This past Friday we hosted our second Developer Chat Event. More than 200 Hellgaters joined the IRC server to ask questions and participate. Developers in attendance included Bill Roper, Tyler Thompson, David Glenn, Alan Hu, and Phil Shenk. The chat, originally scheduled to be an hour in length, lasted for nearly two during which over 30 questions were answered.

One question that caused quite a stir asked about advanced camera tools:

[BravenIrish]: Hi guys! Creative members of the community really seem to like "showing off" their characters, making short films, and taking awesome screen shots. Are there plans to add more tools? Such as changing the camera angle and removing the UI?
[Tyler Thompson]: We can add a cheat to turn off the UI. We can also give you a free floating camera. I'll see when we can get that into a build.
[Scapes]: I think I hear some cheering over in #hellgate-chat, heh.

Suffice to say, there was much rejoicing. Many thanks to all Hellgaters who attended this second Developer Chat Event! You can read the entire formatted transcript here or by clicking the title of this news article.

After a very fast-paced January in which the forums were restructured, the Stonehenge Chronicles content update was launched, and a popular follow-up patch was released, we are looking forward to hosting the second Hellgate: London Developer Chat Event. This chat will occur via IRC this Friday, February 8th, at 4:00 PM PST (7:00 PM EST, 12:00 AM GMT) and will be held on the following server and channel.

Server: irc.ForTheGamers.org
Channel: #FlagshipStudios

Everyone can participate in this event. There are a few methods to connect to the IRC server. One is via an IRC client such as mIRC or ChatZilla. Alternatively, ForTheGamers has a Java chat client you can use directly in a browser by clicking this link. Some instant message clients also support connections to IRC.

For those who are new to IRC, the connecting is really simple. With mIRC, under the connection settings, enter "irc.ForTheGamers.org" (without the quotes) as the server and, once connected, type "/join #FlagshipStudios" (again, no quotes) in the text bar. This will instruct your client to join the proper channel. Other clients will operate similarly.

Once in and the question bot has been unlocked, you can ask a question by typing "/msg DevBot QUESTION" with QUESTION being your question. We'll also have another channel set up where you can all just chat amongst yourselves.

Updates will be posted before the event if there are any changes. We had an impressive turn-out at the first event, looking forward to the second!

Earlier today, Flagship Studios had its first developer chat since the game's launch via IRC with more than 250 Hellgate: London fans present for the majority of the event. Bill Roper, Erich Schaefer, Dave Glenn, Phil Shenk, and others fielded questions across a range of topics including game balancing, patches, and future content. While the chat was to last for less than an hour originally, the staggering attendance kept the event going for 80 minutes during which 36 questions were answered.

Even after the chat event ended, a few of the participating developers lingered in #flagshipstudios to answer a few more questions and mingle with the Hellgaters. More than 300 questions were asked over the course of the event. With how wildly popular this developer chat was, you can bet we'll be doing more of them in the near future!

A full, formatted transcript of the developer chat can be found in the complete news article, here.

Howdy everyone! This Friday, December 7, we'll be doing a live IRC developer chat. It will start at 4PM PST, and you'll have a chance to talk directly with a number of us here at Flagship. You can ask questions, tell us your thoughts on the game, or say whatever you want (well, within reason ^_^). Below are the details.

Server: irc.ForTheGamers.org
Channel: #FlagshipStudios

Two popular IRC clients you can use are mIRC (a personal favorite) and ChatZilla. Alternatively, ForTheGamers has a Java chat client you can use directly in a browser by clicking this link.

If you've never used IRC before, it's really easy. Under the connection settings just connect to "irc.ForTheGamers.org" (without the quotes), and then type "/join #FlagshipStudios" (again, no quotes). This will put you into the proper channel.

Once in, and the question bot has been unlocked, you can ask a question by typing "/msg DevBot XXX" with XXX being your question. We'll also have another channel set up where you can all just chat amongst yourselves.

We'll give you any updates as the day approaches. Thanks, and see you there!