Changes abound, Development, Staff, Future...

[Badorties]

Hey All, so I finally have some definition on the way forward for MajCom, both in the short and near term.

Re-Development Effort

First let me give you a short rundown from the beginning. MajorCommand was conceived in mid 2009. The site and engine was built by Evan whom I hired of Odesk. Evan built just about everything you see, but it never got to 100% completion, as there were many bugs and performance issues. These issues got worse and I spent almost a year trying to get others to take a look under the hood. I went back to Odesk and found Marcos who was hired to fix the current issues and then re-code the site in a new architecture. He plugged a lot of holes but before we got down to the re-code we decided to change hosts. It was a disaster as our fragile architecture broke all over the place. Marcos spent most of his weeks getting the ship righted again. Unfortunately Marcos is going to school to get is CS degree so he won't be able to start or complete the recode.

That is where we are now.

However, I am going back to Odesk to hire another programmer. This is something that Marcos will be overseering and managing as he knows the MC code better than anyone. He will also be writing the spec docs, which is something that wasn't done with Evan. I am fully confident we will find a great candidate and then begin the re-write process, which will be basically from the ground up. This will allow us to avoid the limitations causing the current bug and allow MajCom to play with the speed and experience that you would expect from a modern browser based game. Marcos will still be available to fix stuck games and we will find a better way to document and record these.

Additionally I will be doing a fund drive of sorts in order to reduce the cost of this effort. Details about that will come next week.

But those are not the only changes....

Staff and Organization

Information about the sites progress and such doesn't always flow very well around here. So I am effectively dissolving CenCom and creating The Commission, which we be the governing body of MajCom, only open to a much wider array of staff and volunteers. All decisions which were once discussed as part of CentCom will be discussed as part of The Commission.

Many of you have asked how you can help around here and I haven't been very prompt in my responses. Well I will be posting a call for many new staff positions here, all of which will be "Commissioned Officers". This will include Dispatchers, 1299 Investigators, Medics and other positions.

The Usual Suspects forum is now open. This will be where players can report cheating or multiple accounts. There will be an announcement about this later in the week but we are trying to weedout these type of special cases from other private support. If you want to report someone then do so in that forum using the provided questions. We will investigate all cases and let you know of the result.

The Map Studios will be shut down with week. Not permanently as an open map process will always be a part of MajCom but we will be handling the map making more internal until the re-code is complete. It is unclear how the re-code will affect the map process so we don't want to have too many projects in development. That said, we do have some more maps that will come out before the end of the year, including the first one by yours truly, Badorties!

More details about these changes will flow in the coming weeks, but I hope you share my optimism about the future of MajCom. :five::neo::rock::ridinghorse:

 

[Wayne2010]

Additional Background

I've had a considerable level of experience in operations and management and willing to offer my support and help if you are in need of a direction to realize your vision for this site. I believe it has great potential but my personal experience is that it is fragmented and disorganized from a professional standpoint. It depends on what direction you see the site going and your vision of it in the future.

While I take the game seriously, I am not a fanatic player and it's more of a relaxing pastime than an obsession. I'm not concerned about my rank and more about my relationships with fellow members and players and the culture of this site which I see as one of it's more attractive features. Preserving that while at the same time trying to make it more financially independent as a commercial enterprise would be the challenge I see facing someone trying to slay the dragons you face in the near future.

Additionally, my background is one as a reasonably successful business owner in the engineering profession. My company is a recognized and respected professional organization that has been in business in Southern California for over 35 years. I've made just about every mistake one can make in business and still be around to talk about it. Yet have succeeded in being proud of what I've spent my lifetime building. I am lucky to be one of those rare individuals that loves his work and doesn't spend time wishing I were doing something else with my life, but had a lifetime of experience building that satisfaction. I am not motivated solely by money but recognize it's importance in both the successful management and expansion of a business. Improper or incompetent financial management is at the root of every professional organizations failure.

If you don't see MC as a business I may not be of any help to you and it's important to recognize that from the start.

Let me know if you are interested in discussing further.

Wayne

 

[hat7rick]

Awesome news.. However why not consider sensadrome's offer ? He said he has a whole team of programmers that can help and I m sure he can make a special price for MC or even do many stuff for free (from what I understood)

 

[Wayne2010]

It appears that you are addressing the coding and player issues within the limits of your financial capabilities and that is a good thing I believe. At this point coding would appear to be a logistical issue as long as you continue to chip away at the problem and don't over extend yourself. Bringing in more people might be a mistake and the architecture is already delicate as you mentioned. It seems that your oversight in that is critical.

The Commission seems like an appropriate step and building it as in maintaining direct oversight of the coding problem will be critical to realizing whatever vision you have of the sight in the future. That's about all I can add or suggest in this open forum medium. I'm willing to volunteer my time if you believe my input could be useful and valuable. It is a difficult task selecting a commission of users and volunteers. It has been my experience that just because someone is willing to volunteer their time doesn't mean it will be a positive or productive contribution. The selection should be as well thought out a process as your attention to the coding problems.

Let me know if you're interested in my involvement. This will be my last post on the subject unless contacted directly by you.

Regards,

Wayne

 

[AAFitz]

I assume his name will be Polos?

 

[Badorties]

Thanks for the support guys. I have been and will be in touch with Sensa. Wayne, thanks for the offer but I don't really see MajCom as a business yet. It's more a community of people. The only person with a paycheck at this point is Marcos. The Commission won't be making the decisions, but discussing them, in advance of the wider community.

 

[serch497]

You are he best!

 

[needpapertowel]

Very excited for the upcoming changes, even more excited for the upcoming map. Curious about the fundraising opportunity as well. Thanks for continuing to make MC such a great community!

 

[empirejeff]

Positive news.

 

[riskyone]

Sounds like good things are around the corner.

 

[PackerHawkeye]

I assume his name will be Polos?

Maybe Los Pollos Hermanos?

 

[edsdad]

"Change is good donkey"Keep plugging away at it guys,good job.

 

[KmfG]

Thanks for the update, let us know how we can help through feedback and/or donation.

 

[RjBeals]

Nice update Bado - I admit I do miss Evan, he thought we were a bunch of nerds, but it was still fun and exciting in the beginning. But - I've been anxiously waiting for the site to stabilize so I can pickup my maps in development. I have 1 just about ready to launch, and another as part of a sweet map pack that I think we need to complete!

 

[xsb1977]

thanks for your effort, really nice things are coming soon...

 

[Cardinalsrule]

Nice update Bado - I admit I do miss Evan, he thought we were a bunch of nerds, but it was still fun and exciting in the beginning. But - I've been anxiously waiting for the site to stabilize so I can pickup my maps in development. I have 1 just about ready to launch, and another as part of a sweet map pack that I think we need to complete!

WHAT??? You have completed maps and you're holding out on us??? Harsh..... People around here LIVE for new maps. Don't be a tease, bud, put out ...

 

[Shepherd]

WHAT??? You have completed maps and you're holding out on us??? Harsh..... People around here LIVE for new maps. Don't be a tease, bud, put out ...

The Australia map sat in a can for a year and a half before I gave up waiting for a rule to be written... as a result of my impatience we have a map that is only mediocre, in my opinion. I think the focus around here needs to be on doing things right, and the right thing to do is to get the game engine stabilized.

 

[Cardinalsrule]

Not arguing that at all. But still... you've put out a few maps now and then even with the issues, one in testing now. Haven't seen a Beals map in a LONG time...

 

[Wayne2010]

I more or less expected that you would not envision MajCom as a business at this point and as I indicated, my offer of help would only be from the POV of someone with experience in organization and management. If you have no need for that kind of contribution, then I would not be of much help. And as a parting comment on the subject, I would put forth the idea that your business is maintaining the vision of the community you have created here and in order to do that, you should organize and operate it as such. Of course, that's just my opinion since I've seen many such efforts fail from lack of organization and management. Without which all organizations whether for profit or other motivation flounder and fall apart. if you already have the organization and management from your support and volunteer staff that meets your needs, I wish you the best. This is a great site and the community is the primary reason I have subscribed and continue to play on-line here. A community that I presume you are the primary visionary behind. I only wish to see it succeed and would not be looking for, nor in need of compensation say beyond limitless power to destroy the evil forces of the universe...

Best regards,

W

 

[BAB00N]

Thanks for the update Bado, sounds great! Like everyone else here, I am very excited for perhaps a chance to help our community grow in a healthy way!