Dot the eyes and cross the tease
It was probably a bit naive of me to believe that I could write about The Secret World in my blog without attracting the Eye of Sauron.
The Secret World seeing “big changes” (Eurogamer)
Where is The Secret World (MMORPG.com)
I’m not equating Eurogamer or MMORPG.com with the Dark Lord of Mordor, mind you. (At least not in a bad way.) I enjoy both sites immensely – Eurogamer is, as far as I’m concerned, the very best source of gaming news and reviews out there – and I’m chuffed that they want to write about our upcoming projects (fifteen years in the ‘biz’ and I’m still amazed that people care so much about what we do). It’s simply that I now sense the collective gaze of the gaming world looking in this direction, and I feel I should have put some better clothes on or at least fixed my hair.
I mouth off without the direct authority or approval of Funcom marketing, of course (speaking of Gorthaur the Cruel…) which could very well upset the precarious balance between developers and marketeers – established through countless wars and subsequent truces – but, like curmudgeonly old men, I just don’t care. At least I try to be cryptic and I don’t promise things we can’t keep, but when you’re working on THE BEST GAME EVAR!!!!!! it’s hard to keep your mouth shut.
It is nice to see The Secret World grabbing some headlines again, and though ambiguity can easily lead to speculation – “sweeping changes” and “back to the drawing board” may be taking it a tad too far; we haven’t tossed all of our original design documents, far from it – we appreciate the fact that people are intrigued by what we’re working on.
So are we. I believe everyone on the team is excited about what we’re trying to do and how the game is progressing – both in terms of design and actual implementation. And we aren’t actively trying to distance ourselves from other games out there (including MMO behemoths that shall go unnamed) for one simple reason: we are a different sort of game altogether. Apples and oranges (or, in this case, bananas may be a bit more apt). This is, of course, a Good Thing. Let’s embrace change and celebrate diversity. Besides, certain nameless games aren’t easy to compete with, so we’re forging our own path, and there’s no reason why players can’t play and enjoy both.
This is all, of course, more ambiguity. I’d love to tell you the details, divulge the secrets – marketing be damned – but there is virtue in waiting. We want to get it right the first time around, reveal a whole package rather than random and disconnected bits and pieces. Videos. Screenshots. Concept art. Interviews with developers who are not me. So all in good time, but – again, hopefully – it won’t be too long now. (“I left my heart,” etc.)
We’re ready. The Secret World awaits.
EDIT: And another one – Funcom’s The Secret World seeing sweeping design changes (Massively). I didn’t use the word ’sweeping’, did I? The Eye watches.
We’ll never tire of your captivating and enigmatic stories. I’m really looking forward to the release of more information about TSW.
P.S. Is the TSW team in the market for any 4 month summer interns?
Poor Ragnar. I hope this satisfies the people giving you crap for your innocuous and enjoyable post and that your future posting isn’t stunted by having to run your words through a PR filter.
~j
So, now is my turn to get too excited (positively) about TSW.
it is very sad if outside influences prevents you from being open and honest on your blog, but i guess that’s just part of the biz.
have a nice weekend Ragnar.
Press is always press… Being ambiguous is a great way to awaken the article writers’ sleeping imagination. Also, they’re probably as eager to hear from TSW as the fans and enthusiasts, and when the information comes in tiny pieces, the speculation level rises. Which is of course not the same thing as hype
As always, we’ll sit tight and see what’s coming up. Keep up the good work (and this awesome increased blogging frequency)!
I guess the best response to “news” stories guessing at Funcom’s decisions is to come out with the best game you guys can make, eh? Keep up the hard work, Ragnar!
Sorry, forgot to mention: when I wrote “Smiling through tears” it wasn’t tease – no way – I sincerely empathized and really smiled through tears.
I thought about this possible misunderstanding and couldn’t sleep.
I think Ragnar shouldn’t have said ‘…best game evar!!!’ because AoC already suffered such hype, he shouldn’t give any tools to press or people to mock him.
Well, if nothing else, ‘least it makes you feel important :p
@ravenwoods
Is that really quotable? A 3-year old will see it wasn’t ment to be the most serious statement.
@KHH
As a two year old who understood it, I resent that comment you insensitive clod!
I’m not even born yet, and I find your comment very age-ist. Hrmph.
What about Dreamfall chapters???
@Pirateguybrush & @Yume
Ah, yes, I’m sorry. I should have considered the feelings of the 1 years old, 2 years old and not-yet-born readers of this blog. Terrebly sorry.
terribly*
I miss the oh-so briefly induced edit functionality.
You also have an emu watching your every move, Ragnar.
Beware.
@ RaMa, should you drop by: BH seems to have developed an error. Time for a DP cleanup?
—We will now commence our regular programme—
Yeah. Miss the edit feature, too. (DP = DB)
That’s not a database error, that’s a simple php syntax error. Probably forgot a ‘;’. Happens all the time.
But if he’s not edited anything? He’s never even there… I still think it’s a faulty record in a temp database.
Trust me, I’ve seen that error-message a time or two. Or 300. or 300.000.
Besides, you’ll notice that it sais “syntax error” in “/home/black24/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php“.
@toremygg
Also, take a look at this. Looks familiar?
Only, I’ve seen it on my page, and a DB cleanup helped… If the input is faulty, the parsing is broken. I’m not going to push this any further, though.
Not really the right forum…
Really? That’s awfully strange…
The only way I can imagine that happen is if you use eval with the imput, but then it states that it’s in the eval the problem lies…
Otherwise I’ve had verious error messages telling me that it could not connect to the database, retrive data and blah-blah-blah, but never anything remotly like a syntax error.
And this isn’t really a “forum” as we know them on the web at all
But I guess you’re right.
Oh something for all you TSW fans. I was finally able to dig this up again:
http://www.ragnartornquist.com/blogger/2003/08/i-celebrated-my-birthday-yesterday-by.html
He mentioned it in connection with TSW (then known only as NBT – Next Big Thing):
http://www.ragnartornquist.com/blogger/2003/08/another-stunning-sunday-and-only.html
And of course the birthday link is supposed to be this one:
http://web.archive.org/web/20031218204903/http://www.ragnartornquist.com/thedarkplaces/
@Crazy Clara
We all must be infinitely/very patient
@Happy one
Patience has got it’s limits! =[
I just need to be spoiled a little AS a TLJ/Dreamfall fan (don’t we deserve to be patted on the head, just a little? =[)… I feel so neglected… all alone in the dark… Ugh… !!! I think I’m going to stab my wrists!!!
@Crazy Clara
I guess being a TLJ/Dreamfall fan has its dark side too – need to be waaaayy patient and be able to deal with any psychical problems and stand everything for many years. In other words, it’s almost like being April Ryan, you’ll have to try not to end up like her (though we don’t know how she ended up).
Although, we’re in a better situation, because we are similar, and she was alone. Try to concentrate on that and you MIGHT feel a BIT of relief:)
You’ve probably waiting for too long, haven’t you?
Hey Ragnar, will that be a closed-door reveal at GDC, or will the general conference-goer get a chance to see what’s up? If it’s the latter, awesome. If the former, how do I get on the invites list?
@Quna
Indeed, I guess are we quite similar to April Ryan in that we have embarked ‘on the longest journey.’ LITERALLY! I’m not asking for TLJ 3 itself to be released now, but only a crumble of information from it . . . I can survive on crumbs for quite a long time and I think I deserve a crumb or two about now! It hurts that the franchise itself is being neglected in production and Funcom’s primary focus is set to ‘The Secret World’ and ‘Age of Conan’… I mean, imagine if so much dedication was invested to TLJ3! TLJ3 is bound to be released in, like, 5 + years from now; MINUMUM! If, however, they had taken TLJ3 from the dusty old shelf and onto the shiny table of creative concepts, us TLJ/Dreamfall fans would be feasting our eyes upon indescribable GOODNESS!
Until then, I’ll just stay curled up in my cocoon of pain… All alone…
*Knocking on the damn cocoon* Are you still alive in there?! There’s a little crumb here! Come out now!