I have been a software developer and now just run a team of developers on some of the biggest most complex software development projects you have ever heard of for 25 years and often give Guestimates.
These are iterative 8 year development projects worth quarter billion dollars in funding.
The 8th year was two years ago. Should be out by next feb.
See, I can do it.
This week the project went from green to red. I will need to extend the deadline for at minimum of one year as a result of the complexity that have recently been brought to my attention.
My interest is in Neverwinter Nights:EE. But for Pete's sake, I know that the company isn't named "NeverwinterNights:EE". They're named Beamdog. They aren't only this game (my favorite thing they do, but still). So posting here stuff about their other projects as if they're somehow 'abandoning' ONE project and how DARE they, is silly. Of course they pursue other projects. They are a for-profit company, God bless 'em. I'll buy Axis & Allies, and check it out. Never played the game, but it looks cool. New things are cool to at least give a try. At least to me. I never played D&D until I played D&D, if you get my point.
Anyway, simply because they don't stop what they are doing to compile and announce daily, weekly, or even monthly incremental updates which would likely only frustrate people who would simply cry that the news was too slim, or the progress too slight, is not any reason to ask "Is Beamdog Absent", because they simply are not only this one game.
So, more big sales, hence expect more player buzz for NWNEE again. This time it's 80% off, the older titles are 75% off. This also means May will be the 6th month out of the last 7 months that NWN has gone on sale at a price point at or over the (quoted from half year old memory) "we wont be doing this again for a long time" range. Speculate on that as you see fit.
Personally I think at this point if people still don't calm their expectations down a lot they might experience a lot of frustration this year. Although it has been about half a year now so it wouldn't surprise me if they did release an update soon enough. On the other hand it wouldn't surprise me if the patch takes another half year or more either.
Expect a nice short bump in players to help distract from the lack of other activity I suppose.
"Some time ago, Trent spoke about the company being spread thin because of all the games/platforms/operation systems. Has that been improved nowadays and how does he envision handling this with even more games and more platforms?"
"LUKE: We’ve devoted significant effort to bringing on new, talented team members, and growing our existing people to make sure we have the bandwidth to tackle what we need to focus on, which at the moment is Axis & Allies, and the ports of Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II, Siege of Dragonspear, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights, each to the 3 different console platforms."
I see, the solution to being spread thin because of all the games/platforms/operating systems was to increase the number of games/platforms/operating systems. Expectations definitely lowered for NWN:EE, I'm guessing very bad sales have led to things crossed off or put at the bottom of various lists.
Hope the console ports keeps the machinery humming for you guys, if I were producing any of this stuff I no doubt would have many sleepless nights while trying to make the numbers work. And also would've probably pushed for stuff that would've had even less sales! "We should totally devote the bulk of company resources to making a 1950s Beat Generation RPG where you play as a struggling poet or artist trying to make your name in New York with optional Paris and Tangier DLC. The William Burroughs estate is totally onboard with making him a miniboss!"
Comments
ooohh what a surprise! ... Who would have imagined that a complex game like nwn would not have attracted much interest on mobile ...
Anyway, simply because they don't stop what they are doing to compile and announce daily, weekly, or even monthly incremental updates which would likely only frustrate people who would simply cry that the news was too slim, or the progress too slight, is not any reason to ask "Is Beamdog Absent", because they simply are not only this one game.
-JFK
Personally I think at this point if people still don't calm their expectations down a lot they might experience a lot of frustration this year. Although it has been about half a year now so it wouldn't surprise me if they did release an update soon enough. On the other hand it wouldn't surprise me if the patch takes another half year or more either.
Expect a nice short bump in players to help distract from the lack of other activity I suppose.
LINK
"LUKE: We’ve devoted significant effort to bringing on new, talented team members, and growing our existing people to make sure we have the bandwidth to tackle what we need to focus on, which at the moment is Axis & Allies, and the ports of Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II, Siege of Dragonspear, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights, each to the 3 different console platforms."
I see, the solution to being spread thin because of all the games/platforms/operating systems was to increase the number of games/platforms/operating systems. Expectations definitely lowered for NWN:EE, I'm guessing very bad sales have led to things crossed off or put at the bottom of various lists.
Hope the console ports keeps the machinery humming for you guys, if I were producing any of this stuff I no doubt would have many sleepless nights while trying to make the numbers work. And also would've probably pushed for stuff that would've had even less sales! "We should totally devote the bulk of company resources to making a 1950s Beat Generation RPG where you play as a struggling poet or artist trying to make your name in New York with optional Paris and Tangier DLC. The William Burroughs estate is totally onboard with making him a miniboss!"