Frontier - Please don't make your developers crunch

Imagin

Imagin
I played the beta and experienced the bugs but I still fell in love with this game. I, like many others, are very anxious for the official launch BUT the launch is only 27 days away and there were some pretty serious game-breaking bugs discovered in the beta which was not even the full game. I know I'm going to be playing this game for years. I really think it would be better to delay the launch a month or even more if necessary to get everything done properly without forcing unreasonable overtime hours on the developers.

Crunch time in the game industry is infamous. I do not know what Frontier's policy is regarding this, I just wanted to say that I for one would rather wait and have a well-polished game on launch day than have the game launch on the originally posted date. And I'd feel a heck of a lot better playing it knowing that no developers were forced to work obscene hours to make it happen - whether they were compensated for their sacrifice or not. If you agree, speak up. We could make a difference.
 

bamber

B
you should have seen the Bugs from Elite Beta and the bugs they still get in the development BETAs. The COBRA engine they use must be superb for making changes to it and modifying it. I believe they are launching a new cobra engine soon - will be ace

Frontier KNOW how to do betas - and to get us to work on what they want tested and their cobra engine is very under rated

That or there is always pizza
 

Imagin

Imagin
bamber said:
you should have seen the Bugs from Elite Beta and the bugs they still get in the development BETAs. The COBRA engine they use must be superb for making changes to it and modifying it. I believe they are launching a new cobra engine soon - will be ace

Frontier KNOW how to do betas - and to get us to work on what they want tested and their cobra engine is very under rated

That or there is always pizza
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Read these articles and see if you still feel the same way:

www.businessinsider.com

Grueling, 100-hour work weeks and 'crunch culture' are pushing the video game industry to a breaking point. Here's what's going on.

Video game makers from all over the world are pushing back on extreme working conditions.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com

www.digitaltrends.com

Why are game studios run like sweat shops? The human toll of ‘crunch time’

Crunch has a long history in game development, but after recent revelations of 100-hour work weeks in Red Dead Redemption 2’s development, we spoke with a number of developers about what it’s like to work in crunch culture in the game industry.
www.digitaltrends.com www.digitaltrends.com

variety.com

Despite Resistance, Crunch Continues to Define the Video Game Industry

Where Crunch was once a defining part of the game industry, a change in the practice could help redefine the industry once more.
variety.com variety.com
 

Aero-Bubbles

Aero-Bubbles
I've played game betas with many more problems and bugs than planzoo, and they had an even closer launch date, everything turned out fine, and they still released patches when necessary.

Frontier knows what they are doing, if they need a delay then they need it, but honestly I think everything is going to be fine. :)

EDIT: That RDR 2 article where they said their developpers worked 100 hours was debunked and not true
 

bamber

B
I don't disagree BUT I have seen that Frontier run VERY good BETAs and test well what they want ( we haven't had taxes Why they didn't need them testing in Beta so have left them out - research has been massively simplified) they know what needed testing and have developed to what they needed

Then as I say the Cobra Engine sees fantastic for post BETA work and is easy to do what they want and lots of it
 

Silhouette

S
There will always be crunch time at the end of a project, regardless of if it includes extra hours or not. That final push before release requires a lot of dedication and work, and game developers just have to expect that.

For reference I'm also a game developer, and I've definitely experienced crunch time. Is it gruelling? Yes. Is it necessary? Also yes. Besides, you can't always push things to a later date. Some companies can get away with it for sure, but not all the time. Especially when you have investors, you need to get a product out on a certain time.

Aero-Bubbles said:
Most of those articles are just bloggers looking for attention, and going off rumors. I don't think any company is forcing workers to work 100 hour weeks xD
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Nope, they're accurate. It happens. A very well known example is an article that was published about long hours forced upon BioWare employees. Many take months off because of stress and depression caused by crunch. I live in the city where their headquarters is and I actually know quite a few people that work, or worked at, BioWare. They confirm working conditions can be extremely miserable during crunch time.

It's not a good thing that happens but... It's also something you know will happen when you enter the game industry.

I would just say don't assume Frontier's crunch time is necessarily a bad thing. Some companies are known for their bad working conditions during such periods, but not every company is that way. Most aren't, really.
 

bamber

B
By the way its 27 days till launch but remember the have been fixing it for 15 days already their "snag list" would have been started on from day one - have to say "serious game breaking bugs" what are they? I have seen many bugs that aren't just "game balancing" from information you get in a stress test (aka frontier Beta) if you have played elite from the beta days you will have see "Bitchin betty" who revoked landing rights or swapped landing pads 5 seconds before you landed - THAT was genuinely game breaking and they fixed it
 

Imagin

Imagin
Silhouette said:
For reference I'm also a game developer, and I've definitely experienced crunch time.
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How wonderful to have an insider! Please tell us what kind of developer position you work and, if possible, what games you have worked crunch time on.
 

Imagin

Imagin
bamber said:
By the way its 27 days till launch but remember the have been fixing it for 15 days already their "snag list" would have been started on from day one - have to say "serious game breaking bugs" what are they? I have seen many bugs that aren't just "game balancing" from information you get in a stress test (aka frontier Beta) if you have played elite from the beat days you will have see "Bitchin betty" who revoked landing rights or swapped landing pads 5 seconds before you landed - THAT was genuinely game breaking and they fixed it
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I had 2 zoos crash in a way that required me to start over from scratch because there was no possible way to open them again. I'd call that game-breaking.
 

bamber

B
were they serious and repeated by most players? if not they aren't game breaking - I also had 2 crashes I had to start again - Boohoo the next 5 days after the crash proved they were not game breaking ( one was fixed in Beta 1.1)
 

bamber

B
what was it and when? and has it been fixed in subsequent updates? I certainly haven't heard of any game breakers if I had I would have tested them and sent in a report.

Please provide the incident report so I can comment if it affected me
 

Imagin

Imagin
bamber said:
what was it and when? and has it been fixed in subsequent updates? I certainly haven't heard of any game breakers if I had I would have tested them and sent in a report.

Please provide the incident report so I can comment if it affected me
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I'm not going to argue bugs with you. This is a discussion about crunch time.
 

bamber

B
you said there were serious game breaking bug that MAKE crunch time so surely me asking what they are so I can assess crunch time is a valid query?
 

LoneBlind

LoneBlind
bamber said:
you said there were serious game breaking bug that MAKE crunch time so surely me asking what they are so I can assess crunch time is a valid query?
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Neither of you know for sure whether or not Frontier employees are being horribly overworked during crunch time or not. OP was expressing concern and well wishes towards the dev team. They didn't say for a fact that anyone was suffering due to crunch time. Your "assessment" is unnecessary and rude. There's no need to shout "Boohoo" at people over this, its not something you have any personal stake in anyway.

I would also personally prefer delays and a more polished game over overworked employees and hope the devs are pacing themselves in these final days of development.
 
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