| February 2005 Project Update |
|
New announcements: 1). In light of all the games on the market today, Frontier 1859 plans to establish a strong position among families and educators in the global broadband marketplace as an icon of role playing in a dynamic and authentic world. We want it to be closer to "the way it was" than anything that has ever been fashioned before! Family members will bear the same household surname, and press on towards the goals of survival, and expansion. 2). In light of having played most of the available MMORPGs, MMOG, and MMOs on the market today, it is my pleasure to affirm that Frontier 1859's motif to direct the community, guilds and individuals into social group templates within the game-world that "affect and change the world" is indeed, the cutting edge of virtual world authoring. This precept that we have remain dedicated to reaffirms why news media sites such as "Adrenaline Vault" said Frontier 1859 was: "a game that has the potential to be one of the most dynamic role-playing worlds ever created." ( August 27, 2002 ) New Business: 1). VP of Development status - As you may already know, I've been looking for a person with experience raising capital. Mary-Margaret.com was so kind as to post a free ad in their monthly newsletter. The ad read: BAY AREA BASED STARTUP LOOKING FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL VP OF DEVELOPMENT If you are a passionate about pioneering a next generation virtual world experience to audiences everywhere broadband is sold, here's an opportunity worth checking out. A Bay Area based startup is seeking a "Capital Raiser" with a passion to assist in the creation of an online interactive game for the general audience. Because this is a new venture, this opportunity will initially be equity-only, so you must be passionate about the subject and self-motivated. Details available upon NDA. If you are interested, please contact them at pr@cosmicorigins.com. 2). Outgoing Letters - In the past few months, I've continued the tradition of writing everyone I come across who might know someone who knows someone, or is in the process of seeking new projects on behalf of new technologies and educational systems, and here are a few of them: -History Channel Forums - Posted an intro in Educators Forum, under Social Studies category. -University of Southern California - Eric Bluestein - Frontier 1859 as a potential candidate for the progression of USC's "Experience Learning System" (ELS) at the Institute for Creative Technologies. -Posted the project on Howard Rheingold's 'Brainstorms" community under the History Nexus category. -Amy Jo Kim, SocialDesigner.Net - Introducing Frontier 1859 and the community. -Jim Skamarakas - Up All Night Gaming, a community of adult gamers who are not just gamers, but thorough beta testers wrote us. -Tom Loftus, Writer MSNBC asking to help us get the word out to mainstream public -Paul Dahmen, Associate - Newmark Pacific, Inc. - Wrote us regarding Real Estate needs when Cosmic Origins grows. -Nicholas Yee - Terra Incognita ( asking him to keep an eye for new contacts that could help us). -Jimmie Lee Robbins, Registered Agent / Member - Indian Territory Wild West Shows, LLC, is stoked about Frontier 1859. -Sheridan Tatsuno - new contact at "Cinemar" a local Santa Cruz filmmaking group. -Wrote Phil Konstantin, web-master of Links to North American Indian History Sites. -Joe Rubin - Director, Second Venture Corporation (Pitching to Investors Workshop event on 3/15 in Menlo Park, CA.) Conceptual prime-directives: 1). Community will work together in the world of Frontier 1859. Since we all know there is really no such thing as true "soloist play" in any Massively Multiplayer Online Game, simply because soloists chat, soloists auction items, and soloists demonstrate their accomplishments in leveling to the community. Frontier 1859 will cater to both soloist and group play, but in a new way. Instead of relying upon a "quest system" where everyone must follow the same path, complete all the same quests (alone or in a group) Frontier will incorporate social group templates that cross-connect ethnicities, business, and politics working together in various aspects of the game-play. This process does not leave out the "lone wolf" style player, but implements that style of play into the community on another level. All of the systems in Frontier 1859 must mesh together to aid in feeling like collaborative efforts produce some kind of change in the frontier land. Shying away from any mechanics that help players rely upon themselves, which seems to produce a new kind of selfishness in games, players will need to be able to rely upon one another in order to survive. No man is an island, and mankind is a social group. The advent of Cell phones, lap-tops, PDAs, and iPods fills a room full of people who are no longer talking to one another (because they are speaking with someone on the phone, or paying attention to another kind of device) and that places the priorities of our lives under the spontaneity of someone else's agenda. I believe this lifestyle has invaded our gaming experience because gaming experiences are projections from our real life at a point in time and space. Thus they can offer us a glimpse into our social/psychological condition, and whether or not we accept it, these issues are additional challenges to work through when authoring virtual world environments for the masses. 2). Dynamic Pathing System - Character Life - I've recently made some changes. Having played so many MMORPG's in the last 5 years really illustrates what is missing from the experience. Somehow, the redundancy must go. If we pull this off well, many will follow our lead. Character Life - Yes it's true. No two characters are created equal. Some characters will live longer than others. Choices players make will not only be creating their own unique life story, but also change the course of their destiny in the game. This process will be achieved through the layering of repercussions alerted by the Dynamic Conscience Inventory Tracking system. How you should look it is that in a virtual world that is going to be changing / dynamically - much the same way it did in Real Life, one might look back upon their roster of characters they created, who have lived and died and come to the conclusion that they have experienced living a legend (virtually) in a wilderness adventure second to none. Other issues: 1). phpBB2 Upgrade - Our domain and forum was compromised in November by hackers/crackers who (based on available IP tracking information) used an exploit in awstats to gain entry, and also cracked the FTP password. As a result, we lost the forum, and the domain for a day or so. The forum was upgraded to the new 2.0.11 phpBB code, and the domain was restored. I also installed new IP monitoring & tracking software. (Yes big brother is watching)! 2). New Spanish Community - Please welcome our Spanish amigos into the family. Kune_earp, a member of our community has painstakingly translated interviews and other information onto his new site, "Family-Earp." 3). New Moderators - Please welcome Jaysan, as an additional new moderator to the Frontier 1859 Community forum, and Raj Whitehall as the new moderator of the Frontier 1859 Research Group in Mad Jacks stead while he is in the process of relocation. Personal message: What stage is this game at? I've personally taken the project as far as I can alone, and out of my own pocket, and I've recently posted an ad seeking an experienced capital raiser. I am also actively seeking new contacts and following up with leads to find funding. But you must know something else, I love what I'm doing here, and you are my support group. Do I want to dissapoint you people? No, but you are all kind of like spoiled kids who get everything they ask for. Nevertheless, I dream about this stuff, and I wake up early in the morning seeing how it can work. Somehow, if it takes another bunch of years to do this, one day, your going to jump on a horse and feel like you are the star of your own Ponderosa, and that this is the closest thing to the "way it was" that you have ever seen, and it is fun, it is adventure, it is that explorer deep inside you, and you love it! -Daniel B. McMillan Founder/President Cosmic Origins Home Entertainment |