Re: Hi Everyone! A long overdue Petroglyph Update!

[Code_Monkey]

Greetings from sunny Las Vegas!

 

I just wanted to check in and give you all a long overdue update on what's new at Petroglyph. (Thank's for the friendly reminder, Cain!)

 

First and foremost, a HUGE thank you for all the support and feedback on EAW all along the way. EAW has now been on the shelves for 3 weeks around the world and is selling like crazy. The response has been tremendous! The LucasArts team has done an incredible job of getting the game seen everywhere - it's even had television commercials and had an ad in Playboy magazine. It's been a constant blur of activity around the Petroglyph offices, and we're finally starting to catch our breath from the EAW launch.

 

We will have a new, full-time community representative hopefully starting here soon, which will help everyone a lot - both the community and us. We've been interviewing candidates for the position. We thought that "we" would be able to handle working with and supporting the community while doing our project milestone work, but we underestimated the task. Delphi has done an excellent job working in the community, but he also has a lot of work piled on him.

 

We've been busy working on the new patch for EAW, which will be coming down the pipe soon. It's amazing how much feedback we have received, and it's very much appreciated. Many of us try to keep up with the feedback in the forums as often as possible, but it's sometimes hard to stay up to date with so much activity here. There are also two other projects underway - which may be seen at E3 in May. More information on these will start coming available in the next few months.

 

We've been gradually growing the staff, and are now currently at 41 people, and will be at 44 in a couple of weeks. We'll probably be around 50 people by the summer. We're pretty much out of space here in the current building - some of us are tripled up in offices. We replaced the Workout Facility (Ping Pong table) to be an office, too. There's also now a desk and computer set up in the lounge. On top of that, there are two fully stocked refrigerators in the kitchen. (That can be dangerous.)

 

We're building out a new office building just down the street for here, and we'll be moving in there one weekend in June. Our current office is 8,600 square feet and the new one is around 15,000 square feet plus a big garage. We're building new offices for everyone, multiple conference rooms, a lounge, a kitchen, a game room, and a lunch/break room. Joe Bostic actually designed the layout for the new location, and his plans have been converted to architectural blueprints and are hanging up where the new construction is happening. It's also an interesting fact that the new office is about a 2-minute walk from the old Westwood building.

 

Anyhow, Cain gave me a friendly reminder that I was LONG, LONG, LONG overdue for an update, and he was correct, so I knew that I had better check in. I am no longer the project Lead Programmer - since Andre and Brian are now the Lead Programmer's on the two new projects. I've moved into what we call the "Core Team", which helps support all projects underway, as well as patches for the existing games. I'm still spending a ton of time programming new technology, but I now have some time for community work since I am no longer a Lead. (Poor Brian and Andre! ;D They are in for it, now!)

 

Finally, some of us will be at the Game Developer's Conference in a couple of weeks, so if you are there, keep an eye out for the peeps with shirts bearing the Petroglyph logo. We'd love to spend some time chatting. Thank you again for all the support and feedback, and keep an eye out for the next EAW patch coming soon!

 

-Mike Legg

Edited March 9, 2006 by Siddus

[Siddus]

Welcome back at home

 

Thanks for giving news and I hope all the team can still work in good conditions to go on EaW quality increase !

 

I can't wait to meet the future full-time community rep, it will be necessary a big bonus for Petro and players

[Foshjedi2004]

Hi Mike,

 

Its Great to Hear from you....

 

As Siddus Said I look forward to meeting the New Community Rep.

 

I'm sorry to see the Ping Pong table go....But the New Base Sounds great.  Any chance of Posting Pictures of it being Built??

 

15000 sq metres sounds massive...Any chance of that Pool??  ;D LOL...How large is the game room going to be??

 

Will we need to open up a P03 Subforum??  : LOL

 

I look forward to more updates from the guys at Petroglyph and Look forward to your future releases with great longing...Hopefully they can build on the Massive success that is EAW....

 

 

Foshjedi

 

Star Wars: Legacy of War - Mod Co-leader

[Cain]

Hi there Mike

 

Thank you so much for the for the update - you will always remain the founder of this site along side Ismael it was your idea after all that created true Ismael's hands such an interesting forum that is now called PFF.

 

Keep up the good work and I do hope you are still programming some new force powers for the EAW's possible Expansion (Actvision source) - still its a good thing to have you on the patches - looking forward to the new one.

 

Say hi to the whole team from us and special thanks for their efforts.

 

Edit: Btw can you post some pictures ? from petroglyph.

[SirNuke]

Finally, some of us will be at the Game Developer's Conference in a couple of weeks....

 

Thank you for the update.

 

Why are these types of conferences always out in California/west coast?

 

On another note, does EA still own the old Westwood Building?

Edited March 9, 2006 by Cain

[DragonShadow]

Thank you for the update.

 

Why are these types of conferences always out in California/west coast?

 

On another note, does EA still own the old Westwood Building?

 

Because California is one of the main centers for computer technology.

 

Anyway, thanks for the update Mike!

[Ghostly_Substance]

Petroglyph is expanding, means more nice games  ;D Poor Ping-Pong table had to go  :'( Good luck with your two other games and welcome back  ;D

 

Yup a great community always trys to help out a great game producer and glad a new patch is coming out to help those that support your game  ;D. Hope you have a great time supporting and creating new games that all of us can play and enjoy.

Edited March 9, 2006 by Ghostly_Substance

[sagboy]

"We've been busy working on the new patch for EAW, which will be coming down the pipe soon. It's amazing how much feedback we have received, and it's very much appreciated. Many of us try to keep up with the feedback in the forums as often as possible, but it's sometimes hard to stay up to date with so much activity here."

 

Thats awsome that you come on the forums and let us know a patch is comming, but could you post what things are going to be fixed in this upcoming patch? Thanks much

[Spiralarchitech]

Thx on the update in fact its rare these days, so its greatly appreciated.

 

Also its great that EAW is a success for petroglyph and i hope it continues.

 

P.S. I hope you get pay rises for all your hard work and success, if not 'fight the power'

[swgbex]

If we come knocking on petroglyphs door will anyone awnser ?.. lol

 

 

i have a question that i bet u guys know the awnser to..

is the petroglyph building bigger .. than the old westwood one.. ?..

.. on pourpose maybe?

[NOT Hadoken13]

three words petroglyph...

i love you :-*

[Ismael]

hi there,

 

It seems to me that I am also LONG, LONG, LONG overdue for an update. For some unknown reason it looks that I have landed in the desert of the internet. Anyway I should probably be online in the next month they say but this they said last month too. Even my school has a sort of limited access that most of the time does not work due to viruses, etc. I got a new PC and managed to get an EAW copy from outside the country (thanks to David). I do hope to be able to influence more the next patch / but again Mike knows my feedback / it's basically the same and from what I see now the hole community generates the same feedback that we sent one year ago / orientated for more sw realism/balance/in game gameplay depth/ more diversity. I am now in the other part of the city connected with my PC at a friend to try an EAW LAN and patch my game.

 

to Mike and the rest of Petroglyph:

 

Thank you for the update I hope the community appreciates it. I miss Petroglyph and I hope you will give us more nice surprises in the future. I also hope the next patch will give me more realism and depth. At this time I'm trying to open my email. I do not have much time left so pls say hi from my part to the team (new members included) they did a wonderful job. I'm so happy that I managed to write some words.

 

 

to Cain, Ghostly, Fosh, Siddus, JI, SM and the rest of the PFF team,

 

Its so nice to see how much the petroglyph community has grown and I hope you guys are all fine and playing EAW. Can't wait to take you down in a MP game. Cain cool thing asking Mike to post. He usually is so busy that sometimes he does not have enough time to do it.

Still I wonder why this update didn't had the same effect like last one. I do suspect that the message was shared without links in the hole community and this PR error failed to give the maximum effect that we always searched for since it shows the dev at a distance from the community and not inside it, live and posting. Pls guys be more careful this time. Petroglyph is not somewhere above the community but it is a part of it as we all are. This is what we have to show to the world.

 

Thank you all for your efforts in making EAW or feed backing it from what I see our dream has become a reality. We are all a community from the first dev to the smallest fan.

 

Take care,

- Ismael

[Dorkthehunter]

Haven't seen you in a while Ishmael. Welcome back! (or something like that) It's great to see you!

[jpinard]

Hi there Mike

 

Thank you so much for the for the update - you will always remain the founder of this site along side Ismael it was your idea after all that created true Ismael's hands such an interesting forum that is now called PFF.

 

Keep up the good work and I do hope you are still programming some new force powers for the EAW's possible Expansion (Actvision source) - still its a good thing to have you on the patches - looking forward to the new one.

 

Say hi to the whole team from us and special thanks for their efforts.

 

Edit: Btw can you post some pictures ? from petroglyph.

 

 

 

 

I'd like to say Hi to the Petroglpyh team and say thanks for a wonderful game.  I really hope you get to continue building upon the foundation you've created in EaW because the potential to tweak and expand EaW seems almost limitless!

 

Cain, I quoted you above.  What are you talking about?  Why would Activision be talking about an EaW expansion?  Lucasarts isn't getting out of game publishing are they?

 

I too am looking forward to the patches.  I'm curious about something.  Would it be possible to have a replay option (for viewing a replay of your last battle from a cinematic perspective) for rigs with 2 Gig of RAM?  Or would that slow down the land/space combat too much?

[vipeness]

On another note, does EA still own the old Westwood Building?

 

Hello Guys... btw, Mike is the coolest guy ever to meet and when I was striving to learn about the gaming community when I was in High School, which was located not only 30 feet away from Westwood Studios, Mike talked to me about things that inspired myself to have a creative ability which I still use now. He never gave up on me, and the first day after G'ing High School, I started at Westwood Studios.hen he had time. I was what you call a Beta Tester, or QA, for all the popular games, including the Command and Conquer game. WhoH Hooo! Mike, thankz again if I didn't repeat it much for helping me with my life and putting it in the right path.

 

But to answer that question about the old westwood studios building, it is still there standing, but EA moved from the building and it turned into like a vacation business place; from the last time I saw it. I'm glad to see Mike posted on these forums, and they are working hard to make sure anyone that plays the games they create will have a blast. These guys put their hearts and minds into all these projects, and they are working for you. Big Credit to Mike!

[Cain]

Hi there vipeness,

 

We actually have a subforum for Mike's fans Not much activity there but then again his work is pretty much always a secret.

 

http://pff.swrebellion.com/http://www.swrebellion.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=0.0

 

Feel free to share any old stories about Mike with us there. Btw from what I remember they will expand their QA so maybe its time to drop him a call

[Sven]

Long overdue?

It's 9 days since Delphi made his last posting in these forums...

 

Devs, what about an at least weekly update?

No news to report? No progress on Map Editor or Modding Tools?

[Foshjedi2004]

They are all very busy preparing for E3 and working on Projects.  They will post when they can. Patience my young padawan....Patience....

[Sven]

Well, I'm sorry but: Delphi seems to have enough time to post things like:

The real question though. If the Executor was in the game, what powers as a hero unit would it have? Hmm...  Thoughts?

Hehe, I know the feeling.

*Evil GRIN*

Teh best joke!

Welcome!

But he hasn't got the time for a short update, some news regarding promised features like replay functionlity, map editor and modding tools?

[Foshjedi2004]

Those take 2 seconds to write.  For all we know he is busy at work on 1.04 or maybe even on the Next Version of Empire at War...The Empire at War that the FANS WANTED FROM THE START! :

[Delphi-PG]

Long overdue?

It's 9 days since Delphi made his last posting in these forums...

 

Devs, what about an at least weekly update?

No news to report? No progress on Map Editor or Modding Tools?

 

As soon as I have something more solid to report, I'll post it up.  =)  Reset easy knowing 1.04 is in the process of being tested and should be released in the near future.

[Garbageben]

BTW Delphi when can we expect news on Petroglyph's second project?  I'm thinking hopefully by summer?

[Foshjedi2004]

Hey Delphi, any news on the modding tools?

 

(I am posting this on a Mobile Phone  :)

Edited April 5, 2006 by Foshjedi2004

[Sven]

As soon as I have something more solid to report, I'll post it up.  =)  Reset easy knowing 1.04 is in the process of being tested and should be released in the near future.

See? That's all we wanted. Thx