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+ <TITLE> [Nel] Greetings! And some questions / comments</TITLE>
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+ <H1>[Nel] Greetings! And some questions / comments</H1>
+ <B>Olivier Lejade</B>
+ <A HREF="mailto:lejade%40nevrax.com"
+ TITLE="[Nel] Greetings! And some questions / comments">lejade@nevrax.com</A><BR>
+ <I>Sun, 12 Nov 2000 14:58:30 +0100</I>
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+<PRE>Hi Sal,
+
+My name is Olivier Lejade, I am Nevrax's CEO. I won't be intervening too
+much on this list since we really would like to keep things technically
+oriented, but since there seems to be so a lot of questions, I figured it
+would be a good idea to answer some of them here so that they can go in the
+FAQ.
+I'll leave the technically oriented ones to the Code Team though.
+
+At 04:18 PM 11/11/00 -0500, you wrote:
+&gt;<i>I am also a Worldforge developer, like Bryce. Though not nearly as
+</I>&gt;<i>famous ;-)
+</I>
+Or so you think... ;)
+
+&gt;<i>And a commercial effort such as Nevrax could be a powerful force in helping
+</I>&gt;<i>to achieve such a goal.
+</I>
+Thanks for the attention.
+We hope and believe so too.
+
+&gt;<i>So I then
+</I>&gt;<i>came across Worldforge, and that is where I am. Finally a totally free
+</I>&gt;<i>opensource project that met, if not exceeded my own standards for an online
+</I>&gt;<i>gaming system.
+</I>
+Yes, WorldForge is a very impressive project with a very, very large scope.
+We are all admirative of your capacity to handle such a large and diverse
+community. Managing a team of artists over the internet is especially
+daunting and WF has accomplished an incredible feat in this area.
+As Bryce kindly reminded me, code is cheap compared to Art...
+
+Here at Nevrax, we do not intend to have such a large range of activity. We
+are concentrating on a 3D client (no 2D, text, etc) and we are doing all
+the artwork/game design internally.
+Nevrax.org will focus on fostering a &quot;technical&quot; community.
+
+&gt;<i>1) how compatible our projects are
+</I>
+I'll let the coders answer on the technical aspect. However, on a more
+philosophical point of vue, I'd say our project are very compatible,
+siblings really, since they are both GPL.
+
+&gt;<i>1) I understand that Nel will be a library to create games, but is this
+</I>&gt;<i>project also developing a specific game that uses the library?
+</I>
+Yes. we are currently developing a yet unannounced commercial MMORPG.
+
+&gt;<i>If so what
+</I>&gt;<i>details of it are known? As far as ruleset... gameplay...
+</I>
+At this time, I'm sorry to say we cannot disclose any information
+concerning game design / artwork. However things are bound to change as we
+go along, and some information will start trickling out in the coming months.
+
+&gt;<i>2) What is the development strategy? For example Worldforge will be
+</I>&gt;<i>developing several smaller diverse games in succession (Acorn, Mason... etc.
+</I>&gt;<i>etc.) until we reach the final goal, entitled 'BelchFire'. Will you guys be
+</I>&gt;<i>doing a similar thing?
+</I>
+Not in the sense of WF (i.e lots of intermediary games). We are working on
+a single game. However, we do have a number of milestones. Also by the end
+of the year, we will be disclosing a &quot;sample world&quot; under an open content
+license for the community to kick around and have fun with. But this will
+have nothing to do with our final game.
+
+&gt;<i>4) I get this question a lot :-) Why develop a 3d engine from scratch? Why
+</I>&gt;<i>not use/build from an existing engine, such as Crystal Space?
+</I>
+We checked out CS of course as well as many others, and while it is a very
+nice engine, it did not seem to fit our particular needs.
+
+&gt;<i>6) Is development open to outside influence? Or are you following an
+</I>&gt;<i>internal-only plan, and just opensourcing the results?
+</I>
+Well, we are following an internal plan and Freeing the resulting software,
+however we are very open to outside influence on technical aspects. And
+while we concentrate on our priorities, we will integrate any worthwhile
+functionnality.
+
+On the game content side though, we are keeping things to ourselves for now.
+Expect to be really, really suprised though... :)
+
+&gt;<i>7) Was there knowledge of Worldforge when this project was started? And if
+</I>&gt;<i>so, why was it deemed necessary to start another, independant effort with
+</I>&gt;<i>the same goals?
+</I>
+Yes, we knew of WF (actually, since the time it was called Altima !).
+We took some time to consider joining the effort, however we felt there was
+a number of reasons for not doing so. I'll give you some of them :
+
+- We wanted to keep a tight focus on the game we are doing and did not want
+to be hindered in political struggles to get the code where we needed. We
+felt the WF community might ressent us steering in directions that they
+would not care for. We have a tight schedule : we want the game out in 2002.
+Which means we could'nt spare to much time arguing about it.
+
+- We have different goals : we are a commercial entity. We don't have the
+educational/hobbyist approach of WF. Nevrax has a complete team of seasoned
+professionals not only at the programming level, but also on the design /
+3D artwork / concept side working every day towards one goal : getting the
+game out.
+
+- We have a highly original world which poses a great number of
+constraints. We felt we would be in a better position to adress them by
+leading our own effort.
+
+That said, I must emphasize that we do not see ourselves as &quot;competing&quot;
+with WF. We are simply two different projects, taking two different
+approach at building a Free Software system for MMORPGs. Diversity is A
+Good Thing.
+I wish WF will succeed and I hope there will be as much cooperation between
+the two projects as possible.
+
+&gt;<i>9) How the heck do you guys manage to pay a full development team off of
+</I>&gt;<i>free software? :-)
+</I>
+Ah ha ! :)
+
+Free Software doesn't mean free content or free service.
+While our software is Free, we retain property of our game data. And to
+access our servers in order to play our game, users will be asked to pay a
+monthly fee just like with the other commercial games.
+
+Bottom line is : Free Software and commercial MMORPGs are a perfect match.
+And we believe we have everything to gain and nothing to loose by opening
+our source code.
+
+I hope this clarifies things a little even though I'm sure it will raise
+even more questions !
+
+Thanks for your encouragments,
+
+Olivier
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
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