Newsletter 36

Hello and welcome to the WGU newsletter #35! *Misnumbered*

In this issue
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1) Tracy is back
2) Pre Planning Meeting
3) Indie wrestlers say, "Hell Yeah"
4) Beta testing
5) Story mode
6) CAW
7) Don't be a dumbass

1) Tracy is back
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Tracy returned from her trip last weekend and what initially looked a little shaky turned out to be a very positive venture. She has heard back from the person we set out to contact and he has told us he is indeed quite interested in the PW-X project and the kind of fan based momentum it has generated. We have a big conference call in a few days and we hope to pursued him the rest of the way. Stay tuned...

2) Pre Planning meeting
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This weekend the crew will once again be meeting to hammer out more technical issues related to the promised features of PW-X. We have a huge amount of material to cover and once we're done I will have a lot more concrete answers regarding your PW-X questions and concerns.

Let me once again assure of our goals for PW-X. They are, in order of importance as determined by input from you, the fans:

1) Fun, accurate, and deep gameplay
2) Edit and customization features

Everything else (gimmick matches, bells and whistles) will come once the first two goals are achieved to everyone's satisfaction.

We've listened to what you guys have told us and the majority of you agree that we should work our asses off on the gameplay and take our time to get it right before worrying about Flaming Death Matches and TLC matches. Those of you who think we should give gimmick matches equal attention as gameplay remember, Backstage Assault had breakable tables. Ewww.

Don't get me wrong, when I think of the perfect wrestling game I have visions of blood soaked mats and electrified cages, too. I just want you to know that we are pouring all of our resources into first nailing a plain old one on one 'rasslin match. Once we have that the gimmick matches will be that much more satisfying. Don't you agree?

3) Indie wrestlers say, "Hell Yeah"
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Thank you guys. Everyone who emailed me a list of indie wrestlers or posted your suggestions on the message board have not only introduced me to a few talented workers I never knew existed, but you also helped get me in touch with a couple of them as well. I'm happy to report that at least two of them have gotten back to me and said they would be happy to contribute. See? Sometimes all you have to do is ask. I'll have official announcements once every wrestler has spoken with us. Life is looking pretty sweet :)

4) Beta testing
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Why is everyone so psyched about beta testing? I mean, I'd hate for my first experience with an anticipated game to be for the purpose of hunting down glitches and everything else WRONG with the game. Still, you guys want to get your mitts on it and I promised you so you'll get your shot when it's ready. Everyone beta tests the game engine. Even though I realize the bugs and glitches will be widely reported and spread throughout the net the purpose of allowing everyone to beta test is two fold:
1) To let everyone test drive PW-X before they spend their cash.
2) To let everyone witness a company that truly listens to the
fan's criticisms and *gasp* fixes them!

5) Story Mode
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The story mode has been going through some major reconstruction while we slave away in pre production. While it's still not written in stone, here are some of the key points we have so far.

1) CAWs and edits may be substituted for the in-game roster in story mode.

2) You will have to start the career mode at the bottom of an indie fed. How fast you move up to the major fed will be determined by matches and decisions.

3) There will be many variations and paths depending again on match outcomes and decisions.

4) Items such as CAW parts, moves, arenas, and match types will be unlocked according to all sorts of fun conditions.

Wether or not the career mode allows for simultaneous different stroy modes between different feds and the ability to jump ship between those feds has yet to be finalized. I wish I could offer you more information but, like I said, we're working on it and you'll be the first to know.

6) CAW
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Everybody wants to know how the CAW will be presented in PW-X and what style it will most resemble. I hope I can give you a good idea of where we stand with the CAW feature even at this early stage.

First, our main goal is to make it possible for gamers to visually create virtually any male or female wrestler imaginable. Our challenge is to balance this lofty goal with ease of use, financial resources, time constraints, and the fact that fans around the world will be creating hundreds if not thousands of custom textures, faces, and clothing themselves and trading them after the game is released.

First things first, the menu. We're looking at a CAW feature that resembles the Smackdown style as far as the visuals are concerned. However, as good as the Smackdown CAW is we feel we can greatly improve on it's ease of use for for whipping up quick CAWs while still retaining the ability to allow advanced users to go into as much detail as possible. For example, you would initially be able to pick from a list of complete faces (AKI style) but there would also be an "advanced" option that would allow you to mix and match different eyes, noses, mouths, etc. And we will also make it easy for even more advanced users to import their own facial textures from programs like Photoshop. This would apply to clothing as well. You could quickly pick a pair of tights from the list or you could create your own custom clothing from Photoshop templates that we would make readily available for you.

In next week's newsletter I'll discuss our plans for the various styles and attributes of the wrestlers in PWX.

7) Don't be a dumbass
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Last week I mentioned a message board that was supposedly frequented by Sanders Keel, producer of such disappointments as WMX8 and Smackdown:JustBringIt. I have to admit that I was a little worried about how WGU supporters would react to the opportunity to finally get an audience with the man many rightly believe is responsible for misleading and taking advantage of the gaming public. I had visions of the flame war to end all flame wars and I was sure I was going to learn many new swear words from what was sure to be a heated exchange. I mean let's face it, the WGU has always been and always will be a fan based movement and the type of fans we have and how they present themselves on message boards reflects directly on the WGU. So what did I see on that message board?

Intelligent, fact based, well presented questions and comments from Mel (good old Mel), and prominent WGU supporters who go by such nicknames as Spunkwhy, DarkOffspring, and others. In short, I was very impressed by the level of maturity shown by our supporters. Too bad "Sanders" disappeared rather than answer the tough questions. I guess he was only happy to answer those people who made him feel comfortable and who knew not of his colorful past. Shame.

In the meantime and in between time, that's it. Another edition of Wrestling Gamers United.

Thanks for your support!

Dave Wishnowski