Will MOO3 ship on 30.1.2002?

Jeje2 · November 5, 2001, 02:09

Remember reading somewhere that MOO3 shall ship three months after Civ3, so is 30.1.2002 the shippingdate for MOO3 or not?

Sencho · November 5, 2001, 02:38

Last I heard, though this is mui unofficial, was three months after Civ3 or the winter quater 2001, whichever was later. That pushes the release date as far back as late March.

And, as always, things are subject to change as conditions dictate.

moomin · November 5, 2001, 06:00

I honestly would be pleased with a x-mas 2002 release. If it means a polished, balanced game.

After all, I'm still playing Moo2 after all those years, so waiting for the new game is insignificant compared to the pleasures awaiting us all if Moo3 really rocks.

But I guess the people over at QS would rather see a March release. They've got mouths to feed too, remember.

Master Marcus · November 5, 2001, 20:02

For now they say "End of March".

ravagon · November 5, 2001, 21:00

I think it depends upon who's calling the shots. The marketing lot would want to release on time to meet all of their commitments and "patch later" while I assume the programmers would rather get as much right the first time. Unfortunately the trend lately seems to be more in line with the former but I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Skeeve · November 9, 2001, 11:29

I just bought Civilization III, and the back cover of the Manual for the game has an advertisement for MOO3.

It claims a launch of 1Q2002. This could be as late as March 31st, but I'm eternally pessimistic when it comes to these things, so I'm thinking more like April/May.

Swissy · November 10, 2001, 21:51

Infogrames seems to have all their strategy games on a timetable. So Febuary looks likes it fits into the release plans very well. The feature cuts sort of confirm this as Infogrames would want the game in beta very soon so it can go gold in january. Then they will have a couple of months before the Civ3 expansion is ready for release. Then may three months after that we'll get the MOO3 expansion with all the stuff they cut.

Bleyn · November 11, 2001, 07:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Swissy
Infogrames seems to have all their strategy games on a timetable. So Febuary looks likes it fits into the release plans very well. The feature cuts sort of confirm this as Infogrames would want the game in beta very soon so it can go gold in january. Then they will have a couple of months before the Civ3 expansion is ready for release. Then may three months after that we'll get the MOO3 expansion with all the stuff they cut.

Uhmmm.... If an expansion happens for MoO3, I don't expect things like Ethos will reappear in it.

I can't remember if Stormhound said it here or not, but on Quicksilver's MoO3 forum, the designers make if fairly clear that every thing that was cut would not reappear before a MoO4 sometime in the potential and hoped for future. But they have saved all that work just in case they do get to do a MoO4 sometime. Which implies that there was too much work remaining when it was cut for it to return in a MoO3 expansion.

And from some comments the QS team has made re. MoM2, I suspect they really want the chance to make that their next project. I hope so too.

tniem · November 11, 2001, 11:22

If CivIII is any indication, than they will release the game before it is ready because Infogrames knows they can make the money off of it and that the reviewers will not give it a proper review. I bought it off of the glowing reviews and got bit in the ass. It needed a few more months to get the bugs out. I of course am soorly disappointed but not suprised, hopefully delays will postponne the MOO3 release date.

Garth Vader · November 14, 2001, 12:54

Yeah after Civ3 I will be very wary about buying something from Infogrames unless I hear that it has actualy been tested and not just released due to some schedule.

vmxa1 · November 14, 2001, 13:08

Looking at the web site for MOO3, I can not see it making March. Since it is at least being made, I guess I can hang with MOO and MOO2 for awhile. I remember the long drought, when it was not even mentioned, so I am grateful to see it is alive. I hope it is not as frustrating as Civ3.

Ozymandous · November 14, 2001, 14:04

Quote:

Originally posted by tniem
If CivIII is any indication, than they will release the game before it is ready because Infogrames knows they can make the money off of it and that the reviewers will not give it a proper review. I bought it off of the glowing reviews and got bit in the ass. It needed a few more months to get the bugs out. I of course am soorly disappointed but not suprised, hopefully delays will postponne the MOO3 release date.

Out of curiousity, what "bugs" were in Civ3? Other than the air superiority and million gold trade thing? Oops, forgot about giving the AI cities thing, but other than that what bugs were there?

It's amusing to hear people complain the "game was rushed" then post no details to support their claim.

Just curious.

Swissy · November 14, 2001, 21:00

Quote:

Originally posted by vmxa1
Looking at the web site for MOO3, I can not see it making March.

Looking at the website, the answer is right there. It says "1st Quarter 2002". Now it depends on how Infogrames sets their fiscal year. First quarter could be Jan-mar, or Feb-Apr as many consumer product and retail companies do to completely capture the After Christmas sales into the 4th Quarter. Infogrames is if anything prompt in releasing their games, even if they aren't finished

vmxa1 · November 16, 2001, 14:35

When I say looking at the web site, I mean that they are not nearly far enough down the line to get a product out by first quarter. We will see what happens, but based on my experiences with games, it has very little change of being done and being good by that time frame.

Zealot · November 21, 2001, 14:50

Quote:

Originally posted by Master Marcus
For now they say "End of March".

Well, this makes me remember one thing!

Several months ago, I read an Alan Emrich article about games' strategy books (Can't remember the link; sorry. All I can remember was that I started on the old http://moo3.quicksilver.com web page, and ended on that site).
And from what I remember, Alan was talking about how usualy in the gaming industry a game's manual was sent to the printer of the publisher around one month before the game went "gold", which led to some inaccuracies between the sold game and its manual because a lot of things can change in one month.

Now, if Quicksilver is planning in releasing the game by the end of March, it makes me think wether they are really going to make an open beta test. Because either:

1. The open beta test will just start in early December, giving testers around 2 months (December and January) of playtesting, giving Quicksilver a great amount of feedback in order to have an accurate manual and a game with little and few bugs;

2. Because there isn't enough time, a "15-days" beta testing à la Civ 3 is made before MoO 3 goes gold - Hi buggies!

3. Neither the manual nor the strategy guide are all that important, so the time for (closed) beta test is the same as an "average" game, the number of bugs will probably be the same as another "average" game, and will certainly have some unbalanced features. But then again, so did Starcraft and MoO2, and they are definitely great games!

Of course, it's precisely to fight that (unbalanced features) that an wide open beta test should eliminate (or at least reduce).

I still expect a great game from Quicksilver, but I'm a little worried about some specs in MoO 3 that could resemble Civ 3, namely the unfriendly interface and some unbalanced features like resources, corruption and bombarding units.

Man, this looks more like a chronicle than an ordinary post!

BTW, great Chronicle MM!

Roman · November 21, 2001, 17:15

I don't care when it's released as long as it does not cheat us on multiplayer like Civ 3 did.

Powerslave · November 27, 2001, 23:15

I hear you Roman. But don't worry if they don't inculde MultiPlaying in the initial release it will probably come out some 3 month later......... for a fee of $30.

Master Marcus · November 28, 2001, 10:43

Thanks, Zealot. Sorry for a late reply, but these days you must suspect I play a lot Civ III......

The difference between MoO3's team and most of other companies, is how they share a considerable amount of info with the fans. They discuss and interact like Firaxis never did. A greater game will come out of this, but they can't wait 10 years to craft a perfect one without a glitch. For sure there will be unbalanced features to be fixed, it is unavoidable for a game that complex. If the economics ( income vs expenses ) and AI expansionism is well crafted upon difficulty levels , like Civ III's core engine, the rest can be easily worked on - units, corruption ( well, on that matter we're talking about IFPs on which the game relies...).

Zealot · November 28, 2001, 12:15

Quote:

Originally posted by Master Marcus
For sure there will be unbalanced features to be fixed, it is unavoidable for a game that complex.

If you're playing a lot of Civ 3, I'm sure you've found out that many "features" would be more "refined" if it had been more tested before published.

Master Marcus · November 28, 2001, 16:49

Yeah, and I can live with that. The core is solid, the enhancements will be easy to implement ( the first patch NEXT WEEK! Too soon to not be pre-planned by the team a lonnnng way ago before release....). I agree that it may be the same approach for MoO 3, even if released later than anticipated.

AlanEmrich · December 2, 2001, 14:46

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeje2
Remember reading somewhere that MOO3 shall ship three months after Civ3, so is 30.1.2002 the shippingdate for MOO3 or not?

What we have said is: "MOO3 will ship no sooner than 3 months after Civ3 ships." That's to keep the two titles from stepping on each other's sales.

That doesn't mean that MOO3 might not ship later.

markusf · December 2, 2001, 16:20

Quote:

Originally posted by AlanEmrich

What we have said is: "MOO3 will ship no sooner than 3 months after Civ3 ships." That's to keep the two titles from stepping on each other's sales.

That doesn't mean that MOO3 might not ship later.

What kind of testing methodology are you using for this project?
How stable is the game currently?

CB2034 · December 10, 2001, 09:43

this is to OZYMANDOUS.

"Out of curiousity, what "bugs" were in Civ3? Other than the air superiority and million gold trade thing? Oops, forgot about giving the AI cities thing, but other than that what bugs were there?

It's amusing to hear people complain the "game was rushed" then post no details to support their claim. "

lots of bugs my southern friend.
nvidia card users... extremely slow scroll.
extremely slow play in later ages. 3-4 minute and even longer waits even on high end machines.
accidentally starting war by sailing over an enemies sub that u cant even see
game locking up by upgrading and then forifying units from the city screen on the same turn
game starts map as archiepelago no matter what settings u choose
theres are just a few prepatch bugs
after patch bugs:
changing the civilization u are talking to in diplomacy screen changes the entire civilization to a new one
game lock up on winxp (why did i upgrade... 'cause winme sux)
plus if u want too see a list of bugs u can easily go to civ3 forums and see.... but even with all the bugs civ3 is a great game, im not hating just letting u know that there were plenty of bugs in it

Comrade Tribune · December 10, 2001, 20:16

Quote:

Originally posted by AlanEmrich
What we have said is: "MOO3 will ship no sooner than 3 months after Civ3 ships." That's to keep the two titles from stepping on each other's sales.

That doesn't mean that MOO3 might not ship later.

No problem. Take your time to test and polish. It is, in fact, immensely encouraging to hear that a game is *not* rushed, for a change.

vmxa1 · December 11, 2001, 00:37

Hum:

nvidia card users... extremely slow scroll. " I played on my AMD 900 Gefroce 2 and then switched to my PIV 1.7 Geforce 3 and saw no problems?'

extremely slow play in later ages. 3-4 minute and even longer waits even on high end machines. - ' not sure what people mean by this, if you mean that when you have scores of automated workers it can be a pain to watch them flit around, I agree, but it is not a function of slow processes, although some seem to be aimless. I do not see any bug here.'

accidentally starting war by sailing over an enemies sub that u cant even see 'Not sure if we should count this either, but really how common is it? More like a nit than a bug.'

game locking up by upgrading and then forifying units from the city screen on the same turn ' never had any lock ups and I have been playing at least 14 hrs every day'

game starts map as archiepelago no matter what settings u choose
theres are just a few prepatch bugs ' can't say as I only did one island game'
None of this is really a big deal. I have played a lot of games and had no failures. That is not to say I think everything was to my liking, but the game does work.
When you look at most of the other games that can not even be installed or played.

Zealot · December 12, 2001, 12:29

Quote:

Originally posted by markusf
How stable is the game currently?

That's something I would really like to know too. Because I could get an idea about when would the Beta Testing start!

Jeje2 · December 13, 2001, 08:11

Quote:

Originally posted by AlanEmrich
What we have said is: "MOO3 will ship no sooner than 3 months after Civ3 ships." That's to keep the two titles from stepping on each other's sales.

That doesn't mean that MOO3 might not ship later.

Thx, for the clarification. Must have been a misunderstanding from my part.
Actually this is just fine by me.
Don't hurry - take all the time you need to make a great game.
(I shall gladly wait for something good)

art_vandelai · December 13, 2001, 13:32

Quote:

Originally posted by Zealot

Of course, it's precisely to fight that (unbalanced features) that an wide open beta test should eliminate (or at least reduce).

Wide-open beta tests are far too much of a risk for any well-run gaming company to provide in this time of high-speed net connections and cd-burners. Maybe you'll see this kind of deal offered by people like Microsoft, who can afford the encryption required to deliver 'trial version' beta CD's across the globe, but I think for the most part, the days of wide-open beta tests are over.

vmxa1 · December 13, 2001, 13:58

You may be correct about the beta test, but I do not think it buys them any thing in terms of the game getting out before release. Every game I was interested it has been offered to me before the thing was declared GOLD. I only took one and that was Heroes 3 as I knew I would go buy it as soon as it hit the stores. I did not want to beat them out of their money only to get a start on the game. In fact I have been offered the last Heroes Chronicles, but did not get it and so far it has never come out in the US. So to me they should get a very large test. The people that are going to steal the stuff are going to do so regardless, they will not pay.

LDiCesare · January 9, 2002, 09:17

Does anyone know if it will ship on the same date in all countries?
Like having it in France not 3 months after it is out in the US and UK and about everywhere else.