PC When will the game be released?

[Odetta]

From a marketing standpoint this going dark thing is a bad move. Madmole claims that people were upset by features that didn't make it in alpha 16, but this a very narrow and negative way to look at it. It is all about keeping interest high(hype train) as much as possible throughout the development process. Showing something even though it might not make it in the next build increases excitement and interest in the game; players think about your game at a constant basis. They think of possibilities, potential, pitfalls, and have an awareness of development.

Anytime they are thinking about your game is good. You want to generate a passionate player base. Sometimes it's negative but as long as they still care it's a good thing. To be honest I have seen some missteps in the way the Pimps have handled their marketing but even those have shown a greatly passionate player base that's still around for info on the next new thing. The information crumb approach will just generate atrophy in your player base and you WILL see a drop off. From concurrent players to sales, you will see a decline over time.

It's your company and I'm not telling you what to do, just trying to help.

Keep up the good fight.

(Marketing is how I make my living, particularly freelance internet marketing and consulting)

 

[JaxTeller718]

From a marketing standpoint this going dark thing is a bad move. Madmole claims that people were upset by features that didn't make it in alpha 16, but this a very narrow and negative way to look at it. It is all about keeping interest high(hype train) as much as possible throughout the development process. Showing something even though it might not make it in the next build increases excitement and interest in the game; players think about your game at a constant basis. They think of possibilities, potential, pitfalls, and have an awareness of development.
Anytime they are thinking about your game is good. You want to generate a passionate player base. Sometimes it's negative but as long as they still care it's a good thing. To be honest I have seen some missteps in the way the Pimps have handled their marketing but even those have shown a greatly passionate player base that's still around for info on the next new thing. The information crumb approach will just generate atrophy in your player base and you WILL see a drop off. From concurrent players to sales, you will see a decline over time.

It's your company and I'm not telling you what to do, just trying to help.

Keep up the good fight.

(Marketing is how I make my living, particularly freelance internet marketing and consulting)

I get what you are saying, but if the update is say 3 months or more off how is talking about it now going to generate anything other than exhaustion. Look at what happened for A16. Months and months of talk followed by about 2 months of video and by the time A16 was released everyone was arguing over something, and tensions were pretty high around here.

I'm sure once we get closer to release the talks with Devs will resume and the hype train will get going. Most of us will still be here but the general public isn't even aware of this forum from how it sounds on Facebook and Reddit. I know people like to dismiss those 2 avenues of conversation but if we are looking at it from a marketing standpoint then this forum is the number 1 priority in that department and we have all proven that we aren't really going anywhere in times of long content drought. The information will make its way to the appropriate parties when the the time draws near and everyone will again be excited. It beats having hundred of people constantly asking when is it going to be ready which was always the case when MM and others came around and interacted.

So I don't see their silence hurting sales or word of mouth at all. Dropping planned features is likely to do way more harm and that's something they are trying to avoid this go around.

 

[graphite]

Not disclosing what hits the cutting room floor just takes the pressure away from everyone.

Ideas can also be freely reincarnated without stigma attached.

I think the amount of development insight that is expected by some people is unrealistic and seems a recent trend that is tied to other media and art outside of the games industry.

I personally dont think dev diary is one way where the players just recieve info but also have the chance for feedback, ideas and discussion that whoever wants to can choose to tune into it or not.

The way i read the OP was a positive stance of how to move forward improve information handling for everyone.

 

[Odetta]

Tensions were high because of the streamer fiasco, but that illustrates a point that people care about the game enough to be pissed. I don't think people were "exhausted" by the information about the game. I believe that came about how they handled the build up to release, which in my opinion was extremely blue balling lol. Actually forums are like a hub for the game, not really a marketing platform in a traditional sense, Madmole's twitter, facebook, tumblr, and youtube channels are. You, me and others that frequent the forums spread info and generate excitement by "word of mouth/keyboard", kind of like game ambassadors.

Also, it's the by-product of the Pimp's very long patch cycle is what causes the uniformed to constantly bicker the Devs for a release date. See they have to understand that common sense is not common. You can't assume the people will understand that making a game is a hard and time consuming process with a high overhead of potential compromise. Every video, news snippet, etc. has to remind people that a feature may not make it in time or at all due to unforeseen development limitations. That's a better way to go about it. Again hundreds of people clamoring for the next update is a good thing, at least they care. I guess time will

tell how this experiment will work.

 

[stallionsden]

From a marketing standpoint this going dark thing is a bad move. Madmole claims that people were upset by features that didn't make it in alpha 16, but this a very narrow and negative way to look at it. It is all about keeping interest high(hype train) as much as possible throughout the development process. Showing something even though it might not make it in the next build increases excitement and interest in the game; players think about your game at a constant basis. They think of possibilities, potential, pitfalls, and have an awareness of development.
Anytime they are thinking about your game is good. You want to generate a passionate player base. Sometimes it's negative but as long as they still care it's a good thing. To be honest I have seen some missteps in the way the Pimps have handled their marketing but even those have shown a greatly passionate player base that's still around for info on the next new thing. The information crumb approach will just generate atrophy in your player base and you WILL see a drop off. From concurrent players to sales, you will see a decline over time.

It's your company and I'm not telling you what to do, just trying to help.

Keep up the good fight.

(Marketing is how I make my living, particularly freelance internet marketing and consulting)

I agree 100% with this. Absolute kill move for a game.

 

[graphite]

Tensions were high because of the streamer fiasco, but that illustrates a point that people care about the game enough to be pissed. I don't think people were "exhausted" by the information about the game. I believe that came about how they handled the build up to release, which in my opinion was extremely blue balling lol. Actually forums are like a hub for the game, not really a marketing platform in a traditional sense, Madmole's twitter, facebook, tumblr, and youtube channels are. You, me and others that frequent the forums spread info and generate excitement by "word of mouth/keyboard", kind of like game ambassadors.
Also, it's the by-product of the Pimp's very long patch cycle is what causes the uniformed to constantly bicker the Devs for a release date. See they have to understand that common sense is not common. You can't assume the people will understand that making a game is a hard and time consuming process with a high overhead of potential compromise. Every video, news snippet, etc. has to remind people that a feature may not make it in time or at all due to unforeseen development limitations. That's a better way to go about it. Again hundreds of people clamoring for the next update is a good thing, at least they care. I guess time will

tell how this experiment will work.

Problem as i see it is like with most things for someone to understand why they need to know the details so you need depth to the problem or issue.

You cant just say we couldnt do it and people have faith and move on it just doesnt work like that.

Be able to convey depth i imagine is not possible in many situations for reasons like technical understanding and releasing information that might spoil the suprise or secret of other features or it may just be boring and longwinded and not worth the time to explain like watching something compile for time then profiling it and finding out its just unworkable at any level.

So how would you address this issue?

 

[graphite]

Hahaha xD
It's just that bikes seem kind of standard, you know? And it's awfully 'late game' to be adding something that seems very basic, despite 7D still being late in its infancy.

As for the one year updates and whatnot, with their small team it's not anywhere near what it should be in terms of delivery (amount and functionality) of content, and because of that we as players have learned to just take what we are given, and the fanboi army insists we are grateful for it.

But like I said, they have a much bigger team now, that means more man hours per individual doing what they like

I really hope we see a big takeoff, and one thing MM should do is get a video up of that bike as soon as poss!

Yes i think everyone would like a video to dissect.

Nothing like the smell of virtual carrion.

Fan boys and fan girls is funny subject.

There is the notion that defending and holding a sports team very dear to your heart and sticking though thick and thin is heroic and noble.

Hold half as much sentiment for a video game and your just plain nuts and have no sense of judgement.

Even though there is no need and it possibly makes things worse i sometimes go out of my way to counter argue in defense of developers.

Maybe i do hold respect for skillsets that i dont have in an overly protective manner.

I am sure about being capable of detecting defective applications or an irresponsible carefree attitude from them.

But treating them like a special section of society is a bit weird as there just people.

So no pedestal for you from me Madmole.

 

[beerfly]

I prefer MM being quiet , than saying more than we need for now. Every word we see, gets 3 meanings to a person and there you go flood of useless comments and wrongly time spent.

Lets wait. He will say it all (devil).

 

[beerfly]

I prefer MM being quiet , than saying more than we need for now. Every word we see, gets 3 meanings to a person and there you go flood of useless comments and wrongly time spent.

Lets wait. He will say it all (devil).

 

[Janna3921]

Reading posts of why is it taking so long, why are we being tossed such small tidbits, why isn't more being done? Why don't they have the game in gold now, it has been so long in development, why not finished? I was thinking the same that meganoth stated in a post. Look at the AAA gaming companies and look at their size and number of employees, anywhere from 200 to 2,700 combined from various departments. You have one of the big names working on a game (such as the Fallout series) state that a sequel will be released in a year. What many may not know is that while the finishing touches were being put on the game for it to be released in a year, they have been working for the three, four or even more years on the next game in the series. The next year, when the announced game is released, they are almost ready to announce that the next game in the series will be coming soon. They can work on a game for ten years and no one know about it because they have such a large number of employees who can be divided to fine tuning what it to be release next, one group working on the next one planned in the series and another one that is in the beginning stage for the next one and another looking to the future for another game to start the creative juices going.

The Pimps have from my guessing around 30 employees full time, and more that are part time. I could be way off, just a small amount are full time and the majority are part time. Either way, they are small compared to the AAA gaming companies. Now I may get flack for saying this but I do think they should have been on the ball over a year ago and hired some help earlier to help out in the areas they themselves don't have a degree in and trained in working in programing/developing or whatever goes into creating a game.

Hindsight, it always comes to bit you in the a double s; it is past, can't change it, but they are now doing what is right, have hired some experienced, trained people to do the work needed to make this the great game we know it can and will be.

The tidbit we were tossed with the bike? To me it is saying that they listened to us, realized how important it is to have something that is better

than just walking and that they know that it is taking some a long time to get a minibike, so here is the next best thing. That they have great things planned and this is the first step in providing them.

Or, I could be completely wrong. I want to see it as making something that for several alphas has been asked for and are able now to provide it and are working on what players want and what is feasible.

 

[Menace312]

Madmole, Enjoy your birthday, have a great weekend and think about whatever you want, except the game, birthdays are a time for you, not for work.

What Janna said...

More and more chatter... I feel a video is near! Hype

 

[Darehitorimo]

Hi Guys, I just wanted open up discussion of Alpha 17. Sorry we have been tight lipped about it, but I wanted to try something different this time where we talk about finished or work in progress features rather than stuff we simply planned. This leads to less frustration because usually once something is started we finish it, where its easy to plan a bunch of stuff and have it slip through the cracks, which is disappointing for all of us.
I will say we're ramping up the team, we've hired two new senior programmers, a concept artist, an environment artist, a designer, and we have about 5 new full time world builders. I'll begin showing stuff on youtube real soon. I have two keyboards hooked up at the same time now so I can annoy people if I want, or use the quiet keyboard if I want

A17 News

Wallpaper and Trader Bob Images

Trader Bob Compound Concept Art

First look at bicycle

A17 Feature List

• Vehicle Physics Overhaul
  
• New Vehicle: Bicycle
  

Can't wait to (not) hear your new keyboard.

 

[Bubo]

New vehicle system is coming along!

Thanks for the news, can't wait!!

 

[Menace312]

I understand all that, but going from "We are thinking of adding these things anyway" to "well now you gotta pay for them because... You do" isn't the best thing ever.

Which is exactly why Madmole has stopped making a list of things to go in the next alpha...

They used to do this in past alphas, but stopped here in alpha 17...

The reason is obviously that they cant do this, without people getting pissy about this and that not making it into the game...

So all your doing with your negative attitude, is to limit the information and "dev play".

But I have no illusions that you will take any of this to heart... So instead I'll say this:

Dont worry, be happy

 

[69WithAzombie]

Question, with the bigger team should we expect more than one alpha a year? Because I know madmole had made comments that himself and others want to work on other projects as well. And they can't really do that if this game takes their whole lifetime to complete.

 

[Royal Deluxe]

I dont think that the few new teammembers will reduce the time until next Patch remarkable.

i expect more that they will add additional content.

Or different said. They need them to hold the next planed release time

 

[beerfly]

They got more ppl not only to speed things up, but to bring us better and new stuff and experience. Its always better with more. The more the better. The better the funnier. Trust them, its gonna be good.

 

[Prisma501]

They got more ppls not only to speed up things , but to bring us better and new stuff. Its always better with more. The more the better. The better the funnier. Trust them, its gonna be good.

+1

Cheers

 

[Roland]

They got more ppl not only to speed things up, but to bring us better and new stuff and experience. Its always better with more. The more the better. The better the funnier. Trust them, its gonna be good.

Better leads to More and More leads to Better and Better leads to Funnier. Trust in the Pimp Side. Good. Goooooooood.

 

[beerfly]

Better leads to More and More leads to Better and Better leads to Funnier. Trust in the Pimp Side. Good. Goooooooood.

https://giphy.com/gifs/star-wars-yoda-luke-skywalker-J1nr4o7oolWz6

I am trying.