Fobhopper, on 14 March 2016 - 11:55 AM, said:
Honestly, that's a huge excuse and cop-out. Yes, they've been talking about the possibility of migrating engines, particularly since their current CryEngine is so terribly out of date. However, they're also looking at CryEngine updates as one of the primary options (I'm guessing you have a bias towards the Unreal engine -not knocking it- since you only mentioned that possibility directly? Just curious, since one of the bigger discussion points was the CryEngine update). However, that's all the more reason they'd need even more engineers and what-not to work on these massive undertakings and get them done in a better timeframe than "maybe possibly within the next 18 months".
Also, trust me, I've been following everything they've been up to as well as the last few town halls (the last one was particularly disgusting and disappointing to listen to . . . after hours or not, it should have been far more professional then Russ conducted himself . . . that was pathetic). However, everything -on the engineering/programming front- you've mentioned aside from the
POSSIBLE engine migration is already completed. IF they're working on more tutorial modules, it hasn't been mentioned in town halls or roadmaps. IF they're doing any more actual PVE work, it hasn't been mentioned yet outside of "We'd like to . . . some day . . . it's coming . . . it's being worked on" (I'd love to know by how many people and how much work). Oh, and that amazing Phase 3 was supposed to be delivered back in last fall, at the "latest"; and now it's devolved into "soon" with no real timeframe of when it's happening, or what's even being actively worked on, or what needs to be completed before we even get to test any of it . . . let alone release.
That's what the roadmaps were originally for. Seriously go back and compare the first few to what we're getting now. We get no real news anymore. Now we're getting little more than patch previews with no real information beyond that. Now we get next to nothing except for hollow hype over "we've got awesome stuff coming and it's going to be awesome." That's burnt a lot of us out; and it's left many of us quite bitter, especially after more personal slaps in the face (like the Flamer debacle ahs been for me). It probably wouldn't be quite so bad if we actually got the level of communication PGI started to pull off immediately after separating from IGP.
Also, I never said hiring artists was a bad thing, I just said it's mind boggling that they're only seeking artists and they're not seeking engine programmers (for the possible/proposed migration), AI programmers (for that PVE campaign concept that we currently don't even know how much it's actually being worked on besides "we'd like to do it"), and general engineers/programmers for everything else in the game that still needs to be fixed/overhauled/implemented (collisions, proper flamer fix/recoding, game mode overhauls/improvements, ammo code rebuild/redo, firing modes, information warfare overhaul, general game balancing, heat scale rebuild, skill tree overhaul that's been promised since before I ever picked up the game, the decal system that's been on hold for ages, weapons tech for more/future weapons, other equipment options, net code fixes, continued hit detection improvements, etc.). THAT is what I drew contention with.
Again, to reiterate, all of those issues and their constant schedule fall-behinds are just more reasons to hire more engineers, and not just more artists.
Otherwise, I'm very fully aware of where and how their revenue comes in. I've even studied the current rights fiasco for the Battletech IP and how its split between Topps and Microsoft, and how the licensing interacts with each other that's scattered between Iron Wind Metals, Catalyst Game Labs, PGI, HBS, etc. It's a mess and it doesn't help anybody . . . personally I wish Microsoft would just buy out the whole IP from Topps (because they've actually been really awesome about handling their end), or maybe HBS (since they've done good things for Shadowrun so far and some of the old FASA guys are there), but that's for another conversation.
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As a random -but semi-related- side note, did you realize there are no digital aids available in an official capacity for Battletech TT, in any form, because they'd have to be done by Microsoft (or a licensee to make them) . . . even though it's for the TT side of the property (PDF copy of a book is the only exception, because it's still considered a document and not software)? That's why everything that exists is open-sourced and free (Solaris Skunk Werks, MegaMek, Catalyst's own MUL -Master Unit List-, and other independent programs). It's the same reason PGI can't do that merchandising for
their product, even though the physical merchandise would only be supporting the MechWarrior IP, and have basically nothing to do with TT. The rights are that big of a mess and it makes zero sense when you actually try to look into it and understand it all. Yet the hilarity of it is that while PGI can't do their own merchandising, Sarna and NGNG have made their own Battletech themed merchandise and no one does anything about it; and if they got the rights to do it themselves from Topps . . . then why hasn't PGI followed suite. It'd make you think that PGI could start their own merchandising for other revenue streams. Again, it makes zero sense.
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