Frontier, Please Make Odyssey Good

Meanwhile at the Fdev morning team briefing...

David Braben swivels into view in his grand white pleather bubble chair, stroking a cat. "So then, it's decided. Odessey will launch in Q2 of 2021. Our Chinese investors will be pleased. Most pleased indeed. Anything to add, my minions?"

Ed Lewis, visibly cringing, "Master! We have a forum post that might contain vital intelligence that we should discuss. It reads, 'Please make Odyssey Good'."

gasps and murmuring from the collective

Braben
, sternly: "Hm. They may have a point. Have we considered this?"

Lewis: "Yes master! .. I mean... no master, please don't beat me! But we can add this to the project outline and reorder workflow priority immediately to accommodate! Once Dav has been repaired he will know exactly what to do, I promise."

Braben, nodding, bald, "Engage."
Ed Lewis? How old is this thread?
 
I was wondering about re-buy... if my top half gets vapourised by a rail gun, then my left leg gets cut off by a laser gun and I loose my right leg to guard dog then what’s left of me to rebuy - triggers broom and all that - how much of me will the insurance company keep on replacing?
 
While it will no doubt be on every developers radar that console platform games stores are seemingly more amenable to refunding the customers than they once were, Odyssey and Cyberpunk are totally different games and genres, elite is superniche. Cyberpunk had more preorder sales than Elite has sales racked up in 6 years on the market. Cyberpunk also sold more units in 6 days after release than Elite did in 6 years. Odyssey is little more than an extension of Elite, ergo comparing Cyberpunk to Odyssey is like comparing apples to diesel engines.
 
Meanwhile at the Fdev morning team briefing...

David Braben swivels into view in his grand white pleather bubble chair, stroking a cat. "So then, it's decided. Odessey will launch in Q2 of 2021. Our Chinese investors will be pleased. Most pleased indeed. Anything to add, my minions?"

Ed Lewis, visibly cringing, "Master! We have a forum post that might contain vital intelligence that we should discuss. It reads, 'Please make Odyssey Good'."

gasps and murmuring from the collective

Braben
, sternly: "Hm. They may have a point. Have we considered this?"

Lewis: "Yes master! .. I mean... no master, please don't beat me! But we can add this to the project outline and reorder workflow priority immediately to accommodate! Once Dav has been repaired he will know exactly what to do, I promise."

Braben, nodding, bald, "Engage."

I know its quite common for the casual racists among the forum to cite the Chinese investors as the bogey man of Frontier developments but its important to point out that Tencent own 8.7% of shares while Dave owns 33.2%.

A swedish Asset management company owns 7.7% of shares and strangely enough no one ever mentions that.
 
I know its quite common for the casual racists among the forum to cite the Chinese investors as the bogey man of Frontier developments but its important to point out that Tencent own 8.7% of shares while Dave owns 33.2%.

A swedish Asset management company owns 7.7% of shares and strangely enough no one ever mentions that.
Oppenheimer Funds also hold 7.7% and they are not mentioned either...

Only the Chinese shareholder gets the flak: You can almost hear the cries of: "Yebbut - iss tencent innit guv... Dey ownz de wurld dunt dey? Evryware wheel ave lute boksez!"
(Yes, that is prejudicial of me, perhaps the detractors are not entirely knuckle-draggers, perhaps...)
 
Oppenheimer Funds also hold 7.7% and they are not mentioned either...

Only the Chinese shareholder gets the flak: You can almost hear the cries of: "Yebbut - iss tencent innit guv... Dey ownz de wurld dunt dey? Evryware wheel ave lute boksez!"
(Yes, that is prejudicial of me, perhaps the detractors are not entirely knuckle-draggers, perhaps...)

The smaller shareholders (Hi! <waves>) seem to be an interesting bunch too.
 
I know its quite common for the casual racists among the forum to cite the Chinese investors as the bogey man of Frontier developments but its important to point out that Tencent own 8.7% of shares while Dave owns 33.2%.

A swedish Asset management company owns 7.7% of shares and strangely enough no one ever mentions that.

I am not racist, but I have been vocal about my concern regarding Frontier's mingling with tencent...

The reason for my concern is best surmised as tencent are predominantly interested in "free to play + pay to win" and or mobile games, which while they give tencent a highly addictive portfolio:

1608764713693.png


This is not a direction I want to see Frontier, and more specifically Elite, go in. You probably recognise me from my curmudgenoistically criticising "credits fountains", rosily reminiscing of the bad old days when the game was harder... Well that's the exact opposite design ethos of mobile "cookie clicker" games who feed the dopamine addiction mechanisms* through an endless stream of "accomplishments", and that is why I'm opposed to Frontier getting involved with Tencent. Well, more accurately, given I didn't rush out and buy shares in Frontier to block Tencent, I'm not directly opposing it, but I am concerned by their involvement.
*Dopamine addiction mechanism's best surmised by Simon Sinek:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRYMSlEk-JE


So no, it's not race colour or creed that concerns me about Frontier/Tencent, it is the very nature of the business that Tencent specialises in that I do not like. I feel a publisher making their own unique, somewhat boutique, games, and a mass media cookie clicker publisher are uneasy bedfellows. It is akin to "Big Oil" (petroleum and chemicals) taking a significant stake in Tesla Motors. "Big Oil" made its fortune pulling hydro carbons out of the ground and finding ever more ingenious ways of getting us to buy them and transmogrify them into atmospheric pollution, and have historically lobbied against environmental movements and legislation, often delaying things like electric vehicles, whereas Tesla was set up to help ease us out of "the carbon economy". Were that deal to happen Tesla supporters might be concerned that new models would include an internal combustion engine generator "range extender" and the flagships models would all be v8 rather than electrically powered. And in that vein, I am worried that Elite might go down the road of "There are 40 more roles to complete this module, or you can spend 2,000arx to complete grade 5 engineering" or "buy 1,000,000 credits with 1,000 arx" etc.
 
I am not racist, but I have been vocal about my concern regarding Frontier's mingling with tencent...

The reason for my concern is best surmised as tencent are predominantly interested in "free to play + pay to win" and or mobile games, which while they give tencent a highly addictive portfolio:

View attachment 201783

This is not a direction I want to see Frontier, and more specifically Elite, go in. You probably recognise me from my curmudgenoistically criticising "credits fountains", rosily reminiscing of the bad old days when the game was harder... Well that's the exact opposite design ethos of mobile "cookie clicker" games who feed the dopamine addiction mechanisms* through an endless stream of "accomplishments", and that is why I'm opposed to Frontier getting involved with Tencent. Well, more accurately, given I didn't rush out and buy shares in Frontier to block Tencent, I'm not directly opposing it, but I am concerned by their involvement.
*Dopamine addiction mechanism's best surmised by Simon Sinek:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRYMSlEk-JE


So no, it's not race colour or creed that concerns me about Frontier/Tencent, it is the very nature of the business that Tencent specialises in that I do not like. I feel a publisher making their own unique, somewhat boutique, games, and a mass media cookie clicker publisher are uneasy bedfellows. It is akin to "Big Oil" (petroleum and chemicals) taking a significant stake in Tesla Motors. "Big Oil" made its fortune pulling hydro carbons out of the ground and finding ever more ingenious ways of getting us to buy them and transmogrify them into atmospheric pollution, and have historically lobbied against environmental movements and legislation, often delaying things like electric vehicles, whereas Tesla was set up to help ease us out of "the carbon economy". Were that deal to happen Tesla supporters might be concerned that new models would include an internal combustion engine generator "range extender" and the flagships models would all be v8 rather than electrically powered. And in that vein, I am worried that Elite might go down the road of "There are 40 more roles to complete this module, or you can spend 2,000arx to complete grade 5 engineering" or "buy 1,000,000 credits with 1,000 arx" etc.

Sounds like a kneejerk reaction, it also smells racist, despite your claims. Tencent's Board member would have to actually show up and be an active participant for there to be much in the way of concern - his attendance is sporadic and input minimal. Tencent also fail to own enough stock to have anywhere near that kind of sway, or much at all really. So all you are doing here is fanning the flames of fake worry, it's clear that DB and FDev want no part of such mechanics even with Arx - despite the cries of players, let alone a single shareholder. You realise there almost isn't a major publishing house without Tencent on it's list of investors, right?
 
Not sure what an arbitrary delay is for unless you know something we don't. Cyberpunk went through development hell due to poor management according to former employees. The game and story went back to the drawing board more than once making multiple delays necessary, and apparently should've had a few more. FD has better management, and although Odyssey won't ship in a perfect state, it will be fine.
 
Dev: Sir! There is someone on the forums saying we should make Odyssey good!

Braben: What? That goes against all our plans! We want to make it bad!

Dev: But sir! They said they won't buy it if its bad! They said they will only buy it if it is good!

Braben: Well, that's perposterous! Keep working on making the expansion bad! And put more devs on the fire! Its getting chilly in here!
 
I’m really digging CP77. Already 40 hours in. It’s like an interactive movie where you can take breaks from the rails and enjoy the sandbox. Met my first T posEr AI bug yesterday.

I just put it down to drugs.

the game has been remarkably smooth and the visuals are astoundingly good. Sure the dialogue is cheesy at times, but that suits Keanu’s delivery perfectly.
It’s like watching a film noir from the 30s... but in colour.... and with sex and violence.
10/10 for atmosphere and graphics.

Of course, I wasn’t a chump and instead watched the YouTube streams a bit before laying down the greens.

I noticed that nearly all the bugs were for undersoecced relic hardware so decided to purchase.

Best $50 spent since Dual Universe.
soon will dip below the $1 per hour of fun mark.
Much better value than real hookers and blow, IMO.

if Ofyssey comes even anywhere near to CP77s engagement and depth it will be even better considering it’s free for many of us. I’ll probably also eat my hat, were I to wear one.
 
Dear Frontier Dev. Please don't make the same mistake as CD Projekt Red and Focus Home Interactive. Both game developers enticed me into a pre-order this year and both have released their games in a horrendous state. Because of these experiences, I won't pre-order your game but may buy it if initial reviews are good. If it's a buggy mess, and your base game kinda already is, I won't be buying it at all.

Here's your latest warning:
Cyberpunk 2077: Sony pulls game from PlayStation while Xbox offers refunds

I humbly suggest you go ahead and announce a delay until 3rd quarter 2021 and schedule an extra round of testing and bug fixing.
Just get it out there while the news cycle is demanding game developers do better.

I heard Frontier definitely has planned to release a buggy mess, because that is what developers love to do...
 
Sounds like a kneejerk reaction, it also smells racist, despite your claims.
You're calling me a racist? You can Naff right off! You don't know the first thing about my real life, so there is no naffing way you can make that aspersion.

Apart from the dissonance from Real Life on the forum, in this setting, what evidence do you have to substantiate that allegation? None. I cited quite a few points detailing how it wasn't creed or colour that concerned me about tencent's involvement with Frontier, but simply the types of games that Tencent are best known for and some of the design mechanics used in those games. Those reservations would hold true for other cookie cliker companies, meaning that in much the same way I'm concerned about Tencent's influence, I'd hate to see Zynga or King Developments get involved.

You say Tencent don't have that much sway in Frontier, and that may be so, aren't but since they got involved in 2017, credits in-game have rained down on players with ever-increasingly absurd intensities. Granted, that would be circumstantial evidence at best, but it's still a correlation, and i does "put them at the scene of the crime". Then there is the move to the "arx" premium currency, another game monetisation often used in cookie clicker games.

But since the almighty Kelster, who doesn't know anything about me, my associates, extended family or previous voluntary activities has decreed disliking those changes to the game and thinking they suspiciously like the cookie clicker mechanics I'd see from tencent makes me a racist, I better naff off and go to the barbers to get a skinhead and try to catch the shops before they close so I can buy me some swastika t-shirts.
 
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You're calling me a racist? You can Naff right off! You don't know the first thing about my real life, so there is no naffing way you can make that aspersion.

Apart from the dissonance from Real Life on the forum, in this setting, what evidence do you have to substantiate that allegation? None. I cited quite a few points detailing how it wasn't creed or colour that concerned me about tencent's involvement with Frontier, but simply the types of games that Tencent are best known for and some of the design mechanics used in those games. Those reservations would hold true for other cookie cliker companies, meaning that in much the same way I'm concerned about Tencent's influence, I'd hate to see Zynga or King Developments get involved.

You say Tencent don't have that much sway in Frontier, and that may be so, aren't but since they got involved in 2017, credits in-game have rained down on players with ever-increasingly absurd intensities. Granted, that would be circumstantial evidence at best, but it's still a correlation, and i does "put them at the scene of the crime". Then there is the move to the "arx" premium currency, another game monetisation often used in cookie clicker games.

But since the almighty Kelster, who doesn't know anything about me, my associates, extended family or previous voluntary activities has decreed disliking those changes to the game and thinking they suspiciously like the cookie clicker mechanics I'd see from tencent makes me a racist, I better naff off and see if I can catch the shops I guess I'd better go to the barbers to get a skinhead and try to catch the shops before they close so I can buy me some swastika t-shirts.

Ohhh, touchy.. Seems the shoe fits.

You have zero proof of any of your claims, except coincidence. You were the one who brought up that Tencent came from China - we all know and none of us need reminding. If you'd just mentioned Tencent and moved on, fine, but you made the argument about race. You also failed to mention any of the other major investors, all of whom are also invested in other game devs and publishers. When I'm finally able to acquire a similar holding to Tencent are you going to blame me for it all?

A correlation? That's all you've got? Correlation is not causation. As mentioned, Tencent's Board member would need to turn up more than 30% of the time. A less than 10% holding also leaves Tencent as a minority shareholder. I could give you one of the reasons for Arx happening, but you'd never believe it was done, in part, to reduce costs.
 
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