Q&A for Devs

245

Comments

  • PlasmaPlasma Join Date: 2003-04-26 Member: 15855Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->- Is GetSatisfaction still used by the team? Have you considered giving moderation access to some of the internal testers, allowing them to work with the reporters to create proper repro steps and push the really important issues to the developers?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Ah yes, good point.

    To elaborate, we really do need a single point (The Ideas + Suggestions forum? GetSatisfaction?) where all feedback (bugs, problems, suggestions, ideas) can be delivered to.

    I've noticed sometimes posts are made and the thread gets active, but there's no sign of developers saying +1 or -1, and so a lot of people I would think feel like its a bit pointless at times to report bugs or write out ideas if there's no feedback.

    Understandably its a huge task to spend time going through all of the posts/threads/etc when your already busy.

    Perhaps a volunteer/forum mod can summarise a weeks worth of new issues/suggestions (no matter how trivial etc) and deliver them to the dev team for a glance each week?

    That way at least things get passed on, and the time spent reviewing all of the bugs/suggestions by the dev team is trivial.
  • TriggermanTriggerman Graphic Artist Join Date: 2004-11-10 Member: 32724Members, WC 2013 - Supporter
    edited January 2011
    <ul><li><b>How are you using GetSatisfaction?</b>
    It seems most of the times it's better off not posting it there and instead rely on loud topics in the forums. Some kind of life-sign for that part of giving feedback would be nice indeed.</li><li><b>More community feedback in-game?</b>
    You mentioned in a tweet about gathering statistics and linked us a pie-chart. Is this something you're going to expand on in the future, along other things like the map-annotation system? Do you have any other similar plans?</li><li><b>Will the game feature paid cosmetic DLC?</b>
    I am personally for it as it will help you out without having to buy another copy that will cost quite a lot, or if you'll be going the nice-guy way with doing free cosmetic updates?</li><li><b>Can you tell us something about the alien commander?</b>
    This far into the beta he lacks interaction with the players, and in terms of just fun it is quite bleak in comparison to marine commander. Are you going to focus on aliens and their features any time soon?</li><li><b>Will you be able to see visually which rank a resource tower is?</b>
    I have been thinking that the marine extractor would work really well with the three pumps on the sides being activated with each rank.</li><li><b>What plans do you have for post-release?</b>
    Is there any game or team in particular that you draw inspiration from when you think about how to keep the game going after 1.0 is out?</li></ul>
  • NeoSniperNeoSniper Join Date: 2005-06-02 Member: 52976Members
    Mora a suggestion than a question. But I would like to see more use of the NS2 subreddit to carry out conversation and getting user feedback. I think the comment voting system is ideal to get a sense of what question/issues are more relevant to the community.

    Check it out and if you like it throw out a tweet about it.
    <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/ns2/" target="_blank">http://www.reddit.com/r/ns2/</a>
  • MagnetoMagneto Join Date: 2010-12-22 Member: 75856Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1827758:date=Jan 27 2011, 01:46 PM:name=Triggerman)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Triggerman @ Jan 27 2011, 01:46 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1827758"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->[list]
    [*]<b>How are you using GetSatisfaction?</b>
    It seems most of the times it's better off not posting it there and instead rely on loud topics in the forums. Some kind of life-sign for that part of giving feedback would be nice indeed.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Would be interested in knowing about this as well.
  • DeadzoneDeadzone Join Date: 2003-07-03 Member: 17911Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1827719:date=Jan 27 2011, 04:48 AM:name=DJPenguin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DJPenguin @ Jan 27 2011, 04:48 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1827719"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->any new voice acting?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Charlie has said in another thread that there will be new voiceovers, but that recording them will be one of the last things they do before NS2 releases. At least when we hear news about it, release shouldn't be too far off! :D


    Back to questions, I'd also like to know what the future of the gorge is. So far the only reason I've ever seen one played is to drop hydras, and with the current impact hydras have on servers.... well, let's just say it's been a long time since I've seen ANY gorges.
  • PersianImm0rtalPersianImm0rtal Join Date: 2010-12-02 Member: 75414Members, Constellation, NS2 Map Tester
    The flashlight does not look very real right now. Will you be making changes to it or is it final?
  • Dank McShwaggerDank McShwagger Join Date: 2009-06-10 Member: 67784Members
    edited January 2011
    1. In one of your early videos you demonstrated the dynamic lighting via a window shutter opening and having the room fill with what appeared to be natural light. The effect was visually impressive but I have not seen anything similar to that in game thus far. Are there still plans on implementing that form of dynamic lighting by means of interacting with map objects other then power nodes?

    2. Was there a specific reason that you deviated from the asymetrical balance between the aliens and marines by adding an alien commander and thus changing the role of the gorge? And is this matter still being discussed as a possibility for future consideration? I know this has been discussed to death but I would like an official word from the developers on the matter. (Sorry if this has been answered already, I have been unable to find any real reasoning on the forums)
  • CrispixCrispix Join Date: 2007-01-10 Member: 59543Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1827840:date=Jan 27 2011, 02:09 PM:name=Dank McShwagger)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dank McShwagger @ Jan 27 2011, 02:09 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1827840"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->In one of your early videos you demonstrated the dynamic lighting via a window shutter opening and having the room fill with what appeared to be natural light. The effect was visually impressive but I have not seen anything similar to that in game thus far. Are there still plans on implementing that form of dynamic lighting by means of interacting with map objects other then power nodes?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    The atmospheric lighting is something that will be added in later once the game is more optimized according to Max.
  • echsechs Join Date: 2002-12-27 Member: 11568Members, Constellation
    Will we expect more graphics options in beta so we can further tweak our performance?

    Cheers.
  • ZenoZeno Join Date: 2007-09-05 Member: 62183Members
    edited January 2011
    I'll add another 2 ....

    -<strike>How are you using the pivot tracker?</strike> How do you process your tasks? Do you start a task and go through with it or do you work on several tasks simultaneously? (I'd guess its the latter, because often there are quite a lot of tasks tagged as "started" at the same time. )

    -maybe this sounds more like a request but.... is it possible to create a post-processing filter that makes the game look like on peregrinus' screenshots? (see screenshots-thread)
  • ASnogarDASnogarD Join Date: 2003-10-24 Member: 21894Members
    Cant you (UWE) put up a few OFFICIAL servers in various regions , to eliminate the possibility that erronously setup player servers are not contributing to the issues players are experiencing ?
    Least that way you guys will be able to say the game works on the official servers, so its a player server setup issue ... not a game issue.
    Makes sense to me as Endar in Aus seems to have a decent server for NS2HD to record smooth gameplay vids on ... the rest of us seem to have a stutter fest.
  • GaidinTSGaidinTS Join Date: 2003-08-10 Member: 19319Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    My question is a little bit different, but

    What can we do as community members (who obviously believe in your vision of the game since we all bought the alpha / beta) to support you guys and help the game development?
  • schkorpioschkorpio I can mspaint Join Date: 2003-05-23 Member: 16635Members
    will gorge portals/tunnels still be in the game? - i love that idea :D
  • lunsluns Join Date: 2010-12-05 Member: 75502Members
    edited February 2011
    are you going to bring back class roles for marines and aliens? currently class roles are limited to doing most basic tasks, making game play very dry. (game should be more than just firing your rifle, for examples macs are doing too much for marines - they must be more self-depended.)

    will you change how macs work or remove them? since they are currently taking away marine tasks, class roles and can be spam-able. (building enough macs to stack build/repair something makes it almost instantly.)

    how are you actually going to fix flamethrowers? aliens do not have anything to counter it currently. Unless aliens need tier3 (onos) vs tier2(flamethrowers)? (currently it takes no skill or aimming required, spamming it at any direction plus with all its flaws, such as; blinding effect/going through walls/huge damage ticks/huge range/)

    are welders going to return into the game, to increase better class roles for marines?

    shouldn't armory only restore marines health, not armor? isn't that too much? (medpacks restore armor as well, isn't big balance problem, restoring everyone armor with medpacks spam?)

    alien commander feels far to much like marine commander, commanding on aliens feels exactly like being marines - will this change? ns1 made aliens far different than marines, where gorges played larger. we need to limit alien commanders, to allow gorges to do what they done in n1, and make separation between alien commander vs marine commander. At this point, it feels too much the same thing.
  • tyrael64tyrael64 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70551Members
    will be able to kick out the noob coms?

    why the alien can not recycle?

    which is the next super secret update?
    hahaha
  • ThaldarinThaldarin Alonzi&#33; Join Date: 2003-07-15 Member: 18173Members, Constellation
    edited January 2011
    1. Do you regret not taking the easier route of using an already existing engine such as Unreal Engine, Source, Cryengine etc. which would have sped up your production time significantly?

    2. How do you plan to keep your playerbase, as 'classic' play was deemed to difficult for most people to casually drop in to, are we going to see another game mode on full release to stop people dwindling away like they did in NS1 because !it's too difficult to play!; yet NS2 classic mode is going more complex than its NS1 counterpart?

    3. As a retail game there will of course be a schedule and this will be a question everyone will ask and want to know, roughly in your schedule, where do you place your full release date?
  • FTNPhoenixFTNPhoenix Join Date: 2008-10-31 Member: 65340Members
    I started playing NS with the 1.04 release, and I felt that combat mode destroyed all team play in the game by shifting the game to a level-myself-up approach rather than a what-can-I-do-for-the-team approach. Once people lost the team-play mindset, I found classic mode to be very lackluster compared to gameplay before combat's debut. Then, the extra levels mod was released and destroyed what little value was left in combat by grossly unbalancing the game, skewing towards more skilled players. The highly skilled players could unlock 40 or 50 levels of bonus traits, leaving one with little skill or a player that joined late to be repeatedly spawn killed.

    I was wondering if there will be a down time between when the game is released and when mods will be supported, or if the game is going to be released with the same set of unbalancing community add-ons we've seen for NS classic.

    I would also like to note that while I'm sure getting new concept art in is really cool, it breaks my heart to know that I pre-ordered the special edition of this game THE DAY preorders were available, and that now, almost two years later, concept art is still being generated. I for one feel really misled about the status of game development and really regret preordering the game. I preordered the game and then convinced 3 or 4 of my friends to do the same, then got to answer occasional questions to the effect of, "<i>when</i> is this game coming out again?" for over a year. I thought with all the "engine previews", the maps and models shown in the previews, GUI mockups, and all the other updates shown leading up to starting preordering that the game was roughly 6-9 months away from being complete. This portion of my post doesn't really have any questions, I just wanted to post somewhere I knew the devs would read it. I would ask any moderators that would like to delete my post to consider moving it to somewhere else that it may be read, as I don't visit the forums here any more, and am not really sure where the best place to put a comment like this would be.

    Thanks,
    ~P
  • ThaldarinThaldarin Alonzi&#33; Join Date: 2003-07-15 Member: 18173Members, Constellation
    Your question is community related. You're basically asking people not to make mods, not the dev team?
  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited January 2011
    Weapon oriented questions.

    1. I know you wanted to merge the lmg and hmg into reduce weapon inferiority/redundancy. But is there any more weapons coming out for the basic marine?

    2. Regarding weapon attachments such as the grenade launcher. Will there be more types of attachments and will you always have to be at an armory to add/remove them?(Referencing Crysis)

    3. Is the the shotgun going to have an alternate fire in the future? Maybe a weapon bash like the rifle?

    4. Is the jetpack planned to act the same as the jetpack from the final version of ns1?
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    - Gorge Plushies?

    - Are we going to get more "clip brush" types (bullet stoppers+anti Skulk wallwalk for example)
  • eisigereisiger Join Date: 2010-11-22 Member: 75159Members
    edited January 2011
    Have you thought about adding another Xenomorph, possibly a rival to match the utility/power of an Onos?
    Are you thinking of adding a short offline tutorial campaign to get newer players more prepared for a real match?
    Will there be a function where being bitten in the ass will kill a marine outright?
  • ZenoZeno Join Date: 2007-09-05 Member: 62183Members
    -What is your relationship to Wolfire (and how did you come to the idea of the organic pack)?

    -Do you have any plans or ideas what you will do after NS2 and some "DLCs" are finished? (i remember one of the UWE core devs talking about "something wild" in a podcast a long time ago)

    -have you always planned UWE to be an indie Studio? What other possibilities did you have before founding the company?

    -there is no "credits-button" in the beta. How many people have contributed to the development so far?

    -Where the hell is Matt?
  • endarendar Join Date: 2010-07-27 Member: 73256Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1827758:date=Jan 28 2011, 12:46 AM:name=Triggerman)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Triggerman @ Jan 28 2011, 12:46 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1827758"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><ul><li><b>How are you using GetSatisfaction?</b>
    It seems most of the times it's better off not posting it there and instead rely on loud topics in the forums. Some kind of life-sign for that part of giving feedback would be nice indeed.</li></ul><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Just adding my vote to this question, a reinforcement of how much GetSatisfaction actually helps you guys would be nice to hear about.
  • HarimauHarimau Join Date: 2007-12-24 Member: 63250Members
    edited January 2011
    Agreed. There's no indication on GetSatisfaction, barring an actual (rather rare) reply, that any bugs or problems are even acknowledged.
  • SturmwindSturmwind Join Date: 2010-07-20 Member: 72589Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1828283:date=Jan 29 2011, 02:07 AM:name=luns)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (luns @ Jan 29 2011, 02:07 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1828283"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->are you going to bring back class roles for marines and aliens? currently class roles are limited to doing most basic tasks, making game play very dry.

    will you change how macs work or remove them? since they are currently taking away marine tasks, class roles and can be spam-able.


    are welders going to return into the game, to increase better class roles for marines?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    You forgot to ask if they will implement a bunny-hop-style pr0-gaimor movement system ;-)




    Ok, SCNR, now for the serious part... I too would like to get a feedback on <!--coloro:#ffff00--><span style="color:#ffff00"><!--/coloro-->how usefull the GetSatisfaction feedback really is for you<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->.
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=1828611:date=Jan 30 2011, 12:36 PM:name=Zeno)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zeno @ Jan 30 2011, 12:36 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1828611"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->-Where the hell is Matt?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    <img src="http://members.home.nl/m.borgman/ns-forum/smileys/biggrin.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" />
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    edited January 2011
    - Will marines be able to get more items for individual use like mines, robots, grenades, more weapon attachments etc?

    - How is Dynamic Infestation going?

    - Any renders or at least concept art for the exo suit to show us?

    - Why are you recruiting another game programmer? Is this to help fix the performance/server issues?

    - Any plans to give the gorge more stuff to do?

    - Can you make it so a custom map will be automatically downloaded when a player tries to join a server running one?

    - Has anything new been thought of during game development that you want to add post v1.0? Like a new alien race or marine structure?

    - Will we ever be able to customise our marine character to at least have different faces or skin colours?

    - How do you feel about the red lights during powercuts? Some of us would prefer more darkness to force marines to use flashlights.

    - Do you ever see the marines having an option of some engineering role, like solving a logic puzzle (like that free Alien multiplayer game on steam) to upgrade marine structures?

    - When do you realistically see the game going to v1.0?

    - Will the old pop up menu return? That was perfect.
  • xx3nvyxxxx3nvyxx Join Date: 2007-08-26 Member: 62000Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Is there any sort of timeline on a linux server binary? You have removed the requirements of physx and directx from the server, but the server is still only compiled as a win32 executable. How much more work would need to be done to port the server to linux?
  • PersianImm0rtalPersianImm0rtal Join Date: 2010-12-02 Member: 75414Members, Constellation, NS2 Map Tester
    is dynamic infestation a guaranteed feature?
  • 1stToast1stToast Join Date: 2007-12-02 Member: 63067Members
    You people don't ask for much do you! :-g Don't answer any of their questions until the game is playable, it will take away too much time from fixing the buggs.
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