Managing Expectations
Sling_Blade
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 3412Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 3412Members, Reinforced - Shadow
I'm a big fan of NS so I wanted to make a brief plea to those unhappy with the alpha release. Unknown Worlds has had a fine line to walk in trying to keep expectations in check while still funding their development through pre-orders. It's tough to say "Guys this is gonna suck" and "BUY NOW!" at the same time. I think Unknown Worlds did their best, but a fan funded game is always going to have that sort of conflict. Given the unusual nature of this sort of project I think it's easy for people to make comparisons to big commercial games that they "paid" for that just aren't valid. Now that the alpha is out hopefully everyone will be on the same page, even if that was a rude awakening for some.
For those who are disappointed I would like to point out NS2 isn't doing bad at all in terms of progress. Building an engine from scratch is very difficult and can easily account for at least a year of development. S2 Games, another independent developer, took 13 months to develop their engine for Heroes of Newearth and that was after producing engines for several previous games. I was actually pleasantly surprised that the engine test and alpha are relatively stable. For those who know nothing about programming, there is a tremendous amount of code that goes into painting what you see on the screen. Bugs in that code are typically pretty obvious and given the lack of visual anomalies or crashes I think we can say it's pretty solid. Now that the game is playable networking, physics, and game bugs are to be expected at this point. They're no doubt the newest and least tested part of the code base. Expecting something playable and "fun" at this point just isn't realistic.
In the end, I think we all want the same thing, which is an awesome sequel to Natural Selection. These aren't some random upstart developers. These are the guys who produced NS1 and have proven they have the skills to make the awesome game we paid for. They just need more time. Lets not forget what the most attractive aspect of this arrangement is for fans over normal commercial development. We get input from the beginning and we don't have to worry about some blowhard executive at a publisher ruining it, usually by rushing it out the door. In the end, to make this game turn out the way we want it, the fans need to give the developers more than money.
For those who are disappointed I would like to point out NS2 isn't doing bad at all in terms of progress. Building an engine from scratch is very difficult and can easily account for at least a year of development. S2 Games, another independent developer, took 13 months to develop their engine for Heroes of Newearth and that was after producing engines for several previous games. I was actually pleasantly surprised that the engine test and alpha are relatively stable. For those who know nothing about programming, there is a tremendous amount of code that goes into painting what you see on the screen. Bugs in that code are typically pretty obvious and given the lack of visual anomalies or crashes I think we can say it's pretty solid. Now that the game is playable networking, physics, and game bugs are to be expected at this point. They're no doubt the newest and least tested part of the code base. Expecting something playable and "fun" at this point just isn't realistic.
In the end, I think we all want the same thing, which is an awesome sequel to Natural Selection. These aren't some random upstart developers. These are the guys who produced NS1 and have proven they have the skills to make the awesome game we paid for. They just need more time. Lets not forget what the most attractive aspect of this arrangement is for fans over normal commercial development. We get input from the beginning and we don't have to worry about some blowhard executive at a publisher ruining it, usually by rushing it out the door. In the end, to make this game turn out the way we want it, the fans need to give the developers more than money.
Comments
you should be amazed that you can nearly have a game..
Well thought and written and fairly accurate. I think many people expect a 'beta' style product and perhaps compare this to open beta's run by large developers mere weeks prior to the official release.
An 'alpha' is normally performed inhouse or involving small external select groups however as the resources at UWE may not allow a broad enough alpha we have been lucky enough to be involved. I have been involved in closed beta's for many games which were perhaps in worse shape than this. But sure enough the issues get ironed out and the final product is often a drastically different to that in the original alpha.
"I payed $20 extra for it to be playable!"
"its an alpha, quit your ######'"
Its an stupid flame war, to say the least
To be honest, this is my first alpha and I went in expecting something like a beta. I'm not gunna lie, I was an idiot. I didn't look into what alphas are usually like, nor did i have anything reasonable to base my expectations off of.
I'm still very excited to see the game develop and play it as it becomes more finished and consequently more fun. That is why I (and hopefully everyone) payed for SE in the first place.
Alpha/Beta journeys are just as great as the destination. It's fun to check in weekly to see what the newest updates and fixes are and helping with feedback. Then when the game goes gold we'll be asked HOWS TO BLACK ARMER? and we can say "by helping shape this game, son"
You've restored my faith in the part of humanity involved in this Alpha test, because you realised the mistake was yours and you adjusted your own point of view, rather than come here spouting drivel.
"I'd buy you a beer... if I could"
I was very impressed with S2's engine and how well it works..
When you look at UWE's engine and how STABLE it is (even compared to Heroes of Newerth, wich is past 1.0 even - still crashes now and then) its actually pretty damn awesome! Theres on top of that already support for multi-core cpu's, physx, dynamic lighting and lots of stuff that isn't in S2's game.
I knew you guys were good, but not this good :D
There is no doubt UWE will pull this off if you ask me!
For me, the extra £13 is well worth knowing that I am in my own way, helping further the development of NS2. Even if its just reporting bugs and joining in here, I still feel very privileged to be playing around with the alpha. Not many developers would even think of letting so many people see a game at this stage
I am PROUD to be able to contribute.
I consider this whole experience to be well worth all of my time. I have participated in a few closed betas in the past, and have always wondered what sort of process the games went through to reach the point at which we normally play them. So seeing the alpha and reading the constant in depth development commentary from the UWE team has really been informative.
I mean, really, if you were one of the people who played NS at launch, and followed it for months before release, you would have had no doubt that NS2 will be awesome when it is ready.
Max had already written most of the engine alone when UWE started using it. I think it was his personal project before NS2.
I doubt they would've switched from Source otherwise (because you're right, it takes a real lot of work and is risky for indies with limited resources.)
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/94/Gartner_Hype_Cycle.svg/400px-Gartner_Hype_Cycle.svg.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Guess where we are :P
I was never "illusioned" that the Alpha was going to be this magical fun-filled period of time, which in part is why i'm satisfied waiting for the beta to play (you guys can fry your vid cards and experience my fair share of bugs thx :P), and some people were expecting a 100% smooth nearly-bug-free experience which is going to probably take many months to achieve IMO.
I'm just excited that NS2 != NS1... and some people aren't so thrilled >:D