Florestan
Posts: 227
Joined: 6/5/2010 From: Montpellier, France Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Baleur I could sit and list game after game that updates more frequently but that wouldnt make much difference. Well, and among them how many have only one developer ? Well, I half agree with you : from the customer point of view, I think the game shouldn't even be out yet... There are still numerous little bugs here and there, the lack of QA shows a lot. In fact, I wonder if, aside from Elliott own testing we are the only QA... This is also why I often warn about very small bugs or problems that are easy to ignore, to then see some of them corrected in the next patch. But if we're looking at a very high potential of a game designer, here, we also are looking at a "newbie in his garage" in game development matters. Well, I suppose he had quite some experience in programming before, or he wouldn't have gotten this far. This is also what makes the game more like he (a gamer) wanted it to be than the stupid sales and marketing people wanted it to be. But is also a very ambitious project for a lone man, especially one with this lack of experience. I read an interview about this game, and it seems that when he came to Matrix to find a editor, he also found a lot of help regarding his inexperience. I'm sure that, if he continues to develop games, his next will not be released at a beta stage, like this one was (sorry, but it's sooo true !). I'm quite sure he is mostly not satisfied with what we are not and very satisfied with what we are. The thing is, to make things right with a project that big, you can't do it alone and hire a composer here and a graphic designer there, and expect all will be all right. Considering these limitations, he did (and continues to do) a very, very good job of it, in my opinion. I will add that the game was released on 25th of march, the review I read was published in early may, I bought it one month later. So, I hope still new customers continue to come and buy and support CodeForce, thanks to new reviews that appear a little late (I suppose this is part of Erik's work), understand why it is as it is, hence the comparatively low price, and above all enjoy the game! Note that we have a visitor on the forum here and there, asking before buying, or sometime even a new posting member. The game lives on ! If the beta is still on, I think it is in particular because of the numerous reported crashes that now seem mostly gone. As a programmer myself, I know it is hard to decide oneself when to release something; there is always a little something that is missing, that comes out late to prevent you from releasing. The next release will be some time later, so it would be nice if the customer had it in this one... But there are still quite some little bugs, and unless the modding work is nearly over, it is worth correcting them before to release something official. But I suppose it is not our role to ask for or even discuss this kind of decisions. As "hardcore" gamers (I suppose we all are, that write in this thread), we are not very representative of the average customer, in particular in the way he will or will not be frustrated by a problem or another, when trying a patch that is official. This is more the work of the marketing... I may hate the way they tend to want to lower costs and remove things that will not make the program sell better but only feel better, their work is a real, needed one that requires knowledge and professionalism. Let them work!
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