Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Team Comments – Gordon Walton, Studio Manager
Ackis
Fri Aug 13, 2004 8:14 am
#132
SOETyrant wrote:
CMDRbarbere wrote:
I really hope the unannounced game you are working on is not SWG2.
No. (I love saying that!)
The game is called "Ackis"... where you play a certain fishy character and end up taking over Star Wars Galaxies!!! /cackle
*injects some more humor into thread*
Arg0nus
Fri Aug 13, 2004 8:31 am
#133
Ackis wrote:
SOETyrant wrote:
CMDRbarbere wrote:
I really hope the unannounced game you are working on is not SWG2.
No. (I love saying that!)
The game is called "Ackis"... where you play a certain fishy character and end up taking over Star Wars Galaxies!!! /cackle
*injects some more humor into thread*
Yeah...But it's a trap.
Phhantom
Fri Aug 13, 2004 8:53 am
#134
SoeTyrant:
I would not worry about the 5% of us that are not to happy with the game. I hope you have a team of of people that realize not everyone is a hardcore gamer 
I may be one, so on my rush and conquest to be the best in the game. I create boredem like a lot of others. 95% opf the people in the game do not take the time anymore to figure things out for them selves. They rather have a store bought, walk-through to everything on this game. Instead of doing it like when D&D was big and created actualy thinking and cause and effect What we got now is a safe zone for players. Listen for improvements like you all already do. They are not hard to pick up on. Any person can see whats wrong with the game. Making changes do to half thought posts is entirely wrong and game breaking.. I sit back and read these posts and laugh and sometimes cheer people on.
I may be one, so on my rush and conquest to be the best in the game. I create boredem like a lot of others. 95% opf the people in the game do not take the time anymore to figure things out for them selves. They rather have a store bought, walk-through to everything on this game. Instead of doing it like when D&D was big and created actualy thinking and cause and effect What we got now is a safe zone for players. Listen for improvements like you all already do. They are not hard to pick up on. Any person can see whats wrong with the game. Making changes do to half thought posts is entirely wrong and game breaking.. I sit back and read these posts and laugh and sometimes cheer people on. Fact does not change that most of the posts I have seen been to lack of communication with the customer, even as far to say as to much communication with the customer. Give your target dates, Give your objectives, do not give promises. There are always people out there that think they know better then everyone and try to start issues between customers and Devs. This will never change unless you create a fundemental system of Trust like EQ has over the years.. I think SWG can learn a lot from the EQ DEV experience. They do not promise anything.. The take in suggestions hold polls from lauchpad and do accordingly.. This to me creates the best possible answrs you could ever seek.
I mean we got people on these boards who come tot he test center and ask everyone how to do this and how to do that! Whata re they testing? Nothing!!! Why are they testing nothing? Because they do not have the brain power to evolve them selves out of a walk-through mentality... I could go on and on, But I think you get the picture...
Keep up the great work
JediGohan
Fri Aug 13, 2004 8:59 am
#135
WiskeDarkmoon wrote:
I find it very amusing that you would actually admit you got bored and stopped playing. Props for honesty anyway
Why do the rednames alwasy choose the dumbest posts and questions to respond to? Answer: easier than saying something with substance that you just have to deny and "rework" later im guessing.
I also find it very amusing that with all the problems this game has you are splitting your attention between SWG and some unnamed new game. To me this speaks volumes about the real problem, a serious lack of manpower or organization on the Dev team. Throw in them using development time for an add on that we will all have to pay for, and its obvious to me that the Dev team is stretched to thin.
Dont you think its a bit of problem that you got bored of playing so fast? How can you possiably know any of the real problems if your not playing? yah yah i know your playing again, doesnt change the fact that the game still has alot of the same problems a year later.
Patented answers and witty remarks got really old six months ago. How bout you actually tell us something that your are doing right now to change the dev process and get some of our pressing problems fixed.
Im absolutey sure you wont respond, but thats my two cents anyway.
Substance, not BS is what we need.
Stop spending Dev time to sell us an add on, fix the Core systems now!
You are absolutely correct.
I too grow tired of the run arounds the Dev team always throw at us.
It's like tying a bone to a stick and then tying the stick to a dog. The dog see's the bone and chases it thinking he can catch it.
That's the same feeling I get most of the times.
I wish I didnt have tofeel that way about the game and of it's makers but I cant help it.
Fye
Fri Aug 13, 2004 9:02 am
#136
Don't you mean soon to have 4 MMOGs live at the same time? Everquest, SWG, Planetside & and soon to be released Everquest2. Currently their bread and butter is EQ. But you have to realize that each game has it's own team and works like a seperate company with it's own budget.
RamhornSWG wrote:
Interesting Thread.
So in a broader sense I would love to know how SOE views having two MMMOG live at the same time.
After revamping Jedi, Launching JTL and fixing the 32 professions is done is there a plan in place to make SWG viable for the next 24 months?
Or is this considered more of a "niche" game catering to die-hard Star Wars fans while EQ2 will remain the bread and butter for the mainstream players.
PlayeroftheDay
Fri Aug 13, 2004 9:40 am
#137
They already have several MMO's running at the same time.
RamhornSWG wrote:
Interesting Thread.
Although the new devs comments arent detailed looks like enjoys sticking with the Thread.
One thing I have wonderd about is the long term plan for SWG.
I think its safe to talk about EQ2 since its being offered by the same parent company and your working on an unnamed project.
I recently went to the movies and they had about a 3 minute preview of the features of EQ2.
The game graphics, in game features including voice interface for quests verus text looks amazing.
So in a broader sense I would love to know how SOE views having two MMMOG live at the same time.
After revamping Jedi, Launching JTL and fixing the 32 professions is done is there a plan in place to make SWG viable for the next 24 months?
Or is this considered more of a "niche" game catering to die-hard Star Wars fans while EQ2 will remain the bread and butter for the mainstream players.
Seshemw
Fri Aug 13, 2004 9:47 am
#138
SOETyrant wrote:
Glip_G wrote:
Manages local QA team and any satellite SOE team (SD/India)It says SOE not SWG.It is a future possibility, but currently we have no QA in India for Austin or SWG. We certainly need to hire someone with experience in managing remote teams. Half the QA team for SWG is at LucasArts in the Bay Area after all!
I've noticed a LOT of people seem to think the QA is being run out of India. SOE has some customer support from India (no idea if they work SWG, or just EQ, or what). QA is not CSR.
Phhantom
Fri Aug 13, 2004 9:59 am
#139
I hate out-sourcing companies, They should be hung by there buster brownies Creates Steady Econimic Decline
Creates Steady Econimic Decline
Snikrop
Fri Aug 13, 2004 10:05 am
#140
Rockard wrote:Tyrant,Welcome, and good luck in you new job.
A brandy for the new guy, though this is eerily similar to the arrival of Runesabre. We hear lots of jovial, direct talk and even some great promises:
Over the next few months, I will be reviewing all professions to get an idea of how players of those professions see themselves fitting into the universe of Star Wars Galaxies. I'm not only looking for what's not working well, but, I'm also searching for what is working well about each profession. I'm looking for how those professions interact with other professions and the environment around them. My search will involve visiting the various profession communities and reading their "State of the Profession" posts, plus spending my free time playing and experiencing as many professions as I can first-hand in-game. Players can help me by working closely with their respective Player Correspondent and keep their "State of the Profession" posts accurate and current.
Using this knowledge and experience, I hope to finally answer the big question: Why do I do?. My initial assessment is that the GCW will be the thread I use to weave all of the professions and game mechanics into a complete tapestry where each player feels they have a meaningful purpose within the game. It will take some time, and the journey to arriving at the answer should prove to be as fun and rewarding as the answer itself. I hope you will all join me on this quest; feed me your ideas towards answering this question; and, more importantly, help and work with each other to find the answer to this question.
I loved the direction that Runesabre went with his time early on, but in the last couple months he's just up and disappeared without so much as a "I'm really busy figuring out how to make the GCW the magic bullet I talked about."
Message Edited by Snikrop on 08-13-2004 01:09 PM
ArteL
Fri Aug 13, 2004 11:08 am
#141
The part I find so amusing is that your QA is so bad that no one even read your letter before posting it.
"Um Tyrant maybe its a bad idea to admit you are distracted by another project, and umm this part about you being bored, not very inspiring" - Fantasy proofreader guy
Im not one to flame, but here we are 13 months later and core systems are still borked. Do you have any idea of how many times we were told that all these issues would be addressed in the "upcoming combat revamp" only to be told that all that was put on hold? 13 months later and we are still waiting.
I asked for substance and i get more lip service: "There are changes being made to our development and QA processes for SWG. This doesn't mean that things will get better overnight, it just means we are working for the players as best we know how to."
This is such a canned response now. We heard this last fall, this spring, and now again. How about you actually provide some substance and tell us how the team is being improved.
"I'd rather let what the team does do most of the talking. "
There actions have spoken volumes just ask Squad Leaders, Smugglers or Creature Handlers. Go out and take part in a factional battle or head over to one of the borked battefields youll get a clear copy of what the Dev team has said to us.
Subtance, not lip service is what we want.
I appreciate you responding to my post, but I prefer you took that time to make a post with some real news on how the Dev team is beign improved.
Owned!!! No truer words have ever been spoken.
Rufius_McGee
Fri Aug 13, 2004 11:10 am
#142
I have been playing for aabout a month now. I have discovered a few things:
1) I went CM thinking it would be a useful thing to have on hunting parties and such. Wrong in order to be any good at my role I have had to go Doc 4400 and CM 4404 as the only truly useful thing a CM can do is throw area stims,poisions (if you are into that-plus they just got rendered useless in PVP,) and heal mind (if you want to die fast.)
2) I chose pistoleer for my combat profession because everything closes to PB to chew on me. I come to find out thatPB Area 2 and Pistol Mele defence 2 are broken and have been for and amount of timeI dont know.
It would seem to me that basic problems like these wold get top priority in the fix list. Especialy the broken shots these areacctual features of the gameif they dont work thegame is broken.
The roles of the different classes should be reviewed and adjusted alomng with there skill point cost. But only after what is broken is fixed.
my suggestion for priorities would be:
1) Broken/Bugged galme features: Shots, Quests, Items, ETC. Make the gameAS IT ISworks correctly. Should be by now its been Gold forover a year.
2) Profession roles and "Combat Balance" get it to where no one class is killer on Skill pointsor too uber. But each has a strength worth going for.
3) Adding content: New quests and features.
This seems like comon sense
Landorin
Fri Aug 13, 2004 11:18 am
#143
WiskeDarkmoon wrote:
I find it very amusing that you would actually admit you got bored and stopped playing. Props for honesty anyway
Why do the rednames alwasy choose the dumbest posts and questions to respond to? Answer: easier than saying something with substance that you just have to deny and "rework" later im guessing.
I also find it very amusing that with all the problems this game has you are splitting your attention between SWG and some unnamed new game. To me this speaks volumes about the real problem, a serious lack of manpower or organization on the Dev team. Throw in them using development time for an add on that we will all have to pay for, and its obvious to me that the Dev team is stretched to thin.
Dont you think its a bit of problem that you got bored of playing so fast? How can you possiably know any of the real problems if your not playing? yah yah i know your playing again, doesnt change the fact that the game still has alot of the same problems a year later.
Patented answers and witty remarks got really old six months ago. How bout you actually tell us something that your are doing right now to change the dev process and get some of our pressing problems fixed.
Im absolutey sure you wont respond, but thats my two cents anyway.
Substance, not BS is what we need.
Stop spending Dev time to sell us an add on, fix the Core systems now!
This is the most respectless posting I've read lately. Do you talk to other people like that too? A developer isn't something you can take for granted (especially this close communication isn't) and it isn't his job to serve or please you. He is doing a job to make games such as SWG to come true and you may or may not play that game, no more, no less.
Do you know how hard these people work in the gaming industry? Many of them won't be able to have an 8 hour day (they wished) and they won't have off every weekend, especially when something critical happened. These people stay up all night sometimes to fix something so the game remains playable and I believe all this is usually never asked by players (such as you) nor respected or admired.
Once I was lucky enough to personally talk to a developer of a company that created an addon for an action game which might appear to be less work than an online game (and it probably is) but still he told me about their working conditions and the publisher that pulled them off. They "just" made an addon and it still took most of their free time and their family life just to get it done. The players bitched about these people later on because the addon was disappointing to them. But hardly any of them ever knew or asked about what they had to go through to get it released.
I'm not saying that all is fine (yeah, the game isn't ready... but I guess an online game never will be because it keeps developing over time otherwise it would get boring quickly) but I remember people saying a dream came true when they learned that there will be a star wars MMORPG. This dream is currently lacking a few things but it's more than playable. Of course, you can only get most fun of what you make out of this game for yourself.
Speaking of addons... did you ever play a different online game yet? I don't know any game that gets such a big addon of features every single month.
Also, don't forget the devs kept saying and still say they will and WANT to get it all in. However, the day only has 24 hours and a week only 7 days but all these addons and fixes take a good while (and that's where you start setting priorities, even if you still hate it so much to delay any of the big publishes).
I feel pity for Gordon... he wrote a team letter (thanks for that, it's always nice to hear something personal from the team members), expressed his thoughts and were honest by saying he got bored of the game at a point (hey, who did not get bored of the game once in a while) and people immediately flame it. Why is he not allowed to have such an opinion, even as the studio manager? Also, he didn't say he got bored and that was it. Now SWG is his job and that makes him play the game again and I'm sure he still likes it.
A lot of us got bored sometimes but that doesn't mean we lose the love for SWG. Why the heck do you even **edit** about "splitting his attention"? It seems to me you didn't read the team letter correctly, it's his job and as long as someone above him is his boss he gets told on what he should focus his attention on.I really hope you give the devs recommendations as big as you critize them... but have some respect instead of acting as if they lived only to serve you.
To the devs: as bioshock and others already wrote, not all of us are like that. There are still many people in the community who believe in your good will to get the game going and who respect all the love and work you put into this game even if we don't agree on something sometimes. I really really hope that these people will be able to meet you guys personally and express our gratitude and understanding.