[vorlon31]

I have to admit that although the current patching cycle brings new things to the game, we all seem to be stuck in the "waiting for epII" mode with each new patch. Tensions flare as the month ticks on mainly because we dont know whats coming - if anything at all. How long have we been waiting for the flux patches to be finished and why are we waiting in the first place? - we should just be playing the game and not wondering/hoping/expecting the changes to come.

Sometimes I think it would be best to go to sleep for a few months and then comeback when all is done.

Patch fatique - who needs it?

[GrimGriz]

Well we have kind of been getting an EpII treatment with the warfare and flux changes. Nothing this patch...but underlying stuff for the big changes to come...month after month. Not that I'm saying it could have been done differently, but it is reminiscent of waiting for episode II.

[spork]

It's a tough balance between telling players what is coming up to try to keep them interested and disappointing them when it takes so long to produce the promised material when so much dev times goes to simple bug fixing.

Jumpgate's big problem is that the original programmers learned how to program on this game, and the professional programers who took it from there, first Josh and now Ist, get bogged down in fixing their trainwreck code any time they try to make any progress toward additional content.

It becomes very discouraging for the dev, I'm sure. Think back to all the stuff that Josh wanted to do and never could get done: moon sized mineable asteroids, mining headlights, hyperdrive, in-game squad manager, adv-fighters, POS CPs, Hyp as playable (used to be on ND's webpage), new aliens races (ibid. IIRC).

It must suck for Ist to dream of Factional Warfare but for reality to be still fixing squid handoffs between clients when a pilot jumps and dumps...5 years after squids were introduced.

[SingleShot]

I remember hearing some hints of how bad it was for Josh to program POS into the game, which I'm sure accounted for almost all of the EP2 delay.

Couldn't have been fun at all.

[alphabet]

I was talking to Josh one night about the some of the ideas of EP2. I asked questions about graphics, sounds, AI, component damage, etc., etc. He told it would be nice to implement that stuff, but he couldnt see it getting included atm because of the POS problems... He said he really wanted to do that stuff but it wouldnt happen until after EP2 was completed.

Honestly, EP2 shouldve been a completely new rewrite of the code with a new graphics engine. It prolly wouldve been a shorter development cycle! hehe

I love playing MMOs from people like Sony and NetDevil. They show me how good other game companies are because they suck so baad!

Yes, this horse is becoming a bloody pulp.