New efforts!

[Biz]

So, enjoy some good games out there like division, Diablo 2, the new "inside" ....

The Division? You and I have VERY different ideas of what constitutes a "good game".

[MM3squints]

The Division? You and I have VERY different ideas of what constitutes a "good game".

Are you saying making a game that was supposed to be a cover base tactical shooter, but in the end turns out to be running around cause the cover base mechanics did nothing is not a good game? The people who I actually feel sorry for on the Division team is probably the graphic artist.

Graphic Artist: Hey Ubisoft/Massive, we are done making an almost perfect replica of Manhattan for this awesome game.

Ubisoft/Massive: That's great, but we are going to make majority of Manhattan Streets barren and allow fast travel so how about we just pay you and you can piss off.

[Arcana]

While I would not want to put myself in the position to find out elsewise, I would think that there's a way to say that negotiations have failed without mentioning a) the product, b) the negotiations explicitly, and c) the companies involved.

Back when the game was running I leaked so much stuff without saying anything specific there were devs that regularly congratulated me for doing such a good job of telling everyone what was going on while saying almost nothing.  To this day it surprises me how few people caught on to paying particular attention when I was working extra hard to say as much nothing as possible, because I never said nothing without purpose.

I believe in and generally honor NDAs, but the one NDA term that's basically ridiculous in the sense that it is impossible to enforce is the term of keeping the very fact that a project has terminated a secret.  In the technology world, half the secrets involving project changes get indirectly leaked by Linkedin updates.

[Arcana]

CoH was in development for about 4 years before the public could play it.

CoH development was a bit twisty.  It started around 1999 if I recall correctly, but it was conceptualized as a much different game than we actually got.  It was around 2002ish that CoH original recipe was abandoned and development shifted to CoH extra crispy, or CoH-lite as it turned out to be.  CoH-lite was built upon CoH original recipe to be sure, but it was worked on from about 2002 to 2004.  Arguably, it was worked on until 2005 because CoH launched with actual core features incomplete or non-functional, such as task forces or all of the levels from 41 to 50.

Also worth noting that "CoH" is both a game platform and game content.  A lot of the launch-day content was undoubtedly worked on from 1999 to 2004 but its possible most of the core engine was completed by 2002.  Much of the powers in the game and the entire archetype system dates from after 2002, as the CoH original recipe was more of a free-form character system.  Archetypes are a concession to CoH-lite.

CoH development is instructive in a different way than just looking at the development time.  The devs fundamentally had no idea what they were doing, when you really get down to brass tacks.  As a result, the game concept was virtually impossible to implement in any reasonable time.  It took a major refactor to give us any game at all.  And those were professionals.  Volunteer groups have the benefit of having actually seen a functioning CoH, but they have similar challenges.  The first one you make is never going to go smoothly, because its almost impossible to know if anything you're doing at any time actually makes sense in the bigger picture until well past the point when you've spent tons of time finishing it.  Lots of things get scrapped or redesigned to take that into account, and that can turn game development into Brownian motion.  It can seem slow even when its moving fast.

I would argue that even the second time around is not trivial.  Keep in mind the second time around for Cryptic wasn't Champions Online, it was the never-launched Marvel Universe Online.  Champions Online was the *third* outing for Cryptic, and even that didn't go smoothly.

[LaughingAlex]

Are you saying making a game that was supposed to be a cover base tactical shooter, but in the end turns out to be running around cause the cover base mechanics did nothing is not a good game? The people who I actually feel sorry for on the Division team is probably the graphic artist.

Graphic Artist: Hey Ubisoft/Massive, we are done making an almost perfect replica of Manhattan for this awesome game.

Ubisoft/Massive: That's great, but we are going to make majority of Manhattan Streets barren and allow fast travel so how about we just pay you and you can piss off.

Or a game made by a developer that bans you for using a glitch they failed to catch in testing, when all they had to do was fix the exploit.  Bug exploiting to me isn't cheating like say, using an external program or aimbot.  And if a battle is so difficult for people that a very clear majority use an exploit then perhaps it was poorly designed or to hard to soon.  One should never adopt the scrub/shfg/tryhard black/white "play my way or not at all!" view on whats allows/not allowed in making a good game.

[Brigadine]

The Division? You and I have VERY different ideas of what constitutes a "good game".

We've been fed nothing but crap games for so long we no longer know what a good game is.

[darkgob]

On the bright side there's still time for you to rethink grad school 

DON'T DO IT!! HOLD ONTO YOUR BEAUTIFUL, FREE LIFE!!!!

[Vee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqrCoyVK80I

[Paragon Avenger]

It is time once again for ...
The Weakly Update:

The THeM were surprised as to how popular the 4th of July is over in Asia.  They quickly learned that ANY excuse to use fireworks is welcomed.  Talks with NCSoft halted for everybody to use fireworks.  Apart for a few minor burns, the holiday was enjoyed by all.  NCSoft has requested that, oops, I can't tell you that, sorry.  The good news is that we love you, so keep using Paragon Chat.

[Tahquitz]

[HEATSTROKE]

CoH was in development for about 4 years before the public could play it.  CoT is at 2.5 years of development with about 5-10% done by the looks of it.  Champions Online took less time to develop than CoH did as well among many other games. I know that CoT is a volunteer project which means it will take more time but they raised plenty of money in their kickstart and could hire some professionals to help them with development.  They also announced late last year that they would open another funding opportunity but it seems that they have forgot about that for the last 6+ months.  I need to see some real progress in either the negotiations or a successor project or else I will go insane... possibly already have.

The money they raised was to get the tools to start the development. Games cost a ton to develop and take A LOT of time and thats with a professional staff working full time. A VOLUNTEER staff? Im surprised they have gotten this far..

They probably would like to accomplish more before they ask for more money.

[Surelle]

Back when the game was running I leaked so much stuff without saying anything specific there were devs that regularly congratulated me for doing such a good job of telling everyone what was going on while saying almost nothing.  To this day it surprises me how few people caught on to paying particular attention when I was working extra hard to say as much nothing as possible, because I never said nothing without purpose.

I believe in and generally honor NDAs, but the one NDA term that's basically ridiculous in the sense that it is impossible to enforce is the term of keeping the very fact that a project has terminated a secret.  In the technology world, half the secrets involving project changes get indirectly leaked by Linkedin updates.

I heard that Nintendo pulled its incoming new console, the NX, completely out of this year's E3 at the last minute, because a former employee had listed his Nintendo NX Virtual Reality work on his LinkedIn resume shortly before that.  Of course, the entire internet was on fire with the news five minutes after he posted it.  You can't even scratch your nose these days without the entire planet reading about it on the web seconds later.

[LateNights]

I heard that Nintendo pulled its incoming new console, the NX, completely out of this year's E3 at the last minute, because a former employee had listed his Nintendo NX Virtual Reality work on his LinkedIn resume shortly before that.  Of course, the entire internet was on fire with the news five minutes after he posted it.  You can't even scratch your nose these days without the entire planet reading about it on the web seconds later.

Can't buy that kind of exposure...

 

[Taceus Jiwede]

Or a game made by a developer that bans you for using a glitch they failed to catch in testing, when all they had to do was fix the exploit.  Bug exploiting to me isn't cheating like say, using an external program or aimbot.  And if a battle is so difficult for people that a very clear majority use an exploit then perhaps it was poorly designed or to hard to soon.  One should never adopt the scrub/shfg/tryhard black/white "play my way or not at all!" view on whats allows/not allowed in making a good game.

I think Ubisoft made the right choice banning glitchers and exploiters.  The mentality of the game became nothing but glitches and cheats after 1.1

If you are gonna glitch or exploit why even play the game, I am glad they aren't shy with the ban-hammer.

I do agree they shouldn't wait freaking weeks to fix their exploits though.  I know sometimes it harder said then done to fix a game, but damn they let some game breaking exploits run rampant for a long time.

But just cause you can do it, doesn't mean you should.  People knew what they were doing when glitching the Incursion as well as using things like the broken chest piece or gas mask.  At a certain point it ruins everyone's fun when players cheat or use exploits.

[switch]

for those that havnt seen it  or dont use facebook   go vote  we were in the 20's when the article posted yesterday now look

http://www.ranker.com/list/all-mmorpgs-list/reference

[ukaserex]

for those that havnt seen it  or dont use facebook   go vote  we were in the 20's when the article posted yesterday now look

http://www.ranker.com/list/all-mmorpgs-list/reference

We were in 2nd just now....

CoH extra crispy

I am still smiling at this interesting use of descriptive terminology.

And, I am also now trying to think where the closest Popeye's is....Curse you for triggering my inner-glutton!

[LadyVamp]

The THeM were surprised as to how popular the 4th of July is over in Asia.  They quickly learned that ANY excuse to use fireworks is welcomed.  Talks with NCSoft halted for everybody to use fireworks.  Apart for a few minor burns, the holiday was enjoyed by all. 

Ah.  We have something they want.  Excuses to use fireworks 

NCSoft has requested that, oops, I can't tell you that, sorry.

"You can tell me.  I'm the captain," Captain Oveur.

[RGladden]

for those that havnt seen it  or dont use facebook   go vote  we were in the 20's when the article posted yesterday now look

http://www.ranker.com/list/all-mmorpgs-list/reference

...ANNNDDD, City of Heroes is now in first place.   

[HorseManDemon]

for those that havnt seen it  or dont use facebook   go vote  we were in the 20's when the article posted yesterday now look

http://www.ranker.com/list/all-mmorpgs-list/reference

Hah, and now we're in 1st, 3rd, AND 4th.

Quick, someone forward that list to NC 

[Arcana]

Hah, and now we're in 1st, 3rd, AND 4th.

Not specifically because we have the most up votes, but because we have a high number of up votes and comparatively few down votes.  I'm not surprised to see WoW have the most up votes but also a lot of down votes (which is why it is in second place).  Interestingly, only the top eight have more up votes than down votes**: City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, City of Villains, City of Heroes: Going Rogue, SWTOR, WoW: WofLK, WoW: The Burning Crusade, and Eve Online.


** Except for Elder Scrolls Online, because of some weird rerank stat.