revamping utopia

[confusionlord]

So I've been thinking... I really love this game, but it has become way out of date and, since I'm in my second year of a 2-year college program majoring in software application programming maybe I could rewrite this game and restore it to it's former glory. But then I realize, that would consume lots of time, and my hard work would not return any value to me. So then I wonder, how would I get the rights to Utopia, so that I am credited with the work I would do to it, and reap the benefits of my labor. There is no doubt that this is a dying game, but there is so much potential to work with here.

[Fagashlil]

Hi confusionlord and welcome to the boards,

I'm confused (no pun intended) as to whether you are referring to UK or Utopia? Either ways there are plans for both in the near future, so no need to bury them just yet ;)

[confusionlord]

I'm not sure what could possibly cause any confusion here. I feel that I clearly stated that I would like to work on Utopia, and I don't think I referenced UK in my post in any way shape or form. I could make the same suggestions that I was making 5 years ago about changing Utopia to bring in new players and make the game more interesting. Does Mehaul still own this game?

[grangoat]

You may only have mentioned utopia. But this is the utopia kingdoms message board you are posting on. This is most likely the cause of the confusion.

[confusionlord]

That makes total sense now. Sorry for the misplaced thread.

[Palem]

Mehul sold the game.

[confusionlord]

Ok, so it looks like this thread made it to the right location now. It appears that the current developers don't have much time to expend on Utopia any more, due to the fact that it doesn't draw much if any money or new circulation of people. So I pose this question, can someone who actually wants to work on the game, and wants to develop it to see better days once again gain control of it? If so how?

[Palem]

You would likely have to purchase the game from them and considering they own Utopia Kingdoms, I doubt they'll even consider selling Utopia. If you want to inquire about helping the game I'd say email support and see what kind of response you get.

utopiasupport@utopia-game.com

[Yadda9To5]

Hi confusionlord and welcome to the boards,

I'm confused (no pun intended) as to whether you are referring to UK or Utopia? Either ways there are plans for both in the near future, so no need to bury them just yet ;)

Would you, or anyone, care to elaborate on that. Because right now the community is being told there isn't even time for proper changes between different ages; that keeping Utopia running is all us players can expect, as there is neither time nor resources to continue proper development of the game.

[Thunder TA]

sadly if you havent played in 5 years,then you would probably be in the same boat they were when they tried to recode it.doing more damage than good.and yes Mehul sold it years ago.

[confusionlord]

I'm not interested in just working on the game. I want to be able to run with the creativity that courses through my veins and evolve this game into what it has not become over the years. The idea of having to get approval from someone about implementing ideas that would be good for this game, and increase it's entertainment value while still challenging people in the same traditional strategy sense this game is based on would destroy my passion to work on it. The work itself to make this game what it needs to be is hard enough, add stress from developers and owners I don't know on a personal level and that's the straw that breaks the camels back. I have friends that I would love to work on this game with, and who make a good team. This game is like anything else, if you want it to be worth something you have to put work into it. Just ripping off it's concepts and making a new game that has a similar name won't go very far.

[Thunder TA]

there are already clones of the old game working very well .to many clones wont help and as they have UK as mentioned above they wont sell the name utopia .

[dgood1]

I assume you could be in a Master's Degree. However, based on my own experience as a freelance undergrad programmer myself, most of what they have already is functioning as good as it should be. Speed, arrangement, physics, strategy, community and structure, all are well made and have no need for "revamping."

If you are talking about content and concepts, then I could be wrong. Sure there can be faults in a person's point of view, but the system, as it is, is already good enough for new people to appreciate and old people to get used to. Opinion at least.

As far as lending a hand goes, a thing my teachers tell me is to prototype. Show them what you can do THEN do it. Prove them (and me) wrong, they'll buy your system. Otherwise, you now have the stepping stone experience of programming.

[Thunder TA]

sadly dgood1 there are still way to many bugs even with what they fixed last week. anything in Alpha or beta for over 2 years is not functioning as good as it should be.

[confusionlord]

There is less than 5k people playing UK, that is not even factoring out the multiple owned accounts. Neither of these servers are making any money, they are both just staying afloat through advertising. UK will never take off due to the fact it is like so many other browser games out there, just based off utopia concepts. Why wouldn't they part with it? That game might as well be nixed.

Thunder TA, you said it dude. Anything with the same bugs for 2 years is not functioning as good as it should be. I would go as far as to say, that is just neglecting to work on the program.

No I don't have a Master's in software engineering, still working on my associates in software application programming. I have a 4.0 right now, am employed in my field, and am half done with the classes I need for my degree. I plan to start my own game development company once I have my degree, and think this game would be a great step in the right direction.