Opinion of Team Gizka

[Darth Exsilum]

I'm curious to see what the general opinion of Team Gizka as well as their handling release date information made available to the community. This isn't intended to cause arguments; simply a thread where people can discuss what aspects of information made available could have been handled better.

 

My personal views on Team Gizka is that they have taken on a massive task on restoring the cut content of TSL and I have nothing but respect for the team (who are let's not forget- doing this free, in their own time and possibly at some expense to themselves). Also from what has been released so far (i.e. the trailers available on Youtube) seems to be of a very high standard and will be a great asset to the existing version of the game.

 

However from what I have observed in the forums there seems to be an element of frustration from fans, mainly because this project has been hyped up substantially and everyone is now eagerly awaiting it's release. I think estimates on a release would have helped fans along the way, simply saying "coming when it's done" in my view seems a little disrespectful towards the community- We all appreciate that no definitive release date can be given as it's unpractical and will result in a repeat of what happened with the original game (a product not at the standards that it could have been). I feel a bit more communication on this would have quelled some of the "bitching" that has been going on.

 

Some may argue the fact that as this is being done for free Team Gizka don't owe anyone anything, this is true to an extent but in taking on this task and publicizing it in the way they have I feel they owe us a little more insight into a time scale of release other than simply when it has been finished. (maybe they should have had a PR team ;-])

 

Just to reiterate this isn't intended to demean Team Gizka, just to let people share opinions on what they could have handled better ...Regardless of when it is released- Hats off to Team Gizka and to what I'm sure will be a truly amazing project!

 

I have to mention that Team Gizka locked this thread in their forum which I find to be very childish especially as I am not looking to start arguments, but to simply allow the community to express their opinion on what TG could have handled better.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Darth Exsilum

[Fionavar]

Thread Pruned: In order to try to honour the intent of this thread and being well aware that there is the potential for conflict and flaming, this thread will be unlocked. Please do try to offer your replies in a manner that is constructive and respectful that there is another human being on a monitor somewhere on this wee space ship earth reading your thoughts.

 

F

[Tale]

Gizka is cool guy.

[Kissamies]

eh rezes contun and doesn't afraid of anything.

 

I don't know. I try not to think about them unless and until they actually release something. Pointless to get hyped over nothing. Not flaming or anything, that's just what I think.

[Nihilus_guy]

Team Gizka is awesome. I am so glad that they are restoring the cut content from KotOR 2.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Nihilus_guy

[Jediphile]

Team Gizka rules - they're finishing TSL for us for free

 

Nuff said

[babydol]

As frustrating as waiting may be for some of us that are super-impatient, (because after all, it's been like YEARS) at the end of the day, I still REALLY appreciate Team Gizka.

 

I'm CRAZY-excited to play the RP. The sooner it's done, the better, but I think we'll all agree that a bug-free version is what we want. TSL, as much as I ♥ it, has enough bugs already.

 

We will ALL bow down when it's finished. So try to keep that in mind now.

[Marcus]

Time is time. Modifying video games is a long process for hackers. People who do not design games for a living may find modding time consuming. You have to get around scripts and such. Working on a massive sized project such as tslrp could take years. I just got my copy of The Sith Lords not too long ago. I also bought Neverwinter Nights 2. I'm finding myself more interested in Neverwinter than in tsl. I wish them all luck, but I'm finding myself more consumed with other games. There is someting nice about Neverwinter that overshadows this project.

 

I wish them luck though.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Marcus

[SteveThaiBinh]

Team Gizka seem to be an excellent bunch of people, and they're doing something for me (i.e. improving a game that I really like), without asking for anything in return. What's not to like?

 

I hope they keep doing what they're doing. I hope they keep enjoying doing what they're doing, and don't let some of the nonsense that's been flying around get them down. There are lots of people really looking forward to the fruits of their labour, released whenever they feel it's right.

[Darth Exsilum]

It's great that the moderators on this forum have let this thread be continued and I thank them for it =). I am in no disagreement with other members that what TG is doing is a very impressive feat...What I'm posing is how they have handled; or could have better handled publication information. I would have liked to have seen some time estimates with the proviso and understanding that this could increase and decrease at any time depending what the team runs into.

[Tigranes]

I'm sure its harder for Team Gizka to have to keep pushing back their own internal release dates (or realise it's been years) than anyone else. It might be the first time some of them are involved in such an expansive mod project, and it's difficult for anybody to get estimates, schedules and deadlines right on their first try with a particular type of project. And I don't know about Team Gizka, but with mods... well sometimes someone has a baby, someone falls out, someone does a lot of work but turns out to be a pile of poo, etc.

 

For a lot mods, generally, when something takes this long, there are three possibilities: One, the project has been suspended and started up again for various such reasons; Two, the team decided to redo the mod halfway through, to incorporate the new skills and techniques they learnt during the way; Three, the mod became a lot larger than they first anticipated, either for the desire to add new content or, in this case, perhaps, the bugs were bigger than they could have known. I don't know if any of those are true with Team Gizka since, I suspect like many people, I respect them and anticipate their work, but can't exactly follow their progress blow-by-blow. Whatever it is I hope they have the resilience and planning to come through and I hope when it does, the community rewards them for their hard work.

[Marcus]

I don't think anyone doing this project could make a deadline prediction. Most of the work is done through a learning curve. Since they do not have the developer's tools, tslrp would be a pain in the a@# to create. Keeping interested in one game for four years is tough. Six months playing one game is too much for me. They must have patience.

[I want teh kotor 3]

If this finally comes out, I'll finally have to get K2 for PC. Oh well, I'll finally be able to use the Bane mod.

[Dark_Raven]

They're an awesome group taking on this huge project. Being a modder of Baldur's Gate games I can understand and relate to them. The project will get done when its done. Perfection can not be rushed. This is a project done on their time, unpaid time at that.

[Shryke]

Dashus has a sexy voice

 

ahem

 

they're persistent. if i had taken part in this i would've given up long ago

 

they definitely deserve a cookie when it's done

 

two cookies even

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

The good part is even if they wind up giving up on fixing all the bugs, they can still release it and it'll fix a lot of stuff.

[Darth Allanon]

I'm still wondering if there actually going to do a good job of fixing the game up.

[Darth_Windu]

I can assure you that they are doing a superb job

[Darth Allanon]

How do you know?

[Marcus]

I can assure you that they are doing a superb job

 

 

How do you know?

After playing the leaked patch myself, Darth_Windu is telling you the truth. Team-Gizka is doing an awsome job on this project. He was also apart of the beta team.

[RangerSG]

Being involved in building a large-scale module for NWN, I have nothing but respect for TG. Even more when I look at the fact that I have a released and fully supported toolset and they have had to do this mostly by trial and error and hacking. I know that I've suffered lots of heartache in the process of building our world. And I can only imagine how much more they've had, since they've been doing it longer with little official support.

 

Do I wish I could be given a more concrete timeline? Of course. Have I wanted to see this done for a year? Yes. But will I ever...ever...look down on them for what they've been trying to do? Nope. Hats off to TG, and when it's done, I'm sure it will be quality.

[Darth_Windu]

How do you know?

Look at my sig

 

He was also apart of the beta team.

lol, I still am a member of the beta team, there's no "was" about it

Edited August 2, 2008 by Darth_Windu

[Darth Exsilum]

Yeah that's the only real problem I have with Team Gizka- Their lack of communication, though in fairness they probably are preoccupied with making the actual mod. All I was after was a thread for a time scale where they would say "6 weeks" "3 months" or whatever, so at least we could all see the finishing line and if they ran into anything we'd just have to accept it when the time scale went up again- Just something for us all to gauge by!

[samm]

They're great. I'm patiently waiting for the mod to finish, for some years now, and I can wait some more. There's no need to hurry, and a lot to look forward to