74 replies to this topic

[Bryan Ekman]

MechB Kotare, on 12 July 2014 - 07:15 AM, said:

Im honestly dissapointed to know, that we are min 2 more months until the release of new map, after 6 months waiting.

But then again, i'm glad you decided to enlighten us with any information about map producton. I just hope that after 30++ days of testing, you wont release another map, full of invisible walls, and ghost obstacles.

I know. we had to move resources on to the Clans. They are freed up now and we can start production again.

[Sandpit]

Bryan Ekman, on 12 July 2014 - 07:08 AM, said:

30 days~ to finish the map, 30 days to run it through test (2 weeks) and our Stable/Stage (2 weeks) pipeline. That's if everything is perfect, which is rarely true with maps, especially city maps. There tend to be many clipping and stuck geo bugs to sort out. Thus the 60 day minimum. Actual dev time on maps before test is anywhere from 2-4 months.

There's a good article here about the whole process.

Thank you for chiming in bryan. I might suggest creating more alts for current maps. That might help speed up the process

[9thDeathscream]

Personally I think its good news, now we all have something else to look forward to. Bummer its a few months away, but it will go fast! I would like to see some Night Variants. I know some people hate the RCN but it mixes it up a bit.

[Sandpit]

Well I think the whole "divert the entire company's resources to clan mechs" was the wrong thing to do.

The players waiting for clans weren't waiting nearly as long as the now pissed off players waiting for maps modes cw etc. and it just increased the number of customers who perceive pgi as dishonest and just concentrating on making cash grabs.

[Rebas Kradd]

Sandpit, on 12 July 2014 - 08:44 AM, said:

Well I think the whole "divert the entire company's resources to clan mechs" was the wrong thing to do.

The players waiting for clans weren't waiting nearly as long as the now pissed off players waiting for maps modes cw etc. and it just increased the number of customers who perceive pgi as dishonest and just concentrating on making cash grabs.

The only reason it increased the number of people who mistrust PGI is because other people keep spreading those rumors that PGI is misusing funds. They jumped on this opportunity to again gossip about the company in an attempt to bully them into doing what they wanted.

And most of the people who spread these rumors have no factual basis to do so and are not using critical thinking. So I doubt PGI is going to be basing their actions around those people.

If anything, the problem was communication. PGI should have just come out and said "Hey, we're suspending map production while we work on the Clans". That would have cut off the rumor-mongering right from the start. Unfortunately, I can also see how simply staying quiet on the maps front delayed the public grumbling for a couple months, instead of airing it out right away.

[anonymous161]

Kilo 40, on 11 July 2014 - 07:30 PM, said:

so we get good news and you people whine even more.

typical.

Guess it's just hard to take them at their words anymore, so we are all a bit cynical about whats really fact or fiction with mwo.

Such worthwhile post bud.

[ztac]

It's funny that the article in question for creating 'worlds' (maps) also has another article along the side about the 3rd person camera and CW (like people not being very happy about it) which was almost a year old now!

On the map side ... why don't they just investigate faster map construction? Allways making these terrain intensive maps tht provide the same level of gameplay as any other map already in circulation, but after reading the article on how they make the maps I can see why the gameplay is the same as they use the same type of template and conditions to make the maps.

Think of a city block , the base can be flat , the buildings can be used to form blocks with a typical road layout. And we are talking skyscrapers here with maybe smaller ones in between. Of course the problem here is that jump sniping won't work due to the buildings just being too high ... and LRM will only work by firing in a straight line down a road. It will also make players maybe think a bit more about their build if there are maps that negate jump sniping and reduce LRM effectiveness!

The bottom line is that maps like that would be a lot faster to put together as they would be more modular.

There would also be the possibility of making various city's with differing features (just think of all the city's around the world and what they contain (parks,zoos, industrial areas , monuments , bridges , tower blocks , houses , churches ,to name but a few)).

Edited by ztac, 12 July 2014 - 09:10 AM.

[Green Mamba]

I thought the Jungle Map only Needed Finishing Touches 7 Months ago when they pulled everyone to get the Clan Mechs out?

[Sandpit]

Rebas Kradd, on 12 July 2014 - 08:49 AM, said:

The only reason it increased the number of people who mistrust PGI is because other people keep spreading those rumors that PGI is misusing funds. They jumped on this opportunity to again gossip about the company in an attempt to bully them into doing what they wanted.

And most of the people who spread these rumors have no factual basis to do so and are not using critical thinking. So I doubt PGI is going to be basing their actions around those people.

If anything, the problem was communication. PGI should have just come out and said "Hey, we're suspending map production while we work on the Clans". That would have cut off the rumor-mongering right from the start. Unfortunately, I can also see how simply staying quiet on the maps front delayed the public grumbling for a couple months, instead of airing it out right away.

That's not my reason so no, not the only reason. That's neither here nor there tho.

So we know no new maps until at least September.
I wonder if cw deadline has changed again yet

[Lightfoot]

Should be a good map. Mech Factory with new object/art assets. Maybe the dropships to ferry the Mechs into orbit too. (?)

Looks like an AC20/LB-20X map too, for all you brawler aficionados. No Gauss Rifles or PPCs allowed.

[Demoncard]

Sandpit, on 11 July 2014 - 06:35 PM, said:

60 days minimum

What's the maximum?

It'll take me a minimum of two seconds to expel gas, but depending on what I eat, say beans and eggs or the like, it could take me years.

A truly horrifying thought.

[Ngamok]

Kilo 40, on 11 July 2014 - 07:30 PM, said:

so we get good news and you people whine even more.

typical.

It's good news for sure. Just long ways out still considering HPG was Dec. 17th 2013.

[Green Mamba]

I am not sure how CW will work out with 1 Map a Year

[Novakaine]

Too long Mr. Eckman.
1. Use the talent in the community, I'm willing to bet it's more than free.
2. Give the community something to do with with thier icthy fingers - like say a map contest.
3. You still have creative control and in house testing, but the design work is done for you.
4. Pick the top 10
5. Further test and development if necessary.
6. Let the players test them for you.
7. Many overjoyed mechwarriors.
8. More profit for PGI.
9. Beside CW the only thing this game is lacking is the "Hey check this out factor."
But seriously let us help out Mr. Eckman.

[9erRed]

Greetings all,
@ Bryan
~ a few questions but some you may not be able to answer.

Hello,
If the map team is now working on the 'Mech Factory/Industrial City' and devoting all time into it's completion, is there any work or personnel looking at the existing maps to 'repair/fix' any issues with these maps?
- Or are these different individuals.
- Or do they 'fix' our old maps as a break from the new work, side task?

Understanding that the longer the team works on MWO maps the better they get, and the more time that can be saved on asset and design creation. At some point will all the current maps need to be 'done over' to change the elements to these new higher detail and better designed features? (looking at the simplified designs and visuals of cars, trees, some building, most of the static art elements.) - The items that give us a sense of scale as familiar objects.

Some of these items still only look like they have a single LOD, and never get any high detail pass's. Will this improve?
- Or are we still at the state of trading visuals for performance?
- Are the teams working on shifting some of the loads to the GPU's?
- Dx11 performance levels?
- SLI performance enhancements?

An aside;
I would assume that the map selected to be completed second (swamp) was due to 'damage/collision' issues with the trees and overhead cover? Quite a few 'rigid bodies' that can be damaged/destroyed, tying into the damage state/knockdown aspect of the game and code?
- Or other, elements that are not yet ready?

I had heard that the 'Mech Factory/City was being designed specifically for the next mode, 'Attack/Defend'. And it brought many new and different battlefield aspects to what we have and how we play now.
- I take it this has now changed? (unless your planning on landing a Union Drop-Ship in that city.)

Thanks for any info,
9erRed

[Bobby Blast]

Does anybody else find this ******* ridiculous? With the development tools I can make an amazing and balanced map in ONE night in every game that releases such tool like Halo and Farcry. I don't understand why they can't just crank out decent maps... Do these idiots have to create the tools and each map from SCRATCH? If so go back to school because you missed the basics.

[jozkhan]

seriously the sooner that project manager vacancy that has been open since last year is filled, the better.

software dev project management doesnt have to be this hard all the time you could make it easier on yourselves by a huge factor just by working smarter.

[Mavairo]

If it takes you six months just to make a map, I think you should start working on MWo2 now, using the Unreal Engine.

And it's not like your maps are actually balanced as it is, PGI.
And lets' not get started on all of the pebbles, small cars that stop a 20+ ton mech dead cold instantly, and invisible walls that you can hit instead of your target, or get hung up on.

More like it'll be six months before PGI works on it, slaps it together in five minutes and then slaps it out the door while working on their newest mechs.

"please submit tickets for these instances" was the last time I got a dev response for this, so to counter that in advance I will just ask now.

When is the last time you actually played on Canyons, Caustic (yes even the featureless slopes of caustic have SMALL rocks that Battlemechs who have these things called knees and ankles should be able to STEP OVER), HPG Manifold, River City?
It's not even like there are just one or two items that cause these problems on the map. The maps are LOADED with them.

Edited by Mavairo, 12 July 2014 - 01:16 PM.

[Blood Rose]

Bryan Ekman, on 12 July 2014 - 07:08 AM, said:

30 days~ to finish the map, 30 days to run it through test (2 weeks) and our Stable/Stage (2 weeks) pipeline. That's if everything is perfect, which is rarely true with maps, especially city maps. There tend to be many clipping and stuck geo bugs to sort out. Thus the 60 day minimum. Actual dev time on maps before test is anywhere from 2-4 months.

Does this mean that youll actually do something about these bugs, plus the invisible walls and all the other palava that pollutes the other maps. Or will you just go 'Meh' and toss us the bugged map?

Seriously, I am not optimistic here, not after HPG manifold and its troll level invisible walls.

[LordKnightFandragon]

Sandpit, on 11 July 2014 - 06:35 PM, said:

Next map is a minimum of 60 days out per bryan on twitter. I can't link due to being on my phone if anyone else can

There will still be players in 60 days? Who has played this game and isnt bored to tears of the same like 7 maps? I mean, I have played like 40 games and I know I am...