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Old 10-25-2018, 10:10 AM   #58
Jim Gindin
Solecismic Software
 
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Canton, Ohio
Posts: 38
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cole View Post
I am no expert, but I really don't anticipate the 8.2 update is going to drive many new sales on a two-year-old game especially since it's a game more likely played by "knowledgeable"/diehard fans as opposed to casuals and anyone in the know would know FOF9 is in production.
It won't, but we're entering the peak sales time for this type of game, and since FOF9 isn't out, refreshing the game with 2018 files, doing more to bridge the gap between casual and intense game-planning... it helps. I think that also shows I care. That I'm still the same person I was 20 years ago and want to always put the customers first. That's why this kind of project wouldn't work without a partner like OOTP. They've been here themselves. These games take thousands of hours and don't make a huge amount of money. There are no shortcuts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cole View Post
Also, I imagine this didn't "take away" from FOF 9 time significantly. I assume the logic and coding needed to be implemented anyway and thus the time spent developing this feature is time that needed to be spent for it to be in FOF9 anyway.
Yes. Absolutely. About 90% of the work gets moved into FOF9. I thought about getting rid of the multi-monitor non-modal windows and going to a conventional menu system, just to show that I could do it and make it look decent, but that would have been serious time away from FOF9. And that wouldn't have been fair to OOTP. They would have had reason to object. They're fine with this current course.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cole View Post
The project being cancelled for good seems a bit extreme.
No. We'd say something. It's still going strong.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cole View Post
The "history" of this project includes a bunch of stuff that has NOTHING to do with Jim/Solecismic/FOF. The initial developer suffered a medical emergency and ended up passing away. Subsequent developers were brought in to try to resurrect the project but it was difficult to implement what had been someone else's game/vision. This again led to many delays, but clearly had nothing to do with Jim/this current project. As near as I can see, Jim has a pretty great track record for doing what he says he'll do and seeing things through to completion. So does OOTP Developments, aside from the aforementioned issues above which were clearly out of their control.
Yes. It's not really an excuse. It's just what it is. And Francis was a good friend of theirs, too. Someone they really cared about. He worked hard and he was trying to put something together to change the genre. It's sad that it couldn't be finished. There's so much in these games that isn't straight out of textbooks or commonly done with other types of projects. I can't imagine being able to come up to speed with a different project any more than I'd expect someone to be able to help me with the FOF sim engine or AI.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cole View Post
I respect that the developers aren't going to rush anything out if it's not ready and I also respect the huge task ahead to meld an already existing game into a completely new and different GUI. I also realize now that even if the game is on track to be released sometime late in 2018, that could very well lead someone to say it's not "on the cusp" or "imminent", which could be reserved for something maybe 2 to 3 weeks away/in final beta testing.
Obviously, we're not close enough that we know details about the time line. The reasons aren't important (and have nothing to do with 8.2). What is important is that we're going to do this the right way. Every single one of us agrees on that.
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