So Sandro Sammarco has moved aside. Who has taken the reins then?
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Who knows, they might even start working on features they have promised since the games initial concept. This could be a good thing, but I will not hold my breath.
If it wasn't Sandro who has been overseeing the second half of Beyond, then they've still done an excellent job in rolling out these recent updates with great new ships, mechanics and effects, some of the best trailers for ED in a while, and making necessary decisions and sacrifices(postponement of carriers) and keeping everything else reasonably on schedule.
There is always going to be a love/hate dynamic with games. What one player likes in a new update, another player might dislike. Some gamers can be a bit cruel when expressing their views, just remember game developers are humans to before you post a message.
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I enjoyed the live streams more when it had the space cowboy and his partner in crime Loach, and all the developer memes that came with it.
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I enjoyed the live streams more when it had the space cowboy and his partner in crime Loach, and all the developer memes that came with it.
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Mobs seem to need scapegoats, and I am under the impression that's exactly what happened to Sandro concerning Elite. I am pretty sure the development of Elite has never been a dictorship but always been decided by the team and not a single person.
Whatever lead to Sandro wanting to change the project, I for one wish him lots of luck and happy working (him and his loach).
Whatever lead to Sandro wanting to change the project, I for one wish him lots of luck and happy working (him and his loach).
As an addendum to my post above (which, on re-reading, is a bit harsh):
Overall, I -really- love the game. The designers/developers have really put together an awesome experience for the most part.
Individually, most of the new features have been great; some have needed a couple of revisions (some still do). Of course certain people like certain features more than others - there's a huge disparity in the people playing this game.
But my point stands that the overall direction seems to have become a little less well-defined and that there is a lack of that final "spark", that spit-and-polish that pulls it all together into a unified whole. Still, "Beyond" has gone some way to fixing various things (and finding new ways to break others); hopefully the future will bring some focus again.
I was hoping he was only taking a break, but it seems the community backlash was too much. I too wish him (and the loach!) all the best moving forward. Met him a couple of times; he's a really nice guy and seemed to know what he was talking about. But juggling this community is worse than herding a group of cats and rabid dogs through a forest filled with wildlife.
Overall, I -really- love the game. The designers/developers have really put together an awesome experience for the most part.
Individually, most of the new features have been great; some have needed a couple of revisions (some still do). Of course certain people like certain features more than others - there's a huge disparity in the people playing this game.
But my point stands that the overall direction seems to have become a little less well-defined and that there is a lack of that final "spark", that spit-and-polish that pulls it all together into a unified whole. Still, "Beyond" has gone some way to fixing various things (and finding new ways to break others); hopefully the future will bring some focus again.
Personally I think the "Gnosis" incident broke his back. He was -really- downcast in some livestreams following, as well as a couple of forum posts after that.
I was hoping he was only taking a break, but it seems the community backlash was too much. I too wish him (and the loach!) all the best moving forward. Met him a couple of times; he's a really nice guy and seemed to know what he was talking about. But juggling this community is worse than herding a group of cats and rabid dogs through a forest filled with wildlife.
He was really more of the Lore guy. Since the story took a backseat he didn't really have much to do on ED.
I don't know if I should be happy or sad.
The game has some serious issues, design issues at that, but I'm not sure they were caused by a lack of vision, but rather by mismanagement or lack of resources.
Mr. Designer: "I've got some great ideas about a crafting feature!!! I think we should call it Engineers."
Mr. Manager: "I can't spare the people for that, can't you make something simpler like the Koreans do it, with RNG?"
Mr. Designer: "But our players won't like that..."
Mr. Manager: "I don't care, I've got this budget for this year and this is what we're going to work with."
Sammarco always struck me as a guy with brilliant ideas, even if some of the worst implementations in this game came to light during his time.
I don't know if I should be happy or sad.... Does this mean OOPP is dead in the water?
Are we sure this is true?
The game has some serious issues, design issues at that, but I'm not sure they were caused by a lack of vision, but rather by mismanagement or lack of resources.
Mr. Designer: "I've got some great ideas about a crafting feature!!! I think we should call it Engineers."
Mr. Manager: "I can't spare the people for that, can't you make something simpler like the Koreans do it, with RNG?"
Mr. Designer: "But our players won't like that..."
Mr. Manager: "I don't care, I've got this budget for this year and this is what we're going to work with."
Sammarco always struck me as a guy with brilliant ideas, even if some of the worst implementations in this game came to light during his time.
I don't know if I should be happy or sad.... Does this mean OOPP is dead in the water?
Are we sure this is true?
Laurence Oldham replaced Michael Brookes as the game director. That's probably why we now get stuff that the previous Elite devs didn't want in the game such as Voice acting and scenario missions (more story driven content) which is good.
Brookes lead development of Jurassic World Evolution and that game got mixed reception.
Probably Planet Safari if its a new project.
Brookes lead development of Jurassic World Evolution and that game got mixed reception.
Probably Planet Safari if its a new project.
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I don't think anything he did or didn't do in Elite, nor our feedback on such, were responsible for his moving to pastures new. We live in a society where major decisions are rarely taken by one person, so scapegoating is exactly what it would be to blame Sandro for anything. I remember thinking on a couple of occasions that it seemed he didn't really get MMO culture, but lots of good things happened under his tenure, so I wish him well with Elite V.
I'm glad that he's ok, and I'm glad he's no longer working on Elite. Though that probably also means that the promise of the return of increased optimal mass as secondary on shields is dead. So legacy Cutters with class 5 shields will forever have the edge.
Addressing grandfathered modules is the elephant in the room now, I have to believe it will be sorted soon. FD can't keep their heads in the sand much longer.
Wanna bet?
Please stop blaming Sandro for stuff. Michael Brooks was the producer at that time and all decisions went through him.
Mostly agree. Also needed different and more varied Power play rewards. A bigger penalty for switching sides. And a method of Power play merit upkeep for explorers.
Not sure he has moved on. Thought he was working on the next "era" of ED coming next year.
Willing to bet the grandfather modules left in circulation or being used is abysmally small, much less bathe chance to interact with someone with them.
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