Again, Amen! I couldn't have said it better myself.
----- Original Message ----- From: "michael_feir" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 4:15 PM Subject: audyssey: montezuma, pre-ordering, etc > Hello, everyone. I would have jumpped in earlier were it not for the > bouncing problem I've been having. Something called sorbs seems to > have gotten it into its electronic head that yahoogroups messages are > spam. Anyhow, enough of my current E-mail sorrows. > > What we have here are two wrongs not making a right. We have a game > that has been unfortunately delayed for an extended period of time > due to unique personal circumstances that its developer had to > contend with. I've been right with all of you in terms of being > frustrated and disappointed with the delays. I've dreamed of playing > this particular game in accessible format since I was a kid. > Experiencing the realisation of such a long-held wish will be a truly > remarkable experience. I'll also have the distinct pleasure of > showing my father how I can play Monty after having him play a remake > of the original game for sighted people. It'll be the first time he > can truly step into my gaming world and fully grasp what's happening. > I hope this leaves people no doubts as to how much I've wanted the > game to come out since I first learned of it last year. > > However, despite this impatience, I've done my best to be supportive > of James and protect the community from its unfortunately short- > sighted self. It makes perfect sense for James to have offered those > customers who have demonstrated their faith in him the reward of a > lower price. This happens all the time in the sighted game market and > there have been cases of even longer delays. This is despite the fact > that there's only one James North and hundreds of employees working > on some of these mainstream games. This argument that a business is a > business just doesn't hold up. When you're dealing with single > individuals working on projects, you have to understand that personal > life can and will get in the way. Failure to do this will result in > game developers being burned out and turned away from serving our > community. > > I don't think James is perfect. However, he has done his best for us > given his circumstances and the emotional draning onslot of > acusations this community has subjected him to. Perhaps, people would > like it better if developers never told us anything until the games > were fully made and ready. There would then certainly not be a > situation like what we've experienced in Monty's case. However, stop > and think a moment. There would be no news at all for months and > months at a time. Developers wouldn't give out any information at all > for fear of paying through the nose for it later. People wouldn't > have any opportunity at all to offer feedback or ideas which could > make games better than they otherwise would have been. Is that the > kind of atmosphere you people want? If so, I'm glad I got out of > editing Audyssey because that job would be absolutely impossible > given those conditions. There just wouldn't be enough to talk about > every three or even six months to warrant publishing an issue. > Getting people to submit material was like pulling teeth even with > things like they are now. > > Those of us who have stuck it out with James will ultimately get a > far superior game to what they would have gotten before. I only know > about some of the improvements he's introduced and can't wait to > experience them all first hand. We'll get our money and time's worth. > This is especially clear to me after reading the manual. If anybody > still has doubts that we'll ultimately get the game, I don't know > what planet they're on. You don't create a manual as detailed as that > or a trailer for a game which doesn't exist. We just have to be > patient and let James do things right. He knows the score. > > There are two oposites when it comes to community relations and game > developers. There are people like James who let the community know > what's coming up and aren't averse to sharing some information. It's > thanks to these brave souls that I was able to build Audyssey into > the magazine and community it became. The advantage is the > suggestions and positive feedback you get while you're working on > projects as well as the trust in your work that people will have when > you're ready to sell. The down side is what happens when things don't > go as planned as we saw in James's case. A whole barrage of things > held Monty up for a lot longer than James wanted and people were > repetedly disappointed with missed release dates. The obvious lesson > here is not to offer release dates at all. I don't think there's any > arguing with that given what's happened. > > On the other hand, you have developers like Bavisoft who just > suddenly appear with new game in hand. Grizzly Gulch just suddenly > appeared one day out of the blue. I'm more than convinced that had > there been more community consultation, it would have been a far > better game. I also suspect that they wouldn't have been as badly > clobbered by pirates as they ultimately were. Communities like ours > thrive on information that only game developers can provide. How long > would people hang around if we never heard about any new games until > they were released? Things would get incredibly boring as people lost > interest in older games. > > Fortunately, there's a middle ground available. Actually, there are > probably several middle grounds. Bavisoft and other developers have > their own separate lists which let them communicate with a more > select group of interested people. They also have access to their own > web sites and could choose to proffer new information only there. > There's also the question of what information to release. I've chosen > to update people on my progress or lack of it every three months in > Audyssey Magazine. That way, people can have an idea what I'm going > through while it's happening. If somebody asks "Why did it take so > long to make Fearless Flin?" I can point them to my developer > diaries. I'll never give any sort of dates at all and I'll always be > certain to make it clear that plans could change on me. This is a > hobby for me until I actually have something ready to sell assuming > I'm ultimately able to create my game. Working at home is quite > different from working at a company even with just Rebecca and I. It > must be tougher by far when you have kids to raise as many developers > do. Things just have a way of coming between you and progress. We as > a community consuming people's creative energies and efforts have to > allow for that. If we don't, we'll see our brightest stars take their > passions elsewhere. > > > > > > to leave send a blank Email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > You can contact the list owners/moderators by Emailing > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > to go nomail send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > change "nomail" to "normal" to resume messages. > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > to leave send a blank Email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can contact the list owners/moderators by Emailing [EMAIL PROTECTED] to go nomail send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] change "nomail" to "normal" to resume messages. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindgamers/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
