+1
For the developers:
Respect.
Now we are waiting about an answer.
People are losing interest in the site, not the mod. As soon as it’s announced, the internet will explode as planned, don’t worry.
Has anyone ever told you that you are wise beyond your years? Conversing with you is like talking to someone in my own age group, and yet you are a hell of a lot younger than I am.
Floyd is wise and correct, but hes definitely not the first person to state that exact fact.
The most humorous aspect of this entire thread however, is how wrong it is. People are still VERY interested in this mod. Whenever you log on, take a look at the “Currently Active Personnel” count. Right now as I am posting there are 31 members and 87 guests. There are always people interested in this mod and the forums.
Its not a “loss” of interest, its a “prioritization” of interests. Real life takes precedence…go get one.
I’ve been lurking here for… I don’t even know how long… but it’s been several years, and I can affirm that this is absolutely, 100% correct. I was going to write my take on the situation, but it was getting too lengthy and was pretty much this exact post but rephrased. So instead I’ll add that just because some people on here act like this:
not everyone should be held accountable for that. While a status update of “we squashed [xxx] bug this week” may be routine and unexciting to the devs, it’s more than sufficient for some of us. It seems like (to me, at least) information like that is being purposely withheld unnecessarily just to spite the Veruca Salts of these forums. I’ve read the argument of “well that time could be spent developing” which is true, but I think the 5 minutes spent not mapping or scripting or coding or whatever just to keep the fire at bay would be time well spent.
As if the community was actually important enough to the devs…
Some people seem to think the Devs actually care about the forums and think it is a requirement for Devs to please the community. The Devs are making a mod, thats the priority, NOT the community. The Devs are not developing this game to simply please others and are not looking for fame and recognition. They are developing because its their hobby and have a desire to play a legit version of HL source. Its not their job, there is no money involved, so dont expect them to try and please the fan base after so many years. They just want to finish the mod and be done with it, that why there has been such silence…TO SPEND AS MUCH TIME FINISHING BM.
Besides, LOOK at this community, half the people dont even deserve any respect from the devs, which is probably why they stay away in the first place. The community screws itself over with all the pessimism and whining…dont blame the devs.
While most of what you said is true, the sentence you clipped after my quote addresses that. Also, just for sake of argument, it only takes one person to update twitter or post on the website or forums… or if it was really a crisis, ‘hire’ someone on to simply be the messenger.
It really doesn’t matter at this point, the devs have established their “you’ll get updates when we damn well give them to you” attitude which is fine if thats how they want to do it, I just think they create a bigger problem than they solve by purposely not providing even the most mundane update.
Don’t confuse me for one of the ‘give me updates or give me death’ people… I check here almost every day for updates, but I know there won’t be any and I accept it, but just purely from thinking logically… Yes, they don’t owe us anything, they don’t even really owe us the mod being released if its entirely for their own pleasure/leisure, but IF they’re going to make the mod public (which they have) and going to start giving updates (which they have) and tell us it’s going to be released (which they have) it really only creates more of a problem to then shut off the flow of information and tell everyone to fuck themselves (paraphrased, obviously) than to at least give us a trickle of information. There just doesn’t seem to be any inarguably logical reason NOT to update at least more than once every 204 days. (assuming an update comes today)
It is what it is and will be out when it comes out, updates or no updates, I’m just arguing logic.
I am not entirely certain we can grasp the lack of updates with logic, for we do not have all the necessary information, and would therefore have to assume too many things.
But I can think of some reasons.
1.The fans propose changes and improvements
2. Most of the time they do not use constructive criticism about anything
3. Or they greedily await more updates and a speedy release
Dangers and Consequences
- The devs implement changes, considering the number of fan-related changes, they can barely show anything without someone saying: “I said that”.
- The devs read the criticism. The comments they read make them angry and unmotivated, the project is in danger.
- They start spending more and more time trying to please the audience rather than making the mod.
I wasn’t here regularly while there were updates, so its difficult for me to say, but I am certain the veterans can think of many examples where updates caused more trouble than they were any good.
Yeah - OK - But then what is the purpose of the forums if not for the devs to communicate with the followers of the development of the mod? It’s impossible to follow the development.
As for the old idea that any information about the development will just lead to wild speculation, rumor, and anticipation by the community - I think it’s clear that the opposite is true - that NO information leads to wild speculation, rumor, doubt, etc.
It’s understandable that the devs don’t want to ruin the Xen surprise with screenshots, but I don’t see any harm in an announcement like “Yes, everything’s done except Xen - we’re working on Xen”
They do post on the forums.
The purpose of the forums is as follows: A place for the followers of the mod and those otherwise interested to commune and discus such topics as: The mod itself; their common interests; recent events; random subjects; and much, much more! Because the developers are also members of the forum, they COULD, if they CHOSE, as MEMBERS of the FORUM (like you and I), to give us information. But they CHOOSE not to, as according to them, they are on the last leg, and while it might not be available immediately, they would rather finish this last hurdle with minimal information (they just want to get it done, our opinions be darned) trafficking.
And yes, they could say “Yes, everything’s done except Xen”, but they chose not to, as is their prerogative; just as your prerogative is to post asking why they don’t give such information.
The short answer is thus: They don’t feel it necessary. They have provided an immense amount of media, via the Media tab and more is found in the wiki (any more might verge on spoiling the game!), and for a time posted a DevBlog, but it just turned into a waste of time and all of these things have been abandoned in the interest of spending more of their precious spare time (not spent working/eating/sleeping/tending-to-familial-duties) on the actual game.
I think it’s more the lack of frequency or recent updates than it is the quantity. All that media has been available for months if not years now. It’s still beautiful, but it’s not new. And yes, the devs do post, but from what I’ve seen they don’t really post status updates and that seems to really be the issue, not that they’re just ghosts. Maybe I’m way off on speaking generally and I’m really the only one who thinks this way, but I doubt it. I don’t want to come off as one of the crying whiny bitches who post on here stamping there feet and demanding updates, I’m just saying it seems kind of pointless and illogical not to and seems like its being done to be stubborn more than to channel resources or whatever else.
I want to post something, but I have nothing to say. Of course, besides what I just said, and what I’m saying now.
BM is gonna be the best game of 2011!
Some months ago, Carlos explained that they are not providing updates because the community members have the fucked up tendency to “read in it what’s not in there”. As in "If we post that we have finished 1 chapter, people will start building totally crazy formulas like “number of chapters/length of development = time till release/time elapsed”.
I’m not sure if that decision is the best approach (personally, I’d try to educate the community through careful explaining that development doesn’t work like a ride on a highway (where delta_distance remains almost constant during each equally long time fragment), but I can understand that after people repeatedly put words into developers’ mouths, they eventually decide not to open their mouths “ever” again.
That being said, I still stand behind my previous statement that Nate’s words ONLY mean “it will not be released before the end of year, so no sense checking here every day”.
On a totally unrelated note – it seems many of you have way too much free time on their hands and should definitely consider taking on some projects of their own, so that you stop bitching around here and do something useful.
Speaking of free time: the Devs are doing this in what ever spare time they have apart from their RLs. So why the heck should they spend that time releasing media, which only gets the community into speculations? I definitely would swap no more media release for the devs finishing the mod in the scarce free time.
Thanks man, that made my day haha.
I have a feeling the devs don’t even have to know what they want to do and what they have to do. They just have to consult this forum and they’ll get to know everything they want to know about themselves.
I BELIVE IN BMS
I still don’t get it why the mods haven’t closed this thread. It’s going nowhere but loops and flame wars.