We at W3D Hub have taken notice to the talks and discussions happening around as a result of Red Alert: A Path Beyond moving here. That said, the team would like to address this properly. Read for more details.
We at W3D Hub have taken notice to the talks and discussions happening around as a result of Red Alert: A Path Beyond moving here. That said, the team would like to address this properly.
One_Winged_Angel wished to address the community via video which you can view below. It addresses a few of the concerns brought up and will hopefully help to inspire some confidence in what we are aiming to build in the future.
Furthermore, we would like to present to you a letter from the entire team here at W3D Hub.
Hello everyone. These past few days in the W3D community as a whole have been rather eventful, to say the least! Red Alert: A Path Beyond Delta was successfully released via the W3D Hub launcher and we’ve already had a number of spectacular games! This release has been pretty special for all of us here (especially those of us who have been playing the game for 7+ years now), because we firmly believe that the way the game plays and feels harkens back to the glory days of APB Beta. Thanks to all of the graphical improvements, gameplay enhancements, and balance tweaks, it can be reasonably said that Delta truly surpasses Beta.
With that in mind, we will now attempt to build upon the success of this release with additional infrastructure support from W3D Hub’s side. What this means is the statistics system that made those old games worth sinking so much time into will return with persistent progression tracking as well as the inclusion of achievements. Along with thorough bugfixing and extensive PR, this should hopefully get the word out there to the wider gaming community that C&C isn’t quite dead just yet and will conceivably serve to swell the ranks of the public players, allowing more regular games to be played. However, the release of Red Alert: A Path Beyond Delta via the W3D Hub launcher was not without vocal opposition. Concerns and speculations have been raised by several members of different C&C communities over the nature of the changes that are going to be happening. These are changes that we will address now.
It would appear that a few are apprehensive to downloading the launcher and are instead demanding a standalone download. While we understand your unease, please understand that the W3D Hub launcher is the most viable and robust method of distribution. With it, patches and hotfixes can easily be implemented with little to no hassle. Rather than resorting to handing out loose files for every change (and teaching players how to direct connect to the server), it is more practical to deliver any and all updates through the launcher.
Since Bluehell Productions has ceased official support for Red Alert: A Path Beyond, the project will now be entirely hosted and maintained by W3D Hub. The official forums, TeamSpeak channel, IRC network, Mod DB page and other relevant communication mediums for Red Alert: A Path Beyond are now all hosted by W3D Hub. Bluehell Productions is no longer the official source of news, updates and support regarding A Path Beyond.
However, Red Alert: A Path Beyond is not over.
There are a few people in this thread that are lamenting the end of BHP and the APB community, when in reality W3D Hub is comprised of some of the key founding BHP members. When we split off from BHP last year, our goal was to create a community that could surpass BHP in its services and infrastructure. With APB joining us now, we have achieved a part of this goal.
This is the end of BHP’s affiliation with APB, but it is certainly not the end of the APB community. With some of us being founding members of Bluehell Productions, we understood that when there were those who stood against our progress; we needed to escape and create a new place where we could genuinely do something amazing for the community. Now with W3D Hub we have finally done that and APB is one of the final pieces to our puzzle. It’s safe to say that mods like Expansive Civilian Warfare, Battle for Dune and others would not have joined us if we hadn't split, but now as a truly united W3D community, we can push forward in ways that we could never do before. Our motives have always been for the good of the games and of the fans and we hope that we can continue to do right by them and develop a strong and thriving community that will stand for years to come. W3D Hub is the true BHP community now thanks to all of the talented developers that have joined our ranks to support our love for this oddball game engine with all of its triumphs and flaws.
To clarify any confusion regarding assets, patches, and future developments: In December of last year, dialogue was opened between the leaders of the APB development team and the leaders of W3D Hub. During these talks, the APB leaders made their position clear to W3D Hub that under no circumstances was the game to be taken over, or simply handed across without clear guidelines being set. In the absence of Chronojam, who has not logged into the BHP forums since July 2015, Pushwall, who effectively became Lead Developer and Executive Producer, now holds creative control over A Path Beyond (http://i.imgur.com/7906j7V.jpg). It has been stipulated that if any W3D Hub member wishes to make any changes to the game, they are to be made by and/or approved by him. Whether development even continues on A Path Beyond is entirely up to Pushwall at this stage. Here's hoping that more content is on the way in the future!
Whatever the future may hold with APB’s development, we will be providing support for as long as we are physically able to. When W3D Hub was founded, we made a promise to support the W3D community and affiliated projects as best as we can. We will continue to uphold that promise and make sure that Red Alert: A Path Beyond keeps shining as an outstanding example of what this community is capable of.
Let’s make this place into a haven for like-minded Renegades to Command and Conquer!
Yours truly,
The W3D Hub Team