The state of Black Prophecy

I recently picked up a closed beta key for upcoming sci-fi MMO, Black Prophecy. I haven't had the chance to play it yet, but here is a quick update on the game.

By Patrick Streppel, member of the executive board at gamigo AG

"Three weeks have gone by since the release of Black Prophecy in Europe and we would like to present a brief update as well as some insight into what you can expect from Black Prophecy in the future.

The current state
For an MMOG of Black Prophecy’s scale, the European launch went down very smoothly; no severe technical issues occurred and the servers were, and continue to be, stable. We were also able to start North American closed beta testing and are looking forward to giving the green light for release very soon (the current performance issues are hardware-related and solving them should not take long). The translation into French has begun and further language versions such as Spanish, Russian and even Chinese are already in discussion.

But, as with any MMOG, there can be difficulties with the performance of the starting sectors (the Open World Sectors), especially so soon after the game’s launch when many new players populate the same areas for the first time. These sectors have already been optimized during beta testing and the development team will continue to improve performance as time goes by. Please stay with us on this.

Upon the announcement of the game’s launch, certain voices in the community suggested that the game was not yet “finished” and that more development time was required. We take these concerns very seriously and are happy to discuss with you what you think is missing but ask you to keep the feedback constructive. I might be getting ahead of myself here but a lot of mission content, PvP elements and other features are already on the way to fulfill the promises we made.

Some have compared Black Prophecy with an unpolished diamond. This comparison gets closer to the heart of it. The decision to release Black Prophecy at this point in time was agreed upon by both Reakktor Media and gamigo. Many obstacles have been overcome in the past few years to get this far and we are extremely happy and proud of the result. No MMOG sees the light of day completely polished and perfectly working, but be assured that all involved parties are 100% dedicated not only to perfecting the current game but to bringing so much more to it."


"So in a nutshell: Is Black Prophecy “finished”? Of course not, no MMOG ever is! But we believe we are ready to leave the dry dock now and will fix any remaining issues as well as add exciting new features and mission content as we go ahead. This is the challenge we have accepted together with Reakktor Media to make the game better and also better for you. With your dedicated support, we are convinced that we will succeed.

The immediate future
While one part of the development team is responsible for the live operation and general maintenance of the game, the bigger part is busy developing planned add-ons and major game extensions. Current planning comprises a monthly update of the game that adds new content at a small scale. In the meantime minor updates will be applied to fix bugs and further optimize the balancing.

About every three months a big update (add-on) is planned that will raise the current level cap and also provide all new game content in the form of new story missions to advance the main plot, new hubs and open world sectors to explore, new missions to master and, of course, more items to equip.

For example, in the first add-on (currently scheduled for June) we have taken your feedback, ideas and suggestions into consideration for the selection of these features, which include:

• New story missions to advance the main storyline
• Enzo's – the new mission hub for levels 41 to 50, complete with new NPCs and missions
• New Open World Sector set: Inferno at Tulima Superior (Level 41 to 50) with four sub-sectors
• New feature: Sector linking (players can fly to sub-sectors seamlessly)
• New dynamic missions
• A new weapon type
• A new ship module set for levels 41 to 50
• Special skills, triggered by game items, that allow you to orientate yourself offensively, defensively or supportively during combat
• An e-mail system that allows the dispatch of items
• An improved user interface

Our long-term goals
While the content described above is just what we have in store for the first add-on, we are already hard at work on future expansions. I am happy to share some of our plans here and now, but please keep in mind that some of this is subject to your feedback (together with the numbers that we analyze from the servers) and may be postponed or adapted accordingly:

• Stronger focus on PvP and Faction vs. Faction: We have always envisioned Black Prophecy deriving a lot of its long-term motivation from a PvP system that lets Genides and Tyi fight over control of certain open world sectors. This system is currently being designed for implementation in the summer of 2011.
• Clan station fights: A long-planned feature is that clans can fight over their stations, meaning they can protect their station or attack a rival station. There are, however, many questions to be answered about the rules and consequences, which has caused some delay. However, clan station fights are high on our priority list and it will not be too long for them to appear in the game.
• More exploration elements: Black Prophecy was designed as a fast-paced combat game that could be enjoyed even in small doses. However, we have heard your cries for more exploration elements, and while the game will never be a fully free-roaming experience like in Elite, we will add more elements for you to explore - and exciting stuff to find in the vastness of space. The “Sector linking” feature for Tulima Superior described above is a small first step.
• New gameplay modes: While the focus of Black Prophecy will always be on space combat (and not, say, freight runs), we are thinking about other activities in the game. More about this in another letter – you’ll be surprised!
• Station walking: We know you’d love a social space in BP where you can get out of your ship, talk to the NPCs, chat with other pilots - or even compete with them in mini-games. This is why we are working on the “station walking” expansion for release next year. However, since this is almost like an entirely new game, it requires more time to develop than the features above. Then again: Think about the possibilities for enhancing this with more and more features over time…

I hope that I was able to give you a good glimpse at what you can expect from Black Prophecy in the upcoming weeks and months. Black Prophecy is the most important project of our two companies and very close to our hearts – believe us when we say that this is just the beginning of an exciting journey!

Thanks for your time and see you in the game. (Yes, I do play BP quite often in my free time!)

Yours,

Patrick Streppel
Executive Board Member, gamigo AG

PS: We have been hearing feedback that you want more hidden elements to explore. Don’t worry - even now there are still a lot of secret things that are still undiscovered in the game."

Source.