Every game has delays with new installments and adding new features

[Enceladus828]

I am starting to get really tired of people who keep barking whenever TFS misses a deadline or we haven't heard about a new feature in a while. It's as if every other game has had no delays with new installments and adding new features.

 

Look guys, every game including IL-2 Great Battles has delays with a new installment and new features. For instance, it took at least 8 months for VR to be added to IL-2 Great Battles while it's taking over 3 years for that along with clouds, ground textures and tessellation, Speedtree 9.0, 4K skins and cockpits to be added. However, in late 2017 it was stated that Drop Tanks were to be added during the Battle of Bodenplatte development cycle -- by the end of 2019 -- but almost 6 years later they are still not here. They got postponed to the Battle of Normandy development cycle and when they were about to be added, an issue arose and got postponed till later. The devs took a scientific approach when Drop Tanks but it didn't work. For CloD/IL-2 Dover series, Drop Tanks were added in Desert Wings-Tobruk.

 

Games are coded differently and doing something in one game may be harder in one game but easier in another. The IL-2 Dover engine has its roots in the IL-2 1946 engine, a WW2 game while the GBs has its roots in Rise of Flight, a WW1 game, so adding Drop Tanks in CloD easier.

 

With the next IL-2 GBs installment, we haven't heard anything about where it will be, what planes, etc. The reason appears to be that there are all these new features the devs want to add but they may not work as intended so Marketing has delayed the announcement, aircraft and map included, until they know these features will work as intended. I feel they should tell us where it will be and the aircraft in one announcement, all the new features in the other. It is frustrating for me because they are a full time team, have many Developer Diaries, and can make announcements about future installments whenever they want, including those for TC and FC.

 

Back in Autumn 2016 it was stated that Battle of Kuban would be fully released in December 2017 and for over a year this was maintained. Then in December 2017 it was announced that BoK would be delayed until the end of January, worse case scenario end of end of Winter. Turned out to be worse case scenario and it was released in mid-March 2018. I brought this up and later attributed the delay to the last minute addition of two Collectors.

I received criticism for saying these things, with one saying: "Not only does it not matter at this point but there was a completely justifiable reason which was clearly communicated by the devs about it. The lead programmer, on an admittedly small team, was absent and attending to a personal crises. Lots of software is delayed for various production reasons and mismanagement. That is not the case here. In the greater scheme of things, a sixty to ninety day postponement in the gaming industry is negligible in the modern age."

 

However, if this were to happen with the IL-2 Dover series there would be a lot of people complaining about this.

 

Regarding why there are very few Developer Diaries, what if there is just nothing to really report on a weekly basis. E.g. "Week 1: we tried texturing the map, didn't work. Week 2: Had some effort but didn't get far. Week 3: Progress is starting to be made. Week 4: ran into an unforeseen issue. Week 5: still having the issue." You also have to remember that they are a small team and the PR person(s) may not be able to report in on a weekly or bi-weekly basis due to their real job. The solution is just appoint somebody who has more time in their life to be the PR person.

 

It is frustrating for me guys that the Visual Update Package hasn't been released yet but consistently barking about it isn't going to expedite it. They are very likely just as disappointed as were are in that it hasn't been released yet and the TF 6.0 Announcement of content has taken so long. 

 

Thank you

[Dagwoodyt]

1 hour ago, Enceladus said:

I am starting to get really tired of people who keep barking whenever TFS misses a deadline or we haven't heard about a new feature in a while. It's as if every other game has had no delays with new installments and adding new features.

 

Look guys, every game including IL-2 Great Battles has delays with a new installment and new features. For instance, it took at least 8 months for VR to be added to IL-2 Great Battles while it's taking over 3 years for that along with clouds, ground textures and tessellation, Speedtree 9.0, 4K skins and cockpits to be added. However, in late 2017 it was stated that Drop Tanks were to be added during the Battle of Bodenplatte development cycle -- by the end of 2019 -- but almost 6 years later they are still not here. They got postponed to the Battle of Normandy development cycle and when they were about to be added, an issue arose and got postponed till later. The devs took a scientific approach when Drop Tanks but it didn't work. For CloD/IL-2 Dover series, Drop Tanks were added in Desert Wings-Tobruk.

 

Games are coded differently and doing something in one game may be harder in one game but easier in another. The IL-2 Dover engine has its roots in the IL-2 1946 engine, a WW2 game while the GBs has its roots in Rise of Flight, a WW1 game, so adding Drop Tanks in CloD easier.

 

With the next IL-2 GBs installment, we haven't heard anything about where it will be, what planes, etc. The reason appears to be that there are all these new features the devs want to add but they may not work as intended so Marketing has delayed the announcement, aircraft and map included, until they know these features will work as intended. I feel they should tell us where it will be and the aircraft in one announcement, all the new features in the other. It is frustrating for me because they are a full time team, have many Developer Diaries, and can make announcements about future installments whenever they want, including those for TC and FC.

 

Back in Autumn 2016 it was stated that Battle of Kuban would be fully released in December 2017 and for over a year this was maintained. Then in December 2017 it was announced that BoK would be delayed until the end of January, worse case scenario end of end of Winter. Turned out to be worse case scenario and it was released in mid-March 2018. I brought this up and later attributed the delay to the last minute addition of two Collectors.

I received criticism for saying these things, with one saying: "Not only does it not matter at this point but there was a completely justifiable reason which was clearly communicated by the devs about it. The lead programmer, on an admittedly small team, was absent and attending to a personal crises. Lots of software is delayed for various production reasons and mismanagement. That is not the case here. In the greater scheme of things, a sixty to ninety day postponement in the gaming industry is negligible in the modern age."

 

However, if this were to happen with the IL-2 Dover series there would be a lot of people complaining about this.

 

Regarding why there are very few Developer Diaries, what if there is just nothing to really report on a weekly basis. E.g. "Week 1: we tried texturing the map, didn't work. Week 2: Had some effort but didn't get far. Week 3: Progress is starting to be made. Week 4: ran into an unforeseen issue. Week 5: still having the issue." You also have to remember that they are a small team and the PR person(s) may not be able to report in on a weekly or bi-weekly basis due to their real job. The solution is just appoint somebody who has more time in their life to be the PR person.

 

It is frustrating for me guys that the Visual Update Package hasn't been released yet but consistently barking about it isn't going to expedite it. They are very likely just as disappointed as were are in that it hasn't been released yet and the TF 6.0 Announcement of content has taken so long. 

 

Thank you

certainly not a "barking" session?

[BOO]

It'll land when it lands or wont land at all. In the meantime there are other things to do. 

 

It's all become a bit pavlovian at this point. One complains perhaps prematurely, the other response with straw man arguments. And so it rumbles on. 

[Mysticpuma]

Excellent point Enceladus. 

However TFS have never missed a deadline as they never gave one. (until v6 announcement) . 

This single time they have given a deadline, there are still twelve days to go, so no deadline missed. 

I'm here and waiting for the announcement. 

Looking forward to it ?

 

Cheers, Mysticpuma 

[No.54_Reddog]

I am trying to work out who was this aimed at? The last thread started to complain about anything appears to have been started by none other than yourself?

[343KKT_Kintaro]

Easy Enceladus, no need of more conflicts in these parts...