Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

No more resident bear wizard? Hmm.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Looks like MA update 83 clarifies some of the survey issues and bumps the deadline to the 2nd of march. Supposedly some stuff is clearer and the graphics are accurate to the point of including extra stuff for the sake of simplicity. Also says the Google drive thing can only send 500 emails a day but they are going out now.

I'll have to do s new survey to check it out but since the date is now march, I'll wait to resub until the backlog has thinned.

Guess it's time for Mantic to hire a dedicated forum monkey?

I think when I get home today I'm going to take the plunge and figure out what I want with those surveys.

In the end I don't actually see myself ordering a whole lot more. I'm still a bit undecided on the Asterians, and Barzam already said he's going in pretty big on them. I already got all the FF stuff the first time around, and since I can't order individual figures really, I don't have a need for extra boosters.

On the other hand, that money I save will just be more for me to spend on the inevitable hard plastic stuff in the future.

I totally should apply. I could probably do that job and my current one. Two salaries is a good time.

Aww, Nottingham only...

http://www.manticgames.com/careers/community-manager.html

You'll need to be living in Nottingham (or within commute distance) to apply.

I imagine they'll get plenty of applicants, pathfinders would be especially well-qualified since they've basically been doing the job for free already.

 AlexHolker wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:
Veer-myn are awesome.

The Vermin are bad in every conceivable way. They're an ugly implementation of an insipid concept presented as being implausibly significant by their idiotic flavour text. The setting is literally worse for their very existence, because it draws more attention to Mantic's childish portrayal of the Corporation as equal parts baby-eating evil and paint-licking stupid.

Ah, I haven't paid any real attention to the background. So, perhaps the background sucks. I feel the same way about most fantasy in space stuff, like Orks in 40k. But regardless, the models are suh-weet! They're so itty bitty but just covered in tons of detail. Plus I've gotten mine on mega discounts like Miniature Market's Black Friday sale. I'm really looking forward to painting them, just waiting for clear acrylic bases to arrive (the BattleSystems KS shots of Veer-Myn and Corporation made me not only buy Battlesystems but the Corp and Veer-Myn models, which I'm glad I did!)

Also, so he's going to GW, is that what I heard?

I've got to say, going to become a Rules Designer for GW would not have been my choice of a careers change. Especially if I had worked previously as someone in social media / communication-ey stuff.

Being forced by on-high to put out shoddy rules in a tight timeframe, knowing that your bosses genuinely don't care about the quality of the product you're producing, as long as it helps sell a new shiney...

Then having to live the bile and hatred online as a result of these rules - from the community you used to work with... And knowing, deep down, they actually have a point but your hands were completely tied...

That seems like hell to me.

Is there any way to re-open a survey for Mars Attacks once it is submitted? If so, how do I do that / who should I contact about it...?

My friend decided he wanted to add something on to mine, but I already submitted it.

Cheers

 Compel wrote:
Being forced by on-high to put out shoddy rules in a tight timeframe, knowing that your bosses genuinely don't care about the quality of the product you're producing, as long as it helps sell a new shiney...

I know that these are 'known' truths, but we really don't know the conditions under which the rules designers work.

Then having to live the bile and hatred online as a result of these rules - from the community you used to work with... And knowing, deep down, they actually have a point but your hands were completely tied...

That seems like hell to me.

And this part is at least partly true.

I'm not sure that we have ever gotten any proof that the designers are locked in a tower and forced to produce bad rules. For all we know, they love everything they put out and management has nothing to do with it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 RiTides wrote:
Is there any way to re-open a survey for Mars Attacks once it is submitted? If so, how do I do that / who should I contact about it...?

My friend decided he wanted to add something on to mine, but I already submitted it.

Cheers

I believe you just re-submit it.

I figured I'd give rules designers the benefit of the doubt in this one...

Ahhh, you guys

@RiTides, you've got to resubmit, it will override the last survey entirely.

@lagoon83, if you are as good at putting out quality rules as you are at putting out internet fires (and this apparent bear wizardry we keep hearing about), then you should be set. And failing that, you can always put your head down, grit your teeth, do what the bosses say, and avoid weekends and overtime like the plague Changing jerbs is usually stressful, good luck

Where did you all hear the rules part was at GW? I did not see that in my email

And James.. good luck wherever it is!

Scarletsquig.. want to make the plunge? You gotz forum presence already..

-P

Yeah, it seemed like it was implied the rules gig was at Mantic.

Good luck with it James.

 porkuslime wrote:
Where did you all hear the rules part was at GW? I did not see that in my email

Facebook.


Mantic Games: Alas! The bear wizard is leaving us in a few short weeks - Mr James M Hewitt is vacating the building to write rules for a Lenton-based gaming company. This means we are looking for a community manager - and we want you to apply!

Steffen From Wifstrand: For those of you in the know: What gaming companies are based in Lenton?
David Kenny: GW

Good luck James! Leave loads of otters on your PC to await your unsuspecting replacement.

 porkuslime wrote:
Where did you all hear the rules part was at GW? I did not see that in my email

And James.. good luck wherever it is!

Scarletsquig.. want to make the plunge? You gotz forum presence already..

-P

I don't live in Nottingham. In any case, a pathfinder would be better suited to the job since they've basically been doing it for free in their spare time anyway.

I'd like to make some computer games based on Mantic IP at some point (it would be ridiculously easy to make one based around any game that uses the deadzone engine, the square grid makes things a breeze.. and mantic are even making their own AI with the zombie deck so that would be sorted too), the last approach I made with a little prototype back when Ronnie asked for interested game developers to get in touch during the DB KS didn't receive a response though, so I haven't really thought about it much since. As soon as Ronnie's update went out I scampered off, made this in under an hour (basic hex board coded with basic hover interaction to identify which hex is under the mouse and which hexes are adjacent), and fired off the email.

If they express any interest in apps or games in future I'll be just as quick on the ball. I'm hoping that Mantic Digital might expand in future to offer more of this sort of thing. I think making an interactive tutorial so you can go and fire up the app and learn the game in a step-by-step manner rather than wall of text in a rulebook would be great.

Actually, thinking about it, it might not have got a response because the email had a link to the prototype in it and their email system spam-blocks anything with a link in it. >_<

Has there ever been any kind of concept art released for the Brokkrs other than black outlines?

^ Here's the concepts and the final sculpts:







Edit: Photoshopped it a bit to bring out the detail.

Still a bit hard to tell, but I think they look pretty awesome.

Those look pretty awesome.

It's really cool that they're prevewing new Deadzone stuff. You know what'd also be really cool? Sending backers the stuff they actually ordered.

Thanks for the info! I think the Brokkrs look pretty good, and I never saw the optional head art for the cannon. From the art on the KS page, I actually thought that Brokkrs had twin-pistols like the metal Forgefather leader.

Although I'm not sure if I like the biker or not. The actual model has a pretty strange front windscreen and fender.

Well its not like they had production grind to a halt so they could all stand around holding hands while their artists generated the concepts and then all wait with bated breath while everything was sent to an back from the 3d printer (assuming that's what those brokkrs are anyway). They ran out of deadzone stuff. They ordered more. It would be a business destroying waste of time to sit around and wait for every little thing to get done before moving along. Should they have tried to fulfill prior kickstarters before moving on, probably more than they did. But once they're in the production phase, the artists and designers would be free to make said new stuff, without any effect whatsoever on production of more minis for fulfillment...

And if you're talking about mispicks... then yeah, I agree, they really really should have taken an extra week or something to add a bit more care sending out kickstarter packages.

Yeah, we still have to wait for the new shipments to come in for them to replace those mispacks / missing items. It sucks, but it is what it is.

 GrimDork wrote:
Well its not like they had production grind to a halt so they could all stand around holding hands while their artists generated the concepts and then all wait with bated breath while everything was sent to an back from the 3d printer (assuming that's what those brokkrs are anyway). They ran out of deadzone stuff. They ordered more. It would be a business destroying waste of time to sit around and wait for every little thing to get done before moving along. Should they have tried to fulfill prior kickstarters before moving on, probably more than they did. But once they're in the production phase, the artists and designers would be free to make said new stuff, without any effect whatsoever on production of more minis for fulfillment...

And if you're talking about mispicks... then yeah, I agree, they really really should have taken an extra week or something to add a bit more care sending out kickstarter packages.

How can they run out of Deadzone Boxes for Kickstarter backers? They knew how many they'd need from the Kickstarter, no?

Mind, even if they did run out in ... when did they send the first ones out? November? ... they could've gotten some more by now even if they ran out!

Also, if they ran out of boxes for Kickstarter-backers, why are there boxes in the stores?

Different allocations. I explained this a while back.

Let's say in Nov they ordered:
10k boxes for KS backers
5k boxes for Retail

They needed 10,100 boxes for KS backers due to errors.
They can't just take them from the 5k for Retail without defaulting on their retail obligations.

And yes, I get that there are folks that say that they should have done just that.

So now we wait for the next containers to come from China and they ship out the second wave (which is probably pretty close right now since they got the second retail wave recently).

Well, wouldn't have killed them to order an additional 1% or even 2% extra boxes as a safety margin. Ya know.... in case things go wrong.

Could've put that back into retail later. Put them in the stash for the second survey, etc.., etc..

 Zweischneid wrote:
Well, wouldn't have killed them to order an additional 1% or even 2% extra boxes as a safety margin. Ya know.... in case things go wrong.

Could've put that back into retail later. Put them in the stash for the second survey, etc.., etc..

Completely agree. Although, we are working with guesswork here. For all we know, they ordered 11,000 for 10,000 backers and 1,200 were defective or something.

All we know right now is that they didn't have the spares until now.

I suspect they ordered more than they thought would be enough,

but they had a pledge manager that let everybody add on more and more stuff (which they did) that they didn't close until they'd shown at least some of the sculpts (by which time they'd had to finalise their orders

result running out of all the popular bits.

sadly I think they only way to prevent the shortages would be to lock the PM a lot sooner than they've been doing which would also result in unhappy customers (but also an unhappy manitic bank account)