Well, there once was a boy (Smart_Bomb) and his dog (or rather idea). The boy really loved his dog because he was most beautifully designed and well thought through. Unfortunately the previous statement only describes the boys point of view correctly. Others thought of his dog as an abomination upon god. A sentient, yet horrible mutated pile of suggestive barf, that was eaten by a dog, then barfed out, eaten again, pooped out, eaten again by another dog and barfed up again.
However through this horrible process this dog magically turned into a beautiful butterfly (or rather scorpion) that was able to hover without flapping.
Even if the pre-alpha is terribad right now, UWE did a pretty good job patching/updating the Engine test to "work" in most cases within a few weeks or so of release (and in most cases within the first week). Give those 25 people 4-6 weeks to submit crash reports and feedback to UWE and when we get the Alpha, I have confidence that the issues that are really bringing the game down will be resolved.
Hmm... Considering all of your ideas of what is going on I think I agree with supernorn.
"Some of you really need to chill a little bit. I am relatively confident that this isn't some sort of conspiracy against the community, and that a small number of playtesters are, infact, testing the game. "
You may say that it is just a 'Commercial Trick' but I don't think it is as they are releasing their engine test (Which is rather bad in my opinion, but 'so-so' for an engine test) and if people think that the engine test is bad then they could think that the whole game is going to be bad, resulting in negative feedback and causing less people to actually buy the game! It was a risky move to make but it came off alright.
glimmerman, I higly doubt that you are 1 of those 25 people because you are here on the forums and giving away information. "I'm one of the 25 guys, it's probably about 50-60% done." Why would they bother giving it to you if you would just say an approximate idea of how much of the game is completed?
If this testing is just an act to see the bugs with the game and sort them out for the Alpha then we might be playing it soon if they do not have that many. It has been a while after the engine test so most likely they have sorted out the bugs with that. Crashing etc.
Meh, think what you like. This game will come out! If not, they owe us our money!
And if this smart_bomb guy was an actual tester then why would he be telling you his thoughts of it? Hmmm!? Has he made games and does he have a good knowledge of them to find out bugs and how to improve it? I think we have a few liars in this community...
<!--quoteo(post=1777585:date=Jul 9 2010, 07:24 PM:name=Papayas)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Papayas @ Jul 9 2010, 07:24 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777585"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->foolishness<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> And if the engine test is a trick too? Wake up
<!--quoteo(post=1777635:date=Jul 9 2010, 09:44 PM:name=TrC)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TrC @ Jul 9 2010, 09:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777635"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And if the engine test is a trick too? Wake up<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> If it's a trick, we all got fooled by Unknown Worlds' grand chicanery.
<!--quoteo(post=1777460:date=Jul 8 2010, 04:11 PM:name=FocusedWolf)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FocusedWolf @ Jul 8 2010, 04:11 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777460"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This is what we know:
1. 25 unnamed testers? Exactly 25? why not 22 or 21... why such a nice round number 25<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Not too many, not too few. The number itself is probably not that important, it's the people they chose that's important.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->2. Why bother telling the community about 1 of many closed and private beta tests... Did they slip up and report something they shouldn't have because it is obviously irrelevant to the community? Or is it just to cause hype like TrC believes, in order to result in more special-preorders.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->They told us because it's an indication of progress. You have to be fairly far along to want to have 25 people testing your game. It's also a big time sink to organise testing and collate bugs and feedback, so they wouldn't do it unless they were ready. This is actually encouraging news. We should be excited about this turning point.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->3. The testers are obviously not going to talk, or else we'd be seeing screenshots all over the forum by now. At the very least people freaking out because they are 1 of 25. (so most likely these 25 are people the devs know, or fellow devs that made that rabbit and wolf game, or ppl supplied by valve for testing xD). "Hey valve, we need testers. How much for 20? O... their sold in packs of 25?".<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->AFAIK Valve don't have testers/all their devs are testers. They are people UWE know and can be trusted.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->4. Imagine for one second you were a dev behind NS2 and you choose 25 ppl to test for you from the general public. What guarantee do you have that all 25 are active for conducting the testing? If this was a test using members from this community, then you would be seeing about <u>200 testers</u> (where you'd be lucky if 10 of them reported bugs you weren't already aware of), and you can be sure you would not be able to trust any of them to not leak the info (or private build for that matter). Also you would need this amount, or more, because if this were a multiplayer test of 200+... then what good is it if you can't get enough players online at the same time to actually play.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->They chose the people who were available. They didn't just pick 25 names and hope they'd be available. 25 is the final number they had after securing the testers they needed.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->5. What about <a href="http://getsatisfaction.com/unknownworlds/" target="_blank">http://getsatisfaction.com/unknownworlds/</a>.. where are these 25 reporting to? You wouldn't want them just throwing their feedback in with the "Alpha" release. This is proof that the feedback these 25 are expected to give is not so much bugs as much as its "Is this game FUN?!!!!!!!!!!!!". But that's just a guess.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->They are reporting internally. Obviously. The feedback they give will probably be a mixture of bugs and design feedback. At a guess, it's probably focused on things like usability testing (how easy the game is to learn and control), raw bug reporting and generating crash reports through sheer increased numbers of game instances, network stress testing (how well the game performs with multiple users in one session) and general design feedback to the tune of "Does this make sense?", "What do you think of this feature?" - the sort of questions all devs ask internally after people have actually played the game, not just read about a feature; that way the reponses are a lot more accurate.
---
To be clear nobody has seriously said the pre-alpha is 'terribad'. He said 'hovarific', which is a nod to the 'skorpion that hovars without flapping' NS meme.
<!--quoteo(post=1777688:date=Jul 10 2010, 01:08 PM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Crispy @ Jul 10 2010, 01:08 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777688"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->They told us because it's an indication of progress. You have to be fairly far along to want to have 25 people testing your game. It's also a big time sink to organise testing and collate bugs and feedback, so they wouldn't do it unless they were ready. This is actually encouraging news. We should be excited about this turning point.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Positive thinking <3, win/win for UWE anyways.
<!--quoteo(post=1777453:date=Jul 8 2010, 11:31 AM:name=TrC)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TrC @ Jul 8 2010, 11:31 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777453"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Commercial trick, oops now I said it! They want to give image that it is close to realize thus making people pre-order. Not their first ;)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> You're right. They'd never report such a thing because they're excited about hitting a major milestone -- it's all a facade. Every single twitter message is carefully calculated to provide a maximum amount of additional pre-orders.
I don't know about you, but I pre-ordered the game after reading the following twitter message: "Sorry everyone, no update today. Hoping to have something for you guys Monday."
<!--quoteo(post=1777724:date=Jul 10 2010, 05:46 PM:name=Stele007)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Stele007 @ Jul 10 2010, 05:46 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777724"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You're right. They'd never report such a thing because they're excited about hitting a major milestone -- it's all a facade. Every single twitter message is carefully calculated to provide a maximum amount of additional pre-orders.
I don't know about you, but I pre-ordered the game after reading the following twitter message: "Sorry everyone, no update today. Hoping to have something for you guys Monday."
Curse you, UWE!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Indeed I'm but a sad fat nolife trolling but I like to think that theres a reason to every action. I know "sorry no update" gives a kind of "nice company" image that might make someone to pre-order but I believe that is not the case this time. When you review UWEs actions preorder -> spark -> images -> video -> "alpha soon" -> "its coming together" -> release something -> enginetest -> now 25 man closed alpha all of these are kinda of triggers that would make people pre-order, mine was images. While one would normally mind at all they have missed so many of their "promises" but you cant help it but to feel being cheated since the promises arent being kept one after another (false hope might be a better word). It gives very unpleasent picture of UWE as if they had something to hide.
<!--quoteo(post=1777635:date=Jul 10 2010, 01:44 AM:name=TrC)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TrC @ Jul 10 2010, 01:44 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777635"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And if the engine test is a trick too? Wake up<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If the engine test was a trick then it was a bad one indeed. I am not really sure where they are trying to go with that because it didn't even work properly on my computer but I didn't expect much from it. It was obviously going to be bad but they wanted us to have a go at it so we could find bugs etc and they can sort out the game.
If it was a trick then they really didn't think it through...
Why would they result to tricks to get us to buy thier game. They say they are an open community so they tell us everything (Well, a lot) so why would they bother losing thier reputation?
<!--quoteo(post=1777727:date=Jul 10 2010, 03:07 PM:name=TrC)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TrC @ Jul 10 2010, 03:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777727"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->When you review UWEs actions preorder -> spark -> images -> video -> "alpha soon" -> "its coming together" -> release something -> enginetest -> now 25 man closed alpha all of these are kinda of triggers that would make people pre-order, mine was images.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That may be and they are getting more people to pre-order it but these things are happening. There is a ~25 people closed alpha going on right now. Members of this community (The old-school ones) have been invited into it. It may just be an act to get us to pre-order but how else are they going to get thier money? Also, they may be taking some time to make these promises a reality but at least they are not lieing to us!
So supposely Smart_Bomb was one of the alpha guys.(Not sure if true) And he posted... <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well... I kinda had to...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> A couple of days ago in the pre-order thread I think that's a good thing?
<!--quoteo(post=1777809:date=Jul 11 2010, 11:19 AM:name=WarLover)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (WarLover @ Jul 11 2010, 11:19 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777809"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->A couple of days ago in the pre-order thread I think that's a good thing?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I am not really sure. I don't really understand his post.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well... I kinda had to...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
He kinda had to do what? But Natural Selection 2? Why? I couldn't find any previous post from him on that thread so I have the faintest idea of what he is on about...
<!--quoteo(post=1777808:date=Jul 11 2010, 02:12 PM:name=Papayas)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Papayas @ Jul 11 2010, 02:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777808"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If the engine test was a trick then it was a crap one indeed. I am not really sure where they are trying to go with that because it didn't even work properly on my computer.
If it was a trick then they really didn't think it through...
Why would they result to tricks to get us to buy thier game. They say they are an open community so they tell us everything (Well, a lot) so why would they bother losing thier reputation?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Point being engine test was first glance at "playable" version where you could actually move, if someone was still hesitating that may have made him pre-order. I'm certain they are doing their job but with the currect state, I bet they shouldnt even mentioned more than they have started doing NS2. This hype might go down so hard, that game will receive too big blow to ever regain playerbase.
<!--quoteo(post=1777727:date=Jul 10 2010, 03:07 PM:name=TrC)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TrC @ Jul 10 2010, 03:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777727"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Indeed I'm but a sad fat nolife trolling but I like to think that theres a reason to every action. I know "sorry no update" gives a kind of "nice company" image that might make someone to pre-order but I believe that is not the case this time. When you review UWEs actions preorder -> spark -> images -> video -> "alpha soon" -> "its coming together" -> release something -> enginetest -> now 25 man closed alpha all of these are kinda of triggers that would make people pre-order, mine was images. While one would normally mind at all they have missed so many of their "promises" but you cant help it but to feel being cheated since the promises arent being kept one after another (false hope might be a better word). It gives very unpleasent picture of UWE as if they had something to hide.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Just how long have you been dead inside?
No, I see your point and agree with the calculated element of the announcements. Of course they are, to a degree, aimed to increase pre-orders. I disagree, however, with your assessment/speculation that this is a bad thing. It's a clever thing and its businesslike: exactly what I like to see in an independant studio charged with remaking one of the best games I've ever played.
<!--quoteo(post=1777813:date=Jul 11 2010, 03:01 PM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Crispy @ Jul 11 2010, 03:01 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777813"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Just how long have you been dead inside?
No, I see your point and agree with the calculated element of the announcements. Of course they are, to a degree, aimed to increase pre-orders. I disagree, however, with your assessment/speculation that this is a bad thing. It's a clever thing and its businesslike: exactly what I like to see in an independant studio charged with remaking one of the best games I've ever played.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> 13years
Failed promises that are intentional, I can tell that I aint pre-ordering any game from UWE (I'm referring to alpha promises). If someone wants to comeback with "they didnt do it on purpose" I can tell that after six months they have things still on "sketch" pretty sure you cant miscalculate that even with major problems.
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
edited July 2010
The irony is that the great success of the pre-orders delayed the alpha/game further, because they had the means to add more stuff they didn't have the time/money for. While I think this is a good thing, they didn't communicate it very well and I'm not sure, if there is a good way to communicate such a change in direction at all, at least towards those impatient fans.
Impatient fans should be the last of UWE's concerns.
If they released the game in Fall of 2009 what we do know is that it is likely DI, Heavy Armor, and maybe even the Power Grid system would not have been in the game. The game would've been bare bones and basic.
Reviews can make or break a game and with such a minimal game being released I doubt NS2 would have scored about a 7.5. It's not like IGN would revisit their NS2 review 8 months down the line and say "Hey, this game is now a 9!"
If you feel like you've been screwed or lied to you options are simple: get a refund or deal with it.
<!--quoteo(post=1777827:date=Jul 11 2010, 12:05 PM:name=SentrySteve)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SentrySteve @ Jul 11 2010, 12:05 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777827"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Impatient fans should be the last of UWE's concerns.
If they released the game in Fall of 2009 what we do know is that it is likely DI, Heavy Armor, and maybe even the Power Grid system would not have been in the game. The game would've been bare bones and basic.
Reviews can make or break a game and with such a minimal game being released I doubt NS2 would have scored about a 7.5. It's not like IGN would revisit their NS2 review 8 months down the line and say "Hey, this game is now a 9!"
If you feel like you've been screwed or lied to you options are simple: get a refund or deal with it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This. Some of us have been in this community for almost 9 years. We all want NS2. But we all want NS2 to be the best it can be within reason initially. A good metacritic score would bolster sales tremendously for NS2, and I would be really sad if those above features never got in due to lack of time/money.
Be patient, it's coming. In the meantime, you have SC2 coming out and a slew of other games on the market to pass the time with. Also, for those that don't know, because NS2 is now tied to steam, it's not possible to refund orders. Similar to it's existing game purchasing model. Then again, NS2 is 20 dollars. 20 dollars.
UWE is by no means obligated to give us any information at all. They're a very small team and they don't have a PR department to handle this stuff for them. That said, now that they've set up the expectation of a weekly Friday update it would be nice to get official word when it's not coming, just as a common courtesy.
<!--quoteo(post=1777426:date=Jul 8 2010, 12:21 PM:name=Quaunaut)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Quaunaut @ Jul 8 2010, 12:21 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777426"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->They're all developers and playtesters from NS1 that they still keep in contact with. No, you cannot find out who they are.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
How about where they live, what times they're alone, and a list of their deepest fears?
<!--quoteo(post=1777838:date=Jul 11 2010, 09:19 PM:name=Hashashin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hashashin @ Jul 11 2010, 09:19 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777838"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->How about where they live, what times they're alone, and a list of their deepest fears?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
USA 1000pm-0600pm gmt-7 Waking up to discover that scorpions evolved into giant hovering monstrosities that do not flap.
Comments
Story Time:
Well, there once was a boy (Smart_Bomb) and his dog (or rather idea).
The boy really loved his dog because he was most beautifully designed and well thought through.
Unfortunately the previous statement only describes the boys point of view correctly.
Others thought of his dog as an abomination upon god.
A sentient, yet horrible mutated pile of suggestive barf, that was eaten by a dog, then barfed out, eaten again, pooped out, eaten again by another dog and barfed up again.
However through this horrible process this dog magically turned into a beautiful butterfly (or rather scorpion) that was able to hover without flapping.
And a living legend was born :)
"Some of you really need to chill a little bit. I am relatively confident that this isn't some sort of conspiracy against the community, and that a small number of playtesters are, infact, testing the game. "
You may say that it is just a 'Commercial Trick' but I don't think it is as they are releasing their engine test (Which is rather bad in my opinion, but 'so-so' for an engine test) and if people think that the engine test is bad then they could think that the whole game is going to be bad, resulting in negative feedback and causing less people to actually buy the game! It was a risky move to make but it came off alright.
glimmerman, I higly doubt that you are 1 of those 25 people because you are here on the forums and giving away information. "I'm one of the 25 guys, it's probably about 50-60% done." Why would they bother giving it to you if you would just say an approximate idea of how much of the game is completed?
If this testing is just an act to see the bugs with the game and sort them out for the Alpha then we might be playing it soon if they do not have that many. It has been a while after the engine test so most likely they have sorted out the bugs with that. Crashing etc.
Meh, think what you like. This game will come out! If not, they owe us our money!
And if this smart_bomb guy was an actual tester then why would he be telling you his thoughts of it? Hmmm!?
Has he made games and does he have a good knowledge of them to find out bugs and how to improve it?
I think we have a few liars in this community...
And if the engine test is a trick too? Wake up
If it's a trick, we all got fooled by Unknown Worlds' grand chicanery.
1. 25 unnamed testers? Exactly 25? why not 22 or 21... why such a nice round number 25<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Not too many, not too few. The number itself is probably not that important, it's the people they chose that's important.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->2. Why bother telling the community about 1 of many closed and private beta tests... Did they slip up and report something they shouldn't have because it is obviously irrelevant to the community? Or is it just to cause hype like TrC believes, in order to result in more special-preorders.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->They told us because it's an indication of progress. You have to be fairly far along to want to have 25 people testing your game. It's also a big time sink to organise testing and collate bugs and feedback, so they wouldn't do it unless they were ready. This is actually encouraging news. We should be excited about this turning point.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->3. The testers are obviously not going to talk, or else we'd be seeing screenshots all over the forum by now. At the very least people freaking out because they are 1 of 25. (so most likely these 25 are people the devs know, or fellow devs that made that rabbit and wolf game, or ppl supplied by valve for testing xD). "Hey valve, we need testers. How much for 20? O... their sold in packs of 25?".<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->AFAIK Valve don't have testers/all their devs are testers. They are people UWE know and can be trusted.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->4. Imagine for one second you were a dev behind NS2 and you choose 25 ppl to test for you from the general public. What guarantee do you have that all 25 are active for conducting the testing? If this was a test using members from this community, then you would be seeing about <u>200 testers</u> (where you'd be lucky if 10 of them reported bugs you weren't already aware of), and you can be sure you would not be able to trust any of them to not leak the info (or private build for that matter). Also you would need this amount, or more, because if this were a multiplayer test of 200+... then what good is it if you can't get enough players online at the same time to actually play.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->They chose the people who were available. They didn't just pick 25 names and hope they'd be available. 25 is the final number they had after securing the testers they needed.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->5. What about <a href="http://getsatisfaction.com/unknownworlds/" target="_blank">http://getsatisfaction.com/unknownworlds/</a>.. where are these 25 reporting to? You wouldn't want them just throwing their feedback in with the "Alpha" release. This is proof that the feedback these 25 are expected to give is not so much bugs as much as its "Is this game FUN?!!!!!!!!!!!!". But that's just a guess.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->They are reporting internally. Obviously. The feedback they give will probably be a mixture of bugs and design feedback. At a guess, it's probably focused on things like usability testing (how easy the game is to learn and control), raw bug reporting and generating crash reports through sheer increased numbers of game instances, network stress testing (how well the game performs with multiple users in one session) and general design feedback to the tune of "Does this make sense?", "What do you think of this feature?" - the sort of questions all devs ask internally after people have actually played the game, not just read about a feature; that way the reponses are a lot more accurate.
---
To be clear nobody has seriously said the pre-alpha is 'terribad'. He said 'hovarific', which is a nod to the 'skorpion that hovars without flapping' NS meme.
You guys really need to chill out.. Go play another game, go fishing, go have a w@nk.. but seriously chill out.
Good things take time.
Positive thinking <3, win/win for UWE anyways.
Welcome to NS Bobbah, we rage a lot.
You're right. They'd never report such a thing because they're excited about hitting a major milestone -- it's all a facade. Every single twitter message is carefully calculated to provide a maximum amount of additional pre-orders.
I don't know about you, but I pre-ordered the game after reading the following twitter message:
"Sorry everyone, no update today. Hoping to have something for you guys Monday."
Curse you, UWE!
Welcome to NS Bobbah, we rage a lot.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
... I don't :(
I don't know about you, but I pre-ordered the game after reading the following twitter message:
"Sorry everyone, no update today. Hoping to have something for you guys Monday."
Curse you, UWE!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Indeed I'm but a sad fat nolife trolling but I like to think that theres a reason to every action. I know "sorry no update" gives a kind of "nice company" image that might make someone to pre-order but I believe that is not the case this time. When you review UWEs actions preorder -> spark -> images -> video -> "alpha soon" -> "its coming together" -> release something -> enginetest -> now 25 man closed alpha all of these are kinda of triggers that would make people pre-order, mine was images. While one would normally mind at all they have missed so many of their "promises" but you cant help it but to feel being cheated since the promises arent being kept one after another (false hope might be a better word). It gives very unpleasent picture of UWE as if they had something to hide.
If the engine test was a trick then it was a bad one indeed. I am not really sure where they are trying to go with that because it didn't even work properly on my computer but I didn't expect much from it. It was obviously going to be bad but they wanted us to have a go at it so we could find bugs etc and they can sort out the game.
If it was a trick then they really didn't think it through...
Why would they result to tricks to get us to buy thier game. They say they are an open community so they tell us everything (Well, a lot) so why would they bother losing thier reputation?
<!--quoteo(post=1777727:date=Jul 10 2010, 03:07 PM:name=TrC)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TrC @ Jul 10 2010, 03:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1777727"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->When you review UWEs actions preorder -> spark -> images -> video -> "alpha soon" -> "its coming together" -> release something -> enginetest -> now 25 man closed alpha all of these are kinda of triggers that would make people pre-order, mine was images.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That may be and they are getting more people to pre-order it but these things are happening. There is a ~25 people closed alpha going on right now. Members of this community (The old-school ones) have been invited into it. It may just be an act to get us to pre-order but how else are they going to get thier money? Also, they may be taking some time to make these promises a reality but at least they are not lieing to us!
And he posted...
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well... I kinda had to...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
A couple of days ago in the pre-order thread I think that's a good thing?
I am not really sure. I don't really understand his post.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well... I kinda had to...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
He kinda had to do what? But Natural Selection 2? Why? I couldn't find any previous post from him on that thread so I have the faintest idea of what he is on about...
If it was a trick then they really didn't think it through...
Why would they result to tricks to get us to buy thier game. They say they are an open community so they tell us everything (Well, a lot) so why would they bother losing thier reputation?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Point being engine test was first glance at "playable" version where you could actually move, if someone was still hesitating that may have made him pre-order. I'm certain they are doing their job but with the currect state, I bet they shouldnt even mentioned more than they have started doing NS2. This hype might go down so hard, that game will receive too big blow to ever regain playerbase.
No, I see your point and agree with the calculated element of the announcements. Of course they are, to a degree, aimed to increase pre-orders. I disagree, however, with your assessment/speculation that this is a bad thing. It's a clever thing and its businesslike: exactly what I like to see in an independant studio charged with remaking one of the best games I've ever played.
No, I see your point and agree with the calculated element of the announcements. Of course they are, to a degree, aimed to increase pre-orders. I disagree, however, with your assessment/speculation that this is a bad thing. It's a clever thing and its businesslike: exactly what I like to see in an independant studio charged with remaking one of the best games I've ever played.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
13years
Failed promises that are intentional, I can tell that I aint pre-ordering any game from UWE (I'm referring to alpha promises). If someone wants to comeback with "they didnt do it on purpose" I can tell that after six months they have things still on "sketch" pretty sure you cant miscalculate that even with major problems.
While I think this is a good thing, they didn't communicate it very well and I'm not sure, if there is a good way to communicate such a change in direction at all, at least towards those impatient fans.
If they released the game in Fall of 2009 what we do know is that it is likely DI, Heavy Armor, and maybe even the Power Grid system would not have been in the game. The game would've been bare bones and basic.
Reviews can make or break a game and with such a minimal game being released I doubt NS2 would have scored about a 7.5. It's not like IGN would revisit their NS2 review 8 months down the line and say "Hey, this game is now a 9!"
If you feel like you've been screwed or lied to you options are simple: get a refund or deal with it.
If they released the game in Fall of 2009 what we do know is that it is likely DI, Heavy Armor, and maybe even the Power Grid system would not have been in the game. The game would've been bare bones and basic.
Reviews can make or break a game and with such a minimal game being released I doubt NS2 would have scored about a 7.5. It's not like IGN would revisit their NS2 review 8 months down the line and say "Hey, this game is now a 9!"
If you feel like you've been screwed or lied to you options are simple: get a refund or deal with it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This. Some of us have been in this community for almost 9 years. We all want NS2. But we all want NS2 to be the best it can be within reason initially. A good metacritic score would bolster sales tremendously for NS2, and I would be really sad if those above features never got in due to lack of time/money.
Be patient, it's coming. In the meantime, you have SC2 coming out and a slew of other games on the market to pass the time with. Also, for those that don't know, because NS2 is now tied to steam, it's not possible to refund orders. Similar to it's existing game purchasing model. Then again, NS2 is 20 dollars. 20 dollars.
How about where they live, what times they're alone, and a list of their deepest fears?
USA
1000pm-0600pm gmt-7
Waking up to discover that scorpions evolved into giant hovering monstrosities that do not flap.
... well done !
It's nice to see that they are actually doing something about this game than leaving it for another time.