Why don't we wait till we see the actual DLC and comment on each one of them separately?
It's impossible to condemn DLC on a theoritical basis, although i do agree that DLC on Baldur's Gate will be very tricky and needs extra care from the devs.
Then again, the whole BG:EE is a minefield and needs extreme caution from the devs, the reason these devs have higher chances of "passing through" the minefield is because they had part in designing BG in the first place.
While i am not Really a fan of some minor DLC - i mean minor compared with a full Big sized Add-on - More Baldurs Gate is always Great.... As long as it has high standards
But i still hope that that DLC will be some kind of Add-on size and not only some bonus quests or stuff like that.
Baldur's gate should be remembered as a big source of Creativity and not only as some way to earn more money...
Of course i know that Money IS important.. but still.. you surely can understand my point :P
planning paid DLC before the new version is even released is bad in my opinion...If the game is worth something, charge the price of the game and sell it in its entirety. I suppose if ideas come up after the release is going out, then sure. But otherwise it feels like the consumer is being shorted. But that is just my opinion of course.
@Bend3 If they released the DLC alongside the game for an extra fee, I would agree. But from what I gather, they don't. Of course they're planning it now, the planning stage takes weeks, months from start to finish. Thinking up an idea, fleshing it out, sending it to the publisher, waiting for approval (which always takes longer than expected), making adjustments, sending for approval again, waiting again, all is done without a single programmer involved (though I expect most programmers have a dual role with the EE, so they also give input). If they can get the waiting out of the way now so they can get started on the actual programming work when the EE ships, yes please.
The alternative is either we wait 6 months for the first DLC to show up, during which time the programmers twiddle their thumbs for half the time and wait for the developers/designers to come up with something for them to do, or we wait four more months for the EE to come out, with a price hike and some DLC attached.
The point I was trying to make was that all content and ideas should be released at once. Don't rush it out the door half dressed. You don't need DLC when you already have the ideas and time available to make it one package. DLC should be reserved for ideas that come up after the fact, not before final product.
Aye, I saw what you were trying to say. However, it doesn't work like that with the iterations that come with game design. Designing a game and making a game are two different parts. Once it's the designed, the worker monkeys go make it. The designer can then move on to think up new ideas and plans for the future while the programmers make what was designed. This is then tested, redesigned, tested, approved, and shipped.
The deadline is End of Summer, that's when it's shipping, that's what they announced, that's the deal they have with the customers and (argueably more important) the publisher. The programmers are now hard at work, fixing the UI and the new NPC/quest. The designers are looking into the future, what's the first DLC going to be so that when the game ships, they can immediately give them new work to program. They could wait for all their new ideas to be finished and implemented and release a full package, but they'd cancel the Summer deadline, piss off their customers, piss off their publisher, break contracts, etc.
Only because most developers are putting extra pink pants for NPCs or extra mission that lasts 5 minutes in their DLCs and charge $5-10 for it doesn't mean it will be the same here. Actually, I can see that BG is not a game that can focus on flashy new items, but missions, new characters etc. I believe in these guys, they brought us much fun with their previous works and I don't see why would they like to ruin it - they wouldn't. They're not like George Lucas for Bhaal's sake!
I don't mind paying for DLC to keep all this going. The Keebler elves aren't going to build it. This is a business. Please just give us great content, reasonably priced.
Comments
It's impossible to condemn DLC on a theoritical basis, although i do agree that DLC on Baldur's Gate will be very tricky and needs extra care from the devs.
Then again, the whole BG:EE is a minefield and needs extreme caution from the devs, the reason these devs have higher chances of "passing through" the minefield is because they had part in designing BG in the first place.
But i still hope that that DLC will be some kind of Add-on size and not only some bonus quests or stuff like that.
Baldur's gate should be remembered as a big source of Creativity and not only as some way to earn more money...
Of course i know that Money IS important.. but still.. you surely can understand my point :P
If they released the DLC alongside the game for an extra fee, I would agree. But from what I gather, they don't.
Of course they're planning it now, the planning stage takes weeks, months from start to finish. Thinking up an idea, fleshing it out, sending it to the publisher, waiting for approval (which always takes longer than expected), making adjustments, sending for approval again, waiting again, all is done without a single programmer involved (though I expect most programmers have a dual role with the EE, so they also give input).
If they can get the waiting out of the way now so they can get started on the actual programming work when the EE ships, yes please.
The alternative is either we wait 6 months for the first DLC to show up, during which time the programmers twiddle their thumbs for half the time and wait for the developers/designers to come up with something for them to do, or we wait four more months for the EE to come out, with a price hike and some DLC attached.
To each his own of course.
You see what I'm trying to say here right?
Designing a game and making a game are two different parts. Once it's the designed, the worker monkeys go make it. The designer can then move on to think up new ideas and plans for the future while the programmers make what was designed. This is then tested, redesigned, tested, approved, and shipped.
The deadline is End of Summer, that's when it's shipping, that's what they announced, that's the deal they have with the customers and (argueably more important) the publisher. The programmers are now hard at work, fixing the UI and the new NPC/quest. The designers are looking into the future, what's the first DLC going to be so that when the game ships, they can immediately give them new work to program.
They could wait for all their new ideas to be finished and implemented and release a full package, but they'd cancel the Summer deadline, piss off their customers, piss off their publisher, break contracts, etc.