Bearcat Posted October 28, 2013 Posted October 28, 2013 *Another mod pointed out that some non native English speakers here may not get the metaphor I used in the original posting of this so I have changed the title and reposted. Since so many folks are so upset about the announced limited early access I thought it would be a good idea to post all of the dev's most relevant responses in one place so that people will not have to wade through that entire DD 38 thread with all of it's .... additional input. I hope this helps some folks adjust and make the best of a situation that won't be long in duration. Full news You can ask new questions in this thread You're very welcome to subscribe for new videos here Well yeah. And I'd appreciate it a lot if you informed me about such activities of yours - I may be helpfull. 72 hours it is Starting early access at the alpha stage we make ourselves work even harder but it helps us to deliver the game to you in better quality, tested and checked. And you get to play it long beffore the release. That's a win-win, I think. In winter we'll announce when the access is becoming unlimited. We have a current goal, and the final goal. The final is in Q2 2014. We need to observe the trajectory of the optimal motion that would gravity pulled us in exactly the right spot. That is, maneuvering on the road is limited and generally risky. Therefore, we are cautious. We are careful, you are patient = good game. Chipi, Loft just said it. We are going to err on the side of caution at the start. As the announcement states, we will at some point allow unlimited access. We just don't know when exactly that is yet. We understand some folks may not be able to play much on the days we first allow and we will evaluate as we go. I hear you about the weekends Chipi. Jason This is alpha 1920x1080.jpg The project is just not ready to access 24/7. No other reason why 24/3. It makes no sense to take offense. And even more so to experience unpleasant emotions Guys, Online does not necessarily mean just MP. There will surely be a mix of online connection being required and some weeks we will stress MP testing. Jason Guys, First, please knock off the personal insults. Second, to those that understand our approach to development we appreciate it. To those that are not happy we will need to restrict access some until we are able to support 24/7 access all I can say is please be patient and be aware that this is for everyone's benefit. Why you ask? Because... 1. This genre can't afford another CLOD disaster. 2. 1C doesn't want another CLOD disaster. 3. 777 has never had a CLOD disaster and doesn't want to start. Managing ROF development was hard enough. 4. This genre needs new blood and new products that are not 7 years between releases. So, what you get is a calculated, closely managed early access program that will increase the access over time as important features and support systems are made ready and proven to work. All the while our customers can play, compare notes, alert us to bugs they experienced when they played. This is the only way we can accomplish the four points above responsibly. You guys should be happy we take this process so seriously and even bothered with an early-access program of any sort. This whole project was a big risk for us either way. We don't take the responsibility lightly. Our experience and successes and set-backs with ROF have given us good insight in how to manage this. Please trust we are doing what we think is best for all involved. The goal being everyone gets their money's worth in the end. Jason There will be one later, in winter. We don't intend to use premium founders as testers. However you will be offered to tell about issues you've noticed and report your suggestions in a special forum thread Yes, they won't last long, and Loft said so already. At some point you'll be allowed to play offline and then the full access will be opened 24/7 No, we think (all right, we believe) that you're not stupid. AI is far not dumb, I wish I could see you trying to out-maneuver a LaGG flying a LaGG, heh. Shooting will be available as well. BUT! There're 30 ppl here who need to create the game while you're playing it. Not some arcade crap but a flight sim which is always harder to develop than to operate it. If we could or planned to avoid time-limited early access, we'd be probably developing 4 more games and lived on Bahamas. You are getting your early access on November 12th + unlocks + La-5 and Fw 190 - that's (in wide strokes) what you've paid for buying the premium edition. They are glad they have 3 days a week to play the game that is still in alpha stage. ************************************* Even thou the game is stable, the devs need to be monitoring it's performance on founders' PCs. What I was trying to say is that if we were a big studio with separate developinng and operating divisions than we would probably not be limiting early access at all. "(extremly) limited" - that's your opinion. Mine is - extremely early version - thou you are getting it in your hands. At least 6 months prior to the launch. God, that's way too early, but you are Founders, you have the right for it. I never get tired saying my sincere thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered. ***************** The structure will be different. In the first sessions only several stock skins will be offered Thanks for noticing. I'm not trying to belittle the issue, but I'm trying to help you realize that in given circumstances our methods are optimal. Remember the R7 question? Instead of letting it drop - we brought it up, and community's voice decided the R7's fate. The difference this time is that we're not offering an alternative. Well there could me one, like, NOT having early access, but it's not even funny. Yes, there's a strict dev plan, and I personally have never seen before a plan that would be enforced so rigidly. ************************* It's been stated in the post #1 (written by Loft). It's weekdays because we're working while you're playing. This makes us an operator as if IL2BOS was an MMO, and we don't (and not supposed to) have resourses for that. But we're doing it and we'll do our best for you to enjoy that show. November 12th "shooting for" yes 1
Bearcat Posted October 31, 2013 Author Posted October 31, 2013 Guys, Offline content is not possible yet because we are making changes to our system in the background and we don't want to jeopardize our security while we work on improving our system. Would not be fair for folks who did not pay for early access to get early access. It's for everyone's benefit that we will currently require the connectivity. Jason We are in a development situation. We always consider our customer's feelings, we wouldn't have come this far if we hadn't for the past 4 years. But right now we are going to do what works best for our development plan, while giving users access to the product as we promised all along and consistent with the EULA. Yes, no one wants to think about stupid legal documents, but that is how businesses have to operate. There has to be some legal document to protect ourselves. I'm sorry it's not 24/7 access, but that is just the way it has to be for now. If everyone can just have a little patience during this period and go along with the program we'll be able to make more rapid progress on development issues. You will see that progress will be rapid once we open up the access and in the long run this 3 day access to start will just fade to a distant memory as so many other issues have throughout the years of our development work. Jason 2
Bearcat Posted November 1, 2013 Author Posted November 1, 2013 I think some of you are confusing what we mean when we say online or offline. Jason Yes. The term " online" was used to specify the login procedure since we have 2 options in ROF. First early access sessions will only be available with online login, which means that your account will be authorised on our server (just like activation logins in ROF) and remain at this state all the time you'll be playing. It's not multiplayer, that will be offered to you a couple of sessions later.
Bearcat Posted November 2, 2013 Author Posted November 2, 2013 Developer Diary 39 by Loft Hello Dear Friends, Today is Friday, possibly the last one where we still know more about the game than you because you still haven't gotten your hands on it. Everything so far has been going fine and we're expecting no major issues. However, your reaction to all news is very sharp and you will no doubt insist on significant changes during the course of development. We listen very carefully and of course we're aware of all the concerns you've expressed. We hope that November 12-14 will become the dates of the very first early access session. In a very unpleasant case if something really serious and game changing comes up we'll need to postpone the start for 1 week max (November 19-21). The final decision about dates will be made and announced to you next Friday when internal tests are over. And now a couple of words about what early access means for us. We hope this knowledge will help you to understand us better. Developing a big game like ours is always a very complicated process that unites people who have different professions, live in other countries, and even speak different languages. Some decisions are made several months prior to the moment when their validity and correctness can be proved, so any mistake we make is capable of ruining months of hard work. Unfortunately, many things depend not only on our efforts, but also on numerous external circumstances. Also, the genre we're working in adds more complexity to the development - bigger scale, more object details, etc. We can't just say "let this plane fly that way because it looks cool" - no, it must fly in a very specific way and have an absolutely particular appearance. All that serves as a solid reason for serious research, which is sometimes unique and have never been done before in our industry. I mean actual scientific research, where a long-awaited result may show something “impossible” – and still it must be considered a result. Obviously, after spending much time and resources we cannot accept “impossible” as a good result. That’s why early access to IL2:BOS is a full scale system check for us that helps the actual development. And since the game is a system we surely expect to encounter technical issues within it. If you’ve ever had to repair some device then you know that everything starts with precise defining of the cause of the problem. That’s why we decided to give the game you in parts. That will help us to realize easily where the week links are and to fix them fast. As it was said before that about 30% of the game is now ready. And in the very beginning it may bring you not so fun moments and complicated moments. Regardless, we risk a lot by doing what we’re doing and allowing the public to play such an early build. As has been said by myself, Jason and Zak and others on the forums, we believe that our approach to this process is the responsible approach that will provide maximum results and success for the finished product. You get to experience what normally only the internal team gets to experience which is something new for us and we think for the genre. And we have no intention of failing our end goal of making you a quality combat flight-simulation. All we ask is that our customers allow us to do our job in the easiest and fastest way possible. This will be a fun time where we all get to experience BOS for the first time. Our current estimation for 72 hours per week sessions is two months, after that early access will be provided 5 days a week with breaks for version updates which take time to prepare and server maintenance conducted.
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