Joining the PS2 Team

[Furber]

You'll be a great asset to the PS2 team. I trust that, with all of your knowledge and understanding of PS1, we'll see improvements in no time!

[cellinaire]

Yeah, I also don't like the current K/DR.

And grats Malorn ^_^b

[SpottyGekko]

Grats Malorn !

It's great to know that there is a real longtime Planetside player on the "inside"...

One always hears that the devs do play Planetside, but I always tend to wonder how much of that is motivated because they are working on the game. I'd imagine being a pure player and dedicated fan gives a totally different point of view...

[Hmr85]

Congrats Malorn. They couldn't of picked a better person to join the PS team.

I have read all of your post and have agreed with a lot of what you have had to say. Maybe you can get them to take another look at base design now as I'm sure you know the indoor infantry fight is missing. Congrats again man and I hope we will still get to see you on the battlefield.

[EVILoHOMER]

Just increase the cost of stuff the richer a person gets like how Tax works. Then as they lose money the cost of stuff will go down, so it doesn't impact people in any way, it just helps stop people from having too much currency.

[Jaybonaut]

Congrats on the position!

My question is a little more off topic:

Do you understand the hesitancy on adoption of Windows 8? There was a news bit that stated that there are 5 times less pre-orders than Win 7 had at the same time before launch. What are your comments regarding the OS? etc.

[Crator]

Originally Posted by Jaybonaut

Congrats on the position!

My question is a little more off topic:

Do you understand the hesitancy on adoption of Windows 8? There was a news bit that stated that there are 5 times less pre-orders than Win 7 had at the same time before launch. What are your comments regarding the OS? etc.

Microsoft is pushing mobile OS for the general consumer. More so then a desktop or server OS although Win8 works on desktops too. They are making a very large push on cloud based computing right now. It's all I hear from MS sales guys for the past year or so now.

[Malorn]

Originally Posted by Jaybonaut

Congrats on the position!

My question is a little more off topic:

Do you understand the hesitancy on adoption of Windows 8? There was a news bit that stated that there are 5 times less pre-orders than Win 7 had at the same time before launch. What are your comments regarding the OS? etc.

Thanks!

If there's less enthusiasm over Windows 8 (and I haven't seen anything to indicate that, but I haven't really been looking either), I would speculate the following

1) Windows 7 is rock solid, so there's no strong motivation for people to upgrade their existing PCs.

2) Windows 8 has the impression of a significant UI change (it was really only the Start menu and the Start button, both of which you rarely use in Desktop). People might be uneasy about it.

I've met some people who freaked out about it, but after personally using it for about the last two years you get used to it really fast, and if you miss the old start menu....

Pro Tip: Windows Key + X. On Windows 8 that brings up a quick menu of all the stuff that people commonly used the old start menu for, including console windows (and admin mode for them), explorer, control panel, etc. If you're using a desktop that will completely replace anything you used the old start menu for, and Start + typing stuff helps you find anything else rather quickly. It changes the way you use the PC a little but it really doesn't get in the way.

Most Windows sales come from new PCs, not upgrades, and historically the release of a new OS doesn't significantly impact purchase of new PCs. There are some great new form factors coming out for Windows 8 that I think people will like. Particularly I like the Slates that dock and become a thin notebook with the "base" being just a keyboard, a bigger battery, and peripheral hookups.

These are the type of devices that are awesome for windows 8
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/...tible-tablets/

Laptop - slate, whatever need you have, and it's a fully operational PC, none of this paired-down OS modes. That's the great part of it. You have touch apps, and you can have fully powerful business and personal software on them. They don't have a lot to offer gaming, but I'm really looking forward to getting one of these PCs on Oct 26th.

Not sure whether I'm going to get one of these or a Surface. Hard to say. I like Surface but I think I might want a more resilient keyboard, so one of those Asus or Lenovos might be up my alley.

[JHendy]

Honestly, I just wish that you could have been a part of the PS2 team from the moment initial development was given the green light.

There is a mountain of stuff that needs to be gotten right. I get the feeling (I hope) that you'll be bold enough to make your voice the one that gets heard in the decision making process, because you seem to know precisely the direction the game needs to head in, in order for it to be deemed a worthy successor.

[Drakkonan]

Game designer has always been a title that both intrigued, and confused me. I imagine it's different at every company, but what exactly does it entail? You mentioned base design. Will be using the in-house tools to design bases, or purely conveying your ideas to the artists to implement? Frankly, game design doesn't seem like a full time job, though I'm sure it is, so there's got to be something else to it. Designers don't just sit a table all day staring at maps thinking of ways to improve the game....so what else do they do?

I too am a software engineer, but never really had any interest in getting into game development. Though, if there was one job I think I'd really enjoy, it'd be in game design.

[Malorn]

Originally Posted by JHendy

Honestly, I just wish that you could have been a part of the PS2 team from the moment initial development was given the green light.

There is a mountain of stuff that needs to be gotten right. I get the feeling (I hope) that you'll be bold enough to make your voice the one that gets heard in the decision making process, because you seem to know precisely the direction the game needs to head in, in order for it to be deemed a worthy successor.

I'll do my best, but honestly there are some smart folks on the dev team. It's a big reason I wanted to join. If you look back at the way the game has developed over the last few months it has come a long way and I think it's been in the right direction at every turn. That isn't to say there is no work to be done...there's lots to be done, but its going in the right direction.

[JHendy]

Originally Posted by Malorn

I'll do my best, but honestly there are some smart folks on the dev team. It's a big reason I wanted to join. If you look back at the way the game has developed over the last few months it has come a long way and I think it's been in the right direction at every turn. That isn't to say there is no work to be done...there's lots to be done, but its going in the right direction.

Yeah. I absolutely agree with that. My post did seem a little bit pessimistic. They've been making all the right decisions since beta came out, which I believe is thanks to close community interaction, and by that token, it's a lovely thing to have someone who is very much member of the community actually working in the same office as the devs!

[TerminatorUK]

Congrats Malorn - hope you enjoy your new job!

Agreed with others - as a well known and respected name from PS1, your addition to the team can only be a blessing on PS2.

Having said this I think you'll have your work cut out with the lack of command structure/tools, metagame, infantry indoor combat, sactuaries, meaningfuk objectives, base design etc...

Good luck and always remember your community roots which I'm sure you will

[CrystalViolet]

Congratz.

[AceofSpadesX]

Congratulations Malorn! I have no requests due to not being in beta yet, so work harder on everyone else's requests!