Beta Progress - Where we are now

[SpectreAssailent]

Since it was announced that there would be a Beta phase before the Mod is opened to the general public, we have been patiently waiting and watching daily screenshots.

Although the daily screenshot have been great, they show only a perfectly running game with no flaws.

What I (and I'm sure others) would like to see is a running log of issues encountered, what has been fixed, and what is still being looked into.  This would at least give us a sense of progress and not just a hope that someday the waiting will finally be over.

[AoP]

What I (and I'm sure others) would like to see is a running log of issues encountered, what has been fixed, and what is still being looked into.  This would at least give us a sense of progress and not just a hope that someday the waiting will finally be over.

Not to sound overly rude here, but as has been said before, we're not an open source development group. We're announcing and demonstrating progress when progress has been made and when we feel like it, but we will not be documenting each and every step we take. This is just not going to happen. We've been announcing and demonstrating a lot of progress in the past few weeks - like new Mechs, new maps being brought to the playtest, the TAG laser being implemented, flash artist joining the team and working on the HUD, character artist joining the team and giving us a new Longinus model etc. etc. etc.

Again: we appreciate all the support we receive, we appreciate your enthusiasm and we're always willing to share some of what has been and is going on, but under no circumstances will we be documenting everything we do. Apart from the fact that there is nothing to gain for us by dropping our pants completely, it would just take time that is better spent elsewhere.

[Sean Lang "Phil"]

What I (and I'm sure others) would like to see is a running log of issues encountered, what has been fixed, and what is still being looked into.  This would at least give us a sense of progress and not just a hope that someday the waiting will finally be over.

Not to sound overly rude here, but as has been said before, we're not an open source development group. We're announcing and demonstrating progress when progress has been made and when we feel like it, but we will not be documenting each and every step we take. This is just not going to happen. We've been announcing and demonstrating a lot of progress in the past few weeks - like new Mechs, new maps being brought to the playtest, the TAG laser being implemented, flash artist joining the team and working on the HUD, character artist joining the team and giving us a new Longinus model etc. etc. etc.

Again: we appreciate all the support we receive, we appreciate your enthusiasm and we're always willing to share some of what has been and is going on, but under no circumstances will we be documenting everything we do. Apart from the fact that there is nothing to gain for us by dropping our pants completely, it would just take time that is better spent elsewhere.

Like the man said, they are doing what they can with what little time they have. Let them do their thing and let 'us' the community be grateful and humble when something comes our way.

[Stormin']

 

[13th Fear]

LOL

[ToeBall]

Um sure... today we wrote some code and found a few new bugs. Tomorrow... we'll write some more code and try to fix those bugs. Oh! And the day after, we'll look into writing some more code. You get the idea.

Honestly, we're still bound by our NDA's for one. For another, I happen to think we've been pretty good about sharing with the community and are greatfull for the support. Finally, a lot of proprietary code is going into this and while we may choose to share certain things about it, the vast majority is stuff that we may later use for other Wandering Samurai Studio projects and are things we're going to keep to ourselves. That's not limited to code either, but assets and techniques.

[SpectreAssailent]

WOW.. That got a response!!

I certainly did not mean to have you guys think that I havent been extremely impressed at what has been shown so far, and the great progress that has been made.  Nor was it my goal to try to get you to document every time you pass gas or take a dump.  Instead, I was looking to get a better impression of where the project is currently at.  I tried using the search option, but it didn't really help me to get any idea of what how the beta is going or if any revelation's have yet come out of it.

I am no artist, and I don't have any real way to help out, so all I have here is this forum.  I didn't think that asking for 'some' information on how the Beta was going was going have everyone wetting themselvs over the thought of it.   That all I was really looking for...   

[ToeBall]

Some of the screen caps and videos we post mostly come from play tests, though, quite a few are staged to be of 'wallpaper' quality. Honestly, if you asked for a status report from Blizzard or Ubi on one of their games, what kind of response would you expect? How about if you asked any of the other major mod teams. You could expect to be ignored or to get a we're still working on it, and that's about it. Here we respect the community that supports us and to show it we post WIP screen shots, we answer specific questions, and we occasionally recruit members to help with testing. Everyone's going to have their secrets, we're no different than any other mod or game team in that respect, but, not to sound conceited or anything, I challenge you to find anyone working even close to this level that interacts nearly as much with the community. That takes their input and ideas and, at least considers them seriously.

[Stormin']

WOW.. That got a response!!

I certainly did not mean to have you guys think that I havent been extremely impressed at what has been shown so far, and the great progress that has been made.  Nor was it my goal to try to get you to document every time you pass gas or take a dump.  Instead, I was looking to get a better impression of where the project is currently at.  I tried using the search option, but it didn't really help me to get any idea of what how the beta is going or if any revelation's have yet come out of it.

I am no artist, and I don't have any real way to help out, so all I have here is this forum.  I didn't think that asking for 'some' information on how the Beta was going was going have everyone wetting themselvs over the thought of it.   That all I was really looking for...  

   Don't sweat it.  Although, to be true to point, you didn't exactly ask for "'some' information on how the beta was going"...you sort of demanded a detailed list of why you aren't playing it right now, as though these guys somehow answer to you.

If you've been here for a little while you get the gist of things.  If you come in with a post that can be possibly interpreted as demanding by any of the developers, you can expect the "we don't have to deliver anything" speech, followed by flames and ridicule from the brown-nosers, maybe a couple of flippant remarks (like mine above), and the occasional newbie poster that agrees with you.  If anyone else agrees with you, chances are they aren't going to jump into the fire with you.  If that sounds harsh, I'll probably get flamed for saying it, but I've always been a little blunt and I calls it as I sees it.  The cycle seems to repeat itself every couple of weeks or so.

Best thing to do is just sit back, enjoy the forums, ooh and aah over the eye-candy that is provided, and relax.  Know that they are making what looks like a great mod, they are clearly putting a ton of time and work into it, and one day you will reap the benefits of their labor.  There are some pretty nice people on here once you get a feel for who they are.  And then, one day when you least expect it, you will have a nice shiny new game...like Christmas morning, but you have no idea when Christmas morning will be.

Enjoy!

[lessergod]

Blizzard Status: Delayed
Ubi Soft: Wait, lets scrap everything good about the previous titles and release this instead... it will piss people off... (Talking about the trashing of Rainbow 6)

[nano]

Bring back the Tweets!   

[Ghiest]

What I (and I'm sure others) would like to see is a running log of issues encountered, what has been fixed, and what is still being looked into.  This would at least give us a sense of progress and not just a hope that someday the waiting will finally be over.

You wont find this in almost any modding team to be honest, we are lucky enough to get the updates pictures and information we do from the team really.  I'm currently working on a TC for another game, and almost zero information is being released apart from the sanctioned posed screen shots and renders.  Usually more information is forthcoming when the time is near for a beta release, but from what I've seen of the current crop of screen shots they are quite a way out from a open beta.

[(TLL)Nick]

Hey, DON'T DISS UBI! >.>

After all, they DID make Splinter Cell! And that was pretty incredible.

[PukinDog]

Um sure... today we wrote some code and found a few new bugs. Tomorrow... we'll write some more code and try to fix those bugs. Oh! And the day after, we'll look into writing some more code. You get the idea.

Honestly, we're still bound by our NDA's for one. For another, I happen to think we've been pretty good about sharing with the community and are greatfull for the support. Finally, a lot of proprietary code is going into this and while we may choose to share certain things about it, the vast majority is stuff that we may later use for other Wandering Samurai Studio projects and are things we're going to keep to ourselves. That's not limited to code either, but assets and techniques.

As Toeball said...this is proprietary code they are writing...we are lucky they are sharing anything about it.  I for one, feel very lucky they are considering releasing this mod for free, and Wandering Samurai's haven't (as yet, hopefully never) announced that they have reached any kind of agreement with WizKids, Microsoft, FASA, or whoever has a stake in it now...to sell the mod.

For a game like this...I'd pay $50.00 real quick...if I had to.  The devs owe us nothing...I say we OWE THEM, if anything.  Maybe we, as the general public, should take up a PayPal drive on their behalf, for donations for "office supplies" needed for the work.

"Would that truly be bad thing?" 
Free games kinda have a tendency to draw on a specific crowd...(see Combat Arms)...and if you'd have to pay for this one...it would keep the "true believers" a little more insulated from mindless, BT ignorant trigger pullers out there who truly cannot appreciate a game of this importance.


Fk=inª


^Nick, don't forget about GRAW and GRAW2...Ubi has made some good games as well.

[(TLL)Nick]

GRAW and GRAW2 are good, I liked 'em both.

On Combat Arms...screw them. They haven't really done sh*t for us. I played, because it was free online shooters, PvP. But there are so called "hackers" (people who just USE released exploits, or people who use glitches) everywhere. People constantly glitch, they are always using chams, no recoil, no spread, etc. etc. But whenever there is a person who is playing fair, and gets lucky in a melee-only match, and scores 4 headshots, he's automatically a "hacker". I quit playing, there are a bunch of dumb f*cks playing CA.