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Toast, Can we compromise? No dates, for less fluff?
OrcLuck
Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
Hi Mrs. Toast. I was hoping we could compromise.
I feel that its best for the community if we generally know a bit more about the game's development processes, if we get a bit more information.
I don't feel that we necessarily need "dates" but I think we're due for a bit more insight onto how things are going then what we're currently getting.
At the end of the day a lot of us are in for quite a lot of money, and invested emotionally in a way that I think deserves at least some contemplation as to if we can get more accessible inside information.
I know there was a kickstarter backer tier for an inside track...but we were at that time, getting much more information and steven was completely unchecked like some sort of mad man!
Are you guys meeting your internal goals for progress this month? Has there been a problem holding back progress that you just completed solving? Have you all gotten icecream and been incapacitated for the evening?
There are a series of problems to be completed before launch, and they're innumerably reduce-able to steps that can be taken, is there such harm in telling us what step you've just passed? If you develop in sprints, what sprint you're on, and what your goal is for that sprint, and whether or not that sprint completed the goal?
I find that open communication encourages growth because trust can deepen the enthusiasm for the project's sense of genuine fluid progress and is appreciated by potential buyers.
I feel that its best for the community if we generally know a bit more about the game's development processes, if we get a bit more information.
I don't feel that we necessarily need "dates" but I think we're due for a bit more insight onto how things are going then what we're currently getting.
At the end of the day a lot of us are in for quite a lot of money, and invested emotionally in a way that I think deserves at least some contemplation as to if we can get more accessible inside information.
I know there was a kickstarter backer tier for an inside track...but we were at that time, getting much more information and steven was completely unchecked like some sort of mad man!
Are you guys meeting your internal goals for progress this month? Has there been a problem holding back progress that you just completed solving? Have you all gotten icecream and been incapacitated for the evening?
There are a series of problems to be completed before launch, and they're innumerably reduce-able to steps that can be taken, is there such harm in telling us what step you've just passed? If you develop in sprints, what sprint you're on, and what your goal is for that sprint, and whether or not that sprint completed the goal?
I find that open communication encourages growth because trust can deepen the enthusiasm for the project's sense of genuine fluid progress and is appreciated by potential buyers.
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Comments
I get it, you want to know what is going on. The thing is though that unless you are intimately familiar with all aspects of game design and what is going on at the studio, regular progress reports like you are describing are of very limited use to you.
At the very least, such reports would need to be rewritten in such a way that your average joe would understand, and that takes time. Time that could be spent actually working on the game itself.
Yes, open communication is a good thing, but at the same time we (the players) don't need to know everything that is going on. We don't need to know how many lines of code have been written this week, or how many coffee breaks the devs have taken. What's next? A 24/7 livestream of the studio just to make sure all the devs are working as much as possible?
Wrote that in jest, but the more I think about it, if Steven is looking for more ways to monetize the game to offset costs before live launch that would be brilliant. Make people pay $15 for access monthly and get them used to that sub model. Would require minimal upkeep and costs. Basically just turn all the external security internal. Would be a hit. Instead of the Truman Show, they could call it the Sandal Show.
All I care about is that the game is released, it has the features they promised, and that it is fun. Knowing what steps are being done between here and there does me little to no good.
I understand the want for more information, but it is not a need. Many other games, so that are still popular, didn't release much of value during the entire development, and people seemed to have been fine in the end with that.
What we typically hear is that Steven did not give approval for info to be released.
We already know we have some articles in the pipeline that don't have approval yet.
I love having more info, but...
It's cool we're getting to play with pieces of the game so early.
Apoc testing is just two weeks away.
Yeah because what the devs need during a crunch period is even more stress from being watched by thousands of idiots who know literally nothing about what is going on......
Say the metric comes out in August and it says
Environment: 56% completed
Furniture Assets: 95% Completed
You as a consumer thing that its coming along nicely.
Next Month you see
Environment: 59% completed
Furniture Assets: 65% Completed
And you freak the fuck out because the 30% drop in Furniture assets. Then wild and rampant speculation goes on about how far behind they've fallen. You have no idea how much time, effort, energy its going to take to get back to 95% nor do you know why it fell.
Maybe the furniture if floating again and its going to be a few hours to fix, but responsible metric tracking says you mark them as incomplete because that is what they are.
I do agree with you with some stuff and it would be nice if they took a list of all the previous sold/promised cosmetics and made a chart of which ones are in progress for the month so that the community could get excited about what's coming down the pipe. People responded really well to the Quarrior and the Otter and the other bits and pieces we've seen.
Yes, we all want more but the sandle god has to approve what we see so we just need to be patient. I honestly do look forward to the live stream each month just to see what they might show us.
She's obtained a commission and should be addressed accordingly!
Did you both assume Toasts gender? Toast is bread ^^
Also as Jahlon and Varkun mentioned, one of the things we've been doing recently is taking those creatures and mounts that you all have seen from previous months, and showing you the process of creating them from concept > completion in-game, with animations and all! We hope you've been enjoying these types of videos, in addition to the development peeks behind the scenes during our monthly live streams.
As Apocalypse testing resumes on August 20 and we move forwards towards other phases of testing, we'll be sharing even more videos and blogs on our site and here on the forums to bring you along on the journey with us
1) The real time Pizza update bar for ordering online at Domino's...
2) The Windows file system hanging at 98%...
We need a AoC progress bar gif.. haha.. (as a joke)
We need more frequent reports from the icecream truck surveillance vehicle.
We have an ice cream truck surveillance vehicle why was I unaware of this and what flavours does it have?
On a more serious note, it is the end of September I am looking towards when we may get some more news on alpha 1 assuming apoc testing goes well.
What sorts of information are kosher? Would that monthly progress towards a goal thing be out of line because of x or y reason? What sort of expectations should I reasonably have, and what should I probably lay off on?
I know that I'm a little dissatisfied with the current set up, but should I be? What are the problems you're skirting around by doing things as they currently are?
I doubt there's going to be a situation where there isn't some aspect that's frustrating, but I figure I can't get toward a happier situation without some sort of feedback towards my gruntles and disgruntles.
@Toast Thanks for sharing our feedback. I really appreciate you coming into the discussion and chatting with us.
Give me dates!