I think most people that anticipated the game already lost the hype (i'm still waiting though).
Absolute lack of any info except for general "it's underway" isn't enough.
I mean come one, it's their 4th remake of the same game, devs should really be more confident and make an estimated release date.
If people don't get any info, they simply lose interest and most likely droid release won't get much media coverage because "been there done that".
You got my money, but i fear that droid version won't sell well and not because of the userbase, but because of absolute lack of devs - fans interaction.
Yeah, that's kind of where I'm at. I was sooooo stoked about this... six months ago. But honestly, that long of "almost" and "making progress" burned out my interest, so I just broke down and bought it for pc. Got my BG fix, not really sure if I'll buy it on android or not. Probably will eventually just for the novelty of playing on my tablet, but I almost don't care. Almost that is. I'm still checking back here every week or so just to see if theres news.
...actually that might become a really serious issue. Let's face it, majority of BGEE players are probably people who played and loved the old games. When Overhaul promised to bring BGEE to Android, lots of fans (me including) sprang of joy and started counting days and saving money...
But the long wait (about a half a year now) destroyed a lot of the community. Hardly anyone visits the Android section of the forums anymore and I would think that the majority just stopped anticipating the update and bought it for PC. Which means, that the majority won't buy it again for Android. (Why would you buy something you already have?) Or they grew tired and bought an iPad and bought the game for iPad.
Which will mean, that Overhaul might not make such a big hole into Google play market as they wanted. Just because lots of people stopped waiting for Android and either abandoned the game, or just bought it for another system and won't buy it again. Don't take me wrong, I am a big fan of this whole project and was cruising these forums since the Windows release, but I am also growing tired and starting to doubt my decision to buy the Android version. I hope Overhaul will reap success with the Android version. I hope they will prove that developing games for Android is indeed worth it. And I hope they haven't put off too many fans by the delay...
I had always intended to buy the Android version, i even bought a Nexus specifically for this reason....
I've since caved and purchased the Windows release because i can't be bothered to wait any longer.
Unless it comes out on Android with at sensible price or with some exclusive/new content then i can't see me ever bothering with it now. It would be a hell of a lot easier to deal with the delays if there was ever any communication other than obscure tweets. That's just shitty business.
I agree completely. I understand that they rushed the announcement and overestimated their resources but hiding head in the sand isn't working.
Since the damage is already done, i think fans deserve some inside info on most of dev process. Take for example recent kickstarter campaigns or GGG devs from Path of Exile. In both cases developers communicate all good stuff (progress, desing decisions, engine choices, voice and audio samples etc) and all bad stuff ; in case of PoE it's the fight against desync, overpower builds and balance plans or for Double fine adventure it was their financial problems as soon as pre production finished. Both dev teams release weekly updates (that are pages long), post in their forum threads or in external sites (reddit).
People might seem a little bit pissed at start, but since they care for the game, they'll understand and support the devs in the long run. If you don't say anything, fans will simply move on and lose all their interest.
@ TrentOster on twitter: 18-April: Android build is well underway. We're currently tracking down a random, hard-to-trace crash on asset loading. Old code doing bad things 13-April: @ cybermoo Thanks, We're proud of all the work that went into the tablet versions. The new Android code will make the iPad1 work better 13-April: @ tgould9000 The Nexus 10 currently doesn't display the compressed images. We'll have to do custom code to real-time decompress for Nexus 10 12-April: @ catiremedina We're in testing on the Nexus 7 and Scott's been pushing builds to the Xoom steady. The new file system re-write is finished. 11-April: @ Purudaya Yes, #BG2EE will be on PC this year. Should be on iPad, Mac and Android as well 11-April: @ dalingrin We have to look at the time cost. Right now we are pushing to get an Android build done. Adding ETC1 would slow that down. 10-April: @ arcanedraco We have it running here in a Nexus 7 it is currently in QA. Scott's playing with the Xoom right now. 6-April: @ JayMcIntyre1 Our programming team is focused on #BGEE #Android while everyone else is working madly on #BG2EE
I'm sorry for those not fond of Twitter, but I don't think you could be much more up front without showing source code. For those who have not been following, they had to re-write the way they access the game data files so it would work with Android limitations. That code has been in QA for almost 2 weeks. The new code is now not playing nice with old code, and there is a crash bug that they are tracking down.
...and I can say all of that without breaking NDA because every bit of that information is available on Twitter. *shrug*
They have a dedicated website and forums. Why the hell are they using twitter ? I mean ... What's that forum used for ? ... And what is the site used for ?
Still waiting anyway... Btw i bought à galaxy note 2 for BGEE, was happy to see it was the third most asked device in the other thread, and not a word on it in the quotes from twitter above : /
In my opinion the NDA for bg2:ee should be lifted and all info gathered in some sort of blog (programmers point of view, translating, audio etc), so the hype can be constant. I'd like to have seen this in the past for bg:ee but it seems it's kinda too late.
NDA is useful for projects that want to stay secret, but for me it seems pointless for bg. We know what we are getting and maybe the community could help out with some decisions. Just to make an example : http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-forum/dev-manifesto
Again, it's just my opinion, but in order to sell more copies, the game should be constanly getting remainend of and not fall into obscurity of game director's tweets.
Unfortunately our contract requires us to get most things approved before releasing information. But don't worry; there will be lots of information relatively soon, just ripe for the rumor mill.
Unfortunately our contract requires us to get most things approved before releasing information. But don't worry; there will be lots of information relatively soon, just ripe for the rumor mill.
Good to hear that
Mind if I ask you who approves these decisions? Is it handled internally, or either publisher or game director gives the green light?
I guess this is worth revisiting for the Andriod crowd. I still don't think I understand it completely: I'm pretty sure the game is self-published by Beamdog, or co-published with Atari. Then there are the rights holders that Beam/Haul had to contract with to get the rights to the Bauldur's Gate franchise, source code and D&D license:
Atari EA/Bioware Wizards of the Coast
They all have their fingers in various portions of the BG pie, and get to sign off on pretty much anything Beam/Haul says in an official capacity. The negotiations to announce the original release date slip almost ran past the original release date, and if memory serves it took 2 months or so for the game play trailer to be approved.
It is all extraneous detail I have no truck with thee piffle- of all import is my own pleasure and when I may sit enthroned like a stout well fitted sovereign in Starbucks with my top pant button undone for portly comfort and sip caramel cafe lattes in Bosie whilst I cut down evil gnolls and disrespectful peasant farmers on my just purchased nexus 7. Your complaint of thee lack of polish on this site is lost to me- I just come here for a few bug queries and to espouse my great brilliance upon the whole of Fantasa. I wish thee doughty BG workers God speed - or if they are God Forbid- God Dammed Chaotic Evil priests of Poop sliming Jubilex - the luck of the unclean one... One would hope they are all repentant from their past failure in not giving me a duel wielding Bastard sword armed Hulking Caviler in the 1990s back when - but the new kits having remedied that they are forgiven by me- though perhaps- God forbid - still God Dammed by God for all their smiles given to cute wild magic Quizzing they deemed clever who took all my gold...
I hope they see this through and done before the economic collapse I will be playing my tablet with a solar cell generator in the overwatch position by are Idaho Cabin redoubt point - this of course is against are doomsday Martial code but I am actually a chaotic good ranger/barbarian/fighter in real life and it is more important to entertain myself than watch for roving motorcycle cannibal gangs who took a clue from "The Road" anyhow I need to self medicate with some exercise / booze right now.... hope the beamdog team is well too.
I was really stoked for this game at one point. I thought it would be great for my TF700. At this point, its fairly clear that Android dev for games such as this is given such a low priority as to be almost nonexistent. So far I've checked back every month or so, but it wouldn't surprise me to check back around X-mas only to find that they were just then trying to rush a version out. Bottom line, they are writing a self-fulfilling prophesy - Android is just not viable as a cool gaming platform.
@sfam Overhaul Games / Beamdog disagree. Android brings its own issues, but we're getting close. Its in QA, and the engine guys are still bug squashing, but it is getting close.
@sfam Overhaul Games / Beamdog disagree. Android brings its own issues, but we're getting close. Its in QA, and the engine guys are still bug squashing, but it is getting close.
Does this mean I can soon have my outhouse android swerd fight wherein a cut some brown mosnster heads off? cool... TAIX MOVES MAKE WAY! ..... YOU QUESTION THE AUTHORITY OF TAIX? TAXI WILL HAVE HIS CAFE DRINK IN THE STARBUCKS AND LOOK DOWN ON THOSE AS HE KILLS HOBGOBLINS AND LAUGHS AT THIER DEATHS. TAIX COMMANDS YOU FINISH ADROID WITH AND ADDED TIAX CLUB OF CIRCIC NO WAIT I SHALL CLUBB THEM ALL AT NIGHT WITH THE NIGHT CLUB>>>
@sfam Overhaul Games / Beamdog disagree. Android brings its own issues, but we're getting close. Its in QA, and the engine guys are still bug squashing, but it is getting close.
Any chance of a rough estimate of a release date ? Just like Q2/Q3 etc
I'm afraid you aren't going to see anything in the way of time estimates beyond "When it is done"
Why?
It is fairly easy to predict when initial development will be done - you look at your function points / requirements / use cases and project the time remaining. When you are down to QA/bug fixing, though, you simply do not know how long it will take. You get close to making the call to release then you find a game stopping bug. You don't know where it is, and you don't know how long it will take to fix it. A crash bug could be anything from a simple scripting error (< 1hr to fix) to a major subsystem rewrite (??? weeks).
I have a really oldskool, almost dialogue free isometric hack slash game. It'd be decent if the stupid archer didn't insist on ignoring the fact that he's using a bloody ranged weapon. Gah!
Comments
Absolute lack of any info except for general "it's underway" isn't enough.
I mean come one, it's their 4th remake of the same game, devs should really be more confident and make an estimated release date.
If people don't get any info, they simply lose interest and most likely droid release won't get much media coverage because "been there done that".
You got my money, but i fear that droid version won't sell well and not because of the userbase, but because of absolute lack of devs - fans interaction.
Bad info is always better than no info.
Let's face it, majority of BGEE players are probably people who played and loved the old games. When Overhaul promised to bring BGEE to Android, lots of fans (me including) sprang of joy and started counting days and saving money...
But the long wait (about a half a year now) destroyed a lot of the community. Hardly anyone visits the Android section of the forums anymore and I would think that the majority just stopped anticipating the update and bought it for PC. Which means, that the majority won't buy it again for Android. (Why would you buy something you already have?)
Or they grew tired and bought an iPad and bought the game for iPad.
Which will mean, that Overhaul might not make such a big hole into Google play market as they wanted.
Just because lots of people stopped waiting for Android and either abandoned the game, or just bought it for another system and won't buy it again. Don't take me wrong, I am a big fan of this whole project and was cruising these forums since the Windows release, but I am also growing tired and starting to doubt my decision to buy the Android version.
I hope Overhaul will reap success with the Android version.
I hope they will prove that developing games for Android is indeed worth it.
And I hope they haven't put off too many fans by the delay...
I've since caved and purchased the Windows release because i can't be bothered to wait any longer.
Unless it comes out on Android with at sensible price or with some exclusive/new content then i can't see me ever bothering with it now. It would be a hell of a lot easier to deal with the delays if there was ever any communication other than obscure tweets. That's just shitty business.
Since the damage is already done, i think fans deserve some inside info on most of dev process. Take for example recent kickstarter campaigns or GGG devs from Path of Exile. In both cases developers communicate all good stuff (progress, desing decisions, engine choices, voice and audio samples etc) and all bad stuff ; in case of PoE it's the fight against desync, overpower builds and balance plans or for Double fine adventure it was their financial problems as soon as pre production finished. Both dev teams release weekly updates (that are pages long), post in their forum threads or in external sites (reddit).
People might seem a little bit pissed at start, but since they care for the game, they'll understand and support the devs in the long run. If you don't say anything, fans will simply move on and lose all their interest.
'Mmmm.... now?'
'How about now? No?'
'Now? Please? Pretty please?'
18-April: Android build is well underway. We're currently tracking down a random, hard-to-trace crash on asset loading. Old code doing bad things
13-April: @ cybermoo Thanks, We're proud of all the work that went into the tablet versions. The new Android code will make the iPad1 work better
13-April: @ tgould9000 The Nexus 10 currently doesn't display the compressed images. We'll have to do custom code to real-time decompress for Nexus 10
12-April: @ catiremedina We're in testing on the Nexus 7 and Scott's been pushing builds to the Xoom steady. The new file system re-write is finished.
11-April: @ Purudaya Yes, #BG2EE will be on PC this year. Should be on iPad, Mac and Android as well
11-April: @ dalingrin We have to look at the time cost. Right now we are pushing to get an Android build done. Adding ETC1 would slow that down.
10-April: @ arcanedraco We have it running here in a Nexus 7 it is currently in QA. Scott's playing with the Xoom right now.
6-April: @ JayMcIntyre1 Our programming team is focused on #BGEE #Android while everyone else is working madly on #BG2EE
I'm sorry for those not fond of Twitter, but I don't think you could be much more up front without showing source code. For those who have not been following, they had to re-write the way they access the game data files so it would work with Android limitations. That code has been in QA for almost 2 weeks. The new code is now not playing nice with old code, and there is a crash bug that they are tracking down.
...and I can say all of that without breaking NDA because every bit of that information is available on Twitter. *shrug*
Why the hell are they using twitter ?
I mean ... What's that forum used for ? ... And what is the site used for ?
Still waiting anyway...
Btw i bought à galaxy note 2 for BGEE, was happy to see it was the third most asked device in the other thread, and not a word on it in the quotes from twitter above : /
In my opinion the NDA for bg2:ee should be lifted and all info gathered in some sort of blog (programmers point of view, translating, audio etc), so the hype can be constant. I'd like to have seen this in the past for bg:ee but it seems it's kinda too late.
NDA is useful for projects that want to stay secret, but for me it seems pointless for bg. We know what we are getting and maybe the community could help out with some decisions. Just to make an example : http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-forum/dev-manifesto
Again, it's just my opinion, but in order to sell more copies, the game should be constanly getting remainend of and not fall into obscurity of game director's tweets.
Mind if I ask you who approves these decisions? Is it handled internally, or either publisher or game director gives the green light?
Atari
EA/Bioware
Wizards of the Coast
They all have their fingers in various portions of the BG pie, and get to sign off on pretty much anything Beam/Haul says in an official capacity. The negotiations to announce the original release date slip almost ran past the original release date, and if memory serves it took 2 months or so for the game play trailer to be approved.
TL;DR: it ain't pretty.
I thought you had fewer layers to dig before releasing any info, now i can understand why some of it can take so much time.
I hope they see this through and done before the economic collapse I will be playing my tablet with a solar cell generator in the overwatch position by are Idaho Cabin redoubt point - this of course is against are doomsday Martial code but I am actually a chaotic good ranger/barbarian/fighter in real life and it is more important to entertain myself than watch for roving motorcycle cannibal gangs who took a clue from "The Road"
anyhow I need to self medicate with some exercise / booze right now.... hope the beamdog team is well too.
Your Good friend,
Beowulf Thee Barbarian
Why?
It is fairly easy to predict when initial development will be done - you look at your function points / requirements / use cases and project the time remaining. When you are down to QA/bug fixing, though, you simply do not know how long it will take. You get close to making the call to release then you find a game stopping bug. You don't know where it is, and you don't know how long it will take to fix it. A crash bug could be anything from a simple scripting error (< 1hr to fix) to a major subsystem rewrite (??? weeks).
I seem to be able to play cool games on my N7 all the time.
but it is coming out THIS year yeah ?