@Stephen Benedetti - thanks for the feedback Stephen.
Really appreciating it
Really appreciating it
An open letter to Frontier Development
- Thread starter CMDR Kai Zen
- Start date
Thanks for replying, Stephen
From my point of view, I think the problem is the "a small team" bit. For the 2020 release things are where they are, and I understand that this close to the 2020 release there's also no time to recruit, induct, train, etc. the extra staff needed to run Galnet, Interstellar Initiatives, new tourist beacons, POIs, etc. alongside the work needed to make that release.
However, I think something that Frontier has consistently underestimated is the amount of this ongoing work needed to keep Elite Dangerous as a dynamic game, over and above the work done by automated systems such as the BGS. They've realised since the very early days that roles such as yours are permanently required ... and I think the same is true of the narrative/writing roles.
Looking historically at the big narrative events:
2015 - first CGs, Lugh War, Imperial and Federal government crises (leading into start of Powerplay)
2016 - Dangerous Games, foundation of Colonia
2017 - Colonia Expansion Initiative, Salome storyline, lots of new POIs for the Thargoid plot and other stories
2018 - Lots of Galnet story arcs linked to CGs, Gnosis misjump
2019 - Interstellar Initiatives (new witch head settlement, Blight, etc.)
2020 - ...nothing?
There's lots of features and scope in the current game for telling a very wide range of stories - as the diversity above shows - and presumably the 2020 release will add even more options.
But what the game needs is a dedicated "operational" team who can write Galnet, set up Interstellar Initiatives, place little bits of in-game content in for the fluff articles (a few wreckage POIs, a new comms beacon, etc.) and for this to be there even at busy times enough to keep things going (in the same way that, even with 2020 coming up, Support and Community Management keep going).
(And sure, when it's quiet between releases maybe that team can have more resources and do some really big stuff!)
So long as its only 2020 that goes down in Elite Dangerous history as "the year nothing happened", that's unfortunate but will soon be forgotten when stuff starts happening again in 2021. If it ends up being a regular occurrence every year before a major release ... that's not good.
From my point of view, I think the problem is the "a small team" bit. For the 2020 release things are where they are, and I understand that this close to the 2020 release there's also no time to recruit, induct, train, etc. the extra staff needed to run Galnet, Interstellar Initiatives, new tourist beacons, POIs, etc. alongside the work needed to make that release.
However, I think something that Frontier has consistently underestimated is the amount of this ongoing work needed to keep Elite Dangerous as a dynamic game, over and above the work done by automated systems such as the BGS. They've realised since the very early days that roles such as yours are permanently required ... and I think the same is true of the narrative/writing roles.
Looking historically at the big narrative events:
2015 - first CGs, Lugh War, Imperial and Federal government crises (leading into start of Powerplay)
2016 - Dangerous Games, foundation of Colonia
2017 - Colonia Expansion Initiative, Salome storyline, lots of new POIs for the Thargoid plot and other stories
2018 - Lots of Galnet story arcs linked to CGs, Gnosis misjump
2019 - Interstellar Initiatives (new witch head settlement, Blight, etc.)
2020 - ...nothing?
There's lots of features and scope in the current game for telling a very wide range of stories - as the diversity above shows - and presumably the 2020 release will add even more options.
But what the game needs is a dedicated "operational" team who can write Galnet, set up Interstellar Initiatives, place little bits of in-game content in for the fluff articles (a few wreckage POIs, a new comms beacon, etc.) and for this to be there even at busy times enough to keep things going (in the same way that, even with 2020 coming up, Support and Community Management keep going).
(And sure, when it's quiet between releases maybe that team can have more resources and do some really big stuff!)
So long as its only 2020 that goes down in Elite Dangerous history as "the year nothing happened", that's unfortunate but will soon be forgotten when stuff starts happening again in 2021. If it ends up being a regular occurrence every year before a major release ... that's not good.
Deleted member 38366
D
Well, the Solution(s) to the in-game vs. not in-game Problem have been presented and are very easy to implement.
So this issue can be considered fundamentally solved.
On the small team : since you're running and selling a live Game, I'd say your small team then needs to grow a little. It's clearly and visibly understaffed.
Pulling all support off a live game component - as in entirely pulled - is IMHO sending out wrong and very bad signals.
It makes it look (as others have stated) like "abandonware" in that respect now, which I'm quite confident is undesired, considering you plan to sell DLC to that very audience in the foreseeable future.
If it's supposed to be a "Dynamic, live and breathing Galaxy", it just needs exactly that. Dynamic events/action and some news covering those.
It clearly isn't at this point, which >is< an issue. An increasingly severe one I might add.
Well I personally continue to think that's a damn shame (and VERY easy to fix without simply scrapping those articles althogether). But thanks for taking the time to respond.
I can only think of one thing. They don't want to experience another "September-Update"-Desaster. And it's not allowed (yet) in the UK to tear your employees apart.
Sounds a bit like this
wasn't entirely honest.
I know that reality is a thing, we don't live in fantasy land and FD can't have huge dedicated teams for every small aspect of the game, but why make a statement like that in the first place?
wasn't entirely honest.
I know that reality is a thing, we don't live in fantasy land and FD can't have huge dedicated teams for every small aspect of the game, but why make a statement like that in the first place?
I thought Elite: Dangerous was all about living in a fantasy land
I, on the other hand, CANNOT understand how Fleet Carriers require a lot of work. They were supposed to be FINISHED months ago! And if the same person who writes GalNet articles also is responsible for debugging the programming code of Elite Dangerous, well then that's proof positive that the game is surely and utterly DOOMED (no sarcasm intended).
Not even necessarily. You can actually be a good writer and a good coder. But in the unlikely case that the same person would do both things, i even dare to say that mixing both a bit could make him more productive. I know that after some hours of coding i also need to take my head off from it and do something else for a little. Writing a bit of fluff text would actually be good use of that time.
That all being said, i consider it quite unlikely that the roles of writer and coder are on the same person in a team of the size ED is supposed to have. And on the writers being fully busy on the new update, i also wonder, if they couldn't take out like half an hour per week for some GalNet articles. I think it would help the game a lot.
I can only think of one thing. They don't want to experience another "September-Update"-Desaster. And it's not allowed (yet) in the UK to tear your employees apart.
this. they're allegedly 'rationalizing the codebase' (sic). they gave themselves a considerable, fixed buffer for that and any progress we'll see only on release. 6 months is a lot if you have a good team going, it's barely enough to get one going if you don't. will see! i expect a purely pr motivated 'beta' aprox 1 month before.
This was all that was ever needed regarding changes to GalNet.
This is where it went a bit wrong for me.
The change shouldn't have been about the writers, the change would have been better if it was putting people onto adding things into the game to support the narratives/occurrences.
Totally with you on this regard. I can think of a planetray wreck of a celebrity or the same one begging for help (Distress-Call USS), or hunting a criminal down at the next megastructure. Shouldn't be TOO complicate to seed them in the game.
Totally with you on this regard. I can think of a planetray wreck of a celebrity or the same one begging for help (Distress-Call USS), or hunting a criminal down at the next megastructure. Shouldn't be TOO complicate to seed them in the game.
That's kind of adding the meat of text and context to the already present and well working bones of the mission system. I am all for that. I very much wish that we would have this, it also would be a huge upgrade to the game.
But i also understand that building something like this is more work than one or another GalNet article every week. You'd have to link the mission system and some other parts of the game, which dynamically create content in the game, to a system where the ongoing stories of the game would have to be managed. Just keeping such a "master story system" updated every week will probably eat up more time than writing a handful of GalNet stories. That's without even considering the work of implementing such a system.
So, having something like this would be awesome, but i understand that it's nothing which is quickly built. It still could be a worthy addition of the next huge update, though. But for the moment, i would be more than happy to just have a bit of GalNet fluff back in game.
You just "overthought" my thoughts. Just seed a USS, nothing fancy, into a system that's mentioned at GalNet. Everything else is up to the commander to find...no missionboard-changes. In this case GalNet is the mission-board.That's kind of adding the meat of text and context to the already present and well working bones of the mission system. I am all for that. I very much wish that we would have this, it also would be a huge upgrade to the game.
But i also understand that building something like this is more work than one or another GalNet article every week. You'd have to link the mission system and some other parts of the game, which dynamically create content in the game, to a system where the ongoing stories of the game would have to be managed. Just keeping such a "master story system" updated every week will probably eat up more time than writing a handful of GalNet stories. That's without even considering the work of implementing such a system.
So, having something like this would be awesome, but i understand that it's nothing which is quickly built. It still could be a worthy addition of the next huge update, though. But for the moment, i would be more than happy to just have a bit of GalNet fluff back in game.
Hunting down the mentioned thief? Sure...put an NPC in the game. "Convince" him to drop the Gold-Container he stole from the last bank-robbery. We already have all the tools to pirate someone.
I didn't have a whole storyline in mind though...just some simple distractions like the "Tipp-Offs" you get ocassionally.
Just "misuse" or "alter" the already implemented things ingame.
To be honest, That was exactly the response I was expecting. Resources are needed else-where.
To tell you the truth, I would probably be willing to dispel this Galnet dry spell, if we had some reassurance that Galnet, CGs and IIs are going to return after these
fleet carriers were in the game. However,any wording regarding any return of CGs and IIs has been vague at best, which leads me to believe they are not returning.
To tell you the truth, I would probably be willing to dispel this Galnet dry spell, if we had some reassurance that Galnet, CGs and IIs are going to return after these
fleet carriers were in the game. However,any wording regarding any return of CGs and IIs has been vague at best, which leads me to believe they are not returning.
Then go read a book. Games are meant to be played, not imagined.
You just "overthought" my thoughts. Just seed a USS, nothing fancy, into a system that's mentioned at GalNet. Everything else is up to the commander to find...no missionboard-changes. In this case GalNet is the mission-board.
Hunting down the mentioned thief? Sure...put an NPC in the game. "Convince" him to drop the Gold-Container he stole from the last bank-robbery. We already have all the tools to pirate someone.
I didn't have a whole storyline in mind though...just some simple distractions like the "Tipp-Offs" you get ocassionally.
Just "misuse" or "alter" the already implemented things ingame.
Hehe, oki. Maybe i envisioned it larger than you originally supposed it to be. That doesn't change the fact that i would very much appreciate something like that. I more than once already said that i consider our current mission system to be very barebone. A number of mission types, plenty of technical information given, but very little in-world context provided. Adding a bit of story to them and using the mission chaining system (already implemented), would make things so much better. But i do understand that creating that is still a pile of work and not quickly done.
