>RAWA answers questions

To some extent, yes. Any time spent on MO:ULagain right now is time not spent working on projects that pay Cyan’s bills (MO:ULagain is not one of those projects, it has a much more modest goal of just paying for its upkeep). Those projects obviously have to be the priority, or at some point there is no Cyan and any plans for open sourcing MO:UL become moot. Time not spent on those projects now just push back when we will have “free” time for moving open source forward another step.

We have explained precisely where we are and why many, many times. From the time that the intentions to open source MO:UL were first announced, we explained what the hurdles are and why progress will be slow while Cyan remains in its current situation (i.e., very few employees, extremely tight budget, etc.). Feel free to re-read Rand’s explanation from Mysterium 2008, the Developer tab at the top of this page, or any of Chogon’s updates that pretty much reiterate the same thing every couple of months. The situation hasn’t changed. There are often legal reasons or other reasons that we can’t “just do x, y, or z”, depending on what they are. We are, however, making progress and taking the steps that we can when we can. Chogon has even explained what some of the next planned steps are. But, again, our priority has to be those projects that are keeping Cyan’s bills paid. Period. Or else Cyan and MO:UL go away. It’s not a threat. It’s a simple statement of fact. When we have free time, we put the resources we can toward moving MO:UL forward. As each step is taken, there will continue to be more ways that those so inclined can contribute.

It is not a threat. It is another simple statement of fact. The security fixes during the downtime addressed the largest threats to vault corruption without crippling the game for everyone. Other security issues are currently being addressed. If they are exploited in the meantime, then vault corruption becomes a real concern again, and MO:ULagain will be taken down until those holes can be plugged as well, instead of risking vault corruption by keeping the game available while they’re being plugged.

I am guessing that the CAVCON level will likely be at least temporarily affected as some funds are used to help offset the costs as programmers take time away from their paying projects to work on MO:ULagain.

I can’t speak for anyone else at Cyan, but I can tell you my personal experience. After GameTap MO:UL closed and attempts to pick up other projects failed, most of the development team was laid off. I chose to take a 25% pay cut in order to remain at Cyan and work in the QA department testing games for other publishers. [Aside — Why would one choose to take a large pay cut when one is qualified for much higher paying jobs elsewhere? There are several theories: a) I’m an idiot, b) I want to stay at Cyan and am willing to give up quite a bit to do so, c) Rand has incriminating evidence that I am from another planet, d) parts of all of the above. I think my wife picks the first one, though she doesn’t say so out loud.]

When the main publisher we were testing for had “financial issues” and had to stop using our testing services, there was another large round of layoffs, this time in the QA department. I returned to the production side to work on smaller projects like Myst for the iPhone.

Since MO:ULagain opened in February, I’ve been averaging 70+ hours per week for Cyan, often working 7 days a week, attempting to divide my time between many different duties as the needs arise. Fortunately for Cyan, I have no life. (Well, my wife and I do homeschool our five children, so that tends to take a bit of time, but other than that, I have no life…) So when we say we are busy and things take as long as they take, it isn’t because we’re sitting around twiddling our thumbs or making empty excuses. We’re busy. Really busy. Also, since I’m salary, those extra hours are all donated for Cyan’s future at the expense of other things I could be doing with my time, like sleeping.

There are very few who knew any of these details. Frankly, it really isn’t anyone’s business. I’m explaining it now so that you can have some context for what I personally mean when I say, “We’re doing the best we can with what we have.”

Meanwhile, MQO and small iPhone projects are keeping us above water while various game designs continue sit in the no-man’s land of being considered by publishers. If one of those is picked up our status may quickly change in ways we cannot predict. If not, we will continue to do the best we can with what we have.

a) Money isn’t the only factor considered. See points 2 and 5 above.
b) Offers are considered on a case by case basis. We shake a magic 8 ball and just follow its advice. Note: Our magic 8 ball is broken, and always comes up “no”.
c) Offers are considered on a case by case basis. We weigh the costs (cons) against the benefits (pros). Yes, there are costs, even to “free” help. If the costs outweigh the benefits, we’re likely to turn the offer down (imagine that), even if it’s a good idea. If the benefits outweigh the costs (in our judgment, which may not line up with yours) we actually might accept the offer. [If this were not the case, I would never have been hired during Myst, there would have been no “Bahro scream event” to end D’mala, and on and on, and… we wouldn’t have ever considered (let alone actually be taking) any steps toward open source in the first place. Those who imply that we never accept outside help are either misinformed or have selective memories.]
d) Sometimes offers sit in the “consider this later” pile for a loooong time. (See the “we’re busy” part of point 5.) Zardoz can confirm that it took me over a month to get back to him on an idea of his I liked. So no response does not necessarily mean “no”, it might just mean we haven’t gotten to it yet while we focus on things that are higher on our priority list (not to beat Zardoz’s pony, but MO:ULagain, as has been stated many times, is, by necessity, very low on that list right now).

Hope that helps.