Frontier of development: I cant wait for next major update
- Thread starter Chrizaim
- Start date
I, too, am a founder.
I, too, have played many, many hours. [6,029 last time I checked.]
I, too,have had my money's worth, and much agonising [which grfx card should I buy, CPU etc.] - I have a computer that is largely dedicated to Elite.
I, too, believe in the dreams and, perhaps more importantly, David Braben's dream of Elite.
However ...
How long is it since we heard from David about his dream. Are we still on course for his dream. 3 out of 3 of the last updates have derailed the dream for a while, this last one seemed especially bad.
I am not asking for special wonders, I am not asking for atmospherics or Elite-Feet [Space legs if you prefer] or any new wonderful features.
I am just asking for a bug-free production system Elitian Universe in which to explore and trade and all the other things that I enjoy doing.
I do wish somethings were easier, but these are finding mats. Two evenings ago, I visited a planet with 1.4% Antimony and after three hours had found it twice so 6 units. Last night, in the same time I found it another 27 times, so now I have 93 units. Oh ... for more evenings like last night. Now, I need to find the infamous Pharmaceutical Isolators for the first time since the update and the HGE's being improved - but I am torn between It's a simulation [first evening] and it's a game [second evening].
But, what I want, what I really, really want ... is a bug-free production system Elitian Universe.
So, a note to FDev, please take more care with your updates, delay them but get them better
FD financial report for the year, in Braben's words about ED. Commitments to the franchise, yadda yadda.
Also, sweet summer child, you think delaying patches will result in less bugs? It just gives them more time to break more things!
We'll have to wait for SpaceLegs before we can stand up!
Ah, not read that, I had not realised he commented in it but instead had been hoping for a video where he oozed enthusiasm as he used to during kick-starter.
Yes, perhaps in my naivety, I assumed that they would follow what I consider as proper testing protocols where the version is locked down in UAT and testing is performed until it gets sign-off from the user base, or a select few as appropriate.
I dunno, I kinda like Barking's take on this:
I'm sure 2020 will break loads of stuff regardless. But it's liable to be an all round step up from the thin gruel and floating bugs we're subsisting on with the filler patches.
We don't get updates coz every fool with too much money bought cosmetics, so they have never had any pressure to deliver a paid update and they haven't yet .
So enjoy the bad paintjobs and worse free updates ( they don't have to be good/working they 'free' ) and keep drinking ze koolaid.
That makes no sense at all.
(1) They're working on a large PDLC expansion.
(2) "The majority of revenue for Elite Dangerous still comes from players coming fresh to the game", according to the CFO. Cosmetics accounted for Ā£4mil+ in that financial year, in which ED generated 22m revenue in total.
They can't subsist on that alone though, because their 100+ dedicated staffing ([1],[2],[3],[4],[5]), with industry norms of approx $120k pa per dev ([1],[2],[3]), is likely to set them back approx $12mil per year. For devs alone. The projected earnings for both Planet Coaster & ED combined for this FY was Ā£20m. Uptake for the existing titles can't sustain for ever.
Which would probably explain why FDev's main efforts seem to be in a PDLC expansion. As that's the most meaningful way to monetise the existing playerbase, and keep those devs paid over the longer term.
E: The more logical explanation for why the second PDLC has taken so long, outside of any opaque internal tech wrestling, is the much vaunted move from (crappy) Seasonal deliveries, to an all in one delivery. Resulting in a dev run which seems to be as long as the initial launch dev run.
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I have yet to begin my wait time.
No it's me Dave let me in!ā®
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To be honest i can wait , playing a session on saturday was almost rage inducing. Between the plethora of bugs added and the servers being twitchy, it just wasnt fun.
Reached a point where i just gave up after i couldnt join a friends instance at the nav beacon in shinrarta after several failed attempts.
Reached a point where i just gave up after i couldnt join a friends instance at the nav beacon in shinrarta after several failed attempts.
He gets those from Marks and Sparks anyway.
What a surprise, considering they haven't released a paid update in years.
Also, the average employee getting ~$10k per month - I assume average and median are two very different numbers in this case.
What a surprise, considering they haven't released a paid update in years.
Also, the average employee getting ~$10k per month - I assume average and median are two very different numbers in this case.
Ay fair play
. The point was that cosmetics are a small piece of the pie though, and don't really generate enough to let ED coast as a project etc. On the dev cost estimate, it's not just wages. That rule of thumb is based on total 'costs' to the company, IE welfare provisions / training / pensions / equipment purchase & hire / software licensing etc. (But yep, I'm sure the median would be distinct from the average regarding wages spread etc).
None taken. Maybe replace the word 'dream' with 'vision' in my OP. I didnt want to imply any faith, rather it seems right now ED are the most likely publisher to make the game I wanna play.
Have had that. Hope they upgrade server system, understand not easy. Frustrating to play tho
Games I've played over multiple years. Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2, Fallout Series, Skyrim, Diablo Series, Neverwinter nights, Bards Tale, Borderlands Series, Elder Scrolls Online, Doom series, Wolfenstein old and new, Marathon, COD, Mechwarrior, Conan Exiles, Witcher Series and I'm probably leaving a bunch out.
This game looks neat, has nice sound design, has a fun flight model. It's a placeholder until a full game in the same genre is released.
FDEV seems to make very weird design decisions. Sort of like Lucas electronics on British cars. Someone had to think it was a good idea somewhere, but...C&P, PP, No PVE/PVP game partition, Activity -based ARX, no central servers, etc. etc. Really?
This game looks neat, has nice sound design, has a fun flight model. It's a placeholder until a full game in the same genre is released.
FDEV seems to make very weird design decisions. Sort of like Lucas electronics on British cars. Someone had to think it was a good idea somewhere, but...C&P, PP, No PVE/PVP game partition, Activity -based ARX, no central servers, etc. etc. Really?
