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I like these types of updates. More please.

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Interesting read. Although the last paragraph about 'tough choices' sounds somewhat foreboding.

Don't read too much into this. I have never been on a game where we didn't have a tough choice deciding what goes into the game and what gets excluded. Many times the game comes out much stronger because of an increased focus on what is truly core to the game.

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Great update!

 

Why are the numbers on the left hand side of the spreadsheet blurred? Also, what do CC, CT, DK, EB, ES stand for?

Those numbers are blurred because they list out extremely detailed information about the game's feature set. Since those numbers can change throughout development, I didn't want to show anything that could be misconstrued.

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Splendidly informative update, ^_^!

 

Before now, I just assumed that when you had difficult choices, you rolled percentile and looked at a table of various options for the 0-100 range.

 

Or, you know, if you really wanted to cut a feature, maybe the team sends the person with the highest Charisma to choose "*Sad puppy face* [Charisma]" in their dialogue options, and then you'd let them keep working on it.

 

8)

 

Seriously, though... I know all the logistical and administrative production aspects don't usually get a lot of attention, because they don't directly generate tangible things (environment art, quest programming) that show in the end result. But, I like to think of you as the special forces of the game development military: No one really sees what you do, but everyone sees the results of your having done it and done it well.

 

And, I have to say, we very, very much appreciate it. It's very nice to have a bit of a rundown on all that behind-the-scenes work and effort, and we'll remember that every time we jog our little party around in a 3x3 area in the game and talk to people and complete quests.

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Should we not start with some Ipelagos, or at least some Greater Ipelagos, before tackling a named Arch Ipelago? 6_u

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Interesting read. Although the last paragraph about 'tough choices' sounds somewhat foreboding.

Don't read too much into this. I have never been on a game where we didn't have a tough choice deciding what goes into the game and what gets excluded.

 

 

You could send the choice back to the kitchen, and stress the fact that you specifically ordered your choices medium-rare.

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Should we not start with some Ipelagos, or at least some Greater Ipelagos, before tackling a named Arch Ipelago? 6_u

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Cool update reminds me of when I composed the music for a Neverwinter Nights2 Mod Maimed God's Saga using Leitmotif.

 

but let's be honest here no one will care if you have to take another year to deliver the goods knocking your schedual far into the future.

end result is what matters.

 

Thanks for the update!

 

 

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At first glance I thought this update would be light filler until the big Thanksgiving update, but actually it was quite interesting! I would definitely like to see more updates of this nature.

 

Without actually going into such detail as to spoil the game, do you have any examples of something that ended up giving you trouble in terms of scheduling/meeting deadlines?

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Cool update reminds me of when I composed the music for a Neverwinter Nights2 Mod Maimed God's Saga using Leitmotif.

 

but let's be honest here no one will care if you have to take another year to deliver the goods knocking your schedual far into the future.

end result is what matters.

 

Thanks for the update!

 

While timing is always a concern, the larger problem is that supporting the Eternity team for an additional year would cost millions of dollars.

 

Even if money was of no concern we would still want to keep a tight schedule. Things are always best when you have a bit of pressure pushing you forward. Makes the team lean and mean. =)

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At first glance I thought this update would be light filler until the big Thanksgiving update, but actually it was quite interesting! I would definitely like to see more updates of this nature.

 

Without actually going into such detail as to spoil the game, do you have any examples of something that ended up giving you trouble in terms of scheduling/meeting deadlines?

It's usually not one specific item that gives you a problem. Most of the time it is the combination of lots of things.

A real world example is the balancing act of our mega dungeon. A fifteen level dungeon is enormous and, I am not lying here, if the designers were able to design to their hearts content it could easily eat up two to three entire milestones of area work. So we carefully analyze each area in the dungeon to figure out which parts need the most emphasis. Those identified areas will tend to get more work in them (design, programming, art, etc.).

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Lovely update. Really nice to see the schedule behind the making of an area. Fills me with a newfound appreciation for tight scheduling and what stress and pressure the team must be under. I am not envious. Actually, who am I kidding? I'm incredibly envious of the team for getting to work on this game. Doing something like PE must be a dream come true. 

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Interesting read. Although the last paragraph about 'tough choices' sounds somewhat foreboding.

Don't read too much into this. I have never been on a game where we didn't have a tough choice deciding what goes into the game and what gets excluded.

 

 

You could send the choice back to the kitchen, and stress the fact that you specifically ordered your choices medium-rare.

 

 Zing!

 

Don't forget to tip your waitress!

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Brilliant update, love seeing agile/scrum (even elements of waterfall) all merged together with vast experience on the engine and some of the worlds best RPGs to produce such quality. These are my favourite type of update, YES please keep them coming!!! Also gives a chance to appreciate just how much goes into elements of the game. Maybe some sound, quest and dialogue build process next time? I think creature/model creation process was covered briefly before. 

Thanks again for the great update.

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That's some badass project management.

 

And those players who are always saying "it can't be that hard to implement" and "wouldn't take long to do this"  or "can't be too expensive" and whatnot. Oh, just can it.

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The KS Collector's Edition does not include the Collector's Book.

Which game hook brought you to Project Eternity and interests you the most?

PE will not have co-op/multiplayer, console, or tablet support (sources): [0] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Write your own romance mods because there won't be any in PE.

"But what is an evil? Is it like water or like a hedgehog or night or lumpy?" -(Digger)

"Most o' you wanderers are but a quarter moon away from lunacy at the best o' times." -Alvanhendar (Baldur's Gate 1)

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Cool update reminds me of when I composed the music for a Neverwinter Nights2 Mod Maimed God's Saga using Leitmotif.

 

but let's be honest here no one will care if you have to take another year to deliver the goods knocking your schedual far into the future.

end result is what matters.

 

Thanks for the update!

 

While timing is always a concern, the larger problem is that supporting the Eternity team for an additional year would cost millions of dollars.

 

Even if money was of no concern we would still want to keep a tight schedule. Things are always best when you have a bit of pressure pushing you forward. Makes the team lean and mean. =)

 

That's understandable but it also becomes a crunch for not delivering.  Oh sorry we didn't have enough time we couldn't add this or do that.  It's same thing with money, sorry didn't have enough money to add this or that.  It's pretty wild balance that's for sure I guess you could say it's a double edge sword.

well keep at it!

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While timing is always a concern, the larger problem is that supporting the Eternity team for an additional year would cost millions of dollars.

Psh... all we have to do is get 2-3 dollars from a million people. We'll spread donation links on Facebook, and I bet that many people would click the links before they even read what the money was for. :)

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Should we not start with some Ipelagos, or at least some Greater Ipelagos, before tackling a named Arch Ipelago? 6_u

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While timing is always a concern, the larger problem is that supporting the Eternity team for an additional year would cost millions of dollars.

Psh... all we have to do is get 2-3 dollars from a million people. We'll spread donation links on Facebook, and I bet that many people would click the links before they even read what the money was for. :)

 

I'll hold you to it. ;)

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and why changes and modifications can lead to difficult decisions for the team.

 

One thing to remember is that when we are in the middle of production the schedule has already been created for just about everything in the game.

 

This can mean a few different things - anything from reducing time spent on other tasks, to changing previously scheduled items, to outright cuts - and when changes need to happen project leads consult with each other to try and figure out the best option. Keep this in mind when I start talking about changes to features and assets later on in this update.

 

Tough Choices

 

A minor change in an area can cause a domino effect that starts schedule slippage. Remember that on a small team like Project Eternity we have a limited number of people that can work on any one part of the game so taking someone off of their current task to work on changes can gum up our pipelines and prevent others from completing their tasks. We can get around that by switching up the tasking, but it can quickly get out of hand and lead to inefficiencies.

 

That being said it's the team's responsibility to give our backers what they have paid for. If we are playing though part of the game and something feels off from what we promised to our fans, we need to seriously consider making changes - even if it pushes us off schedule. There have been times where an update leads to some serious discussion on the forums and within the team about a direction change. Ultimately all of that gets added into the equation as well.

 

Taking that into consideration, the team has to make difficult choices every day. Do we go through and do another prop pass on a level? What does that cost us in the long run? Will we lose an entire area in the game? These are questions that the leads struggle with everyday. We are always weighing the cost of assets and features against everything that still needs to get done.

 

All that lead up ... to nothing.

Whew!

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