Oh look! Another question about the NeoApp. Well, I’m not sure if you’ve heard or not, but a few weeks ago it was FINALLY announced that we’d be getting a mobile app (due to Flash expiring, among other reasons). TNT stated that they have a full-time subgroup dedicated to this project. So my question is: Since you and some other staffies essentially built a Neopets app already to completion, what do you think this one will be like? Do you know if anyone who worked on the version with you, will be working on this version? Thanks!!
snarkie
Not a robot... probably.
Hello, Ren! I’m sorry to say I really have no clue. Unfortunately, I’m not the best person to try and figure out what’s in their heads. 😛 Case in point…
I was technically on the JS-owned Neopets for about 6-ish months. In the last 2 or so months, during the physical transition from Nickelodeon/Viacom, we started to talk about what was next for the brand. I pitched them on quite a few different versions of what the team thought a relaunched Neopets could be on mobile. The scope got smaller and smaller until, eventually, their response was that they didn’t really want something new. They rather wanted separate, stand-alone mini-games, with no core Neopets experience or central meta-game and only minimal ties to the existing site. And preferably to reskin games they’d already built for other IPs. Basically, they wanted more Ghoul Catchers. They had their reasons, of course, but I didn’t agree. We just never really saw eye-to-eye in general. (It’s part of the reason I left once the transition was done.)
So maybe they’re still thinking along those lines but it’s been years! I have no idea if the people who gave me that feedback are even still there at all, let alone what they’d be thinking now. Maybe there are brand new people with completely different and interesting perspectives from mine and the “old” JS! (Oh Fyora, please let that be the case.) Not to mention they have new owners—with a completely different market perspective, even—who may have their own ideas for how Neopets should manifest on mobile for different international audiences. So it’s hard for me to get into their headspace and I’m at a loss to even venture a guess!
I know what I hope it is, though! I really hope it’s an actual fresh relaunch of the brand. Doesn’t have to start big. It just needs a decidedly Neopian core experience, hitting all the special pillars we love but made for the mobile space. I desperately want it to reinvigorate the IP for years to come. Neopets deserves it!
(But also, I’ll probably plug my ears and close my eyes and scream LA LA LA when it launches because, no matter what it is, peeking at it will just drive me insane. Please tell me how it turns out! Or wait, don’t? Which one will be less maddening?)
Oh! To answer your last question: Nah. Everyone who worked on the On-the-Go app (and Ghoul Catchers, and the pitches) is loooooong gone. The Neopets Team I knew was mostly obliterated.
Thanks for your question!