Required reading before you post criticising the developers

It's been 3 months since starting out as a Mostly Harmless, Mostly Penniless, Mostly Aimless Pilot to an Expert, Broker, (still) Mostly Aimless Pilot.

And its been a blast.

I wanted to share this bit of reading with you guys and just want to appreciate FDev for a really rare gem of a game that they've built.

Some may say, its ocean wide and an inch deep. Others may say the dev's didn't deliver what was promised.

But given the time of development, the promises and where Elite: Dangerous is currently, I'd say its a job well done (thus far).

So before you bash another game, read the article below. It might give you more insight into why FDev makes the decisions it makes.

http://kotaku.com/five-things-i-didn-t-get-about-making-video-games-unti-1687510871
 
Interesting article. Unfortunately I think a lot of the complaints whilst they may have a basis in fact seem to run out of control due to emotion. This emotion appears to be driven by misunderstanding rather than some sort of vendetta. I must admit though that much of the vitriol I read about this and many other games does start wearing a little thin. What can be done about it, not a lot. I am afraid those that are already wound up about the game are unlikely to read the article with anything other than distain as of course they will see the author as part of the problem and that he doesn't really know what he is talking about anyway. Lets face it Borderlans 2 was one of the worst games ever published, right. Thanks for posting it, have some rep.
 
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It's been 3 months since starting out as a Mostly Harmless, Mostly Penniless, Mostly Aimless Pilot to an Expert, Broker, (still) Mostly Aimless Pilot.

And its been a blast.

I wanted to share this bit of reading with you guys and just want to appreciate FDev for a really rare gem of a game that they've built.

Some may say, its ocean wide and an inch deep. Others may say the dev's didn't deliver what was promised.

But given the time of development, the promises and where Elite: Dangerous is currently, I'd say its a job well done (thus far).

So before you bash another game, read the article below. It might give you more insight into why FDev makes the decisions it makes.

http://kotaku.com/five-things-i-didn-t-get-about-making-video-games-unti-1687510871

That article explains little about the FD mindset, it's a rather broad opinion and floats several unspecified excuses as to why we should cut game developers some latitude. Are IT projects any different no matter what the discipline? We plan every day to deliver mobile apps for our clients and one thing remains constant. Good project planning, communication and managing expectations are central to ensuring that your clients are happy. These things seem to escape the games industry, who a adopt a taciturn approach. In my opinion they are master of their own fate.

With regards to the game I agree its OK, the adage "mile wide, inch deep" has some connotations.
 
That article explains little about the FD mindset, it's a rather broad opinion and floats several unspecified excuses as to why we should cut game developers some latitude. Are IT projects any different no matter what the discipline? We plan every day to deliver mobile apps for our clients and one thing remains constant. Good project planning, communication and managing expectations are central to ensuring that your clients are happy. These things seem to escape the games industry, who a adopt a taciturn approach. In my opinion they are master of their own fate.

With regards to the game I agree its OK, the adage "mile wide, inch deep" has some connotations.

I agree. Particularly with project planning and communication, even a basic plan of what we could expect will help, Q1, Q2 etc. Its the not knowing that people find frustrating.
 
Interesting article. Unfortunately I think a lot of the complaints whilst they may have a basis in fact seem to run out of control due to emotion. This emotion appears to be driven by misunderstanding rather than some sort of vendetta. I must admit though that much of the vitriol I read about this and many other games does start wearing a little thin. What can be done about it, not a lot. I am afraid those that are already wound up about the game are unlikely to read the article with anything other than distain as of course they will see the author as part of the problem and that he doesn't really know what he is talking about anyway. Lets face it Borderlans 2 was one of the worst games ever published, right. Thanks for posting it, have some rep.
Did you just insult BL2? APOLOGIZE!
 
Did you just insult BL2? APOLOGIZE!

NOW BLOW SOME BIOWASTE UP, YOU BADASS MOTHER *EXPLOSION NOISE, HERE*

BorderLands, hylarious. What a way to burn away time. Both games were a total breath of fresh air.

For the topic, awesome read. +1
 
Theyve got plenty of slack, but a lot of the background simulators that the players had been led to believe were working on 1.0. Are in fact mostly missing and the lack of updates on that front and a lot of focus on pvp, ships, weapons and multiplayer hasnt given very much at all ( abelit yes theres some work been done and continue to be done) but a mile wide and an inch deep is only going to appeal for so long before the next mile wide and mile deep effort comes along from a competitor and sinks the boat - remember they have expansions to get away yet so they want the goodwill of the player base before moving foward we will become future customers yet
 
Theyve got plenty of slack, but a lot of the background simulators that the players had been led to believe were working on 1.0. Are in fact mostly missing and the lack of updates on that front and a lot of focus on pvp, ships, weapons and multiplayer hasnt given very much at all ( abelit yes theres some work been done and continue to be done) but a mile wide and an inch deep is only going to appeal for so long before the next mile wide and mile deep effort comes along from a competitor and sinks the boat - remember they have expansions to get away yet so they want the goodwill of the player base before moving foward we will become future customers yet

There's truth in your comment. How long could "Rocket" whatshisface DayZ person declare on the forums that DayZ was in alpha, or beta, before dealing with the bugs in the game. I feel sorry for those who bought the £20 standalone version through Steam, but that's another story.
 
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Did you just insult BL2? APOLOGIZE!
Start irony mode;
I deeply and most humbly apologise for my unwarranted and psychotic attack on that fine example of game code Borderlands 2. If I had a sword I could fall on I would, failing that I have thrown myself upon a sofa cushion and may that be a lesson to me. :)
End irony mode

Must admit have never played the game, played the first one.
 
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NOW BLOW SOME BIOWASTE UP, YOU BADASS MOTHER *EXPLOSION NOISE, HERE*

BorderLands, hylarious. What a way to burn away time. Both games were a total breath of fresh air.

For the topic, awesome read. +1
They sure were, their style, humor, and gameplay were unique and excellent. Also, I LIKE MY LOOT LIKE MY BABY STEAKS... rraaarre.. -Kreig 2013
We don't speak of the Pre-Sequel.

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Start irony mode;
I deeply and most humbly apologise for my unwarranted and psychotic attack on that fine example of game code Borderlands 2. If I had a sword I could fall on I would, failing that I have thrown myself upon a sofa cushion and may that be a lesson to me. :)
End irony mode

Must admit have never played the game, played the first one.
I don't know if that apology is enough. As recompense, since you haven't played BL2 yet, go pick up the GOTY edition for cheap on steam or something and play it, you won't regret it!

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

He did and I disagree vehemently. I thoroughly enjoyed Borderlands 2.
As any self-respecting, intelligent, valuable member of society must.
 
That article explains little about the FD mindset, it's a rather broad opinion and floats several unspecified excuses as to why we should cut game developers some latitude. Are IT projects any different no matter what the discipline? We plan every day to deliver mobile apps for our clients and one thing remains constant. Good project planning, communication and managing expectations are central to ensuring that your clients are happy. These things seem to escape the games industry, who a adopt a taciturn approach. In my opinion they are master of their own fate.

With regards to the game I agree its OK, the adage "mile wide, inch deep" has some connotations.

Agreed, like any professional they have to face up to over promising and under delivery, while it may not be the fault of Billy Coder who is working every hour he can to get through his todo list it is the fault of those running the project, on many levels usually. With soem luck FD wil start to turn things around with their communication and at least people will know where we are, even if that is to confirm, through either actual confirmation or lack of, that the game might not be what FD set expectations it would be
 
Perhaps they need to start a few threads asking for small ideas that can improve gameplay, listen to that list and then move foward
 
Remembering back to University and coding C+ then yep, coding a full game is a task so complex i genuinely cant comprehend even where to begin.

Anyone who realises how many lines of code and textures are involved in a 5GB games package would be a little easier on Developers when 'Rep doesnt work 100% all the time' or 'Ship explodes for no reason'... the variables involved are mind boggling.

We should be easier on the Devs a lot of the time. Their job is hard.. very hard.
 
That article explains little about the FD mindset, it's a rather broad opinion and floats several unspecified excuses as to why we should cut game developers some latitude. Are IT projects any different no matter what the discipline? We plan every day to deliver mobile apps for our clients and one thing remains constant. Good project planning, communication and managing expectations are central to ensuring that your clients are happy. These things seem to escape the games industry, who a adopt a taciturn approach. In my opinion they are master of their own fate.

With regards to the game I agree its OK, the adage "mile wide, inch deep" has some connotations.

Are IT projects any different no matter what the discipline? There are a few things that are the same, which you mentioned, but there are other aspects that make them completely different:
The type of application being developed. Would you approach a desktop application the same way you'd approach a mobile application? No. Why? Because they're completely different platforms; ergo you must take numerous other, platform specific, scenarios into account during design and development. You must approach the entire project from a different angle. I can't take the approach I've taken to my current project (desktop) and apply it to a mobile app, it won't work.

The size of the application. The bigger the application, the more development needed (obviously); this results in an increase of the chance of conflicting modules; usually greater hardware requirements (space, CPU, memory) and so on. These changes can, and often do, impact design decisions down the line. A feature originally planned might cause too many problems and is subsequently scrapped.

Planned vs Implementation. Sometimes good ideas that seem simple on paper, turn out out to be either bad ideas or incredibly difficult to implement given their function and impact on other parts of the application. Over-complicated features that cause too much trouble than they're worth, features that are not financially feasible at the time, or even features that break the time constraint will either be scrapped or put on hold.

It's very easy to say "Oh, we can just do X" during design and Kickstarter, and make huge promises. But FD had a deadline to meet, and as such, they had to put features on hold that had been initially promised simply because they either under-estimated the complexity of the features they wanted to add (I myself have put about 3 features on hold in my application because we found later on that they'll take up too much time to development and implement, so they won't be in the initial release), or over-estimated their own abilities ("feature x is easy to do" .. 6 months later .. "ok, no, feature x is not quite that easy and breaks a lot of other things in the process. it'll take another 6 months to complete.") Either way, these things happen and are par for the course in development; plans change.

The life of the project. The life of the project determines the SDLC used (long term? short term?), release planning, it determines timelines for feature development, priorities, features in general, bug fixing schedules (it's better to have the dev's who worked on a module, bug fix that module, instead of having another dev who didn't work on it, try to fix it and potentially break it and other things).

So, yes, cut the game developers some slack. Appreciate what it is they are doing. Use the article to take an interest and garner a small understanding of what it takes to make a game, and just appreciate what it is they've managed to deliver in TWO years.
 
Making games is harder today than it was 20 years ago, I get that. What I don't get is why FD releases videos of space combat that are completely fabricated and do not even closely resemble actual gameplay. I wasn't a founder on this project, and likewise I won't be for any future user funded games because as I have learned in life you cannot simply hand over your money to another party and expect them to honor what you invested without a contract for recourse. Privately funded games are scams because they have nobody to hold them accountable after the money has already been transferred and they have no obligation to provide a working product after you have already given them your money. It's a scam. If you trust FD with your money you may as well believe that the Italian mafia are going to use your money to improve your life in some way. Which they won't.
 
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