Thanks to devcom and gamescom, the game has seen record numbers in traffic and newsletter sign-ups. In the meantime, Michi’s Chamber of Global Commerce is nearing completion, and Martin is setting up everything needed for key-based access to the next test. Alpha #6 is coming…
Martin
Once again, I’m working on the utilities required for operating a game like Prosperous Universe: After wrapping up the auto-managed chat channels feature for Corporations, I switched my attention to the Prosperous Universe account management system or “hub” as we tend to call it. At the moment it’s merely a placeholder that allows sign-up, login and password reset, mostly for our forums and our limited closed alpha tests. And it doesn’t hold any state of its own, it just serves as a UI to our central account registry used across our games.
With the next alpha coming up, this is going to change. First of all, we plan to let a lot more people into the game, so we need a more user-friendly way to grant access. People should be able to sign up and - for example - unlock alpha access by a using a key.
Then there’s all utility stuff: Changing your e-mail address, choosing your notifications settings, deleting your account… all these things no one ever really thinks about but that have to be there.
Last but not least, PrUn must make some money eventually, and the hub is going to be the place where this happens. It’ll allow to pick your desired package, open and manage the transaction with our (existing) payment systems and keep track of your game time, access levels etc.
Not the most exciting stuff, I know. But that’s what you’re going to read about from my side over the coming weeks. :-)
Michi (molp)
This week I continued implementing the Chamber of Global Commerce feature.
While players could already cast their vote on the upcoming economic program, the mechanism that counts the votes and actually starts the new program has not been implemented yet. Below is a screenshot that shows a series of programs. Each voting period has only been two minutes, so I could properly test it. Later, the programs will most likely last one week.
When a new program starts, all players that have a base on the planet with the Chamber of Global Commerce will get a notification like this:
Clicking the notification will open a new tile featuring the CoGC.
Besides some minor issues and testing, there is only one larger piece of work left and that’s the upkeep of the CoGC. The Chamber of Global Commerce needs a constant flow of materials as upkeep. Every player with a base on the planet can contribute and if the goal is not reached at a certain date, the CoGC will stop working.
I started to implement this last piece but didn’t manage to finish it, so you’ll have to wait until next time. Speaking of… I am taking a vacation, so have a good one! And see you in two weeks.
Julian (Mjeno)
As you might know, we exhibited Prosperous Universe at this year’s devcom, a pre-gamescom event aimed at game developers. Here’s a quick recap: First of all, there was a lot more press than at Quo Vadis during Gamesweek Berlin in April. Since gamescom started right after devcom, I felt like journalists were more willing to make the trip than they were for Quo Vadis and Gamesweek Berlin. Second, we had quite a few really enthusiastic people at the booth, more than at any other event in the past. As a result, we saw record numbers in website traffic and newsletter sign-ups this week. Third, there were several service providers, platform owners and other potential business partners that actually piqued my interest. Most of the interesting ones could either help us promote or sell the game, both of which is probably going to become important this winter.
After devcom, I spent two days at gamescom. Since it didn’t concern Prosperous Universe directly - apart from some business meetings of various degrees of formality -, I’ll spare you the details. What I will say is: This year’s gamescom was by far the busiest, coolest and most tiring one since my first visit in 2014. I went to something around eight parties throughout my stay in Cologne, and that’s not counting all the receptions and events during daytime. I was so busy that I hardly thought of taking photos at all. Here’s one somebody took of me and some game dev friends outside a party on Tuesday night:
As you can imagine, I didn’t get much done since I returned back home apart from catching up on sleep and slowly gaining back my voice. I’ll finally be back in my new office tomorrow morning to tackle all those devcom follow-up e-mails.
As always: we’d love to hear what you think: join us on the forums!
Happy trading!