I'd like to say a few words.
BodyGuard
Join Date: 2005-02-13 Member: 41012Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2005-02-13 Member: 41012Members, Constellation
Hey everybody,
This message isn't particularly important to anyone, I just need to let it all out. If it's adressed to someone in particular, I'd say it's Flayra, but really I think I'm doing this for myself. Prepare for some massive wall of text.
So, let's do some setup first. It's past 2am and I'm really tired, in that kind of mood where you don't know if you should be doing anything, but you end up trying to do everything. My name's Gil, I'm 29 and work as a developer. I'm an avid gamer, and I like to think that I'm pretty good at it. I also like to create videos and therefore spend a lot of time looking at other people's content. And today I just ended up looking at the release stream for Subnautica 1.0, which was really fun, but also a technical disaster, which made everything come to light. UWE is a good company. A great one. Player comes first, you're ready to spend the time it takes to make a good game, and you're not half-assing stuff. You never have, and I love you all for that. You embrace what make everything funny, like no mic on one side, and stupidly loud mic on the other. Good stream, good work, but today I'm here to tell a story. Mine. It's not special, it's not funny, it's probably somewhat similar to lots of other people, but I really do feel the need to say it. If you're intending on reading this, thank you. I hope you'll enjoy. I really do. If I don't make sense, its because I wrote this in one sitting, am extremely tired, and English is not my first language.
I'm about to be 30 years old ; in May actually. I've been a big fan of UWE since Natural Selection 1.04. At that stage, I don't know who was there but if I'm not mistaken, it was pretty much Flayra and a few friends, right? Well, I was there with you ; I've never been really present on the forums, but I always followed your work and played your games. I have .dem files, screenshots, videos of NS that date back to 2003. And I know at that stage I was already playing the game for a while. I was amazed at NSJumped & NSJumped 2, and I never understood how Fana used to bunny hop like that. That was 16 years ago, probably a bit more. I was 15 years old. You guys made a big influence on my childhood, the games we played on LAN, and everything that you can probably easily can relate to, as I'm certainly not the only one. But today I wanna spend some time to say thank you. You spent years taking care of "me", and even if no one will particulary feel it, I still should spend some time in return. I think I owe you something.
Anyway. I'm listening to the complete soundtrack of Subnautica to keep me in the mood. Such great work. The game, the music, everything. I love it. Back in the days I tried to help the game grow, as much as a 15yo kid could. I made A trailer for Natural Selection, in french. (Here's a new re-upload for better quality) I always loved editing (I still edit for my channel) and the game. I was really bad at both, even when we played in the FNSL, but still, I wanted to make a difference. Flayra commented as TheRealFlayra on that video saying it was great work, and that we could really feel the dramatic effect of the game. This made me really happy. This comment was deleted years ago but for some reason I never forgot it. I think I did make a difference somewhere, by reaching "the big guys". I played this game for years, have so many great memories. I remember having our full team switching names to mess up with the commander, and when he noticed, we would just keep changing. At some point he got angry so we started using random words for names, to which he said "alright guys lets be serious, put something correct as your name so I can clearly identify you, its not funny anymore". I can't begin to explain how much we all laughed when we started using our steam IDs as names. So simple, yet so full of troll. Probably only funny to me, but hey, it's my story.
Loved creating maps for the game :
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/8h/wae12gc6wmmf.jpg
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/6f/p2inivx75bum.jpg
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/8p/6uoolvwbbca4.jpg
Loved the ceiling reloc on ns_tanith
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/3k/96l5cbdedbnc.jpg
Loved the electrified TF under hives
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/tu/sqb52em3v6tm.jpg
Loved that dude who does not realize he has a massive hitbox when he goes AFK
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/cs/edl1d1latqka.jpg
Loved locking our commander at the start of our match and just yelling in the comms, just so he goes crazy.
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/36/yrxs8rj8djej.jpg
(man we gave him a hard time haha)
Loved the lerk rushes in the last round of a match
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/v0/r5f34o1ehylr.jpg
Loved every proxy phasegate into distress beacon & rushes
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/gs/ib69dskjsifh.jpg
Loved the ready room easter eggs
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/3k/2ccwrx5kn2bk.jpg
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/7o/8r0zlnsrq8cd.jpg
loved the people in those ready rooms, loved the custom maps, loved the thrill of starting competitive gaming for the first time in my life. Good times, really.
Also bought my constellation when I was pretty much the same age. Had to borrow money from my mom. I live in Belgium so it wasn't in dollars, I had to go to an exchange office, and then I actually *mailed* it, actual postal mail. That's pretty much caveman technology right there. I wrote a simple letter saying thank you on green paper, and then completely forgot if I had written my name correctly. I've always wondered if I was the only one getting his constell by postal mail in a letter written by hand. By hand. With the kid writing and everything. I wish I could see that letter again, but its certainly long gone. Thanks to whoever answered the support query for letting me know everything was fine, Body-Guard or BodyGuard, there aren't thousands of people with that shitty name. I hate it now but it's good nostalgia. Can't beat that.
Wouldn't have happened without UWE. The game got better with time, and then slowly "died". It grew old and other games out there took my attention. Starcraft, Warcraft, Dota, CS, Half Life 2, etc. I was hoping for an NS Source but I read everywhere that NS was just a mod from a couple of guys who had better things to do in life. Such a disapointment. But then you guys showed a 1 minute video of creep spreading in a room in 3D, and I fell. I fell hard guys. I was like "damn, they're working on it. its coming". I was hooked. Bought the premier-black-deluxe-premium-collectors edition instantly. Waited the mandatory 5 years for the game to actually come out. And I loved it.
It didn't have that NS1 feeling, I'm not gonna lie. You can make the best game you want, you can't beat memories and nostalgia, you just can't. But man, it was good to be back. Played the game for about 1000 hours, but eventually I stopped. Its great, but I didn't have the same fun. Friends were long gone, and playing alone or with new friends I made wasn't the same. Met great people though.
Anyway, after that I spent an incredible amount of time forgetting about you guys and playing other games. Not that you left my heart, it's just that our paths slowly separated. Got kinda hooked on Zen of Sudoku, but its not the same kind of tryhad. I'm fast, I can aim, and I can make good strategies. But don't ask me to be number-smart. Tried to, and failed. Great game though, good cashflow I'm sure. I was happy to buy it to help fund NS2.
Then you guys did it again. I didn't even notice it, but one day people started playing this game on Twitch. I was like "this looks rather okay/cool". Looked it up, saw "UWE", and I fell again. God damn it was good. Bought it, installed it, played about 11 hours straight. Slept, did it again. I literally did it again. I bought the game again, gave it to a friend, said "just try this, I don't wanna hear another word. Install this, play it, thank me later." They all loved it. They don't love you as much as I do, none of them actually finished the game, they never do. But they loved it. A solid 5/7.
This game was a massive slap in the face. Didnt follow the development, didnt see anything coming, but then one day this pearl hit me like a brick. Thank you so much. The stream revealed that you spent years, again, trying to make something good. You did guys, it's an incredible job. Then, when the story was over and I kind had "nothing else to do", I started looking up for subnautica 2, multiplayer/coop (The C word !), and everywhere, I read "Sorry, no plans for Subnautica 2". "Coop is impossible, its just not doable with the current code base". I'm a programmer, I know when something is not possible ; and if you guys say its not, its not. But then some dudes make that addon to add co op, with decent proof of concepts, and I see your replies pretty much saying "u gna get fkcd later on man", and that thing never really saw the light of day. Didnt expect it to, even if it did I wouldn't even know.
So there we are again, NS1 slapped me, then NS2, then Subnautica. Every time you guys surprised me, every time you gave me something great when I didn't ask for it, you took the time to do it well, and I just had no words. I didnt send the message I'm writing at the time, but I wanted to. I was kinda sad that there was no real project or annoucement. "They're gonna sleep on the hype for a while, enjoy the $$, they're becoming what everyone becomes, money machines". "I can't way to buy 20$ skins for my submarine". I was kinda sad yeah. But then again, you don't owe me anything, and you certainly did much more than I ever expected, asked, or even wanted. You went above and beyond.
Its 3am now. What's funny with this story is that, you did it again. I was sad, you clearly stated that there wasn't gonna be Subnautica 2 content, but you did it again. You annouced Below Zero. You surprised me with unexpected great content, like the perfect christmas gift. Damn, you guys are good at this. I really thought it was a full release though, so I installed it, told my wife (yeah I have a wife now, I'm not 15 anymore. pog) that i'd be busy for the next 10-15 hours depending on how much my weak body can handle sleep deprevation nowadays. After about 5 minutes I noticed it was clearly EA. So I stopped playing. I wish I could QA and help you, but I just don't want to ruin the experience for me. I can't. I QA all day already, and you guys are just too good. You probably dont need me anyway. I'm really looking forward to this, and all your future releases. You're the good guys. I don't really know any of you, but you're close to the community. You recruited NS2HD just because he's an invested guy and he made good content, you felt connected to him. "He's just like us". Damn right he is. Too bad he doesn't speak english though.
So this is me, saying thank you. 15 years too late, probably years too early. But I can't hold it anymore. I could keep talking for hours, for all the things I remember and had fun doing. Thank you for believing in yourselves, pushing your work, time, & company to its limits. Thank you for focusing on quality, and not on a specific release date or cashflow. Thank you for having the balls to say "pls buy Zen of Sudoku, we need cash but we kinda dont want to ask for it for free". Thanks for not being a AAA company that focuses on the wow effect, and not the actual game. Thanks for taking the time. I really liked your shitty reveal stream, that's what it is. Quality behind a wall of unexpected bullshit, it all makes it fun, because in the end you guys power through and deliver something great. Thank you for commenting on my video, and thank you for keeping my gaming experience the way I want it to be. You guys understand me. You don't know me, but somehow, your games really connect with me. I wish I knew all of you as well as you know me.
These are my words. There were always there, just like me, buried and hiding behind a screen, but today I let you know. If you read this far, thank you, whoever you are. It's not important that you read it, like I said, I really just had to let this out. I'm going to bed now.
From the 15yo me and until the end of times,
Thank you.
ZiL`
This message isn't particularly important to anyone, I just need to let it all out. If it's adressed to someone in particular, I'd say it's Flayra, but really I think I'm doing this for myself. Prepare for some massive wall of text.
So, let's do some setup first. It's past 2am and I'm really tired, in that kind of mood where you don't know if you should be doing anything, but you end up trying to do everything. My name's Gil, I'm 29 and work as a developer. I'm an avid gamer, and I like to think that I'm pretty good at it. I also like to create videos and therefore spend a lot of time looking at other people's content. And today I just ended up looking at the release stream for Subnautica 1.0, which was really fun, but also a technical disaster, which made everything come to light. UWE is a good company. A great one. Player comes first, you're ready to spend the time it takes to make a good game, and you're not half-assing stuff. You never have, and I love you all for that. You embrace what make everything funny, like no mic on one side, and stupidly loud mic on the other. Good stream, good work, but today I'm here to tell a story. Mine. It's not special, it's not funny, it's probably somewhat similar to lots of other people, but I really do feel the need to say it. If you're intending on reading this, thank you. I hope you'll enjoy. I really do. If I don't make sense, its because I wrote this in one sitting, am extremely tired, and English is not my first language.
I'm about to be 30 years old ; in May actually. I've been a big fan of UWE since Natural Selection 1.04. At that stage, I don't know who was there but if I'm not mistaken, it was pretty much Flayra and a few friends, right? Well, I was there with you ; I've never been really present on the forums, but I always followed your work and played your games. I have .dem files, screenshots, videos of NS that date back to 2003. And I know at that stage I was already playing the game for a while. I was amazed at NSJumped & NSJumped 2, and I never understood how Fana used to bunny hop like that. That was 16 years ago, probably a bit more. I was 15 years old. You guys made a big influence on my childhood, the games we played on LAN, and everything that you can probably easily can relate to, as I'm certainly not the only one. But today I wanna spend some time to say thank you. You spent years taking care of "me", and even if no one will particulary feel it, I still should spend some time in return. I think I owe you something.
Anyway. I'm listening to the complete soundtrack of Subnautica to keep me in the mood. Such great work. The game, the music, everything. I love it. Back in the days I tried to help the game grow, as much as a 15yo kid could. I made A trailer for Natural Selection, in french. (Here's a new re-upload for better quality) I always loved editing (I still edit for my channel) and the game. I was really bad at both, even when we played in the FNSL, but still, I wanted to make a difference. Flayra commented as TheRealFlayra on that video saying it was great work, and that we could really feel the dramatic effect of the game. This made me really happy. This comment was deleted years ago but for some reason I never forgot it. I think I did make a difference somewhere, by reaching "the big guys". I played this game for years, have so many great memories. I remember having our full team switching names to mess up with the commander, and when he noticed, we would just keep changing. At some point he got angry so we started using random words for names, to which he said "alright guys lets be serious, put something correct as your name so I can clearly identify you, its not funny anymore". I can't begin to explain how much we all laughed when we started using our steam IDs as names. So simple, yet so full of troll. Probably only funny to me, but hey, it's my story.
Loved creating maps for the game :
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/8h/wae12gc6wmmf.jpg
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/6f/p2inivx75bum.jpg
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/8p/6uoolvwbbca4.jpg
Loved the ceiling reloc on ns_tanith
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/3k/96l5cbdedbnc.jpg
Loved the electrified TF under hives
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/tu/sqb52em3v6tm.jpg
Loved that dude who does not realize he has a massive hitbox when he goes AFK
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/cs/edl1d1latqka.jpg
Loved locking our commander at the start of our match and just yelling in the comms, just so he goes crazy.
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/36/yrxs8rj8djej.jpg
(man we gave him a hard time haha)
Loved the lerk rushes in the last round of a match
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/v0/r5f34o1ehylr.jpg
Loved every proxy phasegate into distress beacon & rushes
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/gs/ib69dskjsifh.jpg
Loved the ready room easter eggs
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/3k/2ccwrx5kn2bk.jpg
https://us.v-cdn.net/5019629/uploads/editor/7o/8r0zlnsrq8cd.jpg
loved the people in those ready rooms, loved the custom maps, loved the thrill of starting competitive gaming for the first time in my life. Good times, really.
Also bought my constellation when I was pretty much the same age. Had to borrow money from my mom. I live in Belgium so it wasn't in dollars, I had to go to an exchange office, and then I actually *mailed* it, actual postal mail. That's pretty much caveman technology right there. I wrote a simple letter saying thank you on green paper, and then completely forgot if I had written my name correctly. I've always wondered if I was the only one getting his constell by postal mail in a letter written by hand. By hand. With the kid writing and everything. I wish I could see that letter again, but its certainly long gone. Thanks to whoever answered the support query for letting me know everything was fine, Body-Guard or BodyGuard, there aren't thousands of people with that shitty name. I hate it now but it's good nostalgia. Can't beat that.
Wouldn't have happened without UWE. The game got better with time, and then slowly "died". It grew old and other games out there took my attention. Starcraft, Warcraft, Dota, CS, Half Life 2, etc. I was hoping for an NS Source but I read everywhere that NS was just a mod from a couple of guys who had better things to do in life. Such a disapointment. But then you guys showed a 1 minute video of creep spreading in a room in 3D, and I fell. I fell hard guys. I was like "damn, they're working on it. its coming". I was hooked. Bought the premier-black-deluxe-premium-collectors edition instantly. Waited the mandatory 5 years for the game to actually come out. And I loved it.
It didn't have that NS1 feeling, I'm not gonna lie. You can make the best game you want, you can't beat memories and nostalgia, you just can't. But man, it was good to be back. Played the game for about 1000 hours, but eventually I stopped. Its great, but I didn't have the same fun. Friends were long gone, and playing alone or with new friends I made wasn't the same. Met great people though.
Anyway, after that I spent an incredible amount of time forgetting about you guys and playing other games. Not that you left my heart, it's just that our paths slowly separated. Got kinda hooked on Zen of Sudoku, but its not the same kind of tryhad. I'm fast, I can aim, and I can make good strategies. But don't ask me to be number-smart. Tried to, and failed. Great game though, good cashflow I'm sure. I was happy to buy it to help fund NS2.
Then you guys did it again. I didn't even notice it, but one day people started playing this game on Twitch. I was like "this looks rather okay/cool". Looked it up, saw "UWE", and I fell again. God damn it was good. Bought it, installed it, played about 11 hours straight. Slept, did it again. I literally did it again. I bought the game again, gave it to a friend, said "just try this, I don't wanna hear another word. Install this, play it, thank me later." They all loved it. They don't love you as much as I do, none of them actually finished the game, they never do. But they loved it. A solid 5/7.
This game was a massive slap in the face. Didnt follow the development, didnt see anything coming, but then one day this pearl hit me like a brick. Thank you so much. The stream revealed that you spent years, again, trying to make something good. You did guys, it's an incredible job. Then, when the story was over and I kind had "nothing else to do", I started looking up for subnautica 2, multiplayer/coop (The C word !), and everywhere, I read "Sorry, no plans for Subnautica 2". "Coop is impossible, its just not doable with the current code base". I'm a programmer, I know when something is not possible ; and if you guys say its not, its not. But then some dudes make that addon to add co op, with decent proof of concepts, and I see your replies pretty much saying "u gna get fkcd later on man", and that thing never really saw the light of day. Didnt expect it to, even if it did I wouldn't even know.
So there we are again, NS1 slapped me, then NS2, then Subnautica. Every time you guys surprised me, every time you gave me something great when I didn't ask for it, you took the time to do it well, and I just had no words. I didnt send the message I'm writing at the time, but I wanted to. I was kinda sad that there was no real project or annoucement. "They're gonna sleep on the hype for a while, enjoy the $$, they're becoming what everyone becomes, money machines". "I can't way to buy 20$ skins for my submarine". I was kinda sad yeah. But then again, you don't owe me anything, and you certainly did much more than I ever expected, asked, or even wanted. You went above and beyond.
Its 3am now. What's funny with this story is that, you did it again. I was sad, you clearly stated that there wasn't gonna be Subnautica 2 content, but you did it again. You annouced Below Zero. You surprised me with unexpected great content, like the perfect christmas gift. Damn, you guys are good at this. I really thought it was a full release though, so I installed it, told my wife (yeah I have a wife now, I'm not 15 anymore. pog) that i'd be busy for the next 10-15 hours depending on how much my weak body can handle sleep deprevation nowadays. After about 5 minutes I noticed it was clearly EA. So I stopped playing. I wish I could QA and help you, but I just don't want to ruin the experience for me. I can't. I QA all day already, and you guys are just too good. You probably dont need me anyway. I'm really looking forward to this, and all your future releases. You're the good guys. I don't really know any of you, but you're close to the community. You recruited NS2HD just because he's an invested guy and he made good content, you felt connected to him. "He's just like us". Damn right he is. Too bad he doesn't speak english though.
So this is me, saying thank you. 15 years too late, probably years too early. But I can't hold it anymore. I could keep talking for hours, for all the things I remember and had fun doing. Thank you for believing in yourselves, pushing your work, time, & company to its limits. Thank you for focusing on quality, and not on a specific release date or cashflow. Thank you for having the balls to say "pls buy Zen of Sudoku, we need cash but we kinda dont want to ask for it for free". Thanks for not being a AAA company that focuses on the wow effect, and not the actual game. Thanks for taking the time. I really liked your shitty reveal stream, that's what it is. Quality behind a wall of unexpected bullshit, it all makes it fun, because in the end you guys power through and deliver something great. Thank you for commenting on my video, and thank you for keeping my gaming experience the way I want it to be. You guys understand me. You don't know me, but somehow, your games really connect with me. I wish I knew all of you as well as you know me.
These are my words. There were always there, just like me, buried and hiding behind a screen, but today I let you know. If you read this far, thank you, whoever you are. It's not important that you read it, like I said, I really just had to let this out. I'm going to bed now.
From the 15yo me and until the end of times,
Thank you.
ZiL`