Thursday, 5th February, 2004

Related Links:

Source Code Release - Microsoft
Amazement on the Boards
Gamespot Press Coverage

Who would have thought. The news hit everyone by total surprise and created amazement and confusion throughout the community. The biggest event ever to happen for the Allegiance Community after the release of the game itself.

Allegiance was released four years ago. After the beta days, the lag problems that nearly killed the game, the pay-to-play aspect that was repulsive to an enormous majority, and the cheaters that almost finished it off, hackers started working their way through, modifying bigger and bigger things. As Microsoft abandoned Allegiance officially after releasing the 1.25 patch, the Community found itself almost helpless, playing on an unstable lobby and servers, at the total mercy of cheaters and without authentication of any kind.

Little miracles came one after the other. First the different SOV utilities, allowing people to play games without lobby, and eventually play safe from cheaters and with authentication. Also came new servers for the lobby and games. Then came very useful reverse-engineered tools like ICE and AGM to modify Allegiance like it had never been possible. As people found they could modify more and more things, add technology, factions, etc., they grew into a very strong relation of cooperation between every member dedicated to reviving Allegiance and giving it the mainstream glory it deserves, as one of the best games ever made.

Many Community members had attempted to purchase the source code for Microsoft. Although the 'hackers' could do many great things, they had precise limits. One iconic limit is bringing back the Allegiance Zone and stats, both of which had been attempted by multiple candidates, and with very few results. It had become an inside joke to suggest that "stats will be up in two weeks", a joke started when Your_Persona, then leader of the My_Allegiance group, had mentioned so and then had disappeared. Later attempts were no more successful.

The original Allegiance developers were well aware of the immense progress that had been made, and sided with the Community, thinking that releasing the Source Code would only be beneficial to everyone. What was not known is that Solap, one of the Allegiance developers, was working hard, as had others before him, to get Microsoft to release the Code. Solap was successful, and immediately proceeded.

And so simply conversing with one of the Allegiance players one day, Solap was reporting having problems posting on the Community's message boards. It was just to mention that the Source Code was now available. It struck everyone by total surprise.

As you can imagine, the shock and amazement was tremendous. Reactions of disbelief were appropriate after the long wait and before the incredible possibilities. The thought of making Allegiance 2 became possible, reviving the AZ and stats were just a few weeks of work away (rather than trying to hack and get the proper code). The possibilities are now endless.

The release of the Source Code did more for the Community than just giving them access to anything they could want. It also gave Allegiance further press coverage and visibility, being mentioned on both Gamespot and Penny Arcade, and having links from different websites to those news. Microsoft even added, at Solap's request (ultimately from a Community member's request) to add a link to the Community's website on the Source Code's download page. The immense flow of players broke yet another record (the first record having occurred on August 19th, as Penny Arcade had mentioned Allegiance). Unfortunately, ASGS went down at the same time, and with it more minor troubles, but nothing serious. As such, there are now at least 70 players online at any time, which is easily double than what it used to be, even after ASGS' recovery.

The Allegiance developers are thoroughly thanked for making this possible. Although many have looked for a way to thank the developers, those have expressed that simply continue to improve this game as we have over the years with our very limited access would be reward enough. Tkela, Solap, and the others are closer to the community as ever, even giving tips or explanations as to the code, as players now get their own look into Pandora's Box.