Ok I just re read the entire thread on totally stupid but interesting question.
I want to know why it was locked. It was a question about ColdStone, and it was much more informative than anything else on this discussion.
Why can't beta testers tell us about the game? Give me one good reason. Just one.
You don't want the game ideas out? Why not? The whole idea of disclosing information that is better told to everyone just upsets me. People like Chill think this whole board is too sophisticated for some humor... Come on folks. This thing is to design Computer GAMES. For FUN. Not this snivelling little "I have no time for this" type things.
I bet Gluebubble is gonna come back with another "That doesn't help at all" or something to respond to this.. well does anything here? It's pathetic-- all this is is random speculation and hopeless ideas. It's not doing anyone any good right now, so why is innocent humor frowned upon? The "other RPGs" thread is way more helpful than anything here simply because it actually has other things than random guessings.
Have any of you noticed how there are almost no answers to all of these questions? Why not? Because the beta testers aren't allowed to answer questions and because the moderators frankly don't know. I think that there can be no use derived from this web board if people keep stamping down anyone who tries to have a little fun(that's what RPG makers are for, I doubt we can make money off of CS) or anyone who wants to know something that is confidential. HA. Confidential information on an RPG maker. That is laughable. I'm going to become an offender for this post, and that will just prove my point.
This whole thing serves no purpose. Why am I here? One reason: Picture of the day.

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"Oh....Talia is it? What a....a pleasant surprise. I did not expect---"
"Neither did your guards--- judging by the look of shock pasted on their lifeless faces"

Well, you seem to have lost your sense of humor...

Seriously, you do deserve answers and I will supply mine. And yes, fun is where it's at and for the most part most posts here carry that aspect. Unfortunately crankiness does have a way of intruding if one can't accept a little chilly weather now and again And yes, some do actually believe that FAQ's are more than the acronym states. (notice that 'correct and complete answers' isn't part of FAQ). It isn't FAQwCCA.

On with my responses:

(quote)Originally posted by Lorenoth:
Ok I just re read the entire thread on totally stupid but interesting question.
I want to know why it was locked. It was a question about ColdStone, and it was much more informative than anything else on this discussion.

The only person that can answer that question is Dee and he apparently chooses not to at this time. Locking a thread is not 'book burning' but simply a way of channeling the conversation to other threads.

Why can't beta testers tell us about the game? Give me one good reason. Just one.
You don't want the game ideas out? Why not? The whole idea of disclosing information that is better told to everyone just upsets me.

There is probably not 'one good reason' that you will accept. But I can offer you a 'multiple choice' response.

1. Perhaps the program is not feature complete. There is no point in spreading what might be false information.

2. Perhaps some features that will be known to be present have not yet been (fully) implemented. One shouldn't comment on a skeleton.

3. Perhaps some features are too buggy in the present implementation to evaluate/comment on.

4. Perhaps the beta testers have not yet gained an adequate understanding of how fully implemented features do work or the full extent of their power. Again, one shouldn't speak authoritatively from ignorance.

5. Perhaps the beta is 'closed'. Not public. Why should this be? Consider Beenox's 'Public Beta' of Coldstone. It was actually pre-alpha. It could not produce a game. It couldn't be reviewed. It could only 'test the waters' for market demand. The present version of Coldstone is far more advanced in development. It is far enough advanced that it just wouldn't do for free copies to end up out there for one and all to evaluate and/or judge/use. But it is not yet complete enough to release a 'public beta version' that could be used for evaluation purposes. Witness the last 'review' fiasco.

6. Perhaps Ambrosia/Beenox has plans to totally dominate the Mac Games Market and has given all beta testers a few million dollars to buy their cooperation and silence.

Keep smiling, Lorenoth. A picture is worth a thousand words, but don't believe everything you see! Common sense, you know.

Skip

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...it wasn't me...

I said something like that? Weird, I'm one of the worst spammers of the moderators....

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"Bond, GlueBubble Bond"
::walks down the mountain::

Yes, yes you are.

Beta testers cannot answer questions like that because andrew said we couldn't. He was nice enough to give us this board, let some of us beta test, and have his company make great games so what he says is right. If we tell all the secrets then the excitement is no longer there, and the hype for the product disappears.

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Was it the Chad?
--------------------------------
Make sure you visit the Coldstone Hotline Server run by GlueBubble. The IP is:
65.4.86.190

Quote

Originally posted by Lorenoth:
**
This whole thing serves no purpose. Why am I here? One reason: Picture of the day.

**

So am I. I'm with you, Lorenoth

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I hate it when people make spelling mistakes in there signiture.

Quote

Originally posted by SkipMeier:
**
I suggest that we all use this to discuss Coldstone
**

My time to be nasty (May I loose Karma, I just don't care)

I just agree with Lorenoth, this board is just useless. All question that have been answered are just simply things we would be able to discover 5 seconds after downloading Coldstone (Can we change an icon, will it be able to create water, etc...).

All interesting question like mine, or like many other's (Will Coldstone be released for PC, etc.) are just NOT answered. Why ? My idea is that developpers want to keep Coldstone totally secret, just in order to make us eager to have it, but that just doesn't work (Like Rincewind would say)

And let's talk about this Karma metter... It just makes me laugh... "Take care of what you say, or you'll lose Karma... But if you're as good as a loyal dog, then you'll win some..."

It's pathetic... I may be pathetic, but less than this web board...

P.S : all my excuse to SkipMeier for using his post...

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I hate it when people make spelling mistakes in there signiture.

(This message has been edited by Dark Madman (edited 02-08-2001).)

No! Do not stray from the web board! Web board gooood!!

Really, people have discussed their ideas here, as well as methods of making graphics and sounds for their games. If you don't like this board then why do you keep coming?

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Madman 2000 tip of the day. (more tips) (stop showing tips)

I just want to thank everyone for even looking at this post.
Oh and Gluebubble, I wasn't trying to offend you, it's just last time on some post some people were saying PC gamers weren't as smart as mac gamers, and I'm both, so it kinda pissed me off and when I started raving about it you pointed out that I wasn't helping(which really did need to be said before I wind myself in circles again).

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"Oh....Talia is it? What a....a pleasant surprise. I did not expect---"
"Neither did your guards--- judging by the look of shock pasted on their lifeless faces"

I believe this webboard serves a purpose. It is a great place for you to come and get help if you are planning a game. You might not be able to learn about Coldstone, but you can get a good start on your own RPG. Graphics and a storyline, that's all you need, and people here are willing to give tips and help. So yes, I find the board useful.

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"Bond, GlueBubble Bond"
::walks down the mountain::

HEY GUYS!!! Wanna get coldstone! go to (url deleted by moderator)

Find what you want then download it. But... you need to ask around for the code.

I'm doing this because I lose all my codes to open stuff like coldstone when my mac crashed. Now, thegluebubble is such a jerk he won't let anyone help me and deletes my posts before anyone can read them. Now he's even threatning me not to post anything else.
Oh, about the karma crap. They won't do anything. I've posted stuff i shouln't have before, I never lost any. Plus, I haven't seen anyone with -1 or anyting below 0. Have any of you?

Oh, if you guys get the code, please tell me at
I_am_a_freaking_moron_who_doesn't_know_when_to_quit@yahoo.com

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(This message has been edited by bite_me_man_87 (edited 02-08-2001).)

(This message has been edited by sanehatter (edited 02-08-2001).)

(This message has been edited by theGlueBubble (edited 02-11-2001).)

Flame advisory. Proceed with caution.

Quote

Originally posted by bite_me_man_87:
**HEY GUYS!!! Wanna get coldstone! go toftp://ftp.ambrosiasw.com/beta/

Find what you want then download it. But... you need to ask around for the code.

I'm doing this because I lose all my codes to open stuff like coldstone when my mac crashed. Now, thegluebubble is such a jerk he won't let anyone help me and deletes my posts before anyone can read them. Now he's even threatning me not to post anything else.
**

(flame)Yeah, I'm sure Andrew/Dee handpicked you as a beta tester. Your massive volume of posts and your willingness to "share the wealth" of the beta code indicate that you're a knowledgeable, responsible person who knows how to follow instructions. :rolleyes:(/flame)

Quote

**Oh, about the karma crap. They won't do anything. I've posted stuff i shouln't have before, I never lost any. Plus, I haven't seen anyone with -1 or anyting below 0. Have any of you?
**

(flame)Another indication of your vast knowledge and wisdom. UE General had a karma of about -4 last time I checked, forge was, IIRC, actually banned for a while (-10), and I've seen plenty of Offenders (-1) around various boards. I'm sure if you keep trying to "acquire" a working beta copy, you'll quickly see the negative side of karma for yourself.(/flame)

Quote

**Oh, if you guys get the code, please tell me at bite_me_man_87@yahoo.com
**

And now we know you're a beta tester! "If any of you manage to swipe the code from some irresponsible individual, share it with me, cause I'm a beta tester and I don't know how to e-mail Andrew cause my computer crashed!"

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

To all of the regular, responsible folks on this board: sorry to waste your time. I just really felt that someone had to LART this idiot. Sorry. :redface:

...Wow, who knew that this board only allows 8 emoticons per post? Had to go back and delete a few of the rolleyes so that it would let my post go through!

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“If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?” - T.H. Huxley

Oh, this is just great. I'm starting my tenure as a board member by disagreeing with a mod.

TheGlueBubble wrote:

Quote

It is a great place for you to come and get help if you are planning a game. You might not be able to learn about Coldstone, but you can get a good start on your own RPG.

That's all well and good, except that any CRPG maker will necessarily limit an author's options, and a story that depends on options that don't exist is doomed. Given the amount of work necessary to program anything like an immersive world with if-then-else statements, and the trouble and expense necessary to create and animate characters, this is not a minor setback. It would be sort of like writing a game inspired by The Dispossessed and then finding out that you have to run it on AD&D;'s engine - and you can't make any house rules.

Even something like "parties are still up in the air, they might or might not make the final cut" is better than nothing. It means that anyone working on their game can concentrate on all the parts that don't depend on NPC party members, and fold that aspect in (or not) after Coldstone goes final. Otherwise, someone might come up with an NPC-rich storyline like Cythera's (to pick a name out of the air) and then find themselves stranded when Coldstone debuts with no support for parties.

I have a radical, unconventional approach (with some things borrowed from existing systems - I'm borrowing some of Saga's magic rules) in mind. After some 23 years roleplaying, I am of the school that believes that the rules should be derived from the world. If Coldstone won't let me model the world I have in mind then I will have to start from scratch. The sooner I know a few basic things about what is, or is not, or might be, shipping with the 1.0 release, the more confidently I can proceed before the release.

I hope that's clear.

(edited for grammar)

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James

(This message has been edited by Amorph (edited 02-08-2001).)

bite_me_man_87. You should be CAREFUL or you'll end up like me at my place of the karma. Don't tell me I warned you man. Take a wrong step get punished but if you take a right step you get rewarded. Take my advice that I gave you. Don't get -5 please. I beg you don't end up where everyone on the web boards hates you. Please don't do that man.

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(This message has been edited by UE General (edited 02-08-2001).)

Quote

Originally posted by Amorph:
sooner I know a few basic things about what is, or is not, or might be, shipping with the 1.0 release, the more confidently I can proceed before the release.
(/B)

I hear ya, unfortunately Andrew and Dee seem to be really quiet, even to the beta team, about what features will and won't make the final cut. Sometimes it's not that we can't answer due to secrecy issues, it's because we don't know. I would rather not spread false information.

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People who claim the sky is falling obviously aren't aware the earth is falling, too.

sanehatter wrote:

Quote

Sometimes it's not that we can't answer due to secrecy issues, it's because we don't know.

But, as I said, that's information too.

If we know a crucial feature is still up in the air, at least we know not to make any assumptions about it. If we know nothing, we can't make any assumptions at all!

I can't speak for everyone here, but I certainly don't want to be misled.

Anyway, I won't harp on this any further. I just want to make sure it's clear that even knowing that the status of a given feature is uncertain is better than knowing nothing at all.

Thanks for your patience.

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James

Quote

Originally posted by Lorenoth:
**I just want to thank everyone for even looking at this post.

**

Yeah, and thank the moderators for not having closed that topic (even if it doesn't really talk about coldstone ;-))

Well, I think I have to apologize to evryone because I said this web board is useless... Let's just say that it is not what I expected it to be...

Oh, by the way, sanehatter, for the Hotline problem, I just saw it still haven't been solved... (Anyone who will ask me 'What is the hotline problem' will have for an answer : "That's none of your business :D")

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I hate it when people make spelling mistakes in there signiture.

ASW and Beenox certainly have every right to control their intellectual property as they see fit, and keeping Coldstone hush hush is certainly up to them. If this were EVN I would agree with and encourage a closed beta. I'm definitely willing to wait to see it in all its glory. When Coldstone is done, on the other hand, it represents a stage in the development process. I rather doubt that command-i will import my storyline so I can start playing right away, and by "I rather doubt" I mean "Ain't no way". It would be very difficult for the EVN story team to write missions without knowing the capabilities of the game engine, don't you think? "It's cool that you can send orders to your escorts and change which ship you directly command, but we didn't write any stories to take advantage of it." Even an incredible story that doesn't complement the engine will only be a so-so game.
This just seems to be an odd tactic for ASW to use. I would think that they'd be anxious to bring game developers into the fold. Instead it's more like bad tech support: "Please stay on the line and someone will be with you shortly." Whether I'd like help or not, I can't stay on the phone all day waiting. Time is always of the essence. I appreciate ASW wanting to release a fully-developed product. But I think they're losing potential developers in the meantime. Besides, there's enough animosity on these boards to give the last nudge sending people away. Maybe people are too proud and secretive about their potential games to show patience. Oh well. Like everyone else, I've got my own work to do..

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Bite me man, the sad thing is that you take yourself seriously. The first post of yours I saw sent me into fits of laughter, followed by headaches of trying to comprehend why anyone could be so stupid.
But if you are Chill(and the personalities match, you're both quite childish) then I just don't know what to say. Wow.
Well in response to the whole closed beta thing, I have gotten a hold of myself(see I had a little too much caffiene that day, and when you combine that with science class.. well I won't get into that) and now I see why they would. Well I don't understand, but I guess that they have every right to do that.
Oh wait.
Duh.
Money...! That's why!

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"Oh....Talia is it? What a....a pleasant surprise. I did not expect---"
"Neither did your guards--- judging by the look of shock pasted on their lifeless faces"

I always just assumed that it was a closed beta for hype purposes. The less people know about it, the more mysterious it will be, and thus the more alluring it will be. It is a fairly common market strategy. It makes us all so interested, cause whenever a tiny bit of info comes, we pounce, so we all anticpate it more, and thus when it is released, we all pounce with equal fervour

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"For Example: Sunny days make me happy, rainy days make me sad." "But you can have fun on a rainy day too." "Your truth can be changed simply by how you accept it." "That is how fragile truth is for a human being."

Quote

Originally posted by Dark Madman:
I just agree with Lorenoth, this board is just useless. All question that have been answered are just simply things we would be able to discover 5 seconds after downloading Coldstone (Can we change an icon, will it be able to create water, etc...).

This board has been granted to us to discuss our ideas and share speculation about Coldstone. The fact that we have the privalage to use it before Coldstone has been released is an indication that Andrew values our opinion. Other games in development don't have their own public board (with the exception of EV:Nova).
The reason we are unable to answer some of your questions, is that Andrew has specifically asked us not to. For example, the battle/encounter engine is probably the largest issue on the boards at the moment. The beta testers (who include the moderators) cannot tell you, because the battle system has gone through two revisions since the open beta, and shall probably go through more, therefore we cannot comment on what the final beta system will be.

Quote

Originally posted by Dark Madman:
All interesting question like mine, or like many other's (Will Coldstone be released for PC, etc.) are just NOT answered. Why ? My idea is that developpers want to keep Coldstone totally secret, just in order to make us eager to have it, but that just doesn't work (Like Rincewind would say)

I am not quite sure if you are correct here. We moderators always strive to answer all questions posted on the boards, it's one factor of our job. Also, there are usually helpful members who will answer questions. The only cases were I have seen questions go unanswered is where the post is too illegable or contains too much spam to take into consideration. Give me examples of decent unanswered posts and I'll take your point into consideration.

Quote

Originally posted by Dark Madman:
And let's talk about this Karma metter... It just makes me laugh... "Take care of what you say, or you'll lose Karma... But if you're as good as a loyal dog, then you'll win some..."

This is one huge misconception that I want to clear up. The Karma system is not about punishing people whose opinion goes against Ambrosia, and prasing people who remain 'loyal' to the boards and Ambrosia. It's about rewarding people who show due care and attention when posting, offer helpfull answers and conduct themselves politily on the board. When Karma is taken away from a person, it is not a case of them speaking against Ambrosia, it's a case of them either posting unacceptable material on the boards, or spamming where spam isn't wanted. In a few cases, Karma has been deleted for other special reasons, but in these cases the moderator discusses his decission first with all the other moderators first.

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Friction leads to fire, you could get burned,
How much ink I just injected is none of your concern,
Unless your on terms of understanding the omega,
He controlls the mix so you can inherit the heater.