The 2020 Dev Run: As Big As The Launch Run (?)
- Thread starter VR Golgot
- Start date
But... they have nothing to announce right now...
Yup ... that was entirely the point: big twist, Guardians turn out to be bad guys and we have to steal stuff from the Thargoids (who will obviously defend said stuff) to fight ‘em ... except, Story Led with proper Multi-Player missions (Raids) as clarified in my later post.
Personally I have very little interest in “space legs” (I bought a space flight simulation not a First Person Walker) and maybe slightly more intrigued by atmos/earth like landings depending on exactly what that would mean.
I’m far more interested in a story or purpose ... for me, the Thargoids should have been introduced via a Story Based set of missions whereby you discover evidence, fight some early ‘goids, are given access to upgraded weaponary and culminates in unlocking a mix of single-player/match made (Normal) and multi-player/non-matchmade (Hard) repeatable scenarios (CZs, specialist jump points, etc) for fighting large numbers of them.
Instead we got ”spend hours collecting random stuff you read about on the internet in order to be able to then start looking for aliens which apparently threaten humanities very existence but none of the powers seems to care enough to actually have a plan and actively recruit pilots for fighting them”
Now, that ship has sailed but a switcheroo where the Guardians return as the enemy? Well that would be an opportunity for a Story Led introduction to both Thargoid and Guardian combat.
Pretty safe bet it's one of the roadmapped expansions...
(Hell that stuff is written into the old LEP sales page...)
I've been wondering. Given that they're treating this DLC as closer to a 'single big release' they might do a much more prolonged hype run + beta than Horizons. Something a touch closer to the launch hype, but minus alphas etc. (Which lord knows we could do with, in lieu of meaty tideover like Carriers etc).
That'd sit nice with an Expo tease maybe. But could totally see them hanging tight til like Q2 2020 otherwise :/
I can think of no better way to overhype and underdeliver. I'd hope they've learnt their lesson.
It’s legs!
But I wanted atmos!
It’s atmos!
But I wanted legs!
It’s atmos and legs!
Oh....BUGS!
But I wanted atmos!
It’s atmos!
But I wanted legs!
It’s atmos and legs!
Oh....BUGS!
I dunno, long-term betas can deliver some hard reality. (Not that it'd stop half of us theorycrafting vertical slice theories
)Updated the OP a bit. Mainly to reflect the 'end of 2020' info, and a source I found for pre-launch staffing.
Now I wish we could still edit titles. It should read:
The 2020 Dev Run: Bigger Than The Launch Run (?)
Now I wish we could still edit titles. It should read:
The 2020 Dev Run: Bigger Than The Launch Run (?)
When FD invite all their favourite content creators to FD towers we will know were getting close to FD talking about the big 2020 update.
spot on, I too don't give a furry rats crack for the 2020 update. Been waiting two years for ice planets and fleet carriers. I don't buy FD's explanation about bug hunting. I don't think they were ever intended for release last year or this year but were announced to string us along and keep the community paying the bills as per the leak that came up earlier on this year.
Expect nothing and you won't be disappointed.
Then, when you do get something positive, you can be all happy!
That's what I do. So much of what been added to the game is beyond fiddly that I can't be bothered. Don't mind the wait, it's not as if I'm playing the game as much as in the past.
To quote Doris Day: "Que sera, sera!".
Then, when you do get something positive, you can be all happy!
That's what I do. So much of what been added to the game is beyond fiddly that I can't be bothered. Don't mind the wait, it's not as if I'm playing the game as much as in the past.
To quote Doris Day: "Que sera, sera!".
The 2020 Dev Run: Bigger Than The Launch Run (?)
It might as well be "Fleet Carriers Development: Bigger than the Launch Run (?)"
And then you can start to think about all the implications of that - especially in regard to what sort of expansion they can produce in 2 years if they can't even get FC's working in 2 years.
If the 'majority' of the 100 were on Carriers, you'd be right Stealthie. But we're told they're not. They're on the DLC. And that staffing focus makes a difference.
(Granted it'd be good to know the split, and whether it's fluid. Is it roughly 70/30 for DLC/core? 80/20? Have devs been shuffled in either direction? Etc).
We were also told that FC's would be part of Beyond.
We were also also told they'd be released this December.
We know, for certain, that FDev's entire dev' team was working on Beyond because they told us that "The new Era" only entered pre-production in Q3 of 2018.
By that point, it's reasonable to assume the content of Beyond was "locked in".
And then they encounter problems with FC's which meant they couldn't be delivered and which, presumably, couldn't be resolved quickly regardless of how much extra brain-power was applied.
So, we move into 2019 with the majority of FDev's team working, allegedly, on "The new Era" and a smaller team overseeing content scheduled for release in 2019... including FC's.
Once again, it's reasonable to assume that the content for 2019 was "locked in" and considered deliverable by the team involved.
After all, a company doesn't make promotional video's about features it plans to introduce - especially ones that have already been delayed previously - if they have any intention of maintaining their credibility.
And yet now we're told that FC's are going to be delayed again in order to focus on fixing bugs.
That tells us that FC's aren't just "not quite ready yet" but that they're so far away from "not ready" that, once again, the application of extra brain-power for a short period wouldn't get them across the line.
Does anybody really think that FDev's office currently consists of, say, 90 people all beavering away on an amazing update while there's 10 stressed-out coders locked in the basement, desperately trying to complete FC's, fix bugs and deliver updates in isolation and they're being denied any assistance that might help them succeed?
Let's face it, if a company ever has to choose between achieving a milestone now and delaying something that's a year in the future, they're ALWAYS going to choose to do what's required to achieve the imminent milestone.
If they don't do that, it's because they can't achieve it, regardless of how much effort it takes.
Alternatively, FCs are likely ready to go, but they've pulled them out in case New Era doesn't complete at the end of 2020. They've got to have something to show next year.
Of relevance, there's the Build Engineer career ad (which likely applies to all of FD's developments rather than ED alone) which refers to "Working with our existing continuous integration build setup to ensure that functioning, recent builds of our games and various tools are available to those who require them, and that development progress isn’t blocked by broken builds ...." They may have hit the buffers with this present build of ED.
Also, interestingly, "Ensuring that the build process is as fast and hassle-free as possible for all 100+ members of our teams." I am right to assume that means teams of 100+, rather than smaller teams totalling 100+ ? Not that it matters, if the grand total makes 100+ for New Era.
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I think you have a good point. But I also think Golgot has a better one.
Well, I've been saying that since this time last year.
Personally, I always figured that FCs were "nearly ready" when FDev realised they had nothing substantial for 2019 and so they figured FCs would provide that.
Given the improvements to mining, it was pretty clever to dangle the carrot of FCs in front of players to keep them in the game.
Frankly, I'd bet that more players have spent more time mining, this year, than any other activity in the game.
But I digress.
Even if we assume FCs hadn't even been looked-at since Q3 of 2018, when FDev announced the re-arrival of FCs back in August they must have assumed it'd be possible to deliver them by December.
That leaves us with only three possibilities:-
1) They carried on ignoring them and then, eventually, realised there was a significant amount of work remaining and decided it would be impossible to deliver them as re-promised after all.
2) They worked on them diligently and realised that it would be impossible to deliver them on time regardless of how much extra effort went into them.
3) They just flat-out lied and never intended to deliver them.
Do any of those options elicit much confidence?
About the best we can hope for is that FDev grossly underestimated the effort required AND they've learned from this mistake and won't make it again.
Honestly, the palava with FCs and the shambolic nature of the September update absolutely reeks of a team that's "swinging the lead" and I can only hope the relevant people have had a fire lit under their butts.
The proof of this, however, will only come with high-quality updates - delivered in a timely manner - at some point in the future.
Right now, I have two possible predictions for 2020:-
1) "The New Era" will turn out to be something horrifically underwhelming, followed by an announcement that development of ED has ended.
2) FDev will announce they've reverted to providing "The New Era" in episodic format.
That might change if FDev up their game and start providing updates/content in a diligent manner but, particularly based on their performance over the last 18 months, I currently have absolutely no confidence that they're capable of delivering a significant expansion by the end of 2020.