Friday the 14th Development Update

[mazex]

Originally Posted by Tree_UK

You forgot a very important part of running a business here Luthier, you missed out the word 'CUSTOMERS'. After selling us this product with no mention of any of the problems that you were fully aware of you should put your CUSTOMERS before anything else. You have failed to do that in my honest opinion, your priority for the last 18 months should have been all hands on deck fixing what you sold us rather than concentrating on your next money making scheme.

C'mon Tree It's simply impossible that you work in the private sector of what the rest of us call "the economy"? Basically it's about the fact that if your company does not make a profit it gets shut down... Fast.

So - who would put up the money to have the team working on patching a product for 18 months that unfortunately must have been a financial fiasco? 1C? Ubisoft? Just get over it, CloD was a failure - both financially and technically. End of story. Now they have actually spent too much time trying to get it right as they are naturally embarrassed that some bean counter forced them to release it while the engineers with Oleg at the helm most certainly wanted to do a second (or third) restart of the project with a new engine... Which was naturally impossible after that last managed code experiment that failed...

A pillar of the market economy is that you don't throw good money after bad. The only reason we have gotten patches the last 18 months is that Ilya and "the new" team convinced someone with money that they could do a sequel based on the failed project to get some money back from that seven year investment. The financier probably realized that even if a sequel was successful, they would never get all the money back for the previous seven years. As they don't live in Northern Korea they know the meaning of "sunk costs" and agreed to finance the development of a sequel anyway, as the costs to have the team running another 2.5 years would be smaller than the expected revenue from the sequel (keeping in mind that they did not start from zero). Ilya probably had to get a new suit for these meetings and certainly got some milestones set that they had to deliver along the project time line or the money tap would get shut down at any point...

I really would like the CloD we all dreamed of, but we have to to accept the fact that it will not happen. Every hour spent patching CloD that does not benefit the sequel increases the risk that MG will have to pick down the sign next year (or this year if they don't show good progress). That sequel has to get decent reviews at least and sell a couple of hundred thousand copies. That's the only way we will ever see a FW 190 in the future in this engine...

And no, the argument that they have to fix CloD or no one will buy the sequel is naturally bull. If the sequel hits the market next fall and gets reviews in the > 80% range every single one of the customers that bought CloD will buy it as we there are only 1-2 decent simulators released every year. We are not that many anyway - so it's the ones that did NOT buy CloD that they need to get green figures at the bottom line

EDIT: The ones we have a right to be pissed at are the publishers 1C/(Ubisoft) - that actually released the game to the market in the state it was, I don't hold MG responsible for that bad decision at all... But - if it was that or nothing I must say that I've had quite some fun with CloD anyway that definitely makes up for my $39.

[ChicoMick]

What I don't understand is this. If the Sequel has the power to 'update/fix' clod in the future then why can't those fixes still be available as 'stand alone' patches? ie without the BoM maps missions and planes ? Then we can decide whether we want the sequel or not.

I don't especially want to fight on the russian front.

I guess this doesn't fit the business plan.....

[icarus]

Originally Posted by ChicoMick

What I don't understand is this. If the Sequel has the power to 'update/fix' clod in the future then why can't those fixes still be available as 'stand alone' patches? ie without the BoM maps missions and planes ? Then we can decide whether we want the sequel or not.

I don't especially want to fight on the russian front.

I guess this doesn't fit the business plan.....

+1

There is no reason they cannot do that. The only reason to do it the other way is to extract more cash unethically like bait and switch. Perhaps they will have a change of heart.

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by ChicoMick

What I don't understand is this. If the Sequel has the power to 'update/fix' clod in the future then why can't those fixes still be available as 'stand alone' patches? ie without the BoM maps missions and planes ? Then we can decide whether we want the sequel or not.

I don't especially want to fight on the russian front.

I guess this doesn't fit the business plan.....

looking at your pc spec list in your sig, is it really so heart wrenching to pay another 20$ for BoM later on so you later can get some further improvements for the BoB theater ? it obviously wasnt a deliberate cunning plan to release CoD unfinished, it was the forced premature birth of a very visionary advanced flight simulator that will take our old il2 dreams to a completely new level. the only other alternative would have been to close down the whole project and release NOTHING !! (there are some people here in this forum with a low attention spans and a failure to comprehend more complex concepts, and they seem to think there was some magic 3e option of receiving a perfect and completed sim in mid 2011)

was it frustrating to have to wait another 18 months and in the meanwhile just have some "beta product" to toy around with ? yeps ! but nope, i aint traumatized by it. meanwhile the globe keeps spinning, the shysters that caused the 2008 financial crash are still laughing all the way to the bank that they got away with plundering our coffers (and succeeded in killing off the american empire in the same process), the ice cap keeps melting further and is now expected to be completely gone in summer by 2022, and hoards of illegal economic migrants are still hopping over the fence unchallenged to come and eat up your meager pension funds and clog your healthcare system.

get a sense of perspective while the rest of the world is on a highway to hell, giving 20 or 30$ to 1C for them to keep building the sim of our dreams should be something we do willingly

[furbs]

What amazes me is, why some people think BOM is going to be any better than COD.

[JG52Krupi]

Originally Posted by furbs

What amazes me is, why some people think BOM is going to be any better than COD.

It amazes me that your still here if you really think that...

[Baron]

This RC patch better be the moder of all patches.

Notice how the "when" for the patch is carefully avoided.

I mean, what does this even mean "The general plan is, after the milestone is submitted and accepted, we return to the now almost-final patch, cram as much as we can into it, and make it our final Cliffs of Dover patch"

Milestone? Submitted and accepted? Now almost-final patch? (All my questionmarks is related to timelines)


Politicians spring to mind.


I still cling to my prediction that this patch will get here late october, in a perfect world, or mid december, in 1C world.

[furbs]

Originally Posted by JG52Krupi

It amazes me that your still here if you really think that...

Because Smigel, im still hoping that one day after 8 years of waiting they manage to finally get something right.

[charlie19]

An utter disgrace. To assume I am going to spend money on more products from a company that can only offer empty promises is laughable. Why the hell should we believe your next project/sequel/test to see what people will put up with, will be any better? A company that cannot deliver should not be in business at all.

Goodbye 1C.

[esmiol]

Originally Posted by furbs

Because Smigel, im still hoping that one day after 8 years of waiting they manage to finally get something right.

then you are TOO still hoping that the sequel will be better