NarfwakJoin Date: 2002-11-02Member: 5258Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica PT Lead, NS2 Community Developer
The only games that make every single deadline the developers set for themselves are the ones getting rushed out the door to make a quick buck on an unfinished product. UWE is particularly crazy about setting ambitious goals and deadlines, but when they do eventually deliver it's always been great.
I'm totally fine with the patch being delayed; I always think it's best to get a patch out when it's ready, not when some arbitrary release date does. My problem is with how terribly this was handled in terms of PR, and it's hardly the first time UWE's PR has screwed up really badly.
Number one, why even attach a certain number of days to it? There are plenty of ways to tease an upcoming patch without saying "IT'S COMING OUT ON MARCH 26 EVERYONE HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS." I mean really, what was Hugh expecting the community's reaction to be? I feel that all that would do is put an onus on the coders and the playtesters to get it out at that certain point, instead of allowing them the freedom t continue working on it until it's ready.
Number two, if you've already set the community up to expect a release on March 26, and it's looking like you can't get the update out, why feed the flame? You must know that allowing this thread to continue would only increase the disappointment. Instead of quieting down the hype, a number of individuals close enough to UWE to have earned golden boxes actually posted in the thread, making the anticipation even greater (although it's possible that those individuals weren't actually aware of the fact that the patch wasn't ready). UWE should have focused on quieting down the hype once it became clear the patch wasn't ready, not building it up even more.
And lastly, don't wait until the day it's supposed to be released to tell us it isn't ready. You're setting yourself up for much more disappointment if you do that.
I'm not saying that UWE isn't a good developer, and I'm not saying that they don't eventually release quality material. I obviously wouldn't be posting here if NS wasn't one of my favorite games of all time. But what I am saying is that UWE frequently commits blunder after blunder in how they interact with their fans, and I think it's something they need to work on. Forcing the community to test their reinforced patch so that it could be fixed by the time the sale came out was one of the crappiest things I've ever seen a developer do, and while this is not nearly as bad as that it's emblematic of the same problems. UWE is a good developer, but it needs to learn to set more realistic goals and how to interact with its fans in a way that won't cause so much anger and confusion.
It would be great to see a blog post detailing plans like the old days...
Unfortunately, I think people going bat sh** crazy mad when releases got delayed or features got dropped (from what was talked up in the blog posts), has kind of put a damper on UWE openness. To bad, really...I enjoyed those posts as well.
People reasonably expect a lot more from a "released" game than a beta/early access game. I wonder if it would have gone easier if UWE never officially released NS2...just kept it in beta/early access/whatever. I think people would have been generally much more forgiving. Oh well, that ship has sailed.
*push* news? And why does the forum keep insisting each new post here has been made in March?
I think we can assume (but why must we assume? can't we just be told?) that this, whatever it is, is going to be released post-PAX. I think UWE went full out assault wiht all hands on deck to get SN ready for public showing, NS2's update got back burner then.
dePARAJoin Date: 2011-04-29Member: 96321Members, Squad Five Blue
Its funny that some people still thinking something big NS2 related is coming in the near future.
Btw, the original thread was from march 1st.
UWE is working on there new game and ... thats it.
Something big would be:
- Inceased client/server and movementrates
- a working PhysiX implementation
- more fps cause a optimized dx11 (still beta) implemenation
- more fps cause heavy lua optimisation
- a skill based matchmaking
UWE didnt had the time to realease a hotfix for the mineshaft cyst bug.
Thats the way to keep an game alive. NOT
Comments
Number one, why even attach a certain number of days to it? There are plenty of ways to tease an upcoming patch without saying "IT'S COMING OUT ON MARCH 26 EVERYONE HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS." I mean really, what was Hugh expecting the community's reaction to be? I feel that all that would do is put an onus on the coders and the playtesters to get it out at that certain point, instead of allowing them the freedom t continue working on it until it's ready.
Number two, if you've already set the community up to expect a release on March 26, and it's looking like you can't get the update out, why feed the flame? You must know that allowing this thread to continue would only increase the disappointment. Instead of quieting down the hype, a number of individuals close enough to UWE to have earned golden boxes actually posted in the thread, making the anticipation even greater (although it's possible that those individuals weren't actually aware of the fact that the patch wasn't ready). UWE should have focused on quieting down the hype once it became clear the patch wasn't ready, not building it up even more.
And lastly, don't wait until the day it's supposed to be released to tell us it isn't ready. You're setting yourself up for much more disappointment if you do that.
I'm not saying that UWE isn't a good developer, and I'm not saying that they don't eventually release quality material. I obviously wouldn't be posting here if NS wasn't one of my favorite games of all time. But what I am saying is that UWE frequently commits blunder after blunder in how they interact with their fans, and I think it's something they need to work on. Forcing the community to test their reinforced patch so that it could be fixed by the time the sale came out was one of the crappiest things I've ever seen a developer do, and while this is not nearly as bad as that it's emblematic of the same problems. UWE is a good developer, but it needs to learn to set more realistic goals and how to interact with its fans in a way that won't cause so much anger and confusion.
Sometimes this game still feels like beta imo.
Believe me I have heard even stranger threats. It's the internet after all right?
The game will live forever!
Long live NS2!
Trust me... it feels nothing like the beta... lol..
Are we talking days or weeks?
What I am currently expecting:
Shadow fade and Onos skins for purchase
Game Balance update. Alien buffsssssss
That is about it.
First, it starts out like this...
...but then it turns into THIS:
forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/134632/the-other-uwe-booth-game-at-pax/p1
The universe is at peace: COMBAT!
Jibrail said it's not combat.
The deadline was also earlier than PAX.
Also, this thread does not get pushed up to the top. Something is pretty fishy here.
Btw, the original thread was from march 1st.
UWE is working on there new game and ... thats it.
Something big would be:
- Inceased client/server and movementrates
- a working PhysiX implementation
- more fps cause a optimized dx11 (still beta) implemenation
- more fps cause heavy lua optimisation
- a skill based matchmaking
UWE didnt had the time to realease a hotfix for the mineshaft cyst bug.
Thats the way to keep an game alive. NOT