Development Cycle Archive

Message Edited by can-i-car on 08-06-2004 03:10 AM

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can-i-car wrote:

It seems that as of late everything is tailored to the Jedi Profession, when you should be fixing proffesions such as:

Creature Handler

Pistoller

Ranger

Politican

Squad Leader

Commando

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DirtyBeast wrote:

Having been a software engineer for 10 years I can truly understand the delay of the combat revamp. While I am as disappointed as anyone, I'd like to see it done properly and not rushed to live. I wish more people understood that sometimes in software development, you don't have the luxury of simply "fixing" random features as you see fit. Sometimes features are built on top of other features or with the assumption that certain conditions in the environment are static. Oftentimes when trying to "fix" something, you can get yourself into a heap of trouble by breaking other things in the process. I would imagine in a game as complex as Galaxies that this fact is amplified. There are other times that you may think you can make a change easily, and even promise that change to the end-users, then upon further investigation it becomes clear that you are going to affect other things and it'll take longer. Then comes the outrage and disappointment. I believe the devs on this game have done a good job so far. I am willing to bet they are probably more critical of themselves than anyone on this board will ever be.

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OMG! What company do you work for? I've been in software development for 20+ years. Delays are unacceptable. You give the customer what you promised at the time you promsed. A properly run project will come in on time on budget and be top quality. Its developers like you that give our company a *good* name.

Shug_Ninx wrote:

I'd also point out that we also try to get feedback from "non-forum posters", including players who never hit the forums, fans of the films who are intrigued by Star Wars Galaxies but aren't playing it yet, and even people who have left the community. At the end of the day, we want to know what current players like and dislike about the game so we can build on our strengths and correct our weaknesses. The forums are often the best place for the latter (but that's certainly NOT all they are used for), but when we want to know what people like about the game, we often have to solicit that information and look beyond the forums.

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ClarkCharon wrote:

Why the **** can't Sony explain why they made the decissions they did. And why can't they tell us before the publishes.

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Their silence and lack of honesty is alienating the community

Kharrissa wrote:

Yes. And they know that it is, so why are they doing it?

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That's classic SOE policy. Basically its a priviledge to play this game or so its seem to be they way they think.

Why can't they tell us before the publishes?

Good question. Hopefully fer the players that stay, this will now change due to the last incidents. The Dev's now actually appear to be makin' changes to this as they are now postin' what the changes are (thou there are still goin' to be silent changes). I do hope that these changes will be posted in detail as to what they do, instead of this, "A hard cap on defenses." Ok, so what's the cap level? And what defenses are effected? (And it took two days latter fer the Dev's to tell people what specifically was done... and it was done so by an on-line chat session, never posted on the forums, 'cept fer Thunderheart's guess).

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Shug_Ninx wrote:

This was in no way intended as a slight against the community, or even those community members who posted "negative" comments or sent IGNPC negative letters about the combat revamp timing. I was (poorly) trying to articulate a common phenomenon that basically boils down to "happy community members are generally quiet community members." This has been true for us since launch.

I could have probably answered the question better with something like: "The players who are happy with everything aren't necessarily motivated to send you letters or post negative comments on the forums. Those players who are unhappy with something are far more motivated to let us know about it so that we can address the issues."

I could have also reiterated a point I made in my Game Informer interview by adding something like: "And even though they are often perceived as a 'vocal minority,' these players come from the core of our community, so we take everything they say very seriously because they have such influence and, in some ways, understand specific elements of the game better than we do. We receive thousands of constructive posts from these folks."

Then, I could have ended with: "And, just to show that there are always two sides to every issue, we almost always have community members who do take the time to post to the forums in open support of our direction."

I'd also point out that we also try to get feedback from "non-forum posters", including players who never hit the forums, fans of the films who are intrigued by Star Wars Galaxies but aren't playing it yet, and even people who have left the community. At the end of the day, we want to know what current players like and dislike about the game so we can build on our strengths and correct our weaknesses. The forums are often the best place for the latter (but that's certainly NOT all they are used for), but when we want to know what people like about the game, we often have to solicit that information and look beyond the forums.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'll try to be active on this thread throughout the day, so feel free to shoot me any additional questions.

Haden Blackman

LucasArts Producer

P.S. Please remember that it is NOT Thunderheart's (or anyone else's) job to respond to my communications. I am again sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to the community, but please don't take it out on Kurt.

P.P.S. There a conspiracy theory brewing over a post I made to a Vader thread, which was then mysteriously deleted. No, I wasn't fired (sorry!). The thread asked if we would see Vader and other named characters in more prominent roles, and my response was basically "Yes." We already have Boba Fett showing up in Live Events and there are plans to do more of that. We also want to revamp the major NPCs (eventually). All that is still true. Everything involving a "named NPC" does need my approval and Lucasfilm's approval. As far as the thread disappearing, our best guess is that it was a technical hiccup on the boards, though I won't rule out gremlins or mynocks.

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JediGohan wrote:

Is there talk of a Bounty Hunter revamp or luv patch somewhere in the works?

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