IceFire
VWBB Admin
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: The Cold Northland!
Posts: 8392 |
Because everyone keeps asking
Okay, I've been asked I don't know how many countless times when BlackWater Operations will be finished. So in one post I will answer all of your questions with the only appropriate answer, a question.
When do you think a campaign of this size and magnitude would be realistically finished?
There are so many factors to count that I cannot list them all on this thread. Lets go over the basics.
Volume - There is an enormous amount of volume to this campaign. We're talking about 40 missions in total I believe. That is of course divided between the two separate paths and different loop missions that you can take. There are innumerable characters, subplots, and bits of ideas that are played out through all of these missions. We've thought out the motives of each side and the people involved, we've discussed at length alot of the issues to be confronted.
Quality - Each mission we've decided should strive for a 4.5 or 5 star rating on the Archives review system if they were to be rated. That means balancing and specing out each mission and running through them time and time again. Adding messages, developing the characters, writing briefings, and doing alot of tweaking so that things work the way they should. Then there is the issue of MODs. We've created innumberable weapons and added new ships to the mix. This requires alot of testing and balancing to make those ships behave the way they should.
Balance - A whole other aspect. Each mission and MOD has to be balanced (not evened out so that they are weak, just balanced so that they don't display an undue strength when it shouldn't be there). Our missions shouldn't be impossible to complete, but they shouldn't be a cake walk either.
So thats some of the basics and I think I wrapped everything up into a neat little package.
The team is a busy group of people. Each are involved with alot of different interests outside of the computer/internet/game world that this campaign is being developed for. Our time is limited and we make the best use of it as we can. We're not working on this campaign 24/7 but we do when we can.
Now with all of that being said, I don't want this to sound like a guilt trip or anything at all really. I want it to be an eye opener and an educator. The stuff we go through is nothing. Game developers like Volition go through what we do times ten thousand.
BlackWater Operations will be finished, and it will be finished when we think its ready to go. Now is not that time, now is not close to that time, but when that time arrives, we will release it and we will work to ensure that even after release, it continues to live upto the expectations as best we can match them.
As for progress, we keep making it. Now that most of the MODs are in place and require only tweaking we've really hit the mission design and things are moving along as expected. We know that this is an anticipated campaign, but some of you are going to have to be paitent for a while longer yet. What we really love is speculation, constructive suggestions, and issues presented on this board. We've seen lots of that already and I say keep it up. But don't lose sight of what is going on and what has to be done.
__________________
- IceFire
Volition Watch Project Manager
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06-21-2001 05:54 PM
