Sounds like a very efficient team afterall. Interesting.
Then I’ll just sit back and wait for an update on the twitter feed. I’m sure the wait will be worth it in the end.
They probably won’t update it until the release, if at all.
In all fairness to the “101 million source mods” out there that are in varying states of incompleteness, the simple fact of the matter is that making even the crappiest, half-baked-est half-hour mod takes a sod of a lot longer than most people care to realise.
Most people who start up making a mod go in with expectations of their available time, work rate and talent set way too high; meanwhile their anticipation of the amount of time taken to achieve a given result is set way too low. This, coupled with the fact that many people who make mods are doing it around work and/or family, conspires against them and leads to bitterness, disillusionment and abandonment of their formerly cherished plans for their mod.
Basically life gets in the way and it takes a top notch project leader to keep things on track. Decent project managers, in general, are harder to come by than rocking horse crap; I work full time as a software developer and I’ve yet to meet one (outside of my own company)… how many do you suppose just happen to feel like making a mod at the end of a hard day’s work…?
I actually have bets among my friends, what will be released first, Black Mesa, Half-Life Episode 3, or Duke Nuke’em Forever.
We bet real money. Black Mesa has the least bets.
I detect alot of QQ in you and your friends’ future.
Within 12 months… their electronic old men will RULE THE WORLD.
So basically…progress is good, we might hit our internal deadline, but if we don’t it’ll still be out within 12 months. I like.
I hate to raise an old issue (and God knows its going to be raised again), but is this the same set of milestones that were set before the release date set at the end of last year?
Well thanks…That should be helpful sometime.
Ask the right questions, get the right answers.
Hi, first time posting with this mod, but long time follower of other big projects, like The Sith Lords Restored, Wizards Islands, Tamriel Rebuilt, and UltraHLE.
I’ve seen this exact situation before as a follower of big hobbyist projects, so I just wanted to kick in my two cents.
The problem is that anyone whose been around the block more than once knows that these projects have a tendency to “lose momentum” and then die. Of all of the projects I’ve followed, only two had actual release candidates (Tamriel Rebuilt and Wizards Islands), and of those, only one was actually “complete” (Wizard’s Islands).
I wonder if perhaps the problem is that, unlike a commercial project where funding is tied to project milestones, hobbyist projects assume a “when its done” attitude. At the outside it seems like an admirable perspective, but the reality is that no project is ever “good enough.” There is always more that can be done to make a project better. Consider Duke Nukem Forever. Each iteration was far better than the previous, but ultimately, the perfectionism of the “when its done” philosophy prevented the project from ever reaching fruition.
I’d love to be wrong about Black Mesa. I’ve been hankering for a Source Engine Half Life 1 since the half-baked Half Life: Source was released. But here we are, now 7 months past the predicted completion date, and it seems more and more likely to me that the project will fall into the “perfectionist black hole.”
For the developers, please just remember: A project that is 99% perfect and released is better than a project that is 100% perfect and that never sees release.
I don’t think the “When it’s done” attitude is an internal one. It’s what they tell the public when they ask when it will be released. I don’t believe it to be any indication of the state of things on the inside. Indeed, that’s the point; to give away nothing. Since anything that hints a progress report can be misconstrued as a release date, and if that date is then missed… We’d end up with another shitstorm, regardless of whether the initial information was correct or not. It’s easier this way. Reveal nothing, work to internal deadlines. When it’s done, we get a release and all is well. ^^
Well I’m certainly not trying to cause any trouble. Nor am I whining “boo hoo I demands teh mod today!”
Simply stating what I’ve seen in my years of experience as a follower of well intentioned projects.
Oh, forgot a few other projects I followed. There was also the Middle Earth Mod which was a total conversion for TES III: Morrowind and the Hammerfell mod for TES IV: Oblivion (fell apart a few months ago). Neither of those happened, of course.
I just hate seeing it happen. A good group of modders has a great idea, they work hard, they build up a community excited about the project, and then . . . its just never good enough. And eventually, the modders graduate from college or w/e and say “screw this project, I’m too busy now.”
fuck me sideways, another year of waiting O_o Time to take another breake for 3 months from cheking up on bm ;f
sad to see so much activity in this thread. have faith in the project guys!
They are not a group of modders, they are gods ;o)
In that case we’re all screwed…gods are so incredibly fickle. They might just decide to smite us all.
Or make us worship them. Or make us worship Ram’s ego :\
Duke Nukem Forever is more than a decade in the making and still they are saying 'When it’s done" So if the BM team is using the same approach then, when it finally is released I won’t know about it because i’m done coming in here twice a week just to check the progress. I appreciate what the team is doing and I understand that it’s free, but I have more important things to do with my time than to be coming in here all the time. So when it is released…everyone will be done playing it by the time I hear about it. Good luck team!
Gods are notorious for being complete fuckheads who get off on being completely omnipotent and faceless.
A big /b/ tard basically. These modders aren’t them.
PS: Is it strange that my spellcheck changed “fucktard” to “fuckhead”?