A Brave New Salem

Announcements of major changes to Salem.

A Brave New Salem

Postby JohnCarver » Fri Jun 06, 2014 3:46 am

Salemites,
Hello and Welcome! My name is John Carver, Project Lead for Mortal Moments Inc. and newly assigned to Salem.

Who We Are:
Mortal Moments Inc. is a newly formed indie development company with huge ambitions to be involved in a unique niche of computer gaming that we feel isn't currently offered in the marketplace. We come from a background of decades of gaming including but not limited to a careful and keen eye on the development, implementation, and world that is Salem. If you are reading this and have endured the rocky development cycle that has been Salem, odds are it is because you felt something that we too recognized. That something, we boldly define with words such as potential and promise that can only be delivered from a title as unique and mold-breaking as the endeavors and vision from SeaTribe.

A Brief History:
Salem was originally developed by SeaTribe, and Published by Paradox Interactive. Paradox supplied its extremely valuable experience and funding while SeaTribe contributed their creativity and vision to shape Salem from a fledgling PDF document of wild ideas into the a fully functioning MMO with over 25,000 Registered Accounts. Unfortunately, and for reasons that need not be discussed in detail, Salem fell short of the expectations from Paradox. As merely a Publisher, they were limited in their opportunities to guarantee the financial success of the title. As many of you know, Paradox is a big player in the industry with a great reputation and serious background of high profile and successful titles. As such, on June 5th 2013, they announced that they could not longer continue an active role in the publishing process and took a much smaller and limited association with the title. SeaTribe, a team of two developers, then proceeded to continue with the full burden of developing and essentially "finishing" the Salem project. You would be kidding yourselves if you thought that such a task was not daunting for a fully staffed and heavily funded company. In the case of SeaTribe, they invested significant amounts of time and energy giving Salem not only several additional patches but also a complete reboot with major overhauls to its core fundamental systems.

Despite all this. Salem remains today in a stage of "Beta". Unfinished, and therefore, unrealized of its true potential. Some could argue that it has had its day. Some could say that the people have spoken and that the game itself is over, finished, destroyed. But is it? Salem offers the promise of Witches and paranoia but currently delivers neither. Salem tantalizes us with the prospects of creatures in the darkness and all that is the unknown in Colonial America, yet we have only argopelters. Salem entices us with the wealth of possibilities afforded by Animal Husbandry, Alchemy, Wagons & Ships; none of which are in the game yet. We feel the fundamentals of the Salem dream are still here, never realized because they were never finished. One cannot truly evaluate the merits of an unfinished game anymore than a critic can rate the plot of an unfinished movie or play. Recently, Mortal Moments Inc. successfully negotiated the remaining interest in Salem from Paradox, as well as creative control and development responsibilities with SeaTribe. The result is that Mortal Moments Inc. will now be taking over full responsibility for the game with SeaTribe's full consent, approval, and continued guidance. As such, We are here to finish writing that story,finish building this dream, then and only then are we comfortable defining and analyzing the "Success" of Salem.

Our Commitment to you:
So what is different? The Salemites have reason to be skeptical and, as such, my primary focus in this first month will not be to dazzle you with grand promises but impress you with meaningful and positive changes. Mortal Moments Inc. is not here to cannibalize the community or piece out the code. We are not here because we wish to institute pay to win models or PvE servers. Quite the contrary. We have invested hundreds of hours in developer meetings identifying exactly what we feel works and doesn't work for Salem. The veterans here should be happy to know that our list of what works was astronomically larger than what doesn't. That being said, this has not been our baby for half a decade. While we respect everything that SeaTribe has done and all of their continued support in this title, we are not emotionally attached to any one system or mechanic. If something doesn't create an opportunity for a meaningful moment in a player's gaming experience, then we quite frankly are less than enthralled with said activity. In addition, those who found themselves nested comfortably in a status quo they must have known in their hearts was morally bankrupt will quickly find themselves in a brave new world. We LOVE that you can mod the client(which needs work we understand), but this DOES NOT mean we will tolerate botting/spamming/Bug Abuse or otherwise detrimental actions to the game itself. We LOVE forum drama, but will not tolerate RL threats, Racism, Overly Abusive Language, OR the ambiguity of regulation that has led to a segregated moderator and player base. We LOVE that you can kill anybody you want, and that death has meaning. But this does NOT mean you will continue to be capable of doing so without the constant fear of revenge, retribution, and death from those bold enough to leave scents. Above all, we respect and appreciate YOU. The players who understand Salem for not just what it is, but for what it can be. We will pride ourselves on making sure that your posts, thoughts, ideas, and feedback is not just heard, but weighed heavily by the design team and in every effort that we are capable of, responded to. To put it another way, we still love your tears, but don't hate nice things.
ceedat wrote:the overwhelming frustration of these forums and the unnecessarily over complicated game mechanics is what i enjoy about this game most.

Nsuidara wrote:it is a strange and difficult game in no positive way
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Re: A Brave New Salem

Postby Binks » Fri Jun 06, 2014 3:46 am

JohnCarver wrote:Salemites,
Hello and Welcome! My name is John Carver, Project Lead for Mortal Moments Inc. and newly assigned to Salem.

I wanna be the first person to welcome you to our community John. Hopefully you guys can bring us the change that we all hope and want to make it fun and exciting again.
Last edited by Binks on Fri Jun 06, 2014 3:50 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: A Brave New Salem

Postby JohnCarver » Fri Jun 06, 2014 3:49 am

Also I would like to extend this opportunity to answer any questions regarding our future plans. I will readily admit that some problem systems have been discussed at great length, while others we have identified as problems but have yet to decipher elegant solutions we are happy with. Either way, I'll do my best to answer in the event I have one.
ceedat wrote:the overwhelming frustration of these forums and the unnecessarily over complicated game mechanics is what i enjoy about this game most.

Nsuidara wrote:it is a strange and difficult game in no positive way
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Re: A Brave New Salem

Postby Tylan » Fri Jun 06, 2014 3:58 am

As I welcomed your predecessors into my heart so now shall I welcome you. May the winds of hope and purpose that brought you here fuel this game into seeing its true potential.
jorb wrote:you fat-fingered, trigger happy nabbly-boos.

We write as a defense against the void, against the unknown that is the other side of death.
-C. Leland
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Re: A Brave New Salem

Postby Propulsion » Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:11 am

Great news, I cant wait to hear some of your ideas
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Re: A Brave New Salem

Postby Judaism » Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:11 am

You have made me cry, in a positive way.
JohnCarver wrote:Mortal Moments Inc. is not here to cannibalize the community or piece out the code. We are not here because we wish to institute pay to win models or PvE servers. Quite the contrary.
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Re: A Brave New Salem

Postby JohnCarver » Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:11 am

Judaism wrote:You have made me cry, in a positive way.


Tears are Tears and we shall take them any way we can get them.
ceedat wrote:the overwhelming frustration of these forums and the unnecessarily over complicated game mechanics is what i enjoy about this game most.

Nsuidara wrote:it is a strange and difficult game in no positive way
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Re: A Brave New Salem

Postby Tamasin » Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:13 am

This makes me extremely happy! I'm so excited! This is the best thing ever!
Welcome, glorious JohnCarver :D

Judaism wrote:You have made me cry, in a positive way.


Me too <3
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Re: A Brave New Salem

Postby Binks » Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:13 am

JohnCarver wrote:Tears are Tears and we shall take them any way we can get them.

I like you already.
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Re: A Brave New Salem

Postby er-queent8r » Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:16 am

Is our game really going to be saved? This just what we all need. Thank you John!
pietin1 wrote:this was for JC only not his ass lickers.

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