Underground Communique #5
Week of May 5th
Return of the Mack
Hooray for references to 90s music. Welcome, Hellgaters, to the fifth installment of your Underground Communique. This issue comes after skipping a week due to the nonstop updates brought about by the launch of Patch 1.3 and its subsequent fixes. In the interest of producing a fresh and accurate newsletter, it was decided to hold off until the dust settled before writing this one. Recent events include the launch of Patch 1.3a, the recovery of more than 7000 in-game mails, Max Schaefer discussing the Action RPG genre, and then some. Read on!
Max Schaefer Speaks About the Action RPG Genre on IGN.com
IGN.com's RPG Vault has started a new series of articles titled RPG Vault Focus in an attempt to capture the candid and informal nature of conversations with game developers experienced at conventions and expositions. The inaugural article focused on the Action RPG genre and invited Max Schaefer, Flagship Studios' COO and co-founder, to speak on the subject.
The full article can be found here and also polls Gas Powered Games' Steve Bauman about the genre as well.
Patch 1.3 Patched
Patch 1.3 introduced some hotly-desired features including emotes, shared stash, the ability to inspect other players, a Premium Item Merchant, a Donation system, and the new Ranks and Expertise system. However, some widely-experienced bugs cropped up shortly after the patch reached the live servers. One of most prevalent bugs caused players to lose experience earned towards Ranks when leaving a party. Another caused weapon mods to become "unequipped" when the modded weapon was loaded into the game. A third major issue that many users reported was that in-game mail was not being received and items attached were being lost.
The following Monday, Patch 1.3a was released, solving the majority of these and other issues players were experiencing. This patch fixed the main causes of Rank experience loss and weapon mods unequipping themselves. In addition, it reduced the Donation goal and adjusted the Buddy List font size for readability. Tracking code was added to in-game mail in order to help determine the cause of in-game mail system lag: the source of the problem.
Vast quantities of lost mail were recovered and returned to senders this past week. 4050+ items and 385+ palladium transfers were recovered on the Shulgoth (US) server and 2300+ items and 155+ palladium transfers were recovered on the Sydonai (EU) server. Support is continuing to monitor the servers for lost mail.
Patch 1.3b is currently on Test Center and addresses some of the less immediate issues from Patch 1.3. The patch notes for Patch 1.3a can be found here. The preliminary patch notes for Patch 1.3b can be found here.
Test Center Database Restored
This weekend, a number of players reported that they were being sent straight to the character creation when logging into to our Test Center server. Fearing a character wipe, they came to the forums and found that no intentional wipe had occurred. After some sleuthing, Ping0 was able to use a backup of the Test Center database to restore characters from before the time they started disappearing at about 2:00 AM PDT on Friday morning. They'll be keeping a close on eye Test Center and will be investigating the cause of the database trouble.
For details on the current build on Test Center, check out the latest patch notes.
Sydonai (EU) Subscribers Now Receiving Subscriber Benefits on Test Center
One of the fixes that Patch 1.3b introduces allows players with subscriptions on the Sydonai (EU) server to be able to access subscriber content on the Test Center server, previously limited to Shulgoth (US) subscribers. Special account badges have been made to allow EU subscribers access. In order to gain this badge, you need to create an account on HellgateLondon.com for the Shulgoth (US) server using the registration key used to create your Sydonai (EU) subscription account.
After creating your account, select Test Center from the pull-down menu on the Hellgate: London login screen and enter your account name and password. The client will update to the current Test Center build and after restarting the game and signing in once more, you will be able to access subscriber content on the Test Center server. There is still some content that is not yet working for these subscribers such as Essences but this is slated to be fixed.
April Showers Bring May Flowers...and the Abyss Chronicles
We are most assuredly in the month of May and eager Hellgaters everywhere are itching to hear the latest lowdown on Patch 2, estimated to reach the live servers later this month and Test Center before that time. Titled the "Abyss Chronicles", Patch 2 introduces a laundry list of succulent features. Some of the most enticing offerings include new bosses to test your mettle against, new skills for all classes, new monster types, new weapons for all factions to use on those new monster types, a consignment house, the ability to switch station instances, and lots more. A more thorough detailing of what the Abyss Chronicles will bring is not far off and will be posted along with plans for subsequent patches.
Bon Voyage, Scapes!
Thus, the fifth issue of the Underground Communique comes to a close. A quick note to those who have been asking what I was up to last week that kept me less active than I normally am on the forums: I was capturing footage and editing together a few videos for Hellgate: London and Mythos before departing on a wee vacation. Where am I going? Why, Japan! Kyoto to be precise. Should be immensely fun and I promise to bring back photos and maybe even a souvenir for the forums.
I suppose "Sayonara, Scapes" would have been a more fitting title for this section but I decided against it.
-- Scapes
Posted by: Scapes on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 19:30 Talk About This Story!
Week of May 5th
Return of the Mack
Hooray for references to 90s music. Welcome, Hellgaters, to the fifth installment of your Underground Communique. This issue comes after skipping a week due to the nonstop updates brought about by the launch of Patch 1.3 and its subsequent fixes. In the interest of producing a fresh and accurate newsletter, it was decided to hold off until the dust settled before writing this one. Recent events include the launch of Patch 1.3a, the recovery of more than 7000 in-game mails, Max Schaefer discussing the Action RPG genre, and then some. Read on!
Max Schaefer Speaks About the Action RPG Genre on IGN.com
IGN.com's RPG Vault has started a new series of articles titled RPG Vault Focus in an attempt to capture the candid and informal nature of conversations with game developers experienced at conventions and expositions. The inaugural article focused on the Action RPG genre and invited Max Schaefer, Flagship Studios' COO and co-founder, to speak on the subject.
What is an RPG? Taken literally, it simply refers to a game in which you play the role of one or more characters. But in practice, I think the term means different things to different people, and from my experience in making them, it's a topic of considerable passion for many gamers. At times, it can resemble a religious war. I was fortunate enough to work on all the games in the Diablo series, a title that is today most commonly considered an action RPG. The arguments about how to classify it were strangely heated, with some people insisting that it was a full-fledged RPG, and others who refused to accept that it was an action RPG... or even that such a category was valid.
The full article can be found here and also polls Gas Powered Games' Steve Bauman about the genre as well.
Patch 1.3 Patched
Patch 1.3 introduced some hotly-desired features including emotes, shared stash, the ability to inspect other players, a Premium Item Merchant, a Donation system, and the new Ranks and Expertise system. However, some widely-experienced bugs cropped up shortly after the patch reached the live servers. One of most prevalent bugs caused players to lose experience earned towards Ranks when leaving a party. Another caused weapon mods to become "unequipped" when the modded weapon was loaded into the game. A third major issue that many users reported was that in-game mail was not being received and items attached were being lost.
The following Monday, Patch 1.3a was released, solving the majority of these and other issues players were experiencing. This patch fixed the main causes of Rank experience loss and weapon mods unequipping themselves. In addition, it reduced the Donation goal and adjusted the Buddy List font size for readability. Tracking code was added to in-game mail in order to help determine the cause of in-game mail system lag: the source of the problem.
Vast quantities of lost mail were recovered and returned to senders this past week. 4050+ items and 385+ palladium transfers were recovered on the Shulgoth (US) server and 2300+ items and 155+ palladium transfers were recovered on the Sydonai (EU) server. Support is continuing to monitor the servers for lost mail.
Patch 1.3b is currently on Test Center and addresses some of the less immediate issues from Patch 1.3. The patch notes for Patch 1.3a can be found here. The preliminary patch notes for Patch 1.3b can be found here.
Test Center Database Restored
This weekend, a number of players reported that they were being sent straight to the character creation when logging into to our Test Center server. Fearing a character wipe, they came to the forums and found that no intentional wipe had occurred. After some sleuthing, Ping0 was able to use a backup of the Test Center database to restore characters from before the time they started disappearing at about 2:00 AM PDT on Friday morning. They'll be keeping a close on eye Test Center and will be investigating the cause of the database trouble.
For details on the current build on Test Center, check out the latest patch notes.
Sydonai (EU) Subscribers Now Receiving Subscriber Benefits on Test Center
One of the fixes that Patch 1.3b introduces allows players with subscriptions on the Sydonai (EU) server to be able to access subscriber content on the Test Center server, previously limited to Shulgoth (US) subscribers. Special account badges have been made to allow EU subscribers access. In order to gain this badge, you need to create an account on HellgateLondon.com for the Shulgoth (US) server using the registration key used to create your Sydonai (EU) subscription account.
After creating your account, select Test Center from the pull-down menu on the Hellgate: London login screen and enter your account name and password. The client will update to the current Test Center build and after restarting the game and signing in once more, you will be able to access subscriber content on the Test Center server. There is still some content that is not yet working for these subscribers such as Essences but this is slated to be fixed.
April Showers Bring May Flowers...and the Abyss Chronicles
We are most assuredly in the month of May and eager Hellgaters everywhere are itching to hear the latest lowdown on Patch 2, estimated to reach the live servers later this month and Test Center before that time. Titled the "Abyss Chronicles", Patch 2 introduces a laundry list of succulent features. Some of the most enticing offerings include new bosses to test your mettle against, new skills for all classes, new monster types, new weapons for all factions to use on those new monster types, a consignment house, the ability to switch station instances, and lots more. A more thorough detailing of what the Abyss Chronicles will bring is not far off and will be posted along with plans for subsequent patches.
Bon Voyage, Scapes!
Thus, the fifth issue of the Underground Communique comes to a close. A quick note to those who have been asking what I was up to last week that kept me less active than I normally am on the forums: I was capturing footage and editing together a few videos for Hellgate: London and Mythos before departing on a wee vacation. Where am I going? Why, Japan! Kyoto to be precise. Should be immensely fun and I promise to bring back photos and maybe even a souvenir for the forums.
I suppose "Sayonara, Scapes" would have been a more fitting title for this section but I decided against it.
-- Scapes
Filed under:
Underground Communique #4
Week of April 21st
A Good Delay
No doubt Hellgaters who have started anticipating the new issue of Underground Communique each week were left wondering about the fate of this fourth issue. Rest assured, the wait was a good thing. Why? Read on.
Single Player Patch 1.2 Released
After about two weeks in public beta testing, the Single Player Patch 1.2 update is ready to be finally be released. The release candidate published last week has been poked, prodded, and otherwise fully tested and has been retitled sans "beta". Those users who have already applied the release candidate version of this patch need to take no additional action as the update has not changed since.
The reason for the lengthy patch release was due largely in part to an issues players were experiencing where they couldn't make Elite Mode characters. This problem has been fixed and is listed in the compendium that is the Single Player Patch 1.2 notes, available here. The patch can be downloaded from the same link or by loading up Hellgate: London and clicking the Update Available button. Clicking the Details button under Single Player yields the patch notes, clicking Update will apply the patch.
Many thanks to those Hellgaters who helped out by testing preliminary Single Player Patch 1.2 versions!
Multiplayer Patch 1.3 Coming Tomorrow
Patch 1.3 has grown from an intermediary between Patch 1.2 and the Abyss Chronicles to a giant in its own right. With features coming out its ears, this content update is sure to wow and to please. A release candidate of Patch 1.3 is slated for Test Center release later today where it'll receive its final round of testing by QA and Hellgaters. Information on the estimated downtime will be posted before the Test Center server goes down for the update. For those players who sample the release candidate and want to report problems or bugs, please use the Test Center Feedback forum.
After the final Patch 1.3 build spends the night on Test Center, the live servers will be updated around noon tomorrow, barring any unforeseen difficulties. Information on downtimes will be posted to the Server Status page and the forums beforehand. While the final patch notes will be posted tomorrow, ones based off of the Test Center build can be found here.
Patch 1.3 introduces a host of new elements to Hellgate: London, including a Shared Stash system, a Premium Item Merchant, optional chat bubbles, a number of emotes your characters can perform, the abilities to hide your helmet and inspect other characters' equipment, and a Donation Collector NPC who grants global buffs. Additionally, a new set of passive skills called Expertise have been introduced, gained by earning Ranks. For more details, check out the latest patch notes from Test Center.
Team Advocate Program: Guardian Position Available
What is the Team Advocate Program? It's a project operated by Flagship Studios, the goal of which is to amass the feedback, knowledge, and play experience of our community to better ensure that every aspect of Hellgate: London is as enjoyable as possible. Team Advocates are players that volunteer their free time to assist the Hellgate: London development team by providing testing, compilations of player feedback, general feedback on proposed changes, and new ideas on ways to improve their area of the game. Team Advocates also have a secondary mission of helping to keep the player base informed on Flagship Studios' positions on issues related to their topics.
This past week, three more Team Advocate Program positions were filled including PvE, PvP, and Items. One position remains available, the Guardian Team Advocate. Interested in applying? Email us! Please be sure to include the name of the position you are applying for in the subject of your email for quicker consideration (i.e. Guardian Team Advocate Program). Team Advocates will be selected based on many factors outlined on the forums here.
Hellgate: London Official Soundtrack Now on iTunes
When the release of Hellgate: London's official soundtrack was announced a few weeks ago, a number of Hellgaters from foreign lands commented that they were unable to purchase it due to Amazon.com's restrictions. However, the album has now made it to theiTunes Store and is available for purchase using the application.
A number of forumers who had difficulty when purchasing from Amazon.com have reported success using the iTunes Store. The soundtrack is available as direct-download MP3s and tracks can be purchased individually. The Hellgate: London soundtrack is composed by Sonic Mayhem, made up of industry veterans Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan. The album is released under the London Green Studios label.
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
And so is ending an Underground Communique. The second half of this week should prove just as fast-paced as the first, particularly with Multiplayer Patch 1.3 and Single Player Patch 1.2 freshly released.
Anticipate a trailer for the former soon!
-- Scapes
Posted by: Scapes on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 20:56 Talk About This Story!
Week of April 21st
A Good Delay
No doubt Hellgaters who have started anticipating the new issue of Underground Communique each week were left wondering about the fate of this fourth issue. Rest assured, the wait was a good thing. Why? Read on.
Single Player Patch 1.2 Released
After about two weeks in public beta testing, the Single Player Patch 1.2 update is ready to be finally be released. The release candidate published last week has been poked, prodded, and otherwise fully tested and has been retitled sans "beta". Those users who have already applied the release candidate version of this patch need to take no additional action as the update has not changed since.
The reason for the lengthy patch release was due largely in part to an issues players were experiencing where they couldn't make Elite Mode characters. This problem has been fixed and is listed in the compendium that is the Single Player Patch 1.2 notes, available here. The patch can be downloaded from the same link or by loading up Hellgate: London and clicking the Update Available button. Clicking the Details button under Single Player yields the patch notes, clicking Update will apply the patch.
Many thanks to those Hellgaters who helped out by testing preliminary Single Player Patch 1.2 versions!
Multiplayer Patch 1.3 Coming Tomorrow
Patch 1.3 has grown from an intermediary between Patch 1.2 and the Abyss Chronicles to a giant in its own right. With features coming out its ears, this content update is sure to wow and to please. A release candidate of Patch 1.3 is slated for Test Center release later today where it'll receive its final round of testing by QA and Hellgaters. Information on the estimated downtime will be posted before the Test Center server goes down for the update. For those players who sample the release candidate and want to report problems or bugs, please use the Test Center Feedback forum.
After the final Patch 1.3 build spends the night on Test Center, the live servers will be updated around noon tomorrow, barring any unforeseen difficulties. Information on downtimes will be posted to the Server Status page and the forums beforehand. While the final patch notes will be posted tomorrow, ones based off of the Test Center build can be found here.
Patch 1.3 introduces a host of new elements to Hellgate: London, including a Shared Stash system, a Premium Item Merchant, optional chat bubbles, a number of emotes your characters can perform, the abilities to hide your helmet and inspect other characters' equipment, and a Donation Collector NPC who grants global buffs. Additionally, a new set of passive skills called Expertise have been introduced, gained by earning Ranks. For more details, check out the latest patch notes from Test Center.
Team Advocate Program: Guardian Position Available
What is the Team Advocate Program? It's a project operated by Flagship Studios, the goal of which is to amass the feedback, knowledge, and play experience of our community to better ensure that every aspect of Hellgate: London is as enjoyable as possible. Team Advocates are players that volunteer their free time to assist the Hellgate: London development team by providing testing, compilations of player feedback, general feedback on proposed changes, and new ideas on ways to improve their area of the game. Team Advocates also have a secondary mission of helping to keep the player base informed on Flagship Studios' positions on issues related to their topics.
This past week, three more Team Advocate Program positions were filled including PvE, PvP, and Items. One position remains available, the Guardian Team Advocate. Interested in applying? Email us! Please be sure to include the name of the position you are applying for in the subject of your email for quicker consideration (i.e. Guardian Team Advocate Program). Team Advocates will be selected based on many factors outlined on the forums here.
Hellgate: London Official Soundtrack Now on iTunes
When the release of Hellgate: London's official soundtrack was announced a few weeks ago, a number of Hellgaters from foreign lands commented that they were unable to purchase it due to Amazon.com's restrictions. However, the album has now made it to the
A number of forumers who had difficulty when purchasing from Amazon.com have reported success using the iTunes Store. The soundtrack is available as direct-download MP3s and tracks can be purchased individually. The Hellgate: London soundtrack is composed by Sonic Mayhem, made up of industry veterans Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan. The album is released under the London Green Studios label.
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
And so is ending an Underground Communique. The second half of this week should prove just as fast-paced as the first, particularly with Multiplayer Patch 1.3 and Single Player Patch 1.2 freshly released.
Anticipate a trailer for the former soon!
-- Scapes
Filed under:
Underground Communique #3
Week of April 14th
Don't Stop Me Now!
And so begins a new tradition: music-referencing passage titles, this one inspired by just how non-stop this week has been thus far! Welcome to the third installment of the Underground Communique, a weekly news summary about all things Hellgate: London. Things are very fast-paced at Flagship Studios these days - just the way we like it. Here's the latest!
"Reconnaissance Mission" Accomplished!
The Stonehenge-centric screenshot contest that came to a close at the start of April yielded some truly impressive results. After much deliberation, four winning entries were selected, the creme de la creme. The participants received the following "turning in the quest" transmission from the People of Holborn Station:
In addition to Hellgate: London posters signed by Flagship Studios employees, the artist of each winning submission will receive a Hellgate: London t-shirt as well. Check out the screenshots here. We're looking forward to setting up and announcing our next community contest, just a little ways out!
Two Weeks, Two Patches, Five New Versions Total
Last week was certainly a busy and productive one. It was the second week in a row that Friday yielded new builds of both the Single Player Patch 1.2 Beta and Test Center Patch 1.3. Additionally, yesterday saw a third new build of the latter uploaded to the Test Center server, increasing the already lengthy patch notes by half.
Single Player Patch 1.2 Beta is on the cusp of completion with just one more bug preventing its ultimate release. A new build is due out later tonight and should address the persistent bug which prevented players from creating Elite Mode characters. An announcement will be made on the forums when this penultimate version is ready for download. As always, please backup your saved Hellgate: London data before installing this patch.
Exercising Our "Evil Eye"
A recent update to our game servers introduced some database software which will allow our gameplay metric system, The Evil Eye, to document a wide assortment of Hellgate: London statistics for the education and edification of our players. Just today we took a "Game Snapshot" for this past week on the Test Center server and generated "Top 5" reports on the game's richest guilds, top average richest guilds, top friended characters, and most popular character classes.
As this was a test run, we culled data from the Test Center rather than the live servers but weekly Game Snapshots are planned and should offer even more tantalizing details about Hellgaters' habits and superlatives. Check out the Top 5 lists yielded here on the forums.
Forum Section Created Solely for Patch Notes
Looking for a bit of Hellgate history? Trying to determine when X rebalance or Y bug fix was first introduced? Look no further than the Patch Notes subforum on the official Hellgate: London forums. This section has been made to house all final release versions of Hellgate: London's patch notes since the game's launch in October 2007. From Patch 0 to Patch 1.2, they're all there. The website's Patches section is also being updated to include this information.
Hellgate: London Celebrates the Most Successful Online Korean Launch in Three Years
San Francisco, CA (April 11th, 2008) - Flagship Studios today announced that its action role-playing game Hellgate: London has become the most successful online video game launch for Korea in the past three years with over 1 million accounts registered within the first two weeks of its open beta test. Hellgate: London is the first online game in over three years to use a monthly subscription business model.
You can read the full press release either on the Flagship Studios website or the Hellgate: London forums.
Hellgate: London's Community Manager Playing Hellgate: London?
It's not as fantastic as it sounds! Scapes, Hellgate: London's Community Manager, can often be found chatting it up with other Hellgaters in Chat-1 on the Shulgoth (US) server using a character of the same name. So stop by, hang out, ask some questions and I'll do my best to answer them and/or crack witticisms in the midst of multitasking any number of other odd tasks. (If I'm a bit slow to reply, you now know why.)
To join Chat-1, enter "/channeljoin chat-1" without the quotation marks into the chat pane. To enter text into the chat channel, enter "/chat" (again, no quotation marks) to set your target channel, then type away.
Well That Was a Long One
I've a feeling this could be the average length of these Underground Communiques. Would seem the format is leveling out some, too. However, if you have suggestions, I'd like to hear them. Click the "Talk About This Story!" link below to be taken to the forum thread where you can post your ideas, grammar corrections, recipes for Seared Carnagor Salad, whathaveyou.
Hope it was an enjoyable read! Take care of yourselves in old London town, Hellgaters!
-- Scapes
Posted by: Scapes on Wed, 04/16/2008 - 03:36 Talk About This Story!
Week of April 14th
Don't Stop Me Now!
And so begins a new tradition: music-referencing passage titles, this one inspired by just how non-stop this week has been thus far! Welcome to the third installment of the Underground Communique, a weekly news summary about all things Hellgate: London. Things are very fast-paced at Flagship Studios these days - just the way we like it. Here's the latest!
"Reconnaissance Mission" Accomplished!
The Stonehenge-centric screenshot contest that came to a close at the start of April yielded some truly impressive results. After much deliberation, four winning entries were selected, the creme de la creme. The participants received the following "turning in the quest" transmission from the People of Holborn Station:
WOW!
...oh, sorry, that must have been loud: Wow! Wow wow wow! Thank you Hellgaters for these amazing shots of Stonehenge! Just look at these shots! A brave Templar standing proudly over fallen Moloch, a 100-page publication all about the Stonehenge frontier, a fantastically-composed image of warriors on the hunt in the Wilds, and a comprehensive postcard of all the lands we hope one day to visit ourselves! Wait a tic...why is Techsmith 101 holding the magazine sideways...
...a centerfold of Desiccator along with its turn-ons and what it looks for in a victim. Well that'll keep Techsmith 101 occupied for a spell. There he goes, running off with it. Not sure if we're going to want it back after he's done with it.
Well, noble champions, you have done this humble station a good turn. The People of Holborn Station would like to provide something additional to fully convey our thanks, Scapes has the details. FOR THE LIVING!
In addition to Hellgate: London posters signed by Flagship Studios employees, the artist of each winning submission will receive a Hellgate: London t-shirt as well. Check out the screenshots here. We're looking forward to setting up and announcing our next community contest, just a little ways out!
Two Weeks, Two Patches, Five New Versions Total
Last week was certainly a busy and productive one. It was the second week in a row that Friday yielded new builds of both the Single Player Patch 1.2 Beta and Test Center Patch 1.3. Additionally, yesterday saw a third new build of the latter uploaded to the Test Center server, increasing the already lengthy patch notes by half.
Single Player Patch 1.2 Beta is on the cusp of completion with just one more bug preventing its ultimate release. A new build is due out later tonight and should address the persistent bug which prevented players from creating Elite Mode characters. An announcement will be made on the forums when this penultimate version is ready for download. As always, please backup your saved Hellgate: London data before installing this patch.
Exercising Our "Evil Eye"
A recent update to our game servers introduced some database software which will allow our gameplay metric system, The Evil Eye, to document a wide assortment of Hellgate: London statistics for the education and edification of our players. Just today we took a "Game Snapshot" for this past week on the Test Center server and generated "Top 5" reports on the game's richest guilds, top average richest guilds, top friended characters, and most popular character classes.
As this was a test run, we culled data from the Test Center rather than the live servers but weekly Game Snapshots are planned and should offer even more tantalizing details about Hellgaters' habits and superlatives. Check out the Top 5 lists yielded here on the forums.
Forum Section Created Solely for Patch Notes
Looking for a bit of Hellgate history? Trying to determine when X rebalance or Y bug fix was first introduced? Look no further than the Patch Notes subforum on the official Hellgate: London forums. This section has been made to house all final release versions of Hellgate: London's patch notes since the game's launch in October 2007. From Patch 0 to Patch 1.2, they're all there. The website's Patches section is also being updated to include this information.
Hellgate: London Celebrates the Most Successful Online Korean Launch in Three Years
San Francisco, CA (April 11th, 2008) - Flagship Studios today announced that its action role-playing game Hellgate: London has become the most successful online video game launch for Korea in the past three years with over 1 million accounts registered within the first two weeks of its open beta test. Hellgate: London is the first online game in over three years to use a monthly subscription business model.
You can read the full press release either on the Flagship Studios website or the Hellgate: London forums.
Hellgate: London's Community Manager Playing Hellgate: London?
It's not as fantastic as it sounds! Scapes, Hellgate: London's Community Manager, can often be found chatting it up with other Hellgaters in Chat-1 on the Shulgoth (US) server using a character of the same name. So stop by, hang out, ask some questions and I'll do my best to answer them and/or crack witticisms in the midst of multitasking any number of other odd tasks. (If I'm a bit slow to reply, you now know why.)
To join Chat-1, enter "/channeljoin chat-1" without the quotation marks into the chat pane. To enter text into the chat channel, enter "/chat" (again, no quotation marks) to set your target channel, then type away.
Well That Was a Long One
I've a feeling this could be the average length of these Underground Communiques. Would seem the format is leveling out some, too. However, if you have suggestions, I'd like to hear them. Click the "Talk About This Story!" link below to be taken to the forum thread where you can post your ideas, grammar corrections, recipes for Seared Carnagor Salad, whathaveyou.
Hope it was an enjoyable read! Take care of yourselves in old London town, Hellgaters!
-- Scapes
Filed under:
Underground Communique #2
Week of April 7th
Busy, Busy, Busy!
Welcome, one and all, to this second Communiqué du Métro. Hellgaters who waited with bated breath this past Friday were treated to a pair of tasty updates in the form of Test Center Patch 1.3 and Single Player Patch 1.2 Beta. We've been harvesting the feedback from threads related to both and will have new builds of each out in short order. This week is shaping up to be a marathon as well. Read on to find out more!
---
Test Center Patch 1.3 Leaves Testers /taunt'ing Into The Wee Hours
Stonehenge was an absolute party this past Friday night when the Test Center Patch 1.3 build was uploaded to the Test Center server and dozens of eager Hellgaters rushed in to see the latest offerings. The ancient druidic site played host to characters sampling chat bubbles, shared stash, and, of course, the many emotes introduced with the new patch including /taunt, featured in the Patch 1.2 Trailer.
However, as this was an early build, a dark evil crept up from deep within its code and caused disconnections and login queues and other nasty bits of nastiness. Apparently bugs don't like testers having a good time. A new build of Test Center Patch 1.3 is already being compiled and should vanquish this evil. In addition, close attention is being paid to tester feedback not only on bugs but also on balance, tweaks, and other changes so keep providing it!
There will be more information on this new build tomorrow if not later tonight. Should the Test Center server run into the trouble experienced over the weekend where the queue appears or the server ceases to respond, fret not. It will be restored on the morrow.
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Single Player Patch 1.2 Beta Released, New Build Coming
The massive Single Player Patch 1.2 Beta update was released Friday afternoon. Its patch notes, 15 pages in length, contained a massive list of changes including all of the tweaks made with multiplayer patches 0.7, 1.0, 1.1, 1.1b, and 1.2. Four of the six classes had significant rebalancing and the single player client's overall stability was drastically improved. Single Player fans who were eagerly awaiting the announcement of beta's release put the energy to some rather industrious URL scouting and actually discovered the patch's executable file while it was being uploaded!
Two significant bugs have been reported in the beta build: Skill Retrainer tokens weren't given to all characters who were supposed to receive them and Elite Mode isn't triggering upon Normal Mode completion. These two pesky pests are rapidly being squashed and swatted and otherwise done away with. A fresh build, quite possibly the release candidate for the Single Player Patch 1.2 final, is being worked on and will be released later this week.
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"Reconnaissance Mission" Screenshot Contest Judging Underway
Wow. That pretty much sums it up. The contest participants took on the mission presented to them and ran with it. Screenshots of all things Stonehenge Chronicles were offered to bring a bit of excitement to the otherwise dull lives of Holborn Station's stalwart denizen NPCs. Here is the latest transmission from the town:
Suffice to say, they liked the results. We are currently finishing up judging the submissions and look forward to posting the results later this week! Once more, a big thanks to all participants! Be sure to be on the lookout for our Patch 1.3-related contest, soon to be announced.
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A Bit Of April Fool's Day Fun
Flagship Studios strikes a deal with Mattel to produce Hellgate Barbie and friends. Hellgate High School acquired by Hellgate: London developers to hone students' innate game industry talents. These two stories published to HellgateLondon.com on the first of April may have been written in a rather convincing manner but, sure enough, they were in the spirit of the holiday and wholly fictitious.
Not only did some astute Hellgaters on the forums pick up the subtle nod to a particular episode of The Simpsons in the Mattel partnership press release, one forumer even revealed himself to be an alum of the actual Hellgate High School in Missoula, Montana. Much to the surprise of many, we were indeed referencing an actual educational institution (and yes, their team name is none other than the Hellgate Knights).
As subtly mentioned in the final paragraph of both articles, we here at Flagship Studios enjoy a good April Fool's Day joke as much as the next studio and hope you all had a great April 1st filled with "OMG NO WAI" and "LAWL NO".
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Two Down, Many More To Go
Believe that covers the big stories of the week for the most part. There were a lot of great suggestions made in response to the first Underground Communique, one of which was to have weekly interviews with key members of the Hellgate: London team. Well, the good folks here at Flagship Studios are quite eager to provide interviews for these weekly installments. With luck we'll have the first one ready to go for UC3!
Looks like an exciting week ahead! Stay frosty and, as always, good hunting, Hellgaters.
-- Scapes
Posted by: Scapes on Mon, 04/07/2008 - 22:00 Talk About This Story!
Week of April 7th
Busy, Busy, Busy!
Welcome, one and all, to this second Communiqué du Métro. Hellgaters who waited with bated breath this past Friday were treated to a pair of tasty updates in the form of Test Center Patch 1.3 and Single Player Patch 1.2 Beta. We've been harvesting the feedback from threads related to both and will have new builds of each out in short order. This week is shaping up to be a marathon as well. Read on to find out more!
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Test Center Patch 1.3 Leaves Testers /taunt'ing Into The Wee Hours
Stonehenge was an absolute party this past Friday night when the Test Center Patch 1.3 build was uploaded to the Test Center server and dozens of eager Hellgaters rushed in to see the latest offerings. The ancient druidic site played host to characters sampling chat bubbles, shared stash, and, of course, the many emotes introduced with the new patch including /taunt, featured in the Patch 1.2 Trailer.
However, as this was an early build, a dark evil crept up from deep within its code and caused disconnections and login queues and other nasty bits of nastiness. Apparently bugs don't like testers having a good time. A new build of Test Center Patch 1.3 is already being compiled and should vanquish this evil. In addition, close attention is being paid to tester feedback not only on bugs but also on balance, tweaks, and other changes so keep providing it!
There will be more information on this new build tomorrow if not later tonight. Should the Test Center server run into the trouble experienced over the weekend where the queue appears or the server ceases to respond, fret not. It will be restored on the morrow.
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Single Player Patch 1.2 Beta Released, New Build Coming
The massive Single Player Patch 1.2 Beta update was released Friday afternoon. Its patch notes, 15 pages in length, contained a massive list of changes including all of the tweaks made with multiplayer patches 0.7, 1.0, 1.1, 1.1b, and 1.2. Four of the six classes had significant rebalancing and the single player client's overall stability was drastically improved. Single Player fans who were eagerly awaiting the announcement of beta's release put the energy to some rather industrious URL scouting and actually discovered the patch's executable file while it was being uploaded!
Two significant bugs have been reported in the beta build: Skill Retrainer tokens weren't given to all characters who were supposed to receive them and Elite Mode isn't triggering upon Normal Mode completion. These two pesky pests are rapidly being squashed and swatted and otherwise done away with. A fresh build, quite possibly the release candidate for the Single Player Patch 1.2 final, is being worked on and will be released later this week.
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"Reconnaissance Mission" Screenshot Contest Judging Underway
Wow. That pretty much sums it up. The contest participants took on the mission presented to them and ran with it. Screenshots of all things Stonehenge Chronicles were offered to bring a bit of excitement to the otherwise dull lives of Holborn Station's stalwart denizen NPCs. Here is the latest transmission from the town:
Greetings and hello! And thank you! When we, The People Of Holborn Station, received your care package of footage brimming with photos of the world beyond London's city limits, our elation was so boisterous that the outpost guards report nearby demons distanced themselves from the station entrances! Such images you've all managed to capture! Action! Loot! Demons! Demons being beaten with loot in action shots! Thank you, noble Hellgaters! Thank you!
...oh, and Techsmith 101 thanks you as well! And says he misses you still. And...dammit, Techsmith, that is beyond M-rated; I won't say it.
Suffice to say, they liked the results. We are currently finishing up judging the submissions and look forward to posting the results later this week! Once more, a big thanks to all participants! Be sure to be on the lookout for our Patch 1.3-related contest, soon to be announced.
---
A Bit Of April Fool's Day Fun
Flagship Studios strikes a deal with Mattel to produce Hellgate Barbie and friends. Hellgate High School acquired by Hellgate: London developers to hone students' innate game industry talents. These two stories published to HellgateLondon.com on the first of April may have been written in a rather convincing manner but, sure enough, they were in the spirit of the holiday and wholly fictitious.
Not only did some astute Hellgaters on the forums pick up the subtle nod to a particular episode of The Simpsons in the Mattel partnership press release, one forumer even revealed himself to be an alum of the actual Hellgate High School in Missoula, Montana. Much to the surprise of many, we were indeed referencing an actual educational institution (and yes, their team name is none other than the Hellgate Knights).
As subtly mentioned in the final paragraph of both articles, we here at Flagship Studios enjoy a good April Fool's Day joke as much as the next studio and hope you all had a great April 1st filled with "OMG NO WAI" and "LAWL NO".
---
Two Down, Many More To Go
Believe that covers the big stories of the week for the most part. There were a lot of great suggestions made in response to the first Underground Communique, one of which was to have weekly interviews with key members of the Hellgate: London team. Well, the good folks here at Flagship Studios are quite eager to provide interviews for these weekly installments. With luck we'll have the first one ready to go for UC3!
Looks like an exciting week ahead! Stay frosty and, as always, good hunting, Hellgaters.
-- Scapes
Filed under:
Underground Communique #1
Week of March 31st
Introduction
Greetings, Hellgaters! This is the first of what will be a weekly series of "news summary" posts which cover current Hellgate: London events and developments. Expect this series to grow in content and format as it will be formed around what the community wants to hear more about. That's right: your feedback will help mold this regular "forum newsletter". One plan is to have it include links to short interviews with Flagship Studios employees. Another is to announce frequent contests with it. We'll figure all that out as it develops.
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Multiplayer Patch 1.3 Update
No doubt everyone's interested in the latest on Patch 1.3 so here's the lowdown: it's nearly ready for Test Center but needs to have a few more of its new features tested rather than have it be trial by fire. Additionally, something our Sydonai (EU) players will be excited to hear is that Patch 1.3 will allow for EU subscriber access to Test Center.
ETA: Later this week.
http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=87112
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Single Player Patch 1.2 Update
Solo Hellgaters have waited a long while to hear the news which was announced late last week. A Single Player patch which will match to Patch 1.2 is waiting for a new build before being made available as a "beta" of the final Single Player patch. More on this will undoubtedly be available in the coming days.
ETA: Later this week.
http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=86959
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Developers Decide on "Cleanser" Quest Item Solution
This in straight from the developers:
http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=86261
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"Reconnaissance Mission" Screenshot Contest Ending!
In two short hours, our first contest of the Stonehenge Chronicles will come to a close. For those not yet familiar with it, the "Reconnaissance Mission" tasked players with bringing new images of Stonehenge and its surrounding environs to the people of Holborn Station way back in Act 1 of Hellgate: London. We've received an impressive number of stunning submissions. If you're interested in participating, it's not too late! Follow the link to learn how:
http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=86331
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Well, What Do You Think?
Quite eager to find out what folks are interested in having included in the Underground Communique (and no, the name is not final). To those feeling like this is mostly a rehash of existing Official Announcement threads, the main intent is to "update" them at the start of the week when new information often develops. Regardless, constructive feedback is welcomed.
Even about the name!
-- Scapes
Posted by: Scapes on Mon, 03/31/2008 - 21:58 Talk About This Story!
Week of March 31st
Introduction
Greetings, Hellgaters! This is the first of what will be a weekly series of "news summary" posts which cover current Hellgate: London events and developments. Expect this series to grow in content and format as it will be formed around what the community wants to hear more about. That's right: your feedback will help mold this regular "forum newsletter". One plan is to have it include links to short interviews with Flagship Studios employees. Another is to announce frequent contests with it. We'll figure all that out as it develops.
---
Multiplayer Patch 1.3 Update
No doubt everyone's interested in the latest on Patch 1.3 so here's the lowdown: it's nearly ready for Test Center but needs to have a few more of its new features tested rather than have it be trial by fire. Additionally, something our Sydonai (EU) players will be excited to hear is that Patch 1.3 will allow for EU subscriber access to Test Center.
ETA: Later this week.
http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=87112
---
Single Player Patch 1.2 Update
Solo Hellgaters have waited a long while to hear the news which was announced late last week. A Single Player patch which will match to Patch 1.2 is waiting for a new build before being made available as a "beta" of the final Single Player patch. More on this will undoubtedly be available in the coming days.
ETA: Later this week.
http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=86959
---
Developers Decide on "Cleanser" Quest Item Solution
This in straight from the developers:
Since many players enjoyed doing Oculus boss runs, we've done some work to allow these runs again, but this time in a more complete fashion. The portal from Monument Station to Angel Passage is now permanently blocked. Players who would like to fight Oculus after reaching Monument Station may use the Station Travel Terminal to return to Temple Station. Any player who has activated, or completed, the "Scrub the Deck" quest and does not have a Cleanser, may speak with Ser Sing in Temple Station to get another one. The Cleanser is no longer removed when the "Scrub the Deck" quest is completed.
http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=86261
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"Reconnaissance Mission" Screenshot Contest Ending!
In two short hours, our first contest of the Stonehenge Chronicles will come to a close. For those not yet familiar with it, the "Reconnaissance Mission" tasked players with bringing new images of Stonehenge and its surrounding environs to the people of Holborn Station way back in Act 1 of Hellgate: London. We've received an impressive number of stunning submissions. If you're interested in participating, it's not too late! Follow the link to learn how:
http://forums.hellgatelondon.com/showthread.php?t=86331
---
Well, What Do You Think?
Quite eager to find out what folks are interested in having included in the Underground Communique (and no, the name is not final). To those feeling like this is mostly a rehash of existing Official Announcement threads, the main intent is to "update" them at the start of the week when new information often develops. Regardless, constructive feedback is welcomed.
Even about the name!
-- Scapes
Filed under:
