- Joined
- Aug 14, 2009
- Messages
- 10
I have a difficult time with this particular issue and am clearly biased as a member of the original INS dev/testing team and INS is technically / officially the "father" of OP:X and why it exists today, but still...
I think it is time that INS return to the OP:X division!!!
Insurgency 2 - It's BACK!!!
Vote for or reply is you would like to see the return of Insurgency to OP:X
My back story for INS
I have been part of INS since back in when it was true ALPHA and started back with Endless and Rellik Remag after it was begun by Andrew Spearin. We had a community of developers and testers that was spread across the planet from the US to Belgium, France, Germany. The team were basically enthusiasts of FPS genre games and did it for the love of being involved in something we were doing ourselves but there was no “pay” for doing the work. This was not associated with any official "studio" but pure community driven development. Where some major milestones began to be seen was when Jeremy Blum (founder of the Red Orchestra mod) joined with other RO-OST45 devs. ( basically many of the NWI group are original Devs of Insurgency)
I introduced my web programming students to the game so I could get their feedback as players and took their input back to the team for direct implementation into the games design. It was my unique access to players in our target demographic that attracted the team to me as a member. In fact, it was INS that led me to eventually join =(eGO)= in the first place as a way to drive the games presence/availability through increased exposure within a well-established group. One of my students took over after GardenGrove and DrukenSailor as Div Leader for the INS division and took the reins and helped shape the growth of INS. Without INS there would be NO OP:X division!
One of the most difficult things was being an admin on the INS servers and not being able to discuss anything due to the NDA we had as dev team members. It was however of huge benefit for me to be able to work with the dev team as a member and be an admin with =(eGO)= as it allowed me to gain direct access to the community and get completely unfiltered access to the real world interaction of players within INS, Including a willingness for them to share exploits/suggestions/ideas within the game that I could take back to the team s. There were a few =(eGO)= on the council that I informed that I was an INS dev team member and asked for their discretion in keeping that out of the public channels to allow anonymity and an unbiased view, but I felt it was important that they knew I was a developer/tester for INS and would be operating within =(eGO)= if I was going to hold admin rights with the organization within the community. (Thanks to =(eGO)=Jedihitman, =(eGO)=USCGHammer, =(eGO)=HLMaster for your discretion and support of INS!!!)
As to the $14.99 charge for the program instead of the Free MOD, I think that's perfectly reasonable as you are getting a FULL version. Not a Demo, not a limited time trial. So go out there and support them as they have been out there for years (most of it for free). Now in my opinion, any more than that is a bit selfish as it disregards all the all the work they got from those of us that worked on INS for free for years.....So keep it WELL below $20 in my opinion
Now I have to say before someone decides to tear me a new one, that is not to discredit the people that have been there and stuck things out. I phased out from the dev team back around mid-2010 when things were crushing under the pressure of the big two (MW/ BF) and things went dark within INS (so there is no financial incentive for me in returning INS to OP:X, I just think it's time that we see the return of the founding father ....
). People like Argyll and the NWI devs (Spearin (Founder)Blum, Hickenbottom, Stock, Schmidt, Hamilton) from the original INS team have been a huge factor in making INS stay alive from the community perspective and this is in NO WAY meant as any disparagement on their huge efforts or others that have been very influential so I don't want anyone thinking I'm saying there is not some serious credit where credit is due in any way. My concern is the studios need to be fair to those that have been long time supporters and treat them with respect and realize that they have been seriously patient in waiting for INS to go full release.
As a side note, It would also be nice for those on the early dev/testing teams able to at least get a shout out for the early work we did on helping design levels, improve gameplay, test, debug, and overall be a group of really dedicated supporters who were part of something that looks like it is finally going to get some traction (perhaps at least a listing in the credits for the testers??). We were there through those early days with you in the trenches too….. ;-) Kudos to the NWI guys for sticking this one out and I wish the team all the success in their new endeavor. Just don’t forgot those who fell on the battlefield and helped get you there!!
=(eG)=Vanwhittle - Offical INS Tester group
I think it is time that INS return to the OP:X division!!!
Insurgency 2 - It's BACK!!!
Vote for or reply is you would like to see the return of Insurgency to OP:X
My back story for INS
I have been part of INS since back in when it was true ALPHA and started back with Endless and Rellik Remag after it was begun by Andrew Spearin. We had a community of developers and testers that was spread across the planet from the US to Belgium, France, Germany. The team were basically enthusiasts of FPS genre games and did it for the love of being involved in something we were doing ourselves but there was no “pay” for doing the work. This was not associated with any official "studio" but pure community driven development. Where some major milestones began to be seen was when Jeremy Blum (founder of the Red Orchestra mod) joined with other RO-OST45 devs. ( basically many of the NWI group are original Devs of Insurgency)
I introduced my web programming students to the game so I could get their feedback as players and took their input back to the team for direct implementation into the games design. It was my unique access to players in our target demographic that attracted the team to me as a member. In fact, it was INS that led me to eventually join =(eGO)= in the first place as a way to drive the games presence/availability through increased exposure within a well-established group. One of my students took over after GardenGrove and DrukenSailor as Div Leader for the INS division and took the reins and helped shape the growth of INS. Without INS there would be NO OP:X division!
One of the most difficult things was being an admin on the INS servers and not being able to discuss anything due to the NDA we had as dev team members. It was however of huge benefit for me to be able to work with the dev team as a member and be an admin with =(eGO)= as it allowed me to gain direct access to the community and get completely unfiltered access to the real world interaction of players within INS, Including a willingness for them to share exploits/suggestions/ideas within the game that I could take back to the team s. There were a few =(eGO)= on the council that I informed that I was an INS dev team member and asked for their discretion in keeping that out of the public channels to allow anonymity and an unbiased view, but I felt it was important that they knew I was a developer/tester for INS and would be operating within =(eGO)= if I was going to hold admin rights with the organization within the community. (Thanks to =(eGO)=Jedihitman, =(eGO)=USCGHammer, =(eGO)=HLMaster for your discretion and support of INS!!!)
As to the $14.99 charge for the program instead of the Free MOD, I think that's perfectly reasonable as you are getting a FULL version. Not a Demo, not a limited time trial. So go out there and support them as they have been out there for years (most of it for free). Now in my opinion, any more than that is a bit selfish as it disregards all the all the work they got from those of us that worked on INS for free for years.....So keep it WELL below $20 in my opinion
Now I have to say before someone decides to tear me a new one, that is not to discredit the people that have been there and stuck things out. I phased out from the dev team back around mid-2010 when things were crushing under the pressure of the big two (MW/ BF) and things went dark within INS (so there is no financial incentive for me in returning INS to OP:X, I just think it's time that we see the return of the founding father ....
). People like Argyll and the NWI devs (Spearin (Founder)Blum, Hickenbottom, Stock, Schmidt, Hamilton) from the original INS team have been a huge factor in making INS stay alive from the community perspective and this is in NO WAY meant as any disparagement on their huge efforts or others that have been very influential so I don't want anyone thinking I'm saying there is not some serious credit where credit is due in any way. My concern is the studios need to be fair to those that have been long time supporters and treat them with respect and realize that they have been seriously patient in waiting for INS to go full release.As a side note, It would also be nice for those on the early dev/testing teams able to at least get a shout out for the early work we did on helping design levels, improve gameplay, test, debug, and overall be a group of really dedicated supporters who were part of something that looks like it is finally going to get some traction (perhaps at least a listing in the credits for the testers??). We were there through those early days with you in the trenches too….. ;-) Kudos to the NWI guys for sticking this one out and I wish the team all the success in their new endeavor. Just don’t forgot those who fell on the battlefield and helped get you there!!
=(eG)=Vanwhittle - Offical INS Tester group
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