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Terryt33 -> History of Maximum Football Part I (11/20/2008 5:33:29 AM)
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This story is a Mary Shelley meets Mel Brooks kind of Saturday night live view of Maximum Football. I call it History of Maximum Football, Part I. I wrote it mostly to entertain, and possibly provoke some thought as to why things might have happened, through pure speculation.(since I don't really know anybody here, except through reading thousands of posts over the years). Although the story appears to be slanted, I really didn't mean it to be. I just wrote the way I saw what happened (from my limited view). Most of all I hope not to offend anyone, as it is merely fiction, with no one in particular in mind.
History of Maximum Football, Part I
The announcement went out that a game was being created that was supposed to fulfill all the promises FBPRO99/2K had made, a game that would allow to customization of leagues and teams. I think the mixing of rules (Canadian, US, and indoor) came a little later. And we hailed David as the greatest indie programmer ever. We sung his praises for single handedly doing what an entire team at Sierra couldn’t. And we waited. And news came out of what the game would do. And we waited. And we got some screenshots. And we waited. And we got feature lists. And we waited. And then we got a “tentative” release date. And we, well you know.
So we went to David and said, “Give us the game!” And he told us it wasn’t ready. And we screamed louder, “GIVE US THE GAME!” And he told us to be patient that things had to be worked out. And he gave us a uniform viewer so we could make our own uniforms and see how they would look in the game. And that appeased us for a while. For about 24 hours. Then, we hollered again, “Give us the game”. And we were told it wasn’t quite ready, so he gave us the templates for the center field and the end zones, so we could customize the fields to go with the uniforms. And that appeased us for a while. For about 24 hours. But soon we got bored with that too, and once again, “GIVE US THE GAME!”
So David set a “tentative” release date. And we all circled our calendars. And there were some issues. And the date got pushed back. And we complained. And we were told that the game wasn’t ready yet, that it would come soon. And there were more issues, and more delays. And some of the same people that hailed David as the great indie developer, started gathering torches and sharpening their pitchforks to storm his castle. And David was caught between a rock and a hard place. His creation was both a great achievement, and a great curse. He was being pulled by the consumers to release the game, and I’m sure by Matrix and whatever early beta testers he had, to work some more of the kinks out of the game. And every time, I’m sure, that he had a somewhat close to being stable working copy, we clamored, “It will never sell with out this feature. It will never sell without that feature.” And trying to appease the growing unruly mob, he tried to add some of the features. And new feature lists. And new delays. And a release date of Christmas. Then the Superbowl. Then Easter. Finally, Matrix and David announced that it would be released on a Sunday. He warned us it was not totally complete, and we said,” We don’t care. Give us the game so we can see all of our hard work in the actual game. You can patch any bugs later.” And there was grumblings that people would leave because they had spent months creating uniforms and field templates and that they didn’t think they would ever see them in an actual game. So finally, David relented (probably against his better judgment) and released the game to us.
And we praised him! And we thanked him for being the creator of the greatest football game ever. ( I am not being dramatic on this, go read the old posts!) And all was good in the world. And that lasted about 24 hours. And then the posts started trickling in, “Hey this game is full of bugs”. And David reminded us that we wanted the game and that we told him we would play with all of our customizations while we waited for him to fix the bugs. And we yelled, “PATCH IT!” And he gave us the first patch. And that appeased the mob. For about 24 hours. Then we complained, “Hey where is this feature, where is that feature? It was on the list.” And David tried to explain to us that there was a list of things for future releases, but he was still working out a few of the bugs. And the unruly crowd showed up again, and hollered, “WE WANT NEW FEATURES!” So David tried to appease the growing mob by adding in a few features (for free I might add) to the patches he was working on. And in addition to bug fixes, new camera angles and new playbooks slipped in. And that appeased the mob. For about 24 hours.
And then something strange happened. David left his creation for a little while to enrich his life by getting married. And he was unavailable for a little while. For about 24 hours. And the mob went wild, grabbed their torches and pitchforks and stormed his castle. And they waved their flaming torches at David, but when he didn’t respond, the group split. About half of them went to storm the gates of Matrix and flame them, while the other half stayed to rattle David’s gate and flame him. This lasted for a little more than 24 hours. And when he did get back, the entire unruly mob returned to his castle. And David’s wife tried to calm the growing crowd but they waved their flaming torches at her and plotted to string her up. After all, wasn’t she taking David’s focus from his purpose in life…. Finishing the creation!!
So, David went back to his creation, and worked on it. This was in addition to a full time job, and a wife. He was young after all. Sleep was overrated. And you could still code if you ate sandwiches, or a salad. Just nothing too elaborate so that you’d get something on the keyboard. And he looked at the growing resources this new creation was taking up. And so he mentioned that the next update may be for a small price. And the mob murmured. So that idea was scrapped. And David worked on his creation in his laboratory. Then came the update releases: V2, V219, V22, V227, and V229. And each of them appeased the crowd. For about 24 hours. And as the bugs decreased, the demand for new features increased. And David said we would have to lock down version 2 and that version 3 would be a paid upgrade to develop resources to make the new creation even better. And the crowd started murmuring again. David even let the mob pick which improvements should be made next to the creation, stating that he would try and get to all of them. And that seemed to appease the crowd. For about 24 hours.
In what looking back seemed to be a last ditch effort to try and secure some resources (not to mention a little show of appreciation) to update the creation, David posted that there was an patch in the works. This would be a pay for patch, which would include a few neat new features, as well as a few bug fixes. And it seemed that the mere mention of the word “pay” incited the mob to riot. And some waved their flaming torches at David and questioned his dedication.
And finally, completely worn out for caring for this creation, with little or no help from those who he created it for, and minuscule compensation for all of his efforts, he completed one last fix and sent his creation out to live or die by itself. And we thought it cruel of David to send it out to die. And there are a handful of community members just outside of the castle, who still try and care for the creation. A playbook here, a stadium there, some rosters, some uniforms, custom footballs, player cards,… just a little help to keep the creation alive. Members hoping that it doesn’t loose its way and starve to death, or fall into a lake and drown, or saddest of all, just slowly die of neglect and fade into oblivion. The community has dwindled considerably from its heyday, but a handful of very talented people have kept hope alive. They seem to be a fairly close group. They rally to cheer when something good happens to one of the members (congrats again on the new cub, Redwolf), and come out to support those members who have had tragedy befall them (our prayers are still with you JD). And they all want this creation to survive, but all knowing that the only one who can fix the creation, to ensure its survival, is the creator himself. Unless the creation can find its way back to him, or if David can entrust someone else with the secrets of how to fix the creation, it will not survive. A pity to, for a creation with all that it could be, became a victim of its own potential.
I’d like to add the disclaimer that I don’t know David at all, except from what he’s posted in the forums. I am not a member of Matrix, nor any beta testing team. I’m not even that good of a modder. I am just someone who has followed this, lurking almost daily to see what new things have been said or released for Maximum Football. I know many feel betrayed for the way this thing ended up. In a way, I do to an extent as well. But I also see things from a little different perspective. And before we start “lighting our torches and sharpening our pitchforks once again… [:D]” I also see someone who tried to give everyone what they expected out of this game. The problem with trying to make everyone happy is that you end up making NO ONE happy, least of all yourself. Sure I think David burned out. When you put so much into something, and all people want is more, more, more….that would burn out anybody. Am I justifying just walking away, no. But do I understand it, yeah I think I do. There were many other factors; I’m sure, as well. But the bottom line is when the economy is as bad as it is now, and you spend the countless hours working on something that you don’t get compensated for, but you get a huge amount of grief for, I can see why that could be a path taken. Yet, I am an optimist. I still hope to be able to write History of Maximum Football Part II. I am hoping it goes something like this. The creation finds its way back to the creator, under the cover of darkness. The creator works on it in total secret, a few hours here or there, with few noticing the flashes late at night from the castle laboratory. And one day, the castle doors will fly open, and announce the fixed creation, standing on its own two feet, unflawed and stable. It will be released back out into the world with a new understanding of what it is, and what it isn’t, and we will accept it for what it is. And we will once again hail David as the great creator. And his fixed creation will flourish. And we will all buy it. And all will be right with the world! For about 24 hours…. And then a post… [:D]
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