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  #1  
Old 08-12-2015, 01:33 PM
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Nostalgia

Oh man.. I have so many memories playing every single one of these maps in the NovaWorld stat servers for DFLW way back in the day. I found these linked to from one of my archived pages and had some major Nostalgia.

Nostalgia overload:
http://novahq.net/maps.php?CategoryI...uery=NovaWorld
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Old 08-12-2015, 03:26 PM
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i still remember my first ever online game in DFLW, pretty sure the map was Tumble Weeds (at least going off that pic in the link). that was a long time ago
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Old 08-13-2015, 03:50 AM
Oca is offline Oca
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Wanna play DF

Hello, guys! I'm new here but not new to DF. I was playing it very intensively DF1 and DFLW, the latter game was actuall the 1st online multiplayer game I've ever played. I've decided recently to have some DF sessions now and then, however as I see the community is very poor nowadays. So the only thing I have now is playing with friends via virtual lan (you are actually welcome as well!).

Enough with the introduction. So, wanted to ask you guys where are you playing and which parts? Is novaworld alive (at least for DFLW)? Or do you know anything about private servers? Thanks in advance.
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Old 08-14-2015, 09:50 AM
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Your best bet is to search for groups on Facebook. There are a few groups that get together and play df1-lw.
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Old 08-17-2015, 03:21 PM
BlacKSmurF is offline BlacKSmurF
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Confused Question

Ok... struggling to figure out where the best place to write this would be!

I just noticed Novalogic patched F-22 Lightning 3 a few months ago (in May, I believe). I am dumbfounded. Why did they just update a sixteen year old game? Why F-22, of all games? What does it mean? Maybe it was just an easy patch and they realized that patching in support of new resolutions would dramatically help Steam sales.

I was reading a post by a former programmer that worked on early DF and Commanche games (allegedly... gotta take everything with a grain of salt). He was speculating the programmers for DFX2 aren't there and that's why we haven't seen a patch for it - but who did the patching for F-22? And again, why that game?

Last I heard, there was only one employee left at Novalogic - John Garcia, the CEO - but LinkedIn shows there may be a few more.

What exactly are they doing these days? What happened to Angel Falls? How are they paying the bills - Steam sales? How in the world is it profitable to keep servers running on their games? That cannot be cheap.

They were accepting peoples' contact info for the DF:AF alpha in 2011 - I can't understand how it got that far along in development and then crashed.

Oh.. and what happened to the apps they were making with GameLoft?
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Old 08-20-2015, 04:38 PM
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I wish I knew what to tell you Smurf. They also released another patch for F-22 on June 1st. I still think they have military contracts or something. There is no reason why they would be patching a really old game like that if it weren't used by someone important. It's not like they fixed the F-22 novaworld page.

LinkedIn shows there are 14 people working at NL. Only two with profile pictures and the rest, who knows how current they are? No one seems to know and they aren't releasing any info. If you follow linkedIn around a lot of people left NL around 2013, which is also when their apparent net assets went to zero.

The network that runs their novaworld servers is probably one decent sized computer hosting many virtual machines on a standard business internet connection. I do it with NovaHQ. One server now has dozens of virtual computers running at any given time, which can easily include game servers and web servers. All for a could grand for the server and $100/month for 100mb/50mb internet connection. It's not exactly expensive. I still can't imagine that they cover it with petty steam sales. Their lobbies are not very active at all.

2011 seems like the last time anyone has really hard anything from NovaLogic. I wonder if it will be the last. The F-22 update gives a little hope, but not for anything substantial like Angel Falls. The community is dying, less and less going on every day. Most of the community websites like this one barley see a few dozen posts a year.

We'll probably never know what happened with the gameloft project...

I find it really sad because there is (IMO) nothing out there like these games. I wish a company would just buy the project and start work again.
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  #7  
Old 08-20-2015, 05:46 PM
BlacKSmurF is offline BlacKSmurF
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You think they still have military contracts left to honor? For some reason, I thought their military contracts were more marketing than anything else - a few special missions for training in the late 90s on DF/Voxel tech and nothing more. I figured F-22 L3 (my first online game!) was too arcadey to be remotely useful for the military. I could never get over how smooth F-22 L3 was online... I had a 28.8 kbps connection and had lag free dogfights!

Has anyone tried giving their offices a call or reaching out to them on LinkedIn? I almost did the latter the other day.

I used to mod for BHD and JO and got in contact with loa (Terranova EXP developer) a couple of years ago to discuss making a new game in the spirit of Delta Force. I agree with you - there's nothing like the DF games out there. Unfortunately, I simply don't have the time necessary to make a game. I can create maps, textures, and was learning how to model, but mapping was my forte. I made some very popular BHD maps back in the day.

I am amazed at how far along game development has come in the last decade. If it becomes exponentially easier to model and animate, then maybe there'd be hope for me to make a game... Until then, I can't do programming, animating, net code, user interface, etc. and I don't have the time to coordinate a team to do so, either.

It's nice to have someone to talk reminisce about these games. I am so glad this site is still running. I think I made an account here back in 2003/2004, but I can't remember what email I used.

Edit: For maximum Novalogic nostalgia, here are some screenshots I have of JO and BHD reskins I made. Nothing too impressive - mostly just making the color palette for the DF troops in BHD more realistic and providing realistic camouflage to the JO soldiers. My computer wasn't very good, so the graphics only ran on medium. I eventually moved onto CS:S and reskinned cs_office - definitely my proudest reskin.
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  #8  
Old 08-20-2015, 06:03 PM
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Ha, I always like to reminisce about these games. They are honestly what brought me to the computer in the first place. I still think about my first online game in DF2 way back in the late 90's. I was a winter map, between two large hills. I was killed constantly buy better players but it was just amazing. I honestly had no idea I was playing other people from around the world when I clicked the "play on novaworld" button. I thought it was impossible, but I was simply hooked. From there I migrated quickly to DFLW. For some stupid reason this game is why I own a company now. I learned how to build a website for this game, and it spawned into a career of IT and building websites. That was so many years ago now. I don't "personally" know many of the old folks because I am an introvert at heart, but I know their names as I've followed this community since the late 90's.

As for your questions, I have no idea about the military contracts. Maybe it's like you say: myths. But for some reason there is a patch for F-22 in 2015. That's just odd. I'm also amazed about the game modding these days, apparently some of the old guys involved with the "reality mod" and NovaLogic in general are involved in a new project called "Squad" (http://joinsquad.com/). I have no proof or any sources but it's been linked on a few other websites. Seems like an interesting game but who knows, I still want DF:AF.
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Old 08-20-2015, 06:09 PM
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Those are some beautiful skins btw. Nice job. I hear CS:Go is quite popular these days...
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  #10  
Old 08-20-2015, 06:23 PM
BlacKSmurF is offline BlacKSmurF
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Tongue

Thanks for your compliments on the skins! That means a lot to me. I learned how to skin because of Novalogic games - couldn't afford to buy a new game when I was in middle school, but since I had the time, I was able to learn how to make a game! Almost went into game development, but it's apparently hell to be in that industry (sweatshop hours and constant turnover) so I passed on it. Haven't really messed with modding since 2008.

That's awesome to hear how the game affected your life so positively. I received some practical skills from playing them, too, but nowhere near your level. I can type over 100 words per minute now... I had to learn how to type quickly in dogfights in F-22 L3! I also learned how to manage people by managing a clan in BHD, a skill I use to this day at a start up.

It's funny, I remember my first online game experience, too... I thought the words on the screen ("ur connection sux") were transcribed poorly because of a bad connection from the user's mic! I was only 9 at the time, so I didn't know any better. It was almost a month before I realized I could press "T" to talk with everyone - it seemed to good to be true!

My second online experience was with DF2. Now that was truly addicting. I remember details about my first multiplayer game in it to this day, just like you.

Might reach out to someone on LinkedIn in the coming days - I figured since you had a Nova fansite you would've done that by now!
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  #11  
Old 08-20-2015, 09:52 PM
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Funny to hear about your early experience "ur connection sux". Mine were so very similar. Especially when I was the noob that started killing people that eventually turned into the "Panther is a cheater"... Those days will live on forever, I wish I remembered all of them better. I wish I was more into BHD at the time and when JO was released but I was so busy with school and what not, time was not very available to play like I did in DF2/LW. Now I have time to spare and no games to play because there are none like those. So I play on Xbox and mostly Single Player.. The COD and BF series just did nothing for me...

Let us know if you find out anything if you start trying to contact people via LinkedIn. As a NovaLogic resource site, I've tried but many are reluctant because of the reach this site has and also because many singed NDA's while working with NL. No one wants to chat. I just like any rumors or info.

Also, don't be a stranger. There aren't many posters now days but I for one like info and/or rumors
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  #12  
Old 08-22-2015, 03:19 PM
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Delta Force was the first game i ever played online on a 14k modem, still it was many times less laggy then some games/servers now with 100/100 fiber, feels like the net code didn't evolve as fast as games did!
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  #13  
Old 08-23-2015, 12:11 AM
BlacKSmurF is offline BlacKSmurF
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Will definitely let you know once I reach out to them! Any recommendations on who to reach out to in particular? Have you ever spoken with any of them? I was reading the reddit post of a disgruntled former employee the other day and am not super optimistic about hearing back...

Happy Saturday night, too bad we aren't logging on to play Mean Streets A with ten thousand other rabid BHD fans. (Did you guys play the demo when it was called City Limits?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hjwISxnfqY
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  #14  
Old 08-24-2015, 01:38 PM
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https://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-garcia/4/398/595

don't think we were ever very successful at getting much info from NL, we had a contact way back.


Quote:
Originally Posted by BlacKSmurF View Post
I used to mod for BHD and JO and got in contact with loa (Terranova EXP developer)
pretty sure loa was first person i ever actually spoke to from the internets think it was via roger wilco. hope he's doing good
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Old 08-24-2015, 01:47 PM
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There are also some people of interest on the side bar (see attached photo). Most of them have very limited profiles or have left NL.

We had contact with the "Chad McNeill" way back in like 2005. You can see the interview with him here: http://novahq.net/pages.php?CategoryID=Interviews&ID=76
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Old 08-25-2015, 02:52 AM
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I understand why most are disappointed with the f22 patch, but I see it as a sign that someone is doing something there. If that is not the case, then who knows, maybe some f22 fanatic hacked into the website and posted it.
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Old 08-25-2015, 09:11 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by black hawk View Post
I see it as a sign that someone is doing something there.
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Old 08-26-2015, 08:42 AM
BlacKSmurF is offline BlacKSmurF
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve View Post
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-garcia/4/398/595

don't think we were ever very successful at getting much info from NL, we had a contact way back.




pretty sure loa was first person i ever actually spoke to from the internets think it was via roger wilco. hope he's doing good
Yeah, they were always struggled at community managing, to put it nicely. I remember the moderator they used to have on Novaworld back around the time of JO's launch. The community manager was relatively friendly, but could barely say anything about the game or upcoming patches because of his NDA. It's a totally different ballgame managing communities these days. Look at the CTE in BF games as an example... they are not only transparent with what new features they're working on - they have the community testing them out.

Spoke with loa a year or two ago, he was modding away at Call of Duty games and making a lot of maps. He's a stand up guy. Sounded like he'd spoken with a few of the employees there, maybe we can get him over here and hear his experiences. He had some interesting stories when I spoke with him. Did you guys ever see the Urban Assault mod he made for JO? He still peeks at the Terranova EXP forums if you guys ever go over there.

Quote:
Originally Posted by black hawk View Post
I understand why most are disappointed with the f22 patch, but I see it as a sign that someone is doing something there. If that is not the case, then who knows, maybe some f22 fanatic hacked into the website and posted it.
It makes me hopeful - not so much for a new game right now, but that Novalogic won't go out of business. Maybe a few years from now... maybe... I think they'll just port their existing games to iOS. If they had proper marketing and community management, their games could be CoD killers due to their user friendly map editor. There are tons of ways to monetize that, especially if they'd embrace mods.

Scott - thanks for the tip. May not get a chance to properly reach out to them until next week...
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  #19  
Old 08-27-2015, 11:32 AM
BlacKSmurF is offline BlacKSmurF
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PS, did anyone see this?

http://novacommand.com/?p=1643#comments

Quote:
oldfox says:
July 12, 2015 at 7:59 am
Could this be why …

Just thought the community may be interested in our CEO’s response to one of our fans:

Dear Mr. xxxxxx,

We have never forgotten our fans. This is why we have been working very long hours for several years to bring you a totally new experience and a game that won’t disappoint.

We are very close to officially starting Beta testing the “Angel Falls” project (we will be looking for a fair number of testers). We are currently at Alpha, and our current focus is game-play.

I can tell you that this game plays better than any product we have ever created and we will keep on refining it until its release later this year. If you liked DF and Joint Ops, you will like Angel Falls. Managing communications with the fans is a tricky proposition, and I will not be responding again through this e-mail, but feel free to pass this on.

Thank you for your loyalty.

Sincerely,

John A. Garcia

CEO

NovaLogic,Inc.
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  #20  
Old 08-27-2015, 11:34 AM
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Yes, that is very old... That was posted way back in 2011 even though that was posted on the 12th of July on that website.
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