Dan Magaha explains Firaxis position on late-game tedium

[Ming]

Originally posted by CharlesUFarley
It's *obviuos* what that means.
Charles.

Well... I'm sure it seems obvious to you... Just as it seems obvious to me that they don't have a clue yet...

So what the heck. Merry Christmas to all...
Peace and good will to all men.

And may Santa bring us EVERYTHING WE EXPECT FROM CIV III

[Blackadar1]

I will strongly second the above opinion on the expansion pack. Better to save my $$$ and hope they do an add-on to Commandos 2.

[Blacken]

Ahh, do we need to go over this again Steve? Ofcoarse they're hiding, you actually think that there are 30 people sitting around at Firaxis staring at a monitor reading a complaint forum wondering "what are we going to do about this". I don't think so. They know exactly what they're working on, and how much progress they're making. What we have here is a group of 30 people designing a product, and on the other hand we have thousands of fans also designing a product... It just so happens that our ideas are either "out of their ability to code" or our ideas are "very good". Take your pick, either way it's embarrasing for them, and that's why they are "hiding" or in other words, avoiding the forums which is essentially the fans. Its a good strategy though, I would probably tuck my tail and do the same thing, If the fans shamed my "design team". ya think?

Have you ever heard of Take-Two Interactive and Derek Smart, people, and Farley in particular? No? Well, kiddies, sit down and listen to storytime...(or the CliffsNotes version of it)

Derek Smart was working on "THE GAME," Battlecruiser 3000AD, since 1989. He went through about 6 publishers, who all wanted him to strip the game down to be a la Wing Commander. He refused. He then marketed the game to Take-Two Interactive. They accepted it. A few months later, Take-Two got fed up and basically took the game away from him had a bunch of moron coders hack in some junk that never worked, shipped the game with NO MANUAL, with maybe 1/10th the promised features, and laid the blame on Derek Smart. The flamewar still hasn't died down...

C'mon...you can see it with Infogrames...they've done similar things before... (I could also add the common thread between Infogrames, Ubi Soft, and certain other companies in a certain country, but that'd be mean...)

[HalfLotus]

I think Dan M. made it pretty clear in the Dec. 21 chat that Firaxis assigns people to do fixes, upgrades, and scenarios when they can. They have limited resources. They read these forums and respond to bugs and complaints. I have a feeling Dan/Soren/Jeff are doing all they can to improve on the game.

[CharlesUFarley]

Originally posted by Ming


Well... I'm sure it seems obvious to you... Just as it seems obvious to me that they don't have a clue yet...

So what the heck. Merry Christmas to all...
Peace and good will to all men.

And may Santa bring us EVERYTHING WE EXPECT FROM CIV III

Fair enough. Merry Xmas to you too!

Charles.

[CharlesUFarley]

Originally posted by Blacken


Have you ever heard of Take-Two Interactive and Derek Smart, people, and Farley in particular? No? Well, kiddies, sit down and listen to storytime...(or the CliffsNotes version of it)

Derek Smart was working on "THE GAME," Battlecruiser 3000AD, since 1989. He went through about 6 publishers, who all wanted him to strip the game down to be a la Wing Commander. He refused. He then marketed the game to Take-Two Interactive. They accepted it. A few months later, Take-Two got fed up and basically took the game away from him had a bunch of moron coders hack in some junk that never worked, shipped the game with NO MANUAL, with maybe 1/10th the promised features, and laid the blame on Derek Smart. The flamewar still hasn't died down...

C'mon...you can see it with Infogrames...they've done similar things before... (I could also add the common thread between Infogrames, Ubi Soft, and certain other companies in a certain country, but that'd be mean...)

Oh no, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that scenarios like that are unlikely to happen. I'm simply saying that any business with a good head on it's shoulders has no excuse. Life is what we make of it. Nothing is "contracted" in, if I can use that expression. My opinion is that if a company like Firaxis doesn't want that kind of reputation then they should commence better battles with their publishers. I for one, would rather be a broke and reputable company than a rich and hated one! Thats all. And as far as Infogrames goes, one way or another they screwed up this time, and they will again.. it's only a matter of time before they get boycotted or burned to the ground. I dont care how they fall, as long as they fall. Consumers come first.

Charles.

[CharlesUFarley]

Originally posted by HalfLotus
I think Dan M. made it pretty clear in the Dec. 21 chat that Firaxis assigns people to do fixes, upgrades, and scenarios when they can. They have limited resources. They read these forums and respond to bugs and complaints. I have a feeling Dan/Soren/Jeff are doing all they can to improve on the game.

Yeah, but what do you mean by "resources" it doesn't cost more than an employee's wage to sit down and write some code. Or design some artwork. So the only "resources" that are apparent to me, are that of "time&money" but if thats all, then the skies the limit in my opinion. Hell if *I* could I would do artwork and write code uncontracted and free for Firaxis in order to make Civ3 a better game. Because I know if I do it right the first time, it will more than pay off in the end. Simple as that.

Charles.