Belorion, on 04 July 2013 - 08:14 AM, said:
Its easy to hit deadlines when its only talk. Granted there are a couple instances where PGI missed their talk only deadlines, but the point is that SC hasn't had any real deadlines to miss at this point.
I work in the software business. Its easy to make a non-functional mock up. You can make it look as grand as you want it too. Living up to the promise of the mock up however is a different story all together.
SC will miss deadlines by the end. Maybe few, but some will slip, and it could be many.
Both games have been in development since 2011. SC promises (from this thread) little more than what PGI started off with in the early stages of closed beta. They are both based on Cryengine 3. Whats taking them so long?
First of all, it doesn't really matter what business anyone is in, as pertains to what you mentioned. It's easy to make a mock-up in any business, that isn't limited to a nebulous 'software' tag.
Second, PGI has sadly missed quite a few both talk-only and written deadlines, and most of the timeline failures were handled.. poorly. You're right in saying that SC hasn't had a chance to miss any deadlines; the reason for that is for all intents and purposes, RSI appears to be taking the time to invest in learning the engine far more fully so they can deliver a more finished product for public consumption. How do we know this? Because they tell us and show us.
RSI is indeed a master of the spin because they actually succeed in making people feel like they are part of the team. They've been incredibly transparent through most of the process thus far, and that leads to both trust and realistic expectations. I don't need hard timelines because I can
see the game developing over time. Lack of that, more than anything else, is what has soured most people I know who have given up on this game.
In short, I'd rather have someone promise nothing than promise me something and then either not come through or even, in this situation, do the complete
opposite of what they promised. And that's a breaking of faith, in this case with the core demographic/constituency. It probably wasn't a wise move to make, given what that core demographic actually has.. which happens to be, in general, a larger amount of patience for design, a smaller amount of patience for bull**** and being jerked around, and a fairly sizable allotment of disposable income.