The future of CoD...

[mazex]

Maddox Games have just released a beta patch trying to fix the two major whinig points here (color and sound). IMO they have done a heck of a work and for some days this forum was filled with positive posts by the most devoted critics (even Tree was clearly out of balance and did a succession of positive posts ;)).

So, look at the topics now a week later... The same whine as any other week. Whatever they do, their "loyal fans" will always find something new to whine about... ;)

Any day now I fear that 1c will pull the plug as there is no Santa Claus throwing good money after bad. Then we will have to live with CoD in the state it is as it is the best WW2 sim the last five years (and only). With a community like this where any potential customer will be scared away we deserve it. Everyone seems to think that MG will live forever patching this game, didn't they with il2? The difference is that IL2 was a commercial success selling 800000+ copies.

The funny thing is that I think a lot of people would be surprised to hear that 1c had shut down Maddox Games with immediate effect. But Ilya said they where doing fine and where already planning addons? Of course he has to keep the spirit up... Should he say that he has meetings every other week with 1c management about how long they will let them try to fix the game and present a viable business plan to ensure return of the money 1c has invested? Don't think so... And still the ones that really care for this niche product continue to find things to get angry with instead of trying to support those poor sods wrestling with a code base that really is not done yet...

Just had to get it out of me. Please feel free to flame me as a fan boy...

Mazex

[JG52Uther]

If it fails it will fail because it is not a commercial success, not because a few people on a forum complain about it.
What should people do, lie about it and say it is perfect to trick more people in to buying it?
Personally, I think it will be succesful, but time will tell.

[Vengeanze]

I think you put too much weight into this forum, you....fanboy. ;-)
Some games are 100 meters runners while others do best in marathons.
Some games sell 1 million copies in a month while others sell 2 millions in 5 years.
A smart game developer has a bunch of different types of games in their lineup.

1C knows that IL-2 series will make money over time. They have other games to give them instant cashflow.

That's my take...you fanboy. ;-)

[Codex]

Come on Maz ... how long have you been around this sim? We're all still here buddy and we'll be here for many for years to come.

[Ze-Jamz]

Whatever.. :)

[addman]

I don't get it, what's wrong with criticizing when something is broken and then reward with praise when it's fixed? That's how it ALWAYS should be with every type of product even though IL-2 is a sim and sims are rare and therefor we have to support la-di-da-di-da....

I was there man! in the trenches (bluebyte forums) back in 2000/2001 rooting for Oleg and co. I must be one of the longest time followers of the IL-2 series but it doesn't turn me in to a blind follower. Luthier and co are doing a great job now, good contact with community and they are releasing patches that improves the game, if the game wasn't released in such a mess they wouldn't have to fix it in the first place.

Vengeanze, spot on! This is not Call of Duty, it will never sell 2 million copies day one even if the marketing campaign is awesome, why? it's a flight sim. IL-2 probably sold through good reviews+word of mouth advertising+arcade flyers moving up to something more challenging+it was a damn good game. It's a sleeper hit, hopefully CloD will follow the same path.

[Phazon]

1C won't pull the plug, because apparently the Russian president is looking at providing financial assistance to video games that are based on Russian history. He mentions World of Warcraft as how a video game can reach so many people and involve them in a history, although the same could be said for realistic simulations as well I guess.

This goes a long way in explaining why the Battle for Moscow is the next game in the series. ;)

[Pluto]

look here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsbXeO23Djo

:grin:

[mazex]

I was there man! in the trenches (bluebyte forums) back in 2000/2001 rooting for Oleg and co. I must be one of the longest time followers of the IL-2 series but it doesn't turn me in to a blind follower.

I was there too, and many others posting here too... Still remember the build up to that splendid first beta demo taking off in the 109 with a grin all over my face :) Don't remember my name on the blue byte forum but I guess it was maze back then. I just don't remember people beeing so negative back then? I guess it's the new "instant satisfaction or move on" generation? Or it's just me getting old ;)

Still, as a programmer that has been forced by the customer sometimes to release something that was not done I can really feel the pain that the poor devs are going through in this project. No way they wanted to release the game this spring and now they get a lot of the blame while working their asses of to please this bunch of spoiled kids and grumpy old men... :)

Mazex

[6BL Bird-Dog]

The Beta was released to the community for testing so any bugs or problems could be reported back .This is a sensible move as the amount of customers testing the game adds up to a lot of testing time that the development team do not have to do which obviosly frees them up for other tasks.
Reporting findings whether good or bad is a positve and constructive thing to do & also shows how enthusiastic the community is at getting this frankly awesome piece of work running as smoothly and as close to historicaly correct as possible .
I am aware of and know of a very large number of iL2 users who are still waiting and watching for COD to have its problems repaired before they buy .
So Please keep reporting issues with the game amd complain if you believe something is porked,bugged or whatever else you care to call it so the Devs have the imput they need to resolve these issues.
The only thing that will cause this game to fail and die is if people eccept the present state of the game and these pages fall quiet.

[adonys]

I'm one of the followers from the beginning with the IL2 demo too, though I'm a much older flight sim lover (EAW, CFS, AW and all the other old DOS small games), but that doesn't mean I must not see the fails from the current state of IL2 CoD.

[addman]

I'm one of the followers from the beginning with the IL2 demo too, though I'm a much older flight sim lover (EAW, CFS, AW and all the other old DOS small games), but that doesn't mean I must not see the fails from the current state of IL2 CoD.

Exactly my point, things are steadily improving though so no reason to complain at the moment. :)

[Helrza]

look here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsbXeO23Djo

:grin:

looool :D :D

[mazex]

I'm one of the followers from the beginning with the IL2 demo too, though I'm a much older flight sim lover (EAW, CFS, AW and all the other old DOS small games), but that doesn't mean I must not see the fails from the current state of IL2 CoD.

But of course people are going to report bugs, that's what a beta is for. It's just the tone and the lack of discipline reporting bugs in new threads all over in a very angry tone that bothers me.

There is a bug reporting thread, let's keep it there with some kind of manners and constructiveness? Provide information that helps fixing the bug (detailed system specs, background info, ways to reproduce etc). As it is now there are tons of threads witch does not help the devs at all. It is a beta and the fact that the fps has gone down is well documented now? No need for another thread about that?



Mazex

[SEE]

The way I see it, the time to worry is when there is no activity on the forum because peeps have lost interest! The fact that we have so many threads on 'the good, the bad and the ugly' is because most want it to succeed.

The majority here are very patient and loyal from what I can see. The ones who scream and hurl negatives about Clod are actually interested. When the latter stop their input it will probbly because they don't give a damn anymore (or Clod is in a state of utmost perfection - and that will never happen - it's a flight sim!)

[JG52Krupi]

The way I see it, the time to worry is when there is no activity on the forum because peeps have lost interest! The fact that we have so many threads on 'the good, the bad and the ugly' is because most want it to succeed.

The majority here are very patient and loyal from what I can see. The ones who scream and hurl negatives about Clod are actually interested. When the latter stop their input it will probbly because they don't give a damn anymore (or Clod is in a state of utmost perfection - and that will never happen - it's a flight sim!)

I knw where Mazex is coming from but you have hit the nail on the head.

+1

[Chivas]

Unfortunately we really don't know what the sales are or numbers that are required to sustain the development. Hopefully the sales will be strong enough, as the new series game engine has the potential to be far greater than the original series, for a much longer period of time. Criticism is a very good thing, that gives developers a good idea what to work on. But its a double edge sword, that if not tempered, will cut away enough potential customers in this very weak genre, that will insure that the problems are never fixed.

[mazex]

The way I see it, the time to worry is when there is no activity on the forum because peeps have lost interest! The fact that we have so many threads on 'the good, the bad and the ugly' is because most want it to succeed.

The majority here are very patient and loyal from what I can see. The ones who scream and hurl negatives about Clod are actually interested. When the latter stop their input it will probbly because they don't give a damn anymore (or Clod is in a state of utmost perfection - and that will never happen - it's a flight sim!)

You have a point there ;) As a long time developer I just get tired sometimes with all the half glass empty stuff :)

I remember reading a book about mental stress and the thesis that stress related breakdowns occur due to lack of feedback and not due to negative feedback. It's when people don't care any more what you do that you hit the wall and not when they whine... So according to that the mental health of the CoD devs is in no danger right now ;)

Mazex

[SEE]

Maybe our views stem from when we were kids Mazex! Notice how some kids love their falling apart and scruffy Teddybear and others keep all their toys in perfect condition?

Same with cars, I like buying older models and can see the potential after restoration or repair/mods and know its going to take time to get it where I want. Others prefer their cars new from the showroom and expect them to be perfect and unblemished.

I guess it's our nature to have different wants and needs!

[kestrel79]

my brother went to Best Buy in Wisconsin yesterday to pick up CoD. It was out of stock. I did an online search and it's out of stock at every one of my local stores in the Milwaukee area!

So someone is buying it. Now they need to get some more copies in.

[335th_GRAthos]

look here:

:grin:


EXCELLENT!
next best after the Hitler Bunker rephrasing!

ROFL!!!!

[Flanker35M]

S!

Only thing bothering me is that Luthier has to save and rebuild something that could not be completed in 6 years of development. He has pulled off a lot with the patches, but there is a LOT of work to do until CoD is what we were told it would be upon release over the years.

So until Luthier's team has patched the simulator for some time I will just wait and see, testing the progress. Would be a shame to NOT have this sim completed/fixed.

[Blackdog_kt]

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle and it's all a matter of how people word their posts and the manners they display: issues have to be reported, not aggressively whined about and make no mistake, there's a big difference between the two.

I think that's what mazex is trying to say too:

But of course people are going to report bugs, that's what a beta is for. It's just the tone and the lack of discipline reporting bugs in new threads all over in a very angry tone that bothers me.

There is a bug reporting thread, let's keep it there with some kind of manners and constructiveness? Provide information that helps fixing the bug (detailed system specs, background info, ways to reproduce etc). As it is now there are tons of threads witch does not help the devs at all. It is a beta and the fact that the fps has gone down is well documented now? No need for another thread about that?



Mazex



That being said, i do agree that 1c's future isn't resting on a single series. Just have a look at the other sub-forums and look up their titles on youtube/google/etc.

There are a whole lot of people playing their hybrid turn-based strategy/RPG or turn based tactical shooter/RPG releases and they are quite popular with gamers of such genres because of their different cultural background: while a lot of it has been done before, it hasn't been done this particular way.

We all know about a dozen stealth/action games where you can play a spy or covert operative, but there's not many of them where you can play a Soviet counter-intelligence Smerch agent like you can in the Death to Spies series.
We all know games like Heroes of might and magic, but the differences in artwork and aesthetics in the King's Bounty series are enough for fans of the genre to try it out.
We've all seen countless wargames, but not many that focus on the story being told from the perspective of an eastern block army like in the Men of War series.
There have been hundreds of first person shooters, but not many where the main character is stranded on a haunted Russian ice-breaker ship like it happens in Cryostasis.
And so on... ;)

[horrido]

waiting for il-2 battle for moscow 1941 (and Crimea pleeeeeeeeeease.) 2maps in 1;)
i want my Bf109F

http://oyster.ignimgs.com/ve3d/images/09/21/92150_cuban_11.jpg