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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
A public roadmap?
KhaosTheEmpty
Member, Alpha Two
Are there any plans to bring out any public roadmaps similar to rust's roadmap, Where people can get a decent idea of where the game is currently in development and what stuff is being currently worked on. Maybe link it to your websites FAQ page so new comers who don't scour the wiki and stalk through our glorious lord steven's every single move on discord, every single dev diary or the various interview he's done, for even the smallest amount of information. For example there was little to no information about the combat revamp and split body animations and when they are gonna be implemented before I came across this
Like all the question regarding development can simply be pointed towards a roadmap and you can be flexible with it.
Steven and the team are already very transparent with their progress and simply putting all that on a simple publicly available and endorsed roadmap will be a god send
Like all the question regarding development can simply be pointed towards a roadmap and you can be flexible with it.
Steven and the team are already very transparent with their progress and simply putting all that on a simple publicly available and endorsed roadmap will be a god send
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Comments
This is a much, much slower speed of development than a full MMORPG in actual construction.
The closest thing to a roadmap you will get now is;
What are we working on: literally everything.
When will it be done: when it's ready.
I mean for the alpha schedule we have next to no idea when the promised content is gonna get slowly released like the combat revamp, or the other 2 classes summoner and fighter, the augments and ships.
I suspect that Intrepid doesn’t have a firm idea either, or it’s too dependent on too many smaller milestones being met along the way to make a reliable prediction.
We had a number of things scheduled that got pushed back (for YEARS) due to unforeseen circumstances (like server instability and a need to change game engines, oh and Covid) and I think they learned their lesson about making too many prognostications.
I expect it’ll be at least a year before we see anything more specific than the vague testing schedule we have now. (And even that has gone through recent changes.)
Games with roadmaps that developers give are usually just things that are already done. They dont like to talk about things that are in actual development.
If they did, Rust would be telling you what they had planned for next year, not for next week - as that is how far ahead they would have planned.
Again, Ashes had the whole game in development, not just a few small pieces like Rust. This doesnt just mean making a few abilities for classes, it means creating the mechanics that those abilities are going to use.
- what is currently in development;
- what is planned for the future
- what is confirmed, but not planned yet
Would be amazing to know 100% that no cash-shops are being added, for example.
We 100% know there will be cosmetic cash shop. (and yes, i dislike it, but i think, now, cash shop are the basis for all MMORPG... instead of seeing subscription follow inflation)
to know what is confirmed, roam the wiki. you will get most information
Again, they can't really do this while the core game is still in development.
A roadmap works for games where the core game is functionally complete, and the developers can then pick and chose individual things to work on.
If Intrepid were to list the things that they are currently working on, that list would be several hundred entries.
It would be an actual full time job to maintain it - and that is not even considering the vitriol that heads Intrepids way when things don't go according to the plan (which they have had happen in the past, which is why they no longer even give estimated times for major things like alpha tests).
And I don't think the thread here is expecting that same amount of detail. A broad roadmap, so players know what to expect in which quarter of the year would be more than enough. We don't need 10% of the detail or complexity that the star citizen one displays to its players.
ah yeah, that's all fine, I meant things like lvl boosts, gold buying, and other forms of gaining advantages (even if indirect) over other players.
but hearing that from you means nothing to me, hence the roadmap
Gamers consider dates to be promises and vilify the devs for any missed date.
Did everyone forget about this? This is about the best roadmap we're gonna get.
Edit: Also, does anyone remember what happened with Valheim's Roadmap? STILL Waiting on our Quarter 1 Hearth and Home update..... Roadmaps give misinterpretations and letdowns happen too easily.
All of this information is out there, which indicates you haven't searched for it. I suggest reading what's available on the wiki before demanding Intrepid spoon feed you.
Honestly, using anything from Star Citizen as an example of what any other development studio should do is just... odd.
I agree that it would be nice to have some idea of what they are planning to add in the future, at least for this test.
As far as we know, they are working on everything or they are working on nothing.
As much as I would like a roadmap, I think it would put unwanted pressure on the devs to release things before they are comfortable. Best to just let them do what they are doing, it has worked so far.
cool, thanks!
... Example about development from SC deserve everything you try to say...
This game feels like a big unvolontary scam, Chris Robert is totally unable to really get in one direction, adding things randomly, without even fixing what exists. he creates puzzle pieces and then try to bind them together...
The roadmap is nice but here proves nothing.
Agree with this sentiment. I'd probably take it further and state that providing a feature roadmap at this stage has no benefit to anyone, and is only a downside. There are plenty of places to read up on features on the drawing board. There are plenty of places to discuss ideas.
There's a lot I'd like to know from Intrepid, but there is nothing I need to know.
"Each successful company and organization has a roadmap. It forces deep thinking, explains where they are going, and helps everyone stay on track."
Like you said, a roadmap on its own doesn't do much, and that's not what it is for. It is meant to help make sure the company keeps its eye on the ball and reduces the chance of disappointing users later on. Different from a wiki, the roadmap has to be always up to date.
Its main goal is not to answer the questions of one player, but rather to show users that the company is organized and making progress, which helps attract new players and shows professionalism.
You don't need to look at it, but there is no denying that it would help make sure the end product is of higher quality.
They just don't make it public. This thread isn't about Intrepid having a roadmap, it is about them making it public.
The last time they did, they got too much shit for missing a target. Steven has said outright that he won't make the roadmap public again because of that.
No one ever played star citizen yet also, because like Ashes of creation, there is no game yet. but with spaceship already solds for hundreds or even thousands of dollars each...
This is why reference to SC deserves you ^^'
"each successful"... i don't know where you take those word from, because the source i found with your sentence is huffpost, the exact same sentence, without those 2 words.
Also, it is true, if you have a big project, you have to do a roadmap. there is a roadmap for development of AOC, D4, riot's MMORPG, and game no one even know they are currently in development...
I love total war warhammer. and we had some "roadmap" showing the next FLC to come (in enigmatic way) the list in the release in TWW2 is far shorter that the final we have now (because next release will be TWW3). But i am sure even in begining, there were more than the original list to show. Why not say all so? because it is better to promise nothing untill you are not sure 100% to give it to your customers.
What you speak about is a public roadmap, and this is what we disagree.
The wiki gives all we will have, and the list of feature in alpha1/alpha2 and betas is enough to have an idea.
The quality ? don't need to show us the roadmap to see it. Just see the topics speaking about the open world, the landscap, to see people already complains about "quality" even if what we have now is not revelant of what we will have. Because people care, and they share their opinion about all they see, even if not the time for it. They don't care "roadmap" to be critic.
You mean like in my first reply to you in this thread?
And in my reply...
That's because it made no sense to me: “they learned their lesson”, and I gave my opinion.
When a roadmap has negative effects it is because the company was unable to uphold the roadmap.
“Oh yeah let’s not have this transparency anymore because sometimes bad things are showing up IN THE TRANSPARENCY”.
Isn’t that the whole point of having a roadmap???
No.
The point of a roadmap is not so developers feel beholden to maintain it. Again, Intrepid are building the game, not just adding to it.
That is the problem - people thought, mistakenly, that Intrepid needed to keep the the roadmap. They didn't realize that it is a guide, a hope, not a requirement.
This seems to be something you don't understand either, based on the quoted comment.
Are you sure you alone here have the mental capacity to understand what a roadmap is for? Is that your honest opinion? Everyone who disagrees with you does so out of not "grasping" things?
Not my fault if you haven't seen that yet.