what dev updates should look like IMHO:

[IamMe]

That's kind of how I feel about it. Star Citizen literally has a propaganda team and movie studios making this stuff every week.

SC is making game with all content at once, so when released (2-3years minimum) it will be complete game and that's why it's taking so long. While ED give us FM, placeholders and empty galaxy and upgrading it slowly update by update.
pretty much the same but with different approach.
At least we Know in SC there will be atmos and legs.

 

[LeoBartlet]

Dear FD,

please can we have something like this for ED? )

I am NOT comparing Ed to SC here, nor any content, ONLY the
way development is being presented!

First 10mins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c2DogQL95o


would be cool to have more technical insights being presented in a video like this from time to time

thanks!

Probably not the best idea to use a star citizen developer video as an example of how Frontier should communicate.

Personally im of the opinion that I would rather see the developers communicate when they actually have something to say.

 

[Soulstain]

Well, in my humble half century of experience, it has usually turned out that people who feel the need to keep everything secret generally turn out to have something to hide.

This game will probably never evolve into the game that was envisioned. It appears to be quickly turning into an arcade console game with no soul. I believe the reality is that this game never received the funding required to create the vision so the vision has had to change. I also believe the engine and p2p system has been a much bigger obstacle then will be admitted to. These are just my beliefs and I'd be happy to be wrong but all this game has become to me now is a placeholder until the next big space game comes along. The visuals and sound make me come back for short bursts but the gameplay makes me leave. They give me no reason to feel excited about their product. They give me no glimpse into ED's future and what it has in store for me so I have no reason to believe in one other than I can soon play it on 4 different platforms. Show me glimpses of David's awesome vision. A 5 second glimpse of an atmospheric planet, floating through a gas giant storm, stepping out of my SRV to examine a strange object or even the horrors of being pulled into a black hole of which there maybe no escape. Make me excited and I will happily sit back and wait like I do with other products I invest in.

So to answer the original question, I believe that, if you have something great to show, you will show it, if not, well......you let your customers dream and speculate about it, which in the end is a recipe for let down and constant complaining on the forums. Cheers!

 

[LeoBartlet]

So to answer the original question, I believe that, if you have something great to show, you will show it, if not, well......you let your customers dream and speculate about it, which in the end is a recipe for let down and constant complaining on the forums. Cheers!

Not getting into the rest of what you said but history has show that if developers of any game talk about what they plan to do in a game and it doesn't come to pass then people tend to crap the bed both literally and metaphorically.

A prime example of this was the short delay they had to NMS (this was before the game tanked hard ofc) which apparently involved death threats to the developers and no end of tears on the sub-reddit.

Like I said in my previous post I'd prefer they speak when they have something to say and not have to constantly reassure players that mommy still loves them.

 

[Soulstain]

Not getting into the rest of what you said but history has show that if developers of any game talk about what they plan to do in a game and it doesn't come to pass then people tend to crap the bed both literally and metaphorically.

A prime example of this was the short delay they had to NMS (this was before the game tanked hard ofc) which apparently involved death threats to the developers and no end of tears on the sub-reddit.

Like I said in my previous post I'd prefer they speak when they have something to say and not have to constantly reassure players that mommy still loves them.

Fair enough, but then don't ask for money up front.

 

[IamMe]

Fair enough, but then don't ask for money up front.

Can't repp you again so;
+937473727 rep

 

[MyHammer]

Well, in my humble half century of experience, it has usually turned out that people who feel the need to keep everything secret generally turn out to have something to hide.

This game will probably never evolve into the game that was envisioned. It appears to be quickly turning into an arcade console game with no soul. I believe the reality is that this game never received the funding required to create the vision so the vision has had to change. I also believe the engine and p2p system has been a much bigger obstacle then will be admitted to. These are just my beliefs and I'd be happy to be wrong but all this game has become to me now is a placeholder until the next big space game comes along. The visuals and sound make me come back for short bursts but the gameplay makes me leave. They give me no reason to feel excited about their product. They give me no glimpse into ED's future and what it has in store for me so I have no reason to believe in one other than I can soon play it on 4 different platforms. Show me glimpses of David's awesome vision. A 5 second glimpse of an atmospheric planet, floating through a gas giant storm, stepping out of my SRV to examine a strange object or even the horrors of being pulled into a black hole of which there maybe no escape. Make me excited and I will happily sit back and wait like I do with other products I invest in.

So to answer the original question, I believe that, if you have something great to show, you will show it, if not, well......you let your customers dream and speculate about it, which in the end is a recipe for let down and constant complaining on the forums. Cheers!

I guess you are not the only one who has such beliefs. Exactly that for I thought it would be good to see some dev videos showing some of the technical developments, even if there is no ETA or roadmap when or if we will see it in game.

 

[Cosmo]

Dear FD,

please can we have something like this for ED? )

I am NOT comparing Ed to SC here, nor any content, ONLY the
way development is being presented!

First 10mins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c2DogQL95o


would be cool to have more technical insights being presented in a video like this from time to time

thanks!

Yes that is cool, but Frontier uses a different approach. Frontier keeps development a secret for the most part until it's near the beta testing phase. Whereas CIG uses such video updates to get more backers, publicity and financial support for their game.

What Frontier should do is show more sneak-peeks per month to keep the fans excited.

 

[PiLhEaD]

Based on the end results alone. No.

 

[Mav359]

I much prefer Frontiers live approach to presenting their info, its a far more natural approach and doesn't feel scripted (i'm sure they have an agenda). That said i'd like to see a more scheduled approach from FD, good live update on the same date each month for example.

As for SC its hard not to be impressed with the visuals but as always its not finished and the game play we'll have to wait and see but i reckon we'd all agree that if we could have that level of visual detail in ED we wouldn't complain.

I do think though Frontier do need another big push in development & game play before SC is ready for general release because there will be plenty of people playing Elite that will have a go at SC and if it is any good they might not be back

 

[mojonaut]

I'm not expecting any announcements from them now until Gamescom in August.

Current beta I expect will last another 3 weeks maybe more, that'll put us well into April. They'll probably spend another two or three weeks ironing out bugs that weren't picked up in beta which will put us almost into May. With summer vacations for staff to take into account May-July will be working on the next showcase (whatever it may be) for release at Gamescom.

That's my roadmap for what its worth, sincerely hope I am wrong and they'll throw us a bone now and then.

 

[LeoBartlet]

Fair enough, but then don't ask for money up front.

Eh whats money got to do with it?

I think history has show that development plans never survive first contact with reality. If people cant accept that then don't pre-order anything ever but that doesnt give anyone the right to threaten people just because something changes in a games development.

 

[burzum]

I think a released game with several major patches under its belt and 2.2+ million accounts sold, can teach a few things to a company that's had a buggy and incomplete pre-Alpha for years.

2.2 million copies. Source? There report never spoke about copies but the whole Elite franchise, which can mean anything as these reports are made to look good for stack holders.

Also the point of an alpha is to test stuff and it is expected to be bugged. So whats the point? Fanboyish infantile hate?

I think a company who gives detailed dev reports, updates to their internal dev schedule, who have some missions, a ton of flyable ships, space legs and phantastic graphics can teach a company a lesson who released lots of so called "season" updates but never finished the base game. Not to mention that the definition of "season" fluctuates a lot. First a season was a season, well, now with 2.3 and 2.4 we're already going into the next seasons without having the previous one completed... Buy hey, let's just redefine what a season is... What ED was right after the release was the best an incomplete prototype. ED should be until today called an early access title. Power play is still a joke, almost every season is infested with bugs. Even their alien ruin event was bugged... So what? I don't care if the other game comes in 2018 or 2019 as long as the production quality is high.

 

[VR jefranklin18]

I'm not expecting any announcements from them now until Gamescom in August.

Current beta I expect will last another 3 weeks maybe more, that'll put us well into April. They'll probably spend another two or three weeks ironing out bugs that weren't picked up in beta which will put us almost into May. With summer vacations for staff to take into account May-July will be working on the next showcase (whatever it may be) for release at Gamescom.

That's my roadmap for what its worth, sincerely hope I am wrong and they'll throw us a bone now and then.

That's pretty much my expectation as well, unfortunately.

The thing is, I don't think a weekly video blog or a 2,500 word missive detailing the in and outs of what everyone is up to is needed (or wanted by the majority). The early newsletters would include concept art or tech visualizations (e.g. the solar flare activity which we now take for granted in game caused a lot of buzz when it was first demonstrated); it would be great if they could bring these back on semi-regular basis.

The Frontier team works really hard to bring us an enjoyable game, but there is a lot of moaning here some of which can be offset by a little more open communication.

 

[smiths121]

Stoppd watching SC arond the verse and loremakers series, they are too cringe worthy to watch.Some 3rd party streamers do a great job of condensing these down into an actually watchable stream

I prefer the Ed show. I think other games companies could learn a lot from thr Q & A with Dav for example.

Simon

 

[Soulstain]

Eh whats money got to do with it?

I think history has show that development plans never survive first contact with reality. If people cant accept that then don't pre-order anything ever but that doesnt give anyone the right to threaten people just because something changes in a games development.

I wasn't referring to NMS, I was referring to game companies as a whole. If you want to keep your cards so close to your chest about development then don't ask for money until you are ready to show off your product. Threatening someone over a game is just plain mental instability. People take their gaming far to seriously. I'm talking about ED. A game which was fully released as 1.0 in December of 2014. If by this point in development you can't keep your players excited with glimpses of things to come then that explains to me why season 2 is likely to stretch right through 2017. The latest Q&A's made it quite clear that their so-called 10 year development roadmap seems like no map at all. It appears like they have a general direction with no idea how to get there.

 

[Titus Balls]

Frontier definitely needs to do more behind the scenes and interview stuff like they used to, not just livestream types.

I like to think that the Americans like it big and flashy, Hollywood style.

In Britain it's filmed in a broom cupboard.