GhostOrb

[Methos]

When are you going live with a free demo from pre-reg?

I'm not sure of the specifics of the sound system, however I do know that it sounds great...better than ventrillo or teamspeak for any of you who have ever used those. In fact, Praetor (one of the GMs) is wanting sound quality to be top notch as he is trying to pipe in music simultaneously. Eventually we would like to be able to stream music of choice as you play, or have a selection of player made Mp3s available for download depending upon the genre of your game. Anyhow, I will ask the devs more about the specifics of the sound tech.

We will be offering a free demo of sorts. I know that any pre- reg user gets a second account that lasts for one game session so that they can let a friend join up to a game and see what its like...however we want the client to be fully functional and as bugless as possible before we implement the demo. Im not sure what we have planned for other demo offers, Ill have to ask and see.

As far as what we offer, well, full voice conferencing for one, as well a dynamic community behind the client (which I believe can totally sell itself once you've tried it).

Anyhow, lemme know if ya have any more questions.

Asch

I have too many questions. I posted a similar thread about Ghostorb last week, and had a number of responses. Fundamentally, over the past year most of our long-time gaming group has moved away from each other. One of the things that I'm contemplating doing as I develop my new campaign as DM is attempting to resurrect the group using a service such as Ghostorb or Fantasy Grounds. However, I will probably go ahead and pre-reg for Ghostorb at least to test drive it for a few months. For a few bucks a month, I can afford it. I was curious when you will be going live and when you expect that there may be a demo available?

If I can get one of the other prospective players to participate and we both like it, it will much easier to sell to the remainder of the group. As far as I know, all of us are pretty computer savvy and have pretty up-to-date equipment with hi-speed internet access.

Thanks for any feedback you can give me.

Methos

 

[asch]

As far as I know we open in april (april 15th I think, but don't quote me on that).
The requirements are as follows:
System Requirements

• Internet connection (At 56k you may or may not be able use our voice-chat feature. Broadband is highly recommended.)
• PC only
• CPU: Pentium 90 Mhz
• RAM: 32 MB (96 MB Recommended)
• Working sound card and microphone (hands-free headset w/ mic is ideal for use on GhostOrb)
• Windows 98 or newer
• Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1
• Minimum supported resolution: 1024x768

The demo packages will be available when the client goes live, however Im not sure if the bonus accounts given to pre-reg's go live before that, (yet another question I'll have to ask when I get there tonight).

There is also a possibility of accepting more play testers as well, so if you let us know soon, perhaps you could get in on that just to see what it's like for free before release, although it isn't a gurantee. It'll depend on whether or not we need a new batch of testers. =)
Asch

 

[Seeten]

To the "Voice over IP doesnt work" crowd, I recommend trying teamspeak. www.goteamspeak.com, or www.teamspeak.org. Not to derail the Ghostorb thread, but VOIP technology is generally better than wireless phones, for voice quality, and I dont see anyone throwing their mobile away for poor quality.

 

[Bratgod]

VOIP servers?

Hey, I am not sure about this, but don't you have to have a server to use the teamspeak and teamspeak like VOIP services? I have never used those other services, but I think i heard that somewhere.

You are dead-on about the quality of any of these voice programs. In play-testing for GhostOrb we have found the sound quality to be too-good in some instances. Background noises come through so clearly that they can be tricky to deal with and it helps a great deal if the users have mute buttons, or if they only use head-phones (to prevent echo). On GhostOrb a GM can mute out a player if there is too much "distraction" coming through from their environment, and that pretty much solves the issue. I imagine that 1st person shooter addicts know all about that.

Anyone who doesn't think these VOIP things (from any company) work, simply needs to try one out. It's a lot better than a phone. Between you and I, in the off hours at GhostOrb, I use the client to make what are essentially (free) long distance calls! I can be working on the PC and talking to a friend (or friends) at the same time, all for just the fee of my internet connection.

 

[Bratgod]

Free Demos

How come you don't have a free demo so people can see what the software does?

What do you offer, other than the pro-DMs, that I don't get with other virtual gaming software - kloodge.werks, openrpg, screenmonkey, FantasyGrounds, etc.?

GhostOrb hasn't offered free demos because we aren't open yet. The general opening will happen in late April, and there'll be short Sample Games up and running a couple of weeks before that (and thereafter). You can jump into one of those to see if its your bag or no. Demo recordings of games being played on GhostOrb will also be up soon (maybe in a couple weeks or so). If you like, you can just watch a snipet of a game (or a whole game) to see how it works.

The client itself will only ever be available to members, so we aren't going to be giving demo software out. Klooge, open rpg etc etc, and such are all nice, and I suppose those might serve your needs perfectly well. We're shooting for something a little different at GhostOrb, and much of that is based on the quality of our services and our user base. GhostOrb isn't simply a gaming client, it's a private gaming community, magazine, and resource. It may or may not be for you. If you're at all interested in it, the best thing to do would just be to watch and see as GhostOrb develops.

If you think about it however, there are some serious advantages to being a member of a private subscriber service (as opposed to a free one), and to having a client that runs on its own dedicated servers (as opposed to completely on your own computer). And then there's the embedded voice tools... You'll just have to decide for yourself, I guess, but it's not like there has to be only "one" of these clients avaialble to "one" pool of users. Each plateform, like each game system, will have its fans. It'll just come down to trying them out and seeing what works best for you and your gaming group. All that these various systems prove for the time being, is that the future of Roleplaying is definitely online. As a wise man once said on here somewhere, "it is indeed a very exciting time to be a gamer."