Alpha Protocol has been delayed.

[Starwars]

And a small tidbit from Chris Avellone's blog which may or may not be of interest:

 

Essentially, on Alpha Protocol the Obsidian design staff is now acting as quality assurance as well, playing the game frequently and just looking for new bugs since our bug queues are pretty low and most people have moved off to other projects. There's a lot of marketing and interview stuff to do, of course, but that's not an all-consuming task, and we have a PR manager here that helps a lot (Matt Rorie).

 

Pretty low bug queues, and most people have moved off to other projects? Dun dun dun.

[alanschu]

The fact that most people have moved off to other projects isn't that surprising.

[Pop]

"Early Spring" should be March or early April. At least according to the months considered Spring by Wikipedia.

[SirPetrakus]

"Early Spring" should be March or early April. At least according to the months considered Spring by Wikipedia.

 

Yup. So it's just a few more months till spring. Thanks, Matthew, for the info. I'll just sit back, save up some more cash by then and get more games. *lights a cigarrette* Life is good

[Orogun01]

*lights a cigarrette* Life is good

SMOKE

[Star Monkey]

And a small tidbit from Chris Avellone's blog which may or may not be of interest:

 

Essentially, on Alpha Protocol the Obsidian design staff is now acting as quality assurance as well, playing the game frequently and just looking for new bugs since our bug queues are pretty low and most people have moved off to other projects. There's a lot of marketing and interview stuff to do, of course, but that's not an all-consuming task, and we have a PR manager here that helps a lot (Matt Rorie).

 

Pretty low bug queues, and most people have moved off to other projects? Dun dun dun.

 

So, does that mean then that Sega have basically stopped funding for AP as far as development costs goes?

 

I mean, aren't there areas that could be improved in that timespan like the graphics? Are they just fixing bugs that's it? Seems like a waste to me.

 

This sounds like another MOW - sits on shelf, publisher has no clue what to do with the game.

[Zoma]

They need to give higher texture resolution to MT and any other major characters in the game.

 

Resident Evil 5 does that despite utilizing very very ugly low texture for its environments and the common humanoid enemies and is still declared as graphically awesome by the media.

[Enoch]

And a small tidbit from Chris Avellone's blog which may or may not be of interest:

 

Essentially, on Alpha Protocol the Obsidian design staff is now acting as quality assurance as well, playing the game frequently and just looking for new bugs since our bug queues are pretty low and most people have moved off to other projects. There's a lot of marketing and interview stuff to do, of course, but that's not an all-consuming task, and we have a PR manager here that helps a lot (Matt Rorie).

 

Pretty low bug queues, and most people have moved off to other projects? Dun dun dun.

 

So, does that mean then that Sega have basically stopped funding for AP as far as development costs goes?

 

I mean, aren't there areas that could be improved in that timespan like the graphics? Are they just fixing bugs that's it? Seems like a waste to me.

 

This sounds like another MOW - sits on shelf, publisher has no clue what to do with the game.

I read "design staff" as a qualifier, meaning people whose job it is to design characters, areas, quests, cinematics, etc. Their work is usually concentrated early on in a project (although, as I understand it, everyone pitches in "crunch time" situations). That doesn't mean the people whose job it is to focus on programming, art, gameplay, etc., aren't hard at work on refining AP.

[Star Monkey]

And a small tidbit from Chris Avellone's blog which may or may not be of interest:

 

Essentially, on Alpha Protocol the Obsidian design staff is now acting as quality assurance as well, playing the game frequently and just looking for new bugs since our bug queues are pretty low and most people have moved off to other projects. There's a lot of marketing and interview stuff to do, of course, but that's not an all-consuming task, and we have a PR manager here that helps a lot (Matt Rorie).

 

Pretty low bug queues, and most people have moved off to other projects? Dun dun dun.

 

So, does that mean then that Sega have basically stopped funding for AP as far as development costs goes?

 

I mean, aren't there areas that could be improved in that timespan like the graphics? Are they just fixing bugs that's it? Seems like a waste to me.

 

This sounds like another MOW - sits on shelf, publisher has no clue what to do with the game.

I read "design staff" as a qualifier, meaning people whose job it is to design characters, areas, quests, cinematics, etc. Their work is usually concentrated early on in a project (although, as I understand it, everyone pitches in "crunch time" situations). That doesn't mean the people whose job it is to focus on programming, art, gameplay, etc., aren't hard at work on refining AP.

 

Yeah, True. But what I read that I found worrying is the comment: ''most people have moved off to other projects'' Their seems to only be PR and marketing stuff left to do for the game and obvioulsy bug fixing. It doesn't appear there'll be any improvements to the core game for the 6 or so months it'll be delayed. Which I think is a shame. It looks like AP is sitting on a shelf somewhere, waiting to be released.

 

That doesn't sound too good, anyway you slice it.

Edited October 18, 2009 by Star Monkey

[dsan1]

Yeah, True. But what I read that I found worrying is the comment: ''most people have moved off to other projects'' Their seems to only be PR and marketing stuff left to do for the game and obvioulsy bug fixing. It doesn't appear there'll be any improvements to the core game for the 6 or so months it'll be delayed. Which I think is a shame. It looks like AP is sitting on a shelf somewhere, waiting to be released.

 

That doesn't sound too good, anyway you slice it.

 

I'd say I prefer some months of bug hunting over another unfinished Obsidian-game. I really loved KotoR2 but it was not finished. And NWN2 was a mess. I think Obsidian Entertainment has so much potential. It is a good thing that they for once are not pushed to release something that is simply not ready yet. Another release like NWN2 and that reputation would stick to them for ever. And that would be a serious problem.

[Flouride]

That doesn't sound too good, anyway you slice it.

 

Sounds more like Sega realized with their low amount of marketing Alpha Protocol would have been slaughtered by Dragon Age. With the amount of high profile cRPG's (or any crpg's at all) coming out each year there's really no sense going head to head against the biggest release of the year.

Small amount of people working on bug fixes to me seems like the game is pretty much ready to go and they are just waiting for the right window to release it. Also this means Obsidian's other projects won't get delayed because of Alpha Protocol.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

They need to give higher texture resolution to MT and any other major characters in the game.

 

Resident Evil 5 does that despite utilizing very very ugly low texture for its environments and the common humanoid enemies and is still declared as graphically awesome by the media.

Texture quality isn't really a problem when you have a million different (and awesome) shader effects running.

[Pop]

It's pretty obvious from the screenies that there aren't that many shaders, though, especially in close-up.

[Morgoth]

Who needs shaders if you have tons of MCA-awesomesauce all over the place?

[mkreku]

Who needs shaders if you have tons of MCA-awesomesauce all over the place?

I think they're making a game, not a porno.

[Masterfade]

I read "design staff" as a qualifier, meaning people whose job it is to design characters, areas, quests, cinematics, etc. Their work is usually concentrated early on in a project (although, as I understand it, everyone pitches in "crunch time" situations). That doesn't mean the people whose job it is to focus on programming, art, gameplay, etc., aren't hard at work on refining AP.

 

CRPG is probably the only genre where gameplay people are not considered design staff

[jaguars4ever]

I read "design staff" as a qualifier, meaning people whose job it is to design characters, areas, quests, cinematics, etc. Their work is usually concentrated early on in a project (although, as I understand it, everyone pitches in "crunch time" situations). That doesn't mean the people whose job it is to focus on programming, art, gameplay, etc., aren't hard at work on refining AP.

 

CRPG is probably the only genre where gameplay people are not considered design staff

Porno of course being the other.

[Shepyrd]

I am going to clean up some of the existing topics and give you guys this one to talk about. Here's the official press release.

 

In the end, Feargus' statement is the best summation of what's going on.

 

[Wrath of Dagon]

So the game is basically done but Sega doesn't want to release it during an empty Christmas season publishers would normally kill for. Nothing fishy here at all.

[Raithe]

It's business... when has business ever had to make sense?

[alanschu]

Hmmm, what happens if he had already played Space Siege (which came free with the Steam Preorder)?

[Star Monkey]

I am going to clean up some of the existing topics and give you guys this one to talk about. Here's the official press release.

 

In the end, Feargus' statement is the best summation of what's going on.

 

Edited October 19, 2009 by Star Monkey

[Oner]

It's business... when has business ever had to make sense?

When it's business, it's business. When it's us playin' AP, then it's us playin' AP. Right now, it's business.

 

Also, delays are overreacted.

[Rostere]

[conspiracytheorist] I bet the real reason AP was delayed is that they discovered that the game's story was way to similar to some recent international incident... Maybe this story about how a freighter that was perhaps carrying missiles was hijacked on it's way from Russia. [/conspiracytheorist]

[Raithe]

conspiracy theories are just a plot to make you paranoid...