@Dear Nadeo, Dear Forum Moderators, Dear Players:
In the past, 1 or a few more negative posts have been enough to close a topic. So please players, be respectful towards the creators of this game. And if there are negative posts, please don't just close the thread. Delete the negative posts instead, so the behaving community doesn't get punished
My intention is to have 1 central topic where we can analyse and discuss on what Nadeo is currently working on.
My procedure: At first I'd like to gather all the fact that we know. Then I look at each fact and write down my assumption based on this fact. At last, I will combine all my assumptions that resulted from each fact and create one final idea.
The facts that we already know:
a) Nadeo keeps pushing small updates to the game
New Maniaplanet version July 2019
Royal squad update June 2019
Competition management tool May 2019
Mesh modeler update April 2019
b) Nadeo keeps being quiet / They haven't announced anything about their "next project" / No HelloPlanets for the last ~3 years
c) Although Nadeo kept working on Maniaplanet, the playerbase kept shrinking over the last 3-5 years in general.
d) Hylis about QM "It should be the last game I would work on, forever." Src
e) Hylis about Maniaplanet "We intend to split SM and TM in the future." Src
f) No graphical updates for the last 10years
I think there are many more facts hidden in this forum. If you know one, suggest it here so I can implement them in this first post. But I guess these are the most important ones.
So let's start interpreting these facts...
... What is Nadeo's WIP / Next project?
Facts D) + E)
I am sure that many people are thinking something like "Nadeo will release something completely new. Something different from the SM/TM/QM concept". But I assume that's wrong. Because Hylis said that he intends to split TM & SM in the future. And if you want to split something, then you usually intend to keep working on it but just seperately. Otherwise you wouldn't make the effort to split it. So Nadeo will stay with their SM/TM/QM-concept. And we can also clarify that the next big thing won't be Questmania because Hylis said it will be the last game he would work on, forever. And he didn't say that once. I think he said it at least 3times. 2 times in the QM-Forum and once in the SM forum. So I guess that's pretty clear too.
===> Assumption 1) Keeping TM/SM/QM concept, QM as last game
Fact B)
Nadeo has always been very quiet. So it's pretty normal that Nadeo isn't revealing or announcing anything. But the last announcement was a few years ago. Additionally, Hylis stopped the tradition of releasing a "HelloPlanet" article every year where he used to show us the new upcoming content. I suppose Nadeo is working on something big. Reasons for this choice:
If you want to reveal something big, then an article won't be enough for marketing purposes. Remember when Nadeo firstly announced Tm2? We first got to know when they showed us a trailer. Something as big as the first announcement of Trackmania². Otherwise he could have released a new article where he reveals some information...
A related post about Hylis' state of mind towards marketing...
The second reason for their silence: If you want to create something big, then you don't reveal any information too early because you want to keep your freedom which is essential on a big project. So you have the freedom to change/delete something without having the fear that the community will be mad at you because you revealed this "deleted/changed feature".Because of marketing, it is hard to tell more about the future, and it is as much frustrating for us. Meanwhile, people want proper marketing. But to do it, you need something big to announce or nobody will talk about it. So it takes time to make big things and you can't talk about them while you do. So, you try to bring what you can during you do the next thing, like players request of a better UIs, but most of your ressources should concentrate on the next step
==> Assumption 2) Something big is on the way...
Fact C)
The harsh truth which caused lot's of negative and unpleasant discussions in this forum: The playerbase keeps shrinking for the last years.. drastically. Shootmania is literally a graveyard.. where the only people are visitors of the dead people. Elite has 6 players at the same time and the casual scene not much more. Trackmania is holding up more or less thanks to ZeRator and his cups. But right now, Trackmania is just a small shade compared to its glorious past.
Maniaplanet simply didn't succeed and if you keep "failing", then you get a bad image. Once you have a bad image, it gets worse and worse to attract new players or even those who left (The core players). To solve this issue, you have to get rid of the old and start something new. And that's the reason why I assume that Nadeo is working on something new. Something new to attract core and new players and for marketing purposes "We have learned our lesson, let's try something new".
==> Assumption 3) Something new is coming
Fact A) + F)
Why would Nadeo keep pushing new updates with improvements to the overall system and even implementing new features like the competition tool if they want to "abandon" Maniaplanet in the near future?
I guess they want to improve Maniaplanet so they can use this knowledge for their next engine/system. So Maniaplanet serves like a "experimental playfield" for the devs. It's very clever in my opinion. Because they use their new skills on an "old project" (Maniaplanet) and use the players as beta testers without revealing what they are actually working on. If you don't understand, here is an example: A wood worker found a new technique to improve a table's ability to carry weight. The wood worker provides his client to adjust the table for free on a table that the client bought a while ago. The client is happy that the wood worker does it for free and the wood worker is happy because he has a free "tester" to test his new skill for his upcoming, better table.
Additionally, we had no (major) graphic update for the last 10years since Maniaplanet was released… So it’s pretty possible that we might see a new engine or just a new platform
==> Assumption 4) New engine / platform
All assumptions listed up
- Assumption 1) Keeping TM/SM/QM concept, QM as last game
- Assumption 2) Something big is on the way...
- Assumption 3) Something new is coming (out from Maniaplanet)
- Assumption 4) New engine / platform
It's not very easy to come up with something based on these assumptions. But I want to be as safe as possible.
So, I think we will have a new engine with new graphics. A new launcher with a new name (maybe something like ManiaUniverse
), where you can chose between TM & SM before you even start the game (Like Blizzard-launcher as N-jin suggested). More focus on the multiplayer aspect (that's why they released the competition management tool). Clearer and simpler interface (Maniaplanet was so messy because it simply provided too much). And to make full use of the marketing, an announcement of a new environment... probably for Shootmania because SM only offers 1 environment while TM does 4.I think it's really much more about clearing everything up and making it more accessible for everyone while still providing a strong creative side with all it's amazing tools. Key words: Optimisation, simplification, new chance
My final words
I hope you can understand everything what I've said and you can relate to it. Thanks for reading everything and now it's YOUR turn to show us your "ideas" of what Nadeo is gonna surprise us in the future!
Greetings,
Soprah
