Hi Sarah, As you know they say hindsight is 20/20, and I can certainly see what part I had to play in the confusion. As you said I didn't really make it clear to the customers that those betas weren't necessarily going to reflect the final product although I was thinking of something like that at the time. I was mainly worried that people would complain and accuse me of screwing them over like James North if I did what Draconis does by just announcing final releases and doing and all the testing and development privately. If I had done that I wouldn't have created this current situation, but I'm certain I would have taken a lot of heat for basically not releasing anything since 2008. So its one of those situations of being between the proverbial rock and hard place.
That said, I don't actually give people a lot of information on the projects I am working on for exactly the points you raised. I've got a handful of diff rent projects at various stages of development, and I don't want to fall into the trap of giving out too much information about them much less give people a false sense of hope as to when they get released. Likewise I don't expect to email the list every month with a play by play update as this new version of Mysteries of the Ancients gets developed because I have a preliminary idea for the game but things are likely to change between now and the time I have something ready for the community. So I am going to be playing my cards close to my chest. :d Cheers! On 5/3/13, Sarah Haake <ti...@gmx.net> wrote: > Hi Thomas, > > well, as far as I can remember you didn't really make it clear that all > these Betas just were tests for your engine, which you can gather from the > fact that I'm not the only one who understood it wrong. I thought, like > others here did too, that these Betas were actual steps towards the > completed game. And now you are saying that you finally after six years you > > will start working on the game seriously. Maybe this time was needed, but > maybe you can understand that it feels a bit weird to read this after such > long time of already released Betas and stuff. > > My commend about you not working on it every day was not even meant to be > harsh or anything. I just know myself that reall life is more often in the > way than we all like when doing something, so I think it's reasonable to say > > that it probably will take a bit longer than you might think now. I think > you could get some angry messages again when you now say it will go quickly > > and than your time becomes less for some reason. I'll certainly not chime in > > in flames or anything, but just the story of James you told says enough > about such things I think. > > I actually would be completely alright if you would do it like Draconis and > > tell nothing much until the game is ready, maybe that would make your life > easier too. I don't really need a daily report from a developer, I was > completely happy to for example wait for the Windows version of Change > Reaction until it was there, and it was alright for me to just see the > messages from Draconis which just said that it's almost there. > > Of course that is your decision, it's just something I was thinking about. > We all see how quickly those discussions can get heated and longer than they > > need be and how quickly old stories are rehashed even though they have > nothing to do with you or the current situation. That's actually something > which makes me frustrated, that this community obviously can't let old > things drop and that the most messages in this list are written when there > is something to complain about. > > Finally to your original question. Yes, I was frustrated first when you send > > this because it really seemed like you changed your mind once again. But now > > I can see what's the deal here. > > I'd like to have a game like the original one on the Attari, I loved to play > > these old games when I was still sighted. And if you are sure that you now > can do it fairly quickly, I think it's alright. I just think you should get > > something ready, not so much because of me or anyone, but because I think > you also need the sence of finally having completed a long project for a > change. > > Best regards > Sarah --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
