She is employed as AI coder. Her relationship with employer is her own private matter. She is not getting paid for being nice to us in forums. No one is. Seriously, blaming FD for planning their own stuff and reshuffling their stuff is a bit too much. It's a bummer, and big one if her code isn't used relatively soon, however without any other information we can only say "thank you" and let her move on to new stuff.
Sarah moved from current project, update no longer coming?
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She is employed as AI coder. Her relationship with employer is her own private matter. She is not getting paid for being nice to us in forums. No one is. Seriously, blaming FD for planning their own stuff and reshuffling their stuff is a bit too much. It's a bummer, and big one if her code isn't used relatively soon, however without any other information we can only say "thank you" and let her move on to new stuff.
Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
Her tweet clearly says that update wont happen. Really upset here, if that is the case.
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It must be my fault - apparently FD read my mind and whenever I like something in the game, they axe it whilst implementing my worst nightmares in the worst possible way imaginable at the same time.
Apologies everyone ;(...
Apologies everyone ;(...
Yeah , her forum posts were allways better than the news letter and would fill me with hope and joy
I think you meant tweet, but twitt would seem an adequate description of someone who decides not to incorporate her changes into the game.1
Well, I do not like to presume anything, but the fact is that SJA was the only developer who was meaningfully communicating with player base about the progress in the game development. Fact one.
As far as I can read from her tweets, she was probably not promoted to the chief designer/developper of ED with appropriate salary rise, stock options etc.
Fact two.
I suppose (and that is my only presumption) that she was not suspended for some petty reason like stealing paperclips or toilette paper in the office.
Fact three.
So, from my personal selfish point of view as a player and paying customer, the FD did another big mistake. From my point of view, probably the last one and I will vote with my wallet.
The reason for this is because FD is abysmal at communication. So any Dev that does put out even the smallest amount of communication is held up as amazing, especially if they seem to be dedicated and competent.
It's an easily remedied thing, as evidenced by how the community has responded to SJA's simple posting on the forums and interacting. People are just tired of game companies thinking they're guarding state secrets.
She first posted that her 2 month work is wasted. Then that tweet was removed, because a) contract b) most likely it's not entirely true (I expect AI fixes land in 1.4).
Then she posted that update won't happen. Later she explained that a) it will go in one day and b) she might return to AI in ED.
So it is not so bad. It's a bummer for her for sure, not knowing when code will be included, but it's a bit emotional hyperbole going on around here.
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Could be anything. At one end of the scale you have Mr. Braben playing "Fire a Random Employee", rolling a D20 or two, and she's done. On the other hand, you have Mrs. Avory dropping acid and running around the FD offices waving a machete and yelling about minions. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
Basically, this. ^
you are the devil :___;
Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
My fault (edited now), not a native English speaker. All my respects to Sarah.
This is one of those where I think we should be collecting signatures for FDEV to reconsider
first include her last bits of AI code, then have her move as planned.
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Mixed feelings here.
Assuming there's no internal struggle at FDev, I'm actually happy an AI coder might be coding some other part of the AI, rather than just combat. I kept saying this over and over - having combat-smart NPCs isn't really the way to make the game more immersive if said NPCs will keep doing stupid things (demanding to drop cargo, still killing the player when they comply, attacking a Python in a Sidewinder, that kind of thing). In other words, NPCs need to behave smartly outside of combat - they can fight well enough already (outside of some minor difficulty tweaks here and there).
So, if she's on general AI rather than combat AI? That's awesome! That's really good! That might be one of the steps needed in getting an actual, living universe (or at least a universe that FEELS like it's alive, if not living).
On the other hand, if her big AI update was almost done, it IS a shame to leave it to rot... But there's a big caveat here! FDevs already had a habit of developing things "short sightedly". Like the 10% sell penalty without proper module storage / trade / transfer. I fear her big AI update would be just that - updated AI in combat, with no regard towards the overall difficulty curve of ED (making the game even more of a grind for new players).
Assuming there's no internal struggle at FDev, I'm actually happy an AI coder might be coding some other part of the AI, rather than just combat. I kept saying this over and over - having combat-smart NPCs isn't really the way to make the game more immersive if said NPCs will keep doing stupid things (demanding to drop cargo, still killing the player when they comply, attacking a Python in a Sidewinder, that kind of thing). In other words, NPCs need to behave smartly outside of combat - they can fight well enough already (outside of some minor difficulty tweaks here and there).
So, if she's on general AI rather than combat AI? That's awesome! That's really good! That might be one of the steps needed in getting an actual, living universe (or at least a universe that FEELS like it's alive, if not living).
On the other hand, if her big AI update was almost done, it IS a shame to leave it to rot... But there's a big caveat here! FDevs already had a habit of developing things "short sightedly". Like the 10% sell penalty without proper module storage / trade / transfer. I fear her big AI update would be just that - updated AI in combat, with no regard towards the overall difficulty curve of ED (making the game even more of a grind for new players).
Oh dear oh dear. What a sad thing, we had our hopes up for her new awesome stuff to be released anytime soon.... but someone else decided otherwise.
Truly sad, after all the awesome dialog Sarah Jane had with the community.
Hope to see you soon again, Sarah Jane. And your awesome NPC update.
All the best wishes for you in your new position.
Truly sad, after all the awesome dialog Sarah Jane had with the community.
Hope to see you soon again, Sarah Jane. And your awesome NPC update.
All the best wishes for you in your new position.
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