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Heh. Yes, in 2006 my significant other was crushed by a semi-truck, I spent a long time nursing her back to health, and then she left. I was basically out of commission from that for.. a couple of years.
In 2009, Andy (one of our main coders and my best friends) abruptly left without warning or even telling us he was quitting (he "went on vacation" and stopped communicating).. and then his code all started breaking, like the bloody billing system that was keeping us in business. And we had to stop what we were doing and focus on "cleaning up undocumented Andy crap" for the better part of a year. Super great!
In 2010, due to lack of subscribers, we ran out of money.. and faced with our imminent doom, I pivoted the company to do new platforms where large companies wanted people like us to do stuff. That supplementary income has kept us going on.. making the game.
Since then I've declined several deals and strategic partnerships that would have permanently taken us away from the game for good (but probably improved our lives), because my whole goal was to get back to working on the game and make good on all my promises.. to both the userbase and myself.
So, honestly, while I've always empathized with people's frustrations over the delays.. I really don't respond well to anyone's self-righteous indignation or bitterness over the delays or difficulties. If you like the game, and you want it to evolve into the dream we all share, you owe everyone in Guild Software a tremendous thanks for sticking around at epic personal cost (mostly for you and the dream of the game). Yes, even if you've had two accounts subscribed for the last decade (those most supportive are always appreciated, but it gives no license for indignation).
That is the blunt truth, that I've largely avoided mentioning. Perhaps I should have, instead of trying to rally a more cheery outlook over the years, but we've had so many loud naysayers as it was, that giving people more of a reason to doubt our stability didn't seem like a good idea.
So, yes, the game hasn't changed nearly as much as I wanted in the last seven years, and I *DO NOT APOLOGIZE*. If you have a problem with that, go away.
In the meantime, I'm going to make shit better, and I hope you all like it, because ultimately it's really for you.. but I'm going to do it anyway, one way or the other.
In 2009, Andy (one of our main coders and my best friends) abruptly left without warning or even telling us he was quitting (he "went on vacation" and stopped communicating).. and then his code all started breaking, like the bloody billing system that was keeping us in business. And we had to stop what we were doing and focus on "cleaning up undocumented Andy crap" for the better part of a year. Super great!
In 2010, due to lack of subscribers, we ran out of money.. and faced with our imminent doom, I pivoted the company to do new platforms where large companies wanted people like us to do stuff. That supplementary income has kept us going on.. making the game.
Since then I've declined several deals and strategic partnerships that would have permanently taken us away from the game for good (but probably improved our lives), because my whole goal was to get back to working on the game and make good on all my promises.. to both the userbase and myself.
So, honestly, while I've always empathized with people's frustrations over the delays.. I really don't respond well to anyone's self-righteous indignation or bitterness over the delays or difficulties. If you like the game, and you want it to evolve into the dream we all share, you owe everyone in Guild Software a tremendous thanks for sticking around at epic personal cost (mostly for you and the dream of the game). Yes, even if you've had two accounts subscribed for the last decade (those most supportive are always appreciated, but it gives no license for indignation).
That is the blunt truth, that I've largely avoided mentioning. Perhaps I should have, instead of trying to rally a more cheery outlook over the years, but we've had so many loud naysayers as it was, that giving people more of a reason to doubt our stability didn't seem like a good idea.
So, yes, the game hasn't changed nearly as much as I wanted in the last seven years, and I *DO NOT APOLOGIZE*. If you have a problem with that, go away.
In the meantime, I'm going to make shit better, and I hope you all like it, because ultimately it's really for you.. but I'm going to do it anyway, one way or the other.
If you think what I just posted is righteous indignation, you've been leading a sheltered life -- it was a rather gentle (and, for older vets, humorous) poking at problems with a business that the business admits exist. If you were hoping to get a bunch of junk-stroking from this newspost, I'd say that was a misplaced sense of entitlement -- my guess is that wasn't the case and your response was just venting you guys side of the story. Fair enough. Devs get to make whatever choices they want/have to regarding VO (see, e.g., Anni-Vult); we get to call things as we see them within the fairly generous bounds of common decency.
I have remain subscribed to VO because it's cheap to do so (in bulk) and the game has real potential, which makes for a decent investment in case I find myself with the time to once again get seriously into VO. Thankfully, I have more going on these days than I have free hours to spend behind a computer screen... but things change (except in VO ;). If I wind up with a spinal bubble on my next staged decompression dive, it'd be nice to have VO as a fall back source of entertainment.
I have remain subscribed to VO because it's cheap to do so (in bulk) and the game has real potential, which makes for a decent investment in case I find myself with the time to once again get seriously into VO. Thankfully, I have more going on these days than I have free hours to spend behind a computer screen... but things change (except in VO ;). If I wind up with a spinal bubble on my next staged decompression dive, it'd be nice to have VO as a fall back source of entertainment.
Nah, I don't need junk-stroking, and my references to righteous indignation and bitterness cover a lot of people and situations beyond the scope of this thread.
I am bit more hard-edged than I've been in years past, and quite focused on making this all happen.
So, yes, let's hope it'll all be awesome. And do try to avoid the bends.
I am bit more hard-edged than I've been in years past, and quite focused on making this all happen.
So, yes, let's hope it'll all be awesome. And do try to avoid the bends.
This thread makes me laugh.
but i like bends... it great.. . anyway... look forward to game updating.. cheer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi_QqX5ioWM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi_QqX5ioWM
Well I for one get a lot less disgruntled when I know what's going on in terms of progress, so this is all very good. If the naysayers are getting to you Inc you might reduce overall naysaying by either keeping up this recent increase in communication or by putting up some kind of progress tracker. I'm afraid however there is no hope for Lecter improving -- he'll always be the irritable, heartless, and petulant scourge we have come to accept as a feature of the VO forums.
He's like, aggressive wallpaper.
Does this mean no reloadable conc-rails?
I am bit more hard-edged than I've been in years past, and quite focused on making this all happen.
New Improved Self-Stroking Incarnate, Ginzu Knife Edition! Now with more testicular fortitude!
Get her done, Inc! Stay on target! I don't care what order or priority you drop in what changes, but I want to see the game as you envision. It is obvious that you see it more clearly these days, or at least see it in a form you can describe to us, and more importantly: in clear actionable steps for your team. Witnessing THAT excites me to have been along for the ride this long. After a decade of listening to everyone's good and bad suggestions, it is time for you to ignore us all for a while and make the game YOU wanted to play.
For what it's worth, i'll re-up both my accounts that are about to fizzle in a week or so.
New Improved Self-Stroking Incarnate, Ginzu Knife Edition! Now with more testicular fortitude!
Get her done, Inc! Stay on target! I don't care what order or priority you drop in what changes, but I want to see the game as you envision. It is obvious that you see it more clearly these days, or at least see it in a form you can describe to us, and more importantly: in clear actionable steps for your team. Witnessing THAT excites me to have been along for the ride this long. After a decade of listening to everyone's good and bad suggestions, it is time for you to ignore us all for a while and make the game YOU wanted to play.
For what it's worth, i'll re-up both my accounts that are about to fizzle in a week or so.
I'm afraid however there is no hope for Lecter improving -- he'll always be the irritable, heartless, and petulant scourge
Yes, he'll always be a lawyer.
It does not allow detection of pilots across systems..
Dammit
I could also post a zillion other threads where our improving one thing resulted in pissing people off that we didn't improve something else they consider more important. It's not like it's super uncommon..
There have been tweaks, but nothing like this new armour system. I mean it's a big deal and changes absolutely every facet of playing. It's a perfect example of the kind of thing that will prompt players to devote more time to learning the intricacies of the combat system all over again.
I am bit more hard-edged than I've been in years past, and quite focused on making this all happen.
No complaints here, be hard-edged as you like as long as you are indeed focused on making it happen. I think new brutally-honest kick-ass incarnate is great!!
Yes, he'll always be a lawyer.
It does not allow detection of pilots across systems..
Dammit
I could also post a zillion other threads where our improving one thing resulted in pissing people off that we didn't improve something else they consider more important. It's not like it's super uncommon..
There have been tweaks, but nothing like this new armour system. I mean it's a big deal and changes absolutely every facet of playing. It's a perfect example of the kind of thing that will prompt players to devote more time to learning the intricacies of the combat system all over again.
I am bit more hard-edged than I've been in years past, and quite focused on making this all happen.
No complaints here, be hard-edged as you like as long as you are indeed focused on making it happen. I think new brutally-honest kick-ass incarnate is great!!