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My Letter To Activision (Being Nice...)

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  • My Letter To Activision (Being Nice...)

    quote:


    Dear Sir or Madam,
    The online Civ community received with disappointment the news that Activision planned to release no further patches for CTP2, as the general feeling was that the game had the potential to become the best TBS game ever. Three months later, and the CTP2 community has dwindled to just a few hundred people who are still playing or modding.
    I will not comment on how *good* or not the game is, suffice to say I am still here, but it has been shown that CTP2 does not have the long-term playability of Civ2 (for example). Largely this is due to the lack of Play-By-EMail, hotseat, and a stable Multiplayer system, but the reason the Civ2 comunity is so large, is because of the huge range of mods and scenarios.
    I am convinced that CTP2 is as, and indeed more moddable than Civ2, and many people, especially at the Apolyton Civilization Site have worked extremely hard to get the best out of CTP2.
    I am sure you are aware that many people still feel extremely angry about the bugs in CTP2, but I'm not writing to remind you of this. I am writing because I think that the Activision CTP2 team can at least give the CTP2 community the tools to make CTP2 the best it can be. The spritetool was gratefully received, and I think I have nearly 100 fan-created units on my computer, for use in various CTP1 and 2 scenarios. Now that Activision has stopped work on the CTP series, the community would be incredibly grateful if you could allow us to use the program which was used to edit and/or compress the *.til files for terrain and tile improvements.
    This one program, emailed to me, or to Markos Giannopoulos at markg@apolyton.net would open up many more opportunities to add to the game, and adapt the game engine to unlimited numbers of scenarios.
    On behalf of the entire CTP2 community at Apolyton Civilization Site (http://apolyton.net),
    Yours faithfully,
    Ben Weaver.
    email:weaver1@tinyworld.co.uk




    This is a letter that I will send to Activision, and I would like it to make an impresion. I am posting it here so that everyone can add their opinions and comments to it.
    I would really like to have the *.til editor, and so I do not think that insulting, flaming or hurling abuse at Activision will help this in any way. There are other threads for more angry comments, please keep this thread restricted to:
    • additions to the letter
    • ommissions from the letter
    • other changes to the letter
    • comments on changes to the letter


    And also: should I post, or email this, and if by post, typed or handwritten?

    I shall send this when everyone who wants to has offered an opinion and the thread has effectivly died.

    Should we attatch a petition, and if so, how? Has everyone got access to a scanner, where they can scan in their name, in their own handwriting?

    Anyway, let me know what letter I should send, and I'll update this post with valid suggestions.

    Ben
    [This message has been edited by Immortal Wombat (edited May 21, 2001).]
    [This message has been edited by Immortal Wombat (edited May 21, 2001).]
    [This message has been edited by Immortal Wombat (edited May 21, 2001).]
    Last edited by Immortal Wombat; May 29, 2001, 12:21.
    Concrete, Abstract, or Squoingy?
    "I don't believe in giving scripting languages because the only additional power they give users is the power to create bugs." - Mike Breitkreutz, Firaxis

  • #2
    I guess this is worth a shot, odds of success are probably small (it would be a management decision and Activision management is paranoid as hell, the A-team can assure you that) but it sure beats doing nothing. A few comments.

    On the letter itself: please mind the spelling of the word Civilization and the typos of playability (l. 7), hard (l. 11) and 'opportunities to' (r. 22). Use Markos' full name and email address, it may be known to Mr Ogre & Co but they don't work for Activision anymore. I frankly don't know if anyone who even knows Apolyton still works there. Maybe change 'a few dozen people' to 'a few hundred people', there are many lurkers: a lot of files in the download database still have about 1000 or more downloads. Other than that, it looks fine to me.

    I don't think a petition will be necessary, you already said it yourself: 'the CTP2 community has dwingled to just a few dozen people', a petition usually serves to show that a lot of people support something and there simply aren't a lot of people around anymore. Activision isn't gonna do this because raging hords of fans are demanding it, they'll have to do it for half a dozen modmakers and maybe a few hundred players.

    Just a thought, but maybe it would be better if someone from the A-team or Markos himself would send this letter instead of you? They already know us (esp. Harlan, he might be the best candidate), so that *might* be an advantage. I don't know if Parker Davis still works there but he was kind of our contact person, so that would be a good person to send the letter to in that case. As I said, just a thought, but worth considering at least.
    Administrator of WePlayCiv -- Civ5 Info Centre | Forum | Gallery

    Comment


    • #3
      I'd like to request that the raw .tif files for the sprites be released. Much like they did with the cow sprite. If not for CTP2 then at least for CTP1. I was thinking of writing them about this myself but I am notoriously lazy.

      I am told that snail mail carries far more weight than email but if you do have a specific contact person in the company then I'd think email would be just as effective.

      Maybe we can get Harlan to hand carry the letter to Activision? With an armed escort??

      Comment


      • #4
        quote:


        On the letter itself: please mind the spelling of the word Civilization


        Damn Americanization, I like Civilisation
        quote:

        Use Markos' full name


        Someone spell it for me ?

        quote:


        Just a thought, but maybe it would be better if someone from the A-team or Markos himself would send this letter instead of you?


        Good idea, but um... whats the A-team ? Apolyton team ?
        I'll mail it to Harlan then.
        Concrete, Abstract, or Squoingy?
        "I don't believe in giving scripting languages because the only additional power they give users is the power to create bugs." - Mike Breitkreutz, Firaxis

        Comment


        • #5
          Nice. We all should sign it.
          Markos' full name is Markos Giannopoulos. Easy, I type it so often.

          ------------------
          Solver the "Running Beer" - http://www.aok.20m.com
          Solver, WePlayCiv Co-Administrator
          Contact: solver-at-weplayciv-dot-com
          I can kill you whenever I please... but not today. - The Cigarette Smoking Man

          Comment


          • #6
            I would like also to request the *.til file editor. And a *.rim file to *.tga converter that could save a lot of screen capuring work.

            I am most interesting in opening the source code a hack patch could increase Activision's sales of CTP2. I know that is very much, but I think that would the only way to turn this game into the best civ game ever. Of course we don't need ask this at once, but this would be the last hope for the game and of course Activion.

            I think there are more people than here in the forums presented playing or modding this game. One of my last image pack got 88 downloads in the last month, OK it could be more but that show that there are enough people who try to modify the game. And you can guess that there are actually more people than that who are playing this game. Therefore if Activion do release one of my requests it could help more than thousand people and of course Activion itself.

            -Martin
            Civ2 military advisor: "No complaints, Sir!"

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
              Good idea, but um... whats the A-team ? Apolyton team ?
              I'll mail it to Harlan then.
              What? you heretic! Don't you read the credits?! It's a group of Apolytoners (I don't think the debate on whether the A stood for Apolyton or Alpha was ever settled) that was invited by Activision's programmers to help out to prevent that CtP2 would be the disaster CtP1 was and so we could start working on mods even before the game was released. As I said, an idea of the programmers: management didn't really like it so things didn't exactly work out as planned, but we still gave them some useful tips, Harlan got to make the Alexander scenario and we could all start working on mods very early.

              Solver: Sure, but can you pronounce it correctly too?
              Administrator of WePlayCiv -- Civ5 Info Centre | Forum | Gallery

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Locutus

                What? you heretic! Don't you read the credits?!
                I read the credits in the manual, which upon futher inspection, appear to be incomplete...

                It's a group of Apolytoners (I don't think the debate on whether the A stood for Apolyton or Alpha was ever settled) that was invited by Activision's programmers to help out to prevent that CtP2 would be the disaster CtP1 was
                ha ha ha That one worked then...
                Damn management.

                So thanks to the utterly unsung work of: Skorpion69, Morgoth, Nordicus, Celestial Dawn, Locutus, Mrs. Morgoth, Paul, WesW, Thomas Pelz (TP?), and Mark Cummings (who?)

                Activision sure hid that away
                Attached Files
                Concrete, Abstract, or Squoingy?
                "I don't believe in giving scripting languages because the only additional power they give users is the power to create bugs." - Mike Breitkreutz, Firaxis

                Comment


                • #9
                  Yep, the deadline for the manual apparently closed before the decision to include us in the credits was made.

                  ha ha ha That one worked then...
                  Yep, everytime I read another one of those posts of people bashing CtP2 or Activision this is exactly what comes to my mind too But if you look past the AI and multiplayer disasters it's not even all that bad a game... (but let's not go off topic here)

                  Very good IW, you got them all except one! You didn't win the Ferrari but instead you get the no-expenses paid trip to the Bahamas Anyone who recognized Mark Cummings is a real vet, he's dutcheese.
                  Administrator of WePlayCiv -- Civ5 Info Centre | Forum | Gallery

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    dp
                    Concrete, Abstract, or Squoingy?
                    "I don't believe in giving scripting languages because the only additional power they give users is the power to create bugs." - Mike Breitkreutz, Firaxis

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Ah of course, I was sure I knew the name. I have his cool CTP scenario pack.
                      Yeah, but to stay On-topic, maybe the remaining A-team could sign the bottom ?

                      When's my no-expenses paid trip then ?
                      Concrete, Abstract, or Squoingy?
                      "I don't believe in giving scripting languages because the only additional power they give users is the power to create bugs." - Mike Breitkreutz, Firaxis

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Well, I for one wouldn't mind doing that but I can't speak for the other guys of course. Seems like they haven't read this thread yet, I kind of expected more replies...

                        You can leave tonight if you want
                        Administrator of WePlayCiv -- Civ5 Info Centre | Forum | Gallery

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          couple suggestions.

                          1) type it out, and mail it. It's more formal that way.

                          2) u might want to spell out PBEM, MP, and all that -- you might never know who will be reading it



                          hmm, let's see if I can think of anything else ...

                          oh, ask them why the emeperor dude in the end movie looks so gay
                          (j/k)

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Does anyone know if these file formats are Activisions. Some companies create their own and don't like giving them to the public. I think simcity uses a specific file format. I would love to be able to edit the terrain that's what I liked most about modding civ2 Yeah the restrictions was one of the reasons I quit the Mod editor post.
                            Destruction is a lot easier than construction. The guy who operates a wrecking ball has a easier time than the architect who has to rebuild the house from the pieces.--- Immortal Wombat.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I think the file is an Activision type. There are other types of *.til files, but they are different from Activision's. However, I think they are just CTP file formats, and so Activision shouldn't mind letting us edit them, now CTP is dead.

                              What exactly was the role of a mod editor Darkknight? We don't have enough mods for CTP2 to need much editing
                              Concrete, Abstract, or Squoingy?
                              "I don't believe in giving scripting languages because the only additional power they give users is the power to create bugs." - Mike Breitkreutz, Firaxis

                              Comment

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