I'm not a dev apologist

A couple of nights ago I got into a rather raucous argument with a person who belongs to the same global chat channel. He was going on and on about how Going Rogue will fail, how the developers don't know what they're doing and that current studio is using software development methodologies one step removed from card readers and vacuum tubes.

Having done some software development in my past (though not recently) and a fair amount of project management for software projects, I asked him how he knows this. Well apparently, this fellow is somewhat of a developer fanboy and obsessively follows tweets from BaBs, reads details from their blogs and scours the net in search of details of how the game is made. He also, according to a mutual acquaintance, works in hardware for some company and according to him "has lots of software developer friends who knows how things are done right!"

He and I ended with no conclusion to our little Internet squabble but it led me to this thought. While I have no idea exactly how this game is developed and published, I do know that this game is a commercial success in a field where there is significant competition. It's successful enough that the studio has grown from a mere 15 or 20 to about 80 developers. It's about to release it's second full expansion and it's 18th free update. Further, whereas many studios keep their fans/customers at arm's length, Paragon Studios goes out of its way to keep us intimately involved in many aspects of the game.

This doesn't mean that I agree with everything that the devs have done nor do I like every aspect of this game. But I like enough of it to keep paying a monthly sub, and I don't expect anything less than to be delighted with Going Rogue and issue 18. So, in sum, I trust that Paragon Studios will continue the same level of excellence that has kept me as a paying customer. I care not whether or not the servers are powered by hamsters and the developers design their models with etch-a-sketches. It's the finished product that counts, and it's generally been impressive for 6 years.

Pfft. I've worked in software development for over 20 years and have yet to work for a company that was "doing it right". The one time we actively tried upper management squashed us, and we gave up and found better jobs.

I'd say the success of their title makes them closer to "doing it right" than many, many other companies out there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hyperstrike English does not borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and rifles through their pockets for loose grammar.

GR will do just fine

on second thought, what I was going to type here would probably have to be deleted according to forum rules... so I'll try to keep this neutrally stated as possible:

It has been indicated in the past that certain development houses and marketing arms of certain publishers have paid for direct marketing in a competitors product. The method of this paid marketing in some cases followed a pattern where the hired-marketing personal purchases a competing software product, engages in the use of that competing software product, then uses the communication systems of that competing product to disparage, demean, insult, or other-wise inflict intentional harm to the competing products usage base. The method is considered successful if the marketing-personal succeeds in driving the existing user-base of that competing product to look at the product the marketing-personal has been hired to indirectly promote.

My gut reaction is that anybody stating that Going Rogue will fail as a software product release, at this point in time, is possibly one of these types of marketing personal.

I'm not a dev apologist, but our devs are awesome, and I'm sorry for anyone who can't handle that.

Hmm could the wink mean Nerdgasim?

Yeah I don't believe anyone who saids GR going to fail for a few reasons. How do they even know what GR going to be like?

1.) If they are in the Beta they are really braking the rules.
2.) If they are playing the closed beta it's still being worked on so the "EPIC FAIL" is for something that not even finished so judgment there is flawed.
3.) Twits from Devs about what's going on is very restrictive so info there is minor to none due to Marketing censorship and of course not wanting to spill any real goodies (For both the WOW factor when it goes live and not wanting to give competitors a heads up). And even if another game developer knows what they are doing unless they are working on GR directly how would they know what being done?

Conclusion is that anyone saying it's trash and going to fail is full of (Random bodily waste here). Either a plant, a Doom sayer who would see everything as Bad no mater how good. Or had to much Dyne and turning into an Internet Troll.

Will GR break CoX? Nope. I don't see GR killing off much of CoX's current player base.

The question really is, will GR bring in a sizeable new chunk of players. That will be wait and see time.