@Bigity Can't I play both? :P But "Hide in shadows" tries to make you meld with the shadows and the environment thus shadowmeld isn't a huge leap of un-logic.
Guys, you're not really expecting the iOS version any time soon, do you? Check out Support > Windows PC for an impression of what the current "beta phase" of BG:EE looks like. If the "diligence" the ever-so-tiny team of devs have put into the Windows version is any lead for the "as-is" iOS version, you won't be seeing this game before mid next year - Apple at least will keep a lid on buggy stuff in their iStore - a commodity that pre-order Windows users like me would have enjoyed.
@quaestor it was already approved by Apple more than once...so no, they won't "keep a lid" on it because they aren't going to play through a 100+ hour game. As long as it loads Apple will accept it.
Not to sound too negative but have spent too much time the last two days di%&§ng about with the Windows release to believe in the "good in the world". [Your alignment has shifted to Neutral Evil.]
@quaestor he meant the final build isn't approved. They have had a few builds get approved, one of them was the one that accidentally got put on the NZ store:
@Quaestor The vast majority of issues with the PC release had been hardware related, and the vast majority of these have been with integrated graphic chip from Intel because they don't support OpenGL and just generally suck for gaming, BG:EE is far from the only game or program suffering from the neglect from Intel.
Regarding gameplay bugs, they're generally not game breaking, and are being fixed on an ongoing basis.
The iOS release won't suffer from the hardware related issue, as it's an easier platform to develop than windows because of the PC's vast array of sometimes conflicting hardware and drivers.
So I think that iOS might be the most stable platform to release on.
Not to sound too negative but have spent too much time the last two days di%&§ng about with the Windows release to believe in the "good in the world". [Your alignment has shifted to Neutral Evil.]
The game was released on the 29'th in New Zealand but was pulled by Beamdog before t could reach the rest of the world. It have been approved twice by apple already, but Beamdog have retracted the release because of the bugs. What he means in that particular tweet is that it isn't released yet.
If you read through the tweets from the last 6 days or so, you'll see that he writes about it.
The thing I'm not getting from his tweets is what exactly is going on and I've read them all. Is there a build currently in review with apple that is going to be released once approved. Yes or no?
Trent mentions on Twitter that they're testing the latest build over the weekend, and if there's no problems, they'll use the "expedite review" option when they send it to apple. Every developer only have a one time use of the expedite review option per game, so they won't use it until they're sure the game is stable. When used, the approval process is much faster, so if all goes well, well have the game in the beginning or middle of the week.
Also, this info have been posted on this thread before....
I can't wait until it comes out on the iPad.. I know of many others as well that are dying to know when it's going to come out. I wish I knew roughly at least when it is coming out. I must have searched the App Store for the title to appear a gazillion times.... *whimpers pathetically* Ppwwweaaseee tell us...peweease?
Please can we have some proper information from the developer about the 'iPad' release. Everything we have heard is very vague and unsatisfactory for someone waiting expectantly for this. Can you please give us a definitive statement even if it is just to confirm the current state of events. For instance... 'currently working on the new build of the iOS release. We will make a new statement when submitted for App Store approval?' Lack of engagement with potential users is the number one mistake made by developers. You have a very strong base of fans who are adults with money ready to buy this on release. The least you can do is treat them with the respect they deserve and take the 2 minutes necessary per day to provide an official update on progress. I mean you still had the pre-loading notice on your front page a day after you had lauched and you still show November under the iPad section!
PS posting on twitter reachs most people when it is mentioned in a news article for one of the many sites following this release. Please don't make the mistake of assuming that by writing pieces on twitter every so often about 'how much you need a coffee' in anyway translates to encouraging your potential users. Make clear statements about facts not intentions! If you don't have facts just say so! Weak intention statements harm you far more than admitting to lack of knowledge when you sail past these intended dates!
That's already been reported over the weekend. They were working on bugs, and resubmitting to Apple this morning if they had gotten those bugs taken care of, asking Apple for an expedited review process.
Seeing how it's still pretty early this morning and they worked all weekend, demanding answers now might be a waste of time.
Honestly I am expressing myself badly. It is not that I am demanding answers per say I just wish they would change the attitude they employ for communications. Essentially the point I am making is give definitive statements about where you are and what is happening. Please look at the webpage there is no information about what is happening. This is their resource why not use it? The website is where 'most' people will arrive looking for an official update on progress and what you actually have appears to be willful silence. The only place you will find any information appears to be the forums and even that information is coming from users feeding back the devs updates through other sources.
Was ist jetzt hier mit dem Release? Seid ihr echt so unfähig oder einfach nur zu blöd? Wäre besser gewesen wenn jemand mit genug Knowhow die Sache übernommen hätte. Verstehe echt nicht wie ihr alle da noch so ruhig bleiben könnt. Immer wieder wird das Erscheinungsdatum verschoben. Bin echt gespannt ob es dann wie angekündigt ohne Probleme und Abstürze läuft.
Honestly I am expressing myself badly. It is not that I am demanding answers per say I just wish they would change the attitude they employ for communications. Essentially the point I am making is give definitive statements about where you are and what is happening. Please look at the webpage there is no information about what is happening. This is their resource why not use it? The website is where 'most' people will arrive looking for an official update on progress and what you actually have appears to be willful silence. The only place you will find any information appears to be the forums and even that information is coming from users feeding back the devs updates through other sources.
Yes, arriving at a products main page in December seeing a release date of November... And the product isn't out. That's not going to give a good impression. Many of those that the developers want to buy this won't be forum regulars or devblog followers, just people browsing and seeing a game they might want to play. To these people the dates on the front page make this game look like vapourware, and for some it might be the last the devs see of them.
This is a forum. It's the developers own forum. To not engage in it, and persist in featuring incorrect information as important as a release date... Makes me wonder why they would have a forum at all.
Most forums are absent of developers, for good reason. They can develop, or post. Give them half a day to make an announcement of some kind. Then yea, it starts to get irritating.
Every developer only have a one time use of the expedite review option per game, so they won't use it until they're sure the game is stable.
That's not the way the expedite option works. Any developer can request an expedited review, and must list extenuating circumstances to support the request. This request is encouraged to include what critical bug(s) the release fixes, with steps to reproduce. Just my opinion but it doesn't seem likely that an app which hasn't yet seen its first release would qualify for an expedited review. I hope I'm wrong and wish them every bit of luck with the expedite request.
That's the bad news. The good news is that the current approval queue is running under seven days on average, with some apps getting approved in as little as four days in the last couple weeks.
I work as a Sys admin for a fortune 250, allow me to correct some overzealous ignorance here.
Definitive deadlines only lead to problems. Both for the development staff and for those looking for the deadlines.
When a developer sets an arbitrary deadline by giving definitive information (For Example: "We'll have a build ready to go by Monday and we expect the expedited review to put the software up by Wednesday"), they set a line in the sand they MUST meet.
What happens if at 11:00pm Sunday Night (or 7:00 AM Monday Morning, or whenever you think the "by monday" deadline is) they find a bug that will affect a significant number of users? Do they then post "Oops"? How many people do you think THAT will turn off? WHat happens, then, if at 11:30 they find a quick fix to the problem and then have to post "Oops again, never mind!" and again 15 minutes later another crash bug comes up?
Software development and trouble shooting is a fluid process. You NEVER know as you dig into a problem how deep or wide that problem will extend. Any deadline you set is ARBITRARY until you have the full scope of the problem identified...and by that point posting a status is immaterial because you're almost done with fixing the issue anyway.
It's also inadvisable for the customer/client to be paying attention to definitive time lines. How many people are pissed off because they were expecting the release on a certain day? How many times have you heard people on WOW's boards or somewhere else going "I took the day off for this and now I can't play WAHHH!!!!"
On the flip side when a development staff is faced with a line in the sand (We will release the iPad version by the end of November) it creates a push to "Get it out regardless". It creates a "business morality" dilemma for the production staff...do we release a game to meet deadlines and not lose sales even though we know it's not ready/has problems or do we piss off our customers and lose business by only releasing when we know it works properly?
MORE of these dilemma setting points in the sand is NOT going to be helpful.
You have your updates...twitter has given you ALL THE INFORMATION YOU NEED. They're working on a fix, they're intending to expedite the review if that fix works, and their time frame they want to work under is Monday. NOTHING HAS CHANGED, THERES NO NEED FOR AN UPDATE.
"Still on track" is not useful. As much as you'd like to see it, it's not useful for the developers and (despite your opinion) it's not useful to you either. Because "Still on track" can change with each letter typed on the keyboard, with each line of code written, with each build compiled and with each test done. EVERY TAP on the iPad's screen in their testing department can identify a new bug..."still on track" is so ephmeral as to be useless information...one second you're on track, the next second you're not, and the next second you are.
The next update from Beamdog needs to be "We're done and submitting" everything between now and then is USELESS information. Even "we're not going to make "Monday" for submission" is not really useful information because they won't know that till Monday is done.
It is not GOOD practice to perpetually update customers on a fluid situation. "good, not good, good, not good...OMG!"
You don't WANT to know how your sausage is made my friends. Sit back, relax, understand that it will be out in short order, and quit haranguing the development staff for updates that wouldn't be useful to you if they gave them to you.
Look at it this way, you're not downloading this app till it's done and released on the app store. The app won't be released to the app store till it's complete. Despite angry commentary to the contrary, we're GOING to buy and download this game, regardless of when it comes out...because it's a good game and we've been waiting this long for it already. It'll be done when it's done, and released when it's released.
Quit asking for status, it's a determent to them to give it to you, it's a determent to you to have it, and it won't matter one way or the other if the game comes out today or tomorrow or next week...you're buying it anyway.
Comments
Looking at the calendar
"November" my buttocks, we can say.
That's very un-amusing.
Not to sound too negative but have spent too much time the last two days di%&§ng about with the Windows release to believe in the "good in the world". [Your alignment has shifted to Neutral Evil.]
The vast majority of issues with the PC release had been hardware related, and the vast majority of these have been with integrated graphic chip from Intel because they don't support OpenGL and just generally suck for gaming, BG:EE is far from the only game or program suffering from the neglect from Intel.
Regarding gameplay bugs, they're generally not game breaking, and are being fixed on an ongoing basis.
The iOS release won't suffer from the hardware related issue, as it's an easier platform to develop than windows because of the PC's vast array of sometimes conflicting hardware and drivers.
So I think that iOS might be the most stable platform to release on.
It have been approved twice by apple already, but Beamdog have retracted the release because of the bugs.
What he means in that particular tweet is that it isn't released yet.
If you read through the tweets from the last 6 days or so, you'll see that he writes about it.
Every developer only have a one time use of the expedite review option per game, so they won't use it until they're sure the game is stable.
When used, the approval process is much faster, so if all goes well, well have the game in the beginning or middle of the week.
Also, this info have been posted on this thread before....
Ppwwweaaseee tell us...peweease?
PS posting on twitter reachs most people when it is mentioned in a news article for one of the many sites following this release. Please don't make the mistake of assuming that by writing pieces on twitter every so often about 'how much you need a coffee' in anyway translates to encouraging your potential users. Make clear statements about facts not intentions! If you don't have facts just say so! Weak intention statements harm you far more than admitting to lack of knowledge when you sail past these intended dates!
Seeing how it's still pretty early this morning and they worked all weekend, demanding answers now might be a waste of time.
All we can do is sit back, wait, and hope these amateurs don't screw it up... again.
EDIT: Sorry for being a douche, BG:EE for iPad is out now. My nerd rage is at its end. For now.
This is a forum. It's the developers own forum. To not engage in it, and persist in featuring incorrect information as important as a release date... Makes me wonder why they would have a forum at all.
That's the bad news. The good news is that the current approval queue is running under seven days on average, with some apps getting approved in as little as four days in the last couple weeks.
Definitive deadlines only lead to problems. Both for the development staff and for those looking for the deadlines.
When a developer sets an arbitrary deadline by giving definitive information (For Example: "We'll have a build ready to go by Monday and we expect the expedited review to put the software up by Wednesday"), they set a line in the sand they MUST meet.
What happens if at 11:00pm Sunday Night (or 7:00 AM Monday Morning, or whenever you think the "by monday" deadline is) they find a bug that will affect a significant number of users? Do they then post "Oops"? How many people do you think THAT will turn off? WHat happens, then, if at 11:30 they find a quick fix to the problem and then have to post "Oops again, never mind!" and again 15 minutes later another crash bug comes up?
Software development and trouble shooting is a fluid process. You NEVER know as you dig into a problem how deep or wide that problem will extend. Any deadline you set is ARBITRARY until you have the full scope of the problem identified...and by that point posting a status is immaterial because you're almost done with fixing the issue anyway.
It's also inadvisable for the customer/client to be paying attention to definitive time lines. How many people are pissed off because they were expecting the release on a certain day? How many times have you heard people on WOW's boards or somewhere else going "I took the day off for this and now I can't play WAHHH!!!!"
On the flip side when a development staff is faced with a line in the sand (We will release the iPad version by the end of November) it creates a push to "Get it out regardless". It creates a "business morality" dilemma for the production staff...do we release a game to meet deadlines and not lose sales even though we know it's not ready/has problems or do we piss off our customers and lose business by only releasing when we know it works properly?
MORE of these dilemma setting points in the sand is NOT going to be helpful.
You have your updates...twitter has given you ALL THE INFORMATION YOU NEED. They're working on a fix, they're intending to expedite the review if that fix works, and their time frame they want to work under is Monday. NOTHING HAS CHANGED, THERES NO NEED FOR AN UPDATE.
"Still on track" is not useful. As much as you'd like to see it, it's not useful for the developers and (despite your opinion) it's not useful to you either. Because "Still on track" can change with each letter typed on the keyboard, with each line of code written, with each build compiled and with each test done. EVERY TAP on the iPad's screen in their testing department can identify a new bug..."still on track" is so ephmeral as to be useless information...one second you're on track, the next second you're not, and the next second you are.
The next update from Beamdog needs to be "We're done and submitting" everything between now and then is USELESS information. Even "we're not going to make "Monday" for submission" is not really useful information because they won't know that till Monday is done.
It is not GOOD practice to perpetually update customers on a fluid situation. "good, not good, good, not good...OMG!"
You don't WANT to know how your sausage is made my friends. Sit back, relax, understand that it will be out in short order, and quit haranguing the development staff for updates that wouldn't be useful to you if they gave them to you.
Look at it this way, you're not downloading this app till it's done and released on the app store. The app won't be released to the app store till it's complete. Despite angry commentary to the contrary, we're GOING to buy and download this game, regardless of when it comes out...because it's a good game and we've been waiting this long for it already. It'll be done when it's done, and released when it's released.
Quit asking for status, it's a determent to them to give it to you, it's a determent to you to have it, and it won't matter one way or the other if the game comes out today or tomorrow or next week...you're buying it anyway.
--Illydth