Suggestion for Frontier Developments: a weekly Q&A

[Edward Lewis]

Why? What possible harm could it do to let us know what's on the roadmap (both longer and shorter term)?

That's a good question. Elite: Dangerous has been developed in the open from the very beginning and we'll continue to hold open development at the heart of the game.

Of course the team has plans for expansion, for new features, new functionality, for new ways to play and experience the galaxy, and you've heard David talk about those ideas a number of times. December 16 is the end of a long journey for the development team and for all of you, but it's also the start of a new one.

But games developers often safeguard surprises. Sometimes developers need time to decide which features are priorities for the community, other times they don't want to disappoint players by promising something cool before they're certain it's ready, and other times it's as simple as wanting to make the announcement impactful and exciting. Our Imperial Interdictor from Saturday night's demo is a good example of that last one.

Excitement is important, because our long-time backers are about to be joined by the rest of the world, and any surprise we share with you is a surprise we'll ruin for them.

We want all of you to be surprised by new content, but we also want to balance that with our open development model. It's a tricky thing, but we'll keep trying to find the right balance, I promise.

So no, it doesn't do any harm, but why does that necessarily mean we should spill all of the beans!

 

[JeffRyan]

I think that being open has been a surprising move. I think that's part of the reason and part of the backlash. I originally moved for and got the DDA to be made public rather than a private backer's bonus and to be honest seeing how the community has reacted to gamma and a few other things I regret that to a certain extent.

The DDF and the DDA outlines a certain 'wish-list' and many of us (myself included) thought that most of the stuff in the DDA would actually be in the game by launch. Obviously we're disappointed that certain things haven't made it. Yet. That over-abundance of information has set certain expectations too high. I myself am disappointed about a few things not being here (where's my crew man?!) but I have enough intellectual honesty to realise /I/ got confused and had unrealistically high expectations.

The DDA sets out a clear list of 'realistically considered features'. And it's not a bad thing to work with for the free expansions outside the Big Expansions as functionality gradually is added to the game. We should contain our expectations and work with the fantastic game we have, acknowledge that we're disappointed for some things, but accept that things are still coming.

 

[Cosmos]

So no, it doesn't do any harm, but why does that necessarily mean we should spill all of the beans!

I like surprises

 

[Edward Lewis]

I think that being open has been a surprising move. I think that's part of the reason and part of the backlash. I originally moved for and got the DDA to be made public rather than a private backer's bonus and to be honest seeing how the community has reacted to gamma and a few other things I regret that to a certain extent.

The DDF and the DDA outlines a certain 'wish-list' and many of us (myself included) thought that most of the stuff in the DDA would actually be in the game by launch. Obviously we're disappointed that certain things haven't made it. Yet. That over-abundance of information has set certain expectations too high. I myself am disappointed about a few things not being here (where's my crew man?!) but I have enough intellectual honesty to realise /I/ got confused and had unrealistically high expectations.

The DDA sets out a clear list of 'realistically considered features'. And it's not a bad thing to work with for the free expansions outside the Big Expansions as functionality gradually is added to the game. We should contain our expectations and work with the fantastic game we have, acknowledge that we're disappointed for some things, but accept that things are still coming.

Most reasonable post I've read all day.

I wouldn't say you were confused, or had too high expectations, I'd say that you got excited about the prospect of that stuff coming to the game. And that's completely natural and understandable. Thanks for being a good sport.

 

[JeffRyan]

I was surprised there wasn't more of a 'Big Reveal' at the Premiere which would have been the logical place for a 'Big Reveal'. And no, the Imperial Ship didn't count cos of The Capital Ship video.

 

[JeffRyan]

Most reasonable post I've read all day.

I wouldn't say you were confused, or had too high expectations, I'd say that you got excited about the prospect of that stuff coming to the game. And that's completely natural and understandable. Thanks for being a good sport.

I'm a terrible sport, I tend to call things as I see 'em and some times that puts me on one side of an argument and at other times on the other. I'm with Frontier today and against them tomorrow. Then back with them by saturday. I'm amused I've been called a hater and an FD fanboi or apologist over the last few months

 

[Keeval]

The DDF and the DDA outlines a certain 'wish-list' and many of us (myself included) thought that most of the stuff in the DDA would actually be in the game by launch. Obviously we're disappointed that certain things haven't made it. Yet. That over-abundance of information has set certain expectations too high. I myself am disappointed about a few things not being here (where's my crew man?!) but I have enough intellectual honesty to realise /I/ got confused and had unrealistically high expectations.

I agree that may have been a mis-step, but I've just read Ed's reply and I agree the expectations aren't too high.

But I think some clarity from Frontier may have dampened some of the expectations a bit so that people would know that the stuff in the DDA/DDF was "A" desired end goal. But not everything discussed would be in at launch, and those items that did make it, would not necessarily be exactly as specified, due to implementation issues/time/cost/reality checks etc.

As nothing was said to clarify this, a lot of people (myself included) just "assumed" (incorrectly) that launch would contain all this wonderful stuff.

I think I'm trying to say that some sort of Q&A / Dev blog etc. could be used in the future to help control these kinds of assumptions etc.

 

[Edward Lewis]

I was surprised there wasn't more of a 'Big Reveal' at the Premiere which would have been the logical place for a 'Big Reveal'. And no, the Imperial Ship didn't count cos of The Capital Ship video.

You were doing so well with your reasonable post. You've let yourself down now

 

[Edward Lewis]

I agree that may have been a mis-step, but I've just read Ed's reply and I agree the expectations aren't too high.

But I think some clarity from Frontier may have dampened some of the expectations a bit so that people would know that the stuff in the DDA/DDF was "A" desired end goal. But not everything discussed would be in at launch, and those items that did make it, would not necessarily be exactly as specified, due to implementation issues/time/cost/reality checks etc.

As nothing was said to clarify this, a lot of people (myself included) just "assumed" (incorrectly) that launch would contain all this wonderful stuff.

I think I'm trying to say that some sort of Q&A / Dev blog etc. could be used in the future to help control these kinds of assumptions etc.

You're right. Also remember that this is the first time Frontier have published a massive game like this completely in-house. We're learning about process every day. All of these hiccups will make any future updates seamless... probably.

 

[JeffRyan]

You were doing so well with your reasonable post. You've let yourself down now

See what I mean!

 

[xyphic]

Hi Ed,

Excitement is important, because our long-time backers are about to be joined by the rest of the world, and any surprise we share with you is a surprise we'll ruin for them.

We want all of you to be surprised by new content, but we also want to balance that with our open development model. It's a tricky thing, but we'll keep trying to find the right balance, I promise.

So no, it doesn't do any harm, but why does that necessarily mean we should spill all of the beans!

You're right, none of us want to be spoiled as to the ongoing storyline. That necessarily means keeping some things back from us for our own good. I also understand keeping things like the Imperial Interdictor under wraps because it gives you something to show later. I completely understand.

What I don't see the harm in is telling us what plans you have for the topics as discussed in the DDF. For example, mining has been partially implemented. We're still missing more advanced concepts such as drones and scanners. Wings/alliances haven't been implemented at all. Salvage is bare-bones, in that we now have USSes that spawn derelict ships. Documenting your plans to fill in these features -- or at least telling us which features aren't likely to be included after release -- would go a long way toward managing our expectations. I'm sure that could be done without spoiling the surprise.

When people build something up in their mind, it's a big shock when it doesn't meet your expectations. ED is an incredible game, missing a little in regards multiplayer perhaps, but still an astonishing achievement in the two years it's been under development. I think a lot of the negativity we've been seeing recently comes down to the community getting carried away with our expectations, but without feedback from Frontier that's all we can do. I hope you understand where I'm coming from and hope that you can see that there are small things you can do to help keep our expectations in check.

 

[Neotronis]

I think you guys in Frontier need to go through your marketing as well. When using words like MMO and Multiplayer experience it needs to be toned down. Or the people buying in to those things will get very disappointed at launch.

 

[Bumbles]

You could do the Q&As as twitch stream where questions are posted in the chat, but there's no need to stream anyone playing the game. Last time I felt that you ended up paying more attention to playing the game than responding to the viewers.

 

[Seboss]

I think you guys in Frontier need to go through your marketing as well. When using words like MMO and Multiplayer experience it needs to be toned down. Or the people buying in to those things will get very disappointed at launch.

Either that, or you guys are *very* confident multi-player features will get a serious overhaul for release

 

[JeffRyan]

What I don't see the harm in is telling us what plans you have for the topics as discussed in the DDF. For example, mining has been partially implemented. We're still missing more advanced concepts such as drones and scanners. Wings/alliances haven't been implemented at all. Salvage is bare-bones, in that we now have USSes that spawn derelict ships. Documenting your plans to fill in these features -- or at least telling us which features aren't likely to be included after release -- would go a long way toward managing our expectations. I'm sure that could be done without spoiling the surprise.

I'm reminded of this thread I wrote back in September of 2013. Warn Jeff did. But no-one listen to Jeff. Very sad life, probably very sad death at hands of thargoids.

 

[Watcher]

An occasional Q&A would be great, weekly might be a bit of a commitment but either way it would be good.
Please no to the Twitch stream though, I think the originally suggested format would be best - it would allow for more carefully thought out answers I suspect.

 

[Zing Freelancer]

I am curios about FD's stance on current features in the game, especially the user interface and trading. Will we see major improvements to how trading is managed in the game, what direction will these improvements take? Aka Slopeys and Thudds solution or will it be more visual guess work?

Are you satisfied with how bounty hunting work? Have you considered changing local bounty office to a global bounty office responsible for entire major faction?
It's kinda annoying to be travelling from system A to system B, on the way you get interdicted and kill the pirate, then you have to find the correct station within the system to collect your money.

Are you working on a navigation planer for travelling?

Will there be a partial or full wipe at release? Can I keep my hard earned credits?

 

[Colonel Kenney]

That's a good question. Elite: Dangerous has been developed in the open from the very beginning and we'll continue to hold open development at the heart of the game.

Of course the team has plans for expansion, for new features, new functionality, for new ways to play and experience the galaxy, and you've heard David talk about those ideas a number of times. December 16 is the end of a long journey for the development team and for all of you, but it's also the start of a new one.

But games developers often safeguard surprises. Sometimes developers need time to decide which features are priorities for the community, other times they don't want to disappoint players by promising something cool before they're certain it's ready, and other times it's as simple as wanting to make the announcement impactful and exciting. Our Imperial Interdictor from Saturday night's demo is a good example of that last one.

Excitement is important, because our long-time backers are about to be joined by the rest of the world, and any surprise we share with you is a surprise we'll ruin for them.

We want all of you to be surprised by new content, but we also want to balance that with our open development model. It's a tricky thing, but we'll keep trying to find the right balance, I promise.

So no, it doesn't do any harm, but why does that necessarily mean we should spill all of the beans!

So this begs the question then ... are there any more surprises left before the 16th?

Also holding things back until the end does not bode well for testing.

 

[JeffRyan]

So this begs the question then ... are there any more surprises left before the 16th?

Also holding things back until the end does not bode well for testing.

Good surprises they're sure are stable I'm sure!

 

[Zing Freelancer]

But games developers often safeguard surprises. Sometimes developers need time to decide which features are priorities for the community, other times they don't want to disappoint players by promising something cool before they're certain it's ready, and other times it's as simple as wanting to make the announcement impactful and exciting. Our Imperial Interdictor from Saturday night's demo is a good example of that last one.

The art of misdirection comes to mind. You want to keep your audience guessing, but you need to keep them occupied. Which means throw the dogs a bone while keeping the meat to yourself until its done cooking. Give people something to talk about and then BAM, surprise!