL it? Eeee... Think of the exploits and hacking... *curls up into a fetal position and whimpers*

Obviously you don't understand the GPL.
If you did, your statment would have read:

"GPL it? Great! Think of the exploits avoided by a bunch of coders hacking away and reviewing the code in parallel. *cheers for GPL*"

Parsec (parsec.org) is a project that the developers could no longer contribute to full time (or even part time), so they GPL'd it. I fully expect a kick-butt release before the year is over.

Hey Devs, I really appreciate what you've done and continue to do with this game.
I truly hope for the best at E3 and beyond!

You've probably already checked them out, but if not, perhaps you might consider http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/ for your publisher.

Personally, Incarnate, even though I am a Mac user I certainly (and would hope others) wouldn't hold it against you if you absolutely had to drop the Mac and Linux clients just to get a publisher. I think that what you would do in that situation is to make sure that the first time publishing rights are not exclusive for any long period of time and IN FACT you should probably purposefully and pointedly make the contract explicitly state that if the publisher does not excercise an option to pick up the Mac Client and the Linux Client within 6 mos of initial release that you retain all rights to the technologies of those clients and can freely sell them to other publishers.

Mac publishers could put out this game in a heartbeat what with the inherent cross-platform nature of the engine. Same goes for a Linux publisher. If you do the majority of the work and make it easy for them they won't have to spend resources and will be able to put it on the shelves no problem. I won't hold it against you to sell to a PC only publisher. Just be wise about it and use the contract to your advantage.

I think we should all do our part to donate via PayPal and support these guys. They are doing a bang up job and its a very scary thing to not be 100%25 you are going to pay all the bills next month. Take heart in knowing that the success of the game is up to you guys, luck will have nothing to do with it, this tech. is good tech. and the game is great. Unlike most projects you already have an installed user base and some great stuff already completed.

Keep it going!

*keeps setting up C4 all around Bungie's headquaters* *looks on a list with a bunch of names on it* *looks at Sierra (CounterStrike), And GuildSoftware (?)* I'll cross you out if you don't drop us... kee hee hee *blows up Bungie* TAKE THAT YOU WHORES! *starts walking twards Sierra headquaters*

Now now, rabid. Threats aren't nice.

Quote: "Obviously you don't understand the GPL. "
I didn't say that they would be around for long. But people would be able to see the code, and I can guarantee you some would use it to cheat. The exploits would be fixed quickly, but not before a few were used.

God dammit...when the hell is the reset and 3.2 going to get here....sheesh....

Let the dead sleep.

ashes to ashes, dust to dust...

[locked]