Is Code Monkey Publishing kaput?

iwarrior-poet · 28th May 2009, 04:08 PM

Code Monkey Publishing is the former maker of official D+D 3.0/3.5 datasets for PCGen/E-Tools and the forthcoming RPG Toolkit (currently a vaporware product). Their website (which has not been too stable over the last two years) has been out of commission for the last week. Here it is:
http://www.codemonkeypublishing.com/
It has a message saying it is upgrading software----but I really don't think it takes a week to do that. Does anyone have any info or thoughts?

Jan van Leyden · 28th May 2009, 07:52 PM

No, I don't have any info. But in Monkey-land any changes, even repairs to the site are a matter of months.

I've given up hope a long time ago, and I'm very happy that I didn't pre-order (and pay!) their announced product two years ago.

iwarrior-poet · 31st May 2009, 05:22 PM

Getting close to two weeks now... Anyone got some actual info?

iwarrior-poet · 4th June 2009, 01:59 PM

Not looking good...

Nylanfs · 5th June 2009, 12:17 AM

Me either, I haven't been able to get ahold of either Bryan or Rob via email.

My next step would be to try calling Rob since I can't seem to find Bryan's number.

dragonier · 5th June 2009, 01:57 AM

I know a few folks over at the Piazza have been watching the Codemonkey site and also the Blackmoor MMRPG site for any hint about the forthcoming Blackmoor releases. The last news heard seemed to indicate the latest Blackmoor book had been sent to be printed. That was a while ago though and there's been no news since. It's very disappointing.

sfield · 5th June 2009, 05:15 AM

Having benefiting from them actually fixing E-tools I had high hopes for them. But I think they are going the way of Duke Nukem Forever pure vaporware.

I purchased almost 400.00 worth of their etools / pcgen stuff and it did work.

There website was the absolute worst layout I have ever seen and the use of terminology for there page links might have been funny to them but as a consumer It drove me nuts trying to find something.

They never backed up there sight and the last major upgrade they did if they had read the documentation had known issues with the application modules they were running on the site.

If they had tested anything out priot to doing a live upgrade they would have know it wasn't going to work.

These guys did some great stuff in the past but they are the worst business owners I have ever come accross.

iwarrior-poet · 9th June 2009, 10:17 PM

Still down...
Anyone have any news?

Nylanfs · 10th June 2009, 12:16 AM

I sent Bryan an email and he just got back with me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merton Monk

It's the curse of trying to straighten one issue out, forcing an update of some software, which destroys other things, only to find out that your backup has been corrupted. Sigh. I'm no help with those things and Rob has been going in circles with the support teams for the various pieces of software we use on the site.

-Bryan

iwarrior-poet · 10th June 2009, 01:01 AM

Thanks Nylanfs. Good to hear they are not TKOed, but it doesn't speak too well of their ability to manage their site. It has been pretty inconsistent for the last two years.

DumMetlHed · 10th June 2009, 02:04 AM

Nylanfs since you have a Merton Monk's email maybe you could suggest that they update the "under construction" page with something like what he mentioned in the email to you and maybe a list of things that are still being worked on with the promise of a full State of the Monkey once the website issues are straightened out.

Or if they don't want to go that in depth maybe just a little note near the bottom to let people know they are alive along the lines of

06/09/2009 Still trying to beat the website software into submission with the WBoP.

every once in a while if this takes too much longer with whatever the date of the "post" is

That way people that stop by and see the same graphic up for the last few weeks don't just give them up for dead.

I don't know, you may not feel comfortable suggesting to them what they do and I could understand that I'm not trying to tell them how to run their business either. I just know that warrior poet seemed to think they were done with and I was starting to think the same way, (based on the lack of updates on RPGF and other projects followed by a prolonged downtime of the site itself) and if we were thinking like that I'm sure others that didn't think to check EnWorld for monkey info may be thinking that too.

RogerWilco · 11th June 2009, 02:32 PM

The last time I visited their site I left a post that it looked void of activity (last news like 4 months old), until you got a hint from the "tracker thingy" and got yourself a new forum account and only then could you see the forums and know they were alive.

Now I'm not even getting that, and I end up here.

It's typical for the monkeys, but by now 99.73% will have assumed they are no longer operational in any shape or form.

Their inability to maintain and backup a site has always boggled me, especially because they presumably are able programmers given their ambition level with RPGT. And I do have a clue about what it means to maintain such a site: www.conclave.cc

Thanks Nylanfs for providing the update. This thread is now the second hit in google if you go looking for CMP.

Nylanfs · 14th June 2009, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merton Monk

Apparently the site looks fine on Rob's local machine, and he's trying to figure out why it doesn't seem to work properly on the network. Should be back up shortly. -Bryan

Just got this this morning.

iwarrior-poet · 15th June 2009, 02:30 PM

It is still down.

Nylanfs · 16th June 2009, 10:44 PM

Just checked and it's kinda up, looks like Rob has a VERY generic format in the process of being installed. The forums aren't back up yet though.

iwarrior-poet · 22nd June 2009, 05:35 PM

Looks like they are down again. Around a month now. Disappointing.

Vascant · 22nd June 2009, 05:43 PM

In a strange way, I have to ask.. Does it matter? As far as I can remember you have never had a nice thing to say about them..

iwarrior-poet · 23rd June 2009, 04:02 PM

Not true.
When CMP started off I was a huge supporter. I posted regularly on their boards and other boards with very positive messages. I was so psyched about the pending RPGF that I bought $200+ of PCGen datasets---largely on the promise of getting those datasets converted to RPGF datasets when it came out. I convinced my gaming group to make similar purchases. Then we waited... and waited... and waited...
The last two years have seen them break promises, mismanage their website and fail to provide any timely info or updates.

Vascant · 23rd June 2009, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iwarrior-poet

Not true.
When CMP started off I was a huge supporter. I posted regularly on their boards and other boards with very positive messages. I was so psyched about the pending RPGF that I bought $200+ of PCGen datasets---largely on the promise of getting those datasets converted to RPGF datasets when it came out. I convinced my gaming group to make similar purchases. Then we waited... and waited... and waited...
The last two years have seen them break promises, mismanage their website and fail to provide any timely info or updates.

Two years? You have been on your Anti-CMP crusade for longer then that.

iwarrior-poet · 23rd June 2009, 09:57 PM

Possibly.
The whole process has taken so long, and has been so frustrating, that I have lost track of time. How late is CMP on producing RPGF? Three years? Four years? Sure---they always had the caveat of 'not laid in stone so don't hold us to account'--- but seriously now. They are WAY overdue. And then they took on Blackmoor when they hadn't even produced any info/progress on RPGF?
Bad management.