Chris Roberts is probably one of the worst Developers at giving dates.
The man has no concept on giving proper timelines.
He will tell you how excited they are about whats just around the corner, which really means its more that a year out.
Should Frontier be more open about its development plans
- Thread starter Ghural
- Start date
Chris Roberts is probably one of the worst Developers at giving dates.
The man has no concept on giving proper timelines.
He will tell you how excited they are about whats just around the corner, which really means its more that a year out.
TERMINATRIXXX
Banned
I like surprises. A few infos here and there is enough for me.
Many companies keep things secret for a valid reason.
Many companies keep things secret for a valid reason.
Aye but he has given us some classic games over the years..as for SC who knows..
Hmmm, yes, a roadmap of a horrific one-way single lane gravel road to a bottomless pit.
But seriously, they did give a dev plan during kickstarter and they have stuck to it pretty nicely, if you had cared to type "Elite Dangerous Development Plan" into Google.
[video=youtube_share;EM0Gcl7iUM8]https://youtu.be/EM0Gcl7iUM8[/video]
After all the success of the alien hyperdictions I believe Frontier is pretty satisfied with what they're doing.
As much as I tend to agree to what you say, the unknown and the fact that we don't really know what we might expect from the game content is part of the fun. Kind of.
That said it's about time they release some info about 2.3
As much as I tend to agree to what you say, the unknown and the fact that we don't really know what we might expect from the game content is part of the fun. Kind of.
That said it's about time they release some info about 2.3
Sterling MH
Banned
I think that at the least the things on the drawing board for 2.4-3.4 knowing that the purpose of this infodump is to get feedback on which ones should be shoved in first in the pipe (if that ordering makes sense for development, something we can't see) and tolet people know what the future game (as far as S3 and their hopes of what to achieve) is going to be will help massively to, if not stop the complaining, at least move it to more productive areas like what we think it means what we would do in implementing X, when we would take up Y again, and so forth.
And even if it gives more to get pressured about, it releases one pressure off the community.
Dave Braben, dropping the Solo standalone was a problem for people not because you promised it and then took it away, but that a solo standalone game was what many people wanted. They asked for a refund not because you gypped them, but because they wanted a standalone game.
And an always-online game is a very different purchase proposition than a standalone game.
I didn't buy rebirth because it was steam only, and I don't want to be bound by two EULAs, one of which had nothing to do with the game I bought. And I wouldn't ever buy Elite through Steam either for the same reason. Not even at 90% discount. But buying from FD's store? It's only the game EULA I'm signing on,and that's 100% about the game I bought. No problems. Well, not much. Still would have preferred a standalone game. It's still a different purchase proposition.
So don't let the refunds for solo buyers who didn't want a multiplayer at any cost. It was their money and your game, and neither wanted to hand over changes to the other to seal the deal. Telling people about what's being prototyped or checked out as to what is affected, and what's firm enough in the design stage to be in the game at some point is not the same thing at all.
At the least, it allows people to consider if they want to buy a season before it's complete, because they have an idea of what could be coming up.
And even if it gives more to get pressured about, it releases one pressure off the community.
Dave Braben, dropping the Solo standalone was a problem for people not because you promised it and then took it away, but that a solo standalone game was what many people wanted. They asked for a refund not because you gypped them, but because they wanted a standalone game.
And an always-online game is a very different purchase proposition than a standalone game.
I didn't buy rebirth because it was steam only, and I don't want to be bound by two EULAs, one of which had nothing to do with the game I bought. And I wouldn't ever buy Elite through Steam either for the same reason. Not even at 90% discount. But buying from FD's store? It's only the game EULA I'm signing on,and that's 100% about the game I bought. No problems. Well, not much. Still would have preferred a standalone game. It's still a different purchase proposition.
So don't let the refunds for solo buyers who didn't want a multiplayer at any cost. It was their money and your game, and neither wanted to hand over changes to the other to seal the deal. Telling people about what's being prototyped or checked out as to what is affected, and what's firm enough in the design stage to be in the game at some point is not the same thing at all.
At the least, it allows people to consider if they want to buy a season before it's complete, because they have an idea of what could be coming up.
Sterling MH
Banned
But a quarter of that roadmap is ????
I don't think I want to buy a game that just lets me emote confusion in space!
Also, though this is quite reasonable in this case, alien appearance was in Season2. Not on the roadmap. Now, putting it up could well have been a bit of a spoiler, then again the fact that you may have to to 600ly and then jump 20-100 times to get the alien introduction meant that 99.999999% of people saw it in a youtuber vid first, and 99.99% of users haven't had it at all yet (yeah, made up numbers). So spoilering (more than "Winter is Coming!") isn't that big a deal here looking back at it in hindsight.
Difficult one. Gut reaction is yes and then I try and think about what would be sensible and end up coming to the conclusion not much.
I think the problem stems from the delays in season 2. We have, due to the delay, had an extra 4-8 weeks of tumble weed blowing through the forums after each 2.x release with no info from FD on what is going on. That coupled with some significant bugs in the core elements of the game that leave people thinking - "did they actually test this?". That is my feeling anyway.
My hope is that post 2.3 we will get a new road map for 3.x with lessons learnt from season 2 delays incorporated
I think the problem stems from the delays in season 2. We have, due to the delay, had an extra 4-8 weeks of tumble weed blowing through the forums after each 2.x release with no info from FD on what is going on. That coupled with some significant bugs in the core elements of the game that leave people thinking - "did they actually test this?". That is my feeling anyway.
My hope is that post 2.3 we will get a new road map for 3.x with lessons learnt from season 2 delays incorporated
Sterling MH
Banned
NMS lied about their game, though. Nobody is expecting FD to lie about their game. Are you?
SC's problem is one Chris had last time with Freelancer. And currently it's worse: people keep paying because there keep being more stretch goals, and so this is an example of deliberately included feature creep BY THE DEVELOPERS THEMSELVES. If they stopped asking for donations and cut back real early (e.g. after the first two stretch goals were met), then there may well have been *a* Star Citizen game out now.
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Me too.
Every time there's a newsletter or a developer post, I excitedly look for hints of what's coming next, but I think it's ultimately better -- and more exciting -- when a ton of info arrives closer to release. When stuff is teased well in advance it gets picked apart by the forum to the extent that we're sick of it before we've got it. I'd rather have spaced-out bursts of excitement than endless mild disappointment!
Sterling MH
Banned
Imagine if they showed us their development experiments on caves (this is an example and speculation, it doesn't mean caves are coming
I say yes, despite that. But it is why the FD team's decision on this isn't as simple as just publish. But if we keep this scenario in mind and try to avoid it, there's no impediment to release.
Maybe the community needs to open up first to the FD team?
PS NMS lied about their game. Not promised and failed to deliver, said such-and-such was already in, faked the promo landing, said there was a secret in the centre of the galaxy, not a "Restart on Hell difficulty" flip back to a galaxy just like the last one. Not said they were thinking, not saying it would arrive, not promises. Claims of it already being in there. A very different kettle of fish to your Caves example.
game is still in mid-development and delays are normal, same thing here in ED but not on that scale since base game is finished.
CIG did go open from development start and that's where problem starts, ppl are inpatient so they criticise it.
game on such scale and details are expected to be developed at least 7-10years, FD took different path and release fully playable base game but with 1/3rd of planned content and develop it trought 10years development plan. normal open world games are developed from 5-7years, depends are game engine and tools are finished.
it is easy to determine release dates when engine, tools and base game is finished.
Be happy and look foward for both games, ED and SC! But with patience.
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FD has different aproach, they still keep 2.4 as a secret, with players guessing what will be.
Most players think it will be aliens, but aliens will be free update for all players(owners of the just base game and season2owners). And 2.4 is paid season content so i think something more related to game mehanism will be in 2.4, and thing that they keep it as secret i think it will be something juicy for season end
It's a lose/lose option for them really. Unhappy players if you don't deliver as promised. Unhappy players if you don't tell them what to expect.
Compared to current position I would want more though and if given with a bit of honesty on what's likely or aspirational along with acceptance when things go wrong or become too difficult I would be happier.
Yes I want everything yesterday please, but I'm not that unreasonable to expect it or fail to understand that they have multiple wants, need to prioritise and need to look at the best results on limited resources.
It would help them too in better understanding and addressing the majority of players priorities from feedback and the more that current majority of players are happy the more likely they are to gain new.
Compared to current position I would want more though and if given with a bit of honesty on what's likely or aspirational along with acceptance when things go wrong or become too difficult I would be happier.
Yes I want everything yesterday please, but I'm not that unreasonable to expect it or fail to understand that they have multiple wants, need to prioritise and need to look at the best results on limited resources.
It would help them too in better understanding and addressing the majority of players priorities from feedback and the more that current majority of players are happy the more likely they are to gain new.
It is the No Man's Sky effect.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-12-20-no-mans-sky-changed-the-video-game-hype-train-forever
Many developers are reigning in the hype train. Yes FD used to do all those wonderful videos but the business risk of promising something that they cant deliver on is now too great in the aftermath of NMS and particularly because they have a game in a very similar genre as forced them to become overly cautious.
I, for one, would like some frickin' details about what they have planned - even in very general terms - for multicrew. We've had nearly zero information on what it may, or may not, contain for a year! All I ever see is players speculating about it. It's frustrating.
Sterling MH
Banned
But, again, it wasn't hype that killed NMS, it was lying. Go look at the reviews by critics. Look at why they called it "No Man's Lie".
Unless FD are expecting to say something that they're definitely not doing and no plans to, either,then NMS has no bearing on this at all.
SC's problem may be their efforts to actually produce what they promised (when each stretch goal was reached rapidly and far ahead of schedule, that pushed "what they promised" into the next millenium....), but only if they're caught telling porkies (e.g. you will never get this ship we said you would), they will be criticised, but not for any "NMS problem".
While I understand the need to keep development secrets and release info in a way that maximises publicity and hype - telling us absolutely nothing about the future of the game is disrespectful to their customers.
Most people only used to read the weekly newsletters for the 'peek of the week' and the dev-update. Both of which were removed some time ago - now its just full of filler about people driving around in SRVs and stuff. Can't help thinking they could be giving us some idea of the future of the game, even if it's not revealing anything too major about the next few releases.
New concept art perhaps? Return of the dev-updates?
Most people only used to read the weekly newsletters for the 'peek of the week' and the dev-update. Both of which were removed some time ago - now its just full of filler about people driving around in SRVs and stuff. Can't help thinking they could be giving us some idea of the future of the game, even if it's not revealing anything too major about the next few releases.
New concept art perhaps? Return of the dev-updates?
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Sterling MH
Banned
I would say more than disrespectful to the season pass holders. They paid and haven't gotten more than half of the update, and half of that is "????". That there are lifetime subbers means that can't be carried to Season 12, but...