Trust and Faith

[MrReynolds]

So I purchased the kickstarter package with little hope. The preview videos were typically English: "Oooooh we hope to do this" and "We're going to do that". VERY downplayed. Almost apologetic.
Compared to "another" game that's being developed it didn't look like ED was going to be up to much.

Then BAMMMM! The Alpha gameplay videos came out. THEY NAILED IT! WOW. I kicked myself for not pre-purchasing the DLC and quickly signed up for that.

Beta comes along, and then I find for as little as £5 I can get in on the action. Like many others it's been a love affair since.

Slowly more and more content gets released. It's going well.

Then we get the release dates. "Mmmmmmmmm" me thinks. What's this mean? We're nowhere near feature complete......
"Ah-Ha". Now you guys don't know me, but I'm The Grand Prognosticator (tm) Having seen how FD have suckered me already I know they have a trick or two up their sleeves.
People are worried. They are nay-saying. "errrrrrr, they can't add all of the content in such little time!!!"
Not me. I came up with the conclusion that we have been playing inferior builds. Builds just to keep us ticking over. Builds to test pinpoint aspects of the game to fine tune. They've got ALL of the other components ready to inject into the Uber Build. Come release we'll be getting the Full Monty with all of the bells and whistles advertised. It'll be great. Just you see.

Erm. Are we??????? Am I no longer the Grand Prognosticator ?????

I've come to the conclusion that basically FD have mucked up by actually calling next week's download "Release" / Gamma / Preview / Bob / "Whatever".
If it was called Beta 4 --> Beta 5 etc things would BE FINE (apart from no online {solidarity for you my brothers and sisters}). With Betas you expect gradual updates and upgrades.
What else is on "the cutting room floor"? I naively thought the DDF were pretty much what we were to get upon final release.

Where am I going with this? I don't know lol. I guess I have enough passion for the game that I actually fancy writing my thoughts down. I certainly don't normally!
Obviously I don't owe allegiance to a company. They aren't family or anything.

I guess like many we all have such high hopes for the game that we just don't want it to fail.
I now have little faith in what's going to be delivered. Are my original thoughts going to come back and haunt me? "We hope to do this" / "We're going to do that".
Anyone betting that we WON'T get another wipe sometime in December. The way tings are going I wouldn't be surprised if in March we get told "there's been a critical flaw and we need a wipe. Soz!"

I'm still positive, but at the moment I just see FD as another big company pulling in the punters for their fix. I so hope I'm wrong.

 

[Obsidian Ant]

I think a lot of people are going to feel the same way as you.

There are many that will still say "wait and see" though - and I can see their point. But the recent Newsletter was a clear attempt to downgrade our expectations for the game.

Also, it seems there are a number of regular posters that supported the "secret build" theory - that are no longer posting...

 

[Rubbernuke]

People get so worked up with this alpha / beta / gamma terminology. Making a game is a fluid process and when FD say its done, its done. If they state otherwise then its not so stop worrying and enjoy what you have.

Sit back and enjoy some tea.

 

[MrReynolds]

Sit back and enjoy some tea.

I'm a coffee drinker , but I get ya!

 

[Lobstris]

People get so worked up with this alpha / beta / gamma terminology. Making a game is a fluid process and when FD say its done, its done. If they state otherwise then its not so stop worrying and enjoy what you have.

Sit back and enjoy some tea.

Works fine for me (the tea thing at any rate), and I do enjoy what we have. But as Frontier have said 'it's done', at least for this iteration, I hope reviewers and the public in the forthcoming months are as well supplied with tea (first impressions and all that), as I would like to see those patches and expansions.
.
Yes I appreciate the irony that posts like this don't necessarily help with positive vibes and tea-making.

 

[alexios]

People get so worked up with this alpha / beta / gamma terminology. Making a game is a fluid process and when FD say its done, its done. If they state otherwise then its not so stop worrying and enjoy what you have.

Sit back and enjoy some tea.

Coffee for me, thanks.

The game is developed online. In the 21st century. Which means that ‘release’ means very little. ‘First public release’ might be better. People assume that a release life cycle like 1980s software or most games: you get a feature set and some DLC, and then it's abandoned. It doesn't work this way for online games. You (a) need to keep user interest by adding stuff regulary, and (b) things are even more fluid than how you describe them!

I suspect people just have no patience, they want every feature in the DDF/DDA, and they want it 10 years ago.

I've been waiting anxiously for Elite 4 since the Nineties. (then I waited indifferently, then I played some other space sims, etc.)

I'm sure I can wait for new features to be added incrementally.

It's been a very enjoyable game so far, even in its earlier stages. If this makes me a fanboy, so be it — most KS backers are Elite fanboys, right?

 

[MrReynolds]

The game is developed online. In the 21st century. Which means that ‘release’ means very little. ‘First public release’ might be better. People assume that a release life cycle like 1980s software or most games: you get a feature set and some DLC, and then it's abandoned. It doesn't work this way for online games. You (a) need to keep user interest by adding stuff regulary, and (b) things are even more fluid than how you describe them!

I suspect people just have no patience, they want every feature in the DDF/DDA, and they want it 10 years ago.

I've been waiting anxiously for Elite 4 since the Nineties. (then I waited indifferently, then I played some other space sims, etc.)

I'm sure I can wait for new features to be added incrementally.

It's been a very enjoyable game so far, even in its earlier stages. If this makes me a fanboy, so be it — most KS backers are Elite fanboys, right?

Brings us back to trust
No OFFLINE? Doesn't affect me, but it does to many. It does however have a knock on effect on my faith in the delivery of the game.
What else is going to be missing at release? What else has been dumped?
I have enjoyed everything so far.
Case point for release candidate: In my view there is certainly a ship missing between the Type 6 and Asp. Took me quite a lot of trading to upgrade to Mr Asp I tell ya. Is there a ship in between to fill the gap? I would have hoped so. IF we get this, will it be on release, or "a day after" my "grind" to the Asp? That'll would wind me up .005%

My alarms first went off when I read 1 FREE ship of the 5 new ones. What does that mean (since cleared up somewhere by Mr Brooks thankfully as game credits {sorry no link}).

I'm happy having upgrades through the lifespan of the game. But what are we eventually going to get? When is the basic game feature complete and DLC prioritised?

Hey ho, off for a coffee

 

[metatheurgist]

I think the people that want a refund for lack solo offline have a legit grievance. Just refund them and be done with.
.
As for the rest. The bones of a great game have been built, I trust FD will continue to flesh it out. I've already played this game for more hours than I've played many other games that I've paid good money for so, I can't complain.

 

[Victory]

When love change to hate it is very scary. Just don't expect too much.

All I understand is we won't have anymore wipe after release in December so I could grind and enjoy this game with no worry. It is true that they release this game too early I think they complete only 40% of all features but I have faith FD is going to continue improve and add more features into the game. I will continue support this game.

 

[gazzareth]

When it comes to a wipe after launch, worst case I would expect would be a partial wipe where you keep your cash & asset value and lose your ships. That said we were told to expect wipes in beta so they had little incentive to try and avoid them, in the full version that will be a different kettle of ballgames !

Either way I plan to wipe when some of the expansions come out anyway....

G

 

[nexxo]

David Braben basically came on to Kickstarter a few years ago saying: "We're going to try and make this game we've all always dreamed of since ELITE. Join us in this venture". And that's what we did, and that's what we're doing. This is a venture. A journey. There is no end-product; not for another decade. Anyone who did not understand that, does not understand this game and does not understand computers or code.

 

[Vasious]

I have faith that the vision I backed in Kick Starter will be delivered,
16/12/2914 is the release, the end of the beginning, not the end of the end.

 

[Barulf McBaren]

David Braben basically came on to Kickstarter a few years ago saying: "We're going to try and make this game we've all always dreamed of since ELITE. Join us in this venture". And that's what we did, and that's what we're doing. This is a venture. A journey. There is no end-product; not for another decade. Anyone who did not understand that, does not understand this game and does not understand computers or code.

Seems there were a lot of game developers in the past, who had absolutely no understanding of computers or code, as they did deliver finished products on release day...
I wonder why those games where fun to play? luck?

 

[Kernel Kwatz!]

My own hypothesis is as follows.

If the game is successful during the Christmas period then we can look forward to continued development over time. Accepting that we are not getting the game that some of us expected on release (and in my case these expectations were unrealistic) and instead accepting that we are in this for the long haul - Frontier and players alike - will be helpful for those who are feeling let down. If the game is a commercial failure on launch then I fear we aren't ever going see it reach it's potential.

Based on how well I think the game will do at launch, I oscillate between optimism for the it's future and pessimism for both the game and perhaps even Frontier as a company.

 

[Sav112]

I understand being an older gamer, way back games were considered finished on release because back then we did not have this magic thing called the internet and able to patch. Played enough original games that had major bugs but you just lived with them. You got to know don’t do this or that or it will continue to just crash. Even the Original Elite had its bugs even Pac man. All these we regarded as finished final release. Some of the Battlefield games were half built going by the work needed within weeks of release to get it to run. In fact BF1942 was a for crashing and glitch city and it took them six months I feel to get a great game stable after release. Less said about BF2 ‘s final release in June 2005 the better it needed a patch after patch and was shocking. But Months down the line it got there and I loved it.

Today we have forums we can visit to easily see what people are having problems with but thankfully a Release candidate is just that a level that the developer feels happy that the game can be released. Elite Dangerous will be patched and content added so the build goes on I would expect for as long as huge fan base wants it.


Bring on Elite D and its updates and patches. The original Space sim, the daddy of the genre is back and going by what I’ve read and watched it looks amazing to that of the old BBC version I loved so much. In David we trust!!!!! I love to hear what Ian Bell thinks about it.

 

[Siggi]

Seems there were a lot of game developers in the past, who had absolutely no understanding of computers or code, as they did deliver finished products on release day...
I wonder why those games where fun to play? luck?

No, it was novelty. I remember my old man bringing home a Pong console in 1970 and it blew us away. We spent every free hour playing it for weeks until we burned out. I wouldn't spend a minute on one now. Just as I wouldn't spend a minute playing the original Elite, despite the months of joy it gave me back in the eighties.

Now we have the aggregate effect of many years of playing computer games to consider too. Expectation is exponential, not linear. Right now it would probably take a holo-deck to blow me away the same as that Pong console did in 1970. And on that basis this current Elite isn't really going to have much of a wow factor.

 

[Sav112]

Got to agree what we looked on bright eyed in wonder back in the 80’s would not hold my attention now or blow me away. I remember getting our first VHS recorder and going up the road to hire Weird Science out a shop and thinking “Wow this is amazing I no longer have to wait for the four channels (Yes four! ) too show a film I can watch it in my own time and choose. How crap to today’s tech. you can instantly download films to your TV from your living room to watch on your big flat screen high def TV. Not to mention watching people play games live like on twitch.

I’ve been witness to the bringing down a BBC from the loft and showing a ten year old that has every console going and seeing that look of “Really this is what you played” try sitting the same kid down to watch a spec 48K have to load a game, while they skype thier pals on a I-pad..changed days.

But I still hope the new ED wow's me a bit but its never going to replace that warm fuzzy place in my heart of the original.

 

[kilvenny]

3 moments for me currently stand out in ED
1) Launching from an outpost
2) First time through the slot of a coriolis
3) Sitting between two Anacondas and hearing their engines thumping