Super TOP SECRET Update - PART 2
In my effort to continue the flow of information without revealing too much, let's commence with PART 2 of the TOP SECRET UPDATE: Woot!
I'd like to address a couple (valid) concerns from the community. First, quantity of new Free Deliveries, because I think that is an important one... here goes:
A couple months ago (and I think I've mentioned this here before) we made the decision to stop taking on new client design work. Also, as previously mentioned, IconBuffet—though it makes some money for us—is not yet self sufficient. We still put more into this at this point that we make out of it. We love this place, and honestly it's what really pushed us over the edge to can client work and do what we really love.
Putting a stop to client work is extraordinarily difficult. Scary, in fact. That's how we pay the bills. When you make a decision to step out like we have it can be very eye opening. That said, we wanted there to be as clean of a break as possible when we made the jump. So while it'd be easy to assume the Buffet has been getting the distant step-child treatment while we're building this new game... that's not the case.
We've actually been neck deep in work trying to wrap up client projects. There are only so many hours in the day, and we didn't want our client work to drag on. Instead we put every effort into wrapping it all up over the last several weeks. With few exceptions this process is complete.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to crank out as many Free Deliveries as we had anticipated in September. We hope to resume the regularly scheduled programming as we move into October. Thanks—really, thanks—for your patience during the transition.
Okay, second issue: Server stuff... new hardware is in place, and we're still working on a few logic issues that should also continue to speed things up. We know where the hang ups still are, but it's a major, major fix to improve performance in this area. When IB 2.0 launched we had only 50 deliveries and a fraction of the community size. As both of those numbers multiplied certain queries have suffered. We're paying for that now. But we're getting close.
Now, fun stuff... the New Game: Without going into too many details, the new game is actually very much a natural extension of IconBuffet. It shares certain very similar aspects to this site, with a couple important distinctions. First, IconBuffet was original built to create a community around the products and services of our design company Firewheel.
After we launched IB 2.0 we realized how totally cool the community and game aspect of the site was. It has been a huge success... however IconBuffet has some very notable limitations:
1) The IconBuffet "game" can only grow as fast as we can create new free deliveries (a time consuming task)
2) There are limitations to the token / stamp logic (that you're all aware of) that can at times frustrate the balance of the force so-to-say. This logic is very difficult to change at this point.
3) IconBuffet appeals to a very wonderful group of people close to our heart: designers, developers, and web geeks in general. We love this, but what if we created something that would appeal to an even broader audience?
All that said, we've learned a ton watching this community grow over the last year. We've seen successes, found flaws and limitations, and met a lot of great people And this is what has encouraged us to take this new step.
Now, a couple of vague specifics:
I think most of you are going to absolutely love and adore this new game. There is a pirate. There may be a ninja. Perhaps even a cowboy. What's not to like there? Some of you, however, are probably not going to enjoy some of the decisions we've made in creating this new game, and will simply prefer to stick with the Buffet. I'll completely understand and you won't hurt my feelings.
Most of you I imagine will enjoy playing both sides. In fact, I'm certain there will be plenty of overlap between the two.
Also, we're not going to release any screenshots ahead of time. We're going to surprise a lot of people with what we've done — and honestly we'd simply prefer to keep the buzz down a little on this one. When there's something to report, I promise you'll continue to be the first to know.
Stay tuned next week. I'll look to post at least two new updates. Can't wait to hear what you think.
Posted by josh 
on Sep 28, 2007 in Swap Meet | 45 comments
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sloan on Sep 28, 2007
Darth Vader?
cskimming on Sep 28, 2007
I have noticed that the speed has picked up so that's a good thing.
Can't wait for the game...sounds intriguing.
Steax on Sep 28, 2007
Things seem to be catching up to speed as usual now - great!
Jahnoth
on Sep 28, 2007
I salivate in anticipation...
terremom on Sep 28, 2007
Josh, as a non-designer, developer, and web geek in general, I joined just for the comraderie, the useful info from the d's, d's and w g's in general(and the cute icons). But your current commitment to your community at the IB has convinced me to go VIP. How can I not support you when you, and the other chefs are doing so much to make this a great place. Bestwishes for great successes in all you seek. Terre
rossanyl on Sep 28, 2007
Pirate, Ninja and Cowboy?
what no penguin or monk? (or Geek Girl!)
Hope it'll be open enough so we can add some "categories" :)
gswd on Sep 28, 2007
G-O-F is intrigued.
elnitido52 on Sep 28, 2007
Arrr...
redpoint on Sep 28, 2007
OH MY GOSH, now definitely I'll spend less and less time working (and that is a problem for a freelancer)hahaha.
Can't wait to see the new game.
Buzzy001 on Sep 28, 2007
Congrats on your progress...looking forward to the Pirate ,especially...
danielsemper on Sep 28, 2007
Interesting news.
Is the game a FPS?
I kid.
louiemctool on Sep 28, 2007
if i can't be a ninja penguin, i ain't playin'...
:p
jackprince on Sep 29, 2007
I feel kinda ashamed right now, not being a VIP T_T ... I really have to change that as soon as possible.
GO on guys, I'm on the IB for about 2 or 3 years or so (in fact I don't know, but I know its a really long time) ... an I love the sets, the community and the IB in general.
tamashii on Sep 29, 2007
i am jealous of your teaser
Psy2k on Sep 29, 2007
Can't wait :)
ProDevStudio on Sep 29, 2007
Don't keep me waiting please!
FallenAngel on Sep 29, 2007
Nice to hear news of the 'buffet and cool stuff, but I do hope this super cool new thing's not gonna take up too much time - I do little enough work in between hanging about here as it is! :-p
austingirl on Sep 29, 2007
Great news! Keep up the good work, Josh (and all of the other chefs!).
VINZ on Sep 29, 2007
"Ninjas and Pirates agree: Cowboys sucks!"
Saurav on Sep 29, 2007
Arrrr....
MiCCAS on Sep 29, 2007
wow I can't wait!
elnitido52 on Sep 29, 2007
Cowboys arrr...
Great one VINZ...
JBVisions on Sep 29, 2007
Sounds cool, thanks for the update Josh.
josh
on Sep 29, 2007
Well so, we really thought long and hard about creating an FPS... but in the end decided that Bungie had figured that one out pretty well. I think we're probably a bit underqualified.
louiemctool on Sep 29, 2007
i wanna tactical RPG!!
:)
rajr19 on Sep 29, 2007
sound amazing.... simply amazing.
soprano on Sep 29, 2007
Well, this is certainly better than "something's coming ... yeah, something's coming ... just be patient guys, it's coming soon".
Perhaps you can give us VIPs a credit to whatever there is to buy on the new game. (You haven't given a VIP bonus for a few months.)
SmockLady on Sep 29, 2007
:)
anticipa-a-a-a-tion, it's makin' me wait. . .
soprano on Sep 29, 2007
Stay tuned next week. I'll look to post at least two new updates. Can't wait to hear what you think.
Does that mean … it'll come out next week?! That would be awesome.
elnitido52 on Sep 29, 2007
@soprano - Ye have started the song from the second part, read episode #1 first.
soprano on Sep 29, 2007
Actually, I did read the first one. (I posted on it, duh!) Not carefully enough, I guess.
webpanda
on Sep 29, 2007
a frickin' ninja...
amazing.
beneton on Sep 30, 2007
Awesome! A new game to play with.. ;D
daia on Sep 30, 2007
great news! now all i need is time to play :)
kartooner on Sep 30, 2007
Cool! Keep us posted and all that jazz.
alethiophile on Sep 30, 2007
yay! hopefully it isn't absolutely essential to pay money.
tommythewolfboy on Oct 01, 2007
Shame. No mention of wolves ;)
Spongefile on Oct 01, 2007
Yay news! Can wait longer now that I know something is really happening. :)
PrateekSaxena on Oct 01, 2007
Jedi Knights??
Tripp on Oct 02, 2007
Someone's probably already told you this offline, but... don't buy hardware, use Amazon's ECC (Elastic Compute Cloud) and S3 (Simple Storage Service) Despite the sound of it all, you don't actually have to be a hard-core geek to use it :-) and you can scale on demand, and dynamically-- i.e., scale up to handle temporary load, then back down when things stabilize.
JBVisions on Oct 02, 2007
We hope to resume the regularly scheduled programming as we move into October.
I'm turning blue holding my breath...... any chance of group 4 getting the set they missed out on last month? Kissy kissy.
Psy2k on Oct 02, 2007
Or perhaps a new diamond delivery with icons based on the new game :-)
emirem on Oct 02, 2007
more cowbell!
soprano on Oct 02, 2007
Despite the sound of it all, you don't actually have to be a hard-core geek to use it. :-)
First, I'm almost positive that they are hard-core geeks at Firewheel.
Second, I'm sure they've already considered EC2 – it got quite a bit of publicity in the web-development world, and also, they already using S3. Just download a set of icons and see for yourself.
thedudedean on Oct 04, 2007
Well I hope that IB gets better. Oh check your email guys! I sent in a support email and its being bounced back at me. Argghh!!