There is a fair question of when, or if, the game should be labeled feature-complete. More content patches forever always sounds great in theory, but is there such a thing as too much? I would argue that TF2 for example hit that point a while ago, the number of items in that game today is completely overwhelming and detracts from the game's purity of design. No amount of features will keep you interested in a game forever, it's important for the game to know what it is and what it isn't.
I think each team still has room for a fair amount of new content. A new lifeform or two, a couple new weapons, some new upgrades and structures, etc. Beyond that though you start seeing design overlap - how many weapons can you add before you run out of distinct gameplay roles for them to fill? At that point you're adding stuff like heavy assault rifles, auto-shotguns, etc etc and it just adds complexity to the game for trivial benefit. I think that's when it's okay to say that the game is largely done. New maps are always good, and a new game mode or two would be nice to have, but sooner or later it just makes more sense to move on and leave a core team on NS2 doing performance fixes and polish tweaks.
<!--quoteo(post=2047912:date=Dec 18 2012, 11:54 PM:name=Imbalanxd)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Imbalanxd @ Dec 18 2012, 11:54 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2047912"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->He said Tribes was pay to win, so I think he knows basically all their is to know about that game.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=2048124:date=Dec 19 2012, 12:49 PM:name=Zek)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zek @ Dec 19 2012, 12:49 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2048124"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->There is a fair question of when, or if, the game should be labeled feature-complete. More content patches forever always sounds great in theory, but is there such a thing as too much? I would argue that TF2 for example hit that point a while ago, the number of items in that game today is completely overwhelming and detracts from the game's purity of design. No amount of features will keep you interested in a game forever, it's important for the game to know what it is and what it isn't.
I think each team still has room for a fair amount of new content. A new lifeform or two, a couple new weapons, some new upgrades and structures, etc. Beyond that though you start seeing design overlap - how many weapons can you add before you run out of distinct gameplay roles for them to fill? At that point you're adding stuff like heavy assault rifles, auto-shotguns, etc etc and it just adds complexity to the game for trivial benefit. I think that's when it's okay to say that the game is largely done. New maps are always good, and a new game mode or two would be nice to have, but sooner or later it just makes more sense to move on and leave a core team on NS2 doing performance fixes and polish tweaks.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is definitely true, but it's good to know NS2 isn't there yet. Maps are one of the only things you can really keep adding for a long time without really overdoing it (as long as you weed out the bad ones).
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I think each team still has room for a fair amount of new content. A new lifeform or two, a couple new weapons, some new upgrades and structures, etc. Beyond that though you start seeing design overlap - how many weapons can you add before you run out of distinct gameplay roles for them to fill? At that point you're adding stuff like heavy assault rifles, auto-shotguns, etc etc and it just adds complexity to the game for trivial benefit. I think that's when it's okay to say that the game is largely done. New maps are always good, and a new game mode or two would be nice to have, but sooner or later it just makes more sense to move on and leave a core team on NS2 doing performance fixes and polish tweaks.
It is a little pay to win, to be fair.
I think each team still has room for a fair amount of new content. A new lifeform or two, a couple new weapons, some new upgrades and structures, etc. Beyond that though you start seeing design overlap - how many weapons can you add before you run out of distinct gameplay roles for them to fill? At that point you're adding stuff like heavy assault rifles, auto-shotguns, etc etc and it just adds complexity to the game for trivial benefit. I think that's when it's okay to say that the game is largely done. New maps are always good, and a new game mode or two would be nice to have, but sooner or later it just makes more sense to move on and leave a core team on NS2 doing performance fixes and polish tweaks.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is definitely true, but it's good to know NS2 isn't there yet. Maps are one of the only things you can really keep adding for a long time without really overdoing it (as long as you weed out the bad ones).