Hi Guys,
I have been a long time fan of MSW but sadly never had the opportunity to post on this thread before, so I thought I would spend a little time with you all to answer some questions you may have.

I'm still a little jet lagged from my return from China so apologies if I'm a little slow :)

Cheers,
Mark

Hi there.

What'd you do in China? Does Jagex have any plans to expand into the Asian market?

Ice Breaker time!

Run-down your favorite...
Ice cream?
Colour?
Food?
Animal?
Mythical Beast?
Pasttime?
Place to be at midnight in London?

Welcome back at the stellar side!

Mark. Do you like Space Pie?

Welcome back to England.

1. What's happening with MechScape / Stellar Dawn?
2. Can you shed any light on why Jagex recently trademarked "Devious Games" and "Cunning & Devious Games"?
3. Want some space pie?

In case anyone is suspicious, this is actually Mark Gerhard from Jagex, here on MechScape World to answer your questions.

Welcome to MechScape World, Mark! I'm honored you're taking time from your busy schedule (As indicated by just returning from China), to talk to your company's fans. You may be a little scared due to our Not-So-Cold-War forum event going on (And my screaming face on the banner; yes, that's me.) Hopefully you enjoy your stay, though, and get to answer some good questions.

I'll ask one that I don't expect you to answer, but it's worth a shot:

1. When you say "soon", what do you define soon as? Months? A year? Six minutes? A time you can't publicly release right now?

How many Space Pie questions do you think we'll get through before we calm down a little?

(But, is space pie on MS?)

What will the pricing of MS be like? Will there be a free game?

More to the point, will MS be more expensive, and will the free game be very limited in comparison to RS?

WOW I finally get on at the right time to be on first page of questions =D WOO

Anyway, welcome to Mechscape World Mark Gerhard =). Does this mean Stellar Dawn is coming out soon? (You joining our lovely forums =D).

edit: Actually thought of a question: Why not release the game sooner rather than later and polish it up with updates (if any bugs are found)? Is there something besides the pride for perfection that is delaying this game release?

Last Question (I'm sure there will be plenty to answer, so I won't bother you with more :P):

Want some space pie?

Hey Pliigi,
We were looking at the opertunities for Jagex, talking to fellow games companies and also managed to take in a few sights :) - I must say I was really impressed with China, in fact actually blown away.

Will mechscape cost rougly the same as runescape?

How would you rate the pvp aspect of mechscape, if their is one?

As stated in an old article is it in fact true that mechscape wont be out until early next year?

Mod Mmg im not asking for a release date or anything but do you think that mechscape has a 80% chance of being released in 2010?

Hi PoultryChamp,
Thats easy;
Ice cream - chock chip mint
Colour - Blue
Food - BBQ
Animal - Dog
Mythical Beast - Phoenix
Pasttime - Time with Family and Friends, BBQ, Listening to Music oh and BBQ.
Place to be at midnight in London - ABSOLUT ICEBAR LONDON :)

Indeed

Too much sugar for me

Aha! So you are confirming that the name for mechscape is Stellar Dawn!
Took you long enough to spill the beans!

Hey Mark, big fan :D

So...
-Do you prefer waffles, pancakes or french toast?
-If there is a MechScape BETA, if you become a member (on RS or Funorb) when the BETA comes out, will you still get to play the BETA?

Oh yeh, we are having a big Communism vs Free World war. If you had to, which side would you pick?

Oh, another question I just thought of...

Jagex seem to have gone from "Java Gaming Experts" to "Just About the Gaming Experience". Can you tell us more about this re-brand?

P.S. Thanks for coming here to do this Q&A and celebrate our birthday.

So Mark G can i call you that anyway hows it doing in jagex and can we expect more info on mechscape from jagex and is it 100% going to be realesed in Q1 2010

My friend asks "Orly?"

Will there be any easter egg's relating to "Space Pie" in Stellar Dawn? =) Instead of party hat's ..Space Pie =)

Hi there, 1) Can you say if mechscape will be out within 2009 if not then don't say soon, because soon the world will end so if the game is released when the world ends then whats the point of it?

2) *Cough* Aren't you supposed to clarify something about Henrique?


3) Rs rants are a joke, i was actually thinking of lvling my account on rs so i could spam as well, i got some freaky ideas! In all seriousness, since f2p do not have access to alot of the updates, only members should be abled to post on rants forum and if you want f2p to spam, make a f2p rants forum.

4)What would you do if i came to your office with a ladder and knocked on your window? Would you let me in and let me play some games?

5) I want powar, give me powar,i want a banhammer item on my account, i ban all cheaters that start with the name mod, they be using hacks to gain levels and be gold, that not fair, BAN BAN BAN.

6) as i posted on the other thread, there is only 1 way to let everyone in here be sure ur mod mmg, let us play meschscape/Stellardawn!!!!

Will the redevelopment of Stellar Dawn be different because so many people know about it?

MechScape was going to be geared towards an older audience than RuneScape, will Stellar Dawn be too?

Approximately how many people are on the Stellar Dawn team?

Player Moderator status transferred to FunOrb, will it transfer over to Stellar Dawn as well?

You confirmed that you've got RuneScape running on several consoles, will you be releasing Stellar Dawn on consoles as well?

RuneScape can be played in four different languages, will Stellar Dawn be playable in other languages as well?

More questions!!

What will the currency of Stellar Dawn be? Will there even be a currency/trading in game? Multiple currencies (different planets..different currencies? different materials? light-weight notes of debt to holder by an inter-galactic government? hard-core gold?)

edit: (Just thought of a better question :D). With all of the smart phones coming out, do you guys have any plans on expanding game play to those phones? From what I understand..players will own machines that automate the process of resource gathering (and maybe more stuff).the speed/efficiency is all based on technology and research. Would it be possible to have an official remote game control application(or whatever a better name for this is) so that players could control in-game activities remotely(from their phones).

Also, what phone do you use? iPhone? Android phone (G1, HTC Hero, etc?).

when you say its a sci fi game, would you consider it to be more fantasy sci fi, or would you consider it to be more towards things we might see in the future.

We've seen there will be space flight and the ablility to drive vehicles on land. But will we be able to do this with the arrow keys/WASD?
And will we be able to walk/run with WASD?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now my last question, or at least the last thing I'd like to point out. Jagex have been taking part in a lot of RS player-stuff, such as the machinima contest. You probably haven't heard of RuneScape "fakes", but I go on another forum where theres a growing community of people who like making edited pictures out of a screenshot or a series of screenshots. Its been around for years, I think even in RS Classic times. Here is an example of one of mine: http://www.mechscapeworld.com/forums/index...ic=8603&hl=

And here is probably the best fake on the internet, made by WolfieMario of Sal's RuneScape Forums. They are on your list of recognised fansites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMXSZ3MRD0I...&feature=iv

But anyway, although we are a smallish community spread out on a number of forums like RuneHQ and Sal's RS Forums, I think it would create a lot more interest for faking if there was some kind of Faking Competition, or if there was a Faking Gallery, like the Player's Gallery. It could be like what you did for RS machinima in your contest.
Just like to put that in there :)

I hope you do not mind the question.
Was it a joke when you said you sacked Henrique?

Hi Mark, thanks for taking some time out of your day to do this.

If you were to participate in the current forum event would you be Communist, Capitalist or Neutral?

Does Jagex have any plans to divulge MechScape related information in the near future?

Hey Ren,
Good question, So what up with Mechscape?
I suppose I’m going to upset a few people because I can’t say too much about the game in development and I don’t want to steal the teams thunder with regards to their upcoming press release but I can talk a little about where we are today and how we got here.
Some 5 Years ago, Andrew and a few members of the then RuneScape team asked the question “if we could make RuneScape all over again, what would we do differently?” and a flurry of debate ensured – surprisingly whilst RuneScape was a runaway success there were a number of things they would do differently if they could do it all over again, also a ton of ideas came in on completely new types of game ideas that simply wouldn’t fit in the RuneScape universe.
So almost immediately they began working on a game design document for a new MMO called Mechscape. A team was formed and they began work on the game, the team rapidly grew into a dedicated Game Studio approaching the size of RuneScape.
Since then a lot of things have happened, our chiefly “secret” project started becoming uncovered layer by layer by a Communist called Ren  and other capitalists on MSW. As a result various people in the company made a few comments about the game over the last few years, with the community piecing together more and more of the game over time. On the 10th August this year all the various parts of the game we finally put together and Andrew, the Mechscape Team and I got to actually play the full game.
Sadly the game was not as complete as we wanted and we spent the first few months trying to “fix” the game where we could. About a month or so ago we took the decision to stop trying to “fix it” as we still wouldn’t have the game we wanted and the game certainly did not meet all the objectives and specifications established in the original game design document and therefore it would be better to go back to the founding principles and build the game we always wanted –Andrew is now overseeing the project and working very closely with the team to build Stellar Dawn, not all was lost as we naturally have developed the game engine substantially over the last few years and the new designs benefits massively from this as well as a ton of experience within the team as to what works and what doesn’t. So whilst the content and a lot of the game play will change from what was previously built almost everything else will go straight back into Stellar Dawn.
It goes without saying that we are all 100% behind the development teams and are confident that we will be able to publish a fantastic sci-fi MMO for your all, I also would like to add that I have never seen Andrew and the team so excited about this project since I joined the Studio.

- 2. Can you shed any light on why Jagex recently trademarked "Devious Games" and "Cunning & Devious Games"? - These are just some ideas we are playing with at the moment, nothing substantive planned yet.
- 3. Want some space pie?- I'm worried about what you may have put in the space pie Ren

What he now leaves?
Guess he didn't want to admit the name is stellar dawn.
I/we win.

YAY! WE WIN!


Yay yay yay yay yay! :D

hi mark

first question : if i want to play codename : mechscape
what the age u have to be to play it
or to understand the game ?

thanks

MMG hasn't left, I'm sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if he were a bit busy on his end. He's probably just taking care of Jagex business at the end of the day and posting here. He's still around, I see him floating at the bottom of this topic again.

He's still here, and he confirmed the name of the game several times in that last post :p

What music do you like? =P
If you release Mechscape in januari, release it the seventh please =D

Very active topic =)

Woot! Woot!

Thanks for tuning us in to the development of Stellar Dawn. I obviously endorse Jagex's approach to trying to go for the best game they can and hope that progress goes well.

Can you tell us anything about the communication strategy in regards to whether you'll be keeping us more in the loop along the way or if you'll try and keep it mostly secret for most of the development as with MechScape?

That'd be stellar dawn!
With codename its acceptable.

Hey MC,
Thanks for the warm welcome, the honest answer is we are not 100% sure at the moment as there is still a few more things to lock down before we can consider the schedule final/realistic. I can however say that the entire team is working tirelessly to make a great game for you as soon as humanly possible.

Why 'Plexus"?

Hi Xela,
I think it probably will be more expensive but we still have to run through the pricing structure so I’m not sure on the exact price, the game will indeed have a genuinely free game just like RuneScape and a members expansion for the most ardent fans.

Hi guys,

Just wanted to introduce myself as well (hi-jacking MMG's thread)! I'm Mod Markg, and I'm the Community Management Team Leader for Stellar Dawn. Hopefully I'll be able to stop by regularly and hang out with you all.

Happy 2nd Birthday by the way! That space pie sure was good...

What do you feel is the number one lesson learned from RuneScape that'll contribute to StellarDawns success?

EDIT: Ello Mark.

Welcome to the MechScape World community. Are you the same as Mod Flame?

The same Markg from FunOrb?

Hi,you forgot to delete the quote :p
So you admit the name is Stellar Dawn

Hi Plexus and Spaceone! So excited you're here. Hope you're back often!

Welcome.

My hair is on fire.

Hi, welcome to MechScape World.

Haha thanks Subzero,
I believe you only have one chance to get a game right and that’s before you launch it, you only need to look at games like Age of Conan which tried to launch first, fix later and they never recovered from that mistake.

Well I'm impressed there Ren. Yes, I was Mod Flame for a while, but now back to Mod Markg!